Over the last 2 months, I have had an inordinate amount of conversations with friends who have migrated to other countries, very typically to get their MBA’s and then ending up working there.
The conversation invariably turns into “what’s the best way to help?”
In one of these talks, I was with my ex-boss and good friend, Elmer Velasquez. We managed to find time to grab breakfast during his weeklong visit here. Elmer finished his MBA in Columbia and now works in the executive search industry in the US. In his spare time, he runs Global Acumen, a social enterprise with the objective of doing knowledge transfer BACK to the Philippines.
He gave me a memorable line:
We have to stop looking at it as brain drain and start looking at it as the development of offshore resources.
The people who go are some of our best guys, right? Of the most capable people in your high school or college batch, what percentage left the country to pursue degrees and careers elsewhere?
You know what? I think a number of these people DO want to help out. Living in another country actually might spur even more felt patriotism in some people. Absence DOES make the heart fonder after all.
How can you help, you say?
What about supporting homegrown startup initiatives?
Okay, I might be biased, but I think this is THE best way to give back. We already know we’ve got an english-speaking, innovative, and tech-savvy workforce. We’ve got some of the best programmers, the best designers in the world. That’s a potential startup goldmine.
Perhaps you can help us in making Great Startup Leaps for Juan.
You want to invest in a startup? Lend your skills and expertise as a board member? Give meaningful advice? Well, we’ve got startups which need your help. Email me at peter@juangreatleap.com or simply hit reply! Let’s talk about it. Endless possibilities!
Also, don’t forget to SHARE this post to someone you know wants to help out. Let’s kill apathy!
(Subscribe to the Juan Great Leap newsletter and get invited to the super-engrossing private JGL-FB group!)
My whole entrepreneur life has been a series of episodes where my eyes were opened to a greater reality.
I can still remember when STORM collected its first payment back in 2005. My partner Pao and I gave a gaming company 2-weeks of access to our new online survey software for P5000. (which was completely, idiotically underpriced!)
But I remember the feeling.
“Someone paid us money for a product we made! OMG!”
After years in corporate, and knowing the salary as the only means of getting cash, it was quite the eye-opener.
It was like the very moment we got to know how to swim. At first, were scared of the water, right? We needed to hang on to the edge. At one point though, we just trusted and we let go. Then came a startling realization – that the water isn’t the enemy, after all. And then afterwards, all we wanted to do was swim around and around, explore, and test our limits.
After getting our feet wet with P5000, we wanted to do so much more.
In 2006, I remember when I had to kick STORM out of my condo because I just got married, and well, it would have been awkward if the living room was still going to be full of computers and employees.
So Pao and I rented out a small place for STORM – no more than the size of a conference room – at San Antonio Village in Pasig. We then we got ourselves our first set of “real” office furniture. I remember when we were first putting the furniture in the office. Pao and I couldn’t get rid of the smiles on our faces, even if we were shelling out major moolah and now had to pay rent. We had an office! In our minds, a foundation had been built – STORM could stand on its own.
Another moment when some of my blinders came off was in 2007 when STORM landed a big account in competition with two large multinational player. It further opened my eyes that a startup can be much more than a mom and pop, if you choose to do so.
Whenever I would have blinder-dissolving moments like these, I would have trouble sleeping (my friends would know this) because my mind would be on overdrive. I would be imagining the endless possibilities in a new reality – one where previous horizons have been pushed back.
My big fulltime leap in 2008 scratched a huge blinder – that I needed to work in a corporation to survive. It was liberating, in all sense of the word.
I think I grew addicted to the process, so now I SEEK opportunities where I can disentangle myself from even more blinders. 2008 was when I started reading startup and entrepreneurial books like crazy. Actually, I find that a good book – fiction or otherwise – will always result in blinders crashing down. Same goes to meeting new people. Or new experiences. Even failure.
Then I started realizing something – that there are indeed, no limits. The only limits would come from the limits we impose on ourselves, either consciously or unconsciously.
Remove those blinders. You can be all you want to be.
I bought Tim Ferriss’s book years ago because the title reeled me in. (it was also a bestseller and I’m a sucker for bestsellers – amazingly, it’s still topping the charts up to now)
Really? 4 Hours of work? Sign me up now!
