Last Saturday, we held the second Regional Retail Conference of the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) Cebu Chapter at the Park Lane Hotel. Our key note speaker was the owner of Toby’s Sports and Hobbies, Mr. Roberto Claudio. I would like to share his story which he recounted to us during the conference.
Mr. Claudio or “Bobby” is the founder of Toby’s, which was named after his son. He used to occupy a management position at Philippine Refining Company, the predecessor of Unilever. He was also a very active member of the Manila Jaycees. In 1977, Manila was to be the host of the Jaycees World Conference and Bobby was a active member of the international promotions team. He was given the opportunity to travel all over the world free to promote the conference, unfortunately and eventually at the expense of his job. Faced with an ultimatum, he resigned his job to continue to promote the Jaycees. He told us, “Without a job, I now began my career as an entrepreneur.”
Bobby opened his first store named , “Toby’s Forms and Shapes” in a 27 sq. m. space at the newly constructed Virra Mall in Greenhills. When he was asked what the name meant, he replied, “So it could take any form or any shape, I did not know what I was doing then.” He had a chance to buy 12 boxes of toys from Zamboanga which became his first inventory. The store became the office, and warehouse at the same time. He said,” We opened our first store in 1978, our total sales for the first three months was Php3,000, not a good sign for a lasting legacy.”
He continued, “ a few months after opening, Greenhills Shopping Center announced that it was bringing in Mickey Mouse characters for the first time in the Philippines. I told them that I could make shirts, caps, apparels, etc but I was told that I could not do that since there were already licensees in the Philippines.” Undaunted he went back and negotiated a exclusive merchandising deal with Greenhills Management forcing all licensees to deal with him. It was a huge success. Turning initial forecast of 1,000 pieces to runaway sales of 50,000 pieces up to December. He told me, “This gave us the financial resources to get us started.”
“After Christmas, the toy business took a dive.”, he recounted, “we could not survive because we were relying solely on the Mickey Mouse promo which had already ended.” They were able to survive by identifying and capitalizing on the skateboard craze that was beginning to be popular. They launched the first skateboard competition in the Philippines.
But what really put Toby’s on the map was when they brought in the first electronic racquet stringing machine in the Philippines. Bobby added, “my brother and me would be manning the stringing machine ourselves, for me, it was a strong message of our hands on management. In 1980, we successfully introduced darts, which strengthened our position in the sports retailing market.”
Today, Toby’s is recognized as one of the “Philippines Greatest Brands.” It has won awards for being “Outstanding Filipino Retailer in the medium category “ from the Philippine Retailers Association. It has also been named as “15 best homegrown franchises” by Entrepreneur Magazine. Toby’s has 33 stores of which 17 are franchises.
Bobby encourages people by saying, “ We did not start with something big, we had very little capital and was unsure of our direction in a highly competitive environment. But we forged on.” He concluded, “Retailing is selling a service, the products we sell is only incidental to our business….therefore our role is to serve.”
Business in any form and in any shape, Toby’s has shown us that the road to fitness begins from the heart. Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.
For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me atstirspecialist@gmail.com
Love What You Do
I receive a lot of emails from people asking me on advice on how to start a business. A lot of emails usually start off with the phrase, “ I have Php50,000.00 , what business can I go into?” or “Help me, I want to go into business, what do you think I should do?” I usually answer, “tell me about yourself….” Very few do.
Until I got this particular email from a woman named Yvette who actually did. She told me about how much she enjoyed reading about one of my columns entitled, “The Concept of Enjoyment”. Yvette was a career woman, who wanted to quit to do something she enjoyed, something she loves to do. So a lot of our email exchanges focused on how do we make a business of something she loves to do.
I want to share with you a very powerful message on making a business of something that you love to do. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was asked to give the 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University. Steve Jobs began his speech with a very interesting revelation, “I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.” Please allow me to share some excerpts from it with you.
On starting Apple, “I was lucky — I
found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was
very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.”
On starting over, Steve added, “I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company n
amed Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way t
o be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.”
Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.
For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me atstirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit http://www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com/ .
Until I got this particular email from a woman named Yvette who actually did. She told me about how much she enjoyed reading about one of my columns entitled, “The Concept of Enjoyment”. Yvette was a career woman, who wanted to quit to do something she enjoyed, something she loves to do. So a lot of our email exchanges focused on how do we make a business of something she loves to do.
