Why Did I Write “Grow Your Business Pinoy”?

Hello, Pinoy business owner! Welcome to our maiden episode, Let’s Grow Your Business, Pinoy!

For today, what we’d like to do is first to welcome you and answer two questions.

The first question is: “Bakit video series?”

The answer is, it is the most practical way to be able to answer questions. All the questions that you have when you are growing your business. Last June 12, we launched the Kindle version of the book, “Grow Your Business, Pinoy!”: Your Practical and Proven Roadmap on How You Can Make More Money Faster by Doing Less and it is written by yours truly, Myrna Tam Natividad.

Those who have downloaded the book are texting me, emailing, messaging me on Facebook, asking questions about things that they have read here or other questions about how they can grow their business. I started answering them in email and then I realized “Ay, sayang naman. ‘pag nag-answer ako ng mga emails na yun, isa lang ang makakausap ko, eh papaano ikaw? Baka mayroon ka ding ganung questions di ba? And you won’t hear the answers. Or maybe you are not at that stage yet so hindi mo pa maiisip yun but later on you might be able to ask the same question and you’d want to find the answer.”

So, napag-isip-isip namin, “Okay, let’s do a video series, upload it in FB and also on YouTube (and make it a blog, too!). Para naman ‘pag naghanap kayo, makikita ninyo yung mga answers dun sa mga past episodes.

That is why we launched this maiden episode of this video series which will help you grow your business, Pinoy!

Let me talk about this book. It says here: Your Practical and Proven Roadmap, so ang roadmap is on Page 107. I have been a business woman for 40 years. I am not a graduate of any Commerce or business courses so maraming pagkakamali ako ginawa sa aking business. Actually, 20 businesses ang medyo na-down, nahinto, na-bankrupt. Sa lahat ng mga businesses na ‘yun tska sa kalaki-laking utang, the big debt that we started to accumulate because of all of those failures and mistakes sa business.

Ang nangyari is natuto na ako. Nalaman ko na ang business pala ay mayroong 4 stages of growth. Sa bawat stage, there are only 7 things that you need to learn. So, kung nasa stage 1 ka, ito lang yung dapat mong matutunan. Hindi maraming-maraming kung anu-anong binabasa at kung anu-anong seminars ang pinupuntahan na napaka-advance ng itinuturo. Ito lang muna. Tapos ito and then finally this one. You will learn more about this from the book.

The second question is: Why did you write the book?

Ang dami nagtanong niyan. Ang isa diyan na nagtanong is si Fred Covarrubias, a successful business man and also the person who interviewed me. Kaya lang dahil ang interview is conducted in 100% Chavacano English, so baka hindi mo naintindihan kaya I’ll repeat na lang.

Some people think that I want to write the book because I want to make money. Yeah, maybe but the money would not be for me.

The money in writing books is not actually that big. Even if it is small, it’s also not for me. Nag-usap na kami ng aking mga anak and my husband and we already agreed that all the proceeds of the sale of the books will not go to us but it will go to a scholarship fund. Dahil diyan sa scholarship fund na yan, marami tayong matutulungan na mga kabataan na medyo inclined sila sa business pero wala silang support. And therefore, that scholarship fund will be for them. Know that when you will buy the book later on, you have to pay $5.99. So, if you pay that amount, part of that goes to Amazon of course but the rest of it will go into helping students, kabataan, young people to venture into businesses.

As I’ve shown you, the Grow Your Business, Pinoy! Roadmap, ito yung pinaka-sikreto ng lahat ng businesses ko. Naghanap ako ng answers for many years kung papaano at dapat kong gawin. And finally, I’ve summarized all of these. The original intention is ipapamana ko sa mga anak ko tsaka sa mga apo ko so that they can easily grow their businesses in the future kahit na wala na ako. But then in my last trip wiuth my family abroad, I met a lot of OFWs. Nakita ko na kahanga-hanga sila. Ang dami nilang kwento. Ang dami kong naririnig na mga personal stories nila. Hindi lang noong last time na may na-meet akong maraming OFWs.

In the last many years that I’ve been travelling abroad, I would always be seated beside an OFW in the pre-departure area or even on the plane. They would tell me their sad stories about have happened to their families. ‘Yung pera nila kung paano nalustay. Some are even hopeful na sana “maka-abroad ako uli kasi nagkaproblema ako dito sa last employment ko.” Sabi ko, ang hirap pala na mawalay sa family. Hindi ko kaya yun. Ang dami nating problema sa Pilipinas dahil sa OFW phenomenon. Ang daming perang pumapasok kaya lang yung mga kalungkutan ng mga family members, the result of that is not very good for our society. Maraming broken marriages, early pregnancies, even the drug menace.

Ang root cause ng OFW phenomenon is really dahil wala namang trabaho dito. Sino bang gusto na iwanan ang family di ba? Kahit na ikaw, ayaw mo. Ako rin, di ko kaya yan. Kaso ang problema natin, sabi nga sa DTI, 99.6% ng mga businesses dito sa Pilipinas ay puro micro, small and medium lamang. Yung large, kokonti, wala pang 1%.

Ano yung micro? Yung micro, 1-9 employees lang ang kayang i-employ. Yung small, less than a hundred. Yung medium businesses na nakikita natin sa paligid, mga 100 to less than 200 employees lang. Majority if not all businesses natin ay ganun kaliit.

Paano na lang? Saan tayo magtratrabaho? Saan tayo makakahanap ng magandang jobs?

So, it just makes sense na kung gusto nating tulungan ang ating country, the first thing that needs to be done is jobs.

Sino ang magbibigay ng trabaho? ‘Yung gobyerno bigay ng bigay ng trabaho pero the government can only open up so many jobs hindi na kaya ng government. It has to be us, business men, business women like you and me na dapat i-grow natin ang mga businesses natin para more and more people pwede nating ma-employ at matulungan sa pamamagitan ng ating businesses.

Looking at my roadmap again, teka muna bakit ba ako magdadamot? Sige na lang, ipamigay ko na lang ito. Ilabas ko na lang ito sa mundo, sa Pilipinas, sa buong country, sa buong mundo where there are Filipinos. I want them to see that businesses are not really that difficult to grow kung alam lang natin.

Ang sabi nga natin, four stages, 7 areas, as long as we do the things here then we can go to the next stage very quickly. ‘Yun lang ang dapat na focus natin. Kaya nga sabi ng book ay “practical” kasi ginawa ko na yun. Talagang umaandar. Walang masiyadong theory; puro experience. So, practical and proven roadmap. So, pag mapa, step 1, 2 3. Hindi kailangang magpakamatay sa trabaho. You can make more money faster by doing less just by following the roadmap.

Bakit ko sinulat yung libro? Because I love the Philippines. I love my country.

I know that the only way I can contribute to my country as a business owner like you is to grow my business and to hire more people. Kaso, 62 na ako. Ilan pa bang business ang kaya kong buksan? So, bakit kailangang ako pa ang magbukas ng business? Bakit hindi ikaw? Bakit hindi yung mga business owners like you who are struggling, confused, overworked, overwhelmed and are frustrated with their business? If I can help you grow your business faster by doing less and making more money, why will I keep my roadmap to myself?

Clear na ano kung bakit I wrote the book. It is for you to help our country by growing your business and giving more jobs.

Help me touch more lives, reach out to more business owners so that together, you, them, us, we can grow all our businesses. Let’s Grow Your Business, Pinoy!

Download “Grow Your Business, Pinoy! here.  Read the book especially page 107.

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