Lovely Abella and Benj Manalo reveal earning P5 million in a month from live selling before FB page got disabled

Aside from being actors, Lovely Abella and Benj Manalo have also found a source of income in live selling.

On Friday’s “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda,” the couple admitted being known personalities has given them an edge in earning their buyers’ trust.

“Nagkakaroon kami ng magandang credentials doon sa mga audience namin. Kumbaga, alam nilang hindi sila masa-scam. Alam nila na parang ‘OK, pagkakatiwalaan ko sila. Kilala ko ‘to. Familiar sila.’ So ‘yung unang trust kaagad na ibibigay nila is 100%,” Benj said.

[We had good credentials with our audience. They know they won't be scammed. They know they can trust us because they know us. We are familiar. So they immediately give us their 100% trust.]

Lovely and Benj began their live selling business in the pandemic, which really changed their lives, Lovely said.

“May isang buwan doon, sabi nila ghost month that time, walang pera ang mga tao, pero we earned at least one month nang mga P4M to P5M. That’s net. That time, sabi namin ‘Kaya na natin ‘to.’ I mean, ‘di na natin kailangang magtrabaho. We were so full of ourselves,” Benj said.

[One ghost month, someone told us people wouldn't have any moneye but in a month, we earned P4M to P5M net. At that time, we told ourselves, we can do this. We don't need to work anymore. We were so full of ourselves.]

But just as their page was about to breach 1 million followers, their account got disabled. They lost their platform.

The couple said it happened while they were at a convention in Singapore for a jewelry supplier. “We were so scared na parang ‘Pa’no nang gagawin natin?’” Benj said. “It was a realization sa ‘min na parang Lord can actually take that away in a [snap]. So from there, we learned.”

The couple took the time to rebuild their platform. As of writing, Lovely and Ben’s new Facebook page has almost 40,000 likes and 96,000 followers.

Among the things they sell are jewelry, bags, and fragrances.

Lovely and Ben tied the knot in 2021, with Benj also proposing to Lovely’s daughter, Crisha. Their first child, Liam, was born in 2023.

— Carby Basina/LA, GMA Integrated News