Getting Back To Business

For the past few weeks, I have been compiling materials who would help entrepreneurs and those who would want to go into business to help their business.

I will be posting these materials and lessons in my blog starting tomorrow.

My goal is to help people determine the right business for them and how they can succeed in their business ventures. These materials and lessons are taken from various sources. I would compile these lessons and explain them the best way I can for it to be easily understood by my readers.

All developed economies has a strong business foundation. Entrepreneurs and businessmen drive the economy to greater heights. However, entrepreneurship is a calling. Not all people can become entrepreneurs.

I, for one, have thought about giving up a couple of times already. I have spent sleepless nights and stressful moments just to keep my business going.

So, aside from the lessons and materials I have collated, I will also share my experiences and insights in the hopes that people would learn something from my failures and successes.

So let the lessons begin...

Negotiating 101

One of the most difficult things that a business owner would do is to negotiate. Whether you are negotiating for a reduction of your rent, negotiating the salary of your employee or simply negotiating for a possible partnership, the task alone can send even the most seasoned business-owners nervous and harassed.

I recently found a video from the online version of Entrepreneur Magazine about negotiating and how to negotiate like a business owners.

Hopefully, we can all learn from the video below.

You can also see the video here.

Be Passionate

This is an excerpt in one of the chapters in my ebook.

"Passion is loosely defined as an extreme feeling or emotion. We can be passionate about something or someone. Passion can be illustrated this way: when my dad retired from the service, he wanted to take up a hobby so that he can be physically active. He decided to play golf. He got so passionate about the game that it was the only thing that he talked about for the first couple of weeks. He watched videos to improve his swing. He was on the driving range at least three times a week practicing his swing. He even encouraged me to play golf.

            Although he has not turned pro, he has won some tournaments against his fellow retirees. He proudly says that he has one of the lowest handicaps in their groups.

            That is what passion is. It is so infectious that it transforms your whole life. You begin to dream it, breath it, talk it, live it and even eat it. The whole day is spent on thinking about the ways you can improve ‘your game.’

            This is why most successful entrepreneurs and business-people are so passionate about their ventures. They are always constantly thinking of ways on how to improve their products or service. They whole-heartedly believe about what they are offering that they want more people to try their products or service.

            People gravitate towards passionate people. This is why we see charismatic leaders who have lots of followers. We often see this on religious leaders. We are even currently being governed by the most popular Philippine president since democracy was restored and he is passionate about ridding corruption in the government. Being passionate about something can be very infectious.

            I have learned so much from that the experience that I vowed to myself that my venture will be something I can be passionate about, something that I can readily talk to people for hours and hours. It doesn’t mean that I know everything about the subject. It just means that I live, breathe and talk about that which interests me. I realized that my passion for cars can be a business venture that I can go into.

            When you choose a business make sure that you are choosing something you are passionate about. I don’t recommend choosing a venture just because it is the current craze or trend. They will eventually not last long. There have been so many examples of these kinds of businesses; do you remember the pearl shake craze? Currently, milk teas are being put-up in almost every street corner. What will eventually happen is that the market will be saturated with milk tea kiosks that more and more people will be bombarded with a long list of choices. Just to stay afloat, these businesses will engage in a price war. Some will eventually lower prices just to get enough customers to stay in business. Lower prices mean good news for customers but not for business-owners. In a price war, the businesses lose.

            Here are some of the things that you should look into when choosing a business:

·         Barrier To Entry – would your competitors find it difficult to enter the industry? If you have placed a barrier that is quite steep, you will be able to corner a huge chunk of the market and be profitable for the long-term. Businesses with low-barriers to entry don’t last long or experience stiff competition almost immediately.

·         Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – when you start your business, what are the things that would separate you from the pack? Do you offer an improved version of a product? Are your services better than your competitors? Is your system more efficient and effective? Your customers must immediately take notice and accept the USP that you are offering them.

When Starbucks started operating, they have a unique selling proposition to offer customers. Not only that they offered good coffee and other beverages, they also created an ambiance that is very relaxing and accommodating. Their baristas know you by name and they can easily remember the drinks that you order if you are a loyal customer. I know a lot of people who stay in Starbucks to work. I also know a lot of people who hang-out in Starbucks.

