As for myself, I have focused myself totally in spearheading the second phase. I have gone through my last few months trying to latch on to seeing if “employment” is all worth it and realizing that the employment situation in the Philippines is not as good as I thought it would be. At least as far as my situation now goes, it would be far better if I become a business owner instead.

Yesterday, I just received the Certificate of Incorporation of my new business. This would be MrC and mine’s consulting firm and it will be PEZA certified. I am still working on the application form. The last few days, we have interviewed two accounting firms both of which we are quite impressed with. We have two more firms we are scheduled to speak with next week. We have also a law firm on retainer. I will also be renting a desk somewhere in Eastwood. It is also interesting that some interesting local opportunity also came up yesterday and they will probably call me on Monday to schedule a meeting.

After I get this new company up and running, my next major project would be the agribusiness venture. My family on both my mother and father’s side has some significant amount of land that has been idle over the years and I feel that now is the right time to do something profitable with it. Next week, I will be somewhere in Nueva Ecija to attend a wedding and then to visit my father’s family’s properties and take care of related issues. I also hope to get in touch with someone we can consult with, in order to come up with a good business plan.

I guess that’s the deal-breaker. The second major thing is that his business partner finds that having us together as owners in the same company spells imbalance in the control of the direction of the business. They have both worked hard to develop their business for over a year already and having me there seems like not the right thing to do and besides.. didn’t I say earlier like you know.. when I started this blog that I wanted to have SABBATICAL. That was one of my main goals of choosing to move back to the Philippines. That will be a time for me not only to rest but to explore my interests, skills and develop myself free from any care or expectations from anyone. I think that is the way to go for me. However, I can foresee that my sabbatical will not take that long and soon I will discover something really cool for me to do. Of course, the only thing I can see myself doing right now is to be an IT professional/consultant and starting my own outsourcing company is always a dream that I would like to pursue but I think I should restrain myself from pushing myself too soon and then risk getting myself burned out again.

On the other hand, we both know and acknowledge that with this new big undertaking both of us should benefit and not just only one. We are in the process of coming up a plan or deal that in the end benefits both of us. In the next posts I hope this will be clear. I am after all giving up a pretty good job that pays well enough and an okay situation that I would probably miss from time to time. It’s a challenging job and has its ups and down but overall it’s a career and I do not see myself giving up on my personal dreams and ambitions for nothing.

And regarding our upcoming trip we have been slowly developing our itinerary as well for our upcoming visit. Later, we would be making appointments with some interesting people we’d like to meet as well as family of course. Only a few more weeks and we’re there !!

• Yellow Fever – 10 days before travel
• Hepatitis A – 2 weeks
• Typhoid fever – 10 days
• Japanese encephalitis – 1 month
• Hepatitis B – 3 to 4 weeks
• Tuberculosis – 3 months
• Rabies – 1 month
• Diphtheria – 3 months
• Tetanus – 1 day

We also need to have caution when going to areas near water or rural areas where mosquitoes are prevalent.  The following infectious diseases are spread by mosquito bites:

Malaria – there are no vaccines yet but there are prevention drugs available.  However, the side effects of the drugs are quite significant so one must consider if the risks outweigh the side effects that one may experience when taking these drugs.    You need to take the drugs few weeks prior to the trip.

Dengue fever – caused by a virus also spread by mosquitoes.   Only prevention available is using insect repellants and using impregnated (sprayed)  mosquito nets at nighttime.

Believe it or not, I would not have thought about this if not for my inlaws and co-workers mentioning about the necessity of vaccinations for our travel to the Philippines.  As a native of this country and someone who has lived here for 24 years of my life and have not seen or knew anyone who have gotten sick from the diseases mentioned below I do not have any fears of getting sick other than getting the usual travelers diarrhea.  But then, my husband has never traveled to a tropical country and have not been exposed at all to these diseases so I guess it is worth considering these precautions.  We’ll schedule a visit to our huisarts (family doctor) one of these days.

Yesterday was a holiday here and it is called Queen’s Day but he wanted to still work in his office so I tagged along with him. My agenda for the day was to go through the documents that my mom had sent to us regarding setting up a business in the Philippines.

While working on the issues I felt that I wanted to talk to him however it was bad timing as he was very busy solving a technical problem in his web application. I felt kind of bored since I am used to having a lot of colleagues around me at work to have small talk with once a while. He also appeared to be very serious and not his normal self unlike at home. He admitted it was his usual self when at work. It was a very quiet office with only him and me in there. His partner was out partying in the streets.

There were times I wanted to talk about trivial things about the office location, buying software licenses etc etc but I guess it was pointless to talk about it now since we’re not in it yet and those things are details that is easily taken cared of once we’re there.

