How to Start a Sanpo-Yoshi-Business Part 3: Making it Kaite-Yoshi

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This week, I have been talking about how to start a Sanpo-Yoshi business, and today, I am going to share my thought on the aspect of Kaite-Yoshi, which means the buyer is happy.

 

The second aspect you want to look at before starting a business is the aspect of making buyers happy. This is because a customer’s happiness is important to your business success. You need to be selling products or offering services that customers want. Another word, if there is a demand or not. You can get all excited about your business because it is something you really want to do, but if nobody wants it, what is the point? It is okay as a hobby, but it doesn’t become a business if there is no demand.

 

For the customer to be happy, you must offer them something that satisfies a need. Sometimes it is better to choose something that you are good at as a business than something you like.

 

I said that one aspect of Urite-Yoshi is doing what you enjoy doing, but when it comes to Kaite-Yoshi, doing what you are good at doing might be more beneficial. If things you like doing and things you are good at are the same, there won’t be a problem, but if they are different, you need to find a good balance of the two.

 

In my case, I really loved writing, and I thought I was good at it. However, I learned that I needed to be excellent at it to be successful in that field. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that good, but I was good at teaching English, which was much less competitive, as I had taught it throughout my life. It was easier for me to succeed in this field, but I had one problem: I wasn’t so passionate about teaching English.

 

Then I thought of ways to make it more enjoyable and came up with an idea to combine teaching English and coaching, which I was more passionate about. I started an English coaching business where I would help English learners improve their skill. It ended up being a perfect idea since not many people were doing it. It was a new field, and I could be one of the pioneers.

 

Since I began my sustainable way of living in the countryside, I realized that we are not here to do just what we like doing. There are things need to be done for our survival. We need to grow rice, vegetables, manage the forest, build and repair houses and furniture, and so on. In the community level, too, there are things need to be done; energy needs to be produced, goods need to be transported, roads need to be repaired, educational services need to be provided, medical services need to be provided and the list goes on.

 

Come to think of it, the idea of doing something you like doing as a job relies on the globalized division of labor. If all of us did only what we like doing, who would engage in necessary works? I realized that it is a city mentality.

 

In order to create a sustainable society, we need to shift our mindset to be a specialist in one field and doing just that to the mindset to be a hyakusho who does multiple tasks need to be done for the community including things you like doing.

 

You can be an artist while being a farmer or baker or carpenter. By doing other works, you become more integrated as an artist because you are more in harmony with nature.

 

The bottom line is finding a need in the community and finding ways that you can contribute using the skills you are good at. Usually, things you are good at are something you like doing, and if not, they are still things you don’t dislike. It isn’t so bad to choose them as your job and do things you like in your free time, if it benefits other people in the community and hence the society in general.

 

To make your business Kaite-Yoshi, you want to be specific about who you want to serve. If your customer target is vague, you won’t be able to help the specific needs of your customers. The best way to go about it is to segment social problems into specific groups of people, instead of looking at society as a whole. You can ask yourself questions such as which problems do old people go through? Which problems do new mothers or mothers in general experience? Are there any available services that can help with these problems? If there are no such services, you can start one yourself. However, before doing that, you want to check the supply.

 

As you check the supply, you can also differentiate yourself from them by clarifying your targeted market because although the supply might be there, it may not be ideal for your targeted market. For example, there might be a huge supply of hair salons in your town, but they may not consider serving mothers who carry children they can’t leave at home. With this information, you can start a salon business that offers babysitter services. That will make you relevant to mothers who have small children, and you will have made them happy.

 

Well, making it Kaite-Yoshi sounds great, does it mean a convenience store that is open 24 hours a day is a Kaite-Yoshi business since it satisfies customers’ needs?

 

To answer this question, I need to bring up the next aspect; Seken-Yoshi, which means society is happy.