Episode 108 – Samantha Tan

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Automated Transcription

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Samantha Tan 0:00
I was practically around 11 years old, I can remember my dad telling me that what is what’s important in life is not how much you earn how much money that you will earn is not important, but it’s how much respect that you gain in the society is more important than the money that you will be gaining from the society. That’s the value that he left me before he passed away six years after. So if you look at entrepreneurs as one of those who energizes the economy that makes the money go around, the treats money like manure that you need to spread it and encourage new things to grow, as Barbra Streisand was trying to set it in a concert, then the ones spreading the manure, the money is a hero in his own. And encourage them to bloom.

Richard Matthews 0:58
…3-2-1

Richard Matthews 1:49
Hello and welcome back to The HERO Show. My name is Richard Matthews and today I have live on the line Samantha Tan. Sam, are you there?

Samantha Tan 2:01
Yes, I’m here.

Richard Matthews 2:03
Awesome. I’m so glad to have you here, Sam. So Sam is our first guest from the Philippines. And you’re in Cagayan de Oro, is that right?

Samantha Tan 2:13
Yes, that’s right. It’s a privilege to be here and to be the first Filipino guest of this show.

Richard Matthews 2:19
Awesome. I’m really glad to have you here. So I’m gonna do a quick introduction for our audience who may or may not know who you are. So, Sam is a retired lawyer. And you’re working now as a real estate lessor and senior legal officer. And you’ve started volunteering and supporting it a cause advocacy is like women’s rights, issues on LGBT, and HIV awareness, just to name a few. So what I want to start with is, what is it that you’re best known for now? What is it that your business is? Who do you serve and what do you do for them?

Samantha Tan 2:54
Well, because I’m into real estate leasing and I lease out commercial spaces. So therefore my interaction is primarily is with local entrepreneurs. These are small scale, medium, small, medium entrepreneurs. These are the ones who really work at hard-earned money, gained enough capitalization to be able to set up a business of their own, with no business models to follow, and it is a business model that they’ve created by experience, basically.

Richard Matthews 3:35
Awesome. So you help them find places to operate in your city?

Samantha Tan 3:41
My business is I lease out my spaces. I own the spaces, I lease it out to them.

Richard Matthews 3:49
Okay, that makes sense.

Samantha Tan 3:51
I own several commercial spaces, I lease it out to them as their commercial venue. So that’s where they will do their trading. So usually –

Richard Matthews 4:04
That makes a lot of sense. Go ahead.

Samantha Tan 4:07
So, my lessees, my tenants are usually – I have a big drop and agricultural supply. And there’s one Japanese surplus appliances company. And I have one who’s into selling motorbikes and bicycle parts and some basic grocery items. And the sixth one is basic vegetables – market vegetables business. And another one –

Richard Matthews 4:09
You’re in the business of supporting small businesses then.

Samantha Tan 4:49
I would call it a symbiotic relationship that if I would be able to help them out with their business – It’s like a partnership. So if their business would grow, I would also grow. Because I earn from them. So I have to make sure that the lease that I will be giving to them – asking from them would be something that would not be too expensive that I will kill their business. But it must be something that will start their business and propel it into becoming a very successful one. So I would rather have them stay with me longer than stay with me for six months or seven months and then close shop.

Richard Matthews 5:45
Yeah, because it was too expensive or something. So because I’m curious and we’re in the middle of our whole global pandemic thing, how has the whole How have your businesses that have leased into your spaces how they’ve been surviving through this whole pandemic?

Samantha Tan 6:04
Well, ironically, because most of my lessees are into essentials like bakery – bakeshop, selling of vegetables and grocery items, and bicycle and bicycle parts, which is when there is a transportation problem. And the local government would encourage them to use bicycles instead of automobiles or taking public transportation when it’s not available. So they’re essential, so they’re open, they’re allowed to do business. So they are – the movement of their items is not that fast as usual, because people are in quarantine but because they are engaged in a business that is a necessity. People will patronize them instead of other non… So they remained open. But for them to survive, I have to cut down the lease costs. So I have to give them some discounts on the month when we were in general quarantine. So instead of asking for the full amount, what I asked is I only asked for 50% so I gave them a 50% cut. So instead of just suspending payment, what I did was I gave discount that would be equivalent to giving them – that when the city was under general community quarantine, there would be no lease for them to pay because the rule of law – in the Philippines the rule is that if you’re into leasing, you do not collect from April, May, and June. But you collect the sum total of those months, starting July up to up to December. So say if one space is good for 20,000 this is around they think $400 am I correct?

