Willing to jump, but still a bit afraid (open my own business)

[enddayshappy]

I hope all you people are having a good time and getting ready for the holidays.

Well, I’ll try to be a bit concise.

About me: 41 y/o, veterinary surgeon, expat from a non-native English speaking country. Holding a permanent residence.
I’ve been working for 9 years for a dispatch company (ALT), in my defence: it’s one of the few jobs I can finish early so I can spend time with my 5 y/o daughter.
Wife is a Japanese National, with a pharmacist license.

I have some savings overseas (around 140K usd) and willing to use them to either open a business or as a partial payment for own own property.

The problem is that it seems I got used to the ‘easy’ life of being an ALT, I think many of you know how effortless this job is, but we also know it’s not the ideal career one wants to pursue.

Wife doesn’t have any idea about finances or procedures, so she’s as scared as me.

So I was wondering if some of you have any successful stories about starting a business here in Japan, the challenges, the happy and not-too-happy moments and most importantly, if it’s possible to have a decent income/life out of it.

Currently we’re living in Nagano but planning to move to Yokohama since we want our daughter growing up in a place with more opportunities for her future.

Thanks in advance and happy holidays!

 

[resjudicata]

@enddayshappy Your biggest assets are probably your professional experience and your language skills. Why aren't you making use of those?

You talk about "starting a business" in vague terms. Do you have a formally written business plan?

I think you are right to hesitate. Sit down, put pen to paper, take a Udemy course or two on business planning.

Then sit down with your wife and make a plan together for your families future.

 

[mystical_faith]

@enddayshappy You are a vet surgeon working as ALT? You'd make so much more using your skill, assuming you pass the test and can practice here. Saying what business you're looking to start will give you better answer, starting a mom-pop cafe/ shop is very different than setting an IT consultant shop.

I have a Japanese friend who runs a small pet related business and I think she clears north of 40M yen per year with 2 people helping her.
Starting business is always risky, but IMO Japanese pay top dollar for their pets.
Use your skill and Japanese language skill. Pet business is social business, you'll succeed if you are good at small talks and gossip

 

[dee436]

@enddayshappy Is there a specific kind of business you're thinking to start or are you asking about starting any kind of business?

 

[twalton94]

@enddayshappy You’re a former veterinary surgeon working as an ALT? For 9 years. Hmm. I would suggest considering a business using your background in some way. Even if you kept teaching at least upgrade and focus on teaching people with scientific or medical backgrounds. Or perhaps students who want to study science/medicine abroad? Why not teach online, so you can be flexible? Otherwise, too vague to say you simply want to start a business. Like saying to a waitress, “I’m hungry”.

 

[angee85]

@twalton94

You’re a former veterinary surgeon working as an ALT? For 9 years.

And uses the 5 year-old as the excuse. So, what about the other four years?

 

[jalayman]

@angee85 Guessing that OP probably didn't make this post with the intention of justifying his past choices to anonymous judgemental Redditors today.

 

[angee85]

@jalayman It is a little bit strange, though. And the fact that they can't articulate what "business" they plan on opening, coupled with throwing away a lucrative career, is worth pointing out.

 

[jalayman]

@angee85 Fair enough. A quick Google seems to show that getting licensed as a vet here is daunting. One source even seemed to say that only graduates of schools that meet certain national standards can take the licensing exam, which almost certainly requires near-native Japanese on top of the subject matter. There are plenty of immigrants to my home country who have their reasons, but are extremely overeducated for the kinds of jobs they can get. It happens.

Agreed that OP hasn't given enough info for much concrete advice. Seems like he's still looking for assurance that foreign-owned start ups can even work, and may not be much past that stage, which again, is fair enough.

 

[alannaor]

@enddayshappy What is your business plan? How much research have you done on your peers/rivals in this industry? Can you identify what separates the successful from the failing businesses in this industry? Do the successful ones make the kind of money you need? Do you have a good idea of how they raised their businesses to their level? Do you have confidence you can establish and raise your own business to this level? Do you have enough time/money/support to get there?

