Great for you to drop by. I want to share to you how I became an entrepreneur. I believe that we are all entrepreneurs at heart. I knew I am one since I was a kid, but I wasn't aware I was one.
My story starts when I first got a real job. I worked at a cookie factory in Japan. I was 18 and to be honest, it wasn't something I was proud of because it didn't sound cool. Hey, I was young!
Japan is a great place to live and work in, as I was cultured to believe. My relatives work there, and my environment looked up to foreign countries such as Japan, the United States, UK and New Zealand to name a few.
Oblivious to how the world operates, I questioned everything. Teaching me new things wasn't easy. I always ask why I should do what you teach me your way. I know it sounds like I was naive, and I think that's a great starting point for me to become an entrepreneur. It helps me connect my thoughts, see the bigger picture, and work efficiently.
I didn't know how to speak Japanese well. I learned formal Japanese from a Japan native in a Japanese language school. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that speaking Japanese in everyday life and speaking in a formal tone, is very different. My lack of understanding on conversating properly with people had its advantages, I became a better observant. Speaking to me wasn't enough, they mimicked the actions while talking to me.
As the months pass by, work started to feel like a routine. Reflecting on what I was doing, I checked my career path. I had a lot of co-workers older than me who worked in the factory for a long time. One person, who was 60 years old, worked in that factory for 30 years. That's a pretty long time, in my opinion, and I couldn't see myself working in a factory all my life until I retire. It's a great path who wants someone to have a safe and secure job, and it didn't work for me. I knew there was a much more meaningful one for me.
Every year for 4 years, I'd visit my home country and get back to my friends and family. It's always fun to catch up with the people you love and the hard part is going back to work far from family and friends.
After my second year going back to Japan, it hit me. I knew that if Japan is such an advanced community, why can't we do it in my home country? That's when I committed myself to become an entrepreneur and build businesses so we can have a better country.
I worked and lived in Japan for 4 years before I came back to the Philippines, my home country, to help run a family business. It was an opportunity to test what I learned, so I came back. Our business was a family restaurant that served Filipino cuisine.
During the few months of operating the business, I applied what I learned about systems. I don't know the technical terms in business yet, but I understood the concepts. If you want to learn how to build a business, it's great to work in big businesses with good systems and learn about what you can learn while you're there.
We closed down after 6 months due to circumstances I cannot discuss here. I thought we were ready, so we opened an Italian cafe. I didn't know it at the time, but it was a high-stake business.
We didn't establish our first business venture, someone who owed us money agreed to let us run their business as a means to pay their debt. It was a business that ran for years, and the owner knew the ins and outs of the business well.
I was 22 when we opened our Italian cafe. I didn't know a lot about construction, building operations systems from scratch, handling people, legal matters, payroll, customer service, and a whole lot more that are important in business. On top of all of that, my partner, who's my brother, was 18 yrs old. We were young, inexperienced, who thought we knew what we were doing. Talk about a recipe for disaster!
Eventually, we closed down in 2 and a half years of barely surviving. We made a lot of mistakes. We argued a lot, and we learned a ton. It is true, that the best learning comes from the hardest mistakes.
My story starts when I first got a real job. I worked at a cookie factory in Japan. I was 18 and to be honest, it wasn't something I was proud of because it didn't sound cool. Hey, I was young!
Japan is a great place to live and work in, as I was cultured to believe. My relatives work there, and my environment looked up to foreign countries such as Japan, the United States, UK and New Zealand to name a few.
Oblivious to how the world operates, I questioned everything. Teaching me new things wasn't easy. I always ask why I should do what you teach me your way. I know it sounds like I was naive, and I think that's a great starting point for me to become an entrepreneur. It helps me connect my thoughts, see the bigger picture, and work efficiently.
I didn't know how to speak Japanese well. I learned formal Japanese from a Japan native in a Japanese language school. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that speaking Japanese in everyday life and speaking in a formal tone, is very different. My lack of understanding on conversating properly with people had its advantages, I became a better observant. Speaking to me wasn't enough, they mimicked the actions while talking to me.
As the months pass by, work started to feel like a routine. Reflecting on what I was doing, I checked my career path. I had a lot of co-workers older than me who worked in the factory for a long time. One person, who was 60 years old, worked in that factory for 30 years. That's a pretty long time, in my opinion, and I couldn't see myself working in a factory all my life until I retire. It's a great path who wants someone to have a safe and secure job, and it didn't work for me. I knew there was a much more meaningful one for me.
Every year for 4 years, I'd visit my home country and get back to my friends and family. It's always fun to catch up with the people you love and the hard part is going back to work far from family and friends.
After my second year going back to Japan, it hit me. I knew that if Japan is such an advanced community, why can't we do it in my home country? That's when I committed myself to become an entrepreneur and build businesses so we can have a better country.
I worked and lived in Japan for 4 years before I came back to the Philippines, my home country, to help run a family business. It was an opportunity to test what I learned, so I came back. Our business was a family restaurant that served Filipino cuisine.
During the few months of operating the business, I applied what I learned about systems. I don't know the technical terms in business yet, but I understood the concepts. If you want to learn how to build a business, it's great to work in big businesses with good systems and learn about what you can learn while you're there.
We closed down after 6 months due to circumstances I cannot discuss here. I thought we were ready, so we opened an Italian cafe. I didn't know it at the time, but it was a high-stake business.
We didn't establish our first business venture, someone who owed us money agreed to let us run their business as a means to pay their debt. It was a business that ran for years, and the owner knew the ins and outs of the business well.
I was 22 when we opened our Italian cafe. I didn't know a lot about construction, building operations systems from scratch, handling people, legal matters, payroll, customer service, and a whole lot more that are important in business. On top of all of that, my partner, who's my brother, was 18 yrs old. We were young, inexperienced, who thought we knew what we were doing. Talk about a recipe for disaster!
Eventually, we closed down in 2 and a half years of barely surviving. We made a lot of mistakes. We argued a lot, and we learned a ton. It is true, that the best learning comes from the hardest mistakes.