SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
Bianca Gonzalez needs no introduction. You may know her as a host, a model, an endorser, an advocate, a columnist, or all of the above.
Gonzalez, for her part, describes herself as a “storyteller” in her Twitter bio. She explained, “I love being the medium for which other people get to share what they’ve learned or how they overcame certain things in their life.” (READ: Bianca Gonzalez: Be the Twitter user you want to follow)
“First on TV to share stories of people ranging from PBB housemates to the hero taxi driver who returned a maleta [suitcase] of cash, then on Meg Magazine to share stories of people that may help that struggling yuppie find who she is, and then on the Philippine Star to share 10 things about all these inspiring personalities.”
Given that Gonzalez has excelled in such fields, it’s clear that she has the “soft skills” that people often say are essential to success. These skills include good communication, leadership, and diligence.
And so while Gonzalez works in show business and media, what she had to say is directly applicable to other fields, including entrepreneurship. In fact, in the realm of business, a person’s soft skills are often as important as their technical ones.
I collated her advice into a number of key points:
1. Set goals, but be open to new paths.
As businesspeople, we may get frustrated when we don’t meet our initial goals. In our frustration, we may inadvertently close ourselves off to other opportunities.
That’s why it’s important to keep our eyes open to new opportunities, even if they are not what we originally envisioned. There is no better illustration of this need than Gonzalez’s own career.
Gonzalez said, “I took up Communications to become a film writer and director, but somewhere along the way a door opened, and I ended up working on cam. All I wanted was to keep a personal blog, but somewhere along the way, a door opened and I got the great honor and opportunity to have my own column in Philippine Star.”
“There are specific TV shows I’ve dreamt of hosting but never got, but instead I was surprised to have been included shows that were even better for me. I wrote about it in my blog before, and titled it ‘The Accidental Everything.’”
She went on, “Most of what I have ‘achieved’ were not my own plan nor dream. I had other dreams that did not work out, but like I mentioned, along the way, other doors were opened, I took the risks, and they eventually paid off.”
She concluded, “So I guess what I would say it that it is great to set goals, it is wonderful to have a dream that you work so hard to achieve, it is a blessing to even know from the start what it is you want. But also be open to the humps and bumps along the way that may lead you to another path. I love that saying about life being 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react. That is so true in my case.”
2. Seek diversity in your network.
As businesspeople, we may try to surround ourselves with only other businessmen and entrepreneurs. This approach denies us the company of people who may not be business-minded, but have insights to share.
Gonzalez has taken the opposite approach: She is open to meeting anyone and everyone. When asked how she mindfully chooses whom to network with, she had this to say: “To be perfectly honest, I don’t ‘choose’ who to befriend or network with. May sound false to some, but I really don’t. Another thing I thank my upbringing for. I truly am very accepting of all types of personalities. For me, they create diversity and variety, they create conflict and therefore result in resolution and progression.”
Gonzalez continued, “What I mean to say is, whether ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ there is something to learn from everyone. I believe that we are the sum total of every single person we meet. If we meet someone awesome that we get along with, they become our friend and confidante. If we meet someone so annoyingly self-absorbed, we realize even more how much we do not want to be that way. If someone wrongs us, we learn from it.”
She added, “So yeah, I really can’t say that I mindfully choose, it just happens organically that my collaborations happen with like-minded individuals, and no collaborations happen with those I don’t share the same vision with.”
3. Motivate yourself by knowing where your passions truly lie.
In our pursuit of entrepreneurial success, it may be easy to simply choose any venture to launch. The world, after all, has many problems in need of solving.
When asked what seems to provide her with limitless energy for all her endeavors, Gonzalez’s response serves as reminder that we should think as much about what truly inspires us as much as we usually tend to do with what will make money.
She replied, “I’m not really sure, and though I truly believe in the cliché that ‘when you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work at all,’ I really have to credit my family for my upbringing.”
She continued, “As far back as I can remember, my parents constantly enrolled us in gymnastics class or swimming class or art class or any class, that instilled in us this thirst to want to do more and to pursue a wide range of interests. Both my brother JC and sister Aissa found what they love to do early on in life (and I mean college) and that influenced me to find and focus on what I am really passionate about as well.”
