This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hi, what's up, side hustle school listeners. Thanks for tuning in. We're gonna take a little trip here today across the Pacific Ocean, at least virtually, because today's question comes to us from Tokyo. That would be Tokyo, Japan. I actually had that in my notes, Tokyo, comma, Japan.
And I was like, you know what? I don't think it's necessary to say Japan. I think people understand where Tokyo is. We got smart listeners out there, right? Very geographically attuned.
So we're gonna hear from Takashi, a career counselor with 15 years of experience under his belt. He's also spent a significant portion of his career guiding students towards their ideal careers themselves, 'cause he is a career counselor. Funny how that works. Takashi has been inspired to extend his services to a wider audience online, and he's particularly interested in aiding young professionals and university students overseas. So the first thing I notice here is his cross-cultural experience, which I'll talk a bit more about in my answer to the question.
But in the question, he's looking for advice on how to transition his on the ground expertise into, well, you'll never guess, it is in fact a side hustle, a successful online venture, in fact. So let's jump in, career coaching live from Tokyo. Quick shout out to our sponsor, and then the question. [Music]
Hello, I'm Takashi from Tokyo. I'm a career counselor in a local university and have been helping students with their career choices for the past 15 years.
I discovered your podcast through an article about side hustles and have been a fan ever since. I'm thinking of creating an online career coaching service focusing on assisting young professionals and university students overseas. What do you think about this idea? If it were you, what steps would you take to establish it? [Music]
I really appreciate this question.
Love hearing from our international listeners. And I think there's something that's really important to take away from the situation. Clearly our caller has the right skills and knowledge and can definitely offer some valuable service. The challenge is going to be how do I take those skills, that wealth of knowledge and transfer it into a service, a clear service that people want to pay for where there's an offer and they're like, okay, if I pay X amount of money, I'm going to receive whatever it is in return. Otherwise, it's gonna be difficult.
This is the challenge with something nebulous like career coaching. It's really helpful if we can tie it to a specific objective or some sort of outcome that you're gonna be able to take your clients to. So I would say think long and hard about who you want to serve. And fortunately, you've had a lot of experience in knowing who those people are and understanding their needs. So craft the service that you're gonna provide specifically in response to those needs.
And the better you're able to do that, the easier everything else will be. If you can craft something that somebody who's a potential client hears about it or sees it and thinks, oh my gosh, I need that. Like I want that, I need that. That's gonna be so much easier than them hearing about it and saying, oh, maybe that's a little bit interesting, but I don't quite understand, tell me more. You have to go through this sales process then.
And sometimes that's how it works. But if you can get specific about it and really clearly develop that offer, time the offer and craft the offer in relation to who the target market is and what you can do for them, then that just makes everything so much better. That's like the key to a thriving business, I really believe, especially in this kind of space. And then the second thing is just remember that every successful business thrives on relationships, but this kind of thing even more, like this kind of thing, not just the relationships with individuals, but maybe some networking with universities, companies that hire fresh graduates, those are the relationships that will allow the business to grow and increase the referrals over time. So it's a big task ahead, but Takashi has definitely got that experience and I am wishing you every success.
Let us know what develops. Listeners, I'm cheering you on as well, I'm wishing you success too. If you've got a question or a comment, sidehustleschool.com/questions. It's a big month, we got a lot in the mix. Book launch coming in a few weeks.
And of course, a new episode every day. Thanks for being out there. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
