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This is Coach Kano, and I’m here to give you, my fellow Filipinos (Kabayans), some insight into the plethora of resources, strategies, tools, and techniques available to assist you in becoming incredibly successful and wealthy. In the following paragraphs, I’ll give you a brief overview of my qualifications to ensure that you understand why I’m qualified to speak on this subject as an accomplished authority in the area under discussion. On my own path to success and happiness, I used the same information that I’ll be sharing with you on this website. Let me first explain what benefits you will receive from this free educational website and why you ought to bookmark this website and recommend it to your friends and family.
There are seven fields where the average Filipino can achieve enormous success and excel quite rapidly with very little to no formal training, and they are entrepreneurship, BPO (also known as call center agents), overseas employment, and assistants (e.g., executive, administrative, personal, and virtual). I am well-versed, and have a wealth of experience in all seven of these areas, which I will use as examples throughout this website to highlight some of my recommendations and viewpoints.
NOTE: I said, “with very little to no formal training.” This phrase does not, however, mean that you need no skills to work in these industries. Quite the contrary. In fact, if you want to excel in any field including the ones indicated above, specific skill sets are required. What I’m implying is that these professions don’t require any kind of “formal” education, like a college degree. The skill sets necessary in these areas can be obtained through self-study, whether it comes in the form of books, audio lectures, online courses, or websites like this one.
Career Coach Kano dot com has been built to assist my extended Filipino family achieve all of their business, career, and financial goals absolutely free. This website will never make an attempt to sell you anything, and we don’t need or desire your personal information like your email address, phone number, or such, as some purportedly “free” apps, platforms, companies, and the like do. We are not driven by clicks, likes, followers, or any other motivating factors other than the desire to help you, and all Filipinos achieve their personal and business development goals. This is not a business website, rather, it is an educational website free to all users designed, built, launched and will be updated frequently as a labor of love for my Filipino family. We, my team and I, hope that the knowledge, training, and tools you discover on this website will serve as a launching pad to catapult your career beyond your wildest expectations by opening your eyes up to the limitless opportunities that lay in front of you as a Filipino.
I have been working for more than 50 years, and am the founder and manager of my U.S.-based company for thirty-plus years. My expertise lies in business takeovers and turnarounds, which essentially means that I invest my own money in struggling companies to help them turn things around within 90 days or less. This willingness to assume all of the risks demonstrates to our clients that I am extremely confident in my company’s abilities as well as the results that we can produce.
Over the past three decades, my team and I have successfully saved over 1,000 businesses and hundreds of thousands of jobs. I share this with you not to impress you but rather to make it clear that I am speaking from personal experience. On this website, I will share with you as many of the tools, techniques, and resources as I possibly can to assist you in achieving all of your career goals.
To list all of the resources where I learned this knowledge would be unwieldy. It is literally impossible because the majority of the information I am going to share with you, I have learned from countless sources that essentially say the same thing but in various ways using their own experiences and examples to get their point across. Philosophers, Sages, Spiritual Leaders, Prophets, Authors of religious books, Professors, Scientists, Historians, Inspirational and Motivational scholars all rely on various aspects of this material that has been dated back as far as 1000 BC to teach their students. I have used it in my own life and I will only share with you what has worked for me. To help you get started on your path to success, I’ll skip all the extraneous information and get right to the point.
I want to reassure you that a formal education is not a prerequisite to success. Although, you must be educated. I dropped out of school in 9th grade for financial reasons (Does this sound familiar?) and went to work full time with a permit from the government because I was legally too young to work a full-time job even though I have worked full-time ever since I was 8 years old after school, and all day every Saturday and Sunday. I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think that just because of your age, race, gender, education, last name, height, or whatever else you may have been led to believe, you’ll never be financially prosperous. This is hogwash. If you really want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to acquire the necessary knowledge to be successful in any field. The internet has a plethora of free educational resources where you can study and learn anything you need to know about any business, career, subject and so forth, including books, programs, and even college curriculums. If it has been done, someone has written a “how-to” book on the subject. Confucius said, “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.” Once you know what you don’t know, learn it.
