Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo
Featured Member - Jonathon Walsh

Interview - October 2004

Jonathon Walsh
Founder & Director
Business Grow

After working for almost a decade in the New Zealand and UK IT industries, Kiwi Jonathon Walsh switched countries and careers and moved to Tokyo in March 2002. Since then, with the aid of a special way with words and a pile of discarded pens, he has been carving a niche for himself in Tokyo's professional writing industry.

Working as a professional Writer and Editor, Jonathon writes EA-Tokyo's seminar summaries as well as articles for Hiragana Times, J Select and Eye-Ai magazines, and a growing number of professional organizations.

From CEO's to Ambassadors, entrepreneurs to actors, sportsmen to students, Jonathon has sat down with nearly 200 people and transcribed their lives, dreams and business plans into almost as many articles for 10 different magazines and professional groups in Japan.

Jonathon is also director of Business Grow , an innovative and rapidly growing company specializing in providing top quality editorial and advertising services to Japanese and foreign organizations.

www.businessgrow.net
 

Interview with Jon:
1. When did you start your first business? What was it? What lessons did you take away from that experience?
My first dabble in the entrepreneurial world was when I started a property maintenance business with a friend in Auckland when I was 15. We printed advertising pamphlets, cleaned houses and did gardening for $5 a job. I then took it a step further and started a successful part-time photography business in the mid 1990's, creating and selling handmade photo cards and other photo-related products using images taken in 25 countries.

2. What are some of the challenges you have faced in starting your business and how did you overcome them?
Business Grow is focusing on two key areas − 1. providing editorial content and related services to media and professional organizations, and 2. supplying innovative advertising solutions to businesses.

The biggest ongoing challenge has been carving a niche in the market.

I am very strong on the creative product creation side and am working hard to find the ‘right' mix of high profit products and services that have little or no competition in the marketplace. Part of that challenge has involved assessing the market, looking at where there are holes, then designing and launching new writing products. These have included seminar summaries and corporate newsletters, and packages that offer an enticing combination of editorial and advertising services, such as an article in a magazine and an advert in an e-mail newsletter or magazine.

Another challenge has been finding media that will publish my work. The solution has involved aiming to make every article ‘the best one yet', then telling as many people as possible. I am continually talking to people, looking for ways to help them get published and proactively spreading the word about Business Grow at every available opportunity. Due to this strategy I have thankfully been very successful at finding outlets and are now able to offer clients a growing range of magazines and websites for them to advertise and promote their businesses through.

On a personal level, I am working to disprove the commonly held notion that writers cannot earn a decent living. I believe that is wrong and I intend to prove it. I believe professional writing can be very lucrative (without having to write a bestseller) if you combine good writing skills with a dose of creative marketing, a splash of business nous and target the appropriate market. Having high quality products and services that feed a need in the market also helps. The great thing is that your market doesn't need to be big to have a highly profitable business. By gaining the trust and regular work from only a few large customers, it is possible to set yourself up earning serious money.

Overall, things are going very well − I am interviewing bigger and better names, gaining good recommendations, receiving more proposals for work and are very busy to the point where I have recently taken on a new team member.

3. How did you form your business? (Yugen Kaisha, Kabushiki   Kaisha, etc.) How long did the start-up process take?
Watch this space.

4. Where do you see your business in 5 years?
My overall goal is to create a ‘borderless business' that gives myself and my staff freedom to work for clients anywhere in the world from any location - whether that be a beautiful sun-drenched Auckland beach, a Tokyo office or a London cafe. Thanks to the internet and e-mail, this is already becoming reality. To speed up the process, I am now building a network of creative professionals who are able to produce high quality articles, copy and corporate editorial for publications and professional organization on a global scale.

While there is a growing demand for high quality articles and editorial content among businesses, not every company has access to a flash marketing department. I aim to carefully position Business Grow in the market so that whenever a small or medium-sized company (without a marketing department) needs quality writing marketed to a specific audience, they can come to us and we will interview, photograph, write it, translate it and slot it into whatever market or media they require.

5. Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Why?
Definitely. I have often felt restless working for other people. I am intensely creative and need an outlet for that energy, so writing articles and designing new writing products and services acts like a daily dose of high octane rocket fuel that renders lack of motivation a non-issue.

Also, it feels great! I see exhausted salarymen on the trains every day and often wonder what they will think when they retire. Will they be proud of their achievements, or will they realize they just spent 40 of the most productive years of their lives working in a job they didn't like? That's a big question and there's no going back.

Personally, I feel I'm on the right path since I've never been happier in a job. I am creating something out of nothing, plying it, stretching it and matching its shape to market demand. Every day is a real pleasure to live, always interesting and one more step in a massive learning and growth curve.

I believe in the saying ‘Do what you love and the money will follow' and have absolute confidence Business Grow will grow and become a profitable enterprise.

6. What is your definition of an entrepreneur?
Someone who is willing to take a risk to find a better way.

7. What piece of advice would you give to a person wanting to start his or her own business in Japan?
- Bungi jump. Realize that no matter how much effort, preparation and willpower it takes to walk to the edge of the platform, at some point you must step off and fly.
- If you are thinking of starting a business, realize it will become a big part of you. In the initial startup stage, you've got to be prepared for very long hours and lots of hard work to establish a business.
- If you love what you are doing, it will be enjoyable. If you don't, think again.

● Open your mind − opportunities are everywhere! If your main market is in Tokyo, why not consider Osaka? If it is Japan, why not Asia?
• If you do not have a skill necessary for your business, pay someone who does. Better still, create a win-win partnership with that person and arrange to share services (hopefully for little or no cost).
• Get lost on a regular basis! Take time out every so often to detach yourself from your work and head for the hills. Arrange for a quiet weekend away where you can clear your mind of detail and refocus on the big picture. You may not reach your destination if you are continually blinded by detail.

Don't be afraid of your competition − it is not necessarily a threat. If your customer has not heard of, or has no intention of using your competition, then that competing company essentially does not exist.

8. Can you recommend any resources such as books, websites, or support centers for entrepreneurs in Japan?
www.entrepreneur.com - full of interesting articles and advice.

9. Who are your mentors in business?
Inspiration comes from great writers including political commentator William Pfaff, and closer to home, Stephen Mansfield and Chris Betros (Crisscross KK). .

10. What makes you happy?
Writing.
Reaching the final stage in an article where no more editing is required.
Receiving positive feedback about my articles and seeing magazines containing my articles in the shops.
Walking along a beautiful deserted beach on a windy day.

info@businessgrow.net
www.businessgrow.net