EntrepBuff - Building up, one by one

New Year's Revolution extended!

ongai@entrepbuff.com — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:31:05 -0800

A few New Year's Revolution winners of BDJ power planners. From top to bottom, left to right: Emily Tancal, Carmela Bobis, Nina Terol Zialcita, Jen Manangan, Lamberto (para daw sa girlfriend niya) and Cza Romano.

Great news everyone as EntrepBuff.com’s New Year's Revolution contest will be extended until March 21, 2010! That’s two more weeks so make sure to write your blog posts, send your email entries, follow us on twitter.com/EntrepBuff or EntrepBuff.com/facebook and get a chance to win free photography 1-on-1 consultation with Leo Castillo, classes with Jo Avilla, Maverick By Design caps and more!

Take a look at the promo mechanics and the great prizes here.

By the way, we also have two (2) extra Belle de Jour planners to be given away so if you want them together with its great retail coupons and discounts, make sure to check out the promo mechanics and follow us on twitter.com/EntrepBuff or join our email subscription. Winner for the two (2) BDJ planners will be announced on March 14, 2010.

Thank you everyone and good luck!

3rd batch of New Year's Revolution winners!

ken@entrepbuff.com — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:26:03 -0800

Missing Chinese New Year... Thanks to Howard N2GOT over Flickr for sharing this photo through the Creative Commons license.

We're on our 4th week of EntrepBuff.com thanksgiving promo - New Year's Revolution, woohooo! And as promised, below is the list of our 3rd batch of winners. Another ten (10) of you buffs out there won your very own Belle de Jour Power Planners. Again, like the first announcement, winners just wait for our Twitter direct messages and emails so we can arrange the meet-ups for you guys to get your prizes. Congratulations!

Winners through Twitter:

ninaterol
kayth_22
ClariceCC
melandriaromero
novice2aica

Winners through email subscription:

Galmesa Abegail
Margareth Trisha
Joanne Gonzales
Aby Leceta
Tonie Tanaquin

Congratulations to the 3rd and last batch of ten (10) winners!

2nd batch of New Year's Revolution winners!

ongai@entrepbuff.com — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:28:03 -0800

Thanks to Mooganic over Flickr for sharing this photo through the Creative Commons license.

We're on our 3rd week of EntrepBuff.com thanksgiving promo - New Year's Revolution, woohooo! And as promised, below is the list of our second batch winners. Ten (10) of them each won their very own Belle de Jour Power Planners. Again, like the first announcement, winners just wait for our Twitter direct messages and emails so we can arrange the meet-ups for you guys to get your prizes. Congratulations!

Winners through Twitter:

Czaroma R. Roman
Nicole Young
Emily Tan
Madel Martin
Gel See

Winners through email subscription:

chubbymommyme
WhenInManila
langga_joanne
boquiboq
jglaz

Congratulations to the second batch of ten (10) winners!

1st batch of New Year's Revolution winners!

ken@entrepbuff.com — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:10:53 -0800

Thanks to nutmeg over Flickr for sharing this photo through the Creative Commons license. These party seemed like a lot of fun!

We're on our 2nd week of EntrepBuff.com thanksgiving promo - New Year's Revolution, and below is the list of our very first winners. Ten (10) of them each won their very own Belle de Jour Power Planners woooot! Woooot! For the winners, just wait for our Twitter direct messages and emails so we can arrange the meet-ups for you guys to get your prizes. Congratulations!

Winners through Twitter:

Boy_Kuripot
supeforce
sheila_mae
Ning4u
renaeh28

Winners through email subscription:

Ben Lll Viloria
Jen Manangan
Mhela Bobis
Angel Limjap
Maria Joan Joaquin

Again, congratulations to our first ten (10) winners!

We want to thank everybody by giving away PRIZES!!!

ongai@entrepbuff.com — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:48:12 -0800

Thanks to these great organizations for their freebies! Colayco Foundation for Education, Leo Castillo's Photoworks, Jo Avila Photography, Belle de Jour Power Planners, Maverick By Design, Vivian Sarabia Optical and Miguel Escueta

New years are always about new beginnings and new opportunities to better oneself. And what better way to than to pursue a hobby or passion – through free photography consultation sessions with Leo Castillo, or a basic photography course from Jo Avila? Or how about starting on a new leaf, literally, with your own free 2010 Belle de Jour planner? Don’t wait any longer! Join “New Year’s Revolution” , EntrepBuff.com’s thanksgiving promo for all of its friends, viewers and supporters.

You may join any or all of our three different categories and win corresponding prizes:

1. Shots Shots Shots!

For our blogger and writer friends

Two (2) winners of two-hour photography consultations with Leo Castillo
Two (2) winners of a basic photography course with Jo Avila

2. Forward Thinkers Unite!

For our email subscribers and Twitter followers

Thirty (30) winners of 2010 Belle de Jour planners

Cover of 2010 Belle de Jour Power Planner.

