50 Golden Rule From Philippines 50 Top Entrepreneurs

Success Secrets: 50 Golden Rule From Philippines 50 Top Entrepreneurs — Philippine top 50 entrepreneurs have golden rules to share. These are time-tested guides for other entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs wanting to become successful also in their business venture. These 50 real entrepreneurs know that success doesn’t happen to them. They make success happen. And they take control for their future.
1. “There is no such thing as overnight success or easy money. If you fail, do not be discouraged; try again. When you do well, do not change your ways. Success is not just good luck: it is a combination of hard work, good credit standing, opportunity, readiness and timing. Success will not last if you do not take care of it.” – Henry Sy, Philippines retail king, founder and chairman of SM department stores, SM Group of Companies, Banco de Oro Universal Bank

2. “Success is not necessarily about connections, or cutting corners, or chamba – the three Cs of bad business. Call it trite, but believe me: success can be achieved through hard work, frugality, integrity, responsiveness to change, and most of all, boldness to dream. These have never been easy slogans for me. I have lived by them.” – John Gokongwei Jr., Philippines smartest entrepreneur, Chairman Emeritus of JG Summit Holdings, Inc.
3. “Entrepreneurs should never give up due to failure. Not just entrepreneurs, but people of whatever profession – all of us – should learn from our setbacks. We should never surrender to despair.” – Lucio Tan, Philippine Airlines, Philippine National Bank, Fortune Tobacco Corp, Asia Brewery Inc.
4. “Doing business is all about providing a good product or service to y our customers. A good businessman is he who knows that what is successful today may not be so tomorrow. Technology changes so fast, and so do people’s needs and wants. That’s why it would do well for a businessman to know how to adapt to change. He must constantly reinvent the business, or it won’t last.” – Andrew Tan, Megaworld Corporation
5. “An entrepreneur must follow is gut feel only after he has carefully weighed the pros and cons of any situation. If you do what you believe in, you can never go wrong. And know what you can and cannot do, because it is in knowing your limits that you can determine the kind of risks you can take. Doing business is never easy. When starting, try to be hands-on in everything. The real test of an entrepreneur is how far he can go when the tides of business turn for the worse. It is in times like these when he should be unafraid. Be aggressive. Know your market’s needs and serve them.” – Ben Chan, The Bench Brands
6. “Twenty-seven years ago we didn’t have a firm vision that we would be number one, but e had a rough vision that e would go outside the Philippines. We also had a goal: to take care of our customers and employees and to enjoy what we’re doing. Once we did all these things, the profits would come.” – Tony Tan Caktiong, Jollibee Foods Corp.
7. “For the business to prosper, the owner must know how to delegate responsibilities. If he wants to expand, he has to delegate; after all, he only has two hands and two feet. He has to put the right people at the right place. When looking for the right people, he should trust his gut feel.” – George Yang, Golden Arches Development Corp, owner of the master franchise of McDonald’s in the Philippines
8. “You have to adjust to the flow of business. If you’re not open to change, your business can’t move on.” – Socorro Ramos, National Book Store
9. “A business (should be) dynamic. It must be flexible and attuned to the changing times. It must not stand still or be passive. It should continually search for progress and improvement. It must regenerate and reinvent itself.” – Rolando Hortaleza, Splash Corporation
10. “Work should not feel like work. Your business must be a source of joy and an expression of your passion. And not everything is about profit. When you make good things happen, the profit will follow naturally.” – Pacita Juan, Figaro Coffee
11. “We’ve always been conservative in our approach to business. We may not be as aggressive as the rest, but we’ve kept our focus, we’re very passionate about our product, and we’ve managed our finances well.” – Tess Ngan Tian, Lots’ A Pizza
12. “Focus on your goal and always serve your niche market. That was what we did when we repositioned Fiorgelato from being a gourmet ice cream to a brand that could also cater to the B and C market. We wanted Fiorgelato to be the ice cream of choice of cost-conscious but discriminating Filipinos.” – Ricardo Cuna, Fiorgelato Ice Cream
