Bianca Lacsamana Ulan has it all figured out.
While many 20-somethings are still trying to find their way in the workforce and trying to establish a career, Bianca is already running a business–and not just a simple retail biz, but a successful consultancy firm called Pareto Consulting.
And at 25, she’s can already afford to kick back and relax a little because her business has already made her an honest-to-goodness multimillionaire.
It wasn’t an overnight thing though as Bianca took her first step on the road to becoming a girlboss in college. She chose to study Actuarial Science, the science behind pricing life insurance policies. But as she tells it, she didn’t grow up wanting to go into that field.
“I considered myself a creative,” she says. “My childhood ambition was to be a filmmaker, but it wasn’t a realistic dream. I didn’t have connections or the means to get equipment.”
When she enrolled at the University of the Philippines Los Banos, her original plan was to take a communications course. But she didn’t score high enough on the relevant portions of the UPCAT, so she didn’t qualify for Communication Arts or Development Communication. Bianca’s banker mother suggested she go into mathematics, so she did, thinking she could parlay her degree into a high-powered career in finance.
She ended up in Actuarial Science in her junior year. It’s considered one of her school’s most demanding courses, but she proved to be more than capable of handling the workload. She’s always been a hard worker and a smart cookie, but she considers herself to be less book-smart and more street-smart.
“I’m very good at making things more efficient, solving problems, and spotting loopholes in processes. That’s my level of smartness. More on practicality,” Bianca says modestly.
That practicality helped Bianca turn Pareto Consulting into the success that it is today. As the girlboss at the helm of this company, she helps entrepreneurs launch their businesses and keep them afloat. Most of Pareto Consulting’s clients are based abroad.
How did she do it? First, she leaned on her parents for guidance and support. “My parents are my ‘secret sauce.’ My dad was good with general information and science. We always talked about the solar system and things like that. I loved reading books as well,” she says.
They also taught her to refine her work ethic. One time, she accompanied her mother to work. Bianca noticed that some of her mother’s coworkers were playing computer games at the office instead of working. Puzzled, she asked, “Bakit ikaw lang nagtatrabaho, ma? Yung iba naglalaro lang.”
The elder Ulan simply asked her daughter, “Ano ba ang tama?”
Those words stayed with Bianca. “It became my ‘guide question,” she says. “For instance, when I don’t feel like getting out of bed, all I have to do is look back on that moment and I get up right away. When I have to make a hard business decision, I ask myself, ‘Ano ba ang tama?’ By asking me that all those years ago, my mom taught me that if you do things the right way, you’ll get positive results.”
That support mattered a lot to Bianca. It still does. “Everything they did for me gave me the motivation to work on my goals. Their support helped me see the value of money, time, and ‘giving back,’” she says.
If you want to be like her, you need to work hard. Bianca’s a big believer in not half-assing anything. “Galingan mo,” she says when asked to give would-be entrepreneurs advice. “Don’t say ‘pwede na.’ Give everything you do your very best. When you half-ass something, it’ll be a waste. Pero if gagalingan mo, even if you just make mistakes, you’re still a winner. You’re automatically better than those who aren’t proactive and those who cut corners.”
Bianca says hard work yields prosperity. If you’re not used to burning the midnight oil, you have to train yourself to do so. “Fix your habits. Your habits turn into actions. Your actions will turn into decisions. Your decisions will turn into results,” she advises. “It’s easier said than done because you’ll always have doubts. But you just have to breathe, close your eyes, and say, ‘Bahala na, basta gagalingan ko na lang.’ Never settle for mediocrity.’”
She knows whereof she speaks. Because Bianca didn’t settle, Pareto Consulting quickly rose to the top of the growth consulting heap. They help entrepreneurs start, launch, and grow businesses. They do market research and offer full-service digital marketing services for clients in the Philippines and all over the world.
Despite her success, she’s still very careful when it comes to most things. “It’s scary kasi at a young age, nasa tuktok na ako. Sabi nila kapag nasa peak ka na, there’s nowhere to go but down. That’s why I haven’t made any major changes to my lifestyle. I’m still matipid. I only buy things I need. When I do splurge, I spend my money on experiences, not material things.”
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, but at the same time, I’m excited and happy. Happy because I was able to reach this point in my life. If and when things go awry in the future, I can go back to this moment and remind myself I was able to achieve all of these things,” she adds.
If you’re a new business owner who needs help, feel free to reach out to Pareto Consulting via their website. You can also search for them on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