I too have obtained an education this way that has been invaluable to me over the years. For the past forty-five years, I have spent a minimum of two hours every day reading, listening to educational, inspirational, and motivational programs, taking online courses, and attending workshops, seminars, and lectures on subjects that I have an interest in. So even though my formal education stopped when I dropped out of my freshman year of high school, I continued to advance my education. The beautiful thing about learning this way is you too can focus solely on the material where your interest lay.
For brevity, I am going to focus only on the seven industries that I have experience in: Entrepreneurship, BPO, OFWs, and the four Assistants. I opened a call center here in the Philippines about 15 years ago and I have employed numerous personal assistants, executive assistants, administrative assistants, and virtual assistants, so I have a lot of experience in all of these industries. However, the majority of what I am going to teach you—at least 90%—will be interchangeable and can be applied to any industry, including starting and running your own business. Do not be deterred if your specific industry is not listed, because business is business, most businesses require the same skill sets to start and run successfully, and applying for jobs is the same process regardless of the employment. Simply replace the word assistant, with plumber, carpenter, farmer, nurse, teacher, attorney, doctor, engineer, and so on.
Another reason why I opted to use these seven industries as examples is because call centers have been around for decades and there are no better candidates to fill this space than Filipinos. There also has been a recent explosion in the emerging industry of virtual assistants here in the Philippines. When you work as an assistant, you get paid well, don’t have to leave your family or, in certain situations, go to an office, and you can pick up a lot of free knowledge that can benefit you in your own business ventures. Overseas workers contribute an enormous amount of revenue to the Philippines’ economy. However, working overseas can be either heaven or hell depending on your skill sets, your ability to speak English and at what level, your research skills and how well you do your homework before applying abroad, negotiating skills, etc.
A college degree does not guarantee you a good position or a high wage when going abroad. I have seen thousands of well-educated Filipinos sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets in foreign countries. When it comes to working abroad, having the appropriate skills, doing your research, and understanding the mindset of your employer can be the game changer as to whether you land the job of your dreams or the job of your worst nightmare. Lastly, but most importantly, is entrepreneurship. Filipinos are naturally born entrepreneurs, starting businesses as small as selling peso candy to multi-billion dollar enterprises. With the right coaching/guidance, tools and techniques the average Filipino can easily compete on the global stage. To quote a Buddhist proverb, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”. Think of me, Coach Kano, as your own personal career coach.
When it comes to employment, be crystal clear as to what exactly is going to be expected of you, and if you do not understand, make sure you have someone interpret for you. Filipinos have a tendency to respond with a resounding “yes, yes, yes” to everything even if they don’t fully comprehend hardly anything being said and sometimes, even when they do understand, but don’t want to disappoint the other person. Accepting a job that is not a good fit for you will only end up making you miserable and the employer will be dumbfounded as to why you are unhappy and not performing as well as you claimed in the interview. The employer can only make decisions on what you tell them, employers are not mind readers, if you tell them yes, they assume you mean…yes.
If you are unsure or have any doubts whatsoever, decline the offer and continue your job search. The employer will respect you more for your honesty and not wasting his or her time and may even offer you another position, one more suited to your skillsets, or even may give you a referral to apply with someone he or she knows who needs your skills. Either way, politely decline the offer and move on. There are millions of jobs out there and if you put forth the effort, you’ll find the perfect job for you. In short, don’t say yes to a job sweeping floors or cleaning toilets unless you will be happy sweeping floors and cleaning toilets.
