Be enterprising
By Randell Tiongson on March 12th, 2013In all my talks, I always tell people that the first step to achieving financial peace is to increase cash flow. We do that by making more money and spending less money. In some cases, cash problems arise not because of too much spending — there are many cases that cash flow is restricted because of limited income.
Let me talk on how to increase income for this blog. I have a 2 point attack on how to earn more money — investing on yourself (building competency) and being entrepreneurial and the later will be the focus of this blog.
Have you considered being an entrepreneur? Many people think that entrepreneurship is not for everyone and I do agree. I subscribe to the belief that not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. It is unfortunate whenever someone goes into business and end up losing money, I guess that’s par for the course. Here’s my big ‘however’… I think many of us think that those of us who can’t go into business is way too over-stated. I’d like to believe that many more Filipinos can go into enterprise. My many runs with Go Negosyo and the Association of Filipino Franchisers (AFFI) made me realize that many of us have to potential to be in business and actually make it big. If we have an open mind, we can try and become an entrepreneur – with God’s grace, you just might make it.
I need to note however, that we must go into business prepared and not blindly. Learn about the business you want to get into, read about it, research, talk to people, observe the market, prepare a written business plan, check on your finance and all that. There are many books on being an entrepreneur – Go Negosyo published many books that are easy to understand and yet detailed enough for you to start with. My friend Paulo Tibig also wrote a very helpful book entitled “Strategies of a Champion Entrepreneur” – a highly recommendable book for those who would to venture into business.
Being entrepreneurial doesn’t mean you need to start a big corporation at once – try some basic buy and sell first or do some commission selling. I am sure there are many opportunities abound for those earnestly seeking. The stories of the many successful entrepreneurs in the country are very encouraging because nearly all of them started very small and have very humble beginnings. Any form of additional income from being entrepreneurial will do wonders to augment your cash flow and that’s when the fun begins.
I once heard Francis Kong say in a seminar, “If you can’t be an entrepreneur, have an entrepreneurial mindset” — wise words to live by indeed.
