Banking on talent to build a business

Maria Jeandie Galolo
UP MassCom Intern

SERVICES provide the best opportunity to start a business with little or no cash.

This is what Dennis Namocatcat, founder and owner of Cebu Music Learning Center, said in an interview on why how he is able to thrive in the music business.

“It is convenient to market your talent because you offer services that will never perish,” he said.

Talent, according to him, is the innate ability of a person to excel in a particular
field which, if developed can become an asset.

Namocatcat started the business with no capital except for a keyboard and a guitar, which he bought years before he founded the Cebu Music Learning Center.

“The whole time, since the start, I depended largely on my talent and how I can impart it to my students,” he said.

Namocatcat initially coached seven students in his apartment. As the number of students continued to increase, he was forced to spend P10,000 for his apartment’s renovation in order to accommodate the growing number.

The continuing demand for his lessons prompted him to transfer to a commercial area in Guadalupe, Cebu City. This also pushed him to hire more instructors who can provide music lessons to more than a hundred students.

“More students enrolled because of the training we can give to them,” he said.

The money he earned during the first few years of coaching were used to renovate the newly-occupied space and to buy musical instruments.

Namocatcat said owning a business that offers talent and services instead of products is a “great way to earn money.”

“I see growing profit in talent capital because it is not directly affected by the nation’s economy,” he said.

Unlike oil, rice, sugar and other products, talent is controlled solely by the person owning it and not by money or even by the country’s economy.

Likewise, Leonyl Navarro, a Cebuano freelance voice coach but now based in Iloilo, said he earned money through his talent.

Work

Navarro worked for four years as a dance and voice coach in the Center for Pop Music, an established talent institution in the country. He became a freelance coach this April.

“My talents have always been there to support my financial needs. Since then, I earn money by acting as a dance and voice coach to friends and even to people I don’t know personally,” he said.

He is expecting a substantial amount next month from his clients.

The working space and the sound system are all offered for free by his cousin, who only wished to be coached in return.

“The income is big but I work so hard for it. I expend double time and effort … because I know I have no money to start with,” said Navarro.