What Comes After Success? Catch Up June 2021

Here’s an update of what I do and explore in the past 5 months since I last posted a catch-up blog.

I notice I do this catch-up blog every 4-6 months but today is a little special because I am writing this while I am on a vague short-term vision of the future which is the first time. I usually have a concrete plan or direction in business and life in general.

Quote/s I Ponder

“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition, you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” – Orison Swett Marden

What I have accomplished

• Our new office.

• New Business Process Automation Projects – A university, an electronics manufacturing company, and a couple of small retail and distribution companies.
• Full business process automation guide online content.

• Music – playing and singing online live stream gigs every other Saturday. Studied and played hit songs from the 60s to 90s.

• My children’s major life milestones – Fiona’s 18th birthday, Charles’ 13th birthday and Isabela’s 7th birthday

What I’m working on.

• Human resource, timekeeping, and payroll process guide online content.
• Sales Calls (Hot Leads) – Agriculture, fishing, another electronics manufacturing, car parts, retail supermarket, and a couple more.
• Music – continue doing live stream gigs while working on my first original song and documenting songs that resonated with me since I first learned to play the guitar.

Exercise/workout and nutrition that I try

• Hired coach Alex who specializes in HIIT and cross fit.

• Got a new bike and a bike trainer so I can keep on moving while working from home and bond with my brothers every Sunday.

• Got back to a high-protein, low-carb diet.
• Tried supplements to boost my metabolism, such as Kelp, Acetyl L-carnitine, Yerba Mate tea and Brazil nuts.
• Started doing ice baths at least once a week. 

Songs I listen and play

• Music from the 2000s to present

Movies and shows I watch

• Watching Rambo movies with my son
• Spiral 2021 with Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson

Interesting YouTube videos I have been watching

• Dr. Andrew Huberman – all about Neuroscience
• Rick Beato – Everything Music

Books I Read and Other Interests

• I have not read any book in the past 5 months which is odd.

Podcasts I listen to

• Marketing School with Neil Patel and Eric Siu
• Gary Vaynerchuck Podcast
• Social Media Marketing with Michael Steltzner

Things I Ponder

I wanna be honest. I have been struggling in setting my direction in the past couple of weeks due to so many opportunities and knowing myself, it is difficult for me to function if my direction is not set.

Things got easier since many of us work from home and since I got the best partners and team in the company right now that I have been dreaming to have since I started the business 20 years ago.

We were able to survive amid the pandemic and we were able to set executable plans in our commitments to clients and our team. So far, we’ve been meeting our business goals and KPIs in the past months and I am grateful.

But from the title of this writing, what comes after success?

We tend to procrastinate when things are easy. To me, the key to overcoming procrastination is to bombard yourself with so many things and set strict deadlines that you don’t have time to procrastinate.  

But the question is, what are the things that I should bombard myself with? What is my new vision? What is the direction?  

To be frank, my vision and direction probably were altered since I rekindled my relationship with music.

Don’t get me wrong I still have the desire to provide small businesses a guide in their digital transformation and business process automation and I still work with my team in delivering our promise to our audience but things probably just slowed down.   

On the other hand, I have a strong itch in expressing myself through music.

Am I struggling with imposter syndrome? I don’t know.

Going back to the quote that I ponder above, life goes on. Real success is not measured by wealth, accomplishments, and material things that you have.

It is when you overcome your struggle within so I guess it is time to face this head-on.

What’s my new vision and direction?  I believe it’s okay to revisit your purpose or your mission from time to time. But that one thing that should be cast in stone is your core values.

I am going to break this down from top to bottom on the fly while I write this (kinda like a mini strategic plan)

Here are my core values (these are literally tattooed on my back)

1. Excellence in everything that I do

2. Integrity – doing things and living life the right way all the time.

3. Resilience – get up and fight mentality amid the adversity

4. Competence – never stop learning and improving.

5. Creativity – never stop innovating

HCore, Inc (Hilsoft)

Mission – help small to medium-size businesses (SMEs) in their digital transformation and business process automation.

Provide free content about all aspects of digital transformation and business process automation.

Provide quality but affordable software products for Filipino SMEs.

Develop a tribe of people and software engineers who will help us deliver our promise to our customers and audience.

Vision – be a top-of-mind organization in learning digital transformation and business process automation measured by the most number of engagements in major online platforms and team turnover.

Strategies and Action Plan

• A written free article, template, or tool about the digital transformation at least once a week.
• Short-form video and photo free content at least 3 times a week
• One long-form video and podcast at least once a month
• Online course and/or free webinars at least once every quarter.
• New product or product feature enhancement at least twice a year.
• Consistent internal process improvement and service delivery reviews.
• Consistent KPI performance reviews and team satisfaction activities and rewards.

Music Purpose – Share and document songs and music that resonated with me since I was 13 hoping to inspire young people.

Provide online live music every other Saturday as free entertainment.

Stimulate my creativity through writing original songs and/or arranging cover songs.

So What Comes After Success?

I am going to make it simple. Set new milestones that will stimulate your core values.

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