It’s a quick read which can be summarized in the acronym DEAL.
Basically, it says:
D – Definition (find out what you really want)
E – Elimination (applying the 80-20 Pareto principle on work hours, Tim concludes that you get 80% of the benefits through just 20% of what you actually do – so the solution? Find out what the useless 80% is comprised of and eliminate them)
A – Automation (building sustainable, automatic income using stuff like Google Adwords, automation, etc… and then using outsourced virtual assistants to free yourself from the day-to-day minutiae)
L – Liberation (the endgoal. this means you’ve freed yourself from the confines of set geography and time using E & A successfully)
Throughout the book, Tim talks about his fascinating travels and adventures (even becoming a kickboxing champ by thinking out of the box and bending rules). After reading the book, I remember feeling energized and telling myself, “I want to do that! I want to go around the world and just spend 4 hours on my job!”
After five years and one great entrepreneurial leap, I find myself saying, “No, I don’t want to do that anymore.”
I think the underlying assumption of the book is that you WANT to escape. That actual work is something demeaning – you have to escape it and minimize it as much as you can. Then you can go off and live out your adventure.
But what if I told you work CAN be your adventure? Would you still want to escape from it?
I remember reading in a Seth Godin book about this incident where he was in a resort on some island, and he got his laptop out and began to work on some stuff. He said some people were looking at him with faces saying, “Look at that poor guy, he can’t escape from his work.” Then Seth said something like, “You don’t understand, unlike you, I don’t have anything to escape from, I love what I’m doing!”
I think we ALL need something to work on, more specifically, something to BUILD. The problem isn’t work per se, but the type of work we are choosing (yes, choosing – no one’s forcing you to work on that zombie job) to do. Majority of us are just miscast. Find something you love. Find something you’d choose to do in a resort. (and yes, now, more than ever, working on a passion IS a practical choice)
Yes, it’s good to dream of going around the world, but let’s separate the desire to travel with the desire to escape.
Funny thing is, if you would look at Tim’s accomplishments now, you’d see he’s published multiple bestselling books, is an avid angel investor, and promotes his personal brand through different media.
I’d bet he’s having the time of his life working much, much more than 4 hours a week.
It’s been an awfully busy last few days for Juan Great Leap. I just want to loop you in with some important updates:
1. Cowboy Social Enterprise Planning
Last August 25, twelve Juan Great Leap readers took part in a “Cowboy” Social Enterprise Advocacy Planning held at the fourth floor of Amber Place in Pasig. The office was still being renovated, so the group went cowboy and just sat on the floor. Amazingly, almost everyone brought food to share with the group.
It was a very fruitful planning session. The group obviously shared the same passion as far as trying to make a positive difference for the country and its development. The prevalent theme was “starting small and thinking big.”
Ultimately, it was decided that an event be planned sometime November which will shed more light into social entrepreneurship and hopefully spur more people to explore founding one.
Do you want to help out? Please just email me at peter@juangreatleap.com so I can invite you to the current online discussions being done.
2. Startup Saturdays Slots
I usually talk to 2-3 entrepreneurs / would be entrepreneurs every Saturday morning, at the Starbucks in SM Masinag in Antipolo around 10am. The next open slots are for Sept 8 (1 slot free) and Sept 22 (3 slots still free). I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the chance to meet and share ideas with so many good people. Suffice it to say, this is free. If you want to reserve a slot, just send me an email at peter@juangreatleap.com
3. August 29 Keynote Clips
I spent the weekend editing the footage of the August 29 event. Found below is an abridged version of the keynote address divided into 5 videos. Apologies as the audio isn’t so clear. I’ll be sharing the keynote address, but I won’t be sharing footage from the great panel discussion we had – I do want to create a clear advantage for people who go directly to the events.
Here they are: (ADDENDUM: If you’re watching ONE video, choose the third one – Peter)
Opening Prayer, Starting Out, and the Birth of Juan Great Leap
Money and Meaning Do Not Have To Be Mutually Exclusive Anymore
The Practical and Philosophical Reasons Why You HAVE To Start With A Passion
The Modified Three Circles and How We Can Easily Build Rovios
Reminiscent of August 8, it was once again raining hard, traffic was bad, and some people were missing that crucial u-turn along commonwealth leading to the Technohub, but that did not stop around 200 people from turning the Ayala-sponsored Juan Great Leap Startup Event into a rousing success.
