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Break The Copycat Cycle: Work vs Entrepreneurship


By Gil delos Santos

In the vastness of the universe we live in, it is ironic how Filipino culture often treats life as a cookie-cutter. We aspire to replicate “success paths” without first engaging in deep self-awareness or checking for self-applicability. We sell the idea that success can be copied wholesale—that entrepreneurship is the highway to prosperity.

This is a miss.

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Yet there is very little discourse about who should not start a business—or when one is actually ready.

Having worked for successful personalities and some of the world’s wealthiest individuals during my 20-year professional stint abroad, I’ve seen where success truly thrives. Across industries and cultures, it is consistently shaped by three deeply self-aware masters:

1. THE INVENTOR 
Inventors are either born with gifts destined for breakthroughs, or they are disciplined goal-getters who reinvent themselves by starting at the bottom to acquire real-life skills.

In real life, they are natural inventors like Thomas Edison—or ordinary individuals who patiently hone their craft until they become the “Thomas Edison” of their chosen field.

2. THE INNOVATOR 
Innovators are creative minds who make existing inventions work better. They refine, improve, and elevate what already exists.

In real life, they are professionals who have mastered their craft and continue evolving—earning the status of problem-solvers, troubleshooters, and specialists.

3. THE ENTREPRENEUR 
Entrepreneurs operate at the next level. They are master inventors and innovators who invest to scale and sell mastery.

In real life, they are experienced and seasoned individuals who step into entrepreneurship not out of desperation, but out of readiness.

ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP 
Many Filipinos today are desperate entrepreneurs. This is largely due to how success is taught and culturally conditioned.

“Working” is undervalued—“dahil wala raw yumayaman sa pagtatrabaho.”

This is false.
And it is a myth.

I only realized this after seeing successful, financially secure retirees in their mid-40s enjoying life with full options—while many business owners I know, already at retirement age, still hustle relentlessly just to stay afloat.

The right time to take on entrepreneurship is after getting through the Inventor and Innovator stages—because experience and skills are key that guarantee success. An investor starting a business without experience and skills is a fortune hunter, NOT AN ENTREPRENEUR.

We can copy business models but we can't copy experience and skills in order to guarantee success. 

Humbly start somewhere low, gain experience from work, hone skills from work. Make yourself a master before jumping onto the next level. That's the organic path to success.

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