We are on our second leg of our sailing trip, bringing our kids to see how beautiful our provinces are. Our first leg, which I wrote about in my earlier column, was a visit to Moalboal, Oslob, Sumilon island and Bohol. It was a fantastic adventure.

In the second leg, we took friends who have never been to Coron and Busuanga and they were amazed at how beautiful our country really is.

Everyone hears about El Nido of Palawan and Boracay. Indeed they are considered the best in the world, but Coron, Busuanga and the Calamines islands have great potential too. I have been 15 days at sea, just having to go home for some days to attend board meetings, as this is our only chance to sail when the sea is calm and our kids are on summer vacation and we are with friends to appreciate our own country and the different cultures of each area.

The expansion of the big boys in tourism is happening now; Discovery just took over Club Paradise in Busuanga, the Regency Group of Boracay has started developments in Bohol and has taken over the best island in Coron called Malcapuya island. I just hope they don’t make this a high density hotel.

Huma, owned by some foreign group, hopefully will be more accommodating to local tourist as we have been rejected from landing in the resort last year. The two Seasons group has improved their service a lot and has welcomed a lot of people to visit their prime resort in Coron.

Even at sea, I take time to keep in touch with the real world, but I have realized that life is a journey we all take. While we all want to succeed in our respective negosyos, we need to be grounded with what is out there and take time to be with our family. My youngest daughter, Bella, wants to follow her sisters and brother to dive but she is only seven years old. She loves the provinces, loves the people as we go out to go to the fishermen and talk to them to buy their catch.

My friends say this is the life. I guess it is really what we make out of God’s blessing – a life He has given us. Do we spend it all in work and kill ourselves for material success or do we put some kind of a balance to all this? Many entrepreneurs do get blinded and forget to realize the sunrise and sunset.

I met a man named Cris who is sort of a very small negosyante in Malcapuya island who claims to be the winner of a Datu Puti contest years ago with his asim face. What he does is he takes out people in his tiny banca, getting them to hold on to see the corals and fishes. Even if this is just a small way for him to earn a living, he still sees the positivity of helping others to enjoy the wonders of nature.

Like Cris, negosyantes like us should always see the brighter side of life. We may have lucrative business gains and milestones but what’s more important is we cherish the simple things that life has to offer.

Life is not forever. If we are blessed to live a long and healthy life, we must ensure that we do spend quality time in our earthly life, creating wealth not only for ourselves but for others, and wealth does not need to be only in material form. Mentorship as a father or mother, spending time with our family, making our children feel the importance of what family really is are, to me, treasures we must build. This is a strength among Filipinos-the family relationship. Rich or poor, I have seen families bond together. Family ties are so strong.

Yes, it is definitely more fun to be with family and friends in enjoying our country.

Recently, Go Negosyo renewed its partnership with PLDT SME Nation together with PLDT Corporate Business Group senior executive vice-president Eric Alberto and PLDT SME Nation vice president and head Kat Luna –Abelarde as we continue our joint effort to elevate the competencies of the SMEs, especially as we prepare for the integration of the ASEAN market in 2015.

Notably, the PLDT SME Nation has long been a partner of Go Negosyo in helping build an entrepreneurial society, by assisting the SME sector with relevant ICT systems like the PLDT Cloud, DSL broadband, Check Out sales and inventory systems, FasTrack location trackers, Watchers CCTV monitoring systems and many more.

They have been at the forefront as well in partnering with Go Negosyo to recognize the leading entrepreneurs in the country through their Bossing Awards, and the mounting of SME forums that serve as learning and sharing sessions among fellow entrepreneurs.

The reason behind all these technological advancements is the convenience and business innovations that can greatly help SMEs to further their business. The importance of adopting technology to level-up businesses is very essential. Imagine if all the SMEs are utilizing and maximizing the power of technology in transacting businesses. The efficiency and convenience of it goes both ways benefitting the entrepreneur and its clients.

PLDT SME Nation supports in nurturing and providing an environment that will educate the youth, give proper support, funding, and mentoring. Go Negosyo, on the other hand, is one with their vision and goals of helping these aspiring entrepreneurs to level-up a bulk of entrepreneurs to succeed and move up in life.