Starting a Business and Why It Is Important

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If I didn’t take action and started my first business, I would have missed on a lot of lessons that are never taught in schools.

The year 2006 was the year I began to walk the path to entrepreneurship. I was like the many— an ordinary employee with a limited paycheck to boot. I’ve been working for several years and during that year, I felt I needed a change.

My plan was plain and simple— to earn extra income to augment my limited and always taxed salary.
I’d like to do a lot of things, like travelling to places such as hike on a mountain or a dip on a beach, discover digital photography, and treat my family and kin to a weekend hop to the mall or eat out in a fancy restaurant. These things normally require two things: money and time.

I thought to myself, having my own business will allow me to do those things and more.

My First Businesses

Robert Kiyosaki was the one who encouraged me to start my own. He said in the last chapter of his mega hit book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, to Mind Your Own Business. And so I did mind my own and open my first walking store—I sell cellphone e-loads. My first customers were my colleagues in the office.

The revenue from my cellphone loading business was low. So I began to think of creating a new one. Since I love digital photography, I created a digital photo printing business. Again my customers were my co-employees. But I decided to close it after 6 months for the following reason: I created a small business where I was the employee— which meant a lot more time to spend printing those pictures after office hours. The return was good but I was restless and sleepless and so I shut it down.

Other Businesses

I also tried money lending, joined binary network marketing companies that folded, opened a sari-sari store. These were the business I created and started before I became a Core Team member of Create Abundance.
Today, my eloading is still active, the sari-sari store is still standing, I’m on my way to being a full-pledged business coach and I’m riding the anti-aging mega-trend business.

10 Lessons

These are the valuable lessons I’ve learned, that I believe will never be taught in school or in the employment world.

1. Connect to people. I began to see the value of effective communication to people since this allows me not only to gain friends and acquaintances but to grow my network where I can reach out to them, by sharing products and services that I believe will add value to other peoples lives.

2. Selling. “I don’t like being sold at”, well that was I felt before I became an entrepreneur. I shun sales persons in department stores because I hate the feeling of being pushed to buy a product. Selling is one of the secrets to financial success. As Robert Kiyosaki said, “If you know how to sell, you don’t need a job”

3. More on Selling… Giver and Taker. If ever you decide to be a sales person, you have to choose if you’re a giver or a taker. A Taker simply takes with less disregard if he/she selling a valuable product or service. A Giver is someone who adds value to other people by giving more.

4. It’s 90% WHY and 10% HOW. The reasons are fuel to accomplishing goals despite hardships and obstacles. The reasons were no longer plain and simple. They are now my reasons for "being".

5. Business is more than a profession, it’s a vocation.

6. Solve problems for a profit. This is the entrepreneurial spirit and what excites me and other entrepreneurs.

7. Leverage. Doing MORE with LESS

8. Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. In this era of information age, there are a lot of distractions. It's quite a challenge to be focus but it's a key ingredient to success.

9. Clarity of goal. How would you know if you have reached your destination if you don't know where you're going?

10. Taking Action. It's about moving and acting inspite of uncertainties and fear. Only actions produce results, whether pass or fail. If you fail, you learn a lessons. When learning you have better chances succeeding when doing it again.

Realizations and Future Outlook

If I didn’t take action and started my first business, I would have missed on a lot of lessons that are never taught in schools.

Being in the community of Create Abundance has amplified my perseverance and intention to be committed in achieving my goals.

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Jervis Salvador
teach a man to fish and you feed him for life
09177856451