"Walang Iwanan": The Journey Towards Abundance

Last night, I was able to watch a segment of ABS CBN called “Walang Iwanan”. I was grateful for turning on our Television because I am not really fond of watching T.V.

What’s great about the show was, “Walang Iwanan” featured 10 of the most successful businesspeople in the country. These people were, Nanay Socorro of National Bookstore, Henry Sy of SM, Gokongwei Senior and Jr. , Lucio Tan, Manny Pangilinan of PLDT and SMART, Cecilio Pedro of Lamoyan Industries, The Ayala’s, Ramon Del Rosario, Diokon of RFM and Oscar Lopez of Meralco and ABS CBN.

While learning about their stories of their successes, I was moved into tears of happiness. I even called my husband and told him about it. I told him about it (with a broken voice due to crying), sharing to him the story of those people.

As I said, I am a very emotional person. Anything about for this country really makes feel emotional and yet very happy. I guess what really moved me was when I saw the commitment of these successful people to make a difference in the lives of the Filipinos. The thing is majority of them were self-made millionaires who really started from zero.

The segment featured what they were currently doing to help the country. One thing I observed was that all of them focused on the value of one’s education. Lance Gokongwei said, “Education opens up one’s horizons”. Lucio Tan said he believes education is the best investment and added, “Always learn” while Manny Panglinan believes that “education is the key”.

Another thing that struck me was how they were able to move on despite challenges when they were building their businesses. Nanay Socorro, the owner of National Bookstore, went back to zero three times. First, when she started building her business, second, during the war when the Japanese stopped her from selling anything “American” and third was when her store got burned that time the branch was only in Escolta. She said, those things happen and it should not be a reason to stop. She moved on and started all over again. One thing that I liked was when she said that, “love what you do, when you love what you do, it is no longer hardwork”.

It was not only Nanay Socorro who went into challenges, in fact all of them. Lucio Tan went bankrupt a lot of times when he first started his business. The Lopez’s although came from a wealthy family, they also experienced crisis. They started from zero when their companies where closed down by former President Marcos. They said it was difficult at first to accept failure but they just kept moving on.

Gokongwei, was also born from a wealthy family in Cebu, however when the war happened, everything was taken away from them and the business of his dad went very slow and it was only his relatives who supported him to finish his education. According to him, “war was the greatest equalizer” everyone that time had the opportunity to start all over again. In fact all of them who inherited their wealth, or were born from a rich family like the Ayala's emphasized that coming from a wealthy family was never a reason not to work.

Ramon Del Rosario, owner of PHNMA cement, went to a lot of financial crisis but this did not let him stop moving forward. Their were years that he had lots of breakdowns in the business yet he just went to move on.

What I got from these successful was the courage to keep on moving forward. I realized that despite experiencing a lot of mistakes they were able to stand up again.

When our business went bankrupt and our company went downsized, I remember my mom telling me, “Its part of the business, it means that for this to happen something big is coming.” Indeed, At first, it was so difficult to accept failure especially when the impact was too huge for us to handle because it was the first time that everything was taken from us. I remember one of the greatest transformational leader, Werner Erhard, saying something about handling problems that, “for you to no longer encounter problems in life is for you to keep having them and allow it to occur. As you keep on experiencing more problems, it will no longer occur as a problem to you, but a concern”.

I realized that indeed it’s true for me. Being in business for almost 10 years and having experienced a lot of challenges and crisis as well, I realized that what was for us was nothing of a problem, was a huge problem for people. Years ago we had a transaction in which someone we trusted stole a huge transaction from us. It was a million dollar deal. It came to us that we were bad mouthed by that person we trusted, in fact my whole family trusted. We decided to let it be because there is no point of fighting for it because he was so determined to get us out of the way to the point of creating stories about us to our client. The relationship with him was gone however we have long forgiven him and moved forward.

Then something happened. The transaction he stole from us had a complicated problem. Almost the same problem we had experienced a long time ago, which has to do with land transactions. Last thing we heard, he died. Literally he did. We heard that heart attack was the cause. After learning about it, I really prayed for his peace. He even tried to call me a month before he passed away in which I chose not to pick up because that time we already cut off any relationship with him.

That was the only time I realized that our problems that we consider small may not be small for others. That time, T. Harv came into my mind, “it’s not the size of the problem, it’s the size of you in face of the problem”. I realized that if its too big for the person, it can take away their peace of mind and the ability to face life, to the point of even succumbing to death. I realized that much of business is really the willingness to pay the price.