If you think business just requires balls and 'dropping everything' will make up for a lack of planning then you will fail. I hope your business is something that is online or can be delivered, then you can already experiment with it from home with minimal expense and you don't have to quit your job. If it requires you to quit and is public facing requiring land etc then it's very risky, and I wouldn't even consider it without a long list of established clients ready to go.

 

[hark]

@enddayshappy I would think given your background, if you want to start you own business, then if you also speak Japanese, you should stop being an ALT and instead do juku-style or private lessons for people who want to get into medical or veterinary school.

Alternately, since you have a veterinary degree, you should at least be able to teach college English courses.

 

[phillev]

@enddayshappy When you say you want to open your own business, are you talking about an English school? Or a veterinary clinic? If it's a vet, are you licensed to be a vet in Japan? Do you have experience of that? Is your Japanese good enough to work with clients or would you just be the manager and you'd hire other vets? If it's an English school, none of the above worries apply. To be honest, I'd hope that you'd get more experience being a vet if that's what you want to do... I wouldn't be too happy with an ALT operating on my dog...

Do you want to start a sole proprietorship or a company? If you want to start a company, make sure that your starting capital is under 10 million yen otherwise you'll needlessly be paying more tax.

Just some questions to consider. All the best to you!

 

[skupi]

@enddayshappy Don’t have a success story but word of warning:

Had a strong business case, 3/6/9 year forecast/budget/p&l, lots of market research, detailed 3 year plan, funding etc etc.

Between COVID, borders being closed, JPY tumbling and a lack of a very strong domestic network and eventually just losing all enthusiasm in the face of continually running into red tape, brick walls and yet another layer between manufacturing and retail (that needed to take a cut) I pulled the pin.

Lost a LOT of money, now returning to IT to grind some more and replenish the war chest.

The thing we lacked more than anything was a network in the market we were trying to enter, and not having the runway to just eat costs for years to establish it. The external factors we couldn’t control (COVID + global economy) definitely played a part, but I did budget for this (though not enough).

Be 100% sure you’re ready, and be willing to lose it all if it fails.

 

[jimthebob]

@enddayshappy I started a business with a colleague after teaching English and getting a couple years in my new industry. It's stressful and lucrative if you are successful, but that's not guaranteed (and honestly more fail than succeed). I sometimes think about how easy being an English teacher was, but then I think about having a family and how an English teaching salary isn't going to give my kid the best life he can possibly have.

It would be nice to go back and do an easy job, but I guess I'm in the camp of taking on the extra stress to make sure I can pay for my kid to go to international school etc.

 

[heblessedinsideme]

@enddayshappy (1) Figure out what you want to do. Ideally something where there's a need and you have some or a lot of skill.

(2) Figure out who is in that space now. Who is addressing this need? These are your competitors. What peripheral products or services are also covering this need? Do you need Japanese skills to compete with them?

(3) Figure out who your potential collaborators are. Not simple stuff like a website designer, but who will help you reach customers? Why would they help you?

(4) Figure out if you need to incorporate. Some businesses benefit from the kabushikigaisha. Others don't need it.

(5) Make a budget.

(6) Put in place a back-up plan. Figure out what needs to happen or not happen for that to have to become the main plan.

Be focused and cautious and plan well. It still might fail.

 

[funlover999]

@enddayshappy Worst risk you can possibly take is not take any risks. It’s sure way to death. That’s your current life.

But don’t take uncalculated risks. Does your business has clients already? Generating revenue? Has potential for growth given current market situation? Or it’s an idea, Joe across the street told me having minshuku give us 100000000 yen per month so we will do same.

Given short amount of data you have provided, I’d say if you have clients that generate revenue (even non livable one) you can consider giving a shot. Otherwise nogo. If you never done businesses before, there is shittin to learn, and there is no books to learn it from.