The points of discussion I wanted to talk also was about the structure of the company and taxes. Some of the business structures we are looking into are Joint Venture, Partnership and Corporation. A corporation is considered a Filipino corporation if it has at least 60% Filipino ownership. I found out in the tax tables that corporate tax in the Philippines is normally set at 32% and the ceiling of income tax is at roughly P125,000 + 34% of the Excess over P500,000 in 1998 according to the BIR site. Definitely, the first step would be is to apply at the Board of Investments to see if we get some incentives. Then we need to apply for a license by registering at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The rest of the details such as Corporate Insurance and paperwork for financial statements are too complex to discuss now and we need a professional to help us with it. This include Disability insurance, Medical coverage for employees, Workers Compensation and things like that. Another thing to do might be to apply at PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) to see if we could get benefits from it when we try to find office space. A bookkeeper is definitely a good thing to have also.

And then suddenly at around 3pm my mobile phone rang and I knew it was from work because of the ring tone I assigned to it (The Office US). And they were fortunate that I have brought my laptop and next thing you know I was logged in via VPN to my office PC. They needed me to run a job. I forgot that all of Europe was still working and only the Netherlands was on holiday. Suddenly, a crazy feeling of panic came to me again like it did before. I wasn’t so ready to deal with work now and my husband was a bit moody. I ended up being quite emotional. I am glad that at least we ended the day having dinner at our favorite Chinese place near our apartment. Funny thing how a bowl of wonton soup would lighten someone’s mood. The sunset I saw while at the restaurant was one of the best I’ve seen in months. Not a bad ending for our Queen’s Day at work.

The following were my references:

How to Invest in the Philippines by Isla, Lipana, and Company

Outsourcing IT 2 Philippines

Team Europe Philippines

Also, I have sent an email to my family members asking for business advice and referrals. We definitely need to consult a tax professional and someone to help us with our paperwork. My mom can probably help us with the paperwork most likely but with regards to tax matters we need extra help.

As of now, we dream of actually living in Baguio City. I have been researching a bit on this area and we plan to spend more time there on our visit. But of course, we need to know if we can find skilled IT people to work with us and willing to live there too and if housing is not an issue. Right now also, I am sure I will apply for retention of my citizenship as soon as we come back from our first trip and if the first trip was successful. Then we would plan a move by end of this year.

This week, our new plan has been slightly modified again. This time, we would be first taking a 4 week vacation to the Philippines sometime in end of May or June and go where we want to go and see where we really want to live and if we both like it there. I think we would like it there if we find a nice area we feel at home and where we will find talented Programmers that are willing to work for us. Afterwards, we will decide and make final plans to move our stuff and then I will resign finally. I have told my manager all about this and assured them I will give them time to find a replacement for me. But as of now, it’s all very fuzzy still. Suddenly, with spring coming, birds start to chirp and flowers bloom. The mood suddenly changes. Things become less dreary it seems, and my mood has been better. I have also befriended a fellow Filipina and I have spent an afternoon at her house singing karaoke. But although everything seems well now and I am very happy with the situation, at the back of my mind I want the Software Development business to still be realized and the Philippines is the only place that seems appropriate for us to do it right now. Not here, not the U.S. but in the Philippines. But what is it that makes me sad now, in spite of all this? It is the same feeling I had when I was about to leave the Philippines to accept a job offer in the States. I was having fun then, I hangout with great colleagues, and I was well paid and was a in a senior position. I was really sad about leaving this kind of life with a life that was uncertain. Right now, our life is relatively comfortable. We could afford to pay for cleaning and such so our life here is also quite comfy and a bit spoiled somehow. Weather is bad here but I like the cool breeze in the summer and spring. But yes weather sucks here big time outside of spring and summer. It’s the travel opportunities that I will miss somehow. I will miss meeting people of different cultures and backgrounds and seeing the eccentricities of each country I visit. I still want to see the whole of Europe. Believe me, it’s a bit too ambitious but I do still want to have the chance to visit these exotic villages in Europe and see exotic individuals in spite of the difficulties and culture shock that go along with it. I actually want it. However, the tradeoff to this is that I have to comply with the rules of my home country and this is where I have trouble dealing with. I’d like to realize my other dream as well – the business and not being pounded by bureaucracy and language barriers! Yes, I admit, I have a love-hate relationship with the Netherlands. I am both sad and happy about being here. I hope I can get over these uncertain feelings and finally be at peace with whatever decision we make.