I want to share with you a very powerful message on making a business of something that you love to do. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was asked to give the 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University. Steve Jobs began his speech with a very interesting revelation, “I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.” Please allow me to share some excerpts from it with you.
On starting Apple, “I was lucky — I
found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was
very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.”On starting over, Steve added, “I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company n
amed Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way t
o be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.”Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.
For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me atstirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit http://www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com/ .
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Pare Oca
Last Wednesday, I flew into Manila to attend a lunch meeting with my partners for 
Eye Pad. We will be opening Eye Pad vision clinic, a hip and modern optical clinic geared towards the young and young at heart, at The Walk, formerly known as The Village, located at the I.T. Park, Lahug Cebu. We were having lunch at the Quezon City Club when a man got up from the next table. As he walked by, I recognized the man to be TV host Oscar “Oca” Orbos of Mare and Pare fame. As he walked by me, old memories flashed thru my mind.
Some time ago, when I was still studying Political Science at the University of the Philippines in Cebu, I had a chance to work with Oca. He was then the Executive Secretary of President Corazon Aquino, this after a successful stint as transportation secretary and congressman. I was then the Visayas Vice Chairman of the Presidential Council for Youth Affairs and he was my boss. I remember meeting him a couple of times and then he resigned. We ended up reporting to the new Executive Secretary Franklin Drilon.
What made him stand out in my mind was meeting him again a couple of months later. He was then in a reflective mood, barnstorming the country, feeling the pulse on whether or not to make a run for the Presidency. I was asked to help firm up the youth and I readily threw in my support. I have never really had occasion to talk to him when suddenly, during dinner one time, he suddenly turned to me and said, “ you know Chris, all my life I have wanted to reach the top of the mountain. I have been up there and now I am back at the valley,” he continued, “ but let me tell you this, I have been to the top and am now at the bottom, there is nothing up there and nothing down here if you don’t have it in here….” He finished, pointing at his heart. After which he turned around and resumed eating.
It’s funny that the next time I have a conversation with him is more than 15 years later, beside a dinner table again. I got up and went after him, I asked him if he remembered me, and added his mountain and valley anecdote to help him out. His eyes sparkled, and he chuckled. I think he remembered the anecdote but not me. A few minutes later, he again shocked me like before when he thrust a folded piece of napkin in my hand. He said, “call me or send me a text.” I glanced at the napkin and written on it, was his personal mobile phone number and his name.
Albert Einstein once said, “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” Our society today has a very materialistic view of success. It actually tries to tag a materialistic value to it. Shouldn’t we define success by how much value we contribute to others and to society? We may never know if Oca would have been a good or even a great president, but we do know that thru his endless debates with “mare” , pare Oca is contributing value to us as a people and a society.
Wikipedia, today’s online version of our humble encyclopedia had this to say about the TV public affairs show, Debate with Mare and Pare: “ The program has been awarded by the Philippine Movie Press Club as best public affairs program and best talk show by the Catholic Mass Media Awards. Debate is the first of its kind in the country, combining information and entertainment in discussing various issues. The hosts act as moderators of the debate.”
“Debate pioneered the use of highly computerized televoting system, wherein televiewers cast their votes on the featured issue. These include SMS, internet voting, and telephone voting. From 1998 to 2000, pagers were used when SMS were not yet in the market. The program is confrontational, bold, fiery, spontaneous, and highly opinionated. Not only that, it has become a venue for people to reach out and even confront Philippine officials. It has also become an important tool in policy making decision of Philippine leaders.”
Yes Pare Oca, your words then are just as true now, in whatever we do, we have to be sure that whatever we do, we are doing it from the heart. Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.
For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me atstirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit http://www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com/ .
Eye Pad. We will be opening Eye Pad vision clinic, a hip and modern optical clinic geared towards the young and young at heart, at The Walk, formerly known as The Village, located at the I.T. Park, Lahug Cebu. We were having lunch at the Quezon City Club when a man got up from the next table. As he walked by, I recognized the man to be TV host Oscar “Oca” Orbos of Mare and Pare fame. As he walked by me, old memories flashed thru my mind.Some time ago, when I was still studying Political Science at the University of the Philippines in Cebu, I had a chance to work with Oca. He was then the Executive Secretary of President Corazon Aquino, this after a successful stint as transportation secretary and congressman. I was then the Visayas Vice Chairman of the Presidential Council for Youth Affairs and he was my boss. I remember meeting him a couple of times and then he resigned. We ended up reporting to the new Executive Secretary Franklin Drilon.
