JDC Advertising

by: Millie Vera

Success comes from the least likely places and poverty is certainly not a hindrance to success.

From a sleepy fishing village in the Province of Quezon, a young lady entrepreneur, equipped with a marketing degree from Lyceum and years of hard work as an employee, adding to the values and lifestyle she gained back home, rose to become the advertising whiz that she is today. In her youth she would now and then tag along with father, helping cast their time-beaten net out into the sea for much-needed fish catch. After earning her degree in Manila, she was trained on the job on all
aspects of sales and marketing, and had to go through laborious tasks performing some other aspects of operations of the companies that hired her— from administrative, human resource type of work, to credit and collection, and also accounting—name it.

Today, Minnie Clet, christened as Dominica Clet, has truly come full-circle in life. She owns an advertising firm that is on the upswing. She gets inspiration to do better and better with her two sons, one aged 15 and a baby boy, sired by husband Tommy “Jojo” Casimiro. Minnie has a beautiful story to tell behind her business success.

She made surprisingly profound disclosures during the interview so the truth could be told, and so people would be inspired by the truth, and ultimately, so the True Weaver of her Success would be duly recognized.

Flashback and hindsight
As life continues to unfold, Minnie ceaselessly draws from experiences in younger
years, which left in her hope and faith so immutable, and a lifestyle of gratitude that is nearly as natural as breathing itself. She revealed quite a mouthful, and there was nothing trivial and false in all that she said. She was humbled in her sharing and yet she was not at all ashamed of her past. Particularly striking was her “inspired” comparison between a fisherman and a farmer, brought to the fore in her mind’s eye on hindsight that made her way much more appreciative of her roots in a sleepy fishing village.

“There were many times in my youth that I volunteered to cast the net.” She added, “Little did I realize then that, tucked in as a mainstay in my heart, was a silent prayer for God to let the net reap a hefty catch.”

She elucidated, “It was a prayer suffused with hope and faith, and so, as the net found its way into the murky sea, my heart would be stolidly filled with trust that God heard my silent prayers and that, merciful and gracious as He is, He would give me a catch— and He always did—and so, in all those years, in my heart the childlike faith became nurtured and cemented over time and I developed an attitude of gratitude.”

“It became a lifestyle—for life,” she trailed off.

With a fresh burst of energy that seemed more spiritual than physical, Minnie proceeded with her comparison of the fisherman and the farmer. “The fisherman is cut out like that: as he casts the net,
he essentially relies upon God for his harvest of fish. He has no inkling as to whether the sea would or wouldn’t be kind. He casts a net deep into waters often so dark there would usually be no assurance of harvest, and of the size of the catch.”

Continuing, she said, “In contrast, the farmer gets to choose his seeds and plant them, till the soil and nourish it, and his harvest is quite predictable under normal season and weather conditions.”

“Hope is ingrained in the fisherman. In fishing, he doesn’t see what is inside as he casts the net. If you’re a fisherman, you don’t know, so you just hope and trust.”

“See? The fisherman must be getting greater chances at exercising his faith and hope in the Lord—chances that come instantaneously, as in a lifestyle, owing to the very nature of his craft and what he is always up against.”

Such was how, as a child and as a young woman back then, Minnie got to develop a solid reservoir of faith and trust. Add to that, her gratitude that flowed out of her heart for each catch.

In April 2011, she put up JDC Advertising, which in the year 2013, turned around in a big way. From one pioneering client that put its full trust and confidence in Minnie’s competence to handle their advertising and PR needs, JDC’s roster of clients swelled, and by now, includes quite a throng—Sinski Motorcycle, Appenzell Inc., The Food Club, Aquaboy Resort, Pamana Marketing, Iontech Enterprises and Jac Motors (still), to name a few.

JDC -- A fruit of faithful prayers and grateful lifestyle
Minnie was bold: she made a covenant with God— a covenant she’s been faithfully fulfilling. She revealed her covenant. It is for her and the people with her in her business stewardship (her family, since she is 100-percent hands-on as the moving force behind JDC, having been made a steward of the business by God) to go up to the mountain three times a year, so commanded, as gleaned from a Bible verse, which holds a promise “... and I will enlarge your territory (God speaking)”. She holds close to her heart this particular verse from Exodus 34:23-24".

“The Giver of the business under my stewardship is God and so I need to be a trustworthy steward. He even directed the colors used for the JDC logo: Exodus 38:18 says, “Color it red scarlet purple blue...”

“See? It is all God’s orchestration! And so each day, I never forget to thank Him.”

Clet reminisced that during her job interviews back then, she would always say, “Five years from now, I will be an entrepreneur.” Well, it wasn’t done in five years since she kept landing in those jobs selling consumer items, optimizing the use of her marketing degree from Lyceum, but eventually, JDC was born. And it was God’s perfect timing!”

Single proprietorship JDC Advertising has leaped to where it is now—this feat Minnie herself regards as a wonder of wonders—it wasn’t something she had personally expected but had worked hard for once it was on her plate—and yes, she did pray hard for JDC before it saw the light, for wisdom—for discernment and guidance. It wasn’t something she actively sought out. As a matter of fact, should at the outset there been any sign that it was not where God wanted her to be, Minnie would have been prepared to forego JDC. “I wasn’t the least obsessed with it. As a matter of fact, it just crossed my mind to put up JDC because I was booted out of my comfort zone.”

She explained, “I would have been contented with what I had since my performance was well lauded in every job I took on from company to company, but the last one I handled withheld from me part of the commission I had worked hard for. Hurt, I quit my job!”

“The goal I had set was to be an entrepreneur— and God made it real!”

Of blessings and challenges
“My first project was built on trust and dedication. I started the business with a very small loan, a very minimal capitalization. I never needed to sink in personal funds after that—the business just kept rolling as a self-generating venture. God would always provide resources, and it’s bonus enough that, in running the business, I get to be with my family all the time.”

True—every move, every meeting, is much like triune activities rolled into one: a meeting, family bonding, and a date between her and husband Jojo. And do you know that, as her second child was born this June 2014 (he’s now four-month old) Baby John Daniel whom she refers to as her “testimony of faith”, 15-year old John David her “testimony of love” is never absent for her meetings, too?

Advertising is a very challenging field where only those that have what it takes thrive and succeed.
How can one stand and hold one’s ground amidst ferocious moneyed competitors who have been around for the longest time—advertising industry pillars among them? Although Minnie did not say so, she just shared her simple principle - “…and if our God is for us then who can stand against ?”

As a steward of JDC Advertising, Minnie does multitasking; she does multifarious tasks, all of which she was trained for when she was but an employee; she plays “Jack of all traits,” too, for JDC: she was born and raised with a ‘sales attitude’ and she has been well prepared to do all these, assisted only by family: administration, accounting, credit and collection— name it—Minnie does it! Minnie takes on tasks at JDC with constant joy in her heart, whether these be big or small.

This entrepreneur has got a “No-fear” attitude. Competition doesn’t scare her although she’s quite conservative in her disposition towards client prospecting. She declares, “We have a big God!”

JDC Advertising

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Go to the Right Place in the Market the JDC Way!

Sunday, February 15, 2015

BUSINESS SUCCESS FORMULA: HOPE, FAITH AND HARD WORK