Generating Your Own Small Business Ideas

Every successful small business develops out of an idea.The key to finding your small business niche is to start by making a list of business ideas that resonate with your interests and then narrowing the list down from there. It may seem difficult at first, but once you get going you’d be surprised how quickly your list of potential business ventures grows!

You may be stuck and asking yourself how do you get started generating good business ideas? You can start by looking at yourself! A large number of small businesses are built around the skills or talents of an individual. If you have a particular skill or talent, or have specialized training of some sort, then opening up a small business based on your own personal services is very pragmatic. Remember the example I gave last week of my photographer friend? He turned his skill at being a competent photographer into a part-time business venture. Do you speak a foreign language fluently? I have been asked to teach French classes at a local college because they had students who were offered jobs abroad and needed a crash-course in French language and culture. Just remember that some personal services do require properly accredited qualifications, so be sure to check with your local authorities if you are eligible and suitably qualified to perform any specialized service.

Where else can you look for good business ideas? I guarantee spending time in your local bookstores will help generate ideas. Chances are you’ll come across books full of examples of entrepreneurs who have turned their ideas into a successful business product or service. Don’t forget to stop at the magazine rack either. Here in the Philippines, Summit Media publishes Entrepreneur magazine each and every month. It is an excellent publication that is full of interesting articles on and about different businesses launched right here in the Philippines. The latest issue has examples of businesses that have been launched and that cater to diverse areas of the market from video editing to organic foods to logistics and cargo handling. There are also informative sections on finance for small businesses, inventory management, and a whole host of topics many entrepreneurs find useful and informative.

The daily newspaper is also a source of ideas. Try reading the paper with an eye for learning about what products or services are missing or in great demand at the moment. Take notice of the products and services being advertised in the newspaper. If a firm is using their resources to advertise a product or service in a national newspaper, you can be relatively sure that market research has determined that demand either exists or is growing. Try to think about what businesses offer complimentary products or services and you may have an excellent chance to offer upstream or downstream products or services related to these companies and their industries in general.

Be sure not to overlook using your own eyes and trust what you see on a daily basis. It may seem obvious, but being observant and spending time carefully watching the flow of business in the area you want to be located usually helps in focusing your attention to what demands are not being adequately met. If you have lived most of your life outside of the Philippines, you will have a unique ‘lens’ for spotting gaps in the local market simply because you will have been exposed to different ways of doing things or have encountered products and services abroad that may be of value here in the Philippines. This lens is incredibly useful, especially if the business idea you come up with is a product or service that is appealing to both Filipino and expatriate customers. But be warned — just because you think a niche exists doesn’t mean your product or service will immediately ‘click’ in the Philippines. Sometimes there are cultural reasons why certain businesses don’t work, and sometimes the market just isn’t ready for certain products or services. Before getting too excited about any business idea, first take a step back and ask yourself if the idea is so great, why isn’t anybody else already doing it?

After compiling your list, focus on the business ideas you have the most passion for and feel most strongly about. Turning your idea into a full-fledged business will now take a great deal of time and resources – financial, physical, and emotional – so if you narrow your list down to those ideas that you have the most passion for, then you’ll greatly increase the likelihood of one-day getting your business off the ground.

Next week’s column will move on to the next step in the process after you have settled on your business idea — preparing a business plan and doing your own market research!

Fifty Two?

Remember, a while back I speculated that the worst of the US Dollar/Philippine Peso exchange had already passed?  I mean, I felt like the Dollar had already bottomed out.  I wrote that piece back in May, and indeed, the Dollar has been steadily gaining since that time.  These days, the Dollar is standing between 44.5 to the Peso and up to nearly 45 already.

I got a little backup from a major financial source this week.  Bloomberg Financial News is reporting that HSBC Bank is now projecting that the Peso could stand at P52:$1 by the second quarter of 2009.  Before coming out with this latest projection, HSBC had predicted that the Peso would be at P42.80:$1 at that time, so this is a major turn-around in HSBC’s forecast.