13. “Level Up! always believes in getting things done, quite often against some very stiff odds. If there’s one thing that keeps us going, it is in doing things no one has ever done before.” – Ben Colayco, Level Up!, video game provider like Ragnarok
14. “Constantly reinvent your products to suit the changing tastes of your market. Julie’s as over 200 product offerings – a big leap since the days when we ere the first to sell cheese bread in Cebu. And if you’re the market leader, you have to spend more for product improvement.” – Roberto Gandionco, Julie’s Bakeshop
15. “Success is simply the convergence of opportunity and ability. We like to chink that what happened to Go Nuts Donuts was precisely the result of a market that was ready for renewed excitement and our ability to deliver a quality brand and product via new retail innovations. In our businesses, we constantly look for high-potential area while ensuring that e have the competency to capitalize on these opportunities.” – Michael Trillana, Go Nut Donuts
16. “Be honest with your partners, clients, and especially to yourself. If you’ve committed a mistake, the quickest way to rectify the damage is to admit you made a mistake, and try to find a solution from there. Covering it up won’t work.” – Alvin Carranza, Macgraphics Carranz International Corp., Café Lupe
17. “Don’t be afraid to make bold decisions. The greatest risk you are about to take may just be the source of your biggest profit. Before The Death of Superman (the comic book hero), my supply for that title was only 200 copies. Alam kong bebenta ang issue na yon, so I took a chance and asked my supplier for 15,000 copies. Lahat ‘yon nabenta.” – Filemon Barbasa, Filbar’s
18. “Stay focused. If your business booms, don’t look for another, entirely different business to start. You’ll be sorry. Parang nanghuhuli ka ng rabbit: kapag dalawa yung hinuhuli mo, parehong makakawala yan. If you want to expand, choose a connected field. If you have a restaurant, start supplying stocks or create a placement agency for waiters.” – Les Reyes, Reyes Haircutters
19. “Start a business that you know. I tried selling dried fish mainly because it required little capital, but it foiled after a year because I knew very little about the business.” – Alexander Crisostomo, Biocare Inc.
20. “We should have contentment and gratitude in our hearts, and not bitterness or envy. Contentment and gratitude can reduce suffering in life. We should also be humble and positive towards pain. Sometimes, our vision becomes clearer after our eyes have been washed with tears. Sometimes we have to be hurt to be stronger in business, in love, an in life.” – Victor Tan, Bobson
21. “Find creative ways to make your presence known. Before the malls became fashionable places to visit, I tapped restaurants, airports, and beach hotels to set up my carts. These tourist spots made brand recall easier, and eventually allowed me to put up my first standalone store.” – Jonathan Jay Aldeguer, Islands Souvenirs
22. “Never force things when it is not yet the right time.” – Steve Benitez, Bo’s Coffee Club
23. “Exist only for your customers. If a fickle market, that’s the only decision that will last, the customer choosing you over the others.” – Walden Chu, Red Box Karaoke, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
24. “Understand how competitive the business is. You can provide something, but then there are 10 people doing exactly the same thing. That’s why you have to come up with something different to add value to your business. That way, your customers will trust you more.” – Raffy David, Pilipinas Teleserv
25. “It’s all about good intentions. If you sincerely operate your business with the customers’ needs in mind, then everything else will follow.” – Anjanet Decena, John Decena and Carlo de Guzman, Hotshots Flame-Grilled Burgers
26. “If you want to go ahead and if you want to sell more, you have to talk to your clients and give them personalized service.” – Erickson Farillas and Roxane Ang-Farillas, Plains & Prints
27. “We make sure that all our graduates are competent. When they work, medical ‘medical transcriptionist’ represent the whole Philippine workforce, so if they make mistakes, the industry’s credibility suffers.” – Eugenio Gonzales, MTC Academy
28. “You need an original concept if you were to compete in the garments industry and carve a niche. It would also help to have control systems in place, particularly because it’s the last thing that a storeowner who is new in the business focuses on. And, while it’s easier said than done, you must innovate constantly.” – Sheree Gotuaco, Freeway
