Tinaciouslee!

Beauty and Lifestyle Blog

Thought of The Day

A New (Ad) Venture

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I know opening a new biz in the middle of a health crisis and at this economy sounds ridonkulous but that’s exactly what I’m doing right now.

The idea started when my husband lost yet another client. Since I experienced the same thing, I thought it was a good idea to give the husband something to take his mind off the negativity. So yeah, with the earnings I got from my gem store, I decided to build a small home decor store.

I have big plans for this venture guys. My plan is to make this shop legitimate and long-term. So yeah, here’s Decor Depot PNQ!

Yes, the PNQ is Paniqui because I wanted the biz to have a local, physical store. Since I don’t want to deal with monthly rent, I decided to build a small pop-up store in front of our house. Specifically, our garage.

It sounds crazy but hear me out.

I live in our town’s business district, literally at the edge of the street. I am imitating my neighbor’s business model. A few months back (before COVID), my neighbor built a farming tool store in a literal hole in the wall. Guys, we’re talking about a literal hole here.

Fast forward a few months later (after COVID), the store didn’t just grow, it boomed. Right next to it is a store that sells the same thing, only it’s nicer looking. That nicer looking store closed the fuck down.

Moral of the story: It’s never about the size or appearance of the business. Sometimes you just have to start somewhere, anywhere. Thank you neighbors for the business lesson!

So yup, we found several suppliers for our little decor shop. The goods are, in fact, already here at home just waiting to be sold. I also had a collapsible wooden food cart made. We’ll turn this into the store counter.

My plan is to hang a tarp featuring our logo on the bottom part of the cart. I also bought a couple of crates and I’ll have a wooden pallet made so I could hang our shabby chic wall decors. Overall, I spent about 30K on the whole thing, which is lower than my projected principal.

Apart from getting a business permit, the husband will manage the whole biz while working remotely. He won’t quit his day job, he’ll just transfer his work station. Neat, right?

Our goal here is to turn this into a major source of income! My end goal is to establish different streams of income and use our earnings to build our dream home.

I must say, I feel very proud that my little gem store literally gave birth to another business. Despite everything, I feel like I accomplished something this year so it’s not so bad. I’m hoping that everything goes smoothly during our opening (sometime next week I guess) so wish me luck!

 

Getting Back to Me and Being a Mom-terpreneur

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I knew 2019 was going to be such a transitional year for me, but I didn’t think things would happen so soon. As you know, the changes in my body and appearance post-partum were hard a challenge to overcome but slowly, I’m starting to feel better about my self again.

Three months after giving birth, I started doing light exercises and I dieted a bit. I was not making a full effort when I worked out because 1) stitches and 2) zero core power. I’ve never felt so out of shape, my balance is terrible and my abdominal muscles are mush!

It was disheartening, but I soldiered on thinking that at least I am doing something about it. I started going to the gym twice per week, which isn’t often enough, but it will do for now considering how busy I get these days.

Almost five months into it, I decided to do something about the things that were bothering me, starting with the skin tags. Guys, I’m posting a totally disgusting image so you can see how severe the problem was:

I had skin tags all over my neck, tiny ones that look like small moles or skin discolorations. The aesthetician patted topical anesthesia all over the skin tags and the growths were zapped minutes later. The whole procedure does not hurt at all and the skin tags were gone immediately. 

Also, I was wearing my hair in a ponytail during and after the pregnancy because the shit ton of hormones somehow restored the kind of hair that I had when I was a tween. Like, salay ng ibon levels. And let’s not beat around the bush, I was still fat months after giving birth:

I needed to have my hair straightened at the salon, but I was putting it off because I knew that the process would take 3 hours. Well, I was wrong, it took 4.5 hours to straight my unmanageable hair. And yes, I had to take a picture because my pregnancy skin tags were gone, I lost 5 pounds, my hair is silky straight, and I felt like my old self again.

My online store has launched on Instagram and Facebook 3 months ago and I got a real taste of what it will be like if I continue pursuing my new venture. It was one hella busy first few weeks.

