Thankful

 I am a Catholic, born and raised. Yet, I am not a religious person. I don’t go to Church every Sunday nor do I read the bible. But I pray whenever and wherever, yet not that religiously also. But amidst these, God has been really good to me, to us. I can attest to that.

Let me tell you our story.

Year 2022, when I left the company I worked for, my husband and I decided to enter into a business together with our childhood friend with his wife as partners. We came to learn and love the coffee industry. Although not an expert, we learned to distinguish good and bad shots, difference of Arabica, Robusta and Liberica, uniqueness of performing artisan and signature coffee to normal extraction and so much more.

Our partners, however, had been in the F&B industry for more than 10 years and so we didn’t question a bit of their credibility since they were really good at this craft and, of course, sales.

When 2022 was approaching to the 4th quarter, we were introduced to a “possible investor” who were based in the US. Of course, we became excited with this idea since we were actually short of capital to make the business expand.

When we met the wife, we were actually hopeful that the negotiations will turn positively. Much to our dismay, we were told by our partners that all negotiations will go through them and not to us which means that if and when there are meetings, we're not included and we will only be getting the minutes. They will be conveying whatever they will tackle. What sad is that, apparently, they said that the investors decided that they will be the ones who will be in the corporation (SEC) and we will just be given our portion through the shares that will be handed to them. No contract, no legalities.

Then came 2023, further talks was that they won’t be investing here and that they will concentrate in another Region. Furthermore info from them was that we will just be a sub-distributor to a sub-distributor. This meant that we will be selling products that they buy from the main branch. This also meant that margin will be small for us since they’ll be cutting a percentage from the profit we’re going to make.

Because of these issues, my husband and I had a lot of sleepless nights which ended up in small and big arguments. It was then that we decided to call the main branch for clarification, deals and arrangements that we can work on from where we were standing.

Luckily, the main branch gave us their trust and confidence that we can make it. Not that we are raising our chairs but we had been in Mindanao all our life. Plus, coming from a society that consists of businessmen and capitalists, we thought we will be able to start off positively without them.

After my husband and I decided not to take on with their last offer of being their sub-distributor, the corporation we established went to shambles. It was decided to just finish the contract and each of us will go our own way. To be honest, that was by far the best decision we had made. No more arguments with my husband and no more sleepless nights.

Now, we are working towards being known. We now have clients that can attest to our hard work. Clients that know what our worth is.

Thankful that God really works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, we may not understand why these things happen, but in the end, it is still proven that God knows what is best for us.

To quote Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plants to give you a hope and future.’”

If you’re going to question me who these people were, I’d rather keep it quiet and just watch how karma works. After all, Karma is a bitch.