Belsie Agustin: Persistence Pays OFF

Belsie always knew that being in business was the right way to go. His strong work ethic and character were shaped early in life where he worked his way through school, working at the various fast-food establishments in the country like Dunkin' Donuts. He also took time to become a soccer athlete which helped him with a scholarship throughout his College life.

His family are known Latter-day Saint community leaders, some of them among being lawyers and occupying different high positions in government. But Belsie knew he was to carve his own name and plough through a lot of weeds to become successful.

Finishing college with a Bachelors degree in Mass Communication and later signing on to the BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management), Belsie climbed up the ranks and has become a respected officer in the organization. Furthering his studies in law and in teaching has helped him advanced to become a senior officer.

"I knew I had to have some kind of income through employed earnings to be able to start a business", quipped Belsie with a smile.

His major break came when he found a mentor in the outdoor advertising business which became one of his earliest ventures. "I had to learn the ropes. I was fortunate to have learned from a good teacher". Their business boomed and they became a pioneer in the outdoor advertising industry in Zamboanga City.

Once they knew how to structure their operations and do the legal work for their leases, clients came in and they were in business. After several month of hyped sales and just growing through word of mouth, the revenue came in and they were very profitable.

Unfortunately, some unusual circumstances affected his relationship with his business partner and so he was forced to leave and set up his own. "I was very discouraged when that happened, I cried lots of tears when I realized that our business partnership could no longer exist because of certain financial matters".

That was the turning point for Belsie. Several months after losing his venture, he decided to form his own enterprise, structuring it carefully and calling it ALBEREI ADVERTISING. Because of the lessons he learned from his initial venture, Belsie is now able to avoid pitfalls in business and continue to expand his company to cater to many known brands in the market like PLDT, SUN CELLULAR, CEBU PACIFIC AIR, FILINVEST, BOBSON JEANS, and many others.

"My experiences as a full-time missionary for the LDS Church has greatly helped me in handling my clients". Though not an alumni of the Academy for Creating Enterprise, Belsie believes in financial education and is a wide reader of many business how-to books.

"Financial Knowledge is the key to expelling the fear within you and can help any person willing to go the extra mile to provide for the family and fulfill his Godly-mandate".

Belsie is currently serving as a Counselor in the Guiwan Ward of the Zamboanga Philippines Stake.

For more information about his company ALBEREI ADVERTISING, and for your outdoor advertising needs, please email alberei_advertising@yahoo.com

TO START OR NOT TO START

Below is a letter from 2 American volunteers that is heart warming and motivating to those who want to start a business but are still wrestling with your own fears and doubts. Whether you are a Mormon or not, it is worth reading.
From the website: www.creatingenterprise.com.

Dear Alumni,

Before we share our message with you, please allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Jeremi and Rebecca Brewer, Directors of The Academy for Creating Enterprise—Mexico. We are returned missionaries, alumni of BYU-Hawaii, and in our last year of PhDs at Texas A&M University—the second largest university in the United States. We are sharing with you knowledge that we have gained through personal experience in business and experiences of other people. We know that what we share will bless your lives as it has blessed ours and others in Mexico.

Our hope is to reach the heart of each one of you that reads this letter. Consider this letter to be addressed to each of you, personally. Pretend that this letter is a conversation that we are having in your house, your office, or somewhere private. We want you to know that we love you very much. We know that the Lord is mindful of you, your trials, your triumphs, and your families. We have felt the special Spirit of the Lord each day in the Philippines, and know that ACE has been a blessing in each of your lives. Please, take your time and read this letter carefully; it is directed to you individually. This letter has one main purpose: We want to encourage you to start your own enterprise if you have not done so already.

As you very well know, the primary purpose of creating an enterprise is for you to be able to break the bands of generational poverty, improve your temporal life, and teach yourself and your children a new way of behaving and thinking. However, old habits and customs are very hard to break. Traditions and cultures are also very difficult to change if you do not make a daily effort to adjust your way of living. So, we encourage you to start today doing something new. Remember, “If you always do what you have always done, then you will always have what you already have”.

If you have yet to start your own enterprise, we write to you to help you remember those things that you already know are true. You know that being an employee is usually not the way to have the financial freedom that you wish you could have. You know that working hard for someone else usually does not pay you a sufficient amount for your needs. You know that when you work for someone else they have more control over when you work, where you work, how long you work, and how much money you make. In other words, as an employee, your employer has more control over your time and money than you do.

