DO I HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR?
By Arlene A. Panganiban
History
I was born in the province of Calapan Or. Mindoro from a military father and a modern mother in a religious family. Went to school till college in with the sisters of St Paul and took up Bs in Nursing. I was Salutatorian in elementary and high school but didn’t take nursing very seriously. Went to the US few months after boards and started working as a registered nurse. The medical world has a higher ethics I may say compared to other professions in my observation. My parents put a high regard on honesty and discipline with money. After 15 years of being in the US we came back here in the Philippines and my business world started. With my 15 yrs. of nursing background in 2003, I went to manage a family owned restaurant for 3 years, 2005, went to be a “viajera” buying clothes from Hong Kong, Bangkok and Jakarta for another 3 years till lahar flooded my store for 6 months. I started buying palay 2007 and milled them for rice for 7 years. I did wholesale and retail rice dealership. Then I opened my Chinese fast food outlet in SM Pampanga and held it for 5 years. I worked as a general manager in a natural resort in Batangas for a year until I helped my husband manage his security agency. Now I solely manage our security and manpower agency on the 9th year. With that quick history let me deduct if I am an entrepreneur.
With the D’s mentioned by Prof Jorge, Yes, I am a dreamer, determine, detailed and doer. I manage business and will not be satisfied until I solve all possible problems why I won’t take off. Sometimes I get so stressed and pray why I cannot do better, like what happened in SM. For someone not a nationwide name I was ranking 7th out of 12 fast-food outlet but the income was a joke to continue while SM is doing well from my rent of 21.5% of gross. My grains experience was very good until I want to more close to home and invested in SM. I left the family restaurant because it was a family business and my boss was a brother in law. We couldn’t seem to be working well but I love him as a brother so I rather not challenge that.
My F’s are faith, focused, frugal, fast, fun, and flexible and forever improving. I have seen these traits in the past especially in my nursing career as an oncology licensed manager. I know though that I will not start big or invest in something I have no control of. I will not spend all my savings and be so positive that what I started will be successful. I tend to analyze, I sort all options .When I was younger I have done or invested in very new things to me because of some mentors who didn’t stay long, but I was brave to continue.
Gifted Minds- I am a fast learner and a dreamer. I think I have this.
Steely Guts- Intuitive- I have a sense of intuition. I can feel the people around me.
And if given the chance to be in the bigger business world I
Can assess business itself.
Courage- I am not that brave especially if my finances are limited.
Patriotic hearts –What I know is I am loyal and patriotic to my products, used to sell things from grade 1, started with “white rabbit “candies, in college and till working years, and married life. I also noticed that I cannot sell things I don’t believe.
Hands that truly care- This one I know I have. In my nursing years and as a mother, now as an owner of a company whose employees are so much in need? I give more that a previous professor said that I need to earn more before service.
Currently one of my hesitations in the Philippine setting is giving big gifts to lure contracts. In my industry, I cannot sacrifice and cut the pay of the agency employees as percentage of those approving the contracts. I do think sometimes that I am not cut out to do business where there are SOP’s. I have to find sector. But even in the business of my husband of memorial park and chapels, there are those who try but not as bad. I guess I will find it soon.
Prof Jorge may you allow me to copy in the next page my entrepreneurial test results taken from the internet. Thanks 4
What's Your Entrepreneurial I.Q.?
You think you know business? Take our quiz and find out how well attuned you are to the demands of being an entrepreneur.
Common characteristics in areas such as family background, childhood experiences, core values, personalities and more turn up time and time again in studies of entrepreneurs. Find out how you fit the mold by determining your Entrepreneurial Quotient, or EQ. The following test is no measure of your future success, but it may show you where you excel and where you need to improve to help make your business soar. Answer the following questions with a "yes" or "no," and total your score at the end to find out your EQ.
Your Score Is... 15
You have everything going for you. You have the potential to achieve spectacular entrepreneurial success.
Your background, skills and talents give you excellent chances for success in your own business. You should go far.
You have a head start of ability and/or experience in running your own business and should be successful if you apply yourself and learn the necessary skills to make it happen.
You might be able to make a go of it if you ventured out on your own, but you would have to work extra hard to compensate for a lack of built-in advantages and skills that give other entrepreneurs a leg up in beginning their own businesses.
Your talents probably lie elsewhere. You should consider whether building your own business is what you really want to do, Working for a company or for someone else, developing a career in a profession, or achieving an area of technical expertise may be far more congenial to you and would allow you to enjoy a lifestyle appropriate to your abilities and interests.
Entrepreneurial Factoids:
- Significantly high numbers of entrepreneurs are children of first-generation Americans.
- Successful entrepreneurs are not, as a rule, top achievers in school.
- Entrepreneurs are not especially enthusiastic about participating in group activities in school.
- Studies of entrepreneurs show that, as youngsters, they often preferred to be alone.
- Enterprise usually can be traced to an early age.
- Stubbornness as a child seems to translate into determination to do things your own way-a hallmark of successful entrepreneurs.
- Caution may involve an unwillingness to take risks, a handicap for those embarking on previously uncharted territory.
- Entrepreneurs often have the faith to pursue different paths despite the opinions of others.
- Being tired of a daily routine will often precipitate an entrepreneur's decision to start an enterprise.
- Entrepreneurs generally enjoy their type of work so much, they move from one project to another-nonstop.
- Successful entrepreneurs are willing to use their savings to finance a project.
- Many entrepreneurs make a habit of putting their goals in writing.
- Handling cash flow can be critical to entrepreneurial success.
- Entrepreneurial personalities seem to be easily bored.