While I am on the subject, if you choose a job that requires sweeping floors and/or cleaning toilets, remember, you chose to take that job. No one forced you. As I stated in the previous paragraph, there are millions of jobs available. Don’t tell people, “I had to take it for my family,” or, “I needed the money,” or any other lame excuse. Don’t blame your family, the employer or your circumstances. Accept responsibility for your decisions, good and bad. Everyone in the world has made bad decisions, the losers complain and blame, the winners, make a correction, and move on looking for bigger and better opportunities. The losers find comfort from like-minded people, complainers, and blamers, and the winners find success because they have the right attitude and always say to themselves, “If it is going to be, it is up to me.” This is a winner’s creed. Stay focused on the goal, your good decisions, and put the bad decisions in the past where they belong.
If you accepted the job as a gateway to a better job, then make sure you go into the job with a game plan and exit strategy in advance. For example, there are many Filipinos who accept jobs overseas in hopes of obtaining better employment, and in some scenarios, that pans out to be a sensible decision. However, there are instances where there is no upward movement and the worker gets stuck in that job as a career, and if that happens, don’t get depressed, or complain, instead, make a new decision to either change jobs or learn how to sweep and clean toilets better than anyone else which will leave your employer with only one option, he or she will have to move you into a management position within your department. There is always a way if you have the right attitude.
One last thing on the subject of sweeping floors and cleaning toilets. Early in my entrepreneur career I acquired four brick-and-mortar businesses with several partners. My investment was, “sweat equity”, which meant I had no capital in the investment but I was the one who found the deal, put the partners together, negotiated the contracts, and ran the day-to-day operations. Put simply, I was the workhorse. It was a service-based business and had large restrooms for the customers. I made it a point to put my name on the list of bathroom attendant schedules every week so my teams would see that I too, swept floors and cleaned toilets at least once a day, so why shouldn’t they if the owner was willing to do the same. There is nothing wrong with sweeping floors and cleaning toilets once in a while especially if it is a bridge you must cross to get where you want to go. However, I am not here to assist you in finding a low-paying job but to educate you on how to secure the job of your dreams and how to keep it for as long as you desire.
Call Centers and Virtual Assistants, in my opinion, should be dominated by Filipinos who live here at home in order to boost the country’s economy. Both are multibillion-dollar businesses. The Philippines can easily compete on a global scale with nations like Singapore, Japan, India, Taiwan, and Thailand. My wife and I frequently travel abroad, and every time, when we go to a hotel or a restaurant, the locals scramble to find the closest Filipino to accommodate us, answer all of our questions and/or address our issues.
Filipinos speak English better than any other country’s citizens throughout Asia. This is an undeveloped asset the Filipino people as well as the government should capitalize on. When in business (and countries must be run like a business), play to your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses.
Additionally, it should be noted that all seven of these fields have very few limitations when it comes to hiring, such as no college degree necessary, no minimum height requirement, no major investment, very little to no expenses, and in most cases, they do not discriminate against most disabilities because the main requirement for employment is the ability to speak English, and most Filipinos speak some English and can easily work on getting better at speaking the language. Therefore, employment opportunities are limitless for most Filipinos.
I have only mentioned seven industries out of thousands, and maybe even millions as I have some experience in these industries. Aside from call centers and virtual assistants, there are countless additional industries that are in desperate need of entrepreneurs and overseas workers that speak English effectively, are responsible, educated, have the necessary skill sets, and so on. If it is a business looking for English speaking workers, they should look no further than the Philippines.
Most of my adult life, I have operated and managed my business from a home office decades before it was in vogue after COVID-19. I have never been one to waste time and I consider it an enormous waste of time getting up, spending half an hour getting dressed, driving through traffic for 30 minutes to an hour to get to the office while mostly getting irritated with the other drivers, and then finally arriving there only to be accosted by ten employees who need to share something with me that could have been handled on a call while I was in the car for an hour, stuck in traffic.