Two (2) winners of a complete set of financial literacy books – consisting of “Wealth Within Your Reach: Pera Mo, Palaguin Mo!”, “Making Your Money Work: Pera Mo, Palaguin Mo! 2”, “Pera Palaguin Workbook” and “Money For Kids” – from the Colayco Foundation, and autographed by the financial guru himself, Francisco Colayco

Cover of Francisco Colayco's Wealth Within Your Reach.

3. Passionistas

For our Facebook “fans”

Five (5) winners of Miguel Escueta’s EP CD, “Sleeping While The World’s Awake”, specially autographed by Miguel Escueta himself

Great shot of inspired young musician Miguel Escueta.

Five (5) winners of Maverick By Design caps

These are the Maverick By Design caps up for grabs!

Just a sample to show how the caps light up. Asteeeeg.

One (1) winner of P500 gift certificate from Vivian Sarabia Optical

How to join:

1. SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS!

Today’s top photographers Leo Castillo and Jo Avila bring you a step closer to your dream of becoming a photographer yourself!

If you’re a blogger, simply write a 200-word blog entry and tell us about your most inspiring Week By Week (WBW) speaker and why. Let us know how the speaker and his talk helped you get closer to reaching for your dreams. Then in the comments section of this blog entry, post a link to your blog entry so we can take a look.

If you’re not a blogger, write the same 200-word short essay, following the same directions above, but simply email it to contactus[at]entrepbuff[dot]com.

Deadline for submission of entries is on February 28, 2010.

Winners will be selected by the EntrepBuff.com team on the criteria of clarity and relevance of message, organization of information, correct grammar and satisfactory writing style. Entries should be in English, Filipino, or decent Taglish.

Winners will be announced on March 7, 2010.

2. FORWARD THINKERS UNITE!

Given the busy life of today’s modern woman, a planner is always mandatory. And not just any planner would do. It has to be personal and quirky, to reflect the real you, just like the 2010 Belle de Jour Power Planners. But female and male alike, real forward thinking modern people need to learn how to manage their finances. Thank goodness there are the guru Francisco Colayco’s books to help show us how.

This contest is open to email subscribers and Twitter (twitter.com/entrepbuff) followers.

To win a set of Colayco financial literacy books or any of the 15 Belle de Jour planners through email subscription:

1. Subscribe to our email feed by simply typing your email address located on the right-most column of this page.

2. Simply confirm your email address once you have subscribed.

Then simply send us an email at contactus[at]entrepbuff[dot]com with the subject "I want to win a prize in EntrepBuff.com's New Year's Revolution!".
If you’re already following us on RSS or via email subscription, just send us an email at contactus[at]entrepbuff[dot]com with the same subject, "I want to win a prize in EntrepBuff.com's New Year's Revolution!".

To win a set of Colayco financial literacy books of any or the 15 Belle de Jour planners through Twitter:

Follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/entrepbuff) and tweet about this contest with the following: “I joined the ‘New Year’s Revolution’ promo on http://bit.ly/cxkXRj! #EntrepBuff.”
If you’re already following us on Twitter and would like to join, simply tweet about the contest using the same tweet format above.
Winners will be chosen randomly and will be notified on EntrepBuff.com and through their twitter/email.

Winners of the Belle de Jour planners will be announced on February 7, 14 and 21 2010 - 10 pieces each week, 5 from Twitter and another 5 from email subscription. Winners of Colayco financial literacy books will be announced on March 7, 2010.

3. PASSIONISTAS

The hottest new items to suit your various tastes and make your new year a cool one are up for grabs here at EntrepBuff.com!

To win any of the prizes for this category:

Simply follow us on Facebook (EntrepBuff.com/facebook).
Post this message on your Facebook status: “I joined the ‘New Year’s Revolution’ promo on www.EntrepBuff.com and I stand to win cool prizes from @EntrepBuff!”
If you’re already a “fan” of us on Facebook, you can still join. And the only way to do so is by posting the status message above.
Winners will be chosen randomly and will be notified on EntrepBuff.com and through their Facebook inbox/email.

Winners will be announced on March 7, 2010.

Winners will be announced on the following dates:

February 7, 14 and 21, 2010 for the Belle de Jour planners
March 7, 2010 for all the other prizes

FAQs:

Who may join?
Anyone as long as you can be in Manila to claim the prizes in the event that you are named as a winner.

How do I claim my prize?
We will arrange meet-ups so you can claim your prizes in Shangri-La Plaza or Glorietta malls. The photography classes will be held in Manila, too. The time and date for these will be announced soon.

Can I join all the categories?
Yes. You can actually win all the prizes if you’re lucky enough.

I’m a guy, can I join the contest for Belle de Jour?
Of course you can! Then just give the planner to your wife, mother, girlfriend, friend, officemate, classmate. It’s up to you!

For the Belle de Jour planner, can I win two if I joined through the Email feed and through Twitter?
Nope. You may only win one Belle de Jour planner and may only join either through email feed OR Twitter.

For other questions, feel free to email us at contactus[at]entrepbuff[dot]com. Thanks and good luck!

