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Fuel Your Business: Opportunities From Independent Oil Companies in the Philippines

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Is this an exciting time to be in the oil and fuel business? Petroleum, indeed, is an essential commodity that does not depend on the conditions of the economy; that is, we use and consume oil whether the economy is up or down.

In the previous article, we’ve shown you the business opportunities available from the country’s biggest oil players, known as the Big 3. Here we’ll explore the alternative opportunities offered by the independent oil companies or the so-called small players.

Anyone who is serious about becoming a distributor or retailer of petroleum products should consider the various opportunities from all parties, and weigh the advantages and disadvantages before finally embarking on this business venture.

Option #1: Seaoil Franchise

Seaoil is considered as the leader among independent oil companies in the Philippines. In 1980, it opened its first petrol depot facility in Mandaluyong serving local as well as multi-national companies. Frachising a Seaoil business means you are backed by the company’s more than 30 years of experience in the oil business.

Seaoil Franchise Investment:

  • Franchise Fee : P 500,000.00
  • Estimated Capital: P 3,000,000.00

The company also offers a customized franchise package. You can choose to franchise an existing station or start a new one. The minimum recommend lot area for the gas station is 800 sq m.

For details, please visit the Seaoil website at http://www.seaoil.com.ph.

Option #2: Phoenix Petroleum Franchise

The Phoenix Petroleum has its humble beginning as a family business in Davao in the year 2002. Originally it carried the name Davao Oil Terminal Services Corporation and in 2006 changed its name to Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. A year later, it became the first independent oil company to be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Phoenix offers franchising opportunity for those who want to become retailers of petroleum products and carry their brand. Phoenix requires from the franchisee a minimum of 800 sqm lot with at least 25 meter frontage for the site of a gas station. Aside from the usual business support common with other franchisors, what’s nice about the franchise concept of Phoenix is its flexibility. That means you can attach other businesses with your petroleum franchise provided it passed the approval of Phoenix.

The estimated capital outlay for a Phoenix station is 3M. It already includes the franchise fee, construction cost, equipment deposits and initial stock.

To know more about the company and the franchise opportunity they are offering, please visit their website at phoenixphilippines.com.

Option #3: Unioil Franchise

The company made its presence felt in 1992 when it opened its first gas station along the Ninoy Aquino Avenue in Parañaque. In 2003, it opened its door in Mindanao when they set up their first gas station outside of Manila.

Interested Unioil petroleum distributors should prepare somewhere from P 500,000 to P 1 million in capital. The company boasts of its estimated return on capital in as fast as one and a half to two years.

To know more about Unioil and their business opportunities, visit them at http://www.unioil.com.

Option #4: Eastern Petroleum Franchise

Finally, one other oil company that we want you to take notice of is the Eastern Petroleum. It was founded in 1996 by Fernando L. Martinez. The following year, it opened its first petrol station in Pasig City. In 2004, it already reached the Mindanao area by having their gas stations in Gen San and Davao.

Prospective franchisees can avail one of the following setups with their respective estimate investment requirements:

  • Basic Station (1 or 2 Islands and 2 pumps) — Investment starts at P2 Million
  • Regular Station (2 Islands and 3 to 4 pumps) — Investment starts at P5 Million
  • Large Station (3 Islands and at least 5 pumps) — Investment starts at P8 Million

Eastern Petroleum is very strict when selecting their sites. At bare minimum, your site should be at least 400 sqm in area with a frontage of 25 meters. Site must be in rectangular, square or L-shape. Furthermore, it must be at least 10 meters away from any creek.

Get to know more about the company by visiting their website at http://www.easternpetroleum.com.ph.

Business Planning 101

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“What? Me, write a business plan?”

This is a very common attitude among business owners. They would rather be out there in the field, doing some real actions. They are too busy running the business, striking deals, or cashing the check.

But, is it really important? Like me, you’ve probably heard of stories about successful businesses whose business plans were written on a napkin. Could it be that the founders of those companies have some sort of “visual plans” held inside their heads? I wonder.

To answer that question, I’ve done an Amazon Search using the keyword “business plan” and the search resulted to 90,000 plus book title entries.

