Joseph Calata Early Career Path
After graduating from DLSU, Joseph joined the family business as a Clerk, J. Melvin’s, a poultry feed store in Plaridel, Bulacan. It had been incorporated under the name Planters Choice Agro Products established by his parents Eusebio and Isabel in 1978. The store was named after Joseph and his older brother Melvin.
Before jumping in, Joseph observed that the business was run like a sari-sari store. The core product, animal feeds, would be weighed on the spot and handed to customers, and the money was kept in a money pot or in a drawer. J. Melvin’s had branches in Malolos, but their main markets were the farmers in Plaridel.
He envisioned the backyard business as a professional corporation. He bought an accounting software that took him a year to master and tailor-fit to the store.
According to Joseph Calata “It was definitely trial-and-error but I wanted to prove that it could be done with patience and determination,” he said. “I asked myself, ‘Will I end up working in this store, merely giving change for animal feed?’ I decided to professionalize it. I worked 24/7. I could not make a new transaction if the previous day’s sales had not been encoded…because I saw how things would pile up. I wanted to perfect the system. I had to know how much we made every day. Was there profit? How much?”
Joseph Calata was single-minded in proving that putting a system (and a paper trail) in place was the way to go. Although recording the inventory was tedious, it guaranteed accuracy. Joseph and a staffer would do separate inventories; he often spotted discrepancies.
His mother resisted additional expense, such as added manpower and a P2,000 printer.
Out of his P8,000 monthly salary, he allotted P2,000 for his salesman who went around with a list of products. He also used his own money to buy the printer.
His effort at computerization was rewarded when, one day, the records reflected a grave error. “It showed that P100,000 was paid twice to a supplier,”

http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/48725/joseph-calata-self-made-billionaire-at-31
http://josephcalata.blogspot.sg/2011/07/joseph-calata-automating-system.html