Any business success stories in negros

Tony...the cooler is always full of beer and ice, look forward to meeting up again.

Shawn

 

For sure, I don't want to get into too many details because people should tell their own story, but I know a handful of people who do very well in the Philippines. Some of them keep their homes here, but work from Manila. Or they visit here often but live outside the Philippines.

Obviously there are people making a lot of money in the Philippines. Just as with anywhere else, you have to be in the right industries and be able to scale it up. It probably helps to have a serious chunk of capital with solid expertise to start with. Of course, there are a lot of big industries in which the Philippines can't get companies with either to service, so the they have to bring in outsiders.

Even locally, this place is so far behind in so many areas that you can predict the future. In some cases, that might be a small next step. In some cases, that might be a leapfrog into tech which we aren't even using back home. Of course, in many cases, the local economy simply can't sustain anything better.

It's interesting that foreigners all want to do the same things when there are so many problems to solve. I often hear foreigners joking about one successful business spawning a bunch of copy cats. Foreigners often do the same. It's not a Filipino condition, it's a human condition. We copy.

 

Scatterbrained ideas are fine. Who doesn't have scatterbrained ideas? Often it's scatterbrained ideas which take off. It's only hindsight which makes them look obvious. Filipino's are no better or worse than foreigners in this regard. Just like I mentioned in my last post, it's a human condition.

If you have family which gets the entrepreneurial itch, go ahead! The problem is they want to start something with high start costs. No, sorry, if this is out of my pocket and I'm not viewing this as a good investment, then you can start with something small.

Another issue is starting something which is a horribly saturated and solved problem. Sure, you can still operate in these spaces, but it's better if you can bring something completely new to the table.

And why are they doing it? Status? Boredom?

I build things because I get an itch to do so. Starting an internet cafe is not something that gives me an itchy feeling.

There's no motivation like having to do something because you have to keep the lights on and food on the table. Beyond that, you have to dig deep down a bit to find more abstract things. For someone who can't retire, it's buying your freedom. For someone who doesn't need money, it's that itch which doesn't go away, and the inexplicable intense desire to see it through no matter what. Some people just like to tinker.

I think that first round has to be for need. Then, if you are successful, you have built the necessary tools to get to the more abstract motivations. You have figured out how to get out of bed and start working even if you really don't need to because the bills will be paid for your remaining life. You have figured out a lot of the traps which catch the 1st timers. Your money is bigger and smarter, which gives you more options than you had your first time around.

Whatever your motivation, it has to be enough to get you through the tough times and the generally not so fun times. I just don't see a lot of Filipina's willing to do that when they aren't in a position of need.

 

A very good mate of mine , and also Expatron , who sadly passed away nov. last year , Steve lived in the phils for many years , he was an Aussie that originally worked for a very large company on expat wages , the last 3 or so years he was there he went into business himself , and about 1 month before he passed , he contacted me , and was chatting away about business etc.
and his words were :one big lesson that he had learned was to have a very reasonable sized wedge to fall back on because of the ups and downs in the flow of business , and that it was consistency that was the difficult thing for his particular set up to deal with, but most important was to have a back up to pull through. Pretty well sums it up for everywhere though , not just the Philippines.

ps Ron we still have to catch up for a beer , no need to fill the whole canoe though , I am old now!

Tony

 

I think you are right. High level position in the corporation, I'm sure. I have no idea on the ownership status.

Good stuff. Can't say I disagree with any of it. You don't have many success stories here.

 

Expensive Lesson Learnt

We just arrived home to aus. yesterday after 2 weeks back home in Tanjay , the purpose of our latest return to Tanjay was to purchase a block of land , as previously mentioned in this thread , the Filipino couple who own it flew in from Canada , this has been lined up since February this year , with all assurances the paperwork was in order . After 2 weeks of horsing around I went to the owners house and told them to shove their block where ever it may fit .

A day and a half in the attorneys office , AND STORY AFTER STORY FROM THE OWNERS , they did not have the title and just wanted to proceed with a deed of sale . No thankyou , not interested , the attorneys fee of 2.5% of the total sale value , which was 1.7 million peso , was P42,500 . Hindsight , we should have insisted a copy of the title was faxed to us or delivered to the attorneys office before we even began entertaining these morons , who happen to be a retired school teacher and husband .

You cannot even take some ones word for bugger all there as far as I am concerned , you need to scrutinise , be demanding , vet all information vigorously , and most of all believe nothing until it is proven . We probably spent p200,000 on this exercise because we believed these "respectable people" when they said everything was in order .

The one saving grace we did have was meeting Attorney Vincente Del Plaza , who is a life long friend to my best friend there in Dumaguete . When the whole debacle came to light we went to the Attorneys office , and he just point blank said no charge , even after all the work he had done checking taxes , bir etc. Attorney Del Plaza , to us , is a really good guy and I would not hesitate to recommend him .

When doing future business there this episode won't make me a rude arrogant *sshole , but it will make me a polite rude arrogant *sshole

 

You just have to embrace the competition just like how these chinese people do it. Selling it cheap (retail products) but have more customers coming in rather than jacking up the prices and only get a few.

Ive noticed that some expats here that did business and went broke are the ones who leave it up to their workers to run the business while theyre busy getting drunk in pubs all day long and come home and wonder after a year why the business didnt work out. If you wanna do business here...like most other places u have to be prepared on spending most of your time as well as effort in running it not letting other people manage it.

 

Well I know now that Internet Cafes are going to become a much rarer sight, speaking to a friend there, a year ago one owner was pulling in between 2000 P to 4000 P depending on Students etc but recently he is lucky to pull in between 400 P to 600 P per day. He is thinking of walking away very soon and the only saving grace is he owns his shop, so does not need to worry about paying Rent, but with more and more getting Internet on their Mobile Phones and cheaper Computers, it is only a matter of time before Internet Cafes head the same way they did here...

 

I had the same problems with brokers and sellers here recently, the broker said everything was in order, ok where is the title ah sir in the atnys office ok great lets go have a look at it, ok sir, go to the atnys office oh sir it’s not here it’s in a pawnbroker, it has a debt over it, ok lets go to the pawnbroker, ok sir. We go to the pawnbroker oh sorry sir the owner must be here before we can show you, hmmmm ok where is the owner? oh sir at the school I will guide you, hemmm ok, waiting waiting at the school 40 minutes later the broker comes out oh sorry sir we can’t find the owner, ok where do you want me to drop you I have had enough. That’s just one of about 4 brokers