Hmm… There must be something to it that is of value to your business. Let’s discuss the basics of business planning in this article.

The 7 Uses of A Business Plan

Here are the most common reasons why entrepreneurs come up with a business plan, whether during the startup phase or soon after it is already operational.

  1. It sets business goals and milestones and program your activities in advance.
  2. It evaluates risks to minimize costly mistakes.
  3. It assigns tasks to people and departments.
  4. It defines a new business.
  5. It reviews the direction of an existing business.
  6. To determine the financial requirements of a business
  7. To support a loan application.

There could be other uses or reasons for coming up with a business plan. For some, the need to apply for a business loan is reason enough to craft a plan. 🙂

If you are already convinced about the importance of business planning, the succeeding paragraphs below will show you how to create one.

Important Components of A Business Plan

Business Planning Cycle

Business Planning Should Be An On-Going Cycle

To help you make your own business plan, here is a list of its major components that you need to include:

The Executive Summary: This is considered to be the most important part of the business plan since it provides a concise overview of the entire contents of the plan. You can put here the following:

  • Business Objectives, which include sales and profit objectives.
  • Vision and Mission Statement
  • Keys to Success

Organization Plan: Choosing people to be in the business is very crucial. You have to place the right people on their proper positions. Cite the hiring process and establish the qualifications needed to get the job. This step will make sure that everyone will work with the same objectives as you do and that the company goals will be met.

Sales And Marketing Plan: Without buying customers, your business will be dead. This part is your battle plan to keep your business alive. Included here are your sales and marketing strategies, which intend to acquire new customers or have the existing ones keep coming back to you. Hopefully will be an on-going process.

Recommended Product: If you love Marketing — and you should — you’ll love this piece of software too: Palo Alto’s Marketing Plan Pro, Powered by Duct Tape Marketing.

Product and Service Lines: What do you have to offer to your customers? Here you have to emphasize how your customers can benefit from your products and services. Sounds simple enough?

Financial Plan: With any business plans, you need to determine your financial sources. This is true whether it is for a new venture or for an expansion program. Point out how much money you need to start and keep the business running.

Business Planning Tools

Spreadsheet — If you are a Windows user, that means the good old Excel, which is probably your most favorite tool among the suite of applications from MS Office.

Business Plan Software — There’s a lot of them in the market and you can find one by going to Amazon and typing “business plan software”. We highly recommend the one created by Palo Alto Software called Business Plan Pro currently in version 12.

6 Tips On Starting A Part-Time Business

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Considering the danger of financial complications when starting your business, it is not surprising that many successful ventures started as part-time. Most entrepreneurs held on to their salaried jobs until they could see their start-up ventures getting off the ground. Part-time business brings with it the chance to augment the family income while enjoying a rewarding but flexible career for work from home parents.

Nonetheless, managing a part-time business has challenges of its own. At the very least, you must learn to juggle the demands of entrepreneurship to what is expected of part-time business owners.

Hence, if you wish to start a part-time business, maybe as freelancer, with the goal of making it long-term up to the point of going full-time, you need to come up with a strategy for your part-time business. Here are six tips in going about it:

Tip #1: What Do You Mean By Define Part-Time?

Most part-time businesses can balloon into full-time occupations in no time. This is because business owners fail to properly project the scope of investment needed in starting and running a part-time business.

Before anything else, it is necessary to define your goals in relation to your view of success. You need to set the number of hours you intend to spend on your business — include schedule for weekends. Be clear about your expectations, motivations, needs and the extent of work you will put into the venture to make it successful. There is a big difference between a few hours of work at night to working for the entire weekend — hence have an honest to goodness self-assessment.

Tip #2: Set Milestones

Have a clear perspective of goals and key tasks within your control by charting your monthly milestones. These milestones may include steps in business registration, getting your first customer, setting up a website for the business, networking, marketing and so on. After having these milestones charted, step back and plan on how to accomplish all these in terms of working hours, resources, etc.

The process of planning your business may feel daunting. Nevertheless, this plan will be your step by step working guide to help propel your business. Learn to keep your plan manageable and simple by reading more about it.

