Entrepreneurial Mindset

Today is the first day of the year, and my first blog post for 2012. Bear with me as I write something about entrepreneurship.

I had a very interesting discussion with one of friends regarding what it takes to be an entrepreneur. He asked me if I can define in one simple sentence how an entrepreneur thinks or acts or what essentially drives him. The reason he asked that question is because most companies, especially start-ups are now looking for someone with an entrepreneurial mindset to join their companies.

Thanks to www.mergersandinquisitions.com

It was a very good question and I almost got stumped. I had to look back and remember the interviews I did with entrepreneurs and business-owners. Then it dawned on me; 'entrepreneurs are people who add value.'

It really doesn't matter if you own your business or you are just an employee. An entrepreneur is essentially someone who adds value where there were little or no value at all. Entrepreneurs create opportunities that every problem presents. Entrepreneurs grab opportunities that every situation presents.

When someone adds value to a certain thing, that thing (whatever it is) becomes more precious. Let me illustrate; automobiles were existing decades before Henry Ford made the Model T. However, he had this vision. He wanted automobiles to be affordable enough so that every American will buy it.

Automobiles were hand-made. Each technician or worker spends several hours a day making one vehicle. This is why, vehicles were only for the rich and those who can afford it.

Henry Ford's vision drove him to make a system that will churn out his Model T's faster and more efficiently. He created the first assembly line. Not only it became more efficient, the assembly line also made the automobile very affordable!

I can tell you now that 99.9% of factories are using the assembly line that Henry Ford instituted.

Employees who add value to the company are highly-valued by their managers and other officers. These employees are the ones who get promoted easily and get regular pay raises. An employee with an entrepreneurial mindset is highly-priced.

I will be discussing the entrepreneurial mindset in detail in my following blogs. I will continue with my experiences first and the lessons I have learned. I hope that by doing this, I am adding value to you, my subscribers. I look forward to sharing my experiences again!

Happy New Year!

Let Us All Have A Prosperous New Year

Thanks to www.thedesignmag.com

In a few days, we will be celebrating the new year. During the same time last year, we were planning how we will go about promoting and marketing GreenRides. We were thinking if there was a market. We were writing down possible business models that we would have.

Time flies so fast. We currently have four shops; two are company-owned and the other two franchised. There are a lot of challenges. There were also triumphs. We were able to get a lot of good people. We also let go of a few bad eggs. We are glad we made so many clients happy.

But we should not rest on our laurels. We need to strive for continuous improvement. We need to maintain our leadership position. As such, here are some of the New Year's resolution that I have written down (this list is my own, my partners have their own resolutions.):


1. Strive for excellent customer service. During our company general assemblies we always say that we want our customers to leave with a smile on their faces. We know that our company offers premium services, as such, we want our customers to feel that they are special. We want them to feel good after they have gotten their GreenRides service.


2. Create more value-added services that will benefit the employees, shareholders and franchisees. We are became the pioneer in the waterless car wash and wax in the Philippines. People see us as somewhat of an authority. We want to change that. We want them to perceive that we are THE AUTHORITY when it comes to waterless car cleaning. We are and will be constantly on the look-out for value-added services that we can offer our customers.


3. Expand and bring the service to more people. As more and more people look for our service, we are looking for more ways of bringing the service closer to them. We are going to strengthen our brand and expand our presence through continuous partnerships with like minded-people and organizations.

4. Provide assistance to entrepreneurs who are actively seeking new opportunities in green technology. We are at the tipping of climate change. We have seen and personally experienced the effects of global warming. Because of this, we are looking to work hand in hand with entrepreneurs, students and other businesses who are doing something to mitigate the effects of climate change or even improve the environment.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

PS.
I will continue writing about my experiences and the lessons I have learned after all the holiday celebrations. Thank you very much for following my blog. If you have any suggestions or questions you want me to answer, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Merry Christmas!

Getting The Right People

This is follow-up to my previous blog.

One of the biggest issues an employer has is finding the right people with the right attitude for the job. It is not only important to find the people with the technical qualifications to do the job, but also the behavioral requirements needed by the job.

Finding the right person is a hit or miss affair. It might even be disastrous for small businesses.

Systems have been developed, such as a serious of interviews and tests, to get the person most suited to the job the job. Yet, this is no guarantee that person hired will perform well on the job.


