Amrei Dizon: From side hustle to successful entrepreneur

The Manila Times

Amrei Dizon: From side hustle to successful entrepreneur   Amrei Dizon is a shining example of how determination and passion can lead to great success. Twenty years ago, she founded VitalStrats Creative Solution (VCS) by accident, when a client unexpectedly asked for an invoice for her side hustle. This simple request sparked the realization that she needed to formalize her business. What started as a small design outfit has now grown into a full-service Creative Agency, serving clients not only in her home country but also overseas. Amrei's journey has not been without its challenges. She learned the hard way, facing obstacles and setbacks along the path to building her business. However, through her unwavering commitment and dedication, she has transformed VCS into a thriving enterprise that is recognized for its innovative and people-centered creative solutions. Amrei's success story serves as a reminder that it is possible to achieve your dreams through hard work, perseverance, and a strong belief in yourself. Her ability to adapt and evolve with the changing times has allowed VCS to stay ahead of the curve and continue to deliver exceptional results for its clients. Her commitment to putting people at the center of her work has not only earned her a loyal client base but has also established VCS as a trusted partner in the industry. Amrei Dizon's journey from a side hustle to a successful entrepreneur is a testament to the power of passion and determination. Her story is an inspiration to all aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to make their mark in the world of business.  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Subscribe to Business Franchise Guru: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessFranchiseGuru   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes  #philippines #entrepreneur

Transcript

00:00The Business Mentor Talks is vlog by no other, Armando Butz Bartolome, in cooperation with

00:14the Manila Times.

00:15It aims to bring to life and recognize entrepreneurs who constantly strive to create a living for

00:21the community as well.

00:51Nice to have a Sunday, but again, for us, it's our advocacy to really get an interview

01:51going.

01:52So, what we're talking about is social media, as well as an agency that has been there for

01:59the past 20 years.

02:00So, without further ado, let me invite the founder, Ms. Ambre Dizon.

02:07Ambre, good morning, good Sunday to you.

02:12Good morning, Sir Butz.

02:14Good Sunday to you, and thank you so much for having us here in your show.

02:21So, yeah, it's an honor, really.

02:23I've been inviting a lot of people, members of PCC, ICAS, and Citi, as well as PMA, Philippine

02:29Marketing Association, and ICSB.

02:32Okay.

02:33Ambre, tell us, how did you start the company 20 years ago?

02:42Actually, Sir, it was an accidental business.

02:47I graduated fine arts, so after graduation, I became a production assistant, a graphic

02:55designer, and I also did a lot of freelance work as a graphic designer, video editor,

03:02and web designer developer.

03:07During the freelance work, it just so happened that one of our clients asked for a receipt,

03:15so I had to register at DTI.

03:18Actually, we did not have, I personally don't have a background in business.

03:25I don't know anything about finance, marketing, and it was not part of my plan, having a company

03:35in the first place, had I known how difficult it was to start a business, I wouldn't have

03:41done it.

03:43But after that accidental registration, we just went to it and went with it, had many

03:52different clients, and did everything through trial and error until it worked.

04:00So what's really the focus of VCS, by the way, Ambre?

04:05VCS started as a graphic design and video production company, but now we are a full

04:13service digital content production company, a creative marketing agency.

04:19So we use strategic creativity to pinpoint real-world solutions that will contribute

04:27to the growth of our clients, well, not just our clients, but also our employees, our peers,

04:34and in the industry.

04:36So VCS provides many different services, such as campaign solutions.

04:42We also have strategic design services, video production solutions, social media marketing,

04:48and digital solutions, and we also have corporate event solutions.

04:53So it's more of a creative agency and a production company in one, sir.

05:01Wow.

05:02Is it easy?

05:05You did mention that had you known the accidental, you wouldn't have pursued, but you pursued

05:11it.

05:12Look, look at you, you are now 20 years, this VCS, this baby is no longer a baby, actually

05:18it's almost an adult, right?

05:20But to grow a business, what was the first thing that you probably realized?

