What failing in business taught me

The worst thing that could happen to you can really be the best thing that has ever happened to you.

For me it was failing my tourism business in Covid, and I had to start over.

I lost my money, my girlfriend. Lost hope.

Japan was the last to open its ports from Covid, so when Southeast Asia started to open its ports, I closed my business, and went on a food trip around Southeast Asia.

It was like going through a dark tunnel

My trip around Southeast Asia was interesting, but to be honest I wasn't able to enjoy myself to the fullest.

I had to cut my expenses, so I stayed in basic Airbnb, went for street food, walked and read books a lot.

It's nice, to see different things to where I was born in Japan, or where I grew up in San Francisco, or where I worked in Singapore and some parts of Europe.

But at the back of my mind I knew I'm lost without much meaning in life.

Everyday I learn something

But everyday, I will learn something. 

Either from books or just by walking and observing things, or talking to locals.

In Malaysia, I learned that it doesn't cost a lot to make a good living. And good food and health is most important.

In Thailand, at least in Bangkok it's so modernized. It's a lot easier to place a business from overseas, it's a lot more international than Japan is.

In Vietnam, locals loved to socialize and learn from each other. Many loved to read, and I felt a strong drive to learn for a better life.

In Indonesia, people were really caring and shared a lot of things. It's difficult to be depressed when you're surrounded by good people.

And in Bali, I had this incident where I had the chance to cook fish, in which tasted good but could have cooked better.

I have no idea why but this dawned on me for awhile, and I decided to go back to Japan to learn to cook fish.

You can always start over

The worst thing was to fail in the business, but the best thing is that I learned you can always start over.

Before I had this pressure that the things I do has to impress my peers. But now that I failed, I no longer feel that pressure. 

It feels even silly that I felt like that before. And even more so that my college friends that has fancy careers are almost suffocating from that pressure.

I definitely had my downs but I'm more free now. I could choose whatever interests me. I've had some people praise me for taking the courage to follow my interests, but it was actually naturally driven by starting the business, failing, then taking the next steps without much choice.

To build a career in a well known firm, it's probably not impossible a lot more difficult. Then I considered different options, and I still wanted to grow a small business.

To have a small business, it's always better to have more funds. To have more funds, how can I get started? How can I start to save every month, while I build a business plan?

Easiest way to save

When you are fresh out of college you have all this options and opportunities, which makes you wonder a lot what the ideal path is.

But when you go off the rail and you have less options, that sometimes narrows down what you want and can do now.

I remembered that I had wanted to go for resoba, which stands for resort albeit. You would work full time starting from a month to one season in exchange for accomodation, food, and of course basic pay.

The system is spread across Japan especially in the countryside. Transport is also paid, so you can work while traveling.

Why not give it a shot.

I have my own basic income now

I decided to have an open mind, I tried many kinds of basic jobs like cooking, housekeeping, selling, and never imagined I would like housekeeping the best.

I really don't mind doing this job the rest of my life. The way the room becomes cleaned has a good effect psychologically, and I automatically have a good amount of workout when I'm done, and somehow I feel good.

It's also shorter than the kitchen or service jobs. I have more time building my business online.

I don't think I'll be housekeeping for the rest of my life, I want to move onto something else, but I don't mind coming back to this job when I need to.

And housekeeping jobs are in high demand. I have something to fall back on.

Good Habits compound

So the worst thing that happened was failing in the business.

But that actually have a more practical mindset and build good habits to hedge risk.

Lesson learned.

Now I'm better hedged and prepared if my next business doesn't take off the way I intend.

I'm still happy with my basic job I will have in housekeeping, or fish related cooking jobs in resorts. I also save enough, and invest a partial that compound long term.

I was in a rush to be wealthy without realizing, which I'm not anymore. 

My bank account grows a little every month as I put aside my monthly surplus on my emergency fund and my investment account.

I log everything so I can improve on them, and I walk and read a lot.

I have the confidence I can get by ok now, which I didn't have before.

Thanks for reading:)

Thanks for reading the content👋

In the blog I will share things I learned especially about finance and life advice. 

Japanese are relatively good savers when it comes to money, and I've been realizing it comes from good habits and mindsets that anyone can learn.

So, over time I'd like to share what I learned, and hope to learn from you, too.

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【Ryu Aomi】

Born in Yokohama, Japan. Raised in San Francisco, California.

After gaining experience in private banking in Singapore, I went on to writing for a few Japanese media online. Covid led me to pursue what I love the most which was discovering the street foods around the best food countries. This blog will be how I fund that life.