What is happening to turn HSBC around like this?  Well, a number of financial factors are at play.  Firstly, the Philippine economy is changing drastically compared to where it was a year ago.  At that time, the national budget was very close to being balanced.  Now, the government has basically tossed the goal of balancing the budget aside, mostly because of things like the food crisis and the oil crisis that the world is facing.

HSBC is reporting that since the beginning of 2008, the Peso has lost 7.5% against the US Dollar, and they are projecting further losses amounting to another 14% in the next year.  The Peso has gone from being the best performing Asian currency to being the second worst performing currency in Asia in May.  That’s a huge turn-around.

For me, I would welcome a turn-around of this magnitude.  Seeing the Dollar buying 52 Pesos on the horizon would be very good for me, and for other American ex-pats living here, or planning to.  Many will argue that this will be terrible for poor Filipinos, but actually there is a good side for them too.  The strong Peso has devastated the export industry here in the Philippines, and a weakening Peso will help them, and provide more jobs for Filipinos too.  In addition, this would be very good news for families of Overseas Filipino Workers.  The weaker the Peso is, the more Pesos they get for every dollar that their OFW family member remits per month.  Many of these people have been suffering over the past year or two as the Peso has continued to strengthen.

I will personally be a little surprised if the Dollar strengthens this much in only a year, but if it does, I will be happy to see it.  I, personally would project more like a P48:$1 rate a year from now.  We’ll see.

What do you think?

Mighty Manny

People who are into Boxing, or who have some connection to the Philippines undoubtedly know who Manny Pacquiao is.  Pacquiao is a World Champion boxer, and he hails from General Santos City, in Southern Mindanao.  As I type this column, Manny’s latest fight is just getting started, with Manny fighting against David Diaz for the WBC Lightweight Crown.  Manny Pacquiao already holds the WBC Super Featherweight Title.

As I type this, I don’t know how the battle will end, but I am certainly hoping that Pacquiao will prevail.  What I wanted to write more about, though, was how it is here in Davao and throughout the Philippines when Pacquiao has a fight.  Basically, the life almost goes dead here when there is a fight!  The streets are certainly nearly empty, it’s like you would expect on a major holiday like Christmas.  It seems that nearly everybody is in front of the TV, watching to see the outcome of the fight.

When I lived in General Santos City, this was even more pronounced.  It’s as if the place turned to a ghost town during fight time.  Last election, Pacquiao decided to get into politics, and he ran for Congressman in the area.  He did not succeed, though.  Despite his massive popularity in the area, people decided that Manny would be better as a boxer than as their Congressman.  It seems, though, that there are no hard feelings, as the lady who prevailed in the race is paying to offer free viewing of the Pay-Per-View event for citizens of General Santos.

Manny Pacquiao really is a rags to riches story too.  He started out in life a very poor boy, and as a child he sold lottery tickets on the streets of General Santos to help provide food for his family.  Nowadays, though, Manny is a very wealthy man, having fought more than 40 times in his career, and in recent years, he gets millions of dollars for each fight.

Pacquiao just earned his millions too…. he knocked out Diaz in the 9th round!  Congratulations, Manny.

Panabo City

Last week I went to a City not far from Davao called Panabo City here in Mindanao. I have been there many times and I find it a great place for markets and a great atmosphere and friendly place even though its officially out of the “protection” of Davao City.

I decided to go by bus and this was a great experience as the bus had hardly any windows and seats that just remained on the metal frames because of the weight of your body. The internal electrics dropped in front of your eyes and seemed to be joined wires at many points, I am really not sure what the wires were doing but it seemed a recent addition to the luxury bus.

Add to the delight was our jumping over cartons and fruit and many chickens that blocked the floor and even some of the seats. I wonder if the chickens had to pay for the seat?

Once arrived at Panabo I met some good friends and had the ritual JOLIBEE ( A McDonald’s substitute), following th e gourmet meal I told fellow columnist Migs from Manila that he would be so impressed by the great markets here in Panabo.

