The call center or BPO industry is a stepping stone to bigger income-earning opportunities.
Here’s a complete list of ideas that will help you see different possibilities on how to make call center money work for you instead of you working for money forever.
If you work for an international call center with a starting pay of 16-18k per month.
After two years you can apply in a call center company that offers 21-25k per month.
In two to three years, call center work can be a stepping stone to greater things.
Personally, I don’t recommend staying at call center work for longer than three years because of health risks.
People who stay in call center companies longer than 5 years tend to die sooner.
That’s actually true because of health and occupational risk.
If you’re smart with how you spend your money, you can:
If you are not smart with your money you can spend it all on:
Moderation is key.
You need to enjoy life and build a future that you want.
The wise thing is usually the harder thing.
Did you notice that the people who studied well in school have higher incomes than people who didn’t? That’s a big clue right there.
A good plan and the willingness to make some sacrifices often lead to success.
Just spending your money and waiting for payday is a recipe for disaster.
When we were all younger we received an allowance from our parents.
When we got older, we got this thing called a job that seems to have replaced our parents when it comes to how we get our money.
It’s a pretty sweet deal if you think about it.
You have to do some chores for your employer and you got paid.
Because we now get our money from jobs and previously from our parents, we somehow expect our employers to act like our parents.
Somehow we still see companies like our parents.
We please our bosses and they take care of us.
They grant us favors as they see us working hard.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Companies, even call center companies are businesses.
The primary business of a call center is to make money.
A call center pays it’s agents a specific amount and bills their clients a higher amount.
It is in their interest to pay you within a range from as low as an agent is willing to accept to as high as they can (within the boundaries of their budget) to keep the agent happy.
It might sound wicked but that’s how it goes and it’s not all that bad.
Now that you know the rules, your goal is to make the rules work for you and not against you.
Your financial well being is not their concern and nor should you depend your financial future on anyone but yourself.
I’m not about to preach how to gain financial freedom.
I’m not going to ask you to save and invest millions of pesos because it’s not going to work out doing so in a call center.
Unless you see call center life as your calling forever and ever I don’t recommend staying in a call center for very long.
The objective has always been to build up resources and use the job as a stepping stone for bigger things as I have seen many people do.
Define your expenses by listing down everything you spend on a daily basis for a month.
Budgets are complicated, confusing and I’ll stop there those are the two reasons why I have a hard time and often don’t follow a budget.
It’s just too complicated to start.
Here’s an alternate, just write a list of expenses for two reasons.
Reason one, to familiarize yourself with exactly how much you spend.
Reason two, the record enables you to make wiser spending decisions in the future because you know where you overspend and also where you underspend.
After one week define your recurring daily expenses and apply the allowance method.
What the hell is the allowance method?
I noticed that I had the most money in my life back when I was in college.
I got to eat where I wanted to eat, I got to buy the toys that I’d like, I’d get to treat my friends every now and then and I’d get to buy gifts for my crush.
This method enables you to add some freedom and at the same time have some extra and teach you that you don’t need to spend all your money by payday.
An emergency fund is simply some money that you set aside for important events.
Most financial planners tell you that it should be worth six months or one year of your income.
If you follow the textbook definition you’ll look at it and say you’re screwed.
Fuck that.
I propose an alternate.
Going back to your allowance method I recommend doing a gradual approach to doing it.
Here’s how.
Your emergency fund defines how long you can live without an income.
If you look back and apply the allowance method, you will notice that you are not using your full income to survive.
You can decide to build up your emergency fund on a scale that suits you.
Make it your goal to build few targets first and grow it as you form habits and build confidence.
It is important that you don’t increase the money you are putting away until you are confident that you are not starving yourself.
Our goal is to build a small amount of extra money and form good money habits so that you will eventually grow that money into a significant amount so you can use it for what’s important to you in the future.
Let’s go to the next step so I can explain better.
I’m out of time but I have a lot more to share.
I’ll post updates soon.
If you’re working in a call center there’s a good chance that you make extra money.
You pay your bills.
You can eat good food.
You have some extra leftover.
That’s perfect.
What do you do with the extra?
People eat out a lot and go drinking.
I don’t recommend this.
This is going to be a post on how to spend your hard-earned call center money based on my mistakes and experiences.
1. Networking.
Not a good idea.
You spend money and kidnap friends to attend a seminar so they can buy products to start a business and repeat the process.
2. Investment scams.
I don’t need to explain this.
Just don’t do it.
I don’t care how much money your friend makes.
How you make your money is more important than how much money you will make.
3. Drinking with friends.
It’s okay every now and then but if you find yourself drinking every week or every payday there is something wrong with your priorities.
4. The most expensive cellphone.
Don’t buy a Samsung galaxy shit.
It’s a waste of money. It’s worth nothing next year.
You are better off buying an old iPhone. Don’t give me shit like android has better specs than iPhone.
That is a lie.
Learn to read and study.
Don’t be stupid.
5. Loans.
You are not a bank.
Don’t loan your friends and relatives money.
They will not pay you.
Invest in yourself first.
Give people money if they need it but don’t expect it back.
That way you’ll never be disapointed.
The biggest scam in a call center is “Pautang and I’ll give you my ATM as collateral.” If they’re not willing to give something valuable like their smartphone, laptop, car, house title, etc, then they are not sincere in their need and are only out to swindle you.
Don’t ask why.
I don’t know either.
They just do.
1. Building an emergency fund.
You need money in the bank for emergencies.
Imagine the person that you care about the most.
Do you have money to take them to the hospital?
How about the money for their funeral? I just tried to trigger your emotions but you get the idea.
Typically you need 3-6months of expenses and you can grow that.
2. Buy a laptop.
If you want to start a business or to work from home you need a good laptop.
I recommend saving up for a Mac but that might be out of your budget. Start with an okay one and upgrade later.
3. Upgrade you home.
Buy a nicer bed, some pillows.
Always remember if you spend time on something regularly you are allowed to upgrade it.
I spend a lot of time writing so buying a nicer laptop is good for me.
We all spend 8 hours in bed so a nicer bed is a good investment.
4. Upgrade your mind.
Buy books.
Take classes.
Learn a skill.
The best investment is one where you invest in yourself.
I don’t mean your clothes.
I mean yourself.
5. Upgrade your body.
A healthy body will enable a healthy mind.
Go to the gym.
Eat healthy food.
Get enough sleep.
The call center job is a good opportunity to prepare yourself for the higher things in life.
Please do not waste it.
One day there will be no call center jobs.
When it does it will be a little harder.
Call center companies pay a little higher than regular jobs that pay minimum wage.
Please take advantage of the opportunity.
Do you have a wise way to spend call center money?
Share it with me and I’ll add it here.
Thank you for reading this far and thanks for your attention.
I am praying for your success. God bless!
If you made it this far, you should introduce yourself.
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