Greedy Ben's Pinoy Guide to Starting a Small Business

By +Chris Benedict Valencia 

Here’s Greedy Ben’s trend prediction for the year:

More Pinoy professionals will start their own business.

The modern Pinoy professionals are more open to the idea of starting their own small business than the professionals of the previous decade. More business and self help books have been made available to the public to motivate and educate young and younger* Pinoys who are contemplating of starting their own business.

*”young and younger” is what the age you want them to be.

Are you thinking of starting your own business?

If you are, here is a suggestion on how you should approach preparing your lifestyle to increase your chances of success and make it sooner.

Change your perspective on how to begin

                The common idea of how a person begins his or her own business is as follows:

                                1. Finish school

                                2. Work your ass off as an employee

                                3. Save up for your business while working as an employee

                                4. Start a business when you have enough savings

                An alternative approach on starting your own business by more radical young adults is:

                                1. Go to a business school or just skip the school part entirely

        2. Skip employee part

                                3. Ask parents for start-up capital

                                4. Boom! Success!

                The flaw with the second process is obvious. There is no security in it and it requires well-to-do parents, which are rare in the Philippines. It’s a happy-go-lucky approach to starting a business. The first and more accepted approach is more secure and it’s a long-term approach, but it’s also not perfect.

   Its flaw is it usually takes too long for an average Pinoy to save up enough start-up money in the Philippines setting. It may work if you are near the top of the corporate ladder of the company you are working for, where there are many opportunities for learning and the salary will allow you to save up, but not if you started out as the waiter/barista/cashier of a local coffee shop. If it worked for someone you know, consider the statistical possibility of the same thing happening for you.

               Another deficiency of the first approach is its limited consideration of factors that may impede the accumulation of savings. If you watched the animated film “Up”, you may be familiar with the reasons why the sweet couple can never save enough for their dream trip to Paradise Falls.

               Well, the same can happen for your business dream. While you are in the process of saving for your dream business and becoming your own boss, LIFE WILL HAPPEN. Expenses that are more urgent will tempt you to use your business savings and start over when the crisis is out of the way.

If you are lucky enough to avoid any urgent bills and payments, you may have lost your enthusiasm to start your own business by then.

               The two common approaches to starting a business mentioned above are flawed and you need a different approach to your own journey; one that works and secure enough for the Philippine setting.

Greedy Ben’s Suggested Approach:

                1. Start with your business ideas while still in school

The sooner you decide on the industry that you want to cater with your future business, the better. The best time to know what you want to do with your life is while you are still in school.

You will have access to learning resources where you can learn all the initial knowledge you need to decide on the industry you want to be a part of. There are also aptitude and diagnostic tests and career assessment exams that will guide you on your inclinations in the selection of Gardner’s multi-intelligences that will help you know if you are suitable for an industry or not.

                2. Get jobs with a job description that coincides with your selected business

After school your aim is to be a part of your chosen industry even if you begin as an employee. When choosing a course in college and a job later on, pick a course and a job that allow you to learn principles that you will use in your business idea later on. If you want to start a restaurant business for example, work in a restaurant while studying restaurant management courses.

                3. Learn every part of the business while being an employee

As an employee, your objective is not only the salary but also the learning experience in running a business. Observe and even take down notes on what you think will be useful in the future. Don’t take being an employee for granted because it establishes your work ethic and it teaches you skills and principles that you will need in your future business.

                In our restaurant example, you could learn about the sources of the ingredients of the restaurant you are working for and how the ingredient logistics help in minimizing costs.

                4. If your salary as an employee isn’t enough, think of creative, cost effective ways of starting your business as soon as possible

Now we move on how you can build up your start-up capital. Having not enough money to begin your business is not a stop sign for starting your business. It only means that you need to think of more creative ways to find funds. You can do this more easily if you don’t have much financial commitments yet. But if you do have other financial commitments, separating your business bankroll will help you separate your business funds from your everyday funds.

Using our restaurant example, you can start out small like taking orders online. You don’t need a brick and mortar restaurant yet. Word of mouth and social networking websites will be your marketing tools. And you can start rolling your funds from there.

When you have enough bankroll to cover a big percentage of your needed funds, you could begin looking for investors that will trust you enough with their money. You could try the people that are close to you like family members that can be trusted or you could go for trusted financial institutions like banks and lending companies with low interest rates.

Conclusion:

Regardless of the path you take and industry you choose in starting your own business, the important thing is never to give up. Philippine business is filled of rags to riches stories. It is true that the Henry Sy’s and the Injap’s don’t happen often but they do happen. If building a business is your calling, help your country by being good at it.

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