Now, being an employee is not always bad. You may very well be thinking, “But, I just need to raise capital” or “I am only working as an employee so that I can learn how the industry works.” Those are wonderful thoughts and you should be taking daily notes of how the operations are run. If not, start now! Try to find out how business transactions are completed. How much they cost. See if the clients are satisfied with the business and if not, then try and see what they are not receiving from the company you work for—you may find a great niche. If you are working to learn and gain knowledge (capital), training (capital), and experience (capital) you must make sure that you document what you see, hear, and feel.

You graduated from ACE, what is stopping you now?

If you are an employee and thinking about starting your own business, what is stopping you? Are you afraid or nervous? Do you lack the confidence? Are you still looking for the secrets? If so, allow us to share with you our favorite word in the English language: “Do”. “Do” is our favorite word because it requires thought and action. Remember the Rule of Thumb, “Ready, Aim, Fire!”? Well, this is similar to that. Remember the words of the Lord, “Therefore be ye doers of the word”? Do you remember the truth that we are agents to act and not be acted upon? And, do you remember the scripture which challenges us to be anxiously engaged in a good cause? As you can see, the Lord yearns for us to improve our own lives. You must pray as though everything depended upon the Lord and work as though everything depended upon you!

We know that you may have not started a business already because you are afraid. You may have not started of a lack of capital. You may have not started because you you’re your employment. There are thousands of reasons why you may not have started a business. However, we promise you that if you will just “Do” something today, if you will just “Do” something every day, that you will find success. The Rules of Thumb teach us great principles. You have the magic bullet and the secret sauce. You have all the tools. If you lack confidence, the greatest secret of all is that confidence is only gained by “do”-ing. If you “do” something you will learn more and more. If you “do” business you will learn more quickly than if you are idle. Remember, thinking is not enough, you must think then do, then evaluate what you have done and then do more!

Allow us to remind you of those missionaries who came to the Philippines from different countries. You may have had companions from outside of the Philippines, you may have gone outside of the Philippines on your mission, or you may have had contact with people from outside of the Philippines. Can you remember those missionaries? Can you remember how well they spoke the language of the mission? Some of them were more Filipino than most Filipinos—they spoke the language so well. Others, however, were so afraid and nervous to make mistakes and fail that they spoke as little as possible. Do you think they were smarter, faster, or more prepared because they were from outside of the country? The answer is simply no!

Our professions are in language learning and teaching. We know that the more someone tries to learn the language by speaking it, the quicker they will become fluent in that language. Sure, the missionaries make mistakes while speaking the language, but the difference between one who learns the language well and the one that doesn’t has a lot to do with the amount of energy, attention, focus, and discipline they put into practicing the language. In other words, those that would “do” the language by speaking it each day learned better than those that didn’t.

The same principle applies in business: you will make hundreds of mistakes—not one single person on this earth has ever spoken their native language perfectly. In fact, we make mistakes with our own language every day. The same reality exists with people that “do” business—everyone makes mistakes.

President Monson once said, “Elders and Sisters, when learning your new languages you must remember that you will make one million mistakes—so, you better start now!” The same principles apply in business—you will make millions of mistakes, but you must learn from them. You must learn how to improve upon them. We promise you that if you will start to “do” something in business that you will begin to become more fluent in business. Your abilities will increase. Your confidence will increase. And, your bank accounts will also increase! But, if you stay quiet, too nervous to start or try, then you will be like the missionary that never opened his mouth. You will never learn and you will miss out on so many opportunities—in this case, you will miss out on the opportunity to create a better life for yourself and your family.

So, “do” something today to change. Start now! You can do it! Find your talent, your passion, and your dreams and work for them each day. We know that you can do it. Whatever your business is, don’t feel that you are locked into just one business. We know that if you will start by selling papayas today, next year you could very well be manufacturing lead weights. You never know what tomorrow holds if you will just “do” something to change today!

We don’t only pray for your success, but we have come to the Philippines to train those in the Academy these same principles. We pray and we act. We pray and we do. We make mistakes each day, but we learn from them. We grow from them. We improve each day. We know that you have it in you to “do” great things. We know that you can “do” more than you are already doing. There is no magic bullet. There are no more secrets. Start now! And, as the hymn goes, “Wake Up! And do something more!”



With much love and hope for your success,

Jeremi & Rebecca Brewer

PROFILE NO.2: RABIN S. REDULLA

Life for Rabin S. Redulla is pretty much Family,Church and Work all with fronting capital letters. His goal is to retire early and serve the Lord better.

