Today is 23Dec2014.
I have decided to put up this blog for Natasha and Joan hoping to impart some practical lessons to guide them in future situations.
Today is 04April2015. Wow, that was a long time ago since my last entry above Why, again I am writing this blog? I mean, what are the things I would like to say to them that would be absorbed and effectively used - not simply admired/hated and then ignored?
I don't know.
I' not normal - that's for sure. There are things that I would find ridiculous or profound that most people would think otherwise.
There are things of course that they can read from books, trite, oft repeated things about the subject but are almost always forgotten by most and not taken to heart.
Again, why did I think that being a entrepreneur is the most rewarding career (if you an call it that) of all? What's wrong with just being normal - a professional in your chosen field, a manager of a business entity or a practicing person of a certain vocation? Nothing actually, normal is good.
Normal is good. Normal means you are with a lot of people, many friends and almost always accepted by most of them Normal is a lot more fun, less lonelier, more gratifying. People will say a lot of good things about you, congratulate you, admire you, emulate you and share their experiences with you.
So where does this idea of wanting to be an entrepreneur or in the words of some "negosyante" I don't know, perhaps from reading those "empire-building" fiction pocketbooks. I'm not sure if its in my genes. Of course Lolo and Papa used to dabble in "negosyo" but it seems they were more of necessity than a determination to excel in a particular enterprise.
In my world, being an entrepreneur is not normal. My uncles and aunts, not one of them went into negosyo. There were those from my father side who dabbled in some buy/sell kind of trading but none have matured into a sef-supporting stage. I think my father was an entrepreneur or rather somebody who would like to be an entrepreneur. I believe he only went to college to have that old-fashioned prestige of being what many call "professional"or in his word "degree holder".And that was probably the best move he made because had he not finished college, He could not have been induced by Lolo Pacio to apply in the local when all else failed. There is something in those college graduates that made them far more confident to take an unfamiliar job than those who don't have a laminated diploma in their sala. Confidence?
So the caveat/warning to those who would like to be an entrepreneur is this: It's not a normal vocation/career and if you chose it, do not expect to have a normal life.
Also, wanting to be a entrepreneur just to become your own boss is silly. An entrepreneur has a lot of bosses. First your employees - you have to serve them, teach them, give them what they need so that they will become productive and useful to you. Then there's your customers - they demand your time, early completion and wants you to behave as if they are your only customers.
Financial freedom? Not all the time. I believe one can have more financial freedom if his income is certain and predictable. As an entrepreneur you are never sure if you will be making money or that millions of money in the bank is really yours. You have tax to pay, suppliers bills, backorders to be made, salaries to be paid, projects to be completed, deliveries to be made.
If that is the case, if being an entrepreneur won't free you from servitude towards people or give you financial freedom to buy what you want, then how come I am enjoying it? Yes, I am enjoying it! I would not have it any other way. I would not exchange my often miserable, mostly lonely kind of life today with being the top guy of a big company or a famous practicing professional of something which I could have been. I don't know, it surely isn't the money or prestige of being the owner of a company.
I believe it's about freedom. The ability to be where you want to be, do the things you want to do and having the time and means to learn what you want to learn.
