Opportunity is everywhere: How to think like an entrepreneur

Some entrepreneurs are made, the product of hard work and grit. Others, like Steam’s Gabe Newell, say they are just lucky. For them, opportunities came and they were simply fortunate enough to be there when they did. A few entrepreneurs are born businessmen, taking to the business landscape fully formed with an uncanny knack for strategy and an entrepreneurial skill set. Ronnie Siasoyco is one of these born entrepreneurs.

“Born and raised,” Mr. Siasoyco confessed, sharing credit with his entrepreneurial parents. He began his entrepreneurial journey without any inheritance or significant funds, and nevertheless founded a company which quickly became a success.

Today, he is the Chairman and CEO of the Trion Group, a pioneering company in the energy and utilities industries. He is also the Chairman and CEO of Verity Trust, a Dubai-based underwriting firm in the lucrative real estate market of the region — and the world. As if that weren’t enough, he also has other companies, in electronics, mobile communications, and more.

For a born entrepreneur like Ms. Siasoyco, opportunity is everywhere. Throughout his career he has capitalized on each opportunity to build his group of companies, and solve problems for his customers. I spoke with him in my podcast, where we shared a fascinating conversation on too many topics to mention.

What interests me most is: What does Ronnie Siasoyco have that makes him such a natural, almost effortless entrepreneur? Does he have special skills? A different perspective? And can his skills and mindset as an entrepreneur be learned by you and I?

Here’s what I learned.

ARE YOU A PROBLEM-SOLVER?
Early on in our conversation, Mr. Siasoyco zeroed in on problem-solving as one of the keys to business.

He said, “That’s what business should be about. It’s about solving problems. It’s about presenting opportunities. It’s about improving lives.

“It’s about improving the way business is being done. Because if you don’t do that, then what good is your offering to the people that you serve? You need to love the people that you serve. When you love your customers, it means that you try to make their lives better.”

It is this almost romantic view of problem-solving that drives what he does as an entrepreneur. And he would mention this time and again in our interview.

Knowing this, there is one question that is left begging: How can entrepreneurs find these problems to solve?

He advised that entrepreneurs deep dive into the specific industries they are interested in. “When you’re involved in an industry,” he said, “you get to understand the needs, you get to understand the problems, you get to understand the gaps. And when you find the gaps, you try to search for ideas to be able to fill in those gaps.”

It is this industry immersion that led to his first foray into entrepreneurship. Learning about the telecommunications industry, he discovered that the telephone poles the industry was using at the time would often burn the linemen. Knowing this, he put up a company that imported CCA-treated radiata pine telephone poles from New Zealand that wouldn’t hurt the linemen. After two years, he was the market leader.

That company was Trion, which would change form many times over the years as it expanded into other ventures.

DO YOU BUILD NETWORKS?
As Mr. Siasoyco told his story of being an entrepreneur, I was struck by how many times chance encounters or random conversations would lead to his next business venture.

The reason for this is that he is always networking. His electronics business began with a conversation on a plane with a Chinese government official. His mobile communications company — which was one of the forerunners of GCash and other mobile payments — started after he spoke to the inventor of SMS.

For him, networking is more important than capital.

“If you really think about it, you don’t really need to have the capital initially when you get into business,” he explained. “Because you can piggyback on other people’s businesses. So, understanding how business is done is through networks, knowing the right people — and also understanding the principles that you need to create a business model that actually fits your financial capability — and then understanding that relationships and integrity are very, very important in business.”

DO YOU POSSESS GRIT?
Even though Mr. Siasoyco is clearly a natural born entrepreneur, it is equally clear that he possesses that prized entrepreneurial quality called grit.

He recalled that during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, he owed the bank some money when interest rates went through the roof. Almost overnight, interest rates jumped from 13% to 33% per annum. Then the exchange rate shot up from P26 to $1 to P42 — which was a serious concern as he was importing from New Zealand.

He recalled, “I braved up and I just kept on doing business. I survived that year. I was able to repay all of my debts and was able to continue the business.”

What did this experience teach him? He said, “This is what’s important for people to understand: You set your own limit. A lot of people would say that they should be getting into a business that they know 100%. But nobody really knows a business 100%. What you need to do is to study and study and study and understand so that you will have the wherewithal to be able to get into it.”

DO YOU HAVE AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET?
“I always look for opportunities. It’s the entrepreneurial mindset,” he said.

Even when he’s on holiday, he is constantly looking for business opportunities. “I go around and I always say, ‘oh, this might be a good thing to bring back to the Philippines, this would be good business, good business.’ You have to train your RAS — your reticular activated system — to be able to recognize opportunities. When you train your mind to spot the opportunity, you will see it.”

It is this constant hunt for opportunities that led him to founding his real estate company, Verity Trust Properties.

During his travels, he saw the immense possibilities for real estate in Dubai. He witnessed properties selling “like Starbucks” to a global market.

The opportunity was grounded in the rapid growth of Dubai, a city which had a population of 300,000 in 1990 and 3.875 million people today. Studying the real estate industry further, he discovered that local developers were always in need of cash. So he created a business model where his company would partner with developers, do the property underwriting, buy in bulk, and then later resell the properties equal to or less than the developer’s price. Verity Trust Properties was born.

Ronnie Siasoyco’s entrepreneurial journey is truly a marvel that is worth revisiting and studying.

RJ Ledesma (www.rjledesma.com) is a Hall of Fame Awardee for Best Male Host at the Aliw Awards, a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and business mentor, podcaster, an Honorary Consul, and editor-in-chief of The Business Manual. Mr. Ledesma can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. The RJ Ledesma Podcast is available on Facebook, Spotify, Google and Apple Podcasts. Are there entrepreneurs you want Mr. Ledesma to interview? Let him know at ledesma.rj@gmail.com.