Running a small business is tough and growing it can be even tougher. Without the backing of investors and market access, it can feel like a constant battle to make ends meet, let alone trying to expand your own business. Especially in these trying times, we need all the resources we can to survive. But growing your business doesn’t have to be impossible. There are ways that you can level up your business by working smarter and with some careful planning. Here are a couple of tips from powerhouse entrepreneur and Converge CEO and Co-Founder Dennis Anthony Uy.
• Start small, but don’t think small. When starting a business, one usually jumps to looking for investors immediately. While investors are key in the growth of a business, this is not considered a good practice. Remember that businesses aren’t grown overnight. It may take years to grow a business so patience is key. It would be best to start small to create room to scale up. One must understand the business they operate in to create value for their respective target market. Once the business value is created only then will it be noticed by investors. Investors look for potential and that can only be present if a business looks to create a long-term solution for an obvious need. When these are set in place, capital will soon follow. Knowing that a business will not grow in a span of a few days, it is also good to remember why the business was started in the first place. With this, Uy shares another tip on how one’s passion can be translated into the business setting.
• Be passionate about your business. Being passionate about the business is very important since passion will be your main driver throughout all the ups and downs. While a business can be fun and exciting, the work behind executing the business model can be a challenge. To cultivate a passionate mindset, it is essential to continue learning. One must not only learn about the financial and operational aspects of the business but must also learn about how to deal with people involved in the business which can be potential partners and customers.
“While I can’t deny that hard work is essential in growing a business, I think that working smart is even more important. The unique way in which we direct a business to its goal attracts the right people. This unique way of thinking can only be fueled by passion,” added Uy. “Have your passion push you to continue to learn and understand the business you are in because to grow a business, you must not stop growing.“
Passion can be strengthened with a deeper understanding of why a business was created in the first place. While one is usually motivated by money, striving to succeed in business to serve a genuine cause is far more beneficial than that of financial gain. Uy continues to share his final tip on using your business for the benefit of the common good.
• Ground your ideas into action. Conceptualization is the easy part of creating a business. Everyone can think of the perfect solution to a long-standing problem. The challenge is putting these ambitious ideas into action, and grounding an ambitious idea into a scalable and profitable business. Therefore, entrepreneurs shouldn’t stop at the ideation stage but have the foresight to plan the business until the execution stage.
“Entrepreneurs have to put their concepts into action. Having technology concepts are well and good but the execution—how will they go head to head with competitors, how will they take the business to market—that’s key to the survival of the business and the entrepreneur should have this in mind from the start,” Uy said.
• Your business should serve a purpose. Create a business relevant to serving the people because when you are in a position to do good as you have scaled your business, you are then able to use the business for good. One of the most important things investors look for in a business is its impact on society that aids in building the nation. A businessman’s new and fresh ideas should be able to help the different sectors of society in easing their struggles. Investors are on the lookout for businessmen that use their technology to uplift the lives of other people.
“My goal for Converge was to build a digital highway across the whole country that connects the unserved and underserved since I believe that a business should not be self-serving. Filipinos have always been the kind of people who look out for their community such that they are capable of creating new ideas that can offer ease and convenience to the public. These are the kinds of ideas investors would be supportive of,” concluded Uy.
Get more business advice and insight straight from Converge’s Dennis Uy, on CNN‘s The Final Pitch Season 7. Dennis Anthony Uy will be joined by other esteemed investors judges in The Final Pitch such as Bernard Dy, Cauayan City Mayor; Jay Villarante, Chairman and CEO of 8Ventures; Rose Ong, Senior Executive Vice President – COO of Wilcon Depot; and David Almirol, Founder & CEO of Multisys Technologies Corporation.
Hosted by serial entrepreneur John Aguilar, The Final Pitch Season 7 premieres on CNN Philippines starting the 24th of October 2021, every Sunday at 8:30 pm with replays on Tuesday at 8:30 pm and Saturday at 5 pm.
For more information, follow The Final Pitch at www.facebook.com/TheFinalPitchPH.
