Sunday, November 03, 2013

You're never too young (or too old!) to start a business!

When I was a kid, my dream—aside from becoming a writer—was to become a postman. Yep, the guy who delivers mail. I figured I'd be at the post office early in the morning to get my batch of deliveries, then spend the rest of the morning going around houses and chatting with the people. Then I'll rest in the afternoon, and then—and here's when the real work begins—then I'll sit down and make up stories about the people I met that day.

I tested out that dream by selling tapa, tocino and longganisa one summer. I was 11 or 12 years old, very skinny, and I put the frozen meat in a pail of ice (very heavy) and walked around the neighborhood selling people breakfast. I had a great time. Everyone loved my products, everyone loved that a young girl was so entrepreneurial, and I loved that I met so many people and learned so much about them. After all, people like to talk to someone who brings food!

But the business ended when a neighbor, who had been getting meat on credit, refused to pay me. When I kept showing up at her door to collect payment, she finally set her dogs on me. That ended that business real quick. When I told my parents about it, in the hope they would confront the nasty neighbor and get me my money, my father said, "It's best this way. I don't like you out in the sun because your skin gets dark."

I hope to be a parent who encourages my kids to do crazy things. Hopefully, the crazy things are the sort that makes them money haha. Vince told me he was so charmed by this little girl who would collect rocks around her neighborhood, wash them and paint pretty designs on them, then sell the painted rocks to her neighbors. I wish our sons would be that entrepreneurial!

How inspiring is this?


He earns enough to buy LEGOs. Those things are so expensive! I know because we buy our boys LEGO all the time! He is so cute. And so encouraging to me because I want to sell bags again. You all know how that business failed spectacularly. But I don't regret it because I learned a lot.

As with my frozen meats business, I learned that credit must not be extended lightly. With the bag business, I learned that I can't just assume people are doing their jobs just because they said so. I actually have a business now, my freelance writing. I'm learning a lot, too, the most important being this: Start charging after the second meeting and don't be shy about my rates. Argh, I've wasted a lot of time and energy this year meeting prospective clients and working on proposals and mock-up projects which all went up in smoke anyway. So the project didn't push through but I spent time and money and brain cells on them anyway and I got nothing in return. Lesson learned! Just goes to show you're never too young or too old to learn something new!

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11 comments:

  1. I am excited about your return to the bag business. We had several entrepreneurial experiments as kids too. Kakatuwa alalahanin. :)

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    1. Wait wait. Wala pa! I'm still planning it! I still don't know how to do it =) And I don't want to do leather bags muna. Good leather is hard to get!

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  2. Agree! Two years back I wanted to start a chocolate business. Seeing how lucrative the industry is especially during the Christmas and Valentines season--at least for chocolates--I wanted to give it a try. At first I was doing it to raise funds for a sick family member but I was doing everything all by myself; and like you some people did not show support in my endeavor, reason being is that it won't raise a substantial amount of money to help that family member tide over through the next course of treatment. So I gave that up, but I'm currently searching for new ventures, hopefully a family-based one with the fiancé!

    PS: Can't wait for you to set up shop again! I recall wanting and lusting over that chocolate satchel you're selling but unfortunately you had to go on hiatus. Now that you're planning for a bonggang bonggang comeback, let me express my excitement: Weee!!! :D

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    1. Ack! Wala pa! Hindi bonggang-bongga! Dreaming about it pa lang. Mga shopping bags, stationery, ganun lang. Simple stuff lang =)

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  3. Thanks so much for this post Frances :) I've been so depressed this year because my decor and accessories line didn't take off as planned. Heck, I even have a logo and domain already! :p But hope is not lost. Reminders come in different forms and this post is really a blessing. Ang drama ko naman, hehe, but really, thank you :)

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    1. Oh what wait! You were going to launch a decor and accessories line??? Let's make chika on Martine's birthday!

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    2. Yes!!! It's for nurseries and kids rooms. I kinda started on it last year and I went quiet because office work got in the way. Kainis, I don't want to play victim anymore haha. Anyhoo, yes, let's definitely chika on Martine's birthday! :D

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  4. Aww..I got inspired to your story Mommy Frances, and I think I have to start a small business too..

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    1. Yung story ko na may dalang balde ng tocino? =) Haha, ya, it inspires me, too, even if it also ended badly haha

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  5. I really want to be in business too! Before, I wanted a bag business as well but didn't have the capital. Have to figure out how to save for it pa. Good luck with your business planning! :)

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  6. I have the same story din when I was young. I used to sell halo-halo and barbeque and I sold a sack of collected bottles to finance my school projects. tapos yung nanay ko nagtitinda naman ng isda, nilalako sa barrio namin. nananahi din sya ng mga shorts na pambahay. ako madalas ang taga singil. meron isang kapitbahay na nagtatago na pag sinisingil, sinasabi pa ng anak nya na - wala "daw" po si Mama, umalis sya. hehehe.

    Good luck on your new business!

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