But then, maybe our preparation timeline is quite unrealistically short after all. We still need to talk about our roles in the business. I would like him to see me as his equal and I wanted to be assured that he trusts my technical abilities as well as dedication to our business. I also want to know if this synergy between us will continue in the workplace as I hoped it would be. I want our working relationship to be both professional and fun at the same time. We can be both like Mulder and Scully and Jim and Pam at the same time, can’t we?. I have worked with lots of men in this field and one of the most irritating experiences involved men with large egos and those who underestimate my capabilities. But on the other hand, I have seen myself work in a team environment with great synergy with my peers both men and women alike. I would like to be respected as much as I respect others. And this time, I want to run the show as much as he does. I just hope we can always reach a compromise at all times without emotions hurt. And certainly I don’t want our disagreements to even reach home.

Some of the questions that linger in my mind are:

Is it possible for a Husband-Wife Team to become successful entrepreneurs? Will our married life suffer if we enter into a high-stress business such as IT?

I just read several articles about husbands and wives starting up their business and that now I am considering finding a therapist or coach who does family business counseling. MrC (the hubby), had suggested we should draft some kind of agreement on a smart exit strategy in case it all blows up because either one of us wants to be out of the business or worse (knock on wood) the relationship. We don’t even want to imagine that this might happen but we want to be protected from personal financial disasters should these things happen. The important points I picked up from these articles include the following:

• Always put your relationship first and set boundaries
• Don’t let work become your life. Remember to play together as well.
• Communication and commitment is key
• Working together puts an added strain on your relationship

We tend to view the business as our baby. We are of course still open and aiming to also become parents of a real human baby but as of now, with or without one it is okay for both of us. There are pressures from family and some people around to push us to have a family but that’s not as simple as it seems biologically and practically at this time and that is another issue that is outside of the confines of this blog.

Now at least I feel a bit relieved that I have now expressed what I feel now and that this is one of my major fears coupled with the idea of leaving our existing “stable” situation here and then putting up a startup in another country with so much uncertainty. And by the way, to update you about my job woes, right now everything has totally turned for good. It’s like I started in a new company. They have done a great deal in making things better for me such as hiring additional competent staff and it makes all the difference in the world. My interest and energy has come back in my job that now the whole perspective has changed. Keep posted for more articles on my ever swaying moods about life here in the Netherlands and my ever-indecisive female mind concerning moving to the Philippines. It is after all an open idea, the plan is there but as it not set in stone things can evolve in really strange way. If it is your first time to read this blog, I encourage you to visit the blog regularly to see how this plan evolves. All comments and suggestions are appreciated.

• Phase 0 Preparation (details of these will be discussed in succeeding posts)

This has already started now. We need to research the best kind of visa we will use for our long stay. Also, we just found out that we could not officially sublet our apartment. According to our landlord we should “not let them know” if we planned to do it because it is officially not allowed. We’re starting to let our friends and colleagues know about our plans to see if anyone also want to sublet our apartment.

• Phase 1 (sometime in April or May)

Scouting visit to the Philippines. This will be around 2-3 weeks.
Here we will try to see if my husband can work remotely there for his clients. He needs a place, where he can have at least a spacious desk to work on with a computer and a good broadband connection so he can call his colleagues here via VOIP. Then, we would also look for possible places where we can stay.
Also, we arrange to open peso bank accounts. We will also meet and network with my old colleagues and referrals from my family members.
We now decide afterwards if we will continue with the long stay in August.

• Phase 2 (After the trip)

At this time, we are totally convinced that the prospects are good and we are comfortable with the idea of living there then we would most probably end the lease of our apartment and start planning to get our stuff to storage or directly to the Philippines. We start our paperwork for our long stay in the Philippines.

• Phase 3 (after 3 months)

The plan is for me to have a sabbatical for around 6 months then later explore my personal business opportunities. I will Assist my hubby in opening a company, calling government offices, networking with people, finding our first hired free-lance programmer.
My Dutch husband then learns the culture and business environment, possibly the language, making sure the communication with client/partners in NL is effective. Start the outsourcing company with 1 free-lance programmer. Meet and network with people in Philippines.
At this phase we would see if the oursourcing business is viable and growing. If the results are positive (more work coming from NL), we would be expanding the company by hiring an additional programmer.

At six months, if everything work out as planned, long-term residence is considered along with finding a new house and office space.

Again, in summary, we see that we would definitely need some help on the following:

1. An office/desk space for my husband that has high-speed internet connection (asap)
2. A place to live temporarily while we are looking for our own place
3. Assistance in the form of leads, advise, contact referrals in the government or businesses that would help us in the building and growing of the business.
4. Advise or referrals in finding our own temporary residence for the first six months (such as a 1/2 bedroom apartment with available highspeed internet, good running water and near a business district).