Richard Matthews 8:33
I don’t know what the exchange rate is off the top of my head, but –

Samantha Tan 8:38
But 20 grand around. That’s the cost of the rent. So instead of charging them 20,000 for that particular month of April, May, and June I just collected 10,000. So, instead of starting to collect the full amount when there was already a loser rule in quarantine, I still maintained the 50% off. So that it would be equivalent to giving them free rent from April, May, and June. So that’s my way of supporting them. Because if I will not be supporting them, both of us will sink. Both of us will die. So I would rather live in our respirator first – economic respirator – based on my savings, than kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Richard Matthews 9:49
Makes a lot of sense. So my next question for you is about your origin story. It’s basically how you got started in business. How you became an entrepreneur. So we say on this show, every good comic book hero has an origin story. It’s the thing that made them into the hero they are today. And we want to hear that story. Were you born a hero, or were bit by a radioactive spider that made you want to get into business? Or did you start a new job and eventually move to become an entrepreneur? We basically want to know where you came from. How did you get into this business of being lessor in your community?

Samantha Tan 10:25
Okay. It’s going to be a long story. But to cut it short. My parents are basically Chinese. So they’re really into trading. So my dad and my mom were into business and from that business, they were able to invest in real estate. They were able to build buildings. And from that, that’s how I turned out to become a real estate lessor. So from a child of parents who are into business, it’s a destiny for me. Like there’s no other way that I have to go, but to be in business.

Richard Matthews 11:17
Awesome. That makes a lot of sense. Your parents gave you a good example.

Samantha Tan 11:25
Yes. So the question of whether or not I’m a hero or not it is a question that I would not be able to answer. But I think it would be the people around my community or the people around me, would be the best person to say, whether I’m a hero or not. Because you see, heroism is a question depending on perception. What would you consider as a heroic deed – for this person to be considered a hero?

Richard Matthews 12:04
So in our own little world, the story that we’re trying to create here with our podcast is the idea that and this is, this is an American cultural phenomenon we’ve had over the last 50 to 60 years in our country, that the villain in all of our stories, and even in the childhood stories that we have, they’re always entrepreneurs. It’s always some entrepreneur who’s pouring oil in the water and killing the ducks or some variation on that story. And I’ve always not liked that story that we have in America that the entrepreneur is the villain because the reality is that most entrepreneurs, the overwhelming majority of them, in fact, are the ones that are providing the services and providing the products and providing the essential things that make our world go around. So everything that we interact with on a daily basis was at some point touched and handled by an entrepreneur. So entrepreneurs are really the enablers of the life that we live today. And so we’re just trying to shift that narrative and say that hey, entrepreneurs are actually heroes in their communities. And to your point, or to what you do you got your hero in your community because you’re providing business space for other businesses to help support them, and help them get started.

Samantha Tan 13:18
Yeah, oh, funny thing when I was probably around grade six. So I started sixth grade one. So I am, I was practically 11 years old. I can remember my dad, telling me that what’s important in life is not how much you earn. But how much money that you will earn is not important, but it’s how much respect that you have gained in the society is more important than the money that you will be gaining from the society. This is what – that’s the value that he left me before he passed away six years after. If you look at intrapreneurs as somebody as one of those who energizes the economy that makes the money go around, that treats money like manure that you need to spread it and encourage new things to grow as Barbra Streisand would always say it or said it in a concert, then the one spreading the manure, which is the money is a hero in his own.

Richard Matthews 14:39
I really like that metaphor. That’s a good metaphor, that if you’re – the entrepreneurs, the ones spreading the manure so they can help things grow, that’s a good way to think about that.

Samantha Tan 14:52
Helping new things to grow and encourage them to bloom.

