Find Your Passion, Find Your Prosperity by Bo Sanchez
“I didn’t know how to do my hair. So I put up a beauty parlor.”
Ella Sanchez is what you call a Serial Entrepreneur. That means she just loves putting up businesses and will do so at a drop of a hat.
For 15 years, she ran a beauty parlor right beside her travel agency.
She also ran a suit shop in the hotel—because she needed suits to wear in her meetings.
She loved to garden, so she supplied the hotel with plants.
And because her office was in the hotel, she also ran a car rental company with 30 cars and 60 tour guides.
But the travel agency was her first business.
I invited her for lunch one day. She was happy to meet me at a lovely restaurant. But when she learned that I wanted to interview her, she was aghast. Still, she obliged. She had no choice.
Ella Sanchez isn’t a relative. (Too many Sanchezes around in the Philippines.) But she is such a wonderful person, I wish she were my sister. And in my heart, she really is.
And now, the interview she didn’t like to have…
Bo: Hi Ella. Can I interview you?
Ella: No!
Bo: Please?
Ella: My gosh.
Bo: What’s your philosophy in business?
Ella: When you like what you’re doing, your heart will be in it.
Bo: Are the smaller businesses still there?
Ella: Nope. I closed the beauty parlor, the suit shop, and the plants business because the headaches were more than the money I earned. And during the Gulf War, tourists weren’t coming so the car rental company began losing millions. So I moved on.
Bo: We should never be attached to our businesses.
Ella: That’s right.
Bo: And you’ve moved on to bigger things. Like you’re in the Airline business, representing Garuda and American Airlines. Failure can be a message from God to move onto bigger things. Tell me about your first business…
Ella: In 1976, I was an employee. I was a copywriter in an Advertising agency. I was probably doing a good job because my boss invited me to be his partner in a travel agency. After 5 years, when he went to the US, I bought him out.
Bo: Another lesson. Whatever you’re doing, do a good job. Who knows who’s going to invite you to partner in a business? By the way, was it through your work in the travel agency that you met Jesus in a personal way?
Ella: Yes, I had a spiritual conversion when I went to a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. My life has never been the same since. And my business changed as well. We focused on spiritual pilgrimages. So far, I’ve sent thousands of people to the Israel and other holy sites. Sometimes, I lose money because some groups can’t reach the minimum number to make it financially feasible. But because I’m doing this for God, I’m happy.
Bo: Let me plug here that ever since I began leading pilgrimages, Ella and Executive Resources have been my travel agency. Because they do such a great job.
Ella: Thank you!
Bo: I’m leading another Pilgrimage to the Holy Land this April 20.
Ella: Yes, and we’re gathering pilgrims now for that trip. (Editor’s note: For more information, email
beaconlightevents@gmail.com or call Beckie at 7229562 from 9am-6pm.)
Bo: What made you a Serial Entrepreneur?
Ella: My mother was an entrepreneur. We lived in the province and had a small farm. She loved her workers. She took care of their needs. She’d take care of them when they needed medicines or a hospital. Because they didn’t have the means to go to town, she paid the workers in kind—such as rice and groceries, etc. But doing so also made her a little profit. We had land but I never appreciated it before. Because we never had money. To enroll me to school, Mom had to sell our pigs. To buy me a dress, she had to sell a sack of rice. I envied my friends who had cars! And they had so much money. But it’s sad that today, they’re not successful in life. Because they weren’t trained for success.
Bo: I agree.
Ella: Many young people today don’t have passion. I don’t know why. They have no hunger to be better.
Bo: As opposed to a serial entrepreneur who never stops growing, always wanting to be better everyday. Thank you for this interview, Ella!
Ella: I was going to pay for lunch. But since you interviewed me without even warning me, you’ll have to pay for it!
Bo: Gee, you’re acting like my sister already.
May your dreams come true,
Bo
Originally Posted by demonyito
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