WBW 16: Bounceability - the Greater the Failure, the Higher You Bounce Back to Success

Life is filled with big opportunities that end up in big damn failures. And when we encounter these failures, our spirit suddenly seems at a loss, never ever able to bounce back. Never again taking that risk towards pursuing our dreams to make it big while doing what we love. This week, Jovy Gongora, a fashion entrepreneur, shares with us her rich experiences of how she has bounced back from a "dismal" failure and has become the successful and passionate person she is now. Think big, bounce back from failure and follow your bliss!

Who is Jovy Gongora?

Since her first dreams of writing articles for magazines when she was a kid, Jovy has come a long way. After graduating from Ateneo de Manila University in 1999 with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with clusters in Creative Writing and Communication, Jovy then joined MEGA magazine and later on C! Magazine. During her stay in these companies, she was simply not content with her job and these were the beginnings of her entrepreneurial journey. After numerous startup experiences, including the event Thunder from Down Under held during Valentines ’04 - which she describes as a dismal venture - she has learned how to bounce back from her mistakes and failures and has truly become the strong and passionate person that she is now. Today, she and her partner / best friend have already established 19 stores placed throughout Metro Manila, with their flagship brand Una Rosa opening in 3 major malls in a span of just 1 and a half years. Now THAT's what we call BOUNCEABILITY!

When asked what's her greatest failure / challenge?

When asked what's her greatest success?

She currently has 50 people employed.

Show notes:

Background

• Studied in Ateneo de Manila University. Did Creative Writing and Communication as clusters in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Her dream was really to write for a magazine
• Parents weren’t too happy with it because writer’s don’t make too much money

Magazine Industry

• Started working for a fashion magazine, but writing jobs were unavailable, so she ended up in Brand Management. Jovy worked there for around 5 years
• Worked with fantastic and strong women, all with vision and an exciting dream. Her direct boss was the person who put together the entire magazine from scratch
• As Jovy worked from the ground up, the company wasted her to the bone. Jovy gave it her all. Her drive back then was simply to do more than what you are paid for and just to keep fighting

Something More

• Deep in her heart, she knew there was something more. And it was not working for other people
• Started meeting with several friends – meeting and planning businesses
• However, progress would be slow. Everybody would move slow. Everyone would be waiting for each other. There would be meetings every week for 2 months, and still nothing would happen

Bite the Bullet

• After 5 years, Jovy decided to quit her job and just bite the bullet and attempt to go at a business
• Worked on another business with another group of friends. However, in the end, still nothing happened.

Back to the Magazine Industry

• 6 months along they Jovy had no more money, so she decided to go work again.
• She worked for a Car Magazine with excellent men who were very kind and allowed her to have a flexible schedule. They recognized that she had an entrepreneur inside her

Thunder From Down Under

• Her best friend came upon a concept of bringing in Australia’s Thunder from Down Under or the chip & dales (or male strippers) into manila for a show
• It involved bringing in 6 young and sexy boys from Australia who were trained with all the fanfare, the vegas lightshow, the dancing, etc.
• They pooled together their funds, worked on the project for a couple of months – making these boys rockstars to be held on Valentines and was being marketed as the Ultimate Girls Night Out
• Their vision there was “if you build it, they will come”

Disaster!

• In the end, they didn’t hit their targets. It was a disaster.
• It really hurt to lose that much money. Her partner lost his hard earned money. She lost the money she borrowed from her parents

But why leave it at that?

• Most people would probably just walk away and say “That was it.” And would just stay with the day job forever. “That was my one shot at success.”
• However, they decided to keep on going. They were meeting with other people trying to put up other potential shows. They were planning to go local this time.

Other Opportunities

• They held one of their meetings in Figaro in 50th Avenue in Robinson’s Galleria. She and her partner liked the place and inquired about possibly renting a stall – even though they didn’t have anything to sell yet!
• They decided to sell men's wear given that that wasn’t available in the area. The samples they presented belonged to her business partner!
• They got the space and they had to be open within a month
• They then took their first trip to Bangkok with a “sugod lang”  mindset.

It was not enough

• Sales in that one store were not enough to split between two people. Jovy was still at her day job & her partner was still in the family business
• 2 months later, they opened more stores in the tiangge in Greenhills, just in time for Greenhills and they just kept selling clothes
• Not all spaces would do well. There would be good days and bad days. But you stick with it. You keep going. You keep selling.
• Took advantage of every opportunity they got. They made mistakes as well. One example was going into the department store, but found out that it wasn’t for them. It’s a big arena where you have big manufacturers to contend with, but they still kept on going

Make something BIG. Thinking Big.

• Jovy quit her day job when they opened their 9th store. The end goal was to make something big.
• Based on their providence , they were able to build a brand “Una Rosa” that they actually market, which they were able to present to the big malls
• After 4 years, from crawling from the ground up, they have now opened 3 stores - Shangri-La Mall, Megamall, SM The Block, all of which opened within the span of a 1 and a half years
• They believe in themselves and they believe in the product.
• Thinking big is important, but at the same time, what gave them that kind of gumption was the fact that they failed big also
• Since you know that you can do that, that its possible to pick yourself up from being down in the dirt with nothing to actually turn that all around, it is possible. It is possible as long as your vision is clear

Vision

• Her business now is really a product of passion. She and her business partner were into clothes because they both were into fashion and one thing they really enjoyed was really dressing people up, was making people beautiful - changing people’s demeanor by way of presentation
• In the essence its on the surface but eventually it goes down deeper than that, and that’s what we are in the business of doing

Rollercoaster Ride

• It's been a rollercoaster ride and that’s what bouncability is really. It's about being able to bounce back from failure. They’ve failed several times in the past 4 years. They opened stores and closed some. But at the end of the day, you look at the bigger picture – what’s really important
• Follow your dream. Follow your bliss. Because at the end of the day, all of this started from her knowing that there was really more than her day job working for other people
• She learned from her bosses the spirit of being an entrepreneur. Each of them was an entrepreneur at heart – having a vision and was passionate about a particular product. That was something that was priceless

All or Nothing

• You continue to move on because at the end of the day. Its only you and your dream. Sometimes its all or nothing. You go for it. You take risks.
• It took Jovy awhile to leave her day job. She’s a single mom and can’t just get up and go and gamble her life away just like that. At the end of the day, it wasn’t about that. At some point you need to let go. And you realize that working in your job, you help other people earn money. What about your own?
• In a nutshell, its about bouncing back from failure. Failures will come. That’s part of life. You just keep going. From the lowest of the low to going up, Jovy has never been more comfortable in her life. And it may or may not stay that way. She wished it would, and that it would continue to move in leaps & bounds, because she has a lot of people counting on her, so it becomes bigger than that
• Just continue to follow your bliss. If you continue to follow that, you will get it.

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