I was privileged to listen to a woman of success who is aptly described: from Maid to Made.
This woman was invited to share about entrepreneurship during the 2015 District 75 (Philippines) Toastmasters Mid-Year Conference. While I was reading her profile, I was impressed and inspired of her story from Maid to Made.
Rebecca Bustamante was born and raised in the challenging midst of poverty but she did not let this financial lack define her life story. While serving as a domestic helper in Singapore, she pursued her accounting education and she did this during her one-day off from work. She persevered and did not give up!
Today, she is the founder and president of Chalré Associates, a multinational recruitment firm for senior management executive positions. A typical day for Bustamante involves dealing with foreign companies and coordinating with local and foreign business leaders and economists for lectures and seminars.
For the last five years, she has also been at the forefront of organizing monthly forums for non-profit organization Asia CEO Forum, which operates as Chalré’s CSR project.
At the Toastmasters conference, she shared eight steps one can follow to achieve success in the field of entrepreneurship. Here they are as I add my own commentaries:
1. Gain Knowledge
She said that you’ve got to become an expert in something considered high value by others.
I’ve always heard from my mentors that entrepreneurship is about giving value and it’s the only way that you receive value back – in terms of payment to your product or service. Another thing about entrepreneurship is the importance of marketing and the New York Times Bestselling Author Brendon Burchard described that the new way of marketing is delivering value. That’s how important value is – it is needed to thrive in business! Hence, the way to do it is to become expert in something considered high value as Bustamante puts it.
She added that you’ve got to learn everything about your field and industry. Learn as much as you can about the industry, your customers, the competition, the market situation, and how else you can deliver high value.
2. Gain Top Place
Gaining top place is a tall order. Is it possible that you become the Number 1? Isn’t that so difficult?
Perhaps, this is the reason why we need to choose our own niche – a smaller part of the whole wide world and be a star on that particular niche. My idol and mentor Bo Sanchez came to my mind – he is the top Catholic lay preacher/speaker/author in the Philippines (not to mention that he also speaks internationally). Another star came to mind who I’ve also met at The Truly Rich Club is Edward Lee – the founder and Chairman of COL Financial, the largest online stockbroker in the Philippines.
But you may not gain the top place immediately. That could be the normal case. It’s ok. But the bottomline is to aspire for the top place. Strive for excellence!
3. Gain Control of Money
While money is not the most important thing in this world, it affects the important things in this world. While Bustamante did not mention this line, I think she agrees with it. This makes her include gaining control of money as part of her success steps or strategies.
Note that this is gaining control over money and not money gaining control over you.
Bustamante shared that she follows the 80-20 rule in her finances. She saves 20% of her salary. That’s something we can emulate. After all, it is not how much we earn, it is how much we keep.
4. Gain Relationships
Life is all about relationships. It matters to gain relationships.
In the middle of the speech, she acknowledged her husband standing at the corner of the hall and she mentioned something that drew a round of applause. Here’s my paraphase: make your way to success so when you meet your life partner, you have something to bring in to the table. My take on this is not just on the financial side but also on making yourself whole so you can give yourself to your partner as an overflow of love (versus a sucker of love). Now this is a big challenge.
I seem to recall Bustamante saying something like: be a success on your own so you can choose your man, not just any man. (This is not her exact words but Wow! That’s something! And isn’t that a huge challenge to us men?)
Note that her tip on gaining relationships is not just on the romantic side but in different areas of life. And as you do so, make sure you are giving something of value in the relationship.
How about you? You may not be a maid but what’s your own version of maid to made?
(Stay tuned as we continue Tips 5-8 next Sunday. Have a great week ahead!)
(Chris Dao-anis/CPA, as an author and speaker, helps aspiring and young professionals become better communicators and leaders. He is a member of Toastmasters International, a global organization dedicated to helping the individual members become better communicators and leaders. He is a member of Pines City Toastmasters Club in Baguio City. Details at www.pinescity.toastmastersclubs.org. | Visit his website at www.chrispoweracademy.com.)