Here are a couple of things I have learned from my experiences so far.


1. Money does not always motivate people. You need to get to provide them or show them a higher purpose on why they should be doing the job you asked them to do. Money can only get you so far. You might also consider Maslow's hierarchy of needs.


2. Leadership is an inverted pyramid. As a leader, you support and provide, as much as possible, for the needs of your employees. They are looking at you for direction and guidance. You must provide those things for them. Some times your employees are not only treating you as a boss. They see you as an older or wiser family-member. Take time to listen and relate with them.


3. Establish clear lines of communication. This may sound strange given my second advice. What I want to point out here is that even if you get to know them and relate with them, certain barrier must be maintained. They should respect your position. If the respect is eroded, you will have a hard time deciding on difficult decisions.


4. Lastly, work doesn't define the person. If you see that the person is not performing well on a certain task, don't immediately judge him and think that he is a failure. Take time to find out if what he is doing is really fit for his personality. Remember the phrase, 'fitting a square peg on a round hole?' There might be a mismatch somewhere.

People People People!

The lifeblood of any organization is its employees. The employees must be able to buy into the vision and mission of the company for it to be successful. The management must, in turn, be able to satisfy the basic needs of an employee.

When the management and the employee see eye to eye there will be a harmonious relationship between the parties involved. However, if one thinks that the other party is taking advantage then mistrust and chaos ensues.

The birth pains of any growing organization is getting the right people and putting them on the same page as every one else. A maverick is encouraged if he has already been sold to the company's system, vision and mission as well as policies. Employees who are given leeway often abuse the autonomy that has been given to them.

We experienced this first hand in one of our shops. An employee who had been with us since we started had become so full of himself and has treated the new hires disrespectfully.

Thanks to cindyisb.blogspot.com

M, let us call him this, was one of the employees we thought we could trust. He had some good ideas we were able to use. And he also understood that since we were starting out, some of the benefits would have to be on hold until we become successful.

M started to change when we got additional shops for expansion. We got more people to help us and increase our sales. We mentioned to M that once we reach the sales target of a certain he will be given more responsibilities, thus, also a corresponding increase salary.

However, during the next few days we saw that he wasn't as persevering as he used to. He ordered the new hires to do his job and at the same time, he did not report the sales of the shop at the end of the day. Furthermore, he wanted an immediate increase in salary. We told him that the agreed target must first be met. He became confrontational.

We decided to leave him when he brought home the sales of the day and didn't return it. It was a small amount but we couldn't trust him anymore.

Now, we have one of our franchisees experiencing her own employee problems. The employee goes to work late and goes home early and then asks why he has a paltry take home pay. Amazing!

Every company has their own story to tell, as much as any other employee. The key to maintaining a good working relationship is being open and keeping respect. Once you lose that respect, then all hell breaks lose.

Lessons that I've learned from this experience:

1. Manage expectations. Right from the start, tell the employee the rules and regulations of the company. If he doesn't perform as well or goes to work late, it is expected that his take home pay will be smaller compared to the others.

2. Communicate clearly. Employees have their own minds. They have their own vocabulary. They have their own experiences in which they create their own context. Make sure that you are coming from the same page. Understand them first.

3. Be prepared to let go of your employees when they create trouble. Although losing an employee is one of the hardest things to experiences to have, a company will be better off in the long-run if the agitator is let go. You can get and train people anytime but you will not be able to gain and get the respect of your employees as easily.

Show Me The Money

I know so many people who want to put-up their own business but are afraid to push through because of lack of capital. They tell me that putting-up a business would be easy if they had the money. Once they have the money, they can quit their jobs and then focus on the business to make it grow.

But nothing can farther from the truth. Most great entrepreneurs I know didn't stop when they faced little to no capital at all. In most cases, the lack of capital can be the source of inspiration to make a business flourish and succeeds as it forces you to think differently and act quickly.

Thanks to www.wpclipart.com/

Let me cite a couple of examples...

Every Filipino knows Lucio Tan. He was the richest Filipino for quite some time before a mall magnate, Henry Sy, overtook him. He is a controversial but very successful tycoon.