And lastly,

We'd like to thank the sponsors as well for making New Year's Revolution thanksgiving contest possible. As such, click on the links provided to learn more about them. Plus, since all the sponsors or founders shared their insights and experiences on the WBW entrepreneurial lectures series, links to their videos will also be provided. So here goes:

Winner announcements

Click here for the list of February 7, 2010 winners.

WBW MIR: December 2009

ken@entrepbuff.com — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:24:40 -0800

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Probably one of the most fun takes on EntrepBuff.com WBW MIR to date. As the boys nearly wrap up this year's Week By Week project, the Buffs are in complete attendance to express deep insights on the month's entrepreneurial video lectures, coming from personal experiences whilst making fun of each other. In this end of the year special, the Buffs talk about the hardships of family businesses, the current conducive environment for individualism and the "no excuses" mentality to bring towards this 2010. *Note: video contains some details regarding a showering of prizes to EntrepBuff.com community!

Great prizes will be given this month!

The Buffs would like to thank everybody who've supported EntrepBuff.com, thus this January, we'll be having a thanksgiving promo entitled A Buff's Resolution! For more details, check the site out next week (January 18, Monday), or receive automatic updates by subscribing to us through EntrepBuff.com/rss, EntrepBuff.com/Facebook or Twitter.com/EntrepBuff.

Teasers of what prizes will be given out:

Consultation hours with a Pro Photographer
Basic photography classes from another acclaimed Photographer
Cool merchandise from an upcoming global merchandise company
2010 power planners for women
Gift certificates from a pioneer Filipino eyewear company
Autographed books from homegrown Financial gurus
And much more!

Show notes:

Talks discussed in this Month in Review:

Discussion:

It doesn’t mean you’re the COO – Child of the Owner, you gain instant respect from the organization. Respect and credibility is not handed down, but earned.
One of the hardships of taking a family business to the next level is that you have other, more influential, opinions to contend with, of which conflicts may actually lead into your own home.
Recent changes in work situations permit and even encourage people to be more of themselves, either with flexible work hours or place of work. So take advantage of these circumstances for you personal growth.
Most people don’t want to take the risk, to change because they are uncertain of the outcome. So in these moments, remind yourself with these 3 words, “I’ll handle it.”
“You miss 100% of the shots you do not take.” – Wayne Gretzky
“The rule of law applies to all, otherwise none at all."
“As above, so below.”
“Kung ayaw laging may dahilan, kung gusto laging may paraan.”

Again, some simple reminders:

EntrepBuff.com Week By Week - Every Sunday, 9pm Philippine time, 5am Pacific
You can friend us up! For Facebook: entrepbuff.com/facebook, Multiply: entrepbuff.multiply.com, Plurk: plurk.com/entrepbuff and Twitter: twitter.com/entrepbuff!
You can also subscribe to us through RSS: entrepbuff.com/rss, through iTunes: entrepbuff.com/itunes or through YouTube: entrepbuff.com/youtube
For comments, suggestions, or simple hellos, write to us at contactus[at]entrepbuff[dot]com

WBW 44: No More Excuses! The Best Time to Start-up is Now! part 2 of 2 with Rudy Ang

jd@entrepbuff.com — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:51:59 -0800

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“Kung gusto may paraan. Kung ayaw may dahilan.” This saying perfectly depicts how people tend to make excuses and look for the perfect scenario before undertaking an entrepreneurial opportunity. If one really wishes to make it happen, he or she really could make it happen and find ways to augment his or her weaknesses or shortcomings. In this part two of two, Rudy Ang shares with us his entrepreneurial researches, insights and tips on how and when to start a business, and teaches us these through different stories of startups - that it is mostly up to us to make our own opportunities and future.

Who is Rudy Ang?

Professor Rodolfo "Rudy" Ang has been a faculty member of the Ateneo de Manila University since 1991, holding a variety of adminstrative and teaching positions over the years. He is currently Dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management, a post he has held since 2003. Professor Ang is not only a teacher, but an active business practitioner as well, with entrepreneurial interests in the fast-food industry and small-scale commercial real estate development. His professional and research interests are in the area of business franchising and entrepreneurship.

Professor Ang is currently enrolled in the doctoral program of the University of the Philippins' College of Business Administration. He completed his Master of Business Administration at the Carroll Graduate School of Management of Boston College in 1988, graduating Class Valedictorian. He holds two undergraduate degrees, AB Communications, and BS Management (Honors program) from the Ateneo de Manila University, graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors.

He is a past President of the Jollibee Franchisees' Association (2007) as well as of the Alumni Association of Xavier School (2001-2003). He is currently a member of the Technical Panel for Business and Management Education of the Commission on Higher Education, or CHED, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Xavier School.

