WBW 8: Falling Into Your Calling

You were always the person who whenever asked what you wanted to do in life, would always answer “I don’t know.” Then you end up with work that’s totally unorthodox to what your friends have – going from town to town listening to mothers' story about their kids’ innuendos while supporting their dream of a lucrative sari-sari store business – to finally realize, “this is what I want to do in my life.” This week, TJ Agulto talks exactly about that as elaborating the importance of entrepreneurship to empower the people “at the bottom of the pyramid.”

Who is TJ Agulto?

Always looking out for and grabbing opportunities to help a greater number of people, TJ Agulto is now finding himself in the thick of social entrepreneurship work, as the Head of Partnerships for Hapinoy, the country's first and biggest sari-sari store chain. He is also a Board Member and the Vice President for Public Relations of Rags to Riches (RIIR), a socio-entrepreneurial endeavor that brings together prominent fashion designers and grassroots manufacturers.

In trying to find his true calling in life, he once got into the academe, teaching Christian Life Education to juniors in Xavier High School, as well as being the moderator of the High School Student Council. He even entertained the thought of entering the seminary to become a Jesuit.

He has decided that the way to find one's true calling was to actively search for it, and once one has find, to grapple with the greatness of one's calling, then accept it with humility, willingness and grace to move forward and make it come true.

When asked what's his greatest failure?

When asked what's his greatest success?

Show notes:

Long journey to finding one’s calling

• Wanted to be a Jesuit, but "thank God I wasn’t accepted"
• The agony was all about not knowing what to do next
• At a special seminar, I got to face my emotional issues and three desires came out

Three desires

1. "Desire to take care of myself, to love myself unconditionally"
2. Make a change, a real difference in the country
3. To just be known as God’s perfect and faithful friend

"I found it in Hapinoy"

• TJ gets to work with nanays, and get to help to expand their businesses
• Knowing that his work creates great impact, transforming 100,000 nanays into entrepreneurs who are powerful, proactive individuals, with a sense of love for themselves, their family and their country
• "I resisted that for a time, but I realized that it was what I really wanted – that was my calling; to bring process of transformation that I experienced, to the marginalized"

Bringing change to the bottom of the pyramid

• When those at the bottom, the people who need change the most, go up and progress, then everyone else in the pyramid would progress too
• "A vision of a world where no one is left behind captivates every cell of my imagination, every part of who I am"
• Everyone should have the power to be – to be their great selves, their responsible, loving, truthful, creative, joyful and inspiring selves.

Lesson

At first, one goes through a whole lot, a great distance, before he finds his calling in life. The journey may be long, but sometimes, it’s as important as, if not even more than, the destination. Which is why, to go through it all and to find one’s mission in life, TJ says, “Only risk, only trust, only love – that is my calling.”

"The Board" message: