ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The old adage, “It takes money to make money.” is ignorant and must have been thought of by an excuse maker/loser. It takes creativity, courage, determination, being resourceful, focus, and a whole lot of hard work but you don’t “need” money to make money. Besides, if you do need some capital to start a business, there are a plethora of ways to get it even if you don’t have a single peso. Most business opportunities will require a capital investment but there is no rule that says you must invest your own money. There are countless Other People’s Money (OPM) and No Money Down opportunities in the world if you have what it takes to find them and put them together.
In this section of the website, you will learn a ton of pertinent information about, starting, buying, owning, operating, and growing your own business. I have separated personal development and marketing and sales because those Filipinos who want to work in BPOs or in the field of professional sales will want to be able to go straight to the material. Though, these three subjects will be of great interest to all entrepreneurs as well so I highly recommend you visit these sections from time to time.
Empowerfilipinos.com is an educational website and one’s education should never stop. Most people think their college degrees are a vaccine against ever having to study again. These people couldn’t be more wrong. This is why high schools and colleges have commencement speeches. Not only are students starting a new life after their formal education but they are also starting a new way of receiving an education. How would you feel if you were in a conversation with your doctor and she/he told you it had been decades since they had read their last book or attended a lecture? Personally, I would be terrified. Especially since medicines and treatments are coming onto the market daily.
The same holds true for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs must stay abreast of anything related to their business. I am 60 years old as I write this piece and I still hunger for knowledge like a starving street child. I have an appetite for knowledge that will never be filled. Every morning, I spend a minimum of one to two hours studying before I start my day, and then throughout the day and night, I get in at least another hour or two. You may ask how do I find the time. Simple, I never watch TV, I do not have personal social media, I do not play games and I never waste time with idle chit-chat.
I love growing businesses and people. This is my job, my hobby, my passion and this is how I feel I contribute best to society. I have been financially successful for many years and I learned one of the greatest secrets to success a long time ago, “Don’t do anything for the money.” Choose a career you would do for free if need be. Choose a business that makes you excited about getting out of bed every morning. The second best lesson I learned was if you want to earn more, provide more value, if you want to earn even more, provide more value to more people.
When you go into business, the best advice I can give anyone is to focus on bringing as much value to as many people as possible and the byproduct of that business philosophy will pay dividends far greater than any amount you could ever hope to earn. I know this goes against conventional wisdom but then again, I don’t believe in doing what everyone else does. For example, if there is a point-point (turo-turo) selling adobo and they have a line down the street, I would never open another adobo point-point (turo-turo) next door. Instead, I would survey the customers and find out what it was that wasn’t being served that they would like to eat and start a point-point selling that dish.
I had an assistant one time here in the Philippines and I encouraged her to get her Masters (MBA) in business since she loved business and I knew it would benefit her in the long run. I knew she could still competently do her job while attending classes on the weekend. A lot of times we would discuss her schoolwork because of course I was extremely interested in the subject matter. On one of her papers, the question was something like this, “If you owned a computer shop and had 6 computers left in stock and a new model came out, would you, A. Sell the new computer, B. Sell the old model, or C. Other.”
Upon asking me what I would do I told her. I said never mislead a customer. Consumers are not idiots and they can easily go online to find out what the latest model is as well as the cost. I said yes, you may not make money on this sale by giving the customer the facts and maybe having to waive your profit on these six sales but you will garner the trust and loyalty for a lifetime of six customers who will tell at least three people each about your honesty and integrity. This is a solid business philosophy that will keep you in business for decades because you know that customers have a lifetime value not just a one-time value. Sadly, her professor didn’t agree and felt she should sell the outdated computer first for full price and then bring out the new stock.
Business decisions have to be made quite frequently throughout the day as an owner and the answer is not always crystal clear for a lot of young Entrepreneurs, but as you live and learn, the answers become more black and white. It is either the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. I started my business 30-plus years ago in the land of litigation, the United States, and I can proudly say that I have never sued anyone nor have I or my company been sued. I am a firm believer that the customer is always right and even when they are dead wrong, they’re right. I not only teach that principle but I live by it. Clients still call me today from past businesses and ask to work with me because they know I am a man of my word and I run my business with integrity.
Owning a business requires you learn a lot of different things from a lot of disciplines. Psychology, history, philosophy, science, as well as numerous other subjects. I will sometimes quote scriptures like, Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” to punctuate a point. Here, it is written that our creator plans for us to prosper. Entrepreneurship and prosperity is in all of our futures.
With that said, this section on entrepreneurship will be ever-evolving and I will be adding new material as often as I can but know this, this section will never be completed because just like you can’t love enough, you can’t learn enough either. Especially when it comes to owning and growing your own business.