Business. Relationships. Love. Life.
My father-in-law warned me from being jealous of the very rich men in the country. He said, “Don’t ever think they are rich just because they say they are rich. You never know, they are even poorer than we are.” What he meant was this, while many businessmen may be paper rich, they may be […]
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Ever since I was young, my father has always instilled to me the wonders of being an entrepreneur. “You need to manage your own business, Bonita,” he said. “No matter how high up the corporate ladder you get, if you are an employee, you still have to answer to your boss. He makes all the money, […]
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My father-in-law tells me about a janitor who works in his Association’s building. Since he was the Association President that year, he was the one who interviewed and oriented that personnel before hiring him. “The janitor was good. He has initiative,” he shared. “He would come in on time, mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, and even […]
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Our store in Robinsons Galleria was the branch that started it all. It was the first branch we signed the contract on after my in-laws gave us the company to manage. We refurbished a brand new look and feel for our kiosk, and it became the jumping board in updating the brand. Last month. we […]
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We hired a Designer two weeks ago. He was in his 30s, worked for a food packing company, and could seem to do the job. He showed us his impressive portfolio and I liked how his designs seem professionally done and ready for printing. We each promised each other the moon. Two weeks later, after […]
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Fortunes are lost because of stupid 5-second mistakes. I lost USD 1,200 (or Php 60,000+) over the weekend because of a stupid one. I ordered a few boxes of goods for shipping to Manila. Usually, the boxes are heavy and are shipped by sea. The problem is, my shipper shipped it by air. When I […]
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I’ve interviewed thousands of people since our business is in retail and we have been expanding. When I interview, there’s a few red flags I look out for. The biggest bombs come after the question, “Why did you leave your last employer?” Here are a few red flags I look out for when I interview. […]
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I had a staff member start working for us last week. According to her, she was living with her aunt in Caloocan, and the aunt was forcing her to find work. “I only have php 5.00 in my pocket,” she said with tearing eyes. “I have to find a job.” I hesitated to give her […]
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It’s all about execution. No matter how great your ideas are, if you do not execute your idea, you won’t become successful. Case in point, we have a small accessory retail business. Currently we have 20 stores in major malls but are still growing. We want to grow to above 100 stores in a few […]
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When we got married, my husband’s father gave us a very small business to manage. It was supposed to be our “bread and butter.” When he gave us the business, it wasn’t cashflow steady. It was not profitable and we were running at almost break-even, often times losing money. But it was a great platform for us to […]
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Our office needs a new accounting clerk so I’ve been holding interviews this week. To be honest, it’s not easy to find good, capable, and willing employees nowadays. Many of the applications I received were from under-qualified candidates or from applicants who priced themselves too high versus their competency. There’s also the issue of fit — even […]
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Poor Little Pea. 🙁 The Lord has put a lot of trials in front of us the last week. It has been stressful for us. Fortunately, all these trials are work-related. In one week alone, we had to deal with four different malls. One mall had already approved our lease, and then told us after a week that the […]
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