Factors Paper by CG R090205

FACTORS PAPER
BY: R090205

I was once told by my beloved father when I was still studying in college that for someone to be successful in business, one must have the following traits and qualities: "sipag, tiyaga, suwerte at kakilala." Upon hearing it from my father, I was in awe and quite amazed that among all the traits that you could have, how come "luck" and "contacts" would be considered equally important as being determined and hardworking. At that time, I must admit, I was not in the position to doubt even a bit to the things mentioned by my father not just because of my respect of him being my father but because I know for sure and I can personally attest that they have those qualities and traits that is why our shoe manufacturing business is successful as what it is right now.

Upon knowing that we need to do this factors paper, I have asked myself if there is anyone that I need to use as my role model in determining different factors to be successful in business, whom should it be? I immediately thought of my parents more than the known entrepreneurs such as Lucio Tan and Henry Sy. Besides, if I need to know the traits and qualities that I have, it must be coming from my parents as well as they were the one who raised and taught me. Maybe it runs through the genes as they say.It might be quite obvious that I have been telling mostly about my parents, this is because I could not help it but to be proud of them.

My father was a technical and vocational graduate as an electrician and worked as bus mechanic and my mother was only an elementary graduate and worked as bus conductor. When they decided to build their own family, my father took his chances abroad as an overseas contract worker on various countries in the Middle East just to support his family. After more than ten long years, my father longed to be with his family so he decided to stay here in the Philippines and tried their luck in venturing into business. As residents of Marikina, but not true blooded Marikeño, they tried the shoe manufacturing business in 1990. They started with a meager capital of Php 50,000 with three workers consisting of one "sapatero," one "mag-aareglo," and one "mananahi." Their start-up was never easy and they even failed. There was a time that they almost give-up, however, because of their perseverance and faith in God they were able to overcome all the struggles they faced and was able to rise to the occasion. They were able to learn the ins and outs of the business and through hardwork, perseverance and dedication, success came naturally. From three workers, now, they have more than a hundred employees and still continue creating more jobs.

With this, it truly pays to learn from their experience and know the qualities and traits they possess to become successful entrepreneurs as they are right now or even exceed what they have accomplished. Below are the factors I have learned from my parents through the years:

1.      Faith in God

This is one of the most neglected and yet most important among all traits to be successful entrepreneur. With this trait, all things will be possible and even makes you always grounded. Having faith in God will lead you to whatever goal you have and will keep you away from doing evil things that you will regret someday and worst, will lead to your own failure.

2.      Dream BIG. Be ambitious!

There is nothing wrong to be ambitious. If you are going to dream, dream big! As they always say, "Mangarap ka!" In order for you to have directions, you must set first your goals in life, as the lyrics of the song of Bruno Mars, "I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad!"  If you want to be a billionaire, so be it. If you knew some rags to riches stories, most of them started as a rank and file employee and dreamt of having their own company and they did. Like the stories of my parents who started as "mekaniko at konduktora ng bus", and now, they already have their own companies. Take also the cases of known billionaires like Henry Sy and Lucio Tan who started as simple employee and now having world renowned companies.

3.      Start Small

Even though it is essential for all aspiring entrepreneurs to dream big, this does not necessarily mean to start the business big. The bigger you start, the higher you fall, unlike when you start small, the lower you fall. It is better to start your business small and aspire to make it big, than to start big even if you are new to the business, there is a high risk of failure.

4.      Work, work, work

Olongapo City is known to be successful because of their hardworking people as their known slogan goes, "Bawal ang tamad sa Olongapo." Success comes after hard work. It is not easy to achieve success hence; you should work very hard for it. No one else will do the work for your success but only you.

5.      Learn, learn, learn

You were not born to know everything so you have every room to learn. Learning is part of every success and innovation comes with learning. Being an entrepreneur takes a never ending learning especially in this world full of changes and ever evolving environment.

6.      Accept failure

Most of the times, success comes after failure. It means you have to taste a few failures before you can reap success. However, this should not stop you from pursuing your goals. No matter how many times you failed, the most important is that you rise to the occasion by accepting your failure, learn from it and move on.

7.      Self-discipline

What makes Singapore a very successful country is the discipline of the people. Just imagine Filipinos having the same discipline as people in Singapore, how successful Philippines could be. Running a country is like running a business, being a leader you should set as an example to your followers, same goes with business owners, you should lead by example to your subordinates. Having self-discipline will make people punctual, efficient and more productive.

8.      Care for others

Part of being successful is caring for others. As the saying goes, "It is better to give than to receive." You should give back to God whatever blessings you have received by sharing it to others. Do this with all of your heart and you will receive more than a hundred folds of blessings.

9.      Learn to save and value money

Spending money is much easier than earning it. You should learn how to value your hard-earned money so you will save some and be wise in spending the rest.

10.   Love what you do

You must have the passion to do the things that are necessary to make the business successful. When to choose the kind of business to venture in, always bear in mind in considering things you love most to do because you will always have fun doing it and you will never get tired of it.

I am what I am today because of my parents. I was raised and taught of the above traits and qualities that will eventually prepare me to handle my own business. True enough, as I was given the opportunity to handle my own business, I have tried to apply some if not all the traits I learned from them. However, there are things that I'm learning throughout the experience. As the saying goes, "experience is the best teacher." Every day is a learning process for me. I have learned things from other people just as I have learned from my parents. Even I consider myself now as a businessman; I'm still long way to go to be considered a successful entrepreneur. I was also taught to always think positive, so even I'm not there yet… but I'm getting there! Hopefully... :)