A BACOLODNON has made waves in Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) in the United States of America and currently runs a branch of Good Vibe Squad in Bacolod City.
Good Vibe Squad is an award-winning multi-million dollar marketing agency that has helped mortgage professionals across the United States close over 3 Billion Dollars in funded loans through their program and has grown to over 50 team members over five years. They have helped over 700 Loan Originators across USA.
McBilly Sy, a Bacolodnon, is a first-generation immigrant who moved to the United States in search of a better future to progress the lives of the people he loves. He climbed up the corporate ladder but eventually quit to start his marketing agency after getting burnt out working two full-time jobs.
He is the son of Bacolodnon Amy Sy. McBilly graduated from Bacolod Tay Tung High School in 2005 and worked as a co-host of the ABS-CBN entertainment show "MagTV na Cebu," a Bench model and candidate for the first-ever Mr. Cebu. While in the U.S., he worked at a pathology laboratory and a medical hospital.
"My work schedule then starts from 3 p.m. up to 11:30 p.m. I worked in a Pathology Laboratory in New York. It was my first shift and a full-time job. I would drive to my next full-time job from 11:30 p.m. to midnight and work up to 8 a.m. working in the blood bank department in the hospital. It was usual for Filipinos to have multiple jobs in the U.S,” he said.
He shared that one time, it was a snowy night. He was driving to his next job, and the car in front of him suddenly stopped. He tried to maneuver to avoid hitting the vehicle and skidded on the other side of the road. If there was a car parked on the other side of the street, he would have hit it. He was thankful that there was none.
“My car skidded in that direction, but I did not hit a single vehicle. From there, I realized what was happening to me. 'What am I doing?' It was hard because I only slept for more or less four to five hours a day. It's a Filipino core value: ‘We will do whatever it takes,’” he shared.
He was offered schooling by the lab, eventually studying and working a double job. Because it was hard to work in a position that does not align with what one likes, he decided to quit his job and risked putting up his business without a safety net.
Despite the obstacles and challenges and having no proven track record in a competitive industry, McBilly grew as an entrepreneur and was led into a partnership with Preston Schmidli. Together they grew Good Vibe Squad Marketing.
McBilly and Preston are now in Bacolod to visit their full-time employees at their branch in Mandalagan and give back to the community by donating school supplies to the Kalipay Negrense Foundation, which takes care of the abused and underprivileged minors.
They are also expanding the office to accommodate more hires for their BPO. Because of their hard work and determination, they will attain their goals.
McBilly is a role model and an inspiration to Filipinos, especially with GVS earning prestigious recognition from Inc. Magazine and ClickFunnels.
GOOD VIBE SQUAD BUSINESS
He started to put up his own freelance business, where he pursued his marketing skills and combined them with his knowledge and skills in computers.
Moreover, he had to learn about Facebook, Google, and many others where he enrolled in online courses and invested in mentorships from known experts and masterminds in my preferred fields.
"It's tough to start a business. But with our traits as hard workers who are not quickly giving up, I was able to start my own business," he said.
However, he shared how some non-supporters discouraged them even from naming the firm Good Vibe Squad because it does not sound professional. But it pushed them to use it to prove and make sure it would work.
“We challenged the norm by thinking out of the box. We are a marketing company. If you want to be in the top 1 percent, by definition you need to do what the other 99% aren't doing. And with that perspective, we grew our company into a multi-million dollar company in four years. I believe there are three things we all want to achieve, such as income, freedom, and impact,” he said.
Earning an income is vital because one wants to provide for their family and themselves. Freedom of choice allows us to do the things we want with the impact that it will create on others no matter what happens. Even if we have all the money in the world, we will still feel empty if we do not have an impact on other people.
But if we start the other way by focusing on the impact, it becomes easier to get or earn an income because it will snowball.
WHY EXPAND IN BACOLOD CITY?
“I am from Bacolod, and there is something in me that tells that urges me to give back. My uncle manages our branch here. But I also have high school batchmates who work with us. Our workforce in Bacolod is terrific. We have talents here who have an excellent command of the English language. Investing back in Bacolod is like giving back to the city and putting more highlights on Bacolod, as many people in the U.S. don't know about Bacolod yet. I am very proud to have Bacolodnons as part of our workforce in the Philippines, who compliment half of my crew in the U.S.,” he said.