They have become ‘a third place after work and home.’ (www.starbucks.com) Just imagine how many coffee companies can have that claim.  

·         Primary Market – who are your primary market, the people who will ultimately but your product? What do you know about them? How do they earn? How will they get your products or service?

Learn and understand your market. It would be better if you are also part of the market you are willing to serve. When you know and understand your market really well, you will know how much they are willing to pay for your product or services.

When we started GreenRides there were so many unknowns that we had to consider. For one, we didn’t know who are our target market was. It was a very difficult situation to be in. We did the next best thing – we tried everything through trial and error just to have a clear understanding of our market. It cost us a lot but what we learned was very invaluable.

Our main customers are females who are in their mid-20s to early 40s. They are mostly professionals and mothers. They have enough disposable income to spare that they choose to have their car washes cleaned in a mobile car wash in malls. They don’t want to or hesitant to go to a traditional car wash which is found on street corners.

If you are not too sure about who will be your primary target, do some survey and market studies first.

·         Fad or a possible long-term business – a fad is defined loosely as a temporary fashion or trend. People accept these fads because they are new to the market. They have not seen anything like it before. But as soon as the market is saturated with the same concept or idea, the fad eventually fades. I would go to the pearl shake again as my primary example.

When investing in a business, make sure that what you are putting-up will be viable for the long-term. I have heard people say that health products, tourism and green technology are viable business opportunities and I do agree with them."

e-Book Front Cover

Here is the first look of the front cover of my e-book. The design is courtesy of my partner. You can check out her other works at her site. Click her link here.

Anyway, I'd like to hear your feedback. Kindly email me your thoughts again. Thanks, guys! The e-book will be available next week.

The Filipino's Guide To Creating Wealth

I am now finally done writing my e-book. My partner is just designing the book cover and I am finishing the final touches.

I am looking for three people who want to take a sneak peak of my e-book. You just have to tell me why do you want to read the e-book and how can you help me reach a wider audience?

For your answers, you can email me at von.capulong@gmail.com.

I will be looking forward to your emails. Three lucky people will get The Filipino's Guide To Creating Wealth ahead of everybody else and free of charge!

So email me now!

My First e-Book

As I have mentioned in my previous blog, there were a lot of reasons why I was not able to write for the past several weeks. One of those reasons was that I was finishing my e-book, The Filipino's Guide To Creating Wealth.

Well, it is just about done. I would want to share with you the introduction of my e-book. If you have any questions or suggestion, please email me at von.capulong@gmail.com...

"I am the eldest in a typical Filipino household, both of my parents were working and I have 2 sisters. My mom is an educator and my dad retired after being in the service for more than two decades. When my sisters and I were growing up, we were advised by our parents and our relatives that we should study hard and get good grades to ensure that we get a good job, earn well and be settled for life. I heard these words not only from those people close to me, but from the parents of friends and even my parents’ friends.

                I had neither formal training nor background in putting-up businesses. The closest thing I had in seeing a family business was helping our grandparents in their onion distribution business. I would help repack the onions into 50 kilo sacks after they arrive in the wee hours of the morning from the provinces. I did this during my summer breaks when I was in primary and secondary levels. I didn’t consider it work at that time, although we were paid by my grandmother, since I was having fun.

                The next family business venture came after more than 10 years when my dad retired. That business venture didn’t last long since we both didn’t know anything about the industry. We started out like any would-be entrepreneur. We were full of high hopes; we expected that people will go to us when we set-up the business but they didn’t. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that there were a lot of things we did not see. I learned a lot from that experience. The business failed miserably.

                These experiences didn’t stop me from venturing into other businesses. Instead, I used what I learned from those failed ventures to make the other businesses I put-up successful.

                The purpose of this book is let people know that anyone can go into business. Formal training is not required. But a very good mentor is a great help. I have chosen to work for business-owners or entrepreneurs. When my batch mates in college were earning big bucks working for multinationals, I was stuck in a small office working for a business with no more than 50 employees, learning their methods, systems and trying to imbibe their mindset."

 You will be able to download my e-book in the next couple of days.