I find it incredible that we now live at a time when anyone could become a business owner. It’s crazy! I just set up a business a few weeks ago and already, I was filling orders a few days later. Isn’t that something? 

The goal was to offer something a little different from what’s out there on the market. The whole experience was full of lessons but I still have a lot to learn. 

I will say, however, that the new venture is making me a little anxious. It’s normal, methinks, pouring a lot of money into something with no guarantee if you’ll be able to recoup your capital. But I think that’s essentially what building a business is all about, it’s a gamble and it’s something that I have to remind myself. 

I’m fully committed to growing this business as organically as possible. I am pretty hands-on with this new venture because my goal is to turn this into my main moneymaking and eventually build a physical shop with customization options. Of course, that remains a pipe dream. For now, I am using my writing and marketing skills to the fullest. I’m still trying to gather a larger following, which is kinda harder than it looks. 

So yes, between my work as a writer and managing an online store, I have my hands full. I’m also taking care of a baby, which is definitely challenging. But I wouldn’t have it any other way!

There is a silver lining to losing long-time clients, I was able to find new ways of earning a living while indulging in one of my passions. It’s been an amazing journey so far and it’s one that needs my constant attention, which is why I haven’t updated my blog in a while!

Moving Away from Writing?

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I’ve been a writer for over a decade now and I could not imagine stopping anytime soon. But after having a kid, I realized that I need to look for a more stable source of income. Granted, some of my clients have been with me for years, but I realized that some things won’t stay the same, some relationships could end at any given moment.

That’s the reason why I started looking for other streams of income. Right now, I have a couple of little projects that could, hopefully, lead to more monies!  I must say, I feel so accomplished and it’s only April.

One of these projects is something that I am happy to talk about. As you know, I have a weakness for sparkly thangs. It’s always been a dream of mine to sell jewelry. I’m still not there yet, I’m not accepting custom orders anytime soon but that’s the ultimate goal.

For now, I started creating business pages on Instagram and Facebook. I have plans of setting up a brochure website in the future too, which will be: gemsforlessph.com

Gems for Less PH, it’s such a generic name, I know, but this was done for SEO purposes. Anyhoo, yes, I’m so excited because this is something that I’ve been planning for a while now.

I can’t tell you how fun it is going through the process: finding sources, learning about the popular gems to get, setting up the budget, and of course, getting all the tools needed for taking great photos and setting up shop.

Incidentally, Facebook reminded me of my first attempt at making and selling jewelry this morning. Not a lot of people know that I used to make earrings and statement necklaces using Swarovski crystals, semi-precious stones, and silver metal.

Let’s just say my marketing skills on social media were bad 7 years ago. I ended up selling a few pieces but the business didn’t pan out. It was hard to sustain the business because I was doing it alone in my free time. Also, I wasn’t 100% invested in the business because I was so immature back then. I think I’m much more prepared now and I feel like selling gemstones is easier as opposed to making pieces from scratch.

Right now, the biz is still in the planning stages so I’m still in the process of getting everything ready before we launch. Hopefully, my stocks will come real soon and I could start promoting my little side gig within a couple of months!

Someone’s Knocked Up

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… dass right, ’tis I! Obviously, this is a major milestone so I must blog about it: I’m pregnant. Although we’ve been trying for a baby last year, we weren’t really successful. It came to a point where we were okay with not having kids at all.

I will confess: I’m not too fond of children. I like kids in the sense that I’m not responsible for them if you know what I mean. So you can imagine how much I freaked out when I found out that I’m pregnant!

How I Found Out I’m Preggers

A few days after our last vacation, I started feeling sick as a dog. I have gastritis and the symptoms (stomach cramps, nausea, headaches, bloating, gas) were so similar to that of a pregnancy that I thought nothing more of it. I just took some meds to ease the pain. This went on for a few days.

A week after our beach trip, we traveled to the city to treat a few of our friends to a belated birthday celebration. I must’ve strained myself during this time because I started getting these cripplingass cramps in my lower abdomen. The pain was so severe that it woke me in the middle of the night for three consecutive nights. That’s when I knew this wasn’t an ordinary case of gastritis. Stomach cramps from gastritis are usually centered in the upper abdomen.