4. Motivate yourself through a work-life balance.
In our eagerness to achieve our professional or entrepreneurial goals, we may over-work ourselves. We may neglect our need for downtime and our personal relationships.
This approach is shortsighted, given that happy people are almost always more motivated and productive.
Large corporations like Google, which stops at nothing to make their employee’s lives easier, have known this for years.
Gonzalez emphasized similar sentiments. She said, “Another great way to stay motivated is to keep a work-life balance. Yes, much easier said than done but when you are happy at home (or with friends) and happy at work, it keeps you motivated and inspired and driven, instead of making you feel exhausted or frustrated.”
Gonzalez believes that professionals and business people should be highly accessible on social media. Photo courtesy of Roy Macam.
5. Be accessible on social media.
Within a few minutes of Tweeting Gonzalez to request this interview, she got in contact with my editor at Rappler to provide me with her contact information.
Given the impressive speed with which she responded, I asked her how important it was to one’s professional success to be this accessible on social media.
Gonzalez said, “Extremely important. I cannot even stress how important. It all happened so fast. In the span of 5 years, everything exploded. It is such a new form of media that I can’t even grasp my head around yet, but we all know that everything is moving to the digital / online / social world.”
She continued, “A lot of people are hesitant to put themselves out there like that, to be so public, to be put in a position of vulnerability, to have one (or 2 or 3) extra accounts to maintain everyday, but really, just be on it. It is odd to have a sort of ‘double presence’ in the world now, you real life self and your online self, but that is today’s reality.”
“The extent in which you use it will vary, but at least be on it,” Gonzalez concluded. “Some people are on Twitter and tweet every hour. Some have an account but just ‘lurk’ and read other’s posts. Some people love retweeting and favorite-ing posts. We all use it differently and there is no pressure to be on it and active.
There is pressure to be on it however, because like you shared, everything now is instant, and those not on it can definitely get left behind.”
6. Stay true to who you are as a means of personal branding.
As business people, we are increasingly asked to be the face of our company, our organization, or our non-profit. Many entrepreneurs and businesspeople are thus concerned about their personal brand.
Gonzalez had this to say in regard to personal branding: “I am so lucky to have a manager who believes in me and believed in me from the very start. When I said all I wanted to do was ‘host,’ while others in the business I know were coerced to ‘sing, dance, act, too,’ Tito Boy Abunda supported me in my decision. You may have heard him say, ‘stay true to your core’ – that is the best advice I can give anyone, whether as life advice or career advice.”
She continued, “I can’t say I know much about personal branding because I never really ‘worked on’ branding myself, but I know that if you do stay true to your core, whoever you are will show and shine through. You can’t pretend to be someone you are not and succeed (at least for the long run). Who you are – play up your strong points and downplay or even laugh at your weak points – is who you are.
“Not to say that you won’t try new things because you ‘are true to your core.’ You can try new things, while staying true to your core. I’d say if manang ka, wag ka mahiya, be the best manang there is; or if geek ka, wag mong baguhin sarili mo, be a geek that stands out [If you’re conservative, don’t be ashamed, be the best person that you can be; or if you are a geek, don’t change who you are, be the geek that stands out].
The ‘personal brand’ will follow, I think that is something you can’t proclaim for yourself, I think other people will just see it naturally in you.”
7. Be the person that other people want to be around.
In our eagerness to make our companies successful, we may neglect the fact that most business – especially in the Philippines – is relational. That is, it’s built on relationships.
Gonzalez emphasized the need to not only be cordial in the professional world, but to distinguish yourself in how you treat and enliven those around you.
She said, “I think something working people tend to overlook in general is how to focus on not just being good at your job, but also focus on being good to your workmates. It is easy to be good at your job – you put in the work, you don’t do short cuts, you put in the hours, you give your best.”
She added, “But to be a good workmate, as in to be someone your workmates love hanging out with, to be the one everyone would love to work with again, to be the one that makes your workmates laugh or smile, to be that magaan na katrabaho [easy to work with] that in turn make people feel more magaan [comfortable] that is priceless.” – Rappler.com
Rappler business columnist Ezra Ferraz graduated from UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California, where he taught writing for 3 years. He now consults full-time for educational companies in the United States. He brings you Philippine business leaders, their insights, and their secrets via Executive Edge. Follow him on Twitter: @EzraFerraz
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