Richard Matthews 14:57
Absolutely. So my next question for you then, it’s about your own superpowers. So we say every iconic hero has a superpower whether it’s a fancy flying suit made of his intellect, or the ability to call down thunder. Heroes in the real world have what I call a zone of genius, which is a skill or is a set of skills that you either we’re born with or developed over time, that really allow you to help other people that allow you to do what you do. So you can help your customers or your clients, in this case, come out on top of their journeys. So just with that framing, what do you think your superpower is in business?

Samantha Tan 15:36
Justice.

Richard Matthews 15:39
Justice. So explain that for me, what do you mean?

Samantha Tan 15:43
It’s by being just. Do your transactions within the paradigm of justice that you give everyone his due and get what is only due to you. And at this justice – there is legal justice, and I’m talking of economic justice, that you cannot get more than what you have given. And you cannot get more than what you were able to give.

Richard Matthews 16:13
Absolutely. And that’s where you get into the win-win scenario. So if I’m understanding you correctly, your ability to create win-win scenarios for you. And the other side of the transaction or anyone who’s involved is where your strength comes in.

Samantha Tan 16:27
Yes, looking at things in a positive way, although to some, it’s the most stupid idea I ever imagined or for them to have thought of.

Richard Matthews 16:40
Awesome. So when it comes to – so just off the top of my head when you were talking about during this pandemic, offering the 50% discount to your or your lessees, that’s a way to offer that justice or that win-win situation while we’re all suffering under a pandemic, that you can still help them keep their businesses open, and hopefully thrive later on. Is that correct?

Samantha Tan 17:06
And aside from that, because, I, as a lawyer, what Mark knows is that I retired as a lawyer but I started practice again. When I updated my CLE. I think in the US, you call it continuing legal education. In the Philippines, we call it the mandatory continuing legal education. So when I started complying for my CLE, the US equivalent, I started accepting clients. So during the pandemic, they would ask me, labor matters, what would be the best solution when it comes to how to deal with employees who are out of work because the company is closed? So I gave them guidelines On How To be able to help their employees financially and if the business needs to retrench because of redundancy because there is – because of this COVID-19 there is a rule now that the capacity of one place should only be 50%. Must only be occupied 50% of the capacity to be able to observe social distancing. I think it’s already being practiced in the US. So I gave him guidelines as to what kind of employees would you be targeting to retrench or remove first? So that there would be justice that you would not be removing someone who has served you for so long, and is entitled to more benefits that’s why you are cutting the ties off with this guy. But it’s more of who is essential for your company to thrive, survive, and grow. So these are somehow the criteria that I have given them. I’ve guided them in terms of how to select the employee – who to terminate and put them on an on-call basis.

Richard Matthews 19:44
Yeah, I think they call that furloughing employees here in the US. And so you’ve been giving guidance on how to do that in a just way.

Samantha Tan 19:52
Yes.

Richard Matthews 19:53
Makes sense. So, the flip side then of your superpower is of course the fatal flaw. So if Your superpower is justice. The fatal flaw is the other side of that. So just like Superman has his Kryptonite or Wonder Woman can’t remove her bracelets of victory without going mad. You probably have a flaw that’s held you back in your business, something you struggled with. Maybe like me things like perfectionism that kept me from shipping products to the market. Or lack of self-care, which means I let my clients walk all over me at some points in my business. But I think more important than what the flaw is, is how you dealt with it? How have you worked to overcome that flaw so that you can continue to grow your business and hopefully sharing that will help some of our listeners learn from your experience there.

Samantha Tan 20:37
Well primarily my flaw, which is justice, the flaw is when somebody would not abide by the rules, then it becomes a flaw. But if you – it sounds negative – but if you weaponize the law, if you use the law to achieve justice because somebody did not follow the rules, then it goes back to being equalized again. So the flaw will just – at the first glance is a flaw. But again, with the principle of justice and equity, if you would just use the law to equalize the inequities, then, again, you get justice.

Richard Matthews 21:48
If I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that justice has its positive side and then the negative side of justice is that sometimes you have to come in and bring the arm – the enforcement of the law down on people, so that the law is applied properly. And that’s the negative side of that. But the result is it brings you back to that justice and brings the equilibrium back.

