Alumni Forum

Starting a good business entails a lot of emotional discipline, good old fashioned persistence and a lot of 'not so common sense'. Although you need a lot of words in your financial vocabulary, but the basics like 'gross income', 'cost of goods', 'cashflow' and their proper meanings will do, you need not talk like a Big Business Guru and sound complicated to be in business.

If you can decide to do the following, then the chances for succeeding in a venture will be highly probable:

1. KNOWING HOW TO SELL- this is the first crucial step in being able to operate a business, you might have the prettiest stall or the nicest office in the block, but if you can't sell, then nothing really happens. Sales is the blood of businesses and 'nothing happens unless someone sells something'.

2. CREATING A SYSTEM or A PROCEDURE THAT SELLS- In the Philippines, there is a lot of confusion about 'selling' and 'being in business'. We often hear people say "Nagbebenta ako ng ______, sideline ko na negosyo". Selling is a skill and is part of a business but not the business per se. Selling is a very important skill but if the selling stops when you are not physically there then steps can be made to take the process 1 step higher. A business on the other hand, sells via procedures or strategies that have been developed to enable the owner to sell even without being there. This is where the word Marketing comes from--selling via a set of systems placed. It is good to know where we are really at so that we can take steps to 'automate' oursleves.

3. IMPROVING THE SYSTEM- it takes time and money to develop a system for a little business so we need to be patient. Even very simple instructions to employees need time and reminders to set in. In placing strategies, one needs persistence and continous trial and error until it gets done right.

4. AN ENTREPRENEUR is a micro company in itself-- start your business like it is already a big company (except the salaries of course!). You will have to practice being the Financial manager, Human resource, operations manager etc., until such time that the business can afford to have these people on board.

Remember there are no risky businesses, only risky business people. You are a reflection of your business entity. Continuous learning in these fields will help eliminate the riskiness found in all of us.