Show notes:

The fact is there is also serial entrepreneurship

The reason why many entrepreneurs are serial entrepreneurs is because their first business usually fails, so they have to start a second one, and a third
The reason why we know about them is because they went on to setup what was eventually their own successful business

Lack of contacts

How many contacts do you really need?
Do not underestimate the power of a good idea. You do not need to know anyone if you have a great idea. Once people know about your idea, they will come to you.
Go out and meet people by joining business associations, alumni associations, fellowships and even attending wedding. Lets say you were at the same table as the architect who designed the house of the newlyweds. Architects and interior designers attend weddings all the time, and it is not because they are looking for free food, but the fact is that the friends of the bride and groom are eventual customers for them. The friends of the bride and groom are just married or about to get married and they are in that age range.
Do not complain that you do not have enough contacts. It is well within your power to go out and meet people. Join organizations like the Jaycees, the rotary are other ways of meeting lots of people who can eventually become good contacts. Your high school friends, your college friends and classmates can also be very excellent contacts for you.

Lack of ideas

Older people always say that they do not have any idea what kind of business to set up. Somehow, younger people don’t. When older people say that they do not have an idea, its more likely that they do not have an idea that is 100% sure to click or be successful. They do not have an idea that is absolutely sure that it will be incredibly successful, so its like he doesn’t have an idea.
Young people never have such problems. In fact, if you are going to set up your own business, think of what you are most passionate about and look for a business there. Vince Padilla, when he looks for franchisees for Padi’s Point, he looks for people who like to drink. Why should it be important that you like to drink, if you want to invest in Padi’s Point?Other franchisers, as long as you have cash, they will allow you to open a franchise. Vince looks for people who like to drink, and he says that majority of the business is done at night. If you don’t like to drink, you are not going to stay at your outlet very late. By 9PM or 10PM, if things do not look good, you will go home and rest. You need someone who likes drinking and will stay late and enjoy drinking at his outlet into the wee hours of the night, providing the sort of hands on management that is important for a business that is in retail.
You have to look for something you are passionate about. Not just a business with okay financials and looks like a good investment.
A classmate of his in the US was very much into fish and had lots of aquariums. Some may have the same hobby, or some other hobby where your parents keep telling you that the hobby is worthless and that it’s a waste of money. This classmate, after graduating from business school, setup a business about fish. He did not setup a pet shop, but an aquarium business. When you go into these high rise buildings, usually in the lobby there is a big painting or mural. After the awhile, the painting or mural looks the same, you don’t even notice it anymore because you are so used to it. This classmate would make a pitch to big buildings – instead of a painting or mural, why not setup a big aquarium in the lobby? The tropical fish swimming around provides movement and color that a painting cannot provide. The business was not selling aquariums, but maintaining aquariums. The aquariums were sold really cheap so that the company will have no problem deciding on to invest in it, even if a loss was incurred. Once the aquarium was setup in the lobby, they would pay him a monthly fee to maintain the aquarium. For every aquarium that was installed, it would mean another monthly addition to his cash stream. He cannot think about just selling aquariums. How many buildings can he sell aquariums to? The business model was about maintaining the aquariums and he was highly successful at that.
Look for ideas; don’t wait for the idea to come and hit you on the head. You need initiative. Attend trade shows. Attend franchising expos. Go out and look for ideas.

Fear

Here is the hardest thing to overcome. I’m already stable, making one hundred thousand pesos a month at so and so multinational company, my kids are in private school, I have 2 maids, a driver, a car, I’m happy as a clam. My secret desire is my own business but it is scary.
Start young, when your responsibilities are few. A lot of young people want to get experience then setup a business when they get older, but when you get older, what actually happens is your obstacles to setting up a business are higher. The worst that can happen is that you continue living in your parents home, which you are doing now anyway.
There are many strategies for lowering risk. A lot of what he does is food quick service / restaurant management. He gets franchises. He gets an honest assessment of what he can and cannot do. He teaches full time. Franchising works for him because he can rely on the head office for support. The amount of time and energy on his part is reduced by the fact that he has a good franchiser to support him
He cannot do startup. He does not have the time, energy or creativity perhaps to set up a new business. To franchise was something he chose to do
How does he diversity his business risk? First is, his strategies include opening a lot of small stores rather than a single big store. For instance, its costs 15-20 million to setup a Jollibee outlet. It costs 8 million to set up a Red Ribbon outlet. For the amount of money it would cost to setup Jollibee, he would setup 3 Red Ribbons. If the single store of Jollibee loses money, there goes your capital. But if we decided to go with three Red Ribbon outlets, you would have to be very unlucky for all three to be in bad locations
Second would be by to diversify by getting partnerships in different fields. In the quick service restaurant, they get franchises of different brands. What sometimes happens is that when some brands are down, the other brand is up, so it diversifies the risk a little.
Lastly, there is also diversifying geographic risk. His first store was in Marikina. Because it did well, he opened up to five stores, all in Marikina. After typhoon Ondoy, it was great that none of his employees were hurt. But if he thought about what happened to the stores, it would be depressing. Four out of five stores went underwater. All the equipment totally destroyed with head high floodwaters. He will not longer put all his eggs in the same geographic basket. He needs to diversify by choosing locations that are far apart. God forbid that his choices should be Pasig, Cainta, Marikina and Montalban.
The other type of diversification is that of financial risk. Starting out, they did not have any money really so they got a lot of partners. They had the opportunity to get a franchise of a food outlet. His classmates attitude what they did not want to get in because of the large amount of capital required. His own attitude was he did not have enough money but he will be able to get funds. He got lots of partners. Even if he could afford to set up a store himself right now, he would not. He would prefer to own 10% of 10 stores rather than 100% of one store.
If you are afraid, there are many ways of diversifying risk. It does not have to be the case of putting all your eggs in one basket.
Test the waters. Do it part time before you actually take the plunge. A lot of people do this. An example would be Mr. Rogelio S. Nemeño. He started with blenders in the cafeteria. He would visit it during his breaks and after work he would collect the money. When it got bigger, he got into 2-4 cafeterias. At some point, he said this business would work already. He is ready to resign from his business. You can always take it a little at a time.
Always have an exit strategy. In the worst case scenario, what is the worst that could happen? Do not put everything into business. If you are seventy years old and you have retired and you have all this retirement pay, he would not advice entrepreneurship. Because if you invest it all in one business and you lost it all of it, there is no exit strategy for you.
A lot of people are not entrepreneurs for a variety of reasons but always have all these excuses. If you really want to be an entrepreneur, stop saying “I’ll do this when”, “I’ll do this 10 years from now”, “I’ll do this eventually”. Do it now. No more excuses. Go for it and pursue your dreams, because you owe it to yourself to pursue it. You have talents and resources available to you that you may not be aware of. And this country needs more entrepreneurs. Go forth and pursue your dream.