Trade Area Analysis

I have never realized that a lot of people would be asking me questions regarding finding the right location for their business. I have always thought that choosing the ideal location is easy as ABC. However, I have received queries through my email how to choose the right location for their businesses. They have emailed me asking if I can give concrete examples or tips on how to pick a spot for their business.

image from http://www.investmentrealtyresources.com/

Since I don't want to answer all the emails individually, I have decided that I will write about this and post it my blog in the next couple of days. I am also going to put illustrations or clear examples which will better serve people on how to pick the right location for their shops.

Just to start this lesson, I would like to tell our reader that choosing the right location for your shop all boils down to how well you know your target market. The first rule on choosing the ideal location is making sure that your shop is near your target market. You might be located near the place they hang-out or they frequently go to.

I want to also reiterate that there are several things you need to focus on and look at. These things are accessibility, barriers to entry, presence of competition among others. You can check it in my previous blogs.

Lastly, I will make this lesson into an e-book which you can download and use as a guide when you are going to expand your business. This e-book will be free of charge. I only pray that you share it with others in the hope that this will drive businesses to grow. We need more businessmen and entrepreneurs to move this country forward.

Thank you very much for all your emails and feedback.

Make Your Business Accessible

When choosing a location for your business, accessibility should be the first thing you should consider. Your customers should be able to go to your shop quite easily.

There is no use in putting up a business in a cheap location with a parking lot if your customers need to drive an hour to get to your shop. There is also little value in putting your shop in a high-traffic location if you are selling to a small niche - the rent will just eat up whatever you will earn.

image from http://brokensidewalk.com

Getting the ideal location for your business is a delicate balance between making your shop accessible to your clients and making sure that rental payments will not eat into your profits. The most ideal and best locations for businesses are also the ones that have the highest rents. So be very careful in evaluating where you put your business.

Most business people like putting their shops in malls. Understandably, malls offer high volume of traffic for those who want to rent a space. Malls also provide parking spaces. They are also accessible via public transport. If you are a business-owner, setting a shop inside a mall would make good business sense, except for the rent. The rents inside malls are quite astronomical and sometimes even forces some of the businesses to close shop.

If you have a very high profit margin, say for example you are selling jewelry; or you are attracting lots of customers, think of McDonald's, then renting in a mall won't be a problem. You can easily cover the rent with your profit margins or the number of customers that buy your products.

However, if your profit margin is not that high or don't get that many customer, it is best that you avoid setting-up shop inside malls until you are certain you can pay the rent.

Choosing the right location for your business means you have to understand where your customers are mainly coming from and how they will visit your store.

Different kinds of products or services need different kinds of locations. You cannot evaluate a site based how a fast food company evaluates a given location if you are a furniture company. Those who are buying from McDonald's might not be the same people who are buying Ikea products.

When you choose how accessible you want your store to be ask yourself these questions; are you customers traveling by car? Will they be using public transport? Can they walk to your store?

Customers who are using cars need parking spaces. If you are a stand-alone shop, you should be able to provide your customers a parking space they can park their cars on. If you are a jewelry store, it would make no sense to let your customers park one block away from your store. You will just provide opportunities for thieves to rob your clients.

If your customers are using public transport, then make sure that they can easily go to their next destination when they leave your store. This just means, your store should be near bus stops or terminals. It would be no use to rent a place with a very large parking space. You will just be wasting your money.


Getting to know your customer is the key to finding the ideal location for your store. Find out how they will be going to store. Talk to them if possible. Get into their mind.

In the end, you want your shop to be easily accessible to your customers. You want them to get into your shop and buy your products. Make it convenient to visit your place and they will keep coming back.

Grow Your Business

image from http://financewand.com/

All entrepreneurs and business-owners want to grow and expand their business. When they grow their business, they will be able to hire more people and at the same time increase their profits. But most have trouble thinking of ways to expand their businesses.

Let us look at the factors that can help you decided whether to expand or not.

1. Increased customer base. You will know you need to expand when you see that customer from far locations are going to your place just to buy your products or service. 
2. Maintaining your lead. If you are the first mover in the market and you want to maintain your lead over your competitors, it is best that you expand aggressively so that it will take some time before your competitors can catch-up with you. 
3. Market saturation. When you have saturated a particular market or area, it is time to venture and look at the possibilities of opening new stores or shops in other locations. 

