Accidental Business & my First Million...
In 1999, I returned home from Saudi Arabia after completing 6 yrs carrying with me an NOC & a substantial savings.
Back in Manila, I decided to re-apply with my former agency whom I became friends with since I kept in touch while I was abroad. While I was visiting their office, & them knowing I have a background in IT, they asked a favor if I could fix some of their PCs & install anti-virus software. I ended up fixing all their hardware issues plus installing a "Peachtree" accounting software (pirated nga lang) & teaching them how to use it. In return, they paid me P.20,000 as an "incidental" for my services.
The software revolutionized their work & allowed them to create & print reports they never dreamed would be possible. The reports created a demand for paper in which they asked me to supply. I found a supplier in Binondo & started supplying the recruitment agency with reams of paper & business forms at a meager profit of P.5/ream.
The quality of my paper became famous & soon, the relatives (working for other companies) of the agency staff started asking me to supply them with paper & forms. The referrals started pouring in & soon, I registered the business with DTI & BIR & started selling a full-line of office supplies, computers, & copier machines. One of the biggest sales was supplying 200 PC's for a company in Mindanao at a profit of P.3,000 per unit. Then orders for software, copiers, calculators, & other office equipment started pouring in. Within 7 months, I made P.2.8 Million in net profit.
After that, several offices approached me with "deals"... meaning, they will approve my PO's (with inflated pricing) but we have to split the profit. it's not that I'm not happy with the split, but I'm not comfortable with these type of deals. The corrupt practices even in private business made me decide to shut the business down. Anyway, I'm happy with what I earned & all that started with ZERO capital (only from COD sales which snowballed turning into working capital) & it was something I did just to flex my mental muscles.
Then, I went back to my own quiet but happy little world, being na OFW in Qatar. But one day & soon, I will again start my own business but it will not be in the Philippines for sure...
What I learned from this piece & phase of my life is that in being an entrepreneur, you don't always need capital, skills, or even a business degree. All you need is timing & passion. My passion in fixing things around the office, & the timing that one company suddenly asked & paid for my products & services. Of course, greed should not set in...especially with these profitable but shady deals or those get rich quick schemes.
But all these, happened by accident. Who knows, one day some of you may run into a "business accident". If that happens, have fun with it!