Samantha Tan 22:14
But we’re only talking here of human law, which is imperfect because we are in an imperfect world. And that is the primary flaw of that concept of justice that I’m talking about. But then again, if you are a person who does not abide by the law alone of the human law, but you also abide by a divine law, your fear of a super being, that your existence is not purely human existence, that to believe into something that there is a being more powerful and will definitely give you that justice that you deserve, then you will be afraid to do what is not right. Because you have the divine and natural law that you have to follow.

Richard Matthews 23:16
Yeah, that’s one of the things I talked about all the time with our – I have a concept I call the five freedoms. And the first one of those is spiritual freedom and understanding how you fit into that Divine Law, essentially.

Samantha Tan 23:31
So it’s kind of deep, and I think it’s spiritually philosophical. So I don’t want to – at this hour.

Richard Matthews 23:40
What time is it in the Philippines right now?

Samantha Tan 23:43
It’s four o’clock in the morning. It’s sleeping time.

Richard Matthews 23:48
It’s 4 pm here. So we’re exactly 12 hours opposite.

Samantha Tan 23:52
So you’re in the New York, New York area?

Richard Matthews 23:54
Yeah. Florida.

Samantha Tan 23:58
So that’s the timezone.

Richard Matthews 24:03
Absolutely.

Samantha Tan 24:04
So so it’s coffee time over there.

Richard Matthews 24:07
Just about, we’re getting ready to do dinner here after this interview is done. So my next question for you then is about your common enemy. So every superhero has an arch-nemesis, it’s the thing that they constantly have to fight against in their world. So in the world of business, it takes on many forms, but generally speaking, we put it in the context of your clients. What’s a mindset or a flaw that you’re constantly having to fight against with your clients, you’re lessees, so that you can help them get better results in their life or in their business? So do you have something that you’re constantly fighting against with the people that you work with so that they get better results?

Samantha Tan 24:45
Inflation, the common enemy of business and entrepreneurs is inflation. It comes every two years or every year. And it’s difficult for somebody from my point of view, it’s difficult for me to show them that it’s important for me to have at least an increase across the board by reason of inflation. For them, every increase is unreasonable for a lessee when the lessor would increase their rent. For a lessee, that’s unreasonable. What they cannot understand is that you are not the only one who needs to survive. I need to survive as well. I need to buy things that you are buying, like food, the food that you’re buying costs the same thing, the same amount. If I’m going to buy the same food, but they cannot understand that. That the fact that the prices that they’re selling are already increasing. So, therefore, in the same way, they need to increase capitalization in terms of rent and in venture. They can’t understand that.

Richard Matthews 26:22
It’s a tough concept. And especially because if I’m not mistaken, every currency in the world right now is backed by a debt-based currency. It’s backed by the US dollar, which is a debt-based currency, which means that it is over time as our Federal Reserve as terrible as that it’s doing right now is printing more and more money. And the value of the currency is going down and every other currency that’s pegged their value to the dollar, which I believe the peso is one of those. As time goes on, the currency is worthless so it takes more of it to purchase the same thing. So it’s a difficult concept to understand. And I think I think as most people, most non-entrepreneurs, don’t look at the world and think, hey, if in our world, if I have a package of eggs costs $1 this year, and then next year, the package of eggs costs $1.50. It’s not the eggs that got more expensive. It’s the dollar that got less valuable.

Samantha Tan 27:26
It’s the company it’s getting …

Richard Matthews 27:28
Yeah. So the dollar or the currency is actually getting less valuable because the value of the eggs didn’t change. 12 eggs are 12 eggs. And it was 12 eggs last year, and it’s 12 eggs this year. So if it now suddenly costs $1.50 to buy those eggs instead of $1. Then you are –

Samantha Tan 27:47
It’s the money that is not good.

Richard Matthews 27:49
It’s the value of the money that’s going down. So, in the same way, your rent is going up because the peso or the Philippine peso is going down. So you have to increase rents to make up for that.

Samantha Tan 28:05
Yes. And it’s different. It’s a difficult concept to convey to the lessee because to them, it sounds whimsical and capricious. Not reasonable.

Richard Matthews 28:19
So how do you? How do you deal with that?

