The Business Club<\/em>
\nDecember 9, 2003<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Good evening to all of you.\u00a0I am honored to be here with you tonight to share my experiences as an entrepreneur. I hope that I could somehow inspire you to become entrepreneurs yourselves.<\/p>\n

Let me begin by telling you that I did not have any kind of advantage.\u00a0Our family was poor and no one gave me any capital.\u00a0My parents were not important people. We didn\u2019t have any connections. When I was young, I lived in Los Ba\u00f1os, a small town in\u00a0Laguna.\u00a0I was a very shy girl, and I liked reading.\u00a0 As you know, reading is usually a hobby of loners.<\/p>\n

Despite this, I have always believed I was born an entrepreneur.\u00a0I formally started becoming one at the age of 8, when I sold polvoron to my classmates. As early as then, I had retailers to sell my goods to\u00a0their\u00a0<\/em>classmates and friends.\u00a0I even shared my polvoron to those who helped me wrap them.<\/p>\n

That was my first business venture.<\/p>\n

But then again, how would you call the caroling stint I led when I was five or six?<\/p>\n

I still remember making sure my group knew many Christmas songs by heart. Each of us had a\u00a0musical instrument\u00a0to play.\u00a0We even had a strategy of knocking first before singing. We wore better clothes than most other carolers. I told my group that homeowners would give us more if they liked our singing and if they saw we had nice clothes on.\u00a0At 5 years old, I already knew the importance of giving value!<\/p>\n

When I was 9, I sold\u00a0rubber bands, texts, and marbles.\u00a0They were the \u201cin\u201d things then, much like the Yugi oh! cards and Crush Gear now.<\/p>\n

When I was10, our house burned down, leaving us with nothing to go by. But I got a chance to buy a set of stickers, which I immediately sold to my classmates by piece.<\/p>\n

Of course, I only had a small profit but I used it to buy two sets of stickers to again sell.\u00a0 Then I got 4 sets to sell\u2026 until I had a bagful of stickers. My business grew because I plowed back my earnings to the venture.<\/p>\n

One day, I sold all my stickers at bargain price and didn\u2019t buy any more. I knew less people would buy from me, so I had to stop selling. After all, everybody had a lot of stickers already. They didn\u2019t have any need or want of more.<\/p>\n

Money was not that important to me then as it is now.\u00a0But this is only because I have so much to pay for now.<\/p>\n

Early on, I already loved seeing my inventory grow and making my customers happy. I have never minded working too much. I work because I like working. And I love the challenge that a real business brings. Until now, I like satisfying my customers and helping people.<\/p>\n

With AHEAD, I am able to help five sets of people.<\/p>\n

First of all, we help the students who want to get into the schools of their choice for example, Ateneo Prep, Philippine Science High School , and UP, Ateneo or La Salle for college.<\/p>\n

Since I established AHEAD in 1995, we have maintained the highest passing percentage in the entrance tests of top schools.\u00a0 I consider it a great privilege to assist students in achieving their goals, even if it is just through a college entrance review.<\/p>\n

Second, we help the parents who only want the best for their children yet are burdened by career responsibilities and earning a living.\u00a0 We save them from the hassle of helping their children with their daily load of homework and quiz preparations.<\/p>\n

With a tutor to handle the academics, parents now have more energy for \u201creal bonding\u201d with their kids. They have time to read with them, play games, and chat.<\/p>\n

Third, we help the tutors who are mostly graduating students.\u00a0 We give them a chance to earn while they are studying, and to gain solid experience.<\/p>\n

Fourth, we help the lecturers who desire to share their knowledge without leaving their respective professions.\u00a0Our pool of instructors includes engineers, doctors, and lawyers who find themselves needing to impart their knowledge even while they excel in their practices.<\/p>\n

AHEAD allows them to make use of their gift in teaching through short courses and review programs that need not interfere with their professional responsibilities.<\/p>\n

And of course, I help my staff by giving them regular employment and giving them a chance to also help form minds, build dreams, and mold the future.<\/p>\n

What we do at AHEAD is truly fulfilling.<\/p>\n

Should you want to go into business, I hope that you will be able to apply the lessons I have learned in my own ventures:<\/p>\n

\n
1. Get others to help you.\u00a0\u00a0Polvoron<\/em><\/li>\n
2. Give more value than the rest.\u00a0carolling<\/em><\/li>\n
3. Plow back your profit<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

   into the business in order for it to grow.\u00a0stickers<\/em><\/p>\n

   \n
   1. Give customers only what they want or need.\u00a0Tex, marbles,\u00a0rubber bands<\/em><\/li>\n
   2. Constantly find ways to help your people.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Your customers and all the stakeholders.<\/em><\/p>\n

      \n
      1. Be an original or prove that you are the best in your field.\u00a0Ahead\u2019s passers list, awards, others We also have many firsts.<\/em><\/li>\n
      2. Be willing to really work long hours.\u00a0Double the 8 hours by 6 days.<\/em><\/li>\n
      3. Be sure you\u2019re in the business that will really fulfill you as a person.\u00a0Just find what you want. We like different things.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

         I hope that I have somehow inspired you to venture in entrepreneurship. In\u00a0closing, let me tell you what I think of entrepreneurship\u2014it\u2019s fun!<\/p>\n

          <\/p>\n

          <\/p>\n

          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

         The Business Club December 9, 2003   Good evening to all of you.\u00a0I am honored to be here with you tonight to share my experiences as an entrepreneur. I hope that I could somehow inspire you to become entrepreneurs yourselves. Let me begin by telling you that I did not have any kind of advantage.\u00a0Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-630","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamaworkingwoman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamaworkingwoman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamaworkingwoman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamaworkingwoman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamaworkingwoman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamaworkingwoman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":631,"href":"https:\/\/www.iamaworkingwoman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/630\/revisions\/631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iamaworkingwoman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}