Today's Issue
- Editor's Take: Betting Your Life
- Wanted: Finance Assistant
- The SME Poll
- Events: Profiting Big in Microfinance Business (Wednesday 14 May); Mastering Marketing and Competitive Intelligence (Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15); 12th ICT Professionals' Congress (Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 May); Corporate Image Enhancement Series: Business and Social Protocol (Friday 16 May); Property Fair (Friday 16 and Saturday 17 May); Basic Investments and Analysis of the Financial Markets (Friday 16, Monday 19, and Friday 23 of May); Introduction to Culinary Entrepreneurship (Saturday 17 May); e-Commerce for SMEs (Monday 19 to Wednesday 21 May); Social Networking and eBusiness Conference Philippines 2008 (Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 May); 19th SME Toolkit Road Show (Thursday 22 May); Putting Your Business Online (Thursday 22 May); Product Costing and Pricing (Thursday 22 May); IT EXPO '08 (Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 May); JobQuest.ph Career & Employment Expo (Friday 23 and Saturday 24 May); Zamboanga Hermosa Festival (Friday 23 to Sunday 25 May); and Sports Central (Friday 23 to Sunday 25 May)
- Tax Calendar
- SME Technology Summit 2008 Primer
SME Poll
Will SMEs manage to pull-through if the proposed Php60-Php150 wage hike is approved?
To vote, click here!
We Want You!
PDB-SME Solutions Incorporated is looking for someone who can join our team as a Finance Assistant. Applicants must be:
- An Accounting Graduate; it is an advantage
- Should be tech-savvy, knowledgeable in any accounting software
- Has excellent oral and written communication skills
- Fresh graduates are welcome to apply
To apply, send résumé to info@sme.com.ph
Tax Calendar
Thursday 15 May- e-Filing/Filing and e-Payment/Payment of 1600 together with the Monthly Alphalist of Payees (MAP) for 1702 and 1702 AIF together with the Summary Alphalist of Withholding Agents of Income Payments Subjected to Withholding Tax (SAWT) – L,SNL & NL Taxpayers for the FY ending Jan. 31, 2008
Source: Bureau of Internal RevenueSME Technology Summit 2008
On August 6-7, 2008, SME.com.ph in cooperation with Planters Development Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), present the 'SME Technology Summit 2008'. The event is a gathering of small and medium enterprises designed to promote the use of technology, the Internet and mobile, as an enabling tool to market goods and services of Philippine SMEs to the global marketplace.
Learn powerful Internet marketing, advertising campaign strategies, Web-based financial and business solutions, and network with the who's who in the Forum’s SME community as well as expand to new markets and be globally competitive.
For more information, keep posted via SME.com.ph and BIZSTER.com.ph
Editor's Take
According to a number of people who decided to go into business fulltime, they did so because they dearly wanted to take charge of their lives plus have more time on their hands for meaningful pursuits such as: raising a family, getting higher education, artistic pursuits or doing community work. Could there be better reasons to put up an independent business than that?
Now, building and running your own business is often easier said than done. Starting a company takes longer hours than when you were plodding the regular eight to five as an employee. As seasoned entrepreneurs already know, the business doesn’t run itself and the next three to five years—if you manage to stick it out that long—are often the toughest.
Before you decide to plunge into an important endeavor like putting up, buying into or expanding a business, ask yourself these:
Can you STAY THE COURSE?
Getting into business is no BIG JOKE. It is a COMMITMENT. There will be occasions when things won’t go as 'smooth' as you planned or hoped for. These are the times when the spirit of a true entrepreneurship is tested. Just like steel has to go through fire to become tempered, and a piece of coal has to endure eons of pressure to become a diamond, entrepreneurs are the product of hard work and persistence through tough times.
What does your GUT tell you?
There’s no science to this but if you know what your heart is telling you and you believe it will work, why hesitate? Couples determined to get married, do. They just decided to go ahead with the plans no matter how the ODDS may have been stopping them. The reverse is also true, if it feels wrong, it’s wrong. If it’s too good to be true, it ain’t.
Seasoned entrepreneurs are fond of saying that there is no better time to go into business than RIGHT NOW. So, if you’ve got the determination, the financial smarts, the capital and the “bright idea”, what’s stopping you? If you keep delaying your plans because you need to find the “magical moment” or make your “first million” or get your I Ching divination right, even your best moments never look right.
Are you willing to RISK FAILURE?
Not the easiest to answer. But no successful entrepreneur really got it right the first shot. You must prepare yourself for failure and making mistakes. There’s no magic bullet that can ensure a flawless path to success, and the entrepreneur’s life is consistently about risk—financial and economic risk. Those who wish to follow the Entrepreneur’s Path shouldn’t hesitate to take their fate into their own hands.
Now, what was the QUESTION again?
After thinking these philosophical points over and you’ve forgotten the reason why you thought going into business in the first place, maybe you should take a break before considering the issue again.
Are you really cut-out for business? If you agree, will you bet your life on it?
What's your take on this? We want to hear from you! To participate in the discussion, click here!
