Juggling It All: Rea Gomez On How To Be Busy

While others are still looking for their passion, LBC Marketing Communications head and entrepreneur Rea Gomez is figuring out how to accommodate hers: raising her family, living her dream job in the corporate world, and launching her newest kombucha tea and wellness business, Booch Manila. Here she shares the secrets to doing everything all at once.

1. You don’t have to quit your day job to pursue your other dreams.

If you love what you do, you can always make room for it in your life. Also, it’s not always a choice of this over that; you can have both. You can do it all, thanks to available technology. You just have to master the skill.

2. Find pockets of opportunity in your schedule.

Since the business is still very young (about a year old), I’m very hands on. Also, I have a 9-to-5 day job, so I do all the shopping, brewing, flavoring and bottling for Booch Manila at night or during the weekends. It’s really about being disciplined, and setting aside time to meet your goals.

3. If your business idea fails, you can always try again.

Before Booch Manila, I started and ended so many small businesses. I used to sell biodegradable diapers and yaya uniforms, and joined bazaars. For one reason or another, I had to let these businesses go. But just because your first ideas weren’t quite successful doesn’t mean your next idea will go the same way.  With Booch, I came in with this mindset: “If I’m to start a new business, I will stick and commit to it.”

4. To make your job easier and yourself more productive, use all the available tools, including apps and social media.

In my case, I run my business from my phone. I’ve installed all the apps and synced all my business stuff on my mobile so that no matter where I am, I can reply to queries, check orders, purchase supplies, and get customer feedback in a jiffy. You just have to pick the tools that can help boost your business. For example, I was able to make my entire website in just five minutes with Shopify.

5. If in your gut, you think you have a good idea, don’t be afraid to start it.

You can always start small. What is important is that you start. You don’t need to give up your life savings; you can invest with a small capital. I think today is the era of the small entrepreneur. There are so many opportunities and available tools out there that make establishing your business easier and simpler. On social media alone, you don’t need to advertise. You just have to post it, and if people are interested, they will inquire. If a product is good and people like it, it will spread by word of mouth.

6. Don’t be pressured to grow big too soon.

It’s exciting thinking about expansion, but you don’t have to burden or overwhelm yourself with expectations. Do your business according to your own pace. I’ve been thinking a lot on how to expand operations, and there are a thousand ways to do it. But I’ve decided that no matter how I wish to do it, I want to stick to the initial vision, which is to ensure the quality of my product.

As told to Kristel Dacumos-Lagorza

Photography by Paul del Rosario