05:27Why your business VCS grew?

05:32What was the foundation there?

05:34Actually, sir, it was really not easy.

05:39And I learned along the way that there are a couple of very, very important factors to

05:47grow a business.

05:48So the realization for us, well, number one, we have to be able to deliver what we promised.

05:57So that's the operation side, the center of growing a business, because when you have

06:04a brand, you start with marketing, right?

06:07You start with promising what you can deliver.

06:11But the secret to growing a business is really optimizing your key activities, having the

06:18right resources, having the right partners, being able to develop the day-to-day systems.

06:28And of course, people should be central to the resources in the nature of our business.

06:37It's a creative agency, very important for your ideas and craft and the strategies that

06:45come from our main resource, the people.

06:48So building a good company culture is also instrumental for us.

06:56And on my end, the viability aspect, when we were starting, I know very little about

07:03finance.

07:05So we were not collecting on time.

07:11We did not know how to price our services very well.

07:14So we had very little profitability.

07:17It was later on that we realized that we have to price correctly, we have to really

07:21study the profitability of projects and clients.

07:29So to recap, the marketing part is just the start, knowing what your product is and the

07:37value that you deliver.

07:39Actually delivering it, which is in the operations, is central.

07:44And knowing if it's viable for you, if you're actually profiting and growing, the cost aspect,

07:52the revenue streams aspect, that's what we realized while we were running the business.

08:00So really, Ray, your business is really people, you are people-centered, you have to have

08:06your great team to work with you, to synergize, as well as to deliver to your customers as well.

08:15But you know, the talk about creative, how creative can a creative agency be?

08:22Yes, sir, creativity is really subjective, but in order to be effective as a creative,

08:33we should be able to understand the business side of creativity.

08:37So how can our creativity help solve our clients' problems?

08:43For example, they are going to market a newly launched brand or going to expand their business

08:53or their market or develop new products.

08:57We have to use our creativity to solve their objectives, like how can it bring more awareness

09:04to their products, how can it bring in more sales, it entails a lot of strategy as well.

09:12It's not just about what looks good, what is a good video, what could be a good logo,

09:19but it should really align with what would give results for our clients.

09:24Correct, correct. But again, looking back 20 years ago, social media was not really in the forefront,

09:31right? You're talking about the press, the radio, the TV, the newspaper, the print, in other words.

09:40But now, how would you compare the intensity with the digitalization that we are now faced with?

09:47What is your comparison of your work now? Was it easier 20 years ago or is it easier now 20 years ago with the digitalization?

09:58Both, sir. Both easy and more challenging. Because 20 years ago when we started, there was no YouTube yet in 2004.

10:11And a lot of our projects were AVPs, flyers, posters, merchandising, in-store collaterals,

10:20what you see in the groceries, like shelves, and then when digital became a norm,

10:30especially AI nowadays, it opened up doors to a lot of smaller businesses

10:41because the barrier of entry is now easy. Advertising is now cheap. Before, you have to

10:48spend hundreds of thousands of pesos to have a print ad and to have a TV spot, but now you can reach

10:54hundreds of thousands of audiences with just a few thousand pesos for digital ads.

11:02So it's easier for MSMEs. It's easier for us also to give them platforms for awareness,

11:09but it's harder to stand out because a lot of brands are already there. The digital space

11:19could be saturated. So it's a matter of how can you resonate with your target market?

11:25How can you be more creative to stand out? How can you get noticed while your customers

11:30are scrolling? How can you make them stop? So how can you have a stop-stopping content?

11:35So that's really the challenge and attention span is really short. They say videos should be

11:41really short and the first three seconds, you should already capture your market and

11:48make them take a second look and your hooks, the messaging should already capture them at the first

11:54three seconds. So that's the challenging part, standing out amidst the content-saturated digital

12:02space. So it's really ever-challenging to you and your people. In other words, how to make

12:10the client or the people stop scrolling because really you notice now with a lot of people using

12:18mobile phones rather than laptops, before it's laptop, tablet. Now you see a lot of people now

12:24using in while they're commuting, going up and down, going up and down, but I guess your focus

12:31there is to stop that finger from scrolling up and focus on your campaign. So how does now,

12:39I just want to see, does it really profit an entrepreneur to get professional people like you

12:46or the DIY attitude? A lot of people are saying, why would I get an agency?

