The road to financial freedom starts from having enough information to make better decisions and enough inspiration to keep you going. The Wealth Boot Camp does exactly those things. In their second installment, there were fewer speakers (two to be exact), but that did not lessen the takeaways.
The venue was the same—Harolds Hotel. The setup also didn’t vary much from the first boot camp. They served coffee, water, and mints. Foodwise, there was not much to look forward to, but since we weren’t there to eat, that was not a problem.
The first speaker was Mr. Jess Faller Jr., a licensed electrical and computer engineer. His talk was called “Financial Education as the Biggest and Most Powerful Innovation and How You Can Get Ahead.” He talked about the dangers of not being financially educated, which honestly scared me and made me question about my financial future. He discussed the effects of technology and innovation to the market and how it affects the various jobs in certain industries. I have been aware of this phenomenon myself, but I wasn’t really paying attention to it. For example, if you’ve seen the movie Why Him? Zoey Deutch’s father runs a printing business that has been operating for years. However, his business takes a dive because he did not go with the times. He was slowly losing his business because people are opting for paperless invitations instead of printed ones. Here’s another example of how technology can change and affect businesses:
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| Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/reasons-why-we-love-bookstores?utm_term=.osMyrB4wg7#.kt9YJLAGOe |
Engr. Faller’s talk was an eye-opener. We should pay more attention to the changing times and learn how to prepare for what is to come. The job you have today might be paying well, but in five years, maybe you’ll be replaced by a robot. What then?
The next speaker was particularly inspiring to me because of the fact that he was a chemical engineer by profession. Bunny Pages, the owner of famous brands like Thirsty?, Taters, Moon Café, House of Lechon, Lantaw, and others, shared his entrepreneurial secrets and his daily habits.
He was one of the few speakers who are a delight to listen to because of his eloquence. He speaks so well, and his pace and diction were just spot-on. So it surprised me when he said he used to be a bad speaker. He knew he was not that good, so he took classes and practiced. He’s one of those people who discover that if they lack a particular skill they deem important, they take action instead of accepting the fact that they are just “not good enough.” So it’s no wonder he’s so successful.
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| Engr. Pages during his talk. The institutions and brands he owns are flash on the screen. |
Engr. Pages presented a lot of wonderful ideas that we could apply to our lives to become better entrepreneurs. There was one that particularly stuck with me: closing loops. The idea behind this productivity technique is that when something needs to be done, you do it right away. There’s no need to make lists. Within the soonest time possible, the task needs to be started so results show up much faster. This stuck with me for two reasons: (1) I swear by making to-do lists and planners and (2) all the books I’ve read and the videos I watched on productivity recommended making lists. But I see the point of the closed loop technique, though. If something can be done right away, there’s no point in delaying it. I’ll have to adjust my productivity methods soon. (I already scheduled it in my planner. XD)
Another one of Engr. Pages’s productivity habit is reading books and waking up early. He said he wakes up daily at around 5:00 a.m. and reads every day. Personally, I don’t know any successful person who is not a reader. Also, waking up is hard, but it lets you accomplish more than when you wake up late. Energy levels are generally higher in the morning than in the afternoon, so waking up early and having a productive morning routine is a must for people who want to get ahead.
He also talked about stories of how he got to where he is now, but the biggest part of his talk focused on the twelve things he deems the most important to succeed in business:
- A business is given by God.
- The organization has to be a learning organization.
- The purpose of a business is to create more satisfied customers.
- No one can do it alone. Business is a team sport.
- Everything rises or falls on leadership.
- Practice the Blue Ocean strategy.
- Business is a game. Play to win.
- The main job of a leader is to develop and grow more leaders.
- Our best asset is not our people. Our best asset is the right people.
- To grow and sustain success, develop three characters:
a. Ability to solve problems
b. Ability to capitalize on opportunities
c. The Japanese principle of Kaizen
- You can only get the best from your people if they feel you care for them.
- The universe likes speed. [Here, he means not to delay and to do the work and make decisions right away.]
I found Engr. Pages not only to be a really motivational speaker, but also a genuine person. He freely shares his secrets (for free) and is willing to help budding entrepreneurs. In fact, he told us that if we needed any help, we could contact him directly. You can do so too. How? His personal cellphone number is in every Thirsty? cup. So if you want financial and life advice, go buy a smoothie.
It's a Ping Thing 