29. “Start with as little overhead as possible, and make sure that you understand the commitment needed in opening a restaurant.” – Quito Jose, Martin Jose and Daniel Jose, Brothers Burger
30. “To minimize your risks when starting out, learn everything you can about the business. Read. Research. Get a mentor.” – Rommel Juan, Binalot
31. “Love what you do. I really love magazines. I don’t think I can push a particular title, or make others buy a particular issue, if I myself don’t like it.” – Janice Koa, Papyvore
32. “Although it looks simple, don’t reinvent the wheel. Just take out a franchise or go into a joint venture. But if you really want to go into business yourself, then don’t just copy, innovate!” – Cheese Ledesma, The Big Chill Inc., Nami Private Villas, Karaoke King
33. “Make hiring the right people the top priority. You can’t do it alone. An efficient workforce is what enables the business to produce quality products and services.” – AA Legarda, Dunwoody and Madison
34. “Putting up a restaurant is really all about hard work and common sense. I make sure may bathrooms are always clean, my cooks wash their hands, and my waiters always hand something to a customer using both hands – the Chinese gesture of respect.” – Charlemagne Lim, Little Asia
35. “As you grow older, you become more cautious and hesitant to take risks. But you have to be a risk-taker to succeed. And you are more likely to succeed when you are young, creative, and more open to new ideas.” – Richmond Lim, Time Depot
36. “If you want to do something, don’t approach a third party but go directly to the person you want to do business with. A third party complicates things.” – Melissa Limcaoco, Entertainment Gateway
37. “Be careful with your overhead. The success of a company depends on keeping your costs down.” – George Lorenzana, Office Warehouse Inc.
38. “To be the best in your field, you must love your customers, have passion for detail, and an obsession for unique and powerful dining concepts.” – Raymond Magdaluyo, Red Crab Seafood and Steaks
39. “Know your priorities in life and use your passion to create long-lasting value.” – Marvey Mariño, Goto King Franchisee
40. “Be willing to share. Even with the local partnerships, we’re always willing to share revenues, resources, and information. Because of that, our reputation began to grow and other companies wanted to partner with us.” – Nix Nolledo, Xurpas Inc.
41. “Do what you think you should do, not what others expect you to do.” – Penny Ngu-Ong, Apple & Eve
42. “To succeed, you have to recognize your capabilities and synergize these with those hose strengths are your weaknesses.” – Patrick Pesengco and Herwin See, Philippine Vending Corp.
43. “The only way one can predict the future is to invent it. E are always on the lookout for opportunities to widen our product lines to address all our customers’ needs.” – Ronald Pineda, Folded and Hung
44. “You can’t always have it all; what you can do is make the best decisions given the information and resources that you have. Always strive for more and continue to push the limits to attain your dreams.” – Anton Ramos, Music One Corp.
45. “Maintain a proper balance. Entrepreneurs have the tendency to focus too much on their business that they end up neglecting other aspects of their life. It’s very difficult, but I strive to strike a balance between work and family, activity and rest, worldly and spiritual pursuits. It would be very ironic if you spend most of your time working but end up losing the people whom you are working so hard for.” – Richard Sanz, The Tea Square
46. “A successful entrepreneur must possess the 3 C’s – character, conviction and compassion – to help create a working environment conducive to business excellence and personal growth.” – Christopher Tan, Ideal Minds
47. “Do ordinary things extraordinarily well. Don’t just go into business to earn money; do it because it gives you happiness and fulfillment.” – Jose Mari Tanalgo, Bacolod Chicken Inasal
48. “Be prepared to step out of your comfort zone. A lot of people ho want to do business today think they can be their own boss – that they would be in control of their time and activities. I can tell you right now that when you have your own business, 24 hours is not enough. You will find yourself working very hard just to keep your business going.” – Emelda Teng, Maldita, The P99 Store
49. “Surround yourself with people better and more knowledgeable than you. I can’t grow the business on my own, so I am always on the lookout for talented people who can take us to the next level.” – Richmond Yang, Super Bowl of China, Big Buddha Restaurant and Chili’s
50. “A small idea can be the seed of a big business venture.” – Nelson Yuvilla, Philtec Label Corporation