After learning about how those successful business people were able to continue despite great challenges, I had so much respect for them. It was like really understanding what they went through. I saw their courage and determination. Indeed only few will become really wealthy because now it was shown that these people really paid the price. They “lost face” along the way, went to a financial, political and economic challenges yet they never ever quit. They have continued choosing wealth and success in their life.

One thing that really inspired me was their dedication to solve the problem of this country by contributing to the community. The've helped a lot of people, both parents and children, as Mr. Diokno said, “maraming magagawa kung ang hangarin ay nation building”. They all emphasized giving back to the country and paying it forward.

With this, I saw the future of CreateAbundance2020. I realized that what CreateAbundance2020 has is selfless love. Teaching our fellowmen about financial education for free and giving time to educate people is something most people could not freely and wholeheartedly give. I saw that in the little own way of CreateAbundance2020, the work has already contributed a lot to our country. The small steps being done by CreateAbundance2020 community would definitely create a breakthrough in this country. I truly admire the people in the community for their generosity and commitment towards making a world that works for everyone.

Everyone featured in “Walang Iwanan” emphasized education. It was the formula they believed would make anyone competent in the world today. Indeed it’s true in which I truly agree. Education as what Lucio Tan said, is the greatest investment. What I don’t agree on, is to educate people for them to be in jobs and prepare themselves for employement. I guess, what was probably in their minds was to at least provide people with a source of living and teach them so that later on they will work for their companies. It's then a sure job for these individuals.

However, the rules have changed in the Information Age. Yes, people will have a source of living to survive and but would not be able to experience what it is to be financially free.

One of the intentions why CreateAbundance2020 was created was to teach people to be be financially educated and be in business. Just imagine if people would be in business, the problems of this country would lessen because of the contribution they would make in society just like the work of those successful people featured in “Walang Iwanan”. They have continued solving problems in education and work.

CreateAbundance2020 allows it members to be TEMPORARILY be on a job while building their own business on the side. The stand and commitment was for people to achieve freedom from financial constraints and contribute to the world. To thrive, not to survive. The end is business, not being employed and working for someone else’s dream.

Only 10 successful people were featured. I realized that the commitment of CreateAbundance2020 to create 1,000 multi-millionaires by the year 2020 would truly make a huge difference. What’s great about the work was, it teaches people to be in business while really adding value to their lives.

CreateAbundance2020 comes from the space that everyone can be truly wealthy and make a huge difference by being in business starting from zero. As in, literally zero, as long as the person is willing to learn and is coachable.

I realized that CreateAbundance2020 cannot recommmend traditional businesses because that would not align to their mission. However, that could be a start for people to experience what it is to be in a traditionl business and learn to face challenges. This is what makes the work of the CA2020 unique because it teaches everyone else to be in business and go into a partnership and work with a team and be paid based on performance not be paid based on being present in the office, with or without result. A lot can be achieved with a team.

I could not forget what Oscar Lopez said, that it is important to get good people and making them work as a team. I think this is one of the unique charactersitics of CreateAbundance2020 and that is the emphasis on teamwork, as Manny Pangilinan said, his business will not be like this today if not partnering with other people. He said, “I cannot do it alone.” The chance of a person succeeding is to learn to work in team, which is primarily taught by CA2020.

There’s so much more to do and accomplish for this country. They have done their part and what I got was, the torch has been passed on to each and every one of us, the current generation. They have made use of the opportunity given by the Industrial Age. This is our time to make use of the opportunity in the Information age.

Indeed, during their time, war was the greatest equalizer. I believe that what is happening in the financial world today, which is being predicted to be a global depression; I believe will be the greatest equalizer in the Information Age. Everyone has the opportunity to become wealthy, start his or her own businesses globally and make a difference in the world at a very young age.

The fundamentals will always be present, determination, courage, teamwork and faith in God. Without these and the right financial education, people will continue to survive and not thrive. The key now is, be in business and thrive because in business, each and every one will learn to “fish”, share it to others and contribute to creating abundance in this country and in the world.

I acknowledge ABS-CBN for featuring these important and successful people. I guess, what they featured, only means that not everyone prefers watching what is the current "bad news". I, for one was able to sit and watch “Walang Iwanan” because it did not only inform me about people making a difference. More importantly, it has touched, moved and inspired me and I guess a lot of people who wants to see what is great about this country, to take action. Now.