I was an employee for more than 20 years before I decided to concentrate on my company. Honestly, setting-up and managing a start-up business was a painful experience both emotionally and financially.If you decide to set-up your own business, make sure that you are ready to gamble your money, do not expect immediate returns from it. Never ever expect your start-up business to yield income for you during the first few years of its operations. If you are an employee who is used to receiving fixed and stable flow of salary on a monthly basis, your shift from an employee to an entrepreneur will be the most challenging part of your life, believe me, been there. You must have enough emergency funds that can cover your monthly expenses at-least for one-year or more. You also have to prepare yourself emotionally because you'll encounter so many frustrations along the way.
When I was establishing my business ten years ago, I thought I had everything figured out before I set-up my company. I studied my plans, I worked on my strategies, I made consultation from experts, I drew inspiration from my executive experiences, and yet my first two years of the business was a mess. It was only on my third year when I realized what my mistake was, I hired the wrong employees.
My business was built because I had this burning desire to help poor Filipino families to have a decent life. I want to be an instrument to elevate their current lives so that the cycle of poverty will end at their generation. However, I am not a rich person. I am just a member of the middle class and I do not have enough financial resources to help these families. My solution instead was to establish a company and employ workers from this sector. As the saying goes, give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
The first two years of my company was manned by employees who were not trained to catch a fish. 99% of my employees were college drop-outs, those who were jumping from one job to another, and those who have simple ambitions in life. They simply want food on their table and that's it.
I realized that I was building an empire yet my soldiers were not trained to fight and win battles. Instead, my employees had a mindset similar to a peddler whose goal was just to sell small items and earn just enough to feed them for a day, they are contented with that. They are already satisfied with having a regular job. They just want simple jobs, they do not aim for career advancement. For them, the responsibility of growing the company and fulfilling its business goals is the job of management and not theirs. They see themselves as mere employees, they care about the company but they do not have the right skills and knowledge to help the company grow. I once sought the advice of a friend and he explicitly told me that I should hire quality employees - those with the right education and extensive work experience because these employees are the right people to help me build my empire. He added that I did the opposite, I was helping my employees build their dreams instead of them helping me reach my goals. His analysis was right but deep inside of me I do not agree with him. You see, I built this business not just for profit, but I want this business to be God's vessel to help others by creating job opportunities to those who are in need. If I will follow the hiring strategies of successful companies wherein I am required to be selective with the people that I will hire, I will end up hiring employees who are employable in the first place. Those who are educated and those with experience will continue to rule the job market, while the those who are unemployable will remain unemployable. The cycle will not stop.
So what was my final verdict?
The first two years of my company was manned by employees who were not trained to catch a fish. 99% of my employees were college drop-outs, those who were jumping from one job to another, and those who have simple ambitions in life. They simply want food on their table and that's it.
I realized that I was building an empire yet my soldiers were not trained to fight and win battles. Instead, my employees had a mindset similar to a peddler whose goal was just to sell small items and earn just enough to feed them for a day, they are contented with that. They are already satisfied with having a regular job. They just want simple jobs, they do not aim for career advancement. For them, the responsibility of growing the company and fulfilling its business goals is the job of management and not theirs. They see themselves as mere employees, they care about the company but they do not have the right skills and knowledge to help the company grow. I once sought the advice of a friend and he explicitly told me that I should hire quality employees - those with the right education and extensive work experience because these employees are the right people to help me build my empire. He added that I did the opposite, I was helping my employees build their dreams instead of them helping me reach my goals. His analysis was right but deep inside of me I do not agree with him. You see, I built this business not just for profit, but I want this business to be God's vessel to help others by creating job opportunities to those who are in need. If I will follow the hiring strategies of successful companies wherein I am required to be selective with the people that I will hire, I will end up hiring employees who are employable in the first place. Those who are educated and those with experience will continue to rule the job market, while the those who are unemployable will remain unemployable. The cycle will not stop.
So what was my final verdict?
I followed my heart. My company OneNetworx.Net Inc.was established to enrich the lives of Filipino families by providing them easy access to employment opportunities regardless of their educational attainment or work experiences. One of our social project is called Home-based Employment Program, wherein we are promoting home-based/freelance employment in the Philippines. We are providing additional sources of income to our hard-working Filipino employees, OFWs and SME's by giving them access to our income generating products/services so that they will have other sources of income without leaving their current employments or business. To know more about our HOME-BASED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM, please visit www.onenetworx.net
Yes, hiring the right employees is rule number one. Make sure you hire employees who will help you run and grow the company. But never forget that doing business is not 100% about profit. Of course we must ensure profitability of the company to sustain it operations but always make sure that our business will be an instrument to help others by giving them access to employment opportunities in our organization.
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