NewMax Opens its Door

On the first (Fri)day of the 8th month of the 8th year of the millennium, NewMax opened its door. After two weeks of construction; and one week of cleaning, and buying office equipment, appliances, furniture and other office paraphernalia, the office was ready to be blessed.

The door was opened at 8AM when Manny and our eldest son, Jog, who will manage the business welcomed our first 6 card specialists. Jog briefed them on NewMax's core values (integrity, accuracy and efficiency, fairness), NewMax's business (Citibank credit card acquisition) and sales techniques (including the telemarketing spiels). Manny listened in and interjected too emphasizing the core values and managing their expectations. Manny later told me that he was so impressed with the way Jog conducted the training because he was so organized in his presentation. It clearly showed how well he prepared for it.

Around 1PM, I went to the office and met my best friends from college (Imelda, Myrna and Tessie) and Philamlife (Linda) who had expressed interest in direct selling the Citibank cards too. Jog conducted product knowledge training for them. Around 2:30 PM, Fr. Rico Sabanal, the priest from Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Parish, arrived with his assistant. He then celebrated the mass and in his own disarmingly modest way gave a very meaningful homily. He opened by saying that running a businesss can be very stressful. But it's very helpful to the community because of the employment opportunities it provides. So it was good that NewMax started its business with a mass and a blessing. He then recounted first-hand accounts of the good things that happened to people who prayed. He ended by wishing us success.

After the mass and the blessing, we had a simple merienda of baked macaroni, embutido, chicken potato salad and rhum cake which were all deliciously prepared by our long-time cook, Marissa. We had around 30 guests and many of them were involved in setting up the business. Just as it takes a village to take care of a sick patient, it takes a village to open a business. So we would like to thank the following:

Ryan - Tif's classmate in UA&P who is in the same business and encouraged us to go into it and guided us along the way;

Tanchi - Jog's classmate in Ateneo who prepared our incorporation papers;

Pancho - Jog's classmate in Ateneo who designed the NewMax logo;

James - my son-in-law who designed our business and ID cards;

Nancy - my cousin who is a VP at Citibank and referred us to Francis Caberoy, Citibank AVP and our channel manager;

Boy - Manny's brother who advised us on our accounting practices;

Sof - Tif's girlfriend who owns the building where we are leasing our office at a very good rate;

Mayo - my brother who advised us on the construction and provided the manpower to construct our office;

Gina - my sister who "sold" her ref, microwave and executive chair for a song;

Cora - my highschool batchmate who helped us secure our BIR registration;

Imelds - my college buddy who aranged for the mass and the blessing by Fr. Rico Sabanal; and

My mom and mother-in law for praying for the success of our business.

If you wish to get a Citibank credit card, direct sell the card, and/or refer someone who would like to sell or get the card, please call Jog at 439-5251 or send him an email at jogcabugao@newmaxservices.com. Even if you already have credit cards, you may wish to consider the Shell Citi VISA which gives you a 5% rebate on your Shell fuel purchases and 0.5% on your non-fuel purchases, Citi Premier Miles which earns you points on all your purchases redeemable with over 70 participating airlines, and Mercury Drug Citi which provides a 2% rebate on your purchases at Mercury Drug, 10% discount for your hospitalization expenses at Medical City, and various discounts at participating medical/dental/optical/wellness clinics. At any rate, we would greatly appreciate your prayers for the success of our business.

Here are pictures of our office, the mass and the blessing.