Challenges and Strategies That Lead To Success

 

Learning about people’s struggles until they have reached their goals has never ceased to amaze me. I feel that everything is truly possible when one perseveres. It is one reason why I always would like to share their story so that people who may be losing hope can still hang in there and just work hard to finally be where they want to be.

Let me share with you the challenges that confronted the family of Billy & Gigi Dionisio in 1990. They lived their lives pretty much like every Juan. Just like other struggling couples in their mid-30s, they were making both ends meet. The couple was then working with one bank.

In 2000, the bank where the couple worked was acquired by another bank. The couple almost found themselves out of jobs. However, Billy was retained by the new bank while Gigi decided to avail an early retirement. She then began a trading business of ceramic wares.

With marginal retirement pay received by Gigi, they put up a display store in their house. The following years witnessed the couple’s indomitable spirit. Their resilience of working together as real-life partners in business was indeed tested. While the business was striving, Billy continued working as a bank employee to sustain the family’s needs.

As years passed, the couple realized the need to diversify. They ventured into getting franchise brands of Potato Corner, Quickly & Bibingkinitan. At present, they have 5 thriving food cart outlets in Sta. Rosa and Cabuyao, all in Laguna.

This is actually a great move that the couple made. To venture into different businesses is a real risk. But the trouble is lessened when you choose the right business to risk your money. Food stalls are perfect business startups because food is essential and practical, particularly those busy cooking when they get home or how Filipinos bond with their friends. You can never go wrong in a food cart business for as long as you know the buying capacity of consumers in the area, type of food, and being at the right location.

Meantime, Billy’s own work retirement neared. The couple again thought of embarking on another type of business they believe is worth putting up these days. In 2018, the idea of a health and wellness spa came to mind since both husband and wife are fond of massage services.

Thus, Gintong Bukal was born. The name was coined with a spiritual place in Tagaytay, where the couple visited. It means golden spring, which symbolizes hope, health, wellness, and wealth.

Their older son, Jude Emmanuel Dionisio, injected his own touch of class into the designs and features of this sparkling spa in the heart of Biñan City, just a few meters away from the South Woods Exit of SLEX (South Luzon Expressway). This is what is good about running a family business. Children get to have their voices heard. Particularly now that consumers prefer to have various options. Which is not just limited to the location or the kind of service, but most importantly, the welcoming ambiance, making customers more relaxed.

Growing demand from their customers began to pour in. Most of their patrons come from different parts of Laguna and Batangas. And with that, the couple started to look into franchising Gintong Bukal to expand their business. How incredible was the journey that these couples had to go through? As they begin to embark on another chapter in their lives! A perfect example of how one can change the course of their life. From employees to franchisees and now as franchisors.

And just how their faith’s name of their spa business kept them hopeful and now can enjoy the abundance of such great blessings!

Invaluable Lessons Learned

Being brought up as a Catholic, I believe that God will never give you across that you can’t carry. Difficulties in life are unavoidable; thus, I try to see every challenge as a means of strengthening my faith. But of course, being human, we also need to do something and not just pray for a miracle to happen.

Just like the blessed couple, Billy and Gigi, their strong faith, along with their dedication and commitment to make a massive change in their lives, was not done overnight. It took them years to know their way out of the hole and finally reached a point wherein they never expected it to succeed.

Starting a business is challenging, and it does not stop there. To sustain a business is even more difficult. However, when the husband and wife are working together, sharing the same vision, it is not as hard because they got each other’s back. There should be no room for finding fault with each other. Lest they need to empower themselves with the proper knowledge and skills so that their plans will materialize the way they want them to be.

Despite being successful with their businesses, it is still possible that specific challenges will come along the way. But, with their years of experience and a better understanding of how to run the business, these bumps every now and then do not shake their faith. Success is never impossible to those who believe in their capabilities and have the right mindset. The success that any entrepreneur may be enjoying must never get into their heads. Keeping their feet steady on the ground is what will keep them even more successful.

If you were placed in the same situation as our power couple, what steps could you have made? Will you have chosen the same path as they did?

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You may contact Armando “Butz” Bartolome for questions and more information.  

Email:  [email protected]

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Website: https://www.butzbartolome.com