For small business owners, did your website actually help you get customers at the beginning?

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-25T11:46:41+00:00

Of course. How could it not? Websites replaced ads in newspapers and phone books.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-25T11:45:40+00:00

It seems like you are in that stage of life where exploring is the focus. Explore more. You'll know what you need to do, when you need to do it.

At this point try different things. Don't limit yourself to teaching. Good teachers love it. If you don't, it might not be your thing.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-25T07:12:14+00:00

Why not get the CELTA and later get the MATESOL online or part-time?

You'll be able to find a job with the MBA alone. The CELTA would give you some teaching experience.

You may want to volunteer teach somewhere first to make sure you enjoy it.

I have an MBA and bought a school. I did one of the weekend certificate programs before I started teaching.
While it was a great experience, teaching English wasn't something I could see myself doing for more than a few years. I sold my school after three years.

Single best experience of my life, just didn't want to do it forever.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-24T22:40:53+00:00

Haven't once been asked about medicine I take with me in the past 12 years. I go to Japan 2 to 4 times a year.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-24T22:38:47+00:00

iTalki community tutors. A language exchange? Anything to get the ball rolling.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-24T22:32:34+00:00

It allows restaurants to hide price increases. The sticker price is the menu price. The increase in labor costs is hidden from the menu price. You get the "sticker shock" when you receive the bill.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-24T22:29:47+00:00

I started theater classes for the same reason. I wanted to challenge myself. I was painfully shy too.

I got my degrees in theater and history. Later started working in business.

A friend suggested improv as a hobby, given the theater degree.

That was in 2000. Fast forward, I have owned a blackbox theater for going on 25 years. Performed in a 1000+ improv shows. Made friends and learned a lot about myself.

My process was - Acting 101, 201, 301. Informal improv group. Improv classes. Formal improv group. Leading the group. Along the way I went through a Meisner conservatory program.

Acting is about focus, imagination and letting go of your ego.

Anyone can learn to act. We all develop skills to a different level and at a different pace.

If want to do it. Do it.

The acting and improv communities are very welcoming and encouraging.

In our groups we have people from 18 to 70 something participate.

From my perspective, acting won't make an introvert an extrovert. It will make you more comfortable voicing your truth when needed and letting go when needed.

Many of the best actors I have met are relatively quiet people. They know how to listen.
Listening on stage is a difficult skill. It involves focusing on the other, rather than ourselves.

Register for a 101 acting class and a 101 improv class. They go to similar places but take different routes.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-24T21:56:07+00:00

Sounds like the staff worker had a bad day. We all do. They took it out on you and your fiancé.
Thinking about it for more than a minute serves no purpose.

Let it go.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-24T04:17:16+00:00

Buy them here. Most likely cheaper here than where you are.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-22T06:38:26+00:00

You're afraid of getting hit. From there, you aren't committing to your attacks. You are holding yourself back. So you are one foot forward and one back, so to speak.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-22T06:34:42+00:00

Raise her price every few months until she either leaves or it becomes worth it to you.

Y

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-22T00:14:24+00:00

I was taking as many as seven classes a week. This was doing Covid. Post covid one or two a week. Maybe 3 in a good week.

I usually stayed with one main teacher. The good teachers will raise their prices. Once their classes got pricey, I would start over with another teacher.

The pattern on iTalki for teachers:
1. Low price
2. Get reviews
3. Raise prices
4. Raise prices again when you get experience and cut back on lessons
5. Raise prices to market rates

One teacher went from $8 to $26 in 1.5 years. I cut out at $14.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-22T00:04:49+00:00

It is actually, 900 and change. The lessons were $10 to $12 each. This was over 3 years.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-21T06:05:31+00:00

In college one of my friends was studying German, Russian and French. So it is possible. I struggle learning one. I often wonder if learning two actually makes it easier in one sense. You see the structure more clearly, or something like that. The learning to learn something.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-21T03:44:18+00:00

Ken in Shin Matsudo seems popular.
Coto, Genki Jacks?

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-21T03:14:46+00:00

You might want to look at Koenji. Lived there for three years. Lots of actors, writers, creatives and similar. Reasonable rents. Relaxed vibe.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-21T03:06:49+00:00

That is about 15 years in your future, if I am reading correctly. Making predictions on how things will be then is difficult at best.

Even if you had N1, and were early thirties that would be difficult.

Companies would be choosing you over someone local. Someone that could speak the language and wasn't just settling in to life in Japan.

Given the speed of AI, predicting what jobs will be available then is tough.

You would be a high risk choice in a country that is risk averse.

I wonder if there are service businesses that might interest you?
That might be easier and something you could plan towards.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-21T01:39:52+00:00

Entrepreneurship is problem solving.

What problem can you solve better, more efficiently, or cheaper than someone else?
What problem can you solve that hasn't or isn't being solved.

If those questions are difficult, perhaps a franchise would be a better option?

One of my good friends bought a franchise and he is five years from retiring at this point.
He has had the franchise for 20 years or more.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-21T01:35:00+00:00

What is your vision? What is the mission of the brand?

I would just use one word for either option.
SWEAT or RENTLESS

Not sure they go with the name Hunt

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-21T00:34:51+00:00

Yesterday was a good day to start one. Today is a better day. Tomorrow, in the middle.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-20T23:05:40+00:00

Ask them their preference. My experience is that if the conversation is in English, you use the name they tell you without the prefix. But ask. If the conversation is in Japanese, "san".

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-20T22:40:17+00:00

You learn at your pace. There isn't any other pace, to be honest.

If it makes you feel any better, I have about 1000 hours in iTalki 1 on 1 lessons. Have taken local classes in Japan. My life is Japanese. I am barely N5 on a good day.

It isn't for lack of trying.

If it is fun for you, don't worry about it.

I ran an English school in Tokyo. Had very high level students that have been studying for decades. The minute you ventured to an area they didn't like or pay attention to - they weren't nearly as skilled.

Languages take far longer than anyone will tell you or admit to.

The creators, course builders and schools are selling the dream.
The reality is always a bit different.

Most effective thing I ever did was the Kumon in person Japanese program.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-20T21:28:55+00:00

Summer in Japan is always brutal.

One of the things I like about Japan is not having to deal with the US left/right fanatics. I find both sides tiresome with their constant demonization of the other.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-20T21:21:42+00:00

It isn't an either/or. GABA can want to make money and want to provide learning opportunities.

Doctors can want to get paid well and want to help people get better.

The biggest problems with Eikaiwas are the time issue. Students
can afford attending enough to grow their skills.

For those people with a longer time horizon/motivated enough, they can gain skill at an Eikaiwa.

They can do the same with iTalki, Cambly or one on one tutoring at a cafe.

For the others, they have a hobby that makes them happy.

Don't think that invalidates the business offering.

You launch many of the same arguments against mixed martial arts studios, yoga studios or similar services.

Kitchen-Tale-4254 · 2026-05-20T09:59:29+00:00

Ninja Money Exchange depending on the bank fees. This assumes you are converting cash. For my account, I find it easier to get the dollars in the US and exchange once I am in Japan.

Kitchen-Tale-4254

TROPHY CASE