Thank you.
Thank you so much to the Ayala-TBI team and Globe for sponsoring the event. Michi, Tina, Carl, and Rhea were amazing to work with on the ground. Special thanks to Carl for making the 200+ nametags by hand.
Thank you to the amazing, amazing panelists. Howard Go, Denton Chua, and Glenn Santos were everything you wanted in a panel: differing opinions, thought-provoking answers, and excellent delivery. Special thanks to Denton (and his wife Anne) for celebrating his birthday with us, Juan Great Leap – style!
Thank you to all 200 people – and now I feel I know most of you – for gracing the event.
As to what happened, let me post here recent blogposts from people who attended:
Personally, I had such a blast! I actually had trouble sleeping last night because of the resulting adrenaline rush. It’s such a thrill for me to meet and hear the stories of different people. Thank you for trusting me with your stories. It was great seeing people from the first Juan Great Meet and how some of them have progressed with their startups (let’s go Katipunan Craft Beer!) It was also a thrill seeing some people I’ve met in Startup Saturdays in the room.
I was overwhelmed with the response, and I’m even more inspired to reach out and help more people.
Thank you for this honor and privilege.
Now, let’s strive to take even more leaps for Juan! Seeya in the next event!
I am of the belief that EACH of us has a unique, special purpose on this earth. None of us were accidents. I believe that God designed each of us with a particular role to fulfill.
And until we find this specific purpose, we will be feeling that something is missing. We have to search purposively. Settling is extremely wasteful.
Fortunately, we have access to a lot of clues.
We can find clues in the gifts we were given. We can find clues in our innermost desires. We can find clues in the things we do where time ceases to be a factor.
This is why I personally find the entrepreneurship process such a religious experience. Done right, it starts where your heart is. Done right, it starts with introspection – what is my passion? In this process, you ultimately find yourself grappling with the question – who am I?
It then becomes a grand quest: of trying things out, of making mistakes, of not only finding out who you are but developing and creating who you are.
I think this is very difficult to do working for another firm. Not impossible, of course, as I know extremely fulfilled individuals working in corporations. Difficult though. Why? Because more often than not, rules and structure hamper you from truly spreading your wings.
Or more simply put, it’s tough to live out your dream when you’re riding on someone else’s.
I remember as an HR practitioner preaching “alignment” of company values with individual values. You know what?They can never be perfectly aligned. Your goals are bound to be different from that of a 100,000-man multinational present in 20 countries.
If you follow your passion as an entrepreneur though, I think you are MUCH MORE LIKELY to find your calling.
Did God carve out your DNA with an interest in fashion AND also of dreams of helping your countrymen solve poverty? I highly doubt it if you could scratch your existential itch anytime soon going from one multinational firm to another. Or, you could do what Noreen Bautista did when she founded Jacinto and Lirio.
I have a passion for helping people, writing, and creative ideas. I thought I’d be able to scratch my own existential itch as I went from company to company in a ten-year career in human resources. It was only through the experience of founding my own startup, STORM, that I saw a glimmer of what my purpose was: to help people start their own startups. I highly doubt if I had been able to find this career if I stuck it out as a corporate HR practitioner.
Stop settling. Stop hating Mondays. Stop doing nothing about it.
Leap, and chances are, you’ll land where your heart is.
After she graduated with her degree in Psychology in 2010, we hired Ofelia Linchangco in STORM to do HR analysis and consulting. What was pretty evident from the get-go was that she loved design-related work. She would always volunteer to do design work for STORM’s marketing materials and would tinker with the website design. While she would do good work with her HR-related responsibilities, her design work would always elicit oohs and ahs from everyone in the workplace. It was plain to see what her passion was.
A year and a half later, she resigned. Planning her leap, she read a lot of books and did a ton of research. Then, using the remnants of her last pay (around P8000.00), she put up a design studio, Rocket Concepts.
Nowadays, she is doing very well and always seems so…happy-busy. She works with contractors to keep up with the work demand. She is earning a very comfortable paycheck as her own boss. She is pursuing a passion.