12:53My son, my daughter or whatever, they can do it. How would you now separate

13:01the grain from the hash? Okay, so well, to tell you the truth, a lot of small entrepreneurs can

13:12already DIY everything. There's already AI-generated content now, but it's easy to learn the technology.

13:23It's easy to create content, but I guess the value of an agency is helping clients strategize

13:35and choosing the right platform, the right messaging, the right mix of content for them.

13:43So the strategic creativity aspect, the art and science of the actual

13:55campaign that would deliver results, I guess that's the help that we bring into our clients.

14:03But there are different types of problems. So we tell them, sometimes we build the

14:11frameworks for them or we set up the strategies and then give them the next steps that they can

14:18manage themselves. So maybe wherever we can help and wherever we can help them so that they can

14:29get the right direction. So more or less like you're mentoring them, you're coaching them,

14:36but later on, if and when they need your help, you really coach them all the way

14:41to get them into having a collaboration with you, right? Rather than spoon-feeding a client.

14:47Because sometimes the client is like, I know that, I know that, you know, I know that attitude.

14:52But when it comes to why our results don't deliver, right? So it takes two to tango, right?

15:00Yes, sir. But a lot of our clients now, they are mostly bigger brands, also multinationals. We also

15:09have clients outside the country, like Sanrio Philippines, we provide content for them.

15:17These bigger brands use our agency as an extension of their creative departments.

15:23So they also have other agencies, they also have in-house creatives, which means they need to

15:29create and generate a lot of content. They still need our help, so we act as their external

15:36department. So we have creative retainers where they can just order content from us or order

15:44strategies or articles or whatever on a regular basis monthly. So we also act as an extension of

15:50their creative and marketing departments. But for smaller businesses, what we did is we created a

15:58management consulting company called Site Management Consultancy. So that consulting

16:08company caters to smaller businesses, mga MSMEs, where we also teach them about business models and

16:18how to market, with the marketing framework that would result to viability in their businesses.

16:30What about, Amre, availability of manpower? Everybody seems to be talking nowadays

16:35about the difficulty of getting the right people, because people either do it at home,

16:40they stay, do business at home, or they migrate, or it's

16:47whatever is the offer. How would you contend with that, getting and keeping the right people?

16:54The behavior of the workforce has already changed, but first and foremost,

17:01for the work-from-home setup. So actually, during the pandemic, we tried the work-from-home

17:09setup, and it worked for us, so we're now a remote first agency. So that's an advantage,

17:15since a lot of our teammates prefer the work-from-home setup. Second, the young ones

17:25would like a company to have a good culture and to have that culture of

17:37care for their employees. The advertising industry is known to be very toxic and high-pressure,

17:47so we try to balance that, and we foster an environment where we really care for the

17:55well-being of our employees and incorporate balance in their lives. And also,

18:06the reason why we attract employees is because of the advocacies that we serve and the values

18:14that we believe in, such as we are an LGBT and PWD-owned company. Well, I belong to the

18:24LGBT community, and I'm also a PWD, so those are the advocacies we support, and we also attract

18:31the younger ones who also believe in our causes. So it's very important for brands to take a stand

18:39and to support advocacies as well, aside from the commercial aspects of the service we offer.

18:48But I noticed you're very active with associations. Tell us, Amre, how do you choose

18:55organizations to participate? What seems to be the secret of Amre? Because everywhere, every

19:02event I went to, when I saw Amre, I said, I saw you last week, I saw you this week. You seem to

19:09be floating anywhere. Is this part of your campaign to make BCS prominent, or is it part of your

19:17advocacy? Or how do you choose associations? Because there are people who say, I don't want

19:22to join associations, they're toxic. But you seem to be participating in selective organizations.

