Hair Stylist

Hair Stylist

What will I be doing?

            Fixing and styling the hair of people attending special occasions

What will I need to start?

Eric Bautista is a hair and make up artist with his own salon in Pateros, and he says you’ll need to spend P20,000 on basic equipment like setting gadgets (hot curlers, Velcro rollers, ceramic flat iron), styling products (mousse, spry net, gel), brushes (roller, paddle, and skeleton), and blow dryers. You may buy cheaper hairstyling equipment from MTN Marketing in Binondo and learn the basics of hairstyling from Reyes haircutters

Who will my customer be?

            Brides and their entourage, celebrities, fashion models, VIPs, students attending junior or senior proms and graduations, birthday celebrators, and party goers

How much should I charge?

            If you’re beginner, P500 per head. Bautista and Ferdie Orivida of Uver salon charge P1,000 to P3,000 per head for services outside the salon. You may also charge a package rate like Eric who does hair and make up for three people for P5,000 or Ferdie who charges P12,000 to style a bride and two other people

How much will I make?

            You could make P8,000 extra monthly charging P1,000 per head and getting at least two booking a week. The peak months for styling are December and May.

Personalized Photo Calendar Maker

Personalized Photo Calendar Maker

What will I be doing?

            Designing and making personalized calendars or desk planners using your client’s pictures

What will I need to start?

            An inkjet printer (P3,000), a graphics handling desktop computer (P35,000), Printshop or image software like Adobe Photoshop Pro, etc. (P2,000 to P10,000), an internet connection(you may use prepaid Internet card), and wire-binding machine (P30,000 to P50,000). You’ll also need graphic designing skills

Who will my customers be?

            People interested in personalized gifts for family and friends

How much should I charge?

            Angela Aguiluz(jincos_makati@yahoo.com) charges P980 for a deluxe calendar (a wire bound calendar with her client’s chosen image or picture on every month), P175 for an A3 size (11”x17”) poster calendar, and P675 for a tear off calendar

How much will I make

            30 to 40 percent of your gross profit

Cell Phone Casing Decorator

Cell Phone Casing Decorator

What will I be doing?

            Personalizing cell phones to the extent of putting a client’s name or even picture around the casing with sticker cutouts.

What will I need to start?

            A layout cutter machine (P40,000) from Taiwan or Hong Kong the size of an inkjet printer; a graphics-handling computer, a printer, a scanner for digitizing hard copies of pictures or image from clients; and a blower or hairdryer to tighten stickers when installed. You may order special sticker abroad or from a local distributor, and their cost – P5 to P25 for an 8”x11” sticker – will depend on their designs and texture. The designs include standard, checkered, wood panel, hologram, velvet, copper, carbon and metal with an aluminum texture. You may buy a 50-meter roll about 60cm wide for P12,000 if you expect brisk business

Who will my customer be?

            Almost anyone with a cell phone, but trendy people particularly. You may also tap cell phone vendors in bazaars by supplying them with precut designs that they can retail

How much should I charge?

            Around P75 for a personalized name sticker and P150 for a wrap around design. Arthru Ng has been in the cell phone business for six years, and he says you may offer them stickers at a 20 percent discount.

How much will I make?

            As much as 60 percent of your selling price. You’ll be able to make four wraparound cell phone stickers from a bond size sticker

Room Renter

Room Renter

What will I be doing?

            If you have a spare room or two in your house, you may consider renting them out to transients, local tourists, and other people needing an inexpensive but clean place to stay.

What will I need to start?

            Some money to fix your spare rooms. After years of working as headwaiter of Mario’s restaurant in Baguio City, Reperto De Ocampo converted two units in his eight-door apartment into lodges for transients, spending P150,000 to fix them in such a way that they could accommodate up to 12 people each and had cold and running water, a stove and cable television.

Who will my customer be?

            Tourists on a budget, usually backpackers

How much should I charge?

            De Ocampo Charges P2,500 to P3,500 a room a day most of the year but higher during Holy Week and the Christmas holidays

How much will I make?

            De Ocampo make enough money to pay for maintenance and the power bill and something extra that he earmarks for improving his apartments.

Tai Chi Instructor

Tai Chi Instructor

What will be I doing?

            Teaching Tai Chi, a soft-style martial art that is said to improve people’s health and fitness

What will I need to start?

            Tai Chi instructor Emee Chua(emsvangoth@yahoo.com) suggests you affiliate with the Wushu Federation of the Philippines by taking up classes with them.