Let’s recount. P8000.00 capital. No experience. No formal design education. Just a year’s experience in the workplace. She made it work.
You can, too.
Around a month ago in Starbucks Masinag, Estelle Osorio narrated to me how she and partner Ulysses Cruz took a leap, used a mere P20,000.00 in capital, and founded BizWhiz, a startup focused on business training.
2 years after, Biz Whiz is arranging profitable course after profitable course. They are now hiring. They are getting bigger and more profitable.
Let’s recount again. Estelle has no MBA, she graduated with a degree in Political Science. No outside money. She’s in her mid-20’s. She made it work.
You can, too.
In an example close to home, early this year I founded Stream Engine Studios with Gino Caparas. The initial concept was to create a digital marketing firm. Then it morphed into an online explainer video production house. We put up around P30,000.00 as initial capital. Then I managed to convince Gino to take a leap from his comfy corporate job.
There were some hairy moments, but ultimately, not a year into operations, we have recouped our initial investment many times over. We have hired more people to help us out. We can now do this sort of work.
Let’s recount. No MBA’s. No formal training in design or animation. No big outside money. Gino’s just making it work.
You can, too.
I can go on and on.
Karen Yao was a pre-school teacher-turned HR practitioner who parlayed her expertise into a successful freelance consulting career and ultimately, into startup Congruent Partnerships. No big capital investment.
Sophia Lucero was a computer science graduate who had a knack for front-end work. Since she graduated in 2006, she has never been a regular employee for any corporation. Instead, she pursues her passion as her very own startup: doing freelance web design, UI Consulting, writing, and even pursuing her personal advocacies, such as co-founding the Philippine Web Designers Organization.
August 29 speaker Howard Go resigned from his lucrative Telco job in 2010 to pursue a passion – designing games. His startup, Mochibits, has come up with hit app after hit app. No big capital investment.
No money. No experience. No fear.
YOU CAN, TOO!
(Let’s hear of even MORE examples from you guys! I enjoin you to bless and encourage others by posting your own bootstrap experience! Perhaps your story is the very example which can convince one other person of doing her own leap. Don’t be shy and tell your story by hitting the comments below! Let’s inspire a movement!)
I thought I’d be spending tonight hosting, chatting with entrepreneurs, and eating pizza at the Ayala-sponsored Juan Great Leap event at the UP Technohub. Instead, I found myself volunteering to help feed people in makeshift centers near Marikina River with some of my friends from my community.
As you would expect, the conditions were brutal. The first site we went to was a converted Church. The pews were arranged in squares, where each family would stay – a good number of them with their dogs. As a father of young children, my heart immediately went out to the small children and babies.
We then went to work.
I ended up with the porridge-distribution role. We had plastic cups ready, but it looked as if they’ve done this before – they lined up with their own containers. A few of them carried real cups and bowls, but most of them brought the makeshift-variety: empty yakisoba cups, or even used Mcdonald’s spaghetti-styros. While I poured the lugaw (it took 3-4 times with the ladel I had), I tried to engage in some small talk. Most of them smiled. Some kids wanted their cups full to the brim. Some made jokes with me. Some tried to help out.
We have a unique and resilient people. It’s easy to fall in love with them.
If I had to evacuate my house, transfer my family to a crowded shelter, get all wet, and beg for food? I’d have thrown a hissy-fit, or go all Edward Cullen-emo and ask the heavens why?!.
The second site we went to, a converted basketball court, had harsher conditions. The people density was worse, and they were crammed in blue and yellow Pasig-City tents (which were not bad, it was just the density). Within minutes, the remainder of the food we brought was finished. (people, we have to continue to give and donate) There were some very heartening scenes though: a Manila Water truck pulling in to distribute free water, the most sincere thank-you’s you can ever imagine (highbrows who say giving people fish isn’t wise please find a rock and just go away), an individual Urvan coming in while we were leaving who brought even more food.
Manila Water truck arriving to offer free drinking water
That Urvan was especially inspirational for me. We came in a caravan of 5-6 cars. This was just one family, who probably said to themselves: “Let’s go get some food, and then let’s go around and distribute it ourselves.” I found it amazing.
