“Dressed for success.”
That’s the title of a famous late ‘80s Roxette song. Such phrase can actually be associated with someone still unborn when it hit the parade, which means he might be someone among the empowered millennials, now.
Well, William Russell Mendoza Scheirman, son of a German-American father, William Scheirman, and Filipino mother, Mary Glen Mendoza, is surely one empowered young man dressed up to look the part. By all considerations, he is qualified as a millennial corporate hotshot.
At age 26, he is already the top honcho of a corporation handling various businesses to a tee. He has excelled in construction and real estate, healthcare business, restaurant service, and even the dealership of state-of-the-art motorcycles. He is no doubt a certified industry boss, a high roller who usually presides over closed-door meetings attended by established corporate men often twice his age.
“Dress to impress. Don’t dress your age,” quipped William, somewhat implying that it is his way of masking the amusing fact that he is quite too young to be heading corporate business entities.
Obviously, it is a kind of worry he’d rather have. What can he do if he has bloomed that early. With his mestizo looks and dashing debonair get-up, one can see the confidence come off him. It is a type of demeanor that says he knows what he is saying, with a voice naturally modulated as if to send the message he means business and his feet are always planted on the ground.
Hard-worker, tech-savvy
This civil engineer graduated at Mapua Technical Institute in 2013, who greets people with a winsome smile complementing his boyish aura, simply embraces the ways of his generation with a competitive, reasonable mind. He shared, “We millennials are blessed with a world powered by wonderful technology and I make use of that to my advantage, especially in enhancing my knowledge in learning about the business I want to put myself in. That being said I do read books the conventional way and attends seminars to even know more. I’m not the honor student-type, but I studied very well during college.”
While several young people find it an easier choice to party while they’re still young, William has a different, call it more responsible, thinking. He works now to play later, even wanting to semi-retire when he reaches his 30s.
Can’t blame him. Born from a family with middle-class background and mindset urging financial independence, he was raised to be a man who can stand on his own and can’t withstand being looked down to. Early on his parents taught him the value of money and saving. He wasn’t given spare money; he knew he had to work hard to earn them.
As a grader, the signs were already there for this self-made millionaire. In school, he would sell his uncle’s paintings, among other things, and take a cut from the sale. At one point he would lend friends some cash and then remind them each day of their payables. Funny as it sounded, he has inevitably been given the “bumbay” tag. Yet, that early run gave him the bare truth that while saving is good, it is better, by his account, “to let grow whatever I have.”
Early bloomer
Knowing it is a family rule that by 18, he would have to make it on his own, William kicked off his professional sprint to success even ahead of that age.
“I started working as an employee at 17,” he proudly recalled, “Three years later I began doing business with me running the show. I had this belief that you should work on your own if you want something.”
At first, relatives asked him to develop building projects for them which was one fine way of getting started. Then he went, in aggressive, no-nonsense manner, to residential realty and leasing, before eventually adding pharmacy into his fold. Soon, he dipped into fusion restaurants and distribution of mass-serving, three-wheeled public transport vehicles.
He continued, “Upon understanding the full specifics of a certain business, I will present a business proposal to prospective investors. The key to finding an investor and implementing your business concept lies in the perfect blend of science, gut-feel, and projection.”
Fair and square
Truthfulness and honesty are fixed on the table for William. He is one fair and square dude, with nothing to hide in his closet; he has good, savvy business ideas and the compassion to do what’s on his head. As it has always been the case, people tend to see him as a rare breed of a doer and fun to do business with.
After the initial baby steps of his brave venture into the corporate wilderness, it didn’t take long for his business model to take off. If you go into his head office in Marikina, a newly developed building community where a resto-bar he runs called Forage is attractively situated on the ground floor, while an inviting food park is a few steps away, with a long line of motorcycle units parked on the other side of the road, you know this guy has done some good stuff to make all of such exist comfortably together.
His corporate governance is one of untraditional, yet effectively vibrant way. No office politics. He is a boss-friend who gives people direction, with the assurance that an employee can always get back to him to clarify things. The sense of ownership is encouraged for every soul working for his companies, from the VP to the janitor, from the fresh grads to the vets. He hands employees the authority to run the daily grind of the business and, on a deeper note, the break they deserve.
True gentleman
Needless to say, this fine, young gentleman who practically started at zero, has convinced one private equity investor to another, each embracing his idea with trust and generosity. These investors could not have thanked themselves enough for believing in the right person.
William, in his humble tone, stated, “I talk directly and speak confidently to business partners and to whomever I’m talking to. Before I say something, I make sure that is true.”
Proof that he already established himself in the biz that quick is the fact he puts the virtue of reaching out to help alleviate the lives of the less privileged. For one, he pushed a housing project that offers a relatively affordable price for a place, or in his own words, “For 450 thousand may bahay ka na.”
Overseer, dreamer
One may ask how someone of his stature juggles his time. For this neatly-looking tall guy, the way to time-management is macro-management, or overseeing his businesses on a daily basis, with his trusted people working on the details. Besides, it’s his good leadership that makes the members of his team do the job like a well-oiled machine. Friday bowlings with his employees is one way of de-stressing and team-building for the whole bunch. Business and pleasure, as oft said, should come into good play.
Asked about the person he looks up to as a model, he name-dropped young billionaire Injap Sia, best known for popularizing the Mang Inasal brand and selling it to the owner of Jollibee for a hefty sum. He already met the latter in a casual stance. Whether they do business together someday remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure, William became a big time by having himself influenced by the greats.
“I want to inspire other people my age, to be known as a good example for the young generation,” the master millennial who is Christian by faith expressed. “There are two Fs that I value the most: family and future. I always get back to the truth that I belong to a certain bloodline that meant so much to my life, all the while I’m preparing myself for the future.”
A surefire eligible bachelor who can pass up for a leading man in a movie about millennials, William Scheirman is actually one who did experience getting heartbroken. And turned it into a reason to fix the day. He happily shared that in the past he had a girlfriend who left him because he couldn’t afford to provide her material wants. At that point, he felt he needed to make money of his own. Yeah boy, he did just that and wasted no time, doing it in a way more than impactful enough to create a millennial success story.