Click here for WBW 44: No More Excuses! The Best Time to Start-up is Now! part 1 of 2 with Rudy Ang

WBW 44: No More Excuses! The Best Time to Start-up is Now! part 1 of 2 with Rudy Ang

jd@entrepbuff.com — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:59:56 -0800

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“Kung gusto may paraan. Kung ayaw may dahilan.” This saying perfectly depicts how people tend to make excuses and look for the perfect scenario before undertaking an entrepreneurial opportunity. If one really wishes to make it happen, he or she really could make it happen and find ways to augment his or her weaknesses or shortcomings. In this part one of two, Rudy Ang shares with us his entrepreneurial researches, insights and tips on how and when to start a business, and teaches us these through different stories of startups - that it is mostly up to us to make our own opportunities and future.

Who is Rudy Ang?

Show notes:

“Someday, but not today”

He conducted a survey among 21 year olds, asking them how many of them wanted to become entrepreneurs. Half to two thirds of the class raised their hands. And he asks them when do they plan to become an entrepreneur and most of their responses are “Someday, but not today”
What do you think will stop you? What will stop you from being an entrepreneur today?
First – lack of capital
Second – lack of experience
Third – lack of contacts

Why have older people who have wanted to setup their businesses not push through with it?

When he talked with his classmates approaching middle age at their 25th year reunion since graduation, when he asked them what they were doing these days, people were working for IBM, Citibank, etc.
During their 15th year reunion, they said they wanted to setup their business. Also in their 20th year reunion, they said they also wanted to setup their business. It’s now their 25th year reunion and they haven’t setup their own business.
When he talked with classmates who wanted to setup their own business but eventually did not, the top two reasons why they did not setup their own business. By now, the answers are different because by now, they already have savings and they have enough experience, being 25 years out of college
First – Fear of Failure. Fear of failure is twofold. First is “I’m already a successful corporate person. It would be humiliating if I opened a business that does not succeed.” The other one is “I have to pay my mortgage. I have to pay my card installments. I have to pay my kid’s tuition. I have to pay the maids salary. I can’t afford to setup my own business. What if it fails? I have too many things at risk.”
Second – Lack of Ideas

"Should you let these obstacles stop you?”

Issues about capital. Issues about experience. Issues about contacts. Should I let these issues stop me from being an entrepreneur?
First thing to do - Make a personal inventory of your assets and liabilities.
Assets and liabilities not meaning how much money you have, but more of what is at your disposal – what are the things you can bring into the equation when setting up your own business.
For instance, having an ancestral home that used to be in a residential area. It is not a highly commercialized area. Or perhaps I have acquired a skill that I am very good at that other people aren’t very good at. I have contacts and relatives who are important in certain ways.
Examples of liabilities would be having a hard time taking instruction, or waking up late in the morning or corporate attire making me feel ill.
You look at your assets and your liabilities. Know your weaknesses and strengths. Take the long term view, not just today, but the long term view. And then you say “If I want to be an entrepreneur and this is what I can bring to the table, what is right business for me?” Because there is always a right business, whatever your limitations are.

Many people will not start a business because of lack of capital.

Should this really stop you?

Where can I raise capital?

What about family? Friends? An industrial partnership?
His students from Ateneo are mostly upper middle class / upper class. His students say that don’t have enough capital, but he sees his students get into their cars and drive home.
Then he asks them how he came to get the car in college. It was given to him by his parents so that he could travel to school. A second hand car costs around five hundred thousand pesos. If your parents could give you five hundred thousand pesos worth of car, meaning a depreciating asset that will never generate any return to them, if you can to them with a business plan, why shouldn’t they spend five hundred thousand for you?
In fact, just sell the car and use the money from that for business. That’s part of taking the long term view, right? Because you may not have a car now, but next time you can buy ten cars.
Family and friends are a good way to use money.
Industrial partnership is another way. If you have the idea or concept, it is not unusual to find investors who have money but no concept or no skill, and partner with you. You provide the expertise and opportunity, and they provide the capital.