His family was originally from Fujian province in China before they emigrated in the Philippines. They settled in Naga, a town about 350 kilometers south of Manila. As most Chinese emigrants, they almost had no wealth  to begin with. He worked while studying Chemistry at the Far Eastern University.

After his college years, he immediately set-up his own business dealing with scrap materials. Yet he also had time to work in a cigarette factory. Learning from his experience from the factory, he put-up the Fortune Tobacco company. The company hit it big! Most Filipinos I knew during the early part of the 1980's smoked cigarettes his company made; even my dad smoked 'Hope'!

He is currently in the Forbes list of the Top Five richest Filipinos. Aside from Fortune Tobacco, he also owns these companies: Allied Bank, Asia Brewery, Philippine Airlines, Philippine National Bank and Eton Centris among others. Not bad for a boy who started with very little dealing with scrap.

Another example is John Gokongwei, the chair of JG Summit Holdings. Although he had come from one of the affluent families in the Visayas, their wealth was all wiped out during and after the Second World War. They owned a movie theater.

However, war broke out and they lost every thing they had. John Gokongwei became the breadwinner and he was forced to sell food at the market competed with people much older than him. After getting enough capital, he bought himself a bike to be able to go in to buy-and-sell. He would sell candles, soaps and other things that far flung communities need.

He then went to Manila to sell tires and other wares. I recommend reading his biography, John Gokongwei, Jr - The Path of Entrepreneurship.

These two examples serve as a reminder that you don't need to have lots of money to start a business. You can start out small and work your way from there. Here is an interesting article from Yahoo!

Furthermore, if you want to start your own business you must stake your own money. I do not advise to fund your business exclusively from the money your friends and family invested. You must also be prepared to lose money as well. This will force you to work your butt off.

But some of you might say that money is a problem, that you don't have enough even for your self. Then that is an attitude problem. If you know how to sell and you are not shy about selling something, you will have money. My partner is doing that.

If you are an expert in your field, you can be a consultant and earn enough money to then expand your consultancy services or put-up that dream business. If you can think, speak and write you already have an advantage over people who can not do these things. It is up to you how you will use them.

Lastly, to ensure GreenRides success, my partner and I are not getting any salaries yet. We only get gasoline allowance to go to our meetings and visit our shops. Most of the money is reserved to expand GreenRides. As I have said above, my partner is still selling. She designs her own clothes and sells them over the Internet. I do have another job. I write and am still a member of Professional Speakers Association of the Philippines.

Just remember that when you have your own business, it is all hard work at first. Laying down the foundations and making sure that the system runs seamlessly. And it may take years before you can see and experience the fruits of your labors. But it is worth it in the end.

Some lessons for today:

1. Be prepared to use your own money to set-up your business. Venture capitalists are good, investors are nice but you must have that extra drive to push you harder; using your own money simply does that.

2. Never leave your day job or have other sources of income. Having additional sources of income would prepare you for emergencies and other unexpected situation.

3. Never use the lack of funds as an excuse. Other successful people have had less yet became a success story. Read Abraham Lincoln's story or John Gokongwei, Jr.'s biography.

Make up Your Mind!

As I've said in my previous blog, I didn't grow up in a business environment. My mom is an educator and my dad was in the police. The closest that I had as a mentor in business were my bosses. Unfortunately, I only saw them when they have made their wealth. When I asked them to mentor me, they just told me things that I already read in books.

To say the least, I was very frustrated and lost.

When I decided to be my own boss, I put-up an IT consulting company. I thought that because I had programmers and my experience in an online job portal, clients would be easy to find. How wrong was I! I didn't realize that there were so many IT companies. And some of these so-called companies were being run or owned by students. Why did I say 'so-called'? Because they were operating underground. Not properly registered but are getting clients. Clients go to them because of their affordability and flexibility they offered. Clearly, I wasn't going to be earning so much money from this business. I had to research again.

When i was still a TV Host.

It was during this period that I became a TV host and met a lot of interesting people. They opened me up to so many possibilities and opportunities. One of the hosts even asked me to become a speaker. I readily accepted.

I learned so much from my colleagues as well as my hosts. They advised me to get into a business which has not been tapped yet. A business that is still in infancy. I was at a lost. What kind of business will I get in to? It seemed that all the businesses that I was looking at were either filled with competitors or will not work here at that time.

