Anton Diaz

Anton Diaz, the man behind one of the most respected (if not the best) and well-recognized food and travel blog in the Philippines shares with us his success story. Having been in the blogging and internet media industry since 2005, he knows exactly how to maintain presence and grow online businesses with a wonderful number of followers.

Anton who also teaches Professional Blogging and Internet Marketing at the Asian Institute of Management and also conducts a 90-day coaching program called Maven Secrets, is a man of whom many Filipino and Asian online marketers look up to for advice.

As the father of three boys and the husband to wife, Rache he enjoys what he does every minute of the way. He sees blogging and writing as a way to document their family lives and also as a way to bond with his young family.

One of the many awards that Anton has received includes being recognized as Go Negosyo’s Inspiring Young Filipino Entrepreneur Award in 2010. However, he truly believes that being able to witness some of the most memorable moments in the Philippine history such as seeing the first Filipino to ever climb the Mt. Everest (Romi Garduce, his own friend), the early beginnings ofCarlos Celdran’s Intramuros Tour and Ivan Man Dy’s Chinatown Tour along with seeing his prediction of two food craze/s in the Philippines become a reality, the frozen yogurt and the cupcake are what makes him feel even more “awesome” each day.

Anton believes that living an awesome life should be the way to live.

This is his story:

AMS:  Tell us about yourself. Your education, training and where you are currently involved in.

Anton: I am Anton Diaz and I am the founder of Our Awesome Planet. I graduated with a BS Electronics and Communication Engineering and trained for more than twelve years with Procter and Gamble (P&G), Multinational Company. I was the Chief Information Officer of Procter & Gamble Philippines when I finally quit my day job and decided to take my blog, Our Awesome Planet,to the next level in 2008. I now blog full time in Our Awesome Planet and run the successful weekend market called, Mercato Centrale at the Bonifacio Global City.

AMS:  Tell us about how you become involved in your current project and its mission?

Anton: I started Our Awesome Planet, OAP for short, in January 2005 after the big Tsunami that hit South East Asia and before my first son Aidan was born inAsianHospital.

In those times, the art of blogging is new. The only thing going for me is my love of photography and my love of anything related with technology. I am not a writer (at that time). The only things I ever wrote were my engineering related papers ( I am an Electronic Communications Engineering graduate) and project related documentations in P&G. At the onset, the only thing on my mind is to write for my newborn son, Aidan, a little bit of his parent’s history and his childhood days.

My blog, Our Awesome Planet, is now a well-respected food and travel blog in the Philippines with over 31,000+ followers and 7,800+ readers, and keeps on growing. My advocacy is to promote Philippine tourism  by sharing  “Food and Travel Secrets in the Philippines”and to inspire Filipinos to realize that living in the Philippines is truly awesome!

I named it Our Awesome Planet because I felt that the Lonely Planet Guide was not representing the Philippines very well. I wanted to share food and travel discoveries in the Philippinesthat was never published before. I also felt that “Lonely” was a little negative so I branded the blog with a more positive twist, thus — Our Awesome Planet.

AMS:  What is your vision of these projects?

Anton: Essentially all my projects are aimed to inspire and enable my readers to live an awesome life.

AMS:  Who or what inspired you to be who you are? Have you always been involved in similar projects?

Anton: A lot of people have been asking me why I blog. I wrote an entry on this topic in my blog post: Why Blog? In a gist, OAP is a written dedication to our sons, Aidan and Joshua, so that they would have a documented history of their childhood. I hope that through these pages, our family’s adventure and significant milestones are immortalized. I still can’t forget the first time we brought Aidan to El Nido Palawan playing in the waters of Shimizu and Entalula Island; and our first time in the island of Balesin . I love sharing the excitement of learning that we are giving birth to anotherbaby boy, waiting for Baby 4′s birth, and finally giving birth the La Maze way in Makati Medical Hospital.

I was tempted in the past to turn OAP into an online magazine but I decided to keep OAP as a family blog turning it to something like a virtual heirloom that will be handed on my sons. My wife Rache is now blogging at Mrs Awesome Planet hosted by Sanrio Town and my son Aidan just created his first blog post.

AMS:  What are some of the greatest achievement that you’ve had?

Anton: My greatest achievement so far is being a dad to three boys! Professionally, I think being able to create the food night market scene in Manila is also one of my greatest achievements.

AMS:  Who are/were your motivators?

Anton: Aside from my three children, I look up to respected food writers and historians like Doreen Fernandez. I also get motivated people such as National Geographic photographer like George Tapan, and successful pro-blogger like Darren Rowse. Even though I am not there yet, I hope that my journey will inspire at least one soul to strive hard and be the best that he/she can be.  In the end,  even if I don’t become famous as Doreen, George or Darren, as long as I know that I left this world a little better, I think I made my mark!

AMS:  If you were to tell us what are the most important skills that you need in order to be successful in life- what are they?

Anton: I think the most important skills that an individual must have in order to succeed are integrity and being aligned with what that person value the most.  In addition to that, I believe that appreciating and providing value to clients, readers and customers are also essential in becoming successful.

AMS:  What are your next goals for yourself?

Anton: In the next few years, I would want to expand OAP from the Philippines toAsia.

I would also want to publish my OAP book: 100 Awesome Experiences Only in the Philippines! Through this book and together with OAP friends, I envision writing history as it unfolds in the next two years.

AMS:  What is your definition of success?

Anton: The success of my three boys in life is my definition of success.