So we walked around the streets which seemed quieter than my last visit, not as many stalls along the roads, I now know that this was the Mayor trying to remove unlicensed traders, although he is of course correct it did take away some of the ambiance.

Unfortunately too there was a major fire a few weeks before that burned down many market stalls and the poor stall holders have lost everything as no insurance or replacement site is available.

I understand that there also is some dispute about a new shopping Mall that wanted to occupy the area, thats seems to have been sorted now as there are no market traders to move on.

Still the meat market and fruit markets were spectacular and well worth a visit and the people of Panabo are friendly and very hospitable as proven to my trip to the Wharf which has a small Mango beach where locals enjoy a drink or two or even more and the kids play and the atmosphere is very lively.

One local and his family after a few too many Rums decided he need a picture with this mad Caucasian who had visited this beautiful area, we stayed for Coke Cola and decided to move on increase the invites to drink the Rum become too overwhelming for me to say no.

Back into the City main I saw a stall being wheeled around that said KWIK KWAK and as you see from the video below it was QUALYES eggs(that seemed to be Ducks eggs to my eyes), covered in oil and a form of breadcrumbs that looked delicious. However after a few hours in the sun I did not want to risk those eggs on my delicate stomach, if you know what I mean.

The home journey was on a air conditioned bus that I had to stand up for the whole journey and for some reason I had to pay double fare compared to everyone else on the bus…I WONDER WHY?

IT WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE AS THE PHILIPPINES ALWAYS IS

Do you care for the environment?

Last Tuesday Rotary Club East Davao was honoured and privileged to listen to guest speaker Mr. Simeon P. Marfori II, the new elected President of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII). Mr. Marfori also provided us with information about the 8th Recyclable Collection Event, which take place today from 8am - 4pm at the SM Citypark C here in Davao City.
“Bawas Basura na, Magkakapera Ka Pa!” Bring your recyclables there and redeem for cash at special buying stations or donate the proceeds to charity.

This is a project of the DCCCII, wherein industry recyclers set up the buying stations where the public can sell its recyclables such as: used car batteries, used ink jets and cartridges, tires, pet bottles, scrap metals, used papers or corrugated cartoons, electrical/electronic equipment and much more.

No need to tell, that you and we and the enviroment will benefit, in saving trees for example. Or, plastics recycling reduces air and water pollution. Or, car battery and used computer recycling keep hazardous waste away from the landfills.

This important event today is sponsored by many big companies, such as HOLCIM, PEPSI, Pearl Farm Beach Resort, Cyper City Teleservices, Landbank,HZero2 - just to mention some among many others.

I wish that this will not remain as the only and last event. Maybe there are also similar events in other towns here in the Philippines. If you know  about it, please leave a comment and share it with us.

Everybody should follow this examples. We owe it our next generations.

A question of ethics and transparancy

The other day, I published a column here on the site entitled “Limao, Samal Island = Heaven” in which I showed a video of the area where Feyma and I own land, and intend to build our house where we will live permanently.  Very shortly after the article was published, I received an e-mail from a fellow named Vic.  I know nothing about Vic.  I don’t know if he is a foreigner, Filipino, if he lives in Davao, elsewhere in the Philippines, or if he lives in another country.

Vic said that I was unethical.  He listed a number of reasons why I was unethical.  Primarily, he seemed to have a problem with the price of the land that I showed on the video.  Firstly, let me say, the video was not intended as a “sales” piece.  It was just a little tour of the area where Feyma and I will be living in the future.  Yes, I did mention that there were lots for sale, and the price of the land, and I said “By my neighbor” on the video.  But, if I put the video up without the price and such, I am quite certain that people whould have been e-mailing me asking questions about the availability of more land, the price, etc.  Either way, I did not intend the video to be a “hard sale” type of thing.

Let me address a few points.