Who will my customer be?

            People aged 30 and above are said to be the most appreciative of this sport because of its slow and delicate movements. Most of these people have health concerns, but they get to burn a lot of calories without rigid or speedy movements that are likely to cause injuries.

How much should I charge?

            P300 to P500 per student per session lasting one to two hours. Ideally, you should meet your students twice to three times a week.

How much will I make?

            P900 to 1,500 per session depending on how many students sign up.

Film Critic

Film Critic

What will I be doing?

            Watching firm and then writing reviews for publication in newspapers or magazines.

What will I need to start?

            Love of all types of movies. If you don’t like films or like only some genres(action films and dramas but not musical or westerns, for instance), forget it. You must also know something about filmmaking: it’s history and some of the greatest firlms that have been made; how films and made; how characters are fleshed out; how action is sustained; what camera shots are available to the director, and how he uses them fro effect; how films are edited; and how the musical score adds to or dilutes the film’s overall effect.

            Reviewing a film is pretty much like reviewing a book of fiction or non fiction: you’ll have to write an essay. (To get an idea of the film reviews that you must emulate or try to beat, read Times, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Playboy, and other first-class publications.) and if you’re just starting out, you’re not likely to get invited to advance screening-that will have to wait until you’ve established your credential –so try to attend the first-day screening of any film you want to write about, write a review, and then send it for publication before the film ends its run. With luck, one of your reviews will get published, and you may look forward to getting more in print if you do your job right

Who will my customer be?

            The entertainment section of daily newspapers, weekly magazine, and teen, women’s, and men’s magazine. But remember that a review is not a one-size-fits-all thing: you’ll have to write in a language that your readers can understand and relate to.

  

How much should I charge?

            Expect P800 to P2,000 for a review of 400 to 800 words and P1,000 to P2,000 for a capsule review(4,000 to 5,000 characters) of several films

How much will I make?

            Your expense in this business is mainly the price of the movie ticket, and if you write great reviews, you may expect many publication to welcome your contributions

Necktie Maker

Necktie Maker

What will I be doing?

            Making customize neckties

What will I need to start?

            An eye for fashion, a pattern maker, a sewer, a designer, and sewing machine

Who will my customer be?

            People looking for unique gift items and companies needing neckties for employee uniforms or giveaways

How much should I charge?

            As high as triple the cost of making them, says Chiristine Aguiluz of King’s Treats neckties. Make excellent neckties and you’ll be able to charge higher for them.

How much will I make?

            Aguiluz says she makes as much as the salaries of three executives on a good month.

Ebay Trader

Ebay Trader

EBay Inc. (http://www.ebay.com), the world’s largest online auction site for all kinds of goods and collectibles, boasts 135million registered users and sells $1,000 worth of merchandise every second in 32 international markets. So how do you profit from the website? By listing up as an eBay trader. All you need is a computer, internet access, and a good digital camera(so buyers can see what you’re selling) to sell your wares online, and then you simply register with eBay.com to gain access to international buyers and eBay.ph to reach the local market. At eBay, you trade anonymously and use only handles or “nicks” for names.

            Trader Brum200 came across eBay.ph, eBay’s Philippine site, in 2004 and decide to try selling a miniature replica of the Philippine jeepney, and item being made by a family-owned business and that also produces mini-instruments. He sold the product to an Ausralia buyer within seven days, and soon Brum2000 added gadgets, e-Book, I.D. tags, cellular phones, laptaps, and laptap accessories to his wares. Today, brum2000 sells $1,000 worth of merchandise a month but invests only three to seven hours a day (between 7 p.m and 12 midnight) answering email from buyers. He also sells at eBay.com, which charges minimal fees to list products and put photos and a final value fee on the item being sold.

            The advantage of registering on eBay.com is that the world is your audience: you get more chances to sell your products. (eBay.ph’s services are still free, but it limits your audience and the products it lists don’t appear at eBays.com.) and paying is simply, eBay.com sellers open an account with paypal, an online payment service owned by eBay, so buyers can pay by credit card or by debiting their purchases in their checking account. And once payment is made, the item is shipped to the buyer. (paypal is not yet available in the Philippines, so sellers usually ask winning bidders to wire their payment or have it deposited to their account so the sold product may be shipped.)

