• Second of a series

Some entrepreneurs are born, others are made. Vicki Belo is a natural-born entrepreneur. At age 15, she was already baking cakes and pastries and selling them to relatives, friends and neighbors. This natural acumen has propelled her to the top of the beauty industry heap even though she had no formal training in business.

But her natural business acumen is not the only secret of Vicki Belo’s thriving enterprise. When asked how she was able to turn her name into a popular brand, she gave these 7 tips that aspiring businesswomen can learn from:

1.Know your passion. Love your work. Have a vision.
Successful businesses start with the entrepreneur’s passion. For Vicki, it is a passion rooted in childhood traumas of being overweight with bad skin. Driven by the desire to improve herself, she studied and became a successful cosmetic surgeon. But the passion did not stop with her self-improvement. She made it her mission to turn beauty-challenged Filipinas into good-looking swans. Her love for her work and her dedication to her craft has brought her business success. A nation filled with beautiful people is the vision that drives her to constantly improve on the Belo Medical Group’s products.

2.Deliver results. Use word-of-mouth marketing.
Building a good reputation is important. Vicki puts a strong emphasis on delivering results. She has become a well-known brand because of the satisfied patients who talk about her work. Of course it helps that she counts celebrities in her roster of satisfied patients.

3.Know where your market is located.
Although she says that she does not use a complicated system or extensive market research to decide where to situate her branches, she has a sound branching strategy. Belo clinics rise where the market is. From her patient data base, she finds out where a big number resides. This becomes the site of the new clinic. For instance, many OFWs from the Middle East and Cebu residents flock to Manila to get treatment. Because of this, new branches will be rising in Dubai and Cebu soon.

4.Know what your market wants.
She may be the doctor of the stars and the upper crust but the common people also long to be touched by her magic beauty wand. Her new foray into consumer products is her response to people approaching her and asking,”What about us doctora? We also want to be beautiful but we can’t afford your treatments.” This demand for an affordable solution to beauty problems gave birth to Belo Essentials, a skin care line targeting the mass market. Their initial offering of whitening products is also market-driven. A request by her fans with sun-kissed complexions that the fair-skinned doctora gave in to. It was a wise move because their sales are already eating into the multinationals’ share of the market in just over a year of operations.

5.Make a clear distinction between product lines when expanding to a different market.
The Belo Medical Clinic is where the rich and famous get beautified. Its sister company, Forever Flawless was established to cater to the common market. These two companies are both successful because of the clear distinction in their product lines. The procedures available at Belo Clinics are different from Forever Flawless. This strategy preserves the integrity of Belo Medical as a class A facility. It also provides the regular wage earner with a more affordable option without destroying the original brand.

6.Manage your resources properly.
Vicki had a privileged upbringing. One would think that money is no object to her when it comes to financing her business ventures. On the contrary, she has an admirable knack of being prudent about her resources. She mentioned that she is averse to obtaining loans to expand her business. When she was just starting out she settled for a clinic smaller than the one her parents were offering to get her. It is a sensible philosophy of not wanting to bite off more than she can chew. She acquired more space as her clientele grew. Her abovementioned branching strategy also reflects this. Money is not wasted on advertising a new branch location as her client base in the area is already solid.

7.Reach for your dreams but be flexible.
To perpetuate her vision, Vicki dreamt that one of her children will become a doctor and take over the business. She also dreamt of coming up with a product that every Filipino can afford. Daughter Cristalle was initially willing to fulfill her first dream. But after a term in Med school, realized this was not her calling. Although disappointed, Vicki did not insist that her daughter continue. Cristalle, a management graduate from the Ateneo de Manila University, went on to fulfill her mother’s second dream. She heads the company that produces Belo Essentials, the easy-on-the-pocket skin care line Vicki dreamt of having. Vicki’s son Quark, an upcoming director, megs the commercials for Belo Essentials making it a family affair. Being flexible with her dreams paved the way for not just one both of her children to be part of the business.

There are other factors to Vicki Belo’s success as a brand builder which she did not highlight. From the interview and further research on her business, these two additional points emerged. First, she invests in continuing education. She regularly goes out of the country to learn new techniques and be updated on current trends. Despite her celebrity status, she had no qualms about sitting in MBA classes at the Ateneo to learn about marketing. The second is she got a strong management team and consultants to help her run the business. Having a competent team allowed her to concentrate on what she was good at – the medical and the public relations side. This shrewd assessment of her strengths and weaknesses has built the Belo brand into what it is today.

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• Entrepreneurship