First, the land on the video is selling for P2,500 per square meter.  Vic complained that it was way too high.  He said that he can buy acreage for a much lower price.  Well, it is true that large parcels of land are always cheaper than lots in a subdivision.  Acreage is undeveloped.  Land in a subdivision is developed (or will be).  The land in question will include roads, a park and other nice additions.  Whenever you buy a small piece of land for a house, that’s always more than acreage would be.  Vic said that he can buy land similar to what I’m showing in the video for about 500 pesos per square meter.  Actually, I know of land that’s much less.  One place I know has a beautiful view, much nicer than what I have in my own place, and it is 200 pesos per square meter.  However the title is cloudy.  The land is in dispute, and also quite inaccessible.  But, it’s cheap, very cheap.  If Vic wants I’ll help them buy that, and I’ll do it for free.  However, when he has to fight a lot of battles in the future because of the title situation, that’s on him, I won’t help with that.  The thing is land that has a clear title is selling for a much higher price than what Vic says.  As a matter of fact, I know some places on Samal that are selling for up to 18,000 pesos per square meter.  These are not rip off firms trying to find foreigners who don’t know the price.  These are well-known local businessmen who are developing the area and selling the lots, and a lot of local people from Davao are buying these.

Here is another thing.  Neither Feyma nor I set what price the land will be sold at.  We do not own the land, somebody else owns all the land that Feyma shows to people.  And, not just one person, but a number of different people own parcels of land that they wish to sell, and Feyma simply shows it to interested buyers for them.

Now, Vic seems to have a problem with the fact that we’re making a little money based on things on the blog.  Here’s the thing, I spent a lot of time on this site, making it good, enjoyable, interesting and informative.  I feel that I offer quality content here, which cannot easily be found elsewhere.  But, I also have to make a living.  I can’t spend hours on this and do it for free.  Because of this, I offer things like advertising on the site, I write books which I sell through the site, and Feyma is selling land to our readers.  Let me be clear, this is not land that we own, Feyma just gets a commission from the landowner.  We don’t raise the price and tack on extra so that we get more.  We sell it for the price of the landowner is asking, and the landowner pays a commission to Feyma.  I don’t see anything unethical about that.  Feyma works hard for the money that she earns.  She spends a lot of days on Samal showing people around, showing land, informing people about the services available there, and even searching for land that people have e-mailed and asked her to find.

For anybody that thinks that the land is too expensive, no problem, nobody is forcing them to buy.  But I also know, that there have been a lot of times when people have said that a certain piece of land was more than they could afford, and Feyma put in a lot of effort to find something more suitable for them.

Last year, I almost shut down the site.  Why?  Because I was spending a lot of time on it, and frankly, it made no money.  Oh, I would get maybe $100 a month from Google adSense off of this site, but that’s about it.  I spent hours every day working on this site, and the amount of money that came in simply did not pay for my time.  So, as much as I love this site, I was very close to just saying that I would put an end to it.  However, through the advice of a friend I decided to look for other ways to make money from the site.  Before that, whenever I would mention in an article that we had land on Samal people would always e-mail and ask us about it, wanting to buy some land themselves.  We referred a lot of sales to the person that we bought from for nothing, free.  We decided that since we got so many inquiries about the land, this was another venue where we could perhaps make a little bit of money off the site.  So we made arrangements with the landowner for a commission, and basically Feyma kept doing the same thing she had already been doing, but now making a commission.

If this is unethical, I will tell Feyma to stop selling land on Samal.  However, I simply cannot keep this site going if earning a little money for my time is unethical.  Let me know what you think, leave a comment.  I feel that I am ethical and transparent on this site, and in my life in general.  Like I said earlier, nobody is forced to buy any land or buy anything at all.  Thousands of people every day read this site for free, and I don’t want to change that.  But if somebody genuinely wants to buy a piece of land on Samal, I don’t see where there’s a problem in making a little bit of commission on that.  It is usually through us that they get the idea to buy the land in the first place.  And, on the people that do use Feyma to fill their land needs, she works hard for it.

Vic has gone on to other online forums and complained about me, saying many of the same type of things that I’ve mentioned here.  Because of that, I feel that it is okay to mention him here and tell my readers about what he’s been saying.  Honestly, one of the reasons I wrote this is because I want you to judge and tell me if this has been unethical.

