【Road to Entrepreneurship in Taiwan】For those struggling with their current careers and their next steps

Hello, I’m Leo Sato (@slamdunk772), the CEO of applemint, a digital marketing agency in Taiwan!

Today, I’d like to share my mindset of “Maybe this is something you should try?” for those who are struggling with the next step.

To cut to the chase, it’s going to be something like, “Why not try spending a few hundred thousand yen on something and see how it goes?” – a pretty obvious suggestion.

The reason I want to talk about this is because the other day I met with another representative of a Taiwanese Japanese company who was troubled about his career.

It seems that he and his friends are all worried about their next career move.

They don’t have a lot of complaints about their current jobs, but they’re wondering if they should just continue living like this.

My response to this is, “Whatever action you take, you’re bound to get a reaction, so why not try something in Taiwan, anything?”

Still, I understand the feelings of those who can’t take action. I started my own business at 30, but it actually took me about 2 years to do so. Until then, I kept making excuses and didn’t start my own business.

However, recently there have been some cases where just taking action in Taiwan seems to have turned into a business opportunity, so I’d like to introduce them to you.

I think reading this could be a jumping off point for starting a business or the next career.

There are no profitable ventures from the start

Today, the word “entrepreneurship” seems to have taken on a life of its own and become something with very high expectations. However, I think that if you just start a business, that’s entrepreneurship, and you should start small first.

So, I don’t think it’s a good idea to quit your job and start a company alone, as that’s too big a first step.

So, what kind of small business can you start?

The important thing is not to think about what will make money, but to think about what will solve social problems.

Because, if you start with “making money” in mind, you’ll never get started because everyone has already thought of those money-making ideas.

By social problems, I don’t mean big issues like global warming or war, but rather the problems happening around you.

In Taiwan, for example, there are companies that want to reduce staff but can’t, or temp agencies that charge high fees but the employees quit quickly, or internal disputes among employees. Furthermore, there are manufacturers who want to exhibit in Taiwan but think the exhibition costs are too high, or real estate prices that never seem to go down, or cocktails at Taiwanese bars that are randomly priced at 1,500 yen per glass. There are plenty of problems wherever you look. 

In other words, I think it’s a good idea to find a problem that you can tackle with some passion from among these problems, and use that as a starting point.

Don’t start off by worrying about whether your idea is right or wrong, and it’s good to use your own sense of justice as motivation. I also have my own sense of justice and am working on sexual education events.

Unfortunately, even if it’s a small problem, addressing any issue will cost some money and take away some of your time. It will cost at least a few hundred thousand yen.

If you’re hesitant to spend even a few hundred thousand yen just to try it out, then unfortunately, I don’t think entrepreneurship is for you. When you start a business, you’ll be forced to make many decisions over the next few years that will require a lot of money.

I think it’s important to try if you have that understanding.

Background of the Tokushima Exhibition in taipei

Now, let me tell you about the Tokushima Exhibition scheduled for March 2, 2024. This exhibition was organized by a young person from Tokushima who wanted to increase awareness of Tokushima in Taiwan.

In talking with him, we thought it would be interesting if we could do something like a Tokushima exhibition in Taiwan, and we decided to do it.

However, even though he said he would start, he didn’t know what to do initially, so I decided to give him a little support. Specifically, I decided to help with arranging the venue and advertising costs.

By the way, we supported this activity with our own intentions and help people we see fit. Please note that we don’t support every event.

Unfortunately, at this exhibition, we couldn’t expect any monetization. While we were able to secure a venue for the event, the venue is a cultural property, so we couldn’t sell things there. Even if we could sell, the customs procedures would be cumbersome, so we decided to provide an environment where people could experience Tokushima products and crafts.

Although we provided some financial assistance this time, even if individuals bear the costs, I think the cost of organizing such an event would be around 200,000 yen. It might be a bit tough to spend 200,000 yen on an event where monetization is not possible, but as I mentioned earlier, if you’re afraid of losing 200,000 yen, entrepreneurship might not be for you…

What happened as a result of launching this event?

First, 10-15 companies agreed to exhibit at the event. For these companies, it’s cheap to display their products in Taiwan just with shipping costs.

Next, it turned out that the president of one of the manufacturers exhibiting on the day of the event happened to be in Taiwan, so he decided to visit. In other words, it’s about building connections.

Accumulating these small things leads to business opportunities. If the 10-15 companies exhibiting sample products this time were to seriously seek sales channels in Taiwan, they would probably connect with the young people from Tokushima who organized this event.

Since the prefectures in Japan are quite interconnected, people from other parts of Shikoku who hear about Tokushima’s story may also connect with him in the future.

Occasionally, I receive inquiries from aspiring entrepreneurs who want to bring about tremendous change in society. I think their aspirations are wonderful, but they require too much money to actualize. We don’t have the means to support them.

So, I think it’s a shortcut to entrepreneurship to first achieve what you can within your own capabilities.

However, even though I mention “taking action” as a necessary first step, if the young person from Tokushima didn’t have my support, the implementation might not have happened so quickly. In that sense, it’s reassuring to have someone who pushes you forward.

First, try spending about 200,000 yen and taking action within your capabilities, and some kind of reaction may come back, leading to a business opportunity. That was the case study.

Even if you fail with 200,000 yen, think of it as tuition fees. So, let’s start with what you can do!