Even alone, you can make a difference.
Upon arriving home and while taking probably the most guild-laden hot shower of my life, my thoughts were racing.
What can I do? What can I do? What can I do? What can I do?
For starters, I couldn’t wait to write and share this story.
I can plead with you – the entrepreneur and the would-be-entrepreneur – to put JUAN in your motivation equation, to extend the concept of family to include, not merely your kin and friends, but Juan as well. The impoverished Juan who gets marginalized, neglected, and often taken advantage of.
Let’s endeavor to make our startups work, not merely to make money, but to create jobs. (and not those zombie-jobs too)
Let’s endeavor to make our startups work, not merely for our freedom, but to help facilitate freedom from poverty. It’s a big hairy, problem. And even from just writing that line, it feels a bit contrived (maybe because it sounds like something a politician would say). It’s certainly a problem worth sinking our collective entrepreneurial chops into.
I’m especially inviting (challenging!) the very best of you – the most talented, the most brilliant, the most capable – to make a true difference.
Juan dela Cruz is certainly worth it.
Here’s an idea. Why don’t we sit down and talk about it? I was thinking a startup event, but one which solely focuses solely on social, nation-building, entrepreneurship. A Social Entrepreneurship Conference or Pitch Night perhaps? I have a lot of ideas on how to do it, but I want to share the experience of building on it and collaborate.
Interested?
Then COMMENT below. Comment if you’re in. Comment if you’d love to help me arrange it. Comment if you know a venue. Comment if you can bring food or drinks. Comment if you’d want to sponsor it. Comment even on why you think it won’t work.
Glenn is a 30-something product manager who dreams of one day escaping the corporate rat race to pursue a music-related startup he’s always dreamed of.
Sylvia works for a telco. As such, it isn’t a rarity for her to log in 60-70 hours of work a week. She yearns of saving enough capital to put up a business which can allow her to spend more time with her kids.
Elmer is a mobile developer. He’s a fan of the bestseller, The 4-hour Workweek. He wants to create the next killer mobile app and rake in the cash – while he goes about touring the world.
I think there are a lot of us who are like Glenn, Sylvia, and Elmer. Money’s nice for us, but the real motivator is something else.
Freedom.
The freedom to pursue OUR dreams, instead of helping someone else with theirs.
The freedom to spend our time in things we want to do.
The freedom not to have an a-hole boss.
The freedom to be much more available to our spouses, children, and loved ones.
The freedom to do what WE think is right.
It’s kind of funny to think that we live in a world full of choices. In fact, we’re all a bit spoiled by it. We can order the EXACT coffee we want in Starbucks, have virtually anything delivered to our doorstep through Amazon, have the world available to us through the internet. It’s a world of choice and abundance.
But not in the typical workplace, where we are governed by 8-5pm schedules, an exact salary we pull in per month, a usual way of doing things, a whole handbook of rules to follow, a small work area to do our jobs in, and my favorite, a specific job description to follow.
Come to think of it, more than money potential and more than the thrill of owning a firm, an extremely powerful motivator for me was to just break free and be my own person. Instead of, you know, working like an uninspired zombie at work.
How many of us feel like this at work?
All the risk (perceived and real) in becoming an entrepreneur was SOOOO much worth it. I would not exchange my freedom for any amount of salary.
If you have a chance to do so, go for it and don’t look back. For those currently toiling in trying to break free, take heed and comfort in this: the freedom’s worth fighting for.
Here’s the freedom speech from good ol’ William Wallace to help inspire all of us a bit. Enjoy!
A couple of days ago, I was talking to an “idea guy” with 6 startup ideas he wanted to pursue. I listened and gave my opinion on each. Then he looked at me and asked:
So what do you think?
Puzzled, I replied:
About what?
Coyly, he then asked:
What should I choose?
No mentor, confidante, or adviser can answer this sort of question.
Only you can.
It’s easy to get carried away with money potential, or how “sexy” an idea is. Careful. Choosing a startup solely based on these will almost guarantee failure.
The process starts internally. Follow your heart.
We have heard this from thousands of successful entrepreneurs: your passion will fuel your startup.
JUAN GREAT LEAP 