What my mom taught me

One thing that my Mommy Ching taught me was how to become an entrepreneur. She started teaching me when I was nine years old. She was a mompreneur herself, selling food items, club shares, clothes and furniture in order to augment the family income. And seeing her principled actions when it comes to business, I as a young girl during my grade school years would “do business” this way.

Instead of merely lending my Game & Watch (I knew the batteries were expensive), I rented them out per hour. I had a vast collection of Archie, Betty and Veronica comics digest which my mom bought for me, and I would cover them in plastic and rent them out, too. My mom didn’t tell me to rent them out… it came natural to me. So in grade school, I was already earning.

Our Annual Charity Bazaar is a mother-daughter mission: My Mommy Ching and yours truly and what we do to help our Entrepinoys.

All is set for this year’s Summer Lifestyle Bazaar which I am holding for the first time at the new, fully air-conditioned Filinvest Tent located along Commerce Ave. Filinvest City, Alabang. This is our seventh bazaar. You’ll enjoy shopping for great finds that will suit your budget while being able to help others, most especially our hardworking Pinoy entrepreneurs to get the economy going.

It was my mom who taught me my entrepreneurial and life’s survival skills. For instance, how to deal with clients, how to sales-talk customers and how to be patient with all kinds of shoppers. I remember having customers who would ask me to bring down all the clothes from the display window which I personally fixed. The client would fit them all but end up buying nothing. I was devastated.

Still, I smiled and I kept my cool. My mom reminded me: Smile at your customers all the time, even if they are giving you a headache, even if they are demanding and makulit.

It was my mom who taught me the value of hard-earned money early on in life and this is why I grew up to be a wise spender.

Today, I’m making my mom’s senior years fruitful and productive by helping her organize bazaars. It’s tough, stressful and challenging, but it feels good when you are on a mission. We are the ultimate mother-and-daughter tandem, despite the small arguments here and there.

What makes organizing this year’s bazaar exciting is that I am able to count again on the help and support of your favorite celebrities. Many generous celebrities have donated since last year’s bazaar their personal pre-loved items, which are sold in the celebrity booths in my bazaar. Visit the celebrity booth, which sells clothes, shoes, bags and other personal effects donated by my co-hosts Paolo Bediones, Edu Manzano, Cheryl Cosim, Amy Perez, Chiqui Roa-Puno, Shalala, Makata, Seph Ubalde, Grace Lee and yours truly.

Thank you dear celebrity friends for not thinking twice to help. May God bless you more for your generosity.

The bazaar also gives you a chance to meet and greet your fave celebs who will personally man their booths like Bianca Lapuz, Ara Mina, Nikki Valdez, Say Alonzo, Laarni Lozada, Korina Sanchez, Marissa Sanchez, Jan Marini and Gerald Pizzaro, LJ Moreno, to name a few.

Hope you can all come to my bazaar and shop for a good cause. There are also lots of booths with unique gift items that cater to every budget. There are merchants who are single moms, young students, new grads, returning OFWs who all wish to be successful entrepreneurs.

Let us all encourage them and make them succeed as entrePinoys.

There are booths for dads, too, booths selling the latest bikes by Doppelganger. And of course, since we all love food, there are lots of food carts in my bazaar. Yum!

Go Negosyo and the Center for Philippine Entrepeneurship, which have been supporting me through the years, held a forum on how to succeed in business. Paulo Tibig, the Entrep Champ, gave a talk yesterday.

Bring your kids during the weekend because the great Wanlu and his puppets will perform tomorrow, May 25 at 3 p.m., followed by the Mini Go Neg talk at 6.

There’s the Amazing Bubble Show on Sunday, May 26, courtesy of Bianca. Laarni will perform, too.

The yearly bazaar is my way of helping all entrePinoys with individual, human-interest stories to share. When you shop, the economy gets going. You buy something for yourself and your loved ones, at the same time, you become part of this circle of helping others. Hourly raffle, freebies and free entertainment were given away to shoppers, during the opening day yesterday.

So, I’ll see you at my four-day bazaar, which opened yesterday and runs until May 26. And I encourage you to bring your own eco-friendly shopping totes. For details, call 931-0852 or check out our Facebook page: CBB Events. If you don’t have products to sell, you may do sampling and demo or distribute flyers.