In other words, going to and from an office building is a waste of time, money, and energy unless you run a firm where clients frequently visit your office. I much prefer having an office in my home where I can go to work right away and continue working until I’m worn out and ready to call it a night and head to bed. I figured that I extend my workday by a minimum of two hours per day by working from home. Since I work seven days a week, that gives me fourteen more hours per week and fifty-six hours per month. I garner 1.5 extra weeks per month that I can invest into growing my company by working from my home office.
It is important to state that I absolutely love my job, I love working, I enjoy what I do and I’m able to work my family life around my work life. Due to my blended lifestyle, I have always had many assistants. Currently, I have an executive assistant who has worked for me for more than 8 years here in the Philippines but has married an American and now resides in the States which makes her a virtual executive assistant. My administrative assistant who has worked for me for more than 30 years has been a virtual administrative assistant for twenty-two of those thirty-plus years. I also employ a few different assistants here in the Philippines whom I categorize as personal assistants.
Another administrative assistant just got married to an American and is now leaving me after working with me for 11 years. However, she too, will become a virtual assistant. In summary, assistants come and go, but some stay for a considerable amount of time. When they do decide to leave, they do so with employable skills, and those who are genuinely committed, get promoted and, if they so desire, enjoy lengthy, secure, financially fulfilling careers.
With that said, I have always employed personal and executive assistants. Today, due to various medical issues that I need to manage, I now have far more than I ever have in the past. For brevity, I have a couple of health issues that make it more challenging for me to accomplish all of the things that I need to do each day. Because of these conditions, I require a lot of assistance to be able to accomplish the things that I was once able to do on my own. However, even with all of my assistants, there are still a number of daily tasks I wish to achieve but am unable to.
I normally do the work of 10 people since I am an expert in my field and the only person in my company who has the specialized expertise required to run the business, normally, it takes 15 or 20 people to do all of the things that I want to accomplish. So here in the Philippines, I am always looking to hire and develop good personal assistants.
Over the years, I’ve had hundreds apply, one-tenth of which my team and I wanted to interview, and only about 2% of that 10% actually show up for the interview. I always try to find some kind of employment for those who show up and have the desire and a positive attitude, whether it is as a housekeeper, cook, or such, even if they do not have the necessary abilities as I want to give as many people an opportunity as possible. However, most of the time our gut instinct is correct. As an employer, I want (just as most employers want) employees who are happy, positive, motivated, excited, strong, independent, punctual, intelligent (good common sense), lovers of learning, project finishers, are ambitious, not afraid to take risks, innovative, and in my case, must speak a little English.
These qualities are simple for applicants to claim, but they usually struggle to uphold, and since most applicants aren’t trained properly in the field in advance, i.e., have no prior experience, they frequently fall short when it comes to their overall performance. Sadly, this results in them getting frustrated causing them to resign without the resolve to stay with the job long enough to learn the skillsets. Today, that will no longer be the case because anyone can come to this website and get the necessary education to secure a great job and keep it for as long as they wish.
English, and having the ability to communicate in English, is one of the Filipinos’ most valuable assets, and this asset must be nurtured. Written English is far less important than when it is spoken or used in conversation. Stop listening to those who call you Maarte or Mafeeling, ignore those who say, “nosebleed” as a mock when you speak in English, and stop obsessing on poor grammar. Let aspiring teachers worry about those specifics. Just start speaking in English right now and don’t stop for no one. English speaking and communication skills are marketable skills in Asia and throughout the world, so start increasing your value today. Let it be known, as many of my assistants have seen firsthand, if you traveled to the United States tomorrow, most of the people there (including native born Americans) misuse the English language and a vast number of immigrants don’t even know how to speak the language at all. Ignore the critics; no plaque or monument has ever been erected in their honor. Instead, begin speaking in English.