What do you think?

A bridge to Samal?

For about two months now, there’s been a lot of talk about a bridge being built to Samal Island.  Actually, the talk is been going on for years, but it’s gotten serious in the last couple of months.

Why has it gotten serious?  Well, because there’s been a lot of speculation that it’s about to begin.

You see, about two months ago there was a big press release from the government of Igacos (that’s the island garden city of Samal).  They announced that a British company had agreed to finance a bridge that would connect Samal island to the mainland of Davao city.  Hundreds of millions of dollars will be invested, and it would all be given by the British company in question.  The money wouldn’t even need to be repaid!  The company would simply operate the bridge, charge a toll, and recoup its investment that way.

It was even said that the bridge was going to be built to be very similar to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  Now, that’s going to be an expensive project.  Is Davao really ready for such a bridge? It was said that such a bridge would be needed because of the ship traffic in the Gulf.  There was never a mention of a drawbridge or anything of the sort, just something like the Golden Gate.

There were also rumors that a Saudi Shaikh was going to finance the entire thing.  I only heard that one from a couple of people though, it didn’t have nearly the credence of the British company.  But, it was out there.

Let’s go back to the part about the British company again.  The big announcement stated that the company was going to immediately start a feasibility study, which would take three months.  At the end of the feasibility study the bridge would be constructed.  Hold it.  How can that be?  When you do a feasibility study, that means you’re trying to decide whether or not it’s feasible to build the bridge, right?  However, in the announcement, it seemed that the feasibility study was just a formality.  The bridge was going to be built.  To me, that doesn’t make sense.  If you’ve already decided to build the bridge why waste money on a feasibility study?  If you’re going to do a feasibility study that will determine whether the bridge would be built, right?

The next question is, is a bridge really wanted or needed?  There’s a good ferry service to the island and many passenger boats going there too. Most landowners on Samal don’t seem to want it.  I know Feyma, and I are against it too.  We prefer to keep the island a little bit more separated from the city.  If you make it too easy to get there it’s going to start getting crowded and you also have a lot of the wrong kind of people going there.  When I say the wrong kind of people, what I mean is, you can have people going there for drinking and partying, that kind of thing.  I prefer to keep it quiet and more pristine.  Of course it’s not my choice.  It’s up to the entire public.

I’ve talked to some businessmen locally who would have a good handle on what’s going on.  I asked if there would be a bridge anytime soon, most of them just laughed.  They said it won’t happen in our lifetime.  I kind of hope they’re right.

What do you think?

photo credit: Pargon

Limao, Samal Island = Heaven

Yes, I said it all in the title, didn’t I?  For me, Barangay Limao, on Samal Island is heaven!  Limao is where Feyma and I purchased some land last year, and where we intend to live in the coming years.  Neither one of us can wait to get there!  But, it will have to be a few years down the road, after our kids finish school.

We do go and visit our place regularly, though, just to keep up with what is going on in the area, and keep showing an interest in our land there.  We wouldn’t want squatters to come and take over the place!

Last week, Feyma and I went and did a little exploring there, walking some paths in the area and seeing areas that we had not scene before.  It was a lot of fun, and we learned more about the area that we will be living in!

Why don’t you come along for a bit of a tour of the area?  Just watch the video below!

In the comments, Rick asked where Limao is located on Samal.  I am putting a map below to show all of Samal Island.  I put a big red dot and the words “Martin Place” where our land is.  Just click on the map below to see a bigger image.

A bundle of surprise!

A few days ago I got a surprise text from my sister that a member of our family got pregnant. That sad part on this is the girl, she’s less than a year from graduating college. She didn’t even bother to informe her parents before the beginning of the enrollment that she will not be going back to school. Instead she let them spend a lot of money for the school tuition and uniforms. I know she’s really scared in telling her parents, but she should also think that the parents are in deep trouble with money just for her to continue. I’m pretty sure the parents borrowed money before enrollment starts. Well, she should have known the consequences.

