When my intellectual friends panic because they are going broke, they ask me for advice but never take it. Their idea of becoming rich is to write a best-selling novel, sell paintings in a gallery, be a much-in-demand lecturer, or produce a movie.

My advice to them always is to run a sari-sari store or a hardware store. The income from those is incredibly big. The sari-sari store, though, must look shabby and have cheap tarpaulins. As to the hardware store, it will look shabby without any effort at making it look shabby at all.

My friends never believe me, even if I tell them that some of the richest people in the city own meat and vegetable stalls in Farmers Wet Market and live in the biggest houses with everything made of stainless steel (not that I like seeing houses with everything made of stainless steel, but you get the idea). 

And ALL of the food hawkers in Sitio Catacutan are able to send their children and grandchildren through undergraduate and graduate schools.