Entrepreneurship

Jollibee is the leading fastfood chain in the country and that is only my opinion but nevertheless I when it comes to fast food, Filipino’s have only one thing in mind when they want to eat out. I sometimes hear this joke “halika mag-Jollibee tayo sa mac Do” or “Mag-Jollibee tayo sa Chowking”. ( “come let’s Jollibee in Mc Donalds” or “Let’s Jollibee in Chowking”). Thinking that Jollibee is now synonymous with the word “let’s eat out”. That is how Mr. Tony Tan Caktiong put his effort to preserve and promote the brand name “Jollibee”.

On a video below from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), (actually I got it in Youtube) he has some interesting explanation about preserving his brand name and how dangerous it is for a business or company for letting copy cats imitate their brand name.  If companies are not strict on enforcing their trademark, over time it will become diluted and consumers will be confused and will not get the quality they want. Mr. Caktiong stressed that both the company and the consumers will be harmed in the process (probably because the company’s reputation will be tarnished and the consumers will not get the genuine products). So without much ado just watch the video after this jump…….

[click to continue...]

When I was just starting to blog, I was thinking of a kind of niche that I’m intertested in and that is entrepreneurship. Why? it’s because this is the only way I know to get the freedom that I want. No, I don’t mean that I’ll be totally free from work, what I only mean to say is freedom to make my own decision. Maybe the phrase “being your own boss” makes an entrepreneur free to make his own decision and not hanging around and consulting his boss all the time.

I think there is no need for me to talk about my days when I was still in the corporate world, working there and slaving myself. It’s true that I envy those managers who take all the privilages which includes nice fat salary and having their own cars but in exchange to that they have to kiss the “big boss’s” ass all the time. That is why I never aspired to be a manager. I was contented being a staff because I know deep inside that even if I have a high position in a company and enjoying all the authority and money, I would still leave it any moment (e.g. retrenchment, retirement or simply being fired). But being an entrepreneur will serve me for a  lifetime even if I don’t earn as much as a corporate executive.

[click to continue...]

My post title sounds ridiculous wasn’t it? how can I compare an aircraft to an entrepreneur? It just came out of my mind as I was watching Betty La Fea (the Philippine version) where Bea Alonzo played the part. The episode I’m watching is where the CEO and his son (John Lyod Cruz) sold ECOMODA and bid farewell to their employees. Maybe it’s not related to my topic, but it reminded me of the good old days when my father still have his business but now it’s gone. Some of my years of employment flashed back to my mind and remembered when I was still employed. I said to myself, being an employee makes me depended to an employer and it reminded me of an airplane that couldn’t fly. You know, the kind of aircraft that only flies on your imagination. Like an aircraft that uses a steam engine to sustain itself though to air which is impossible because it was indeed heavy. Another one is, it’s similar to a toy airplane with a string attached to the fuselage and hang it on your ceiling. To make flight possible, you need an engine light enough to carry itself in flight. So that is why light metal like aluminum alloy is used to construct an aircraft engine.

To become an entrepreneur, in my opinion, you also need to sustain yourself independent from employment. Like an airplane that can fly though to air without anything to support itself, only wings and thrust created by the engine. I know it is hard and when I was still employed I thought I could never do it. In my case it was kind of divine intervention and did not do it on purpose so I can’t advise people to just jump out of employment without planning. So like an aircraft, we can learn some lesson from it. Before we can be assured of the flight safety of an aircraft, we have to make series of test. Do you know that before an aircraft is permitted to fly, it should have a permit from the Air transportation Office (Now CAAP) checked by an authorized Aeronautical engineer for it to be airworthy? So as a starting entrepreneur, we should also make a series of test before we take our maiden flight!

[click to continue...]

Just this month the DTI (Department of Trade and Industries) is encouraging the use and production of the “bayong” to help save jobs in the countryside and of course this will turn the saving of the environment. The pet  project is called Bayong Development Project.To those who were not familiar or don’t speak tagalog, bayong is made from buri palm leaves and then woven to create the bag. Other materials are also used like pandan leaves, sabutan, romblon and abaca which is usually found in the areas of the Philippines. Now the other question is, will this help create jobs? Since creating bayong is labor intensive, it will surely create jobs specially to those who live in the rural areas because the indigenous materials are available there. But even though this will create jobs because of how it is manufactured, the areas of concern will be the practically of it so it can be easily accepted and used instead of using plastic bags which are harmful to the environment.

Plastic bags are everywhere and many times cheaper than a hand woven bayong. The reason why it is cheap is because the materials are cheap and machines are used to manufacture them. Machines can be used to bring down the cost but how about the jobs? there will be less job and since machines used electricity, there will be less saving of the environment too because electricity needs power plants that use coal or diesel to generate electricity. One exemption is, if electricity comes from geothermal or hydro electric power plants.

[click to continue...]

There is good news to all displaced OFWs because OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) is willing to lend up to fifty thousand pesos with an amazing low interest of 5% per annum. I wish I could also avail of this but since I’m not an OFW, then it is impossible. Also, there are other requirements and qualifications before you can avail of it. First is they will give you the loan if you were booted out after October 15, 2008 due to factory closures or company downsizing  because maybe it was considered as the start of the global financial crisis. I don’t know if that is the real start of the crisis because as for me, it started in the first quarter of 2008. Also, the other requirement is the borrower must attend free business courses in order for the displaced worker to manage their livelihood projects.

Carmelita Dimson, the OWWA chief had a nice statement regarding this: [click to continue...]

I was thinking of posting a business opportunity or a home business but I accidentally found an article about how millionaires made their millions. Having their traits in my opinion, is the most important thing for having a successful business because even if we like to start a business, if our minds are set in the wrong direction, I think success is really out of reach.

In the article there is a teaser that catch my attention that says ‘“They’re just like you. But with lots of money.” I think its true because when you read their success story, the only difference of a millionaire from an ordinary person is their determination, passion and frugality. I always think that the secret of becoming a millionaire is very hard to know but once you learn about their secrets, it doesn’t look like a secret after all. The hardest thing to do is to imitate their discipline which includes frugality and determination. Normally our spending habits and fear are the greatest hindrance.

[click to continue...]