There maybe other factors that you may need to consider when you expand, such as your current capital and how will you hire the additional manpower that will work for you. Growing and expanding your business is not an easy task. You need to constantly study whether the market you are looking will make your expansion worth while or not.

In the next few blogs, I will write about what are the things you will need to consider when expanding in a new location or market.

Is Buying A Franchise For You

I had a very interesting discussion with a friend who wanted to put-up his own business. He said that he doesn't have the experience and enough capital to venture out on his own and create his own product or brand. He is thinking of getting a franchise.

I understand him and I advised to get a franchise concept that is new and not easily copied. Food carts are a no-no since I know many food cart businesses that have lost money. Also, food cart concepts are quite similar to each other. The market is already flooded with choices.

He asked me for some tips and advice on how to choose the right business to franchise.

image from www.allfungi.com

Franchising has been a great opportunity for people who want to own a business but don't have the expertise and time to make a system and learn everything from scratch. Entrepreneurs have lots of choices in franchising, but the most common is a food cart business. 

Below are some of the tips in getting a franchise.

1. Make sure that what you will be getting won't have any competition in the market. Competition eats away your market share. This is the reason why I am hesitant to recommend getting a food cart business since there are so many food cart franchisors offering the same products and services.  
2. Support from the company. A franchisor is responsible for training the franchisee and his staff. The franchisee, in turn, must make sure he and his staff must learn what the franchisor has taught. From time to time, the franchisor will send his own staff to monitor and supervise a franchisees staff.
3. Constant marketing campaigns to ensure that the product or service will be on the customers' minds. Since a typical person will be bombarded with more than 5,000 ads on a typical day, the franchisor must seek creative ways to reach his target audience. This will ensure that the customers will go the franchisee's store. 

But getting a franchise is not a going to be a sure-shot success. It all still goes back to the franchisee. A franchisee must supervise and learn the business inside-out. He must conduct local store marketing campaigns and  ensure that the his staff are doing what they were trained to do.In the end, the franchisee is ultimately responsible for the success or not of his own store.

Business Courtship

Doing business is like courtship. You must be able to find the right partner in order for your business to grow. Finding the right partner is often the difference between a successful venture or being part of the 95% of businesses that fail in the first few years.

Let me illustrate...

In courtship there are several levels, the first level is the getting to know you phase. Once they see that they are compatible with each other, then comes the second stage; the exclusivity stage. They don't see nor go out with other people. Then after awhile, the engagement stage. This is the stage where they plan to take their relationship to the next level. Lastly, the final stage or marriage.

Thank you to http://www.lightinthebox.com/

Now, let us apply this to the business world.


Stage 1. Getting to know you phase.

Entrepreneurs love to share their ideas. They love talking about the things they want to do and plan to do, hence, they have the capability to convince others to join their cause. Entrepreneurs are usually gifted communicators.

During this phase, entrepreneurs meet and talk to a lot of people. These people either buy in to the idea or not. Those who buy in, talk to the entrepreneur and discuss the possible scenarios. The entrepreneur and prospective partner try to feel each other out. They find out whether a possible working relationship will prosper or not. This is where entrepreneurs find investors or other partners to help him grow his business.

Stage 2. Exclusively dating.

The moment that they see that they can have a pretty harmonious working relationship, they begin to work on and improve the business. They talk about how they will realize the business. Other ideas or proposals may be coming in, but they just focus on making the business come true. Others are just a distraction.


They are laying the foundation of the business on this stage of the courtship.

Stage 3. Engagement.

During this part of the courtship process, both the entrepreneurs and the partner are laying the groundwork of the business. They get the necessary documentation and permits, they make sure that operations will run smoothly as possible. This can either be long engagement or a short-one. If the business, marketing and financial plans have been made on Stage 2, this will be a short engagement.

Stage 4. Marriage.

This is where the tire hits the road, so to speak. The entrepreneur and the partner finally start the business. They hire the people who believe in their cause (their children) and work towards the goals that they have agreed upon. But just like a real marriage, a business partnership will also experience rocky and tumultuous moments. Yet, there will also be victories and triumphs!

