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Endure the valleys Vol. I, No. 06 * 06 December 2008
 By JCI A / Mem. CERWIN T. EVIOTA, CNT, NG 2006 Charter President “TOUGH times never last. Tough people do.” Maverick entrepreneur Lito S. Gillamac (LSG), a client for PR and marketing we served from 1996, shared with me this thought sometime in 1999 when the Asian crisis then plunged the country’s economy. The paradigm still remains as my driving thought today, especially when validated by my experiences in JCI and in my personal life, and when we started to build JCI Cebu-Mactan Channel.
Mistakes We worked with LSG in his various endeavors over the past 10 years -- under Gillamac’s Group of Companies, through SKYGO that we dubbed as Motorsiklo ng Pilipino, for Sir Litz consumer electronics, with Cebu Basketball Federation (CBF) and behind National Basketball Conference (NBC). Inspired by the bestseller book of Robert H. Schuller, LSG brought the Gillamac’s chain to leadership in appliance trading nationwide for Philacor (GE), Sharp, Samsung and Concepcion Industries from the mid-90’s, expanding its network to 33 branches nationwide. He brought SKYGO to immediate prominence and sales leadership from 2001, made CBF a bankable league next to PBA and PBL in the Visayas and Mindanao, helped NBC gain presence in southern Philippines, and built from 2005 a new business network that cashed in on the growing IT sector. Before and in between these successes, LSG faced lots of tough times. He would always manage to float even when others are groping to ride out every economic crisis. Being more of an entrepreneur than an overly prudent corporate CEO, his ways were unorthodox, defying probably all marketing books. Although he virtually feared no crisis, he was nonetheless proactive. He was calculating. I would always wonder why he would always hit his mark, as Freddie Roach predicted that Manny Pacquiao would stop Oscar de la Hoya during their Dream Match in Las vegas (as this blog is re-developed today, Dec. 7, 2008). As we experience in JCI, LSG also committed mistakes. His errors cost high, too. Yet despite any crisis, like Manny Pacquiao after he lost to Erik Morales in March 2005, he would always bounce back and emerge as a better entrepreneur. Shining back We, in JCI, are lucky we have the organization to prepare ourselves in riding out tough times and emerge as tougher leaders. It may sometimes cost a bit, but not as much as when your own business or some other’s enterprise will be at stake. As we are allowed to commit mistakes – for as long as we don’t commit the same mistakes again – we get to learn how to maneuver ourselves with every circumstances we face. Much more when you get to lead a JCI chapter as president, as I did in 2006, as Gelo Parcon did in 2007 and as Jolex is almost about to complete this year. Gelo, Jolex and I may have proven something during our terms, as spoken more by the awards the Chapter reaped, but we have had our tough times in keeping the chapter. Starting this chapter in 2005 and building it through 2006 was not easy, I would admit, especially when you have no past leaders to lean on. Challenges abound. Much more when you had to deal with your own personal circumstances. Much more when you see yourself in a “when it rains it pours” situation. Yet, all these crises will just but come to pass. They come and go, and what remains is you. You just need to be tough. You only need to manage the circumstances. You only need to endure. “Endure the valleys,” came the encouraging words in an SMS our incoming 2009 President sent me tonight (Dec. 6 at 22:22:58) that inspired me to write this blog. It was her reply after I texted her and a few others of how low I felt after my car’s timing belt gave way (that meant another expense) while driving home from SM City Cebu to pay some bills already covered by a notice. This happened just days after I had to have the car’s brake master replaced that cost me a lot. Accident can just happen if I did not, and the consequence would be worse. All these came as I have to answer some obligations. Tough times come and go. Thanks to JCI and the insights LSG shared with me, we learned to handle the oars against the massive waves. We can, we will, prevail. With friends like Emi Rose and other fellow JCI members you could express yourself to, things won’t be as bad. In time, you will shine again ... and Be Better.
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