When we got back to the province, I asked the hubs to get a couple of pregnancy tests. I used the first one as soon as I got it (afternoon) and it came out really weird. The second strip was a little visible which I never saw before:

I was doubtful that it’s a positive result because 1) it could be an evaporation line  2) it’s so faint, 3) I took the test in the afternoon, not early in the morning and 4) I was living in denial.

So, the next day, I took the second test and came out with the same result (the bottom one is the old test)

My husband’s brother and sister in law are doctors so he showed the pics and asked for confirmation. Both doctors said I was pregnant. Did I believe them? No, because when you live in denial, nothing makes sense. Which was weird considering how carefully we planned this.

I insisted on going to the hospital for an ultrasound, a traditional one, and a pelvic ultrasound. It’s funny because the doctors thought something was wrong with the baby because I asked for an ultrasound. I had to explain that I wanted to be sure that I was, indeed, pregnant.

During the first ultrasound sesh, it was confirmed that I was pregnant. I was told that the fetus is in early weeks of development and a followup ultrasound (pelvic ultrasound) is needed for a more accurate look at the fetus. Here’s my little peach as seen using the ultrasound:

The pelvic ultrasound (or trans-vaginal ultrasound) yielded a clearer image of the fetus. The fetus is the tiny white dot you’re seeing in the middle of that black oblong thing called a yolk sac:

Above is a zoomed-in image of my little peach. The cool part? The heartbeat was already detected so early. The doctor said, “Ma’am siguro po maniniwala na kayo na buntis ka kasi may heartbeat na,” (Ma’am, maybe now you’ll believe that you’re pregnant because (the baby) there’s a heartbeat) while zooming in on the white dot. It was so cool seeing the heartbeat, it looked as if the white dot is dancing.

What I Learned from This Experience

After a round of ultrasound, I learned that 1) ultrasound is only reserved for delicate pregnancies or when there’s a problem with the fetus. I also learned that I went to the doctor too early. Most expectant mothers come for checkups at the third month of pregnancy. I was only 6 weeks preggers (1 and a half month) when I had the ultrasound and was told to come back once I enter the end of the first trimester (3rd month) for the tests and blood work.

How am I Holding Up?

The cramping stopped as the pregnancy progressed. Morning sickness was so mild, it’s almost unnoticeable during the first month. But nausea hit me like a Stormbreaker to the nose by the seventh week. I’m still having bouts of morning sickness especially in the mid-morning and the evening. I try to sleep it off so I don’t have to barf. I read a lot of stuff online and it seems that morning sickness will last until the 4th month of pregnancy so please pray for me.

As for food aversions, it seems I hate most types of seafood now, which is totally bonkers. I love seafood guys, we even had a seafood Noche Buena because of it. These days, I cannot stand sushi, sashimi, and kinds of seafood that are slimy. It boggles the mind because sushi is one of my favorite dishes. Unreal! Most days I don’t feel like eating but I do it because I’d be nauseous if I don’t.

So far, I haven’t developed a taste for weird food combos. I’ve been eating more fruits these days + taking vitamins and that’s basically all the self-care I do. Some days, I feel so normal that I forget I’m pregnant.

#SYLOSUCKS: The Ending

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You remember how I went on and on about the whole #SYLOSUCKS issue last year (You can check out these posts here, here, and here)? I may have found closure.

No, Steve Hammond didn’t pay me but one of his ex-employees got in touch with me and revealed quite a number of information related to the issue’s aftermath. It was an enlightening conversation I have to say:

The issue was not about the payment that was never made  – let me be clear, I got over the fact that I was duped a long time ago. I am not expecting to be paid at all, especially now that it’s been a year since the issue started. It was the fact that the unpaid posts were posted under a different author and published without consent that I have issues with:

Let me also stress that Steve Hammond took down the posts 2 months after I found out that my articles were published. That means, the moment I lost contact with the guy, I didn’t know my work was posted for two whole months. The damage was already done. Kudos to my coworker for having the decency to get the author name dropped.