And after everything you have envisioned this business to be, never underestimate your efforts and hours that will be spent on it. However long it takes, if necessary double it.

Tip #3: Always Remember You Are In Business

Despite your venture being part-time, you are still a business owner. You can read and learn more about steps in starting a business to guide you on business registration, tax requirements, permits, etc. If you have a business running, read more about how to run a home-based business.

Also remember that your day job is always your first priority. It’s the one paying the family bills at this early stage of your business. Having a side business doesn’t have to mean cheating on your employer or burning bridges later on. Who knows, your current employer may become your business partner or client someday?

Tip #4: Get A Mentor

Starting any business on your own can seem overwhelming. Instead of having boss to support and guide you, you can learn from a mentor. He can assess your progress, provide assistance in correcting potential mistakes, and guide you to set realistic goals. You can try finding a mentor from organizations that offer free counseling and mentoring.

Tip #5: Hack Your Life

Google Apps

Google Apps Help You Become Organized at Work and In Business

When you juggle between family or salaried job and part-time business, it is crucial to have discipline.

Technology helps a lot. There are a lot of free software applications and mobile apps that help you organize your schedule, track your business transactions and keep things in order. Familiarize yourself with stuff like Google Apps. If you work in remote teams Trello, Basecamp are highly recommended tools. Even a simple voicemail forwarding service is a lot of help depending on your business.

You can also utilize the help of a virtual assistant. This assistant can help with taking calls on your behalf, manage your calendar, and give that polished touch to your business for a nominal fee.

Tip #6: Learn And Have Fun

Having a part-time business provides you with the joy of pacing your venture in relation to your needs. While doing so, you can learn if you want to have a full time business later on. It is a great training ground to learn and make mistakes with minimal risks. No one will beat you up for incurring mistakes and some failures. What is important is you learn from them and have fun as you journey to become a success in your start-up.

Negosyo Builder: Not Just Another Business Website in the Philippines

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Have you ever thought about running your own business but don’t know where or how to start?

Or, perhaps you already have an offline, bricks-and-mortar store and you want to complement it with an online version?

How about learning the essentials of accounting, business finance and internet marketing?

Welcome to NegosyoBuilder.com!

This website is made for the new and the veteran entrepreneurs like you, who needed help in business-related issues in the Philippines. Whether it is starting a new business venture, outsourcing to the Philippines, looking for dealers and distributors in the provinces, getting your business online, expanding your empire or even retiring it, this website is intended to assist you along the way by pointing you in the right direction and showing you some helpful resources just when you need it.

Up and Coming Articles

Doing Business: Start-up Guide, Accounting Fundamentals, etc

  • How To Register A Business In The Philippines. For a Philippine Business to be called a legitimate operation, it must secure the proper registrations, permits and licensed from the various regulating agencies of the government. This article discusses the steps in the business registration process.
  • The Forms of Business Ownership In The Philippines. You may already be familiar with Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships and Corporate setups of a business. They are the 3 most common legal structures of a business, and as such, they also determine the nature of ownership and control an entrepreneur has over company. Did you know about the fourth kind of business entity?
  • Sources of Capital : How To Fund Your Startup. This part talks about the money needed in starting a business and where to get it.
  • Why Start A Business? Did you know that there are active and reactive reasons why people put up their own businesses? This article shows you the best approach to doing it.
  • DIY Event Management for Small Businesses. Here is your chance of getting up to speed with the fundamentals of Events Management.
  • Accounting 101: Financial Statements Explained. Monitoring the financial health of your company means taking a look at the accounting side of the business. This article shows you the most important financial statements you can’t afford to ignore.

Technology On Business

  • Essential Electronic Gadgets for Today’s Entrepreneurs. The new breed of Filipino Entrepreneurs loves of tech gadgets.
  • Domain Name Tips. A picture paints a thousand words. But a good domain name can be worth a thousand dollars or more. A domain name is an investment by itself. Learn how to do it right.

You On Business

    The 3 Business Personalities. Inside every entrepreneur are personalities that always clash with each other.

This is the first article entry for this website and we have a lot more to cover in the next couple of days.

Stay in touch!