Meet Romy! A former appliance sales representative who is now Currently Unemployed. He is living with his sister together with his niece and nephew. His sister is the one who is working and pays the rent in the condominium that they are staying in the city of Parañaque.
Romy’s sister provide all the basic necessities in their household including Romy’s needs and a few of his little luxuries (Luho).
A typical Filipino with a lifestyle like Romy would probably enjoy this kind of life. They may use the condominium’s amenities like swimming pool, basketball and badminton courts. They can also enjoy alcoholic drinks while talking to their neighbors in the clubhouse. They have the option to stay in their condo unit the whole day watching TV and probably use the internet in order to play Facebook games.

Romy is not one of them. Aside from helping with the house chores like cooking, doing the grocery, cleaning the rooms, etc. Romy makes it a point that his niece and nephew are properly being taken care of. He makes sure that they finish their assignment in school and goes to bed on time.

But what I find really amazing is his “Pleasurable Pastime”, which to some people call it like “Occupation” or “Distraction”.
Romy provides Car Wash services to most of the unit owners and tenants living in the condominium. He noticed that there were so many cars that were parked uncleaned by their owners. The owners vaguely doesn’t have the spare time to clean their cars.
Only a few unit owners has helpers (Yaya) in their unit because of the limited space (2 bedroom unit).
So these owners only have time to clean their cars on the weekends. There are about 400+ unit owners and tenants living in the said condominium.
Romy identified the “Need” so he matched it with a “Solution”. Romy charges his customers for Php 100 for Sedans and Php 150 for SUV’s and Vans. On an average he cleans 8-10 vehicles per day.

Do you want me to do the Math? Let just say that he makes more money than some people working in an office. And he never needs to line up in the Jeepney, Bus or even MRT terminals. He wakes up around 6 am, goes out of his condo unit, drinks his favorite coffee with his friends and neighbors, then goes to work (to him he calls it as exercise).
He finish his work around 4 pm. From there he has lots of time to play his well desired Chess game, watch his precious TV shows and occasionally.. goes to the clubhouse at night, and drink a few beers with his neighbors.
He doesn’t have withholding tax, weekly meetings, stressful deadlines, and a nagging boss shouting down on his face. He doesn’t need to wear uncomfortable office attire too…. he just wear his sandals and his loose & comfy clothes.

There are a lot of times that Romy has to politely “Decline” some customers since he also wants some enjoyment in his life (He is approaching 60 years old as we speak). He hears mass every Sunday and watch YouTube to learn more about cooking (one of his hobbies).

What makes him so special? He is just a Car Wash Boy! Well, financially speaking you may be right. We all need to make more money than him especially if we have a family to feed and living in a expensive place like Manila.
But it’s not the money or earning that I am giving emphasis in. It’s the way how Romy thinks outside of the box.
Before, he was earning nothing. But today, he makes his own living and he doesn’t have to bother his sister for additional money anymore.
How he provided quality service to his customers. Most of his customers were so delighted with Romy’s services that Romy gets cash bonuses and gifts like food, clothes and other items.

Financially, Romy is not the right guy we should follow or imitate. What we want to get from him is his knack of seizing an opportunity when it comes his way.
How he finds a solution to the problem. It teaches us that when we want to start a new income venture, we all….

“SHOULDN’T START A BUSINESS, BUT RATHER SOLVE A PROBLEM”

We all should be “Problem Solvers”. Because when we find a solution to each and every problem… Life is much easier and happier to live in.