I deleted some parts of the convos because they were sensitive information. Below, my former co-worker said she thought I got paid after ranting about the issue online:

We had a long conversation and it made me feel better. At that time, we were an all-Filipino team and weirdly enough, I felt betrayed that none of them helped, none reached out. It was silly, thinking that because I’m pretty sure I was being selfish, they have their own problems.

Anyhoo, yes, all questions since this dramz started have been answered. Still feeling pissed about my stuff being stolen but at some point, I need to let this go. Thanks to you, my dear, for filling me in. Let’s hope no freelancer would be duped by this scammer ever again. To you, Steve Hammond, I cannot wait for karma to slap you where it hurts.

And to freelancers out there, always keep the convos so if things go awry, you have all the receipts. Now let’s get back to all things bright and sunshiny!

Welcome to Tinaciouslee!

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Oh hey girl, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood cat lady! In celebration of my 10th year as a blogger, the Tinaciouslee website is finally LIVE!

I’M SO EXCITED, CAN YOU TELL?

Welcome to my website!

You know, I’ve no problems keeping my free .wordpress.com blog sites but having a website built around the “Tinaciouslee” handle is something that I’ve always wanted. I’ve owned several personal websites in the past but I was young then and these sites were pretty forgettable. Was tempted to name this “Tinaciouslee” but for SEO reasons, I went with the current domain name.

Keeping a website isn’t as simple as getting a free one though. With a free blog site, you don’t have to worry about building the design, buying domain names, etc. Until recently, I didn’t know anyone who’d do all the heavy lifting for me.

The Website

The kind of work I do is serious business and serious business needs a serious website. I feel that if I want to present my life’s work in the best possible light, I have to get my own website.

So! My friends at GOSMRK developed this website for me. It looks totally simple and clean, which is the exact look I was going for. The main page is tinaciouswriter.com, which is an intro page for those who are new to my website.

The homepage presents all the important links that I want to highlight, such as my professional and personal websites. These sites are tabbed above the header to keep everything organized and visually light.

How the articles are laid out is pretty simple also. This way, the page doesn’t look busy. Below is the footer with my social media links, a sample post for interested clients, and a link that leads to the contact form.

The Design

The design process was pretty straightforward, my friend (and esteemed colleague *ahem*) Chris came to me with an idea and we basically worked around that. Although I’m painfully detail-oriented, I kept dilly dallying with certain aspects of the design. But in the end, the website turned out exactly how I want it.

Trust me, this is my vision of a grown-up personal site. I love the gold and peach color palette, the matching headers, and the cohesive design.

Back in the day, my websites have all sorts of blinking, rolling, distracting stuff on the homepage. The senses are overloaded whenever a page opens. They were a confusing mess.

Now that I’m old and wiser, I’m digging the whole minimalist look and I’ve incorporated the concept into my lifestyle.

I’m not sure if integrating my personal blog with my portfolio in one website is such a hot idea honestly. Because the image I project to my clients is different from my true personality, you know? But I just got tired of going to and fro whenever. It’ll be such a waste if I leave these two separated sites and not maximize the website to its fullest.

Content

Although I write reviews on a semi-regular basis, I won’t be focusing too much on product reviews. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing these reviews. But somehow the content became all about the reviews and sometimes I feel weird writing something totally unrelated to it.

Yes, there will be beauty reviews but occasionally, I’ll be putting out personal content too. I feel that the old tinabytes blog site became just another product review site if that makes sense. I want a unique website with personality.

Also, I’ve decided to optimize the content and images… I’m a website writer after all. I’m doing this because If I’m maintaining a website, I gotta do it right. That means getting a decent ranking and respectable traffic.

In the past, I write my personal posts willy nilly because this is just another passion project I’m into – a hobby that allows me to vent and spill my thoughts. But since I’m already being extra getting a website and all, I might as well put more effort on the content.

The category list is out of whack because it unified my portfolio and beauty website categories but that’s fine. WordPress migration has always been a bitch so I suppose we just have to live with that. We are still ironing out the kinks. The content isn’t laid out properly or some links might be leading to weird places but bear with me, we’re getting there!

So! Please feel free to look around! Cheers to 10 years of ruffling feathers online 😀