This post is part of our regular series of interviews with people across Asia-Pacific who’ve caught our eye, using the Internet to create, connect, and grow.  This week we spoke with Michelle and Deric Bartolome, the husband and wife co-founders of Nursingcrib.com from the Philippines.

What is Nursingcrib.com?
Michelle: Nursingcrib.com provides extra study materials for student nurses, an idea that came to me in 2007 when I got frustrated with textbooks and in-person lessons. We thought the Internet must have a better solution, and it did.

Creating an online startup like this can't be easy, how'd you get started?
Michelle: I took up Nursing as a second course from 2004 to 2006. At the time, Nursing was an in-demand course. Almost 90% of college students were taking it up. First, I just wanted to have a blog where I could share my notes with other aspiring nurses like me. I uploaded several care plans, modules, and diagrams, and instantly it became a hit. It became even more popular when I published the names of nursing board passers, which happens twice a year.

You've come a long way since then – what's changed for you along the way?
Michelle: Back in November 2007, when we first hit the $100 minimum AdSense payout, Deric and I were so happy because the dream of having another source of income opened up. By 2008, we were earning enough so that Deric could quit his call center job and go full time with our websites. People thought we were unemployed because we were always at home in front of the computer. They said we could not do it because we were young. They said it was impossible because we were not working abroad. Well, all I can say is that they were all wrong.

Deric: It's really changed everything for us. Today the site receives visitors from across the globe, and with the ad revenue from Nursingcrib, we've been able to build our dream home, support our family and work full time on our website.
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How have you made it through some of these challenges?
Deric: The biggest challenge was getting the site recognized. At first, I thought it would be easy. But with the internet being so big, you have to compete with established websites. Learning how to market our new site was the key to overcome every obstacle that came our way. Online business requires fewer people, but it’s still not easy. The main lesson we've learned is that success doesn't happen overnight, it takes time and effort to build your dreams.

Posted by Michelle and Deric Bartolome, co-founders of Nursingcrib.com