How to Make Money During a Crisis: A Financial Planner's Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs Crisis does not care about your business plan. It arrives uninvited, disrupts everything you built, and forces a question most people are not ready to answer: what do I do now?

0:00 - Welcome and What Is the Entrepreneur Special

0:45 - How the Oil Crisis Is Affecting Everyday Filipinos and Small Businesses

2:00 - Why a Second-Hand Motorcycle Can Save You Thousands on Fuel Costs

3:30 - What Is Money Making in Times of Crisis? Is It Ethical?

5:00 - Best Businesses to Start When Fuel Prices Are High

6:30 - Why Solar Panel Installation Is One of the Most In-Demand Services Right Now

8:00 - Local Supply Sourcing: How to Start a Business With a Small Budget

9:30 - Why AI Cannot replace Skills Like Carpentry, Electrical Work, and Hairdressing

11:00 - How Entrepreneurs Must Adapt Their Strategy During an Economic Crisis

13:00 - Speed as a Competitive Advantage: Why Slow Businesses Die in a Crisis

14:30 - E-Bikes and Electric Vehicles: Is This the Right Business to Start Now?

16:00 - How Eco-Friendly Businesses Are Profiting From the Plastic Ban

18:00 - Best Low-Cost Home-Based Businesses You Can Start This Week

19:30 - Micro Gardening and Hydroponics: Can You Make Money From Home?

20:30 - How to Earn in Dollars as a Virtual Assistant and Beat Inflation

21:30 - Home Baking Business: How to Start With Pre-Orders and Zero Waste

22:30 - Ukay-Ukay and Online Reselling: How Decluttering Can Earn You Extra Income

24:00 - Why Decluttering Improves Your Mental Health and Your Finances

25:30 - Where Does Courage Come From? The Real Answer for Entrepreneurs

27:00 - Why Your Community Determines Your Business Success

29:00 - How to Stay Hopeful and Keep Earning During a Financial Crisis

31:00 - What to Do When You Are at Your Lowest Point Financially

32:30 - How to Set Clear Financial and Business Goals Before End of Year

34:00 - Sometimes the Best Addition Is Subtraction: What to Let Go

36:00 - How to Contact David Angway for Financial Planning

How to Make Money During a Crisis: A Financial Planner's Guide for Filipino Entrepreneurs

Crisis does not care about your business plan. It arrives uninvited, disrupts everything you built, and forces a question most people are not ready to answer: what do I do now?

In a recent Entrepinoy Special segment on DZAS-FBC Radio, Registered Financial Planner David Angway sat down with broadcaster Kael to address exactly that. The conversation covered practical business ideas, entrepreneurial mindset, and the specific strategies Filipinos can use to not just survive a crisis, but find real opportunity inside it.

Here is everything worth keeping.

The Oil Crisis Is a Business Signal, Not Just a Problem

When fuel prices spiked to 1.70 per liter of diesel and LPG jumped from 850 to 1,650 pesos for 11 kilos, most people saw a problem. David saw a signal.

Every price spike creates a gap. Something becomes too expensive, and the market immediately starts looking for alternatives. That gap is where businesses are born.

His own adjustment was immediate. He bought a second-hand motorcycle. A full tank of gas in a car covers roughly 10 kilometers per liter. The same amount in a motorcycle covers 40. The math is not complicated. The savings over a month are significant.

But more important than the personal finance hack is the broader point: the way you respond to a crisis in the first 30 days often determines how the next 12 months go.

The Most In-Demand Businesses When Fuel Prices Are High

David named energy efficiency as the clearest opportunity. When fuel is expensive, everything connected to fuel becomes a problem, and anything that reduces dependence on fuel becomes a solution.

Solar panel installation and maintenance sits at the top of that list. It requires skilled hands, not a large capital outlay to get started as a service provider, and demand is growing precisely because electricity bills are climbing. Meralco had just announced a 50-centavo per kilowatt increase at the time of the interview.

He also pointed to e-bike sales and accessories. Electric bikes are visible on almost every street corner now. That visibility is a market signal. Selling, customizing, or maintaining them is a business that did not exist at scale five years ago and is now genuinely in demand.

For those with limited capital, he highlighted local supply sourcing, which means building a business around products sourced nearby to avoid expensive logistics costs. The strategy reduces overhead and builds community networks at the same time.

Skills Are the Business AI Cannot Take

One of the most direct things David said in the interview deserves its own space.

Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, hairdressers, masons. None of these jobs can be automated. AI cannot fix your pipes. AI cannot install your solar panels. AI cannot cut your hair.

The people who are most at risk in an AI-driven economy are the ones who refused to see the opportunity in skilled trades. David's line from the conversation captures it well: many people miss opportunities because they show up dressed as work.

If you have a skill, especially a physical, service-based skill, you have a business. The only thing missing is the decision to market it.

Four Home-Based Businesses You Can Start This Week

For those starting from zero or working from home, David gave four concrete options.

Micro gardening and hydroponics. If you have outdoor space, growing vegetables and herbs for your community or local market requires minimal startup cost and consistent demand. Selling your harvest to neighbors or setting up a small stall is accessible to almost anyone.

Virtual assistance. Filipino virtual assistants are earning in dollars while working from home. Dollar income against peso expenses is one of the most practical hedges against inflation available to the average Filipino right now.

Home baking on a pre-order basis. Taking orders before you spend on ingredients eliminates waste and removes financial risk. If you can cook or bake, that skill already pays for itself. The system just needs to be organized.

Ukay-ukay and online reselling. Preloved items, secondhand books, things you have collected and no longer use. Every Filipino home has inventory waiting to be liquidated. Platforms for online selling have made this easier than it has ever been.

On the decluttering point, David made an observation that went beyond finances. When you clear out your space, you clear out your mind. The state of your environment reflects the state of your thinking. Both deserve attention.

The Word Every Entrepreneur Is Missing

David posed a riddle during the interview. He said there is no shortage of capital in the world and no shortage of resources. What is missing starts with the letter C.

The answer was courage.

Not talent. Not money. Not connections. Courage.

And then he asked where courage comes from. His answer pointed to community. The people around you are either building your confidence or quietly draining it. If your circle normalizes spending, you spend. If your circle normalizes building, you build.

This is why he recommends that anyone starting a business actively seek out other entrepreneurs, not to network in the transactional sense, but to surround themselves with people who are already doing what they want to do. Courage is contagious. So is fear.

How to Face a Crisis Without Losing Hope

David ended the conversation with three steps he recommends for anyone in a difficult financial season.

Pray first and get grounded. When you are in your lowest moment, you are most open to clarity. Use that moment instead of escaping it.

Find a community that will speak honestly to you. Not people who will just agree with you, but people who will tell you the truth and still stay in your corner.

Set one specific goal with a deadline. Not ten goals. One. Where do you want to be by December? Work backward from that date and figure out what you need to do each month to get there.

He also repeated something he said in a previous interview that clearly carries weight for him: sometimes the best addition is subtraction. What you need to let go of may be as important as what you need to build.

KEY SNIPPETS

"Many people miss opportunity because it showed up dressed as work."

"There is no shortage of capital in this world. What is missing is courage."

"Skills can pay your bills. Electricians, carpenters, and hairdressers cannot be replaced by AI."

"Speed is a competitive advantage. The businesses that adjusted fastest during COVID survived. The ones that waited did not."

"You can live without money for a time. You cannot live without hope."

"Sometimes the best addition is subtraction. What you need to let go of matters as much as what you need to build."

"Your community determines your courage. Surround yourself with people who are already building."

"Dollar income against peso expenses is one of the best hedges against inflation available to the average Filipino."