English is not the most spoken language, nor is it the most beautiful. English, however, is the language of business. In years to come, that may change, but for now, that’s a fact. Chinese is the most spoken, and to me, Spanish is the most beautiful, but if you want to increase your value to businesses and/or conduct business internationally for yourself or represent someone else, learn English. My own Fil-Am children speak English as their first language, but I insisted that they learn Filipino and their provincial dialect because I want them to have every opportunity available to succeed. The simplest approach to improve your English skills and boost your confidence is being around people who speak in English. Chat rooms, movies, music, engaging in English-speaking chats with other Filipinos, and whenever you can, speaking with as many foreigners as you can will help you feel at ease in a conversation.
I usually need a few capable people standing in line to fill in when others leave because assistants come and go so frequently, but occasionally, I get lucky and have some stay for several years, including one who has been here for eleven years. I am proud to say that the majority of the ones who do leave, do so for bigger and better opportunities. Others leave because they get married, some even marry foreigners and relocate abroad, as is the case as I write this article.
Four of my assistants are marrying Americans and will be leaving over the next six months. Sadly, a lot leave because they lack the skill set, discipline or the ambition needed for that line of work. Although the starting pay is always low, the perks, education and opportunities are stupendous. One of my assistants, for instance, who has worked for me for eight years, built her own home, purchased a plot of land to construct a rental property, spent six months in the United States, earns over one million pesos annually, has visited about eight different countries, met an American with whom she is now married, and has relocated to the United States. Two of the other assistants who will be leaving for the States have also earned over a half million pesos per year and will soon earn over one million per year when they relocate to the States. But these assistants are hyper-focused on their future, they listened, learned, and applied a lot of what I taught them. These are merely the accounts of current personal assistants; throughout the years, this scenario has played out numerous times. As you can see, even if you are an assistant, this career can be very lucrative and fulfilling if you are ambitious, and motivated to put in the effort.
My experience with owning a call center in the province was challenging at best. Turnover is rampant with personal assistants but it is absurd with call center agents. Everyone has this misconception of the call center business as being a wild and crazy lifestyle and sadly, it can be. I, on the other hand, only like to work with people who are motivated by success and have the discipline to leave their vices behind. Many applicants would apply expecting outrageous salaries, even though they had no experience other than perhaps 3 months of unsuccessful training in Manila. I used to laugh when someone was so Mafeeling because they worked in a call center in Manila only to find out that they didn’t even pass the training period. Simply speaking in English and selling products and services in English to Americans are two complete different skills. When you learn English and couple that skill with a host of other business and personal development skills, together they will give you the ability to sell products and services to Americans and once you master professional sales skills (which I will be teaching on this site), your earning potential will have no limits. This is not an exaggeration. If a “professional salesperson” is able to sell a product that they genuinely believe in, they can make millions of dollars (not pesos) per year.
The majority of self-made millionaires in the United States are professional salespeople, not athletes, not movie stars, not doctors, not attorneys, and no, not politicians either. Of course all of these professions have their fair share of millionaires and yes, athletes and movie stars’ wealth are more public for all to see but the largest group of self-made millionaires come from one group―professional salespeople.
I can’t tell you how many times fellow Americans have complained to me about calling a company’s customer care line only to speak with someone who has such a strong accent that they are unable to understand what is being said. Filipinos are lucky in this regard because the Filipino accent is as lovely and pleasant as the people themselves; even so, they must continue to hone their craft. A call center representative must sharpen their tool—English—just like a carpenter sharpens his tools. I spent a lot of time working one-on-one training with my best agents and as soon as I thought to myself, “He or she, is getting good,” the agent would be on the first bus to Manila in search of greener pastures.
I never understood why they preferred the optics of working in Manila over the earning and learning potential of working in the province as a sales agent. I guess it was the lure of the big city lifestyle that was more alluring than the less appealing study and hard work everyday life in the province. Although it was incredibly frustrating, I always was happy for the person because I knew in some small way I improved his or her life. However, had they remained persistent, they may have amassed a fortune in a few years and traveled to Manila in elegance, living in a suite as opposed to a bed space. I eventually closed the call center since I simply didn’t have the time or patience to continuously train new employees for the call centers in Manila. So on this site, I will do my best to provide you with the proper training you need to land a great job in the BPO industry if that is your career choice.