            Brum2000 says an eBay trader’s most precisous commodity is the feedback he gets from other sellers. Like retail traders, online traders must keep a good reputation to get repeat business and gain more clients, and eBay has a feedback forum that allows sellers to leave their comments after each transaction: it lets other member know how reliable and trustworthy a buyer has been in his dealings. (On the other hand, many buyers won’t deal with a seller who has to many negative feedback posting in the forum or has less than the specified number of positive comments there.)

            eBay.ph is still in its infancy, but it already holds much promise considering that 30,000 items are being listed on the site and nay given day. According to specialists, the online market will grow even faster as internet access and reliable courier services become cheaper and more readily available.

Driving Instructor

Driving Instructor

What will I be doing?

            Teaching students how to drive and park their cars

What will I need to start?

            A professional driver’s license and lots of patience. If you prefer to teach in a driving school like A1 or Socialite, you’ll need to show your resume and if they hire you, they’ll endorse you to the Land Transportation Office to secure an instructor’s license. (Keep in mind, however, that you may hat to set your schedule according to what the driving school demands). If you decide to teach driving independently, you’ll have to provide your own car and promotional materials.

Who will my customer be?

            Usually, high school students and older people

How much should I charge?

            At A1 driving School the charges are P2,500 for five days, P3,500 for seven days, P5,000 for 10 days, and P7,500 for 15 days. Automatic driving courses cost P2,750 for five days, P3,850 for seven days, P5,500 for 10 days, and P8,250 for 15 days.

How much will I make?

            You’ll be getting a salary if you choose to teach in driving school. As an independent driving instructor, however, you’ll be paying for gas but you’re free to set your fees.

Nutritional Supplements seller

Nutritional Supplements seller

What will I be doing?

            Selling health enhancing products

What will I need to start?

            Familiarity with nutrition companies and their products. American firm Pharmanex (www.nuskin.com.ph), for instance, is said to be the leader in researching and developing phyto-pharmaceutical and nutritional products. Independent distributor Petite Apostol say Pharmanex works and earns like a franchise: you make a one-time payment to become a distributor. You’ll need no more than P20,000 in start-up capital if you intend to recruit salesmen, and that amount buys a distributor’s kit and the privilege of buying the company’s products at a discount. You’ll require no special skill, but it would help if you attended the presentations on the various products you’d be selling and the other sales seminars that the company offers regularly.

Who will my customer be?

            Anyone who wants to live a healthier lifestyle

How much should I charge?

            Pharmanex will give you the suggested prices of the products you’ll be selling. You’ll get these products at a discount, and all you have to do is implement the company’s business plan in selling them

How much will I make?

            Up to 58 percent on each product that sell for P1,000 to P5,000 each

Food Critic

Food Critic

What will I be doing?

            Reviewing restaurants or the food served in restaurants for publication in a newspaper or magazine.

What will I need to start?

            Knowledge of food and good writing skills. A film critic reviewing Hamlet or The Taming of the Shrew will have to know Shakespeare to do a good job, so if you’re a food critic savaging the fillet mignon served in a fine-dining restaurant, for instance, you’d better know what you’re talking about

Who will my customer be?

            Newspapers and magazines. Food writer Michaela Fenix (pinoyfood04@yahoo.com) says, however, that getting a break in these publications won’t come easy as they have their own food writers or contributors doing it for them. But write something truly remarkable and see what happens. You may surprise everyone yet including yourself!

How much should I charge?

            Regular writers get P500 to P1,200 per piece, while contributors receive P300 to P800. the fees charge according to the publishing company’s rates and the editor’s opinion of your piece.

How much will I make?

            The fees you receive as a beginner may not even pay for the food you ate and reviewed. It takes time to get noticed as a food critic, but persistence should work in your favor eventually. (The downside to being to famous a food critic is that restaurants tend to prepare something special for you when you visit, so you don’t get to review the real food they’re serving. You lose credibility.)

Clothes Stylist

Clothes Stylist

What will I be doing?

            Joining photo shoots to provide the clothes and required looks

What will I need to start?

            An eye for trends and a slew of accessories, designs, colors, and fabrics. You must also have the time: styling jobs are unpredictable and you are on call at any time; if you’re not available on the date and time required, you lose the job.

Who will my costumer be?

            Magazines, advertising agencies, and clients producing advertisements

How much should I charge?

            Professional stylist Cherry Pacheco Uy (www.cherrypachecouy.com) says thte minimum rate per day is P1,500 for editorial work and P5,000 for ads. But charges cost according to the number of looks required

How much will I make?

            From your professional fee, deduct 10% value added tax, transport and other expenses, and what’s left is your income for the day