from http://entrebankph.com/success-secrets-golden-rule-from-philippines-50-top-entrepreneurs/

How to compute for the projected costs for acquiring, carrying, and selling a property

This is from foreclosurephilippines. This is for my private reference only and not for public viewing.



In my recent post on How to compute for the Maximum Allowable Offer or MAO for foreclosed properties, I mentioned that instead of multiplying the After Repair Value (ARV) with the Cost Factor (CF), you can just subtract the projected costs for acquisition, carrying costs, and marketing costs, from the ARV less Profits and Repair costs, to get the MAO. This eliminates the need to have an estimated CF and takes away the guess work.

In relation to this, I received a very good question from gwapito with regard to the actual breakdown of costs as it seems the projected cost of 10% used in my previous example might be unrealistic. Let me try to answer his question through this post.

Before I answer gwapito’s question (in bold below), let me first post his comment in its entirety:

I’m following your blog since April 2010 & I’ve learned a lot from you without any books, without any DVD’s on how to and without any mentor. I really appreciate the way in which you helped others learning real estate investment which is one of the subjects I always dreaded.

I have queries about Cost Factor (CF) which I am confused, it seems like the cost factor will be more than 10% or approx. 30% something considering that the roundtrip transaction cost/acquiring cost will be shouldered by buyer (i.e CGT,CWT,DST,TT,REGISTRATION FEE,DEED OF SALE,VAT, MARKETING COST). Let say you have a deal worth 5 Million of House & lot:

1.What CF will you be using, lets say you will be shouldering all the above roundtrip transaction costs? Can you give me the exact figure of CF breakdowing into details?

*2.As a seller, what is the provision that I could be exempted in paying Creditable Witholding Tax (CWT)?

*3.What is the comparison between DEPRECIATION COST AND REPAIR COST? Are you using repair cost as a depreciation cost?

I thank you again for all the wonderful work you have done and wish you all the best for your future endeavors.

*I already answered questions 2 and 3 in the comments section of my previous post.

Thank you gwapito for the excellent questions and for the encouraging feedback. Let me try to answer your first question to the best of my knowledge below.

Let me first list down the common major expenses that are usually for the account of the buyer when buying a foreclosed property from a bank. Using gwapito’s data in his question, I’ll assume the property is a house and lot worth Php5 Million. For simplicity’s sake, let’s also assume that the selling price is also Php5 Million and the zonal value is less than the Selling Price, which means we shall use Selling Price instead of Zonal value for all the computations below.

Expenses for acquiring a property

Let me enumerate the common expenses you will have to pay as the buyer of a property

DST = 1.5% of Selling Price or about Php75,000
Transfer Tax = 0.75% of Selling Price or about Php37,500
Registration Fee = Php4,398 + Php45 for every Php20,000 in excess of Pph1,700,000 or about Php11,823
Notarial expenses would be approximately Php200
The projected total cost for you as the buyer in acquiring the property in this example would be Php124,523.00

Expenses for selling a property

When you as the buyer turns around and sells the property, the following are the related expenses:

Capital Gains Tax = 6% of the Selling Price or about Php300,000
VAT is not applicable in this example assuming you are not YET habitually engaged in real estate, which is also why Capital Gains Tax was included instead of Creditable Withholding Tax.
Marketing – lets assume you will do all the marketing yourself through online marketing because this is supposedly a hot property which is so easy to sell, hence the marketing cost is zero.
Total projected cost for selling the property in this example would be Php300,000

Therefore, total cost for acquiring and selling this property would be Php124,523 + Php300,000=Php424,523 which is about 8.49% of the Selling Price of Php5 Million

Carrying or Holding Costs

Assuming you got this at 20% downpayment, balance payable in 10 years at 12% interest, your monthly amortization would be Php57,388.37 (I just used the mortgage calculator of this site)

The monthly amortization of Php57,388.37 is about 1.14% of the Selling Price of Php5 Million

Putting it all together

Assuming that the property can be sold in less than 1 month, the total cost for acquiring, carrying, and selling the property would only be 8.49% of the selling price, since no monthly amortization needs to be paid. For every month the property is not sold, a monthly amortization will have to be paid, which means an additional cost of 1.14% per month.

If the projected time to sell the property is 3 months, the total estimated cost for acquiring, carrying, and selling the property would be 8.49% + (1.14%/month x 3months) = 11.91%

As you can see, an estimated CF of 90% which means 10% of the selling price is the total cost cost for acquiring, carrying, and selling a property like the one in our example above, appears to be realistic as the 10% cost falls between 8.9%(projected cost if property is sold in less than a month) and 11.91%(projected cost if property is sold in 3 months).