But opportunity came in an unexpected event. I had my car cleaned in one of those mobile car washes you find inside the parking lots of malls. I asked them to clean my car and even gave them a tip just to be sure that they will clean it properly.

Lo and behold! When I got back, there was a puddle around my car. I had to tiptoe to make sure that my feet won't be wet! There were watermarks in areas not properly wiped. I say very disappointed to say the least.

I told this to my partner and she got very interested. I didn't realize that she was taking notes about my experience. When I told her that I want to offer the public a mobile car wash that they will be able to smile and say 'wow!' when they see their newly cleaned cars she did some research.

My partner and I.

When I got home, she asked me to go to this website: www.nowetcarclean.com.au and told me what they were offering. I researched about the company and eventually contacted their Managing Director. And the rest they say is history.

Here are some the things I learned.

1. Opportunity knocks at times you least expect. People want to have their own businesses. However, when they think of they have or can offer, it seems that every thing has already been invented or every service has been done. It's not the case. Open your eyes and free your mind. Opportunities are out there.

2. Never be afraid to ask. When I emailed the Managing Director the multinational company I wasn't expecting that he would email me back. But he did, and he even to the Philippines to meet with me and talk to me. As what the good book says, 'Ask and you shall receive."

3. Don't be afraid to become a leader. We were the pioneer in the waterless car cleaning system in the Philippines. We had to do our research. We had our sleepless nights. There were times when we were scrambling to look for funds to pay our car clean technicians. Those were our difficult and exciting times.

We were able to get through because of perseverance and courage. We have now been featured in several media outlets. We have been the official car cleaning service provider for Toyota Philippines. It was all worth it.

4. Have a good support system. My partner and I supported each other during those hard and trying times. There were times when we snapped back at each other when the pressure was great. But we never lost sight of our goals, of where we wanted to do. At the end of day, we made up and promised each other that tomorrow will be a better day...

And it usually is...

My Path To Entrepreneurship

I was born in a family which believed that if you studied hard and get good grades you will be gainfully employed and will never have to go hungry again. In fact, if you worked-hard enough and become loyal enough to the company you work with, that company will provide every thing you need. I believed in those words for quite some time.

Because of idealism and the expectation that I will be monetarily rewarded handsomely when the 'time' came, I joined young companies and start-ups. When the call center industry was just beginning to take a foot-hold on our shores, I was the first ones to grab the opportunity. But then I got bored. The job was very repetitive and I wanted something with some more challenge. The work in call centers was what others were looking for, but not me. I wanted to go out. I wanted to be on the field.

When the opportunity came for me to work outside of the office and meet a lot of people, that was when my view about employment change. I was working with a company that a operations nationwide. Although it was a national company, I had a chance to develop my own area. I met people a lot of people who wanted to earn extra money because they need it. I met people who wanted to be their own boss because they grew tired of working for someone else. I was talking to them, helping them make money while I was receiving a fixed income.

I opened a shop which became the number 1 shop in the Philippines. It bested even the company-owned shops. A couple of others were in the top 10. I saw people who made a lot of money because of my efforts.

After I left the company, I went in to sales and handled a number of sales people. I would go out with my salesmen and talk to the clients they were serving. Some of these clients have their own catering business, others have their own stalls in wet markets, others own big restaurant chains. Their backgrounds were diverse but they all own businesses - and they were earning more than I did. Yes, I had a car. Yes, there was gasoline allowance. But my income was a pittance compared to what they were earning monthly. A business-owner who sells nothing but coffee in a wet market in one of the cities in Metro Manila was even able to send all of her kids to reputable schools! And she has savings more than she could ever imagined!

That event became the turning-point. I wanted to be an entrepreneur and own a business. I knew I had skills to make a business successful. I went to work for a start-up and was mentored by a businessman. It was a very mutually beneficial relationship at first. I helped in setting-up the system and managed the company as whole. I developed new programs and businesses for the company. But things started to change when I realized that the owner was rushing decisions and then changing them like changing hats.

GreenRides chosen as the official car cleaning service provider of Toyota.

The whole experience burnt me out... It was then I finally decided to go into business and work for myself.

I didn't get my business flying immediately. There were more misses than hits. I found the hard way that venturing into business is not a walk in the park. It was work - pure hard work...

Why become an entrepreneur? Why be a business-owner?