Can I start a business without much capital?

A good example would one of the faculty members in Ateneo. When he graduated from college, he setup a contract growing business. He is raising chicks for Vitarich. Contract growing means you setup a farm, you get chicks from Vitarich, you grow them, then you sell the chickens back to Vitarich. He borrowed money from his parents to setup this business. However, he was unlucky and his farm got struck by a disease and all the chickens died, and there goes all of his capital. He went back to his parents still with the intent to become an entrepreneur, but his parents were not willing to lend him money anymore and told him to work outside to earn his own money.
At that time, Subic had just been converted into a free port back in the 80’s. He went to the Subic Metropolitan Authority and proposed whether people there would like to have maps for free. What was the catch? The only request he had was that no one else be allowed to give away maps inside Subic, so exclusivity.
If you were the manager of Subic, you would say yes. At that time, there is not enough money, and here is this guy offering you something for free, something the consumers would want. You go to Subic, with Subic being new, you don’t know where anything is, you don’t know what is in there. A map is really helpful. How do you make a business where your product is free? All he had at that time was an Apple desktop that was good for desktop publishing.
He went around Subic and went to every shop inside Subic. And asked them whether they would like to be on his map. Of course the answer is they would want to be on the map. He charged them to be on his map. And anyone who would not pay is not on the map.
So money up front, he makes these maps, on his map, if you pay, everyone paid! How will your consumers find you if you are not on that map. That was his first business venture. He made money on that. He went on to produce the largest Philippine Direct Marketing company which he a few years ago sold to Ogilvy to become Ogilvy One.
His assets in the beginning were his creativity, a computer that he would use for desktop publishing, and a lot of guts. He did not have capital.
So yes, it is possible to start a business without much capital. Many businesses are like this. You just have to find the right one for yourself.

Can I start small?

An example here would be Nutrilicious. If you talk to the founder of Nutrilicious, he will tell you that he started his business with five thousand pesos. He was working in a bank and not even top management he would say. In the canteen of the bank, he setup a blender and he was selling crushed ice and juice. He was selling shakes. Five thousand pesos. Two blenders in their company canteen.
Eventually he became a company that is now known as Nutrilicious, one of the largest Filipino juice companies. They have around 350-400 employees today.

Lack of experience

If there any students here, you should go out and get experience while you are still in school.
Get a job in the industry where you see the greatest potential
If you talk to Steve Benitez who setup Bo’s Coffee, or talk to Jay Aldeguer who setup Island Souvenirs, one thing notable about their stories and the stories of many entrepreneurs, is that even when they were in college or high school, they were already doing entrepreneurial activities
Steve Benitez is from Cebu. He was in a dorm in Ateneo. He would visit his aunt who had a shoe factory. On weekends, when he visited his Tita, he thought about bringing some shoes back and selling it to his other dormers. He would buy shoes on credit from his tita, and sell shoes to the dormers on installment. When he graduated, he setup Bo’s Coffee and a lot of stuff.
Jay Aldeguer has a similar story. He has stories about all the things he used to do in college to get extra income.
Not a lot of people know that Yellow Cab Pizza is a local company. Most people think it’s a franchise from a foreign chain. The three young men who setup it up, they started at Chow King. They were franchisees of Chow King, learned the food business as franchisees of Chow King, and then went out and setup Yellow Cab Pizza.
You can start your business part time while you are still working. Nutrilicious is like that.
Get a partner who has experience
Buy an existing business or franchise
There are many ways of overcoming the problem of lack of experience. If you have money, but no experience, franchising would be a good option. If you do not have money or experience, you have to look for something else.
But after you have done your personal inventory of assets and liabilities, then you can look for a business that fits your peculiar wits of experience and capital

Click here for WBW 44: No More Excuses! The Best Time to Start-up is Now! part 2 of 2 with Rudy Ang

WBW 43: Being Yourself is Not Just a Cliche, It can make You Rich Too! with Anton Diaz

jd@entrepbuff.com — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:22:37 -0800

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In this day and age, there is no reason for a person to pursue his passion and not find a way for it to be financially rewarding. It's easy to get trapped in the notion that following one’s passion and becoming rich is like having to choose at crossroads where both can’t be achieved at the same time. We, at EntrepBuff.com, strongly believe this is not the case, wishing to break this mental barrier by publishing this talk by Anton Diaz as he shares his experiences in transitioning from corporate executive into an internet maven, sharing the insights that led him to this journey, and how he built Our Awesome Planet, which not only he is passionate about, but certainly earning from as well.

Who is Anton Diaz?

Anton Diaz, graduated as Valedictorian in Don Bosco Technical Institute Makati in 1991, then went on to take up Electronics and Communications Engineering in De La Salle University in 1995. He then joined Procter & Gamble and stayed there for 12-13 years, and during his last few months there, was handling IT and was the CIO of P&G.

