On Their Own ? A Story of Two Pinoy Entrepreneurs
By the way, you might want to learn FREE Internet Marketing Basics (You know, so you can sell stuff online)
Two of my former work colleagues recently took a leap of faith and started their own business. Erwin, once a computer network administrator and Rommel, a computer programmer, left their jobs and decided to try entrepreneurship on their own. With a 100,000 peso investment from relatives, they?ve applied for SEC registration, filed other necessary papers, and now have a software development company.
I was brokering a deal for them the other day. Apparently they?ve developed a very useful software system for some clients. The software was valued at around 20 million pesos. Unfortunately, they were really unable to get money from their previous deal. They had some marketing partners who sold the product for them and then pocketed the payments. Of course, Erwin and Rommel felt rather frustrated that somebody else was earning from their hard work.
?Natuto na kami. (We?ve learned).? Erwin says. They?ve decided to just sell the software without marketing partners, for now. It was a choice to be careful with potential business partners. Trust and integrity in business is important. It had to be worked at.
I told them: ?You need an angel.? P100,000 was good money, but it was not going to be enough. I was computing the overhead, salaries and initial capital expenses they would need.
I commented, ?You need at least a one million pesos in a year. Assuming each of you get 20,000 a month in salaries, you require already 100,000 per month.? There were five of them in the company since three more have already joined them.
?We know.? They replied. As of the moment, they were in regular meetings with potential business contacts.
They?ve also asked me for venture capitalist contacts. With the innovative technology they?ve made, I think it won?t be long before they could get funding.
It was an eventful turn for the two. There were really technical people and did not have management or sales background. It took some guts for them to suddenly shift careers. They were once regular employees with 8-5 jobs. Now, they face uncertainty in a new world of entrepreneurship.
Despite the potential challenges, they were confident in their abilities and in their products.
One of the interesting potential applications they have was a One-Stop Shop for Municipalities. They developed a software application for Local Government Units last year. It was a modular system that involved the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to automatically compute land taxes, with Socio-Economic Profiling capabilities.
I admire their entrepreneurial spirit. They were rather optimistic despite the challenges they?ve already faced.
How many more people out there are taking the entrepreneurial plunge?
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Comments
more than 1 year after…
taking that leap surely gave us a big learning experience although im working right now are business is still up and running.. you can contact me if you want a customize software for your company.. we do it all..:)
the 1st two quarter of last year were the best quarter for our business but when the 3rd quarter came in… no comment
we’ve learn alot since last year…
-money matters
-selling product
-marketing trategy
-etc…
We’re still aLive after 1yr+ we can still make it.. the secret is “NEVER GIVE UP” and always never let go of whatever opportunities that is presented
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