After completing a successful full time mission in the Philippines Manila circa 1996-1998 under President D. Rex Gerratt, he returned home and married his girlfriend- Janis on April 15, 2003 at the Manila Temple.

Coming from a prestigious school and working his way through a scholarship, Rabin entered the corporate world doing several jobs for Fast Distribution Corporation, a large logistics company that distributes Nestle products. As the Executive Assistant to the company’s CEO and Vice Presidents, Rabin was able to observe from the top on how the business was run and notwithstanding his strong tendencies for salaried employment, the seeds of entrepreneurship nourished within.

After his career with Fast Distribution, Rabin entered the Business Process Outsource Industry (BPO), this time he was in charge of helping the company (a new industry player) set up camp in Cebu and running it’s operations. “The experience enhanced my Interpersonal, Organizational and Communication Skills, not to mention my computer skills!” he sighted.

This was the turning point for Rabin, he realized that if he could operate other people’s businesses, then the likelihood of operating one successfully for himself was probable, and so he decided to shift his life’s direction from being an employee to an entrepreneur.

“Entrepreneurial qualities exist in individuals in a variety of combinations and degrees. It means that almost everyone – and that includes you and me – has entrepreneurial attributes, more or less. These attributes can be apparent or hidden, active or dormant, developed or underdeveloped.” He would often quote this self made proverb to himself..

Enter the Academy.

The Academy for Creating Enterprise program has helped Rabin discover, activate and develop his entrepreneurial attributes. The training that was provided had a tremendous and long-lasting impact on him that helped fuel his fiery enthusiasm. Through the various programs, case studies and inspirational speakers, Rabin discovered a whole new world in Enterprise Creation, a world filled with opportunities with abundance, and not scarcity. “It was a 360 degree change in PERSPECTIVE.” he quipped. I realized that, “To be born poor is not a sin, but to die poor is ultimately one’s fault.” he concluded.

Currently, he is the Managing Partner of a water refilling business, branded as AQUAPOWER. which earned him a nomination as a finalist in the business start-up category of the recently concluded Entrepreneur Academy Awards. He has been able to start this venture with the help of a Canadian LDS partner, whom he describes as 'Manna' from heaven.

“I was deeply touched by my business partner’s vision and righteous desire in helping me and other Filipinos uplift their way of living so that we could serve the Lord better.” he said. But all was not well in the beginning, the Canadian partner, himself an experienced businessman, would question Management policies and practices within the business and very soon, their personalities clashed. There was also the huge problem of losing their water containers to their customers and of course, cash flow.

The capitalization was quite high and so they put their minds together and decided to overcome differences or else they would lose it all. After a few emotional splurges on disagreements and without a hint of discouragement, Rabin and his partner set aside differences, rewrote their business plan and devised a system for their distribution and implemented their plan, which has helped increase their sales while minimizing liabilities thus, increasing profitability.

AQUAPOWER is now a successful refilling station engaged in the production of purified water for distribution in 5-gallon ‘food-grade’ containers. The business gives employment to six (6) Heads of Families, mostly members of the LDS Church, these employees in turn serve in different capacities for the LDS Church. .The station is situated right along the Minglanilla-Naga South National Road in Sitio Abuno, barangay Tulay, Minglanilla Cebu and serves primarily the neighboring city of Talisay and municipalities of Naga and Minglanilla.

The business plan also describes their plan to accept dealerships in the near future and in other areas of the province as it evolves into a micro franchise prototype because of it’s proven systematic water delivery. Rabin’s study, hard work and perseverance has helped the venture hit a monthly gross sales of Php108T (US$ 2297) with an excellent ROI of 37%. Although it’s initial capitalization will have a complete return in 3 years time, it is impressive to note that in just 12 months of operation, Aqua power has been able to return to its investor approximately 25% of the initial capitalization together with a monthly profit share.

As his business experience and skills grow, Rabin is ready to take on newer ventures with greater returns. As his refilling station runs on ‘Auto-Pilot’ (systems dependent business), he is now starting his own logistics business together with another ACE Alumnus. He is also able to better serve in various capacities for the LDS Church. “Had it not been for much of the training I have obtained in the ecclesiastical setting, I would not be in the position where I am in right now.” he said. True enough, had he not been a Returned Missionary, he would not have been able to join the ACE program.

Rabin and Janis are blessed with (3) beautiful daughters. He is currently serving as the 2nd Counselor of the Talisay Philippines Stake for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.