In 2006, he then began his journey of becoming one of the top professional bloggers and internet marketers in the Philippines. He started his professional blog “Our Awesome Planet” back in 2006, starting simply from documenting his family’s journeys – their travels and discoveries of different restaurants and sites to see throughout the Philippines to now having a large following of up to 5,500 readers or 12,000 hits per day and sharing with people a slice of Manila's hidden places – both food and travel secrets.

Among his other interests are exploring beaches, playing badminton, internetmarketing, photo-blogging and traveling around the Philippines.

Show notes:

Attended the First Asia Blog Awards

There were 400 bloggers who attended from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Australia
The best bloggers is Shashou. She was just a waitress before, but now she is the region’s best blogger
And this is a look on what the world of internet entrepreneurs. They are less than 25 years old. Some of their bosses are just a year older than their entire team.

The Story of Our Awesome Planet

In 2005, he created Our Awesome Planet. He started that when he had his first son named Aidan, and then they had another son Joshua who came 2 – 3 years after.
The passion behind is that they wanted to capture the childhood of his kids.
Most people don’t really know what happened during their childhood, and what they wanted to do was to document it day by day while they are growing up, with the hope that after, they understand what happened to them in their childhood
They love to eat out and travel, so they wanted to share the experience with them when they are older.
Also in 2006, he realized that the Philippines, he realized that the Philippines is super beautiful. He worked in Procter & Gamble for 12-13 years. His last boss just spoke earlier that morning – Johnip Cua. And he was handling the IT, the CIO of Procter & Gamble when he quit his day job.
In 2006, in P&G, he went to Singapore, Japan, London, US. And you start to realize, all the wonders out there are really manmade. When you go to the Philippines, all the wonders here are natural . And its super mind blowing that he wanted to share this with all the people, specifically Filipinos. He wants to inspire the mind, touch the heart, one Filipino at a time, that our country is super beautiful.
There is a picture of when Gloria Diaz when she won Miss Universe and when the first man landed on the moon. In the past, newspaper documents history. But today, bloggers are the modern historians, because we record the history of Manila.
During his time, the hottest places to go to were Faces and Mars, but you won’t see any recorded history or photos of what really happened there. But now, 10 to 20 years from now, people will go back at this day, and really laugh on what people are doing in Manila in circa 2000.
In 2007, there was this blog, called Julia and the Philippines. And it really inspired him because her last post was in Jan 13, 2007 entitled “Buhay Pa Tayo” or “We are still Alive”.
At the age of 38, she decided to step out of the rat race of New York, and join Peace Corps. And she was in Bicol. And 2-3 months after, she was the first casualty in Batag. But he is sharing the story not because of the tragic incident, but when you go to this blog, “Julia and the Philippines”, you can understand her story. You can read her story. And she lives forever in a blog.
You can go back to the blog of Francis Magalona. You realize that you learn a lot of lessons and you get inspired.
In one of Bo Sanchez’s talks during Nov 2007, he really found that his calling is to share the food and travel secrets of the Philippines.
By Feb 2008, he decided to leave Procter & Gamble after 12-13 years of working there. He decided to take Our Awesome Planet to the next level.
It is still doing 5500 readers, 12000 hits per day and still growing
In 2008, he launched the Ultimate Culinary Tours, one of the best Culinary Tours in the country. They have culinary tours in Pampanga, Tagaytay. One of the bestsellers is the Ultimate Culinary Tour in Batanes.
This year, as his way of giving back to the community, he launched Maven Secrets. This is to share what he learned over the 4-5 years from P&G, doing Our Awesome Planet and learning from the top internetmavensin the Philippines.
He launched a 90 day program in Asian Institute of Management this year. He’s also helping AIM take their internet marketing to the next level.

If you were to attribute your success to one quality, what would it be?

The number one quality of all entrepreneurs is speed of implementation.
For Our Awesome Planet, if you look at most of the successful blogs, they were started in 2005. In the same way, all of the other business models. Like the course in Internet Marketing in 2009 in AIM.
Paunahan lang talaga. It really is speed of implementation.
You get the idea, how do you implement it and execution.

"The Board" message

Remember that the “New Rich” is not only defined by financial freedom, but also they are defined by freedom to do what you want anytime, anywhere.

WBW 42: There's No Such Thing as an Easy, Overnight Success part 2 of 2 with York Vitangcol

nate@entrepbuff.com — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:37:45 -0800

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Nothing could be spookier, more difficult and deathly boring than running a family business - what more a family mortuary business. Hearses, the "bata ka lang" attitude, morgues, inevitable family drama – these are enough to send shivers down the spine of any ordinary mortal. Fortunately, York Vitangcol felt that there was a need to not only revolutionize the funeral industry, but also put his faith in a family business entrenched with bad habits. And so with patience and perseverance, he did what had to be done - injecting modern management concepts transforming what used to be scattered businesses into the first, fully-integrated “deathcare” company in the country.