Note: The best things in life are free, things like family, love, laughter, connection, joy, gratitude—all of these are free. You can even get a free education by simply going to the library or going online. This education is being given to you absolutely free as well, but nothing free will ever benefit you if you don’t work hard and put in the effort. All of those things that seem to be free like love, requires one or more individuals working on the relationship and if only one is doing the heavy lifting, the love will soon be lost. Family takes more than one person contributing. I’ll provide you with the education but you are going to have to work, implement and apply the things that I teach you. They’re not going to just miraculously happen. However, if you make a conscious decision to improve your status in life, you will start to notice small things happening in your life. In the beginning, they could seem small, but as time goes on, they’ll grow bigger and bigger. Eventually, it will work like compound interest, and your successes will increase exponentially.
However, this will only happen if, and when, you apply yourself. I have always said, “Prayer without perspiration is futile,” so do something today towards your goals. Learn one new thing and implement it right now. Don’t expect instant gratification. Life doesn’t work that way. Just as in farming, there is a season for planting and a season for harvesting, and the rest of the time is spent on cultivating, which are less glamorous tasks like fertilizing, weeding, hoeing, watering, and so forth. However, if these tasks are neglected, there will never be a harvest. Similarly to the careers of those who change jobs frequently and ignore the laws of nature, those employees and entrepreneurs who are unwilling to plant and cultivate, will inevitably pay the price by never realizing their full earning potential, their potential within their chosen careers, or their potential as an investor or business owner.
Nothing in this educational series is difficult, however, you will only get out of it what you put into it. There are certain laws of nature that you just cannot change and in life, you will only get what you give. If you sincerely have the desire to succeed, you are not afraid of hard work, and you are willing to put in all the necessary effort, you, too, can become one of the few in the top 5%. I once read that the socio-economic classes were similar to a pyramid, with the base being the widest representing the lowest income earners and the top being the narrowest representing the highest income earners. The closer you get to the top, the cleaner the air is, the better the view is, and the less congested it is. I sincerely hope you are one of those that I will see at the top. I wish you the best of luck and am looking forward to your success.
All Filipinos are welcome to utilize this website for personal growth at no cost. This program is in the development phase and will be updated frequently over the next couple of years. A lot of the tabs do not have content at this point, but all of the tabs that are present have material that is being developed for you and will be uploaded to the site as soon as it is done. In addition to what is already designed for the site, we will be providing a wealth of other business, career, and inspiring, educational, and motivational information periodically. The majority of websites are designed to either sell you something or collect your data so they can sell it to other companies. Not this site. This site is a labor of love designed to empower my Kabayans!
In life, there comes a time when you must make it a point to give back to society and help the next generations in achieving their life goals. This website is designed to give Filipinos the edge they need to shine in the competitive world of business. I know what I look for in an employee, partner, vendor and even a friend, and I can assure you that they are the same qualities most business people seek. On this website, I will provide you with a myriad of business concepts, ideas, tools, techniques, disciplines, and resources to help you become an indispensable asset for any employer, or even better, help you become a successful entrepreneur.
Although I have concentrated on seven distinct fields, the majority of the information on this page is interchangeable and may be used in countless professions and/or scenarios. I strongly suggest you read as much of the material as you can and to visit this website as often as you like to review any information that piques your interest or may one day become relative to your situation. We will do our best to date the new material to make the updates easier to find and you should also check the “What’s New” tab from time to time. Use this website as a tool to help you achieve everything you want out of life. Remember: If you can conceive it, and you believe in it, you can achieve it!
Enjoy every minute of your success journey!
Wishing you enormous success and happiness,
Your career coach,
Coach Kano
*If you are looking for a job/career, and would like to apply as one of my personal assistants, please click on the “Contact Us” Tab on the menu to the left and follow the instructions. Thank you.