Get Started

A book has yet to come out describing in no uncertain terms the qualities of a successful entrepreneur. Neither has an authoritative figure come forward to say he can point to a person on the street who will one day be on top of a money making venture. While doing so is not possible, we can at least look at the traits shared by many successful entrepreneurs. Here are some of them:

 

1. Entrepreneurs have passion

Gillie Sing of Pan de Pidro wanted a bakery because she loved pan de coco and those available in her neighborhood tasted bland –if they didn’t actually taste just like other breads. Her husband Peter says Gillie’s love for bread allowed her to check on the competition – their bread’s taste, pricing, and branding.

John Tan of Chef’s Pride says those making it in the business do so because they like what they do. “Ito talaga ang una, If you don’t have an interest in what you’re doing, you cannot make it big,” he says.

 

2. Entrepreneurs are willing to learn and experiment

Gillie learned commercial bread making from Technology Livelihood Resource Center’s four-day course. For the next two to three months, she practiced what she learned with her kitchen oven, trying them herself, serving them to her family, and selling them to neighbors.

“Meron lang kaming isang bond paper sa gate, nakasulat kung ano ang na-bake sa araw na yun. Kunwari, pan de sal, P3, ganun lang,” Peter says.

Tan, who also owns Mr. Cuapao, says he researched  how to make bacon, and then applied the meat curing lessons he learned at a food expo he attended while working in Singapore. He tracked down a supplier from whom he got samples he used for his first couple of orders.

Myrna Co of UP Institute for Small Scale Industries says entrepreneurs talk to anyone who can help, be it experts, competitors, suppliers or prospective customers. “They are not shy about their ignorance,” she says.

3. Entrepreneurs are willing to work hard

“There’s no substitute for hard work,” says Tan, who has done every process or operation required of his business.

“Sa lahat ng negosyo, dapat hands-on ka. Nobody but you, who conceived of the business, can give your 100 percent to it. Paano mo iuutos ang isang bagay kung ‘di mo alam gawin? Pag kaya mo na gawin ang pinakamahirap, ‘yung hindi lang white collar na pautos-utos, kaya mo na maging entrepreneur,” he says.

With orders pouring in for Christmas the first month they opened, Gillie stayed up until four in the morning, folding the boxes and putting ribbons on them. Peter, who was at the time busy with the Asian Games, was delivering boxes of Pan De Pidro breads to all parts of the metropolis during the traffic-notorious season.

5. Entrepreneurs have a vision

Or as Co would call it, they set goals. “Mas madali if you have a business plan before you start. Hindi ka nanghuhula. Nakaplano lahat – what products you’re going to sell, what marketing strategy you’re going to use, ganun,” Gillie says.

“That we grew this big is not an accident. Our vision was to establish a long-term source of income,” Peter says.

Ildefonso Bagasao, president of the non-government organization Economic Resource Center for Overseas Filipinos (Ercof), says many Filipino businesses fail because they were started haphazardly. He tells of an OFW in Japan who wanted to start a business based only on his observation that a particular Philippine product was selling well in Japanese stores.

“He has already convinced friends to join him in his venture but how can you expect that business to take off at all?” he says.

 

6. Entrepreneurs are creative and innovative

Although Gillie had a plan, she learned to be flexible because, “80 percent of the time, hindi natutupad ang plano, like I planned to borrow capital from the bank, pero di ‘na-approve yung loan so instead of [putting up] a single proprietorship, nagpa-incorporate ako, asking friends and family to join in. Napabuti rin dahil wala akong utang.”

She learned to adapt by watching the market closely: “You are forced to think outside the box. The mix of breads we produce is constantly evolving. Originally, we were thinking of going for the C and D market, pero along the way the AB market picked up, kaya all markets na kami.”

She realized that entrepreneurship is a kind of school of hard knocks. Unlike what she was taught about pricing at the TLRC, she learned, for instance, that she could not touch the price of pan de sal just like that without suffering the consequences.

“Hindi pala pwede ‘yun. When you up the price of your pan de sal, you get the reputation of being mahal,” she says.

To get around this, she would increase the price of her other breads which doesn’t seem to bother her customers a bit.