Graduation day and profiting!

Congratulations to all the graduates of 2010. Graduation ceremonies have become a profitable venture for some entrepreneurs; it’s a matter of time pressured sales. March is always known as the graduation month and wherever the traffic congestion is – there is a 90 percent chance of a graduation ceremony happening in that area, that or accidents which are occurring more and more lately. 

Flowers, corsages, photos, and more sell a lot during graduation days, especially “pamaypay”. I always see around 8 to 10 stands lined up at the gates outside Liceo U whenever graduation day comes; some flower-sellers even block the gates just to get the attention of the people coming in. 

I asked one seller if they make profit out of it, he said “naa gyapon gamay” (we have a little), further elaborating that the trick is simple “kai daghan man graduation nga gasunod, kinahanglan kabalo ka sa schedule sa graduation, para makapangita kag pwesto nga insakto ug mga bulak nga dugay malaya, aron kun dili mahalin pwede pa ibaligya sa uban.”  (since there are a lot of graduation ceremonies, you must know the schedules of each so that you can secure a good location to sell, and use flowers that do not easily wilt, so that you can still sell them in another location). 

 really don’t know if this is such a profitable venture, as it is seasonal, and very tricky. Another venture is photography; the advent of the digital age provides the seemingly traditional photographers to capture images almost at lightning speed as compared to the days when you need a lot of cameras and people to load film for you to avoid lags. 

Freelance photographers invested in DLSR’s much to the delight of the customers, however there is always a setback – some photographers tend to get a little too much “trigger-happy”, sacrificing the quality of their shots. I know one photographer who has been shooting graduations ever since I can remember. “Nong Bing” as he is fondly called by everyone, has been one of the most trusted graduation day and school-event photographers in the city to date. If you don’t see it as a profitable venture, think of it this way – his kids have already graduated from college, and from private universities too. 

Graduation days have also become a virtual recruiting ground for call centers and similar companies. Leafleting has also become common in these scenarios, hey after graduation we get hungry – so these leaflets of restaurants are a good thing to venture on come graduation day. Graduation day really sells. 

In parting, I would like to congratulate some Liceo U administrators. Dean Erwin Bucio of the College of Law Enforcement and Public Safety (Criminology) for his Bachelor of Laws degree, Mr. Lorimer Capinpuyan and Ms. Ursula Trio for their Graduate Degrees.  

Again, congratulations to all graduates! May you be blessed with success and happiness and good times ahead. Thank you for reading.

 I’d love to hear from you, email me at shaun_alejandrae_uy@yahoo.com