How entrepreneurs can overcome business fears: Rissa Mananquil-Trillo, Cy Ynares share advice

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino entrepreneurs Rissa Mananquil-Trillo and Cy Ynares shared how they were able to shake off their jitters and anxieties about managing their business when they were starting out. 

Rissa, co-founder of skincare and makeup brand Happy Skin, said it’s a matter of making the most out of opportunities and addressing a gap in the industry that needed to be filled.

She created Happy Skin in 2013 when she realized there were no skin-caring makeup brands available in the country specifically made for the Philippine weather and the Filipino skin.

“Instead of waiting for someone to come up with a solution to a personal pain point, I thought, why not create it?” she said at the recent "Boz Sessions" for a banking company.

“Unlike most people who start a business, I wasn’t really driven by money, a way out of the corporate world, or the desire to have more free time. I was just really passionate and wanted to provide a solution to a problem Filipinas had been facing for years,” she added. 

Trillo left Happy Skin in October 2021, but she will always be proud of how the brand paved the way for other local brands to enter the beauty market. 

“I think that it will always be remembered as the homegrown brand that opened doors for both entrepreneurs and consumers to embrace loving local,” she said.

Meanwhile, Cy started his online bakeshop The Bald Baker in 2014 after his friends encouraged him to open a shop where they can buy his cookies. 

“At that time, there really weren’t a lot of people offering cooking and online Instagram shops weren’t even a thing yet back then,” he explained. 

Here are more tips Rissa and Cy offered during their sessions on how aspiring entrepreneurs can overcome their fears.

Find the right partner

Starting entrepreneurs are bound to feel pressure as they iron out the issues of their new business. Trillo felt this, too. “There is this huge pressure for women to be great at both work and home—to combine professional success with commitment to family,” she explained.
 
“Being able to achieve more as a woman can be as simple as having the right support system,” Trillo shared. “It can come in the form of a partner who shares in the care work at home, or as simple as having the right digital tools to make life easier.”

And this is the case for Ynares. The Bald Baker is a one-man team, but he finds moral support from his life partner and friends who encouraged him to start his cookie business.

Prepare for growth

For Trillo, the biggest mistake a small business can make is to think like a small business. She shared that Happy Skin started operations in 2013 with only five employees. They slowly hired full-time employees as the workload grew. Trillo’s advice? “Don’t wait to grow the team only when you feel too busy. Perhaps while waiting too long, you would’ve saved money, but you would’ve also slowed down the growth of your company.”

But growth does not only mean expanding the business in terms of manpower. In Ynares’ case, he chose to run The Bald Baker as a one-man team because he believes it is the setup that will serve him and his business the best. He slowly leveled up some components of his business, from improving the packaging, upgrading to premium ingredients, to having his own website which he proudly made by himself. 

Ynares explained: “But you know, I remember someone telling me, your journey’s different from everyone else. And as cliché as this may sound, it really doesn’t matter how fast you get there. Enjoy the journey, don’t force it, and go at your own pace.” 

Learn to work smart

Hard work is important. And it helps for entrepreneurs to be hands on to and know every aspect of their business operations. But Trillo said they should not feel scared or guilty if they feel they cannot do everything themselves.
 
Trillo said, “Here’s the truth: hard work alone doesn’t always lead to business growth.” 

Trillo believes running a successful business is about optimizing, outsourcing, and automating whatever you can. It’s very possible to spend all your time doing things that aren’t actually leading to growth of your company.”

“Productivity isn’t about being busy; it’s about focusing on the right tasks that drive results,” she also said.

Ynares admitted he initially thought he had to do everything himself, too. “When I started taking cookie orders, it was fairly easy in the beginning, cause I was just getting about 10 orders a week or so. But when I started getting 50 to 100 orders, girl! Naloka ako. I was overwhelmed,” he quipped.

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