Owning your success: Tips from Filipino entrepreneurs

MANILA, Philippines – The mere thought of starting a business can be daunting.

If your business isn’t successful on your first attempt, you try again. Even if you encounter so many challenges before you even launch, you keep on going. If you want to make your idea happen, you have to put in the work. If other businesses achieve their goals way ahead of you, you don’t let that discourage you from moving forward. Your journey is different from theirs. Focus on your own success and share it with others.

The process is far from easy, but when everything slowly falls into place, the experience, time, and effort becomes worth it.

Rolandrei, Catalina and Clarissa are entrepreneurs who prove that if you work hard for what you want and commit to it, success is just around the corner.

Trusting the process

Rolandrei Varona, owner and president of Zark’s Burgers, didn’t get it right on the first try.

For his first venture, he tried franchising a fried noodle stand after attending business expos. But he wasn’t able to gain enough profit from the humble kiosk.

So he tried again. He researched, did feasibility studies, and even asked his mom for help. Then he launched his new business idea: an 18-seater hole-in-a-wall burger joint, with a 3-man crew, including himself as the cook.

7 months later, he finally got his return on investment.

“I never stopped asking questions and wrote down all the ideas that would come my way,” he said. “I banked on reading as much as I can about the industry­ ­– what were the best practices, trends, case studies of both successful and unsuccessful brands; hoping to get at least some reference on how to work through mine.” 

Zark’s Burgers opened 12 new stores this year, all still company-owned. Now, he has a full team who helps him with the daily challenges of operating the business.

His goal for his team and his company is to always outdo their performance from the previous year. Rolandrei hopes to have 36 Zark’s branches by 2018.

He credits his success to his family and friends who keep him grounded. “Not once did I feel that I was alone in facing the hurdles of the business,” he said.

He added that it’s important to surround yourself with people who can see beyond your shortcomings, and enlighten you to see things in a different perspective.

For those who want to be successful in their own passion project, Rolandrei’s advice is to have a clear vision of what you really want to do. 

He said: “Don’t go into something that you feel halfheartedly [about], because you risk the chance of compromising your motivations in the long run. Ideas may be the catalyst for a business, but it is passion that really fortifies it.”

Celebrating milestones

In Catalina Fabi’s and her Managing Director, Clarissa Cabral’s case, their success story involved a lot of preparation and collaboration with her partners, family, and friends before launching Whipped Sugar Waxing and Scrub Salon. They focused on getting details, plans, and ideas ironed out before opening to the public.

Catalina and Clarissa were regular waxing customers in different salons in Metro Manila. They wanted to provide a unique experience to those who saw waxing as just another monthly chore.

“That’s why we merged waxing and sugar scrubbing. We want waxing to [be] a different ambience; not just getting pain from hair removal,” they said.

Before opening shop, the team made sure they had the right people. The staff went through proper training to make sure that they would give customers a good overall experience. Catalina and her partners also made sure to build good relationships with all their employees.

“When we opened, we felt so relieved. Like the feeling of finally giving birth after hours and hours of labor.”

Family and friends continued to help Kris and her partners get the business off the ground. “There are those who helped [us] with sourcing employees, looking for suppliers, finding artists and perfecting the formula of what we use. We also test our products and services to them; they were like our ‘human guinea pigs,’” they said.

Despite their team’s earnest preparation, there still bad days and good days. They shared that some Whipped branches don’t earn as well as other branches. For them, it’s all part of the learning process.

They choose to focus on milestones and overall growth to define her company’s success. “We have our first franchisee. We have a successful branch in Eight Forbes Town Centre, and we are expanding in the south, and multiple offers from different malls. We celebrate our success through Christmas parties, discounts that we extend to our clients, incentive to our staff, and through simple get-togethers,” they said.

Sharing success

Hard work, innovation, and resilience are key to achieve success. This is true not just for modern entrepreneurs like Rolandrei and Catalina and Clarissa, who can inspire others with their success, but also for legacy businesses.

Even an established company like Emperador Brandy still has its fair share of challenges. They continue to work towards becoming a better company for all, just like small business who want to cater to all those they can share their success with in the future – be it employee or customer.

Emperador is passionate about its pursuit to become the world’s number one brandy company. Its acquisition of Scotch company Whyte & Mackay in 2014 jumpstarted Emperador’s global expansion. Along with separate acquisitions of Bodegas Fundador, the world’s largest Spanish brandy company, and Pernod Ricard’s Domecq Brands, Emperador is currently the Philippines’ largest selling hard liquor by volume.

For over two decades, the home-grown brand has become a household name and a global product that Filipinos can be proud of. The company shares its success with other Filipinos who put the Philippines on the global map with their talent, passion, and ingenuity.

Zark’s Burgers, Whipped Sugar Waxing and Scrub Salon, and Emperador Brandy have different success stories. Just like them, you can carve out your own definition of success with determination, perseverance and hard work.

Whatever goal you’re pursuing right now, be proud of what you’ve already achieved, celebrate every victory and own your success. – Rappler.com