“Entrepreneurship: Starting an Enterprise. Having an Innovation Mindset”, Chiqui and my latest book, is a work of passion and love – the words, ideas, and frameworks, simply flowed from our hearts and minds, as what we have put together here felt like we were dissecting our own journeys or decoding our own characters in our development as entrepreneurs. We know that most entrepreneurs always hope for their own children to follow their footsteps, whether to take over the business or to create their own; or that many Filipinos work so hard, so they can ensure a good future for their children via the best education they could afford.
With these thoughts in mind, we wrote this entrepreneurship book in the best way we know how – based on our experiences and how we would have wanted to learn entrepreneurship had we been given the chance to study it earlier. We wrote it in the way we would have taught it to our own children, our nephews, and nieces so they can share the learning, the system or the inspiration with their own children. And for the K-12 students and all young aspiring entrepreneurs, we know how hard your parents or guardians have worked for your education, and therefore, we want to make sure you will be inspired and really be able to start a business by just learning from this self-help book.
Back in 2006, Chiqui was going around campuses while I was offering the Marketing Rescue program for entrepreneurs via Entrepreneur Magazine. This went on for a few years. Later, we did Entrep Rescue (and Marketing Rescue) for the Business World broadsheet as well as for different professional organizations. The Entrep Rescue and Marketing Rescue sessions used the Q&A format where questions were emailed ahead of time and we would rearrange them in a logical sequence, complete with frameworks and case studies so entrepreneurs can learn plus gain tools on how to solve their most pressing business issues. Their questions challenged us and inspired us, and so we became co-creators of knowledge.
Seeing the overwhelming need for entrepreneurial education, we launched Day 8 Business Academy for SMEs as a social enterprise in the year 2010. It was the 20th anniversary of our marketing training and consulting outfit, Mansmith and Fielders Inc., and we wanted to reach out to help the small and medium entrepreneurs, comprising 99.5% of all establishments in the Philippines. We also wanted to give micro businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs a knowledge advantage, as most of these micro businesses are women-owned.
In 2011, we launched our first book focusing on entrepreneurs — “The WE Entrepreneur”, encouraging entrepreneurs to be “whole”, hence, WE or “Whole Entrepreneur”. In that book, we shared with our readers the importance of achieving two equal sides of entrepreneurship – 1) Tasks (compelling value proposition, manageable execution, attractive profit, enduring cash flow and exciting vision/mission) as well as 2) Treasures (beloved family, relevant network, good health, meaningful self, relationship with God). We wrote about our own entrepreneurial journey where we needed to overcome challenges balancing family with work, since for entrepreneurs, business is always entwined with the personal or family life. We emphasized in that book, that in building both business and family, one should not confuse tasks as treasures, or make one more important than the other.
Later, Chiqui launched her own entrepreneurship book in 2012, “Small Store Marketing”, which was dedicated to help over a million small store owners in the Philippines differentiate their value proposition.
All these experiences in helping, guiding and working with entrepreneurs for more than 10 years, have given us invaluable insights about their educational needs and learning curves. When asked about what they do not like about entrepreneurial education in the Philippines or why they don’t invest in learning, five pain points came out — they did not want to educate themselves in a manner that was too long, too expensive, too rigid, too academic, and too upscale.
This book aims to satisfy these pain points with practical frameworks, tools, Q&A, and case examples, in order to make learning quick, low cost, practical, applicable and reachable.
We would like to cite that the Go Negosyo Movement, under Presidential Adviser Joey Concepcion, popularized the 3Ms of entrepreneurship, which was later expanded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), under Secretary Ramon Lopez with their own 7Ms. In this book, we attempted to complete the entrepreneurial journey of Go Negosyo and DTI with 12Ms under the 4-Gate Framework, based on our many years of mentoring entrepreneurs who are successful, as well as those who approached us for mentoring or help with their failing enterprises.
It is our hope that this book will make a big difference for many Filipinos, so they are encouraged to be entrepreneurs and not be employees forever; so they can stay home and earn dollars as exporters and not just as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) separated from their families; and so hardworking Filipinos will achieve their dreams of prosperity and move our country forward and help fellow Filipinos reach higher goals – for their children and the next generations of Filipinos.
Come and join us on July 12 (Thursday), 6:30pm in National Book Store Shangri-La Mall. We look forward to meeting you personally in this special night where we would be sharing insights as well as an opportunity to network with 400 entrepreneurs and executives. Please come early as we are excited to introduce to you the 4 GATES TO PROSPERITY.
Josiah Go and Chiqui Escareal-Go
P.S. The Php 500 retail price for a 359-page bookprint is a steal. It comes with a 10% discount for purchase of 5 copies or more, a great gift idea. The discount is applicable only on July 12, 2018, 6:30-8:30 pm at the launch venue. My staff will be using a number system so you don’t have to fall in line in case you want your book autographed. Instead, you can take some free snacks and do networking while waiting for your turn to be called. Please RSVP to Jen through info@day8.org if you are coming, and if you do not mind, for our inventory planning, how many copies you would like to reserve. As in all our previous books, net proceeds will go to charity.
