I’ve been driving to and from Manila everyday since Tuesday and my mistake was I didn’t book a hotel stay so I could at least have a good night’s sleep. Because I needed to attend morning panel discussions, I had to wake up early everyday despite coming home late the previous day.

Why didn’t I book a room? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Ah because I wanted to bring home pasalubong to my kids.

Was all the driving worth it? Yes. On Tuesday I had back to back expos in different venues. The first one was great because I reconnected with the CEO whom I’ve been trying to locate for quite a while. My last interview with her was 10 years ago.

I also booked another interview but the CEO, who came from the land of bubblegum pop, took a lot of convincing from his Philippine distributor to grant me the interview. Because 1) he couldn’t speak English and 2) he couldn’t see the benefit of doing the interview. The problem with people from the land of bubblegum pop is that they’re stuck in a bubble. He needs this interview because he has NASDAQ ambitions. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Nobody in the US knows his company or his products. It’s not enough to carry his country’s flag and just call it a day. He needs to convince investors that he can deliver growth despite serving only 52 million people.

The second expo yielded me two stories and some for follow up. Some people I met were nice and one invited me to a monthly club meeting on Monday to meet more industry insiders. However, I have an interview on that same day so I won’t be able to make it to the number coding window.