WORDS OF WISDOM
He shared a story of Warren Buffet, an American business magnate and his best friend. When they graduated college, they separated ways. His friend started his steel business while Warren began his own business and became the most successful investor in the world while his friend was doing okay in his business choice.
"The story's moral is that you could be the most hard-working, brightest, and most intelligent. But sometimes, it is not on how hard you row but on what boat you are in, which means that the medium also plays an essential part in one's success,” he said.
He also shared the 3 M's, namely the Market (audience), Message (product or service), and Medium (channel to reach your specific audience), must align with each other.
“No matter how good you are, your business won't grow if there is a mismatch. Suppose we want to learn new skills. It is better to follow somebody who has already done or accomplished what you want to achieve,” he advised.
If we want to immerse ourselves in something, learn it. We can never learn to ride a bike by just reading a book. Learn it by riding a bike. Do it repeatedly to develop the skills.
Many people don't start work because they are not good at it. Many fear the unknown. It is natural that when we are new to work, we will never be good at it. Don't let perfection stop you from beginning the job.
He shared several tips. The three things to do to succeed are to have a skill set, train yourself to be disciplined to do the hard work, and upgrade your mindset by surrounding yourself with people who can elevate you and spare you from those who can hold you back.
He also shared his readings from the book “Atomic Habits.” That instead of focusing on the activities, focus on the person who did the activity you want to do. Change your identity mindset because it is powerful. For instance, if you are trying to quit smoking, and somebody offered you one. Instead of saying “No, I am trying to quit smoking.” What you want to say is “No, I don’t smoke”. It is a subtle difference but very powerful.
Moreover, McBilly encourages every Bacolodnon to take the first bold step in making their dreams come true. Never fear the unknown. Just develop and improve a skill, discipline, and continuously improve on things that you are not good at or even you are good at. This will make a big difference in a world of challenges and stiff competition.
He happily shared that he will marry his girlfriend this Sunday in the country of his birth.
MCBILLY'S BUSINESS PARTNER PRESTON SCHMIDLI
Preston said he and McBilly have a wonderful and rare partnership. Unlike most partnerships that fail due to self-interest, McBilly and I have this constant sense of “Oh man, he's outworking me. I can't let him down.”
“We both experience that, and the result is that we both go the distance to protect each other in the partnership. We also are very different personality types with different strengths. We learned about each other's strengths early in the partnership, and we have learned to help each other stay in our zone of genius and protect each other from the parts of the business that drain us (and different things drain each of us),” he said.
Good Vibe Squad's expansion in Bacolod has been a constant climb upwards in a good way, despite recessions or economic conditions - and they're grateful for that. They have grown the team quite a bit in the last year - now going towards 50 team members in Bacolod. They also have just secured a new lease that allows them to double their local presence more and support their team with an amazing office environment where they enjoy coming to work together towards a great cause.
Over the years, “We have created a robust hiring process - and it shows in the team that we have put together. All of them show up every day, fully ready to make a positive impact in the lives of our clients and do the best they have available in their role. We have a core value that is "Fearlessly Challenge the Norm," and our team is full of people who live up to that. We want to work hard and have that effort to make a positive impact on the clients that we serve. Because that is our focus, we enjoy a long relationship with most of our clients - which allows us to continue to grow and invest back in the communities of our teams which they are a part of,” Schmidli said.
He added that he is incredibly proud of their team. “I am incredibly proud of the service that we have created over the years. My focus, as one of the primary leaders of this company, is on two main topics. A.) I want to invest heavily on developing our leadership at every level because they are the future of our growth. And B.) I want to create new services for our clients that complement our leading marketing service so that we can increase our value to them - and, consequently, meet our new revenue goals. Our Bacolod team is paramount to the service that we provide. We have a variety of specialists who work in our office in Bacolod, and we have very experienced leadership in our office. The economics of having part of our team in Bacolod works in our favor - but we also pay our team above average as well as we want them to be happy and live good lives. Our crew in Bacolod deepens the quality of service and the relationship with our clients immeasurably. We are blessed to have the people that we do (and so are our clients),” he said.
Preston Schmidli started in sales and marketing as the owner of an insurance brokerage. After falling on hard times, Preston resorted to selling his blood to pay for gas, groceries, and marketing courses.
Today, he is an award-winning entrepreneur and published author of the Amazon best-seller, If I Were You. With his expertise in sales psychology and marketing strategy, Preston currently consults with mortgage professionals, helping them transform their lives and communities for the better.*