IT IS EXPENSIVE TO DO BUSINESS

Legitimate businesses are expensive to make.

Registration to the SEC, BIR and LGU require time, effort and money. I have seen newbie entrepreneurs charged ₱100,000 to register their businesses via third parties when in actually, DTI registration is free and SEC registration probably costing 10% of that amount, tops.

If you don’t register to the BIR within 30 days of DTI/SEC registration, you’ll be slapped with a penalty right off the gate.

You also need to get your Mayor’s/Business Permit every year to do business in your locality. Even if you have no income, registering your business at the LGU will still cost you at least ₱5000 pesos excluding lakad fees. If you have multiple branches, you’d have to register in every single locality where your branch is located, adding to your costs and headache.

Yesterday, I paid for the cost of printing my sales invoice. Every pad has 50 sets and every set has 3 colors —- white for customer, yellow for store and pink for head office. Each pad costs ₱200 each so that’s ₱4 per customer just for cost of receipts. Add in the number of stores, receipts consumed per day and the hassle of printing receipts legitimately, that’s money spent even without making money pa.

I sometimes envy those who are illegitimate. They get their invoices printed in Shopee and don’t pay taxes. Then they boast of their wealth sa Internet, flexing their new house and new car, when in fact, one of the reasons why they make more is because they are illegitimate.

Unfortunately I have employees to take care of. I can’t have the BIR, LGU or DOLE knock on my door and close my shop because I am unregistered and illegal. When I hired my people, I promised them the business will survive longer than them so I have to ensure longevity instead of short term profits.

Every money we make, I count. I sacrifice. I slowly build and reinvest back. And we do this slower because we are legitimate.

Such is life.

Business is hard.

With rising costs of goods, even the office supplies, cost of paper and electricity adds up. Sometimes it’s better to work for someone else because you don’t have to worry about how much it is per invoice used. You can take a vacation and blank out and actually relax.

But such is my fate. And that’s okay.

My people make the work worthwhile. Better they work for me than elsewhere.

And if things get bad, massage massage na lang pag may time to remove the stress off your shoulders.

Happy week ahead!