Not everyone who has the capital to start a business has the required skills in managing people, that is why no matter how his product his, the entrepreneur still fails in his business venture.

Here’s one business forum where the entrepreneur can learn people management and how it can help his business.

This is the 18th Kapihang Entrepinoy with the theme “PEOPLE MANAGEMENT: Growing Business with Passion to SUCCEED” which will be held on April 24, 2010 at the Philippine Women’s University(PWU) Taft, Manila.

Registration fee for this business forum is P350, inclusive of snacks, forum kit and certificates. Registration starts at 8:00 a.m.

This business forum is organized by the Center for Small Entrepreneurs (CSE). For more details call telephone nos. (02) 524-1879 or 523-9766 or text nos. 09203681774 or 09228681665 and look for Janice.

Learn more on the People Management Systems and Procedures for Micro-Entrepreneurs from SSS, Philhealth and NWPC.

A must for every entrepreneur!

CSE is the organization behind the formation of Ka-Entrep, a group of Filipino entrepreneurs joining hands to help each other.

I am a member of the Ka-Entrep organization.

Calling all entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs!

The Center for Small Entrepreneurs (CSE) will be starting with their 31st batch of CHARACTER FORMATION seminar. A series of workshop seminar wherein one would learn the discipline required from an entrepreneur, and how the entrepreneur can help, no matter how small he is, in the country’s economy.

Details of the workshop:
Date: October 29, 2009 (and every Thursday, thereafter)
Time: 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM
PLACE: ASI Building, 1518 Leon Guinto corner Escoda St., Malate, Manila

Seminar fee is only P200 which includes a subscription to the CSE EntrePinoy newsletter.

Interested individuals may call telephone Nos.: (02) 525-6268/524-1879; or text 0915-3281717 / 0928-743-5054 for more information.

You can also fill up the online contact form here.

This is one of the seminars that MUST be undertaken by an aspiring entrepreneur (even established ones) because it will help you learn a lot of things like the difference of being in business and being just self-employed, and it will shape to become an entrepreneur of great character.

Graduates of this seminar will automatically become a member of Ka-Entrep, a dynamic group of entrepreneurs all-over the Philippines. Get leverage through networking, reach you suppliers faster and find potential partners and customers.

So join the Ka-Entrep entrepreneurial challenge now!

You got nothing to lose and everything to gain!

“Enterepreneur of great character“ I was awarded that title in October of 2007 together with five of my classmates after finishing 10 Ka-Entrep Sessions sponsored by the Center for Small Entrepreneurs (CSE). The title was awarded because we have done such a simple and natural act – we completed the ten twice-a-month sessions and we were never late in any of those sessions. And I, coming all the way from Angeles City, was almost always the earliest to arrive at the session’s place which was in Manila.

Is this blog post about me bragging about that title? No! Definitely not. It is to emphasize the fact that as an entrepreneur, one should always have respect for others. And being early or at least on time is one way of showing your respect for other people. It shows that you value their time, in as much as you expect them to value yours.

Unfortunately it has become the habit, nay! the norm in fact, for most Filipino to have a ‘dramatic entrance’ on any meeting, sessions, gatherings and/or appointment. It is accepted, and in fact expected, that most people actually adjust their time expecting the person they have an appointment with to come late. Sad.

But there are others who still respect and value time, this author being one of them. It is something that is second nature to me, to be at the meeting place ahead of time. Even if I’m aware that the other person would be late, I follow my own clock, I have my own schedule.

Perhaps, if we always come on time, and always insist panctuality from others – maybe soon there’ll be no more delayed projects and meetings because of unnecessary tardiness.

Perhaps, there will be more “Entrepreneurs of great character!“

What could be the difference between the two?

A lot!

I myself could not believe it until it was proven by our facilitator during our Ka-Entrep sessions in 2007 at CSE. Our seminar facilitator asked us one by one, and all the while we thought we were in business, but as it turned out most were just self-employed, we really don’t have a business but just a job at home.

“So what is your business?” The facilitator asked, “I do homemade salad dressings, the feedback I’m getting are good. In fact, I get lots of orders. I can say business is really good” replied the participant.

“You make the salad dressings yourself?” the facilitator continued. “Yes, ma’m!” was the the quick reply “it’s my own formula, my secret recipe.”

“So I take it that you won’t entrust your secret formula to anybody else, so only you must work to do your salad dressings, right?”

“I make personalized items – mugs, plates, t-shirts, keychains, even personalized chocolate bars” when it was my turn.

“Do you have anybody helping you?”

“No ma’m, I do all the work myself.”

She then said “since you’re doing all the work yourself, and you are here attending to this seminar, it only means that there is no production happening in your business now?”

“Yes ma’m, but I have no pending orders anyway”

“aaahhhh, so you have no pending orders right now. I presume you also do the marketing and promotion of your business right?”

Most participants almost have the same flow of discussions. It was then that the difference was made clear to us.

If your business can’t run without you, if your items can’t be produced by someone else, if you’re doing all the work from ordering, purchasing, marketing, production, selling and so on and so forth… then you’re not really an entrepreneur! You don’t have a business!

You just have a job at home.

What if you got sick? Or you have to attend to important matters, like this seminar for example, then your business is put on hold. Business should not be like that! An entrepreneur does not always have to be around for his business to function.

A good quality of an entrepreneur is that he can multiply himself… master the art of delegation, learn how to set specific steps and standards so you can entrust them to somebody and still get the same result as if he did them himself. That is what an entrepreneur is. Only then can he say that he have a business and not just a job at home.

Maybe at the start, it is just home-based work, not yet a real business. With lack of capital, experience and all. It’s understandable, but it should not stay that way. Remember and learn how to apply these three word… leveraging, networking and delegating. And elevate your self-employment status to that of a full-pledged entrepreneur.