When she moved to Davao City for good, she realized that her interest in health, beauty and wellness would fuel her entrepreneurial fervor, and eventually help others become entrepreneurs themselves.
Teresa Pagalilauan Estoista established in 2009 the Tulip Bliss Marketing, the first and only distributor of Optima Wellness products in Mindanao. A few months later, she began distributing salon products (exclusive to V15 brand), equipment and accessories.
But, before becoming an entrepreneur, Estoista was employed with a multinational pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Manila for 20 years.
After graduating from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City in 1980, Estoista returned to her hometown in Cagayan Valley province to teach college students at the State university there.
“It was a sense of returning a favor to my community for being a government scholar,” she said. Estoista had visions of becoming a doctor someday, that’s why she took a course leading to a bachelor of science in biology degree. However, her goals changed after graduation and decided instead to simply find employment to earn an income and have a good life.
Her one year experience as a college instructor convinced her that teaching was not her calling. She went back to Manila and found herself competing with thousands of applicants for a job with GSK.
“Although selling was not my best suit, I took it as a challenge because I really wanted to earn money. But after a series of screenings and the thousands had been reduced to hundreds and then to dozens, I found myself getting interested in sales and eventually was among the few who were hired,” Estoista said.
That was in 1986 when she started working for GSK as a product representative. Two years later, she was promoted to product specialist.
In 1993, she got married to John Estoista who was then working for Johnson & Johnson (Philippines), Inc., of which he is today its regional sales manager for Visayas and Mindanao. She asked her company to transfer her to Davao City, John’s birth place, where the couple planned to settle down so she could focus on raising a family.
In mid-1994, Estoista arrived in Davao City as product specialist, then promoted as district manager for GSK. It also meant making all sorts of adjustments—new place, new field of work, and married life. Her concern for the future of her children (John Paulo and Nicole are currently 4th and 2nd year secondary students, respectively, at the Philippine Science High School in Mintal), Estoista decided to change her career as long as it would mean she would remain based in Davao.
“With all my major decisions in terms of career, I have always given priority to my family,” she said. “In time when market demand was so strong, I entertained the idea of resigning from work because my status would not be helpful to my growing kids,” she said.
In time, her wish for an early retirement was answered. The next two years saw Estoista staying home and seeing to the comfort and welfare of her kids.
Through her previous job, she had established connections, a great advantage if she should ever venture into business. In fact, the one who offered her the Optima Wellness was a former boss at GSK, a man well respected in the industry not only in the Philippines but in the Asia Pacific Region. She truly admired this man for his business acumen and concern for his employees’ welfare. He was a friend she had met during her stint with GSK.
At the time, she told herself, “I will venture into something na kahit mapantayan lang ang kinikita ko dati basta pag-uwi ko ng bahay sa gabi, makakasama ko ang asawa at mga anak ko,” she confided.
After doing the mathematics, Estoista started distributing Optima Wellness products in June last year. “It’s selling on its own. Its marketing relies on word of mouth. There’s not much effort in selling the products because people only have to try them and be convinced,” she said, adding that Optima Wellness products are US made and backed by 25 years of clinical studies and the approval of the Bureau of Food and Drugs and US FDA. She vouches for their good quality, having tested them herself.
Only a few months after joining Optima, Estoista joined an exhibit on beauty and wellness at the SM City Davao. She was introduced to V15 salon products, and salon equipment and accessories. Interested in the business, she added these to the line of products of Tulip Bliss Marketing.
In four months since May, three salons have been established in Davao City with her hands-on help. “I can set up a complete set salon with 90 percent of the things needed for it to start operating,” she said. Aside from providing the salon products, equipment and accessories, her services also include consultation, training on how to use the products, hiring of personnel and their skills evaluation, and tips on marketing.
“While the market niche for these products have been established, my background in sales and managing people contributed to the success of my business,” she said. Estoista believes that her edge as an entrepreneur stems from her professionalism which she learned from her experiences working with GSK, especially in mastering customer care.
She plans to create a module on customer care in a salon to upgrade the quality of its service. “I want customers to feel good right at the moment they step into the salon. This mostly happens only at a high-end salon, but I want it to be standardized with the personnel’s specialized skills,” she said.
Having started her business with a fair share of difficulties, Estoista wants to tell everyone that there’s nothing to be afraid of in starting a business and that help from others always comes.
“I would like people to dare to venture into business. And, I want them to know that, in doing business, they own their time and enjoy life. But, they have to remember that integrity and relationship with people are the key factors to be considered in order to become successful,” she said.
Fond of hair treatments and milk spa, this glamorous woman at 47 considers herself financially independent even as her lifestyle never changes such as going home after work where her kids are waiting. “I am not only doing what I love, but I also create jobs and opportunities for others at the same time,” Estoista said. And that’s where she finds fulfillment—her ultimate goal. [Lorie ann a. cascaro]