Samantha Tan 28:23
Oh, I sit down with them and give them a talk for an hour. So I would usually ask them questions like, how is your inventory with the flour for the bakeshop? How much are you buying the flour per sack right now? And oh, it has gone up. And what about your eggs? Oh, it has also gone up. I eat eggs. I need flour. And it costs the same so I need to increase.

Richard Matthews 28:54
It’s interesting. It’s interesting. You have to have the same discussions all over the world for the inflation rate currencies.

Samantha Tan 29:01
Over coffee and cake. It’s going to be – it has to be a friendly discussion or else when it becomes antagonistic then nothing positive will come out of it. So essentially over coffee and because the Philippines is a tropical country, I do not serve hot or warm coffee just iced coffee.

Richard Matthews 29:31
Nice and so just because I’m curious does cake mean the same thing in the Philippines as it does here in the US or as a cake similar to the British cake which I think is different – it’s a different thing over in Britain.

Samantha Tan 29:44
Basically, the cake that we eat.

Richard Matthews 29:48
Because cake here is a dessert. It’s a dessert thing with frosting on it.

Samantha Tan 29:53
Yeah, a pound cake or a loaf of butter cake or a cheesecake or a chocolate moist cake. So we usually –

Richard Matthews 30:04
When I have a discussion about finances, that’s a good way to do it, is over cake.

Samantha Tan 30:11
Sweet things make people have emotional rush and when you are emotional, you do not become rational. So I catch them off guard.

Richard Matthews 30:28
I think there’s some secret messages for people who have to have tough conversations about doing it over coffee and cake in the future.

Samantha Tan 30:36
You put their defenses down. When it’s over coffee, somebody will tend to put down the barriers. They tend to relax because the smell of coffee is very relaxing, and the look of a very delicious luscious dessert. It’s very inviting. So the negative energies are now turning into really positive.

Richard Matthews 31:04
Makes a lot of sense.

Richard Matthews 31:05
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Richard Matthews 32:36
So the flip side then of your common enemy, common enemy is inflation, is your driving force. So just like Spider-Man fights to save New York or Batman fights to save Gotham or Google fights indexing categorize all the world’s information. What is it that you fight for? What’s your mission, so to speak for your business?

Samantha Tan 32:54
Oh, my mission is to – I’m a very self-centered entrepreneur. My mission is I want my lessees, my tenants to grow so that I will grow because if they grow I will be living a more comfortable life. I will not be looking for another tenant to take my space. So, I will do my best. So, I always make it known to them before we sign up the – we sign the contract before I inked a deal with them. I have to make sure that they understand that I am their partner, not their enemy. That I am part of their capital investment, that they have to be kind to me so that I will be kind to them because it is a mutual relationship.

Richard Matthews 33:53
Yeah, it’s back to that win-win justice thing like hey, I’m here to help you grow. When you grow, I grow. And stuff like that. So just because I’m curious about this, are you looking to expand the number of commercial spaces you have so you can have more –

Samantha Tan 34:12
I expanded from Cagayan de Oro to Manila. But in Manila I started with residential slots.

Richard Matthews 34:20
Okay. So, now you’re investing in Cagayan de Oro and Manila. Those are on two separate islands?

Samantha Tan 34:29
Two separate islands, major islands. Manila is Luzon. Cagayan de Oro is in Mindanao. Mindanao is down south. Manila is up north.

Richard Matthews 34:41
So again, just curiosity here because I’ve never gotten to visit the Philippines. Do you fly between islands or do you boat between islands?

Samantha Tan 34:48
I used to. But as of the moment, I couldn’t fly. Funny, because things that we used to watch in the movies where everything has to be done virtual, including eating and talking about rents and everything and sending of the contract has to be virtual. It happened to me.

Richard Matthews 35:10
So now everything is virtual so do you even go and look at the properties in Manila before you purchase them? Or do you do it all virtual now?

