WBW 32: "To be an Entrepreneur is to be a Student for Life" part 2 of 2 with RJ Ledesma

Learning definitely doesn’t stop in four walls of the classroom. In the streets, there won’t be a teacher telling you which things are important to learn, nor books giving you the factors that lead to solutions. It more than often demands your own decision making whether or not you’ll learn, grow, adapt and succeed, enjoying all the interesting things the world has to offer. In this part 2 of 2, RJ Ledesma, the famed Royal Tru Orange endorser, dating author, columnist and comedian, UNO magazine editor-in-chief and passionate realtor explores his experiences and how he tries to absorb as much lessons as he can from every step of his way. *Plus! The first baby in WBW!

Who is RJ Ledesma?

For those old enough to remember, we first knew him as Joey, the charming geeky kid from the Royal Tru Orange commercial. Though it may seem like a few seconds on TV for most people, it was the job that gave way for RJ Ledesma to work with leading film directors, namely, Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Peque Gallaga, and Jun Urbano. RJ continued his career media in shows like Teen Talk with Bea Lucero-Lhuillier, Alas Singko Y Medya and Magandang Umaga Bayan.

With this more prominent appearance in media, one may think that RJ starts and ends in media. However, the truth is far from it. Self-proclaimed school-aholic, RJ remembers his early years filled as an active student working hard and doing whatever he can to one day be able to land a prestigious multinational job that would eventually lead him to an MBA in Harvard – a childhood dream. Thus, after graduating in De La Salle University and becoming Proctor and Gamble’s brand manager for two years, he thought it’d be easy – but no. A few months and applications later, life hit him hard as he’d been rejected by Kellog, Wharton and finally, Harvard.

With a year of reflection and soul searching, he dragged himself up to be hungrier more than ever. Since then, he graduated with a Masters Degree in Massachusetts Institute Technology’s (MIT) Real Estate Development Program, self-produced a show entitled Men’s Room with Tim Tayag, became a humor columnist for the Philippine Star, a certified Yoga instructor, the author of the best-selling book “Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me”, UNO magazine editor-in-chief, a renowned host for events, a proud and passionate realtor for Ledesco Development Corporation, and now, the happy father of baby Fortune Ledesma.

Not only is RJ Ledesma’s face plastered in Pinoy pop culture, he has also managed to become a true model of how it is to get back up from failures and achieve greater heights while having fun and getting a few laughs out of every experience.

Show notes:

Difficulties jumping from corporate to doing something on your own

• Leaving a regular income
• An entrepreneur has to stay a bit hungry to be able to take advantage of opportunities
• Upon reflection, RJ's income is sometimes more, less, or equal to the amount that a corporate life may give him, but there are added benefits in becoming his own boss
• Flexible time allows more time with the family, shoot for media, learn more about other opportunities, or even do some interviews with the likes of EntrepBuff.com

Family business constitution

• Disagreements with dad
• Dad said to him, "I'm painting my masterpiece. And I'm painting on my own pace." then he thought that maybe his dad needed to give the brush to another painter to finish
• Remembered Manny Villar saying, "Why does John Gokongwei and Henry Sy still work so hard, do they still need the money? No. They're like painters, creating their masterpieces."
• Entrepreneurs find it difficult to let go of day to day operations, of which sometimes deter them from growth.
• Entrepreneurs and managers are different in that entrepreurs are visionaries whereas managers make sure things run properly
• So sometimes entrepreneurs need to learn how to let go

"The road to success is always under construction"

• Working for a magazine is a great learning venue as RJ needs to produce something new at shorter timelines
• As a media person, RJ was able to work in tv, produce his own shows, become a radio dj, write for print media, lived a full media life. But it's still beneficial in a seemingly very different aspect of his passion which is real estate.
• These venues give him opportunities to constantly innovate himself.

What is in real estate to be passionate about considering your more artistic endeavors?

• Most challenging and rewarding job to be in real estate, because you're providing homes
• Wearing different hats - negotiating with the government, finance, working with urban planners, architects, construction, sales and marketing, etc. different mindsets that you have to learn from
• Introduce what you're passionate about in your work - was passionate about wellness and ecology, because he's a vegetarian and yoga practitioner, so he directed these passions to the direction of a Tagaytay project

In being a part of a men's magazine

• It's not really about the beautiful women that attracts RJ to make him stay in the business since he's been in it for such a long time already
• He enjoys how to strategically form the product optimized for market positioning
• Another enjoyable aspect is the opportunity of meeting a lot of people
• Getting to understand different businesses and how things work, to apply to his own endeavors

RJ's biggest capital

• His network because he gets to be different people from different industries
• According to Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, RJ considers himself as a connector
• Although he himself doesn't have much monetary capital, imagine how large a capital he can put together with the amount and quality of entrepreneurs he can connect with each other

RJ's biggest inspiration to be an entrepreneur, his baby Fortune

• Fortune is the name of his daughter, named after his mother
• Tip: name your babies by your parents' name and you are assured of a good educational plan :)

Lessons:

• Think of life, as entrepreneurship as a continues learning process - to realize that you are your greatest resource
• As an entrepreneur, always be thirsty for new opportunities and ideas
• Biggest opportunity in a family business - having decided to stick to it and grow it - is not just the profit margins and numbers, but the aspect of the FAMILY in it.
• Though this is where RJ believes he'll grow, yet he'll constantly be looking for different opportunities

"The Board" message

Click here for WBW 32 part 1 of 2.