I guess they tried to drop all of her subjects, but now, the school told her that they will not give any refund to the money that they paid the school. She was studying in a nice university, so the tuition is not cheap. The guy, he is also a student, a classmate of hers. The family doesn’t want that they will get married because as if both are not ready. As far as I know only the mom wanted them to get married. I guess the boyfriend said to the family that he is not yet ready to get married at this time. He wants to graduate first and find a job. For a lot of the sibling and the Dad they don’t want to force the guy into marriage, they want that after the baby’s born, let the girl go back to college and see if she still wants to marry the guy. They are both young and jobless to begin with.

I am really shocked with the generation now. A lot of the students now get pregnant, it seems. Just like our niece. We sent her to the best school here in Davao. Two years later in college she decided to move out to have a lot of freedom. We talked her into not moving out just finish school and she can move out after. At the end she decided to move out and a year later she had baby. I found out now that all of them in her circle of friends got pregnant out of wedlock. It is sad but I think they think its the trend nowadays, to have baby. They think it’s fun. I can see now that my niece was just played upon by that guy. He doesn’t really want to marry her, but she believes in what he said. We know its a bunch of lies. We just don’t want to get involved in it anymore, its her life. The same thing with the member of the family now. We don’t get involved, just that feeling sorry for the parents who work hard for their kids to finish up school and end up not finishing up.

Lucky for this girl that got pregnant now, most of her siblings finished up college and have job. The thing is, are they willing enough to sacrifice later for her to go back to school? They might already be getting married and have family of their own. Then she will end up not a graduate of college, and get a low paying job. As you know here it is hard to get a job if you are not a college graduate. Gosh, it’s a dilemma here continuously. Really I hope that the youngsters nowadays will get lesson that to have a baby is very expensive.

The pizza wars

One thing that most people really love is good pizza!  Ex-pats are no different.  But what about pizza here in the Philippines?  Well, over the years it’s changed a lot.

I remember the first time I came to the Philippines, it was in 1990.  There wasn’t much to offer in the way of foreign foods at that time, you either hate the local cuisine where you went hungry!  Things sure have changed a lot since then.  That first time that I was in the Philippines, I remember one evening I really wanted something more Western to eat.  It so happened that on the way back to my hotel for the evening, I saw a sign at a little restaurant.  The sign read “Pizza” and I was ready for that!

I sent my sister in law to go buy me a pizza for dinner.  My mouth was watering, I could barely wait to buy into that pizza.  When she returned to the hotel, she had two slices of bread with ketchup on them, and sliced hotdogs to top it off!  Cheese?  What’s that?

Well, whatever a bunch of ex-pats get  together, it seems that the discussion sometimes turns to pizza,  and a heated discussion can break out!  Everyone has a favorite, although it seems we all agree that the pizza here isn’t quite as good as what we had back home.  Nationwide, the contenders seem to be Pizza Hut, Yellowcab Pizza, Shakey’s or Greenwich. Of those, yellow cab is usually the winner, although Pizza Hut is a close contender.  It seems the Greenwich is always left in the dust.

I will say this though, for Greenwich, their pizza has improved a lot in the years I’ve lived here.  Still though, it’s a second-rate contender, in my opinion.

I can eat Pizza Hut or yellow cab, but neither is my favorite.  Here in Davao, as I’m sure in other cities of the Philippines as well, there are a number of local contenders.  Right now, my favorite is a place that I just recently found called Coco’s Grill.  I’ve known about Coco’s for a long time, but just recently found out that they now make pizza.  The Waterfront Insular hotel has to give my second favorite, although it’s a bit expensive.  Another place that makes a decent pizza in Davao is Charlie’s bake shop, although it can be hard to get a pizza there because they’re often out of ingredients.  For now though, I’m sticking with Coco’s.

yes, indeed, pizza has really improved since 1990 when I first came here!  It’s even improved a lot since 2000 when I moved here!  And… I’m happy about that!

Is there anybody who doesn’t like pizza?