Samantha Tan 35:19
The thing is, I already bought the properties before the COVID situation. So I bought them three or four years ago. So it was developed. It’s a condominium unit that I’m renting as a residential space. So it’s there, it’s available. I have agents, so it’s the agents who look for who will look for possible occupants, and I will just be giving them permission. And that’s how we close the deal. The thing was the contract that needs to be notarized where a notary public needs to put the seal in the contract, there has to be – the contract has to be notarized twice. Once here in the city and the other one in Manila. Because the notary public could not attest for me because I was not there. But the notary public here cannot attest to the tenant in Manila because the tenant in Manila is not here. And the sad part, unlike in the US, if you already have a digital notary, here in the Philippines, there is none yet.

Richard Matthews 36:42
Yeah, the digital notaries are fairly new in the last couple of years, but I just had something I had to get notarized a couple of weeks ago and it was cool. They were able to get on video. And you sign the document over video with them. You sign it online. It was really cool. And it was fairly inexpensive. It was about the same cost it was to go see a notary in person. It was, I think was probably about 50% more expensive than seeing a notary in person than being able to do it digitally. But so hopefully that technology starts making it around the globe because it’s really really convenient.

Samantha Tan 37:17
You don’t leave the house, you don’t look for parking, you don’t pay for parking. You don’t get arrested for speeding, or for whatever traffic violation you would unknowingly commit.

Richard Matthews 37:36
Awesome. So my next question for you is about your own personal heroes. So every hero has their mentors. Frodo had Gandalf, Luke had his Obi-Wan Kenobi, Robert Kiyosaki had his Rich Dad, and Spider-Man had his Uncle Ben. So who were some of your heroes? Were they real-life mentors? Were they speakers or authors perhaps? Or were they peers who were just a few years ahead of you, and how important were they to what you’ve accomplished so far in your business?

Samantha Tan 38:01
You have to understand that we are agents, so agents would usually look up to their parents. So I look up to my dad. It’s my dad who gave me the values and the work ethic of a good entrepreneur. Where it’s again, as I’ve said, do not get what you do not deserve. So it’s those things. And to me, my dad is the hero because he was able to tell me everything that I needed to know even before he died. And all are so much – everything that people need was validated when I already started taking the business into my own hands.

Richard Matthews 38:55
Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. So you mentioned earlier that your parents are Chinese born. Were you born in China as well or were you born in the Philippines?

Samantha Tan 39:05
No, my parents are already born in the Philippines. I was born in the Philippines. It’s just my grandparents migrated from China to the Philippines.

Richard Matthews 39:15
Oh, okay.

Samantha Tan 39:16
So my mom was born here in the Philippines, somewhere in Visayas which is called Iloilo. And my dad was born in Mindanao, but somewhere in Malaybalay, that’s another city.

Richard Matthews 39:30
So your second-generation Filipino then? Because your parents were born, third generation. Yeah, that’s the way that works. Cool. So one of the last things I want to talk about in an interview is your guiding principles. So one of the things that makes heroes heroic is that they live by a code. For instance, Batman never kills his enemies; he only ever brings them to Arkham Asylum. So as we wrap up the interview, I wanna talk about top one or maybe two principles that you use regularly in your life and you apply in your business.

Samantha Tan 40:06
The scales of justice.

Richard Matthews 40:10
So, how do you go about applying the scales of justice to your everyday work?

Samantha Tan 40:17
I will always put myself in one end and the person that I am having business with on the other end. That scale should not be one side higher or lower. It has to be always equal. If it will never be equal that means something has to be done and something needs to be corrected. So, that is my weapon. That’s how I measure whether I am doing what is right. And always ask the question, if my dad is going to be in this situation, how would he do it?

Richard Matthews 41:02
That’s a good question. And I like that idea where you’re like, hey, in any deal that you’re putting together, how do you make sure that everyone is walking away with the same value? There might be different things on those scales, but the value is the same. And it’s a good way to look at it. It’s something that I do unconsciously as well. But I love that it’s a picture you use whenever you’re putting together a deal.

Samantha Tan 41:25
If you’re buying a pair of Nike shoes from Nike, as compared to Puma, a buyer who prefers a Nike, it’s because of Michael Jordan, and the endorsement by Michael Jordan is one we put on the side of the scale of the consumer. And the amount spent by Nike, for Michael Jordan, for endorsed Nike is the way that they’re putting under him. In the same way as the endorser of Puma are also investing into that weight put into each other’s ends of the scale.