What made him stand out in my mind was meeting him again a couple of months later. He was then in a reflective mood, barnstorming the country, feeling the pulse on whether or not to make a run for the Presidency. I was asked to help firm up the youth and I readily threw in my support. I have never really had occasion to talk to him when suddenly, during dinner one time, he suddenly turned to me and said, “ you know Chris, all my life I have wanted to reach the top of the mountain. I have been up there and now I am back at the valley,” he continued, “ but let me tell you this, I have been to the top and am now at the bottom, there is nothing up there and nothing down here if you don’t have it in here….” He finished, pointing at his heart. After which he turned around and resumed eating.
It’s funny that the next time I have a conversation with him is more than 15 years later, beside a dinner table again. I got up and went after him, I asked him if he remembered me, and added his mountain and valley anecdote to help him out. His eyes sparkled, and he chuckled. I think he remembered the anecdote but not me. A few minutes later, he again shocked me like before when he thrust a folded piece of napkin in my hand. He said, “call me or send me a text.” I glanced at the napkin and written on it, was his personal mobile phone number and his name.
Albert Einstein once said, “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” Our society today has a very materialistic view of success. It actually tries to tag a materialistic value to it. Shouldn’t we define success by how much value we contribute to others and to society? We may never know if Oca would have been a good or even a great president, but we do know that thru his endless debates with “mare” , pare Oca is contributing value to us as a people and a society.
Wikipedia, today’s online version of our humble encyclopedia had this to say about the TV public affairs show, Debate with Mare and Pare: “ The program has been awarded by the Philippine Movie Press Club as best public affairs program and best talk show by the Catholic Mass Media Awards. Debate is the first of its kind in the country, combining information and entertainment in discussing various issues. The hosts act as moderators of the debate.”“Debate pioneered the use of highly computerized televoting system, wherein televiewers cast their votes on the featured issue. These include SMS, internet voting, and telephone voting. From 1998 to 2000, pagers were used when SMS were not yet in the market. The program is confrontational, bold, fiery, spontaneous, and highly opinionated. Not only that, it has become a venue for people to reach out and even confront Philippine officials. It has also become an important tool in policy making decision of Philippine leaders.”
Yes Pare Oca, your words then are just as true now, in whatever we do, we have to be sure that whatever we do, we are doing it from the heart. Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.
For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me atstirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit http://www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com/ .
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Mall of Dreams
I have been spending more and more time at the SM Northwing recently as we are about to open our new CROCS outlet this weekend. The Northw
ing never ceases to amaze me with its size, choices or ambience, it is definitely world class and has given a lot of pride to Cebu.
Some of the shops that recently opened are firsts for Cebu. The new Cyberzone for example boasts of the first Dell Computers concept store, which is the first of its kind in the Philippines. Add this to the recently opened Sony Ericsson, Lenovo, and Asus concept stores, it makes shopping for tech, tech friendly. For gamers out there, the first World Cyber Games is scheduled to be held here this month, on the 28th.
Other new concepts for Cebu that are open or just opened are Crumpler and Kipling Bags, Hot Pink Lingerie, Cambio and People are People boutiques. For beauty, there’s Elianto from Korea and The Natural Source from Australia. Soon to open are IORA Ladies fashion from Singapore, Terranova Boutique from Italy as well as Fox and Aldo footwear. For outdoor types, North Face and Columbia as well as Sledgers are opening their concept stores soon. Newly opened restaurants include Tempura, Flavors of China, Breadtalk, Crazy Crepes, Starbucks and the much anticipated Lamesa Grill.
But the biggest coup that SM Northwing pulled off is the opening in July of the more than 2000 sq. m. Duty Free Philippines outlet that will turn SM the must see place for our OFWs and Balikbayans. Add the Duty Free outlet with Kultura, Our Home and SM Appliance, you can literally buy everything you need to make visit back to the Philippines memorable to them and their loved ones.
There is just so much to see and do. SM has really hit the ball out of the ballpark with the Northwing. Would you believe that there is live piano music from a Baby Grand every lunch and dinner at the Atrium. The Atrium lobby itself is very lavish and grand featuring an area of 1,300 sq. m. and two uniquely designed opposite stages. Some of the acts that have already performed here are Sitti, Gary Valenciano, America, Sofia, Gruppo Tribale, and recently Richard Poon. It has also been used to launch the coffee table book, Cebu, Pride of Place. Fashion shows have also become common place featuring the many tenants as well as the Fashion Council of Cebu.