The key to maintaining a good business relationship, just like in marriage, is mutual respect. Understand that each individual is unique. Staying true to the vision and mission will be the key to a long, lasting and successful partnership.

Will You Be My Partner?

People think that one of the main issues with entrepreneurs is that they love to do things on their own. They believe that these mottoes apply to entrepreneurs:

• If you want something done right, you do it yourself, and
• Too many cooks spoil the broth

 This is why our idea of an entrepreneur is someone who has graying or thinning hair, always stressed out and always on the go. To some extent that is true. Entrepreneurs love to take charge. Entrepreneurs always point the direction where they want the company to go. They create the vision.

However, we seldom see that entrepreneurs also have partners whom they can rely on and trust. Entrepreneurs know their weaknesses and their limitations. They seek people who can back them up. They seek individuals who can provide the expertise that they don't have.

How do they do this? An entrepreneur's mind works differently. In my previous blog, I mentioned that entrepreneurs are people or persons who add value to something. It is natural for them to seek out people who can strengthen them and provide them the needed lift to get to their vision.

Thanks to http://www.vibrationalenergyhealingcenter.com/

You can see this at work in newly built corporations and partnerships. Two or more people get together, form a company and achieve its goals collectively. One is handling sales, another handles marketing, one person handling finance and so on and so forth. There are no two partners doing the same thing, otherwise chaos would ensue. There will be a clash of ideas and egos.

In GreenRides, my partner and I have agreed to take on certain roles. She is primarily handling the admin and finance side and I am handling business development and product expansion. Although we both handle marketing, we have agreed to debate, consult and support one another. There may be shouting matches at times regarding some ideas we want to try and implement, in the end, we always know and have agreed that we just want the company to expand and grow.

For those things that we don't know anything about, we have agreed that it would be best to outsource certain tasks. Once we decided to do this, we can focus on what we are good at.

For those who want to venture on their own, I suggest you seek a partner that will complement and complete your skills. If you decide to make on your own, the probability of failure is much larger. Even Donald Trump had some help in constructing his famous buildings!

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.

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.

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.

Where To Now?

One of the most difficult decisions an entrepreneur makes is whether to stay the course or change directions.

Thank you to www.arts.yorku.ca

I once worked for an online job portal as a business development manager. As my job title implied, it was my tasked to develop new businesses for the company that will help it increase its profits, make more people aware about its products and services and staying ahead of its competition while at the same time maintaining true to its stated vision and mission.

Ahh... vision and mission. Let me just insert a few words about vision and mission. I will not get into the technicalities of the definition the words, but let me just say that the vision and mission are statements that provide an overall direction to where a company is wants to become. As a general rule, vision statements must be specific and goal-oriented.

Going back to the story; the company was relatively young when I joined. They were just setting-up and in the process of forming the overall company identity. It was an exciting time to be in that company.

At that time, we envisioned the company to become jobseeker-centered. We wanted to give more opportunities to more jobseekers and then endorse them to employers if they fit the technical skills and behavioral (hard and soft skills, respectively) requirements needed by these companies. During that time, employers can still choose to pre-qualify applicants based on their educational background and the companies they have worked in. We wanted to change all of that.

Unfortunately, because of financial constraints, the company we were forced to change the business model a couple of times. It seemed that the company lost its main purpose and overall identity. They wanted to be everything to everyone. They even changed the website too many times.

That was when I decided to leave the company.

Based from what I hear, the job portal is now catering to call centers as one of their outsourced-service providers for pre-qualifying applicants. I am not sure if they are doing anything else.

My message for this blog is very simple.

When deciding to put-up a new venture or a business, start with the goal and objectives. Once you have this, map-out your direction. Stick with it. If you need to make adjustments and improvements to your direction, do it gradually so that it will not alienate your existing and may be loyal customers.

Just imagine a golf ball being hit by a club. A few millimeters of adjustments can give change your direction over the long-run.

If you will make adjustments and improvements, make sure that it is in conjunction with the goals, purpose and objectives you have set-out for your company.

Ask these questions before you finally decide operationalizing your business:

What do you want your company to be? How do you want the public to see your company as? How will you intend to do those things? What are the steps to be taken? Where will you position yourself?