Who is York Vitangcol?

York Vitangcol is the President an CEO of the St. Peter Group of Companies and the Chairman of the Board of St. Peter Life Plan Inc. The St. Peter Group of Companies is the first and only fully-integrated “deathcare”s company in the Philippines today – covering life plans, memorial chapels, casket factories, and crematoriums.

He graduated from the University of the Philippines, where he was a varsity basketball player for the UP Fighting Maroons. He also graduated from the Strategic Business Economics Program of the University of Asia and the Pacific. He worked his way up in the family business, while advocating radical changes and innovations to transform what used to be a conservative and conventional memorial service business into an integrated, synergistic and progressive one – implementing various innovations, among the more interesting are free wifi in chapels, and free online viewing service of wakes and funerals.

Amidst his very disciplined and professional disposition, he still manages to crack some well-punned tacky jokes, which we should admit, are actually very funny.

Show notes:

Where we are right now isn't the story

Of the 230 chapels we have right now, 110 are fully-owned, while 120 are franchisees. This worked for our business model. It helped grow our life plan business.
It is said that the first generation starts the business, the second generation grows the business, the third generation squanders the business, the fourth generation has no more business.
But being the third generation, I found it necessary to let in professional management, because that somehow prevents the closure of businesses after having been passed to the third and fourth generation.
But we worked hard. We were at the office by 8am and worked long hours, to show the board of directors that we were serious about the changes that we wanted to make. The board of directors liked what they saw.
I said, if we wanted the family business to grow faster than the growth of the family, we cannot keep doing the same things and doing the same results. We have to do something radical and different. So they entrusted management to us and they had to sit on the board.

Family business wasn't a pretty picture

The transition was painful. You’re sitting in the board meeting, being very professional, and your own uncles would tell you, “ano ka?”, “bata, hinay ka lang, easy ka lang, relax, masyado kang agresibo”. But the business has to grow faster than the family’s growth. Of course, we still believe in our founder’s saying “Nawa’y ang lahat ng taga-St. Peter, guminhawa ang buhay dahil sa St. Peter.” So no matter how my relatives treated me, their own nephew, during meetings, it did not affect me.
The culture in St. Peter when I took over was very selfish, walang pakialam, no teamwork, no professionalism, no discipline, no fairness.
But as a young entrepreneur, I wanted to establish a culture in my company – happy, but hardworking and honest.

What specific things did we do to propel culture change?

Professionalize leadership
Compensate fairly
Apply rules to all; establish fairness
Leaders model the corporate values; lead by example
Encourage idea/thought-sharing, harness intellectual capabilities
Cultivate people – learning opportunities

What are the most important reasons for reaching the next level?

Relentless pursuit of the vision
Commitment to the mission
Acting the corporate values

We are successful because we want to help people.

"The Board" message:

Yearn for success, but treat it as a means to a deeper end, to help people and improve the environment.

EntrepBuff - Building up, one by one

New Year's Revolution extended!

3rd batch of New Year's Revolution winners!

2nd batch of New Year's Revolution winners!

1st batch of New Year's Revolution winners!

We want to thank everybody by giving away PRIZES!!!

1. Shots Shots Shots!

2. Forward Thinkers Unite!

3. Passionistas

How to join:

Winners will be announced on the following dates:

FAQs:

And lastly,

Winner announcements

WBW MIR: December 2009

Great prizes will be given this month!

Show notes:

Talks discussed in this Month in Review:

Discussion:

Other WBW entrepreneurial video lectures mentioned:

Again, some simple reminders:

WBW 44: No More Excuses! The Best Time to Start-up is Now! part 2 of 2 with Rudy Ang

Who is Rudy Ang?

Show notes:

The fact is there is also serial entrepreneurship

Lack of contacts

Lack of ideas

Fear

Click here for WBW 44: No More Excuses! The Best Time to Start-up is Now! part 1 of 2 with Rudy Ang

WBW 44: No More Excuses! The Best Time to Start-up is Now! part 1 of 2 with Rudy Ang

Who is Rudy Ang?

Show notes:

“Someday, but not today”

Why have older people who have wanted to setup their businesses not push through with it?

"Should you let these obstacles stop you?”

Many people will not start a business because of lack of capital.

Can I start small?

Lack of experience

Click here for WBW 44: No More Excuses! The Best Time to Start-up is Now! part 2 of 2 with Rudy Ang

WBW 43: Being Yourself is Not Just a Cliche, It can make You Rich Too! with Anton Diaz

Who is Anton Diaz?

Show notes:

Attended the First Asia Blog Awards

The Story of Our Awesome Planet

If you were to attribute your success to one quality, what would it be?

"The Board" message

WBW 42: There's No Such Thing as an Easy, Overnight Success part 2 of 2 with York Vitangcol

Who is York Vitangcol?

Show notes:

Where we are right now isn't the story

Family business wasn't a pretty picture

What specific things did we do to propel culture change?

What are the most important reasons for reaching the next level?

"The Board" message:

Click here for WBW 42 part 1 of 2 with York Vitangcol