Be shameless

This was the admonition of Atty Gerona in his entrep talk in the last day of the class.

I talked to former businessmen and entrepreneurs who did well before and now impoverished.  And I asked them why they are not making  comeback (it happenned to me when we divided our inheritance and the majority of sibling invoked a provision of the law which enabled them to exclude me in the corporation).

And their reason (and my reason):   they are ashamed.

The key to start up and not making this:  to be shameless

7 Advice from Atty. Christian Gerona

Atty. Christian Gerona, the CEO of Manship, a ship and manning company, is a pinchhitter for a guest entrepreneneur who did not make it.  Good thing, Arlene Gerona, she was able to call in her husband for this talk.  Atty Christian is a blue blooded Atenean from Grade school up to law but is a entrepreneur by heart.

>At the age of 6, when given a passbook by his grandmother, he stroved very hard to add something to he pass book.

>At the elem school he gathered softdrink bottles to redeem the 25 cents deposits;

>In high school, he borrowed comics books from a relative, rented the same to dorm mates.

>In college:

      he made money on siopao from his his car;

      made money on Isaw from UP;  <bought them l peso at UP, sold for 3 pesos at the dorm)

     even set a gambling joint.

     he became a millionaire while in college, dealing in Motorola micro tac.  Unfortunately, the fortunes changed when telco went digital.

His advice:

l.  Be shameless (in order to remove boundaries)

2.  Be opportunitistic.  Think of earning, think of making money.  Think of "ano ba raket natin?"

3.  Be bold be brave.  Make a leap of faith that the venture will make money.

4.  Be frugal.  Separate personal and business account;    pay yourself a salary;

Expenses must always be less than sales.  Cut costs at all costs.

5.  Be patient;  wait for the opportune time;   making money takes time;  do not fall for get rich quick scheme.  You must know that you could be one of the fatalalities of brutal game of business

6.   Be pragmatic.  Know when to quit when losses mount.

7.  Be thirsty for knowledge.   Atty still buys one book a month, despite the fact that he knows a lot all ready.  When meeting people, rather than boasting, he tries to know more from the person he is conversing with. <He made this 7th advice as he drank when he was thirsty>

He is now into shipping and manning of maritime industry because he was able to help a lot of people in their cases.  He specialized in maritime and admiralty laws.   His company, Manship has over l,500 staff and manages over a 100 ships.   His Master earns an average of $30,000 per month.

Increasing Number of Ateneo Entrepreneur Guests.

In my teaching experience of entrepreneurship, there were very few Ateneans who were entrepreneurs (at least during the first five years).   The numbers before were  6 UP, 3 DLSU, and  1 AGSB.

Last night I was very happy because the three guests were all  from Ateneo:   Michael Lacuesta, Philip Pichay. and Atty Christian Gerona.

All the guests were kin of the students:   Michael is the brother of Abigail, Christian is the husband of Arlene Gerona, Philip is the  brother of Lei

Boy, am I glad that the trend is changing.

According to Atty Christian during the Q and A, the La Sallites are really good in "racket"  They start trending in new businesses (as Atenean, he was an exception)  He made millions while still in college selling Motorala analog phones.

Wow.

 x                               Atty Christian and Michael

                                  

 x                                  Philip Pichay, brod of Lei, Atenean, biker, of Sport Brick

 x

                        Class picture with Atty Gerona and Michael Lacuesta, guest entreps




It is apt that we started the creative activity with illegal activity.?? <He said that to be an entrepreneur, one must be bold and shameless.   He was hesitant to state that he saw money making opportunities in such not so straight business