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, 99.6% of businesses in the Philippines are in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises segment. And they contribute to about 63.2% of employment or about 3.6Million jobs nationwide. MSME's are the biggest contributors to economic growth and employment.

Aside from the monetary consideration, entrepreneurs or business-owners earn more in the long-run that employees, I also find it as a Filipino that it is my duty to contribute to the national development of the Philippines. President JFK said it best, "Ask not what your country can do for you, rather what can you do for your country."

Don't take me wrong, there are other ways to show one's love for country. But this entrepreneurship is the path I choose. This path is not for everyone.

The car clean technicians during Toyota's Caravan.

This will be the overall theme for my blog. The lesson will revolve around entrepreneurship; the lessons I have learned and the essential things needed by entrepreneurs.

Finally, I don't consider myself as an authority in the subject. Rather, I am more of a practitioner. I just teach and share things that I experienced myself. I hope, through this blog, I will be able to touch more lives and convince more Filipinos to become entrepreneurs and help improve the economic situation of our country.

Lessons

It has been my desire to be a professor. I have always loved to teach and mentor people. This I found out has been my calling. It took me several years and a couple of life-changing events to finally find my passion.

When I told my partner about my desire to teach in a particular institution, she asked me why won't I do it in blog instead? She said that I would reach more people and get to touch more lives. I thought about it and what she said was a great idea...

So this blog will become a lesson for those people who want to start out in business but aren't sure where to go or what to do. I will put some of lessons online where it can be downloaded and viewed by people. I will also do some podcasts where applicable.

I will also ask you to email me and send me your comments or questions; or if there are lessons you would like me tackle.

Hope to see you in my next posting... Am about to do my lesson plan!

Say What?!

Communication is one of the key elements of any successful relationship; it doesn't matter whether it be a professional or personal relationship. However, the art of properly communicating is often taken for granted. Disagreements and arguments often come about because of the failure to understand the other party.

But what is communication? And how can we impart or share our thoughts and ideas to another person or party and ensure that it will be taken in its proper context.

Thanks to www.kristaabott.com

Entrepreneurs need to communicate properly their vision for the companies to their employees. Managers need to talk with their staff to ensure that every one works harmoniously in a team.  Furthermore, good communication also makes sure that the customer is able to really understand and know the benefits they will get when they acquire your product or service.

Whenever I give talks, I usually define terms so that every one will be on the same page. Making sure that every one is on the same page is usually the best way to start things since this facilitates in understanding the things which will be said or shared.

For starters, let us define what communication is. Communication is the process or an act of imparting or sharing a thought, idea or opinion through the use of speech, writing or sign-language. In other words, communication may be done verbally or non-verbally.

From this definition alone, we can see and understand that we are communicating all the time. Whenever we share our opinion, our ideas or the benefits of our services we are essentially communicating.

We can also see that communication is also a process. Several key components are essential to make sure that what we want to impart or say are properly understood and received by the other party. The diagram below shows the different components of communication.

Thanks to http://www.latex-glove.biz/

The sender imparts the message. She encodes the message to a medium that will be both understood by the her and the receiver of the message.

The medium is how you impart a message. It can be a face to face communication, through email, phone or twitter.

Then the receiver gets the message from the sender through the medium chosen by the latter. Once the message is received it is then decoded by the receiver. Decoding the message will be done according to the context that makes most sense to the receiver.

Once the receiver decodes the message, he will then give feedback to the sender.

If the sender and the receiver are encoding and decoding the message in the same context, there will be immediate understanding of the message and it will result in immediate feedback. However, if the sender and receiver are using different contexts to encode and decode the message, confusion or misunderstandings may crop up.

Noise also contributes to misunderstandings and confusion.

From the image above, it can be deduced that good communication must come from properly defining the terms and creating a simple and understandable message that can be understood by the receiver. It is also important that noise should be lessened.

I spent so much time talking about communication in this blog for several reasons.

1. Communication is essential for business-owners and entrepreneurs. You have to constantly talk with lots of different people at any given day. You will also be wearing different hats or persona. You can be a supplier to person A then be a customer to person B.

Effectively communicating with different people will give you an added advantage. You can easily adjust and adapt your words according to the situation and the context to whom you are speaking with.

