IT WAS ALREADY TWO in the morning but Angelita
“Anji” Resurreccion, co-owner of consultancy firm
Passion for Perfection, was still awake.
Anji and her husband and business partner, Rene,
were in a panic as they desperately searched for a
document they needed for a training the next day.
Thus, while the rest of the world slept during those
unholy hours, tempers flared at the Passion
offices, as Anji, Rene and their staff went through
their files.
That was before Ms. Resurreccion and her company
learned about the Business Management System
(BMS), which she described as “a tool that can
make one an intelligent businessman.”
“That incident happened in 1998. I was not aware
of BMS then,” Ms. Resurreccion said in Filipino.
BMS teaches an entrepreneur the importance of
becoming the preferred supplier in his chosen market.
Ms. Resurreccion said BMS would help a businessman
identify the crucial tasks that have to be
done to improve the management of the enterprise.
“It can help you face stiff competition and identify
the important things you have to do and not the
things you want to do just because these are popular
or are being done by others,” she said.
Many opportunities
Ms. Resurreccion said she and her husband formed
Passion for Perfection in October 1991 in response
to the demand for training and workshops. They offered
courses for business start-ups and expansions,
and seminars on positive work attitude, public speaking
and labor management for private companies.
The company’s mission is “to be a global service
provider that epitomizes excellence and professionalism
in the delivery of achievement products and
programs.”
During its first year, Passion served local clients.
In subsequent years, the Resurreccions traveled to
countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, South America
and Europe to conduct training to various groups.
Aside from providing training programs, Passion also
sells motivational books and educational games designed
to teach business planning, management and
values such as punctuality.
The company has provided services to government
agencies such as the Trade and Labor departments
and the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority, companies like the Manila Electric
Co., Purefoods, and Eastern Telecommunications;
and international clients such as the
German Technical Cooperation and the International
Labor Organization.
Armed with a master’s degree in psychology from
the University of the Philippines and more than two
decades of experience as trainer or consultant for
companies and institutions in 15 countries, Ms.
Resurreccion was poised to take advantage of many
opportunities while doing something she loves.
V E N T U R E S
“There was a great demand for training at the
time. People relied on us for supplies, venues and
even training reports,” she said. “We had to do everything
from conducting the training to providing
the needed materials or even the venues.”
Ms. Resurreccion, who had worked with companies
and groups based in countries like Brazil, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and
even as far as South Africa, knew everything she
needed to know about her craft. But a panic-filled
episode would show she did not have everything
down pat.
Locating files
Ms. Resurreccion said that as Passion kept responding
to the needs of clients, they overlooked aspects
related to production, specifically the handling of
materials. And this became evident during the “2
a.m.” episode.
“I knew we had problems about filing but I never
knew it would be critical to our strategy as a business.
We could not locate the files we needed,” she
said. “Diyan (production side) kami nadale (We
bogged down in that aspect).”
Ms. Resurreccion said these changed after she
V E N T U R E S 17
18 WEEKEND WARRIOR JAN 2005
Rene and Anji
Resurreccion at
the Passion for
Perfection office.
learned about BMS in 1998. “The UN (United Nations)
brought BMS here. DTI (Department of Trade
and Industry), one of our clients, identified us (Passion
for Perfection) as trainers. We were trained to
train others,” she related.
But even the greatest teachers could still learn a
thing or two from others. Such was the case with Ms.
Resurreccion, who realized she needed to make improvements
to her business.
There was no problem with marketing but production
was spotty. They therefore began classifying
and digitizing their files to make them easier to locate.
“BMS teaches you to focus on what is important.
Before, we spent much time making our reports attractive.
But there was one time I saw my report on
the shelf of one of our clients. It remained unread
and untouched,” she said.
“It is good to [make the reports attractive] but
when you lack manpower and time, you may not
need to do that. In my case, that was not the reason
why the clients patronized my services.”
She said BMS also taught her to concentrate on
what attracted her clients: Passion’s training programs.
“We offer training programs that inspire
people to achieve. We configure our training programs
to have an ‘experiential quality.’ The learning
experiences we offer are uniquely designed or customized
to approximate the work context of our participants,”
she said.
She said BMS also allowed them to streamline
their operations and trim costs. ”Before, we would
hire people to fix certain things but after we improved
our management, we no longer needed to
do that. This helped us reduce our expenses,” she
said, adding Passion does not need a big staff in order
to run.
Whereas before she maintained offices in Manila
and Lipa manned by four-full-time assistants, she
streamlined processes and retained just the Manila
office and two assistants. “The Lipa City office was a
branch office. It did not do very well, and BMS
helped me accept the fact it was a wrong decision to
open that branch,” Ms. Resurreccion said.
“After we decided to close that, we pursued expansion
by publishing books and other resource materials
for trainers.”
Passion, she added, also added research to its list
of services. “It is not our main bread and butter, but
last year it brought in some substantial revenues,”
she shared.
Ms. Resurreccion said the application of BMS to
Passion allowed them to share its advantages to
budding entrepreneurs. And learning the BMS
framework and applying it to her business operations
made her a credible teacher.
“We were trained to be master trainers and counselors
on the BMS. We first had to prove that BMS
works. Proving it presupposes you believe in it,” she
said. “How can you prove something you don’t believe
in? All of us decided to prove BMS works in
two ways: first, by applying it to our own business,
and applying it in other businesses.”
“Of course, the practice of any newly-learned skill
will make one more competent. But I think the issue
is more of credibility. How can you advice others
when you yourself are not using the same tool to improve
your own business? ”
Ms. Resurreccion said their BMS trainees found
the framework “very reasonable, interesting, and
practical.”
“But I found that business people do not care
whether it is called BMS or XYZ or ABC. They care
not about labels and frameworks. They care more
about the message,” she said.
But while much has been said about the advantages
of BMS, Ms. Resurreccion said these would
not materialize in an instant. “Business people find
BMS simple and easy to understand. However,
when it comes to application, it is not simple. It
takes patience and plenty of information to go
through the process of strategic planning. Counselors
are needed to help businesses sift through
ideas.”
But Ms. Resurreccion stressed learning BMS was
worth it as this allowed them to help small businesses
while spare them from sleepless nights.
“We no longer need to stay awake at dawn to finish
our tasks. We already improved our system of filing…
BMS helped us systemize our thinking,” she
said. “Our training of entrepreneurs has not been
the same since.”
. 
Leave a comment