SM also really outdid themselves in providing for the convenience of its shoppers with the recent opening of its 3 level covered parking and roofdeck. There is even a driver’s lounge at the third level, as well as multiple elevators to serve the shoppers,
The retail scene in Cebu was forever changed when SM City Cebu first opened its doors in 1993, SM did it again with the opening of the Northwing. It somehow reminds me of a line from the movie “Field of Dreams” starring Kevin Costner, “Build it and they will come”. Who would have predicted then that a humble shoe store in 1958, (hence the name Shoemart) would go on to become the largest mall operator in Asia. It is a inspiring story of what can be possible if you dream high enough and work hard enough.
When Henry Sy Sr. was asked why he decided to open a shoe store then, he replied, ““I thought that if I sold a pair of shoes to every Filipino, I would be a successful man” It is a tribute to his vision and hard work that SM malls are now part of the lifestyle of every Filipino. We not only buy shoes from SM but literally everything now, causing the latter to proclaim proudly, “We’ve got it all for you.”
Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.
For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me atstirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit http://www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com/
ing never ceases to amaze me with its size, choices or ambience, it is definitely world class and has given a lot of pride to Cebu.Some of the shops that recently opened are firsts for Cebu. The new Cyberzone for example boasts of the first Dell Computers concept store, which is the first of its kind in the Philippines. Add this to the recently opened Sony Ericsson, Lenovo, and Asus concept stores, it makes shopping for tech, tech friendly. For gamers out there, the first World Cyber Games is scheduled to be held here this month, on the 28th.
Other new concepts for Cebu that are open or just opened are Crumpler and Kipling Bags, Hot Pink Lingerie, Cambio and People are People boutiques. For beauty, there’s Elianto from Korea and The Natural Source from Australia. Soon to open are IORA Ladies fashion from Singapore, Terranova Boutique from Italy as well as Fox and Aldo footwear. For outdoor types, North Face and Columbia as well as Sledgers are opening their concept stores soon. Newly opened restaurants include Tempura, Flavors of China, Breadtalk, Crazy Crepes, Starbucks and the much anticipated Lamesa Grill.
But the biggest coup that SM Northwing pulled off is the opening in July of the more than 2000 sq. m. Duty Free Philippines outlet that will turn SM the must see place for our OFWs and Balikbayans. Add the Duty Free outlet with Kultura, Our Home and SM Appliance, you can literally buy everything you need to make visit back to the Philippines memorable to them and their loved ones.
There is just so much to see and do. SM has really hit the ball out of the ballpark with the Northwing. Would you believe that there is live piano music from a Baby Grand every lunch and dinner at the Atrium. The Atrium lobby itself is very lavish and grand featuring an area of 1,300 sq. m. and two uniquely designed opposite stages. Some of the acts that have already performed here are Sitti, Gary Valenciano, America, Sofia, Gruppo Tribale, and recently Richard Poon. It has also been used to launch the coffee table book, Cebu, Pride of Place. Fashion shows have also become common place featuring the many tenants as well as the Fashion Council of Cebu.
SM also really outdid themselves in providing for the convenience of its shoppers with the recent opening of its 3 level covered parking and roofdeck. There is even a driver’s lounge at the third level, as well as multiple elevators to serve the shoppers,
The retail scene in Cebu was forever changed when SM City Cebu first opened its doors in 1993, SM did it again with the opening of the Northwing. It somehow reminds me of a line from the movie “Field of Dreams” starring Kevin Costner, “Build it and they will come”. Who would have predicted then that a humble shoe store in 1958, (hence the name Shoemart) would go on to become the largest mall operator in Asia. It is a inspiring story of what can be possible if you dream high enough and work hard enough.
When Henry Sy Sr. was asked why he decided to open a shoe store then, he replied, ““I thought that if I sold a pair of shoes to every Filipino, I would be a successful man” It is a tribute to his vision and hard work that SM malls are now part of the lifestyle of every Filipino. We not only buy shoes from SM but literally everything now, causing the latter to proclaim proudly, “We’ve got it all for you.”
Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, lets all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.
For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me atstirspecialist@gmail.com , or visit http://www.stirspecialist.blogspot.com/
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