2. Communication creates and provides a harmonious relationship within the work place. You can rally your staff and employees around your vision. You can sell them the future you are envisioning without sounding like a dictator who will ask his employees to do anything anytime.

3. Effective communication can get you places and let you meet people you haven't dreamed of meeting. Effective communicators can become speakers and are able to sell their own brand. People make a living out of their speeches. So if you think you are a good speaker or communicator and have something to tell others, this can be your path to fortune and fame.

Importance of Developing Contacts

I used to have a weekly business show in a cable channel. The show was called View From The Top. I got to talk to a lot of amazing and wonderful people who are already considered as industry leaders and innovators.

One of the people that I've interviewed is Ms. Jayjay Viray, the Country Manager of JobsDB Philippines. I used to work with in EdsaMail and met a her a couple of times when she was already with JobsDB and I was connected with another job portal company. Ms. Viray never ceases to amaze me. She is full of wit, intelligence and charm.

In this first part of the interview, she talks about the importance of developing contacts, maintaining relationships and developing friendship. In one of the quotable quotes during this interview, she mentioned that a person told her "there are two things that will make you successful in the Philippines, cash or contacts. But if you don't have cash, yet you have contacts you will make it."

That was why she started developing relationships and decided that she will meet someone new each day.

You can watch the interview below.

Why Stand-Out?

In almost every street corner one will see stalls selling pork and shrimp dumplings. These are selling at Php25.00.

I have often wondered why the store owners have not tried to differentiate themselves from the other stalls. What would happen if a new kid on the block comes along and is able to sell the same kind of dumpling a lot cheaper and still earn a profit?

Am sure these stall owners will cry foul and make the life of the new kid miserable. However, give a few months and the new kid will be the only one who will be selling the dumplings.

The reason why am advocating small and medium scale businesses to develop their brand and differentiate themselves from their competitors is that it helps them to be first on their customers’ mind.

For guys, remember the time when you started liking a girl? What did you do to get the girls attention? You tried to be different and stand-out from the other guys! You wanted to prove to the girl that you’re the better (or in some cases, the best choice) among the guys courting her.

Some tend to be known as the Joker, the Hopeless Romantic, the Thoughtful One. These are the brands that they want to be known.

You paid more attention on what you wearing, saying and even how you acted; you tried to be more romantic and chivalrous. You simply had to put your best foot forward.

The same is true for the girls. They focused more on highlighting their assets. They dressed more elegantly and learned to acquire class.

If this is the case in courtship, why would it be any different in business? Business owners must realize that they are still competing with other suitors for the customer’s heart. To get the customer’s approval, the business owner must learn to differentiate himself from the pack. He must constantly prove that he is the best alternative.

By constantly striving be better, he would have placed himself at a very good position. And whenever a customer thinks about his company, he will think about the good qualities that the company has over others. Companies will be able to develop good will and loyalty.

Marshmallows and Motivation

Image from www.lucassdocblog.blogspot.com

I had a talk in Dela Salle University in Manila with a group of graduate students taking up Industrial Organization. The topic focused on motivation, either employee motivation or employer motivation (if you are a business owner).

The question I tried to answer is; what motivates you?

I began my talk with a study conducted by Mr. Walter Mischel’s 1960 experiment, known as the Marshmallow study. In his experiment, he gave hungry 4 year-olds a marshmallow, but he told them that if they were able to wait for him to come back without eating the marshmallow he would give them another one.

I know most of you will say that this is a study of patience and self-control. You are right and I won’t argue otherwise. But I also saw how one can be motivated to wait just to have two sumptuous and juicy marshmallows.

For these 4 year old kids, having two marshmallows was enough motivation to wait for Mr. Mischel. They can see, smell and experience the taste of how having two marshmallows is better than one marshmallow.

What motivates you? What is your marshmallow?

Consider this, you are working hard to achieve what end? To realize what dream? For you to be motivated, you must have a goal – make it a crystal clear goal. Then make steps to ensure that you will be able to get what you want on a given period of time.

I advised these graduate students that if you want to achieve your goal and realize your dreams, you must make a constant decision to work towards it. If you are not sold on your dreams, any obstacle that comes your way will be a reason for you to give up.

What motivates you?

Begin with the end in mind… And work backwards. Make and create steps to achieve it. Then continually decide that you will achieve your goals no matter what…