19:30What kind of advice would you say? Well, for one, sir, we wouldn't have

19:37grown, we wouldn't have learned without the support of the organizations where we are a member of.

19:48When we started, I didn't know anyone. I didn't know anyone from the industry. I also didn't know

19:54fellow entrepreneurs. But when I joined associations, I was able to learn about

20:02the best practices of other businesses. I learned more about marketing when I joined

20:08Philippine Marketing Association. I shared problems and concerns with the industry and

20:18how we can have a unified voice representing our sector. Knowing many different people,

20:29business owners, people from the industry, is very, very helpful for an organization to thrive.

20:36But of course, it's give and take, because we also help them out. We give pro bono services

20:44for their advocacies, for what we also believe in. We support them with that. For example,

20:51we give free campaigns, free creative services, a lot of those for Philippine Marketing Association

20:58before and now for ICSB and Philippine LGBT Chamber of Commerce and ADHD Society of the

21:04Philippines. Being someone with ADHD, I'm really restless and I'm really looking for

21:12where else we can help, what new projects we can support, and what new things we can learn.

21:20It just so happened that these organizations offer a lot of learnings and chances to get to

21:27know people and leaders such as you, Sir Woods. I wouldn't have known you had I not known Philippine

21:34Marketing Association and AFI. It's really a blessing and it takes a lot of time, but

21:43the rewards are also very fulfilling. True. Well, I must congratulate you because you are

21:53really well-balanced. You can come up with some magic, given a short period of time to

22:01organize a summit like the ICSB the other month and now the recent one. Again, you build the

22:10criteria, you build your rapport, your credibility, which I guess is the most important investment.

22:18You have to walk the talk. Who was Amre before? If you're isolated or you're just staying in the

22:31comfort of your office and you're doing remote control, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't

22:36work now. You have to be all out. I won't take you so much of your time, but give me at least

22:45two takeaways that you can probably tell people who are probably like you, so much energy

22:53and probably those who are starting up, but again, they're about to burn out.

22:59I'm sure you did that too for the first three years or first seven years.

23:03Well, first is all about continuous learning as a business owner.

23:23Even for 20 years now that we are running the business, I'm still learning.

23:28So I guess the main learning that I would like each business owner to keep in mind is knowing

23:38the entire business model. It's not just about having a product and selling it. You have to

23:45first know your value through marketing and know how to deliver the value through a solid

23:52operations. And of course, know how to grow the business and ensure that the desirability or the

24:00value that you deliver through feasible operations is also viable for you, meaning it's profitable.

24:08So viability, feasibility, and desirability. So that's the first one, knowing the entire business

24:16model and how the ecosystem works. And second, people. People are very important. So you have to

24:24build a culture for your brand, for your company. You have to have advocacies that you support.

24:34You have to have these solid values that will guide you in every decision that you make,

24:42and in every decision that your employees make, even in your absence, as long as the values are

24:47there, you will be fine. So that's very important.

24:54You heard it from the founder who started from an accident and now with 20 years of business, still growing and growing.

25:06That's Amre Dizon. Siguro, Amre, where can they find you and how can they get in touch with you, if ever?

25:14We have a website. It's vitalstrats.ph. And I also have an Instagram and I'm also on Facebook,

25:24Amre, Amre Dizon, or my website, amredizon.com.

25:29So get in touch with Amre. Ask her questions. Again, if you are an entrepreneur and you're looking

25:37how to grow your business, especially now with the social media toxicity, let Amre be the one

25:44to give you the neutral solution. So yeah, Amre, thank you very much.

25:52And I will not take your time. It's a Sunday. I know your creativity juices are working 24-7.

26:02You think they're not working, but their mind is still working.

26:06So again, thank you very much. Have a nice day. Have a great week. And again,

26:11God bless your mighty agency. Okay.

26:17Thank you. Thank you.

26:18Thank you, sir.

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