Last week, I happen to have mentioned to my digital friends as to how I made life from a mendicant life to at least a better life. Days after I shared my experience, there have been a number of inquiries and messages, all were curious and some are asking for advice, there were also some who happened to have shared the same situation and were encouraged by my story. To all of you, I thank you for the time and patience of thinking over what I had been through.
It urged me to respond to their inquiries, not to brag of “what I am now” compared to the “what was then”, but for the purposes of perpetuating the minute success I had. It is possible that someone else can better maneuver the field wherein I am at and that would be a delight for me if someone could.
The story I am to share begins from the university library. I was a freshman and fresh indeed - from emotional injuries during my high school graduation when a family tragedy almost brought us from the above middle class to the peasant type family. I was lucky enough to have been able to get a few sponsorships to enroll myself to a good university, grabbed a few offers to sustain myself and got a good job in the library a student assistant. At first I thought things will be somewhat bright from there but the worse what yet to come. More problems arise after the tragedy and so the family succumbed to a financial crisis we have never thought of. From that point, it was initiative that pushed me to cut myself from seeking further support from the family I know. Things went bad during my college days as the emotional injury I had started to make me feel the pain, my health started to deteriorate the hospital has been a regular place for me to visit.
One by one my grades started to show the effects of the tremor caused by a defective body. Consequently, I lost my sponsorships and relied merely on student job. During those days, only the books had the interest of talking to me. Socially, I’m out, basically, I can’t. It was survival mode from that time on. I more of became a jack of all trades since then. Learning things bit by bit from the friends I had who can’t speak – books. From astronomy to engineering down to the history books about world wars and their origins I had scoured the library for knowledge I believed were necessary. It was then when the first realization I had came to my wits – technology. Technology is my way out. Economic books tell me the basics about what should I sell most and what should I sell least.
Reading was my basic source of knowledge. Through it I developed skills out from my field of study. In fact, some technologically inclined people considered my knowledge on those fields to be a bit advanced if not above intermediate. From these acquired skills I identified the necessity. From the necessity, I paved my way.
It only took me a Ninoy Aquino bill to materialize what I had in mind. It was a bit childish and actually a happy go lucky activity on the start. The merchandise was an office commodity, and it sold like hot pan-de-sal especially when the added service of home servicing and free delivery or on-sight servicing were introduced. The bill I started with was split to buy the merchandise and to gas up my old Honda C70 Motorcycle to hunt the clients. Yes, I had to hunt them, I don’t have the office for them to go, nor did I have the capacity to advertise in the open for them to know.
The first set of merchandise yield something around eight times it’s value in less than three days. Half of the proceeds had to spent for re-inventory, and the rest for personal necessities – food and that.
That was better than what I was 6 months before I had my venture executed. Back then, I only had a pan-de-sal worth five pesos for the whole day. It would be lucky for me to have a glass of milk for nourishment. This situation lasted for six months. I never thought I had good friends then. Later when they found me, so thin, they scolded me. Asking me why for goodness sake I did not ask for their assistance. It was a personal problem I had, and I had no intention to be a burden anyway, as I reasoned out. I was asked as to how they could help me and I requested only the capital I needed. So comes the motorcycle I had was repaired by one of them through their store for free, and the rest gave clothes, and some cash.
Every time I ran out of stocks, I always make sure that I store up more than the previous stocks I had. After a few months of building up the first venture I had, I had enough capital to buy a few things for my next planned venture – the computer servicing industry. I need tools, and some parts. So goes my budget. Within just a year from the very first day of the venture, the capital I had grew to something that covered a field of business where people might not believe that they can actually have such activity with minimal capital.
These days, people will always think they need a huge amount to have a franchise over something. Or ideas like that. Their thinking revolved only around money. Most people, I may say, don’t actually know how to harness what they have from within, all they know is they want what they have in their pockets to grow, not their self to grow. I can confidently say I grew from within my self – personality wise and more importantly, financially.
From the service related business, I expanded into supplying the equipments and most of the consumables for offices, still even today, my “cash cow” is still my service related business. Three years past, I started offering equipment loans to computer shops, and sometimes, just sometimes – financial loans to friends.
It is now six years from my first venture, and now I was able to by myself a few dirt bikes, some scooters, a couple of computers for home entertainment, a regular income that passively comes to my accounts. I don’t challenge you who read this, I encourage you, to find what is it that you love to do most, and from their, even with the least amount of capital, you can be what you dreamed you can be. I say this, because before, it was only a dream for me to have vehicles of my own, to have my own entertainment systems, and to maintain my apartments.
Now, I don’t have worry as to what to eat tomorrow. What worries me now, is if there are people who will have to go through the financial nightmare I had.
BTW, I do free consultations in my areas for business plans related to technology.
They call me by name, my name is Delirium.