Richard Matthews 42:15
Yeah, makes a lot of sense. So that’s basically a wrap on our interview. But I do finish every interview off with a simple challenge that I call the Hero’s Challenge. And we do this to help get access to new stories that we might not otherwise find on our own. So the question is simple. Do you have someone in your network or in your life that you think has a cool entrepreneurial story? Who are they, first names are fine, and why do you think they should come share their story here on The HERO Show?

Samantha Tan 42:43
Well, somebody, I’ve met when I was starting out when I just finished law school and I was looking for something productive to do and I met her. She franchised a finishing school in the US, it’s a finishing modeling school, but I don’t know if it’s popular still in the US. Have you heard of John Robert Powers?

Richard Matthews 43:11
I have not. But if we can get an introduction, we would love to have her on the show and hear her story.

Samantha Tan 43:16
The lady who I met who franchised that business, that’s school, is somebody who is also a hero because she empowers everyone who works for her or who has worked for her.

Richard Matthews 43:36
That’s awesome. Yeah. So we’ll, we’ll reach out later and see if we can get her on the show as well. And so that basically is a – go ahead.

Samantha Tan 43:45
Another hero that – sadly, he just passed away last year was my employer. When I was still in law school, I worked as a speech consultant in Manila. So I am sure you’re not wondering why I do not sound Filipino Filipino.

Richard Matthews 44:08
Yeah.

Samantha Tan 44:10
So, he has this very wonderful work ethic that if you want to encourage people to have self-confidence, you do not tell them what is wrong with them, but you tell them what is good about them and pound on that what is good and what needs to be improved, but never say what is wrong. And that is what he called as creative speech. Because, according to him, there are two kinds of speeches. There is what you call as a creative and destructive speech. So, he would always ask Speech consultants. We will go through training with him for several hours. He would – trained us to say creative words on things that are negative. Things that we can easily complain about, like one night, it was a rainy night. He took us out and said, Okay, look at the streets. Of course, there was some pool of water, mud and everything. And he said he told us – his instruction described it positively.

Richard Matthews 45:48
Interesting. So you have to learn how to speak in a positive instead of in a negative. That’s a good skill to have.

Samantha Tan 45:56
So that’s one hero, sadly, he passed away but he would have – He was also the first Filipino to teach speech in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Richard Matthews 46:09
Oh, that’s cool.

Samantha Tan 46:12
But he passed away last year. And this lady, because after him – after I worked for him, I worked for this lady who married a British guy. I worked for her as a communication teacher for her modeling school. And it’s not only modeling school that she’s into, but also into other businesses, and she is an entrepreneur herself.

Richard Matthews 46:49
Awesome. Well, we will reach out afterwards and see if we can connect to get her on the show. But basically, that wraps our interview. So Samantha, thanks so much for coming on the show. And as we wrap up, what I want to do is find out if there’s any places online or on social media where if we have someone who wants to reach out or follow you where they could find you. And if we happen to have one, I don’t know if we have a huge audience in the Philippines yet, but if we happen to have anyone who’s looking for a business space if they wanted to reach out to you, where could they do that?

Samantha Tan 47:21
So I’m very visible on Facebook.

Richard Matthews 47:23
Awesome. And where would they find you? There’s just a Samantha Tan?

Samantha Tan 47:27
Yes, Samantha S. Tan.

Richard Matthews 47:29
Samantha S. Tan on Facebook. Okay. Awesome. So thank you very much for coming on the show today. I really appreciate it. It was cool to hear your perspective and to get to see a little bit of how the commercial real estate world works over in the Philippines. So again, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story today.

Samantha Tan 47:48
And thank you for inviting me and thank you for making me as the first Filipino guest to your show.

Richard Matthews 47:56
Awesome. Glad to have you here. Before I hit that stop record button. Do you have any final words of wisdom for our audience?

Samantha Tan 48:07
Well, final words of wisdom. Make it work, and everything will work.

Richard Matthews 48:16
Make it work. I love it. Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the show, Sam.

Samantha Tan 48:21
Have a nice afternoon.

Richard Matthews 48:23
Thank you and you have a good morning.