Where ladrones sharks lurk

It was a pleasant evening with friends just rambling and joking around the barbecue pit. I was introduced to new friends one of whom was a former businessman from China. He was slow on alcohol, even chaser. He became an instant study.

I tried to press our acquaintance but he wasn’t forthcoming. I figure he too was studying me. But I kept trying. I waited until his third beer. By now, I was sure he’d open up. He did and so we started throwing barbs and laughs at anything that was said.

“I was businessman before. Dis local guy, he took my money and he never come back. Even de Amelican guy he took my money and he never come back. Evelybody said dey helping me. But evelybody lied to me,” he related. As he stated his bad experiences, I was taken aback by the callous manner with which he was taken advantage of because of language barrier.

So embarrassed, I quietly offered: “I’ll help you where I can just to wipe-off your bad experiences. But please watch your whereabouts in the sea of hybrid con-artists. Our water is infested with vicious sharks too”. It was time to listen to his views and obvious strength in peddling his products. He was a good man and a lot of what he said gave me my real lessons in “Sales 101-A”.

I learned that before you venture into any business, you first set your goals and objectives, planning, organization, market research, implementation, risks reduction, performance evaluation, refinement, etc. You then set out on your first step. Don’t push for windfall profits. But get something even if it means marginal profits. The point is: Move your inventory! Keeping lots of inventory may satisfy your eyes, but far removed from the actual purpose of doing business–making money!

I went home dazed by his simple explanation. But how true his words as I looked around for items people buy in Korean stores. There’s the mini-gas stove that sells for $7-12. Most people I know have it for ready use at their exterior kitchen or car trunks when they head to the beach. It’s one item that flies so quickly. It guarantees any family a decent meal during inclement weather. Korean businessmen have met this very need in no time. I was rather impressed by their ultra-sense of proactivity in outselling most other businesses here. Is there a secret to their resiliency? Yes. A daily grind of 18-hour work days while we] do our daily weight lifting with beer cans.

As my new friend was about to leave, I felt a sense of embarrassment for his being victimized by local and stateside filthy sharks. I never knew that sharks also live on land devouring unsuspecting people who work hard for their dues and end up being robbed of their money. Gees! Did Magellan have stateside descendants, too?
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The governor’s press secretary’s recent ramblings missed the point altogether: It was former Governor Froilan C. Tenorio who took an aggressive and proactive role in defense of our rights to self-government. He may be a little rough on the edges, but it doesn’t change the fact that he was proactive in defense of our freedom however the only group of US Citizens who are not represented in the most powerful chambers on earth.

Imagine if he never took the first step to slamming the brakes on George Miller’s capricous scheme to reduce the economic foundation of this American Archipelago to instant abject poverty. You and I would be selling pencils in traffic intersections to feed our kids. In fact, most indigenous US Citizens would lose their jobs in both sectors while detractors relish the moment of victory in their successful bid to “Kill Jose so that George can live”. We’ve also spent over $10 million in local taxpayers money to fund the knee-jerk performance of our glorified Washington Office. Well, it’s a dual taxpayers question that has shifted from “For What?” to
“Now What?”