[Student life]
I was born in a countryside in Japan. I was good in playing sports and academically good in school even though I didn’t study so much. When I was 18, I moved to Tokyo and entered one of the most popular universities in Japan (Sophia University). And then, I got a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.
[As an Office worker]
After graduating from school, I started working in the biggest Japanese IT company(NTT Data) as a system engineer. It is a prestigious company in Japan, therefore many Japanese people want to work there. I had worked there for 8 years. I worked overtime almost everyday in that period. I was in the office until midnight or even next morning sometimes. Also, I worked on Saturdays or Sundays at times. I was a typical Japanese workaholic office worker. I devoted myself to the company. There isn’t enough free time to enjoy my life.
The salary was fine but not so high as successful entrepreneurs. The amount of money employees can earn is limited. There were many respectful and competent bosses and colleagues in the company, and I learned a lot of things from them. I am very grateful to them.
But I also worked with incapable bosses and annoying colleagues. It was frustrating for me to build interpersonal relationships with them. Totally, it was so hard and stressful to work as an employee. I couldn’t do what I liked in the company so much. I like technology, especially IT, but I was not satisfied with my work. I wanted to have freedom and do what I love. Actually, I was not happy at all even though many people saw me as an elite. And I thought that I would get sick from working too hard. On average, I worked 14 hours and slept only 5 hours a day at that time. I was completely exhausted.
[As an affiliate marketer]
Some of my friends were working as freelancers. They have skills of digital marketing, and they enjoyed their work. I was so jealous of them. They influenced me a lot. Finally I quit the company and started my own business as a freelancer. In the beginning, I chose affiliate marketing, because it seemed easy to earn money. I made a blog and used twitter to sell my favorite products. Three month later, I was able to earn $3,000 a month without hardwork. After that, I learned more about digital marketing and improved my business skills. One and a half years since I quit the company, my sales reached $10,000 a month. Actually, it was much easier to earn money than working as an engineer in the company. I worked less than 4 hours a day usually without any stress. I became able to decide what I do, when I work, where I work, and who I work with.
Then, I started traveling to all over the world. I’ve been to over 20 countries and worked there. I can work anywhere with my laptop. I didn’t need to work for money. I can avoid stressful work. Because I acquired passive income thanks to the skill of digital marketing. But I felt a sense of emptiness. I had been bored and got nothing to do. I wanted to have friends who can have enough free time and money to travel anytime as me. So, I started to think about sharing my skills and experiences to others and enjoy together.
[As a digital marketing consultant]
And then, I set up my own company in 2016 and I started providing digital marketing consulting service. I have taught digital marketing to my clients which are mainly individuals, sometimes corporations. Many of my clients got successful financially. I felt happiness to hear their satisfaction. I like challenging so I decided to expand my business worldwide. It might be difficult but I thought it was exciting. So I started learning English and lived in New York for 6 months in 2018. After that, I stayed in Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Croatia, Montenegro, South Korea, and several cities in Japan. I was a digital nomad until the spring of 2020.
After the pandemic happened, I have stayed in Japan. And I set up an English vlog to improve my English skills. Currently my YouTube channel (YASU Business Channel)got over 26,000 subscribers even though my English is not perfect. I want to share my knowledge and experiences of digital marketing with people worldwide.
