This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
A translation mishap, derails and import business. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Thanks for tuning in. Welcome as well to Failure Friday.
This is a collection of short stories. We put one out every single Friday. It's all about something that goes wrong. Mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure. And you get to hear directly from a side hustler who has struggled in some way or otherwise encountered one of these difficulties.
You get to hear this short story. What happened along the way? What was their idea at least or their assumption? How did that in fact interact with reality? In this case, we have a translation error from somebody who is like working with Japanese products and thought they had covered their bases, but then when they got something shipped across the ocean, turned out to not be what they expected.
So you'll hear the story. His name is Adam. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap up. [Music]
Hi, I'm Adam. A few years ago, I started an importing business bringing unique Japanese products to the US market.
Japan has amazing high quality goods, not widely available outside the country. And I saw a great niche to tap into. However, I quickly learned that working across languages and cultures isn't as straightforward as I thought. And a major translation error caused a lot of trouble. The business idea was to source specialty items from artisanal kitchenware to high-end stationery and sell them online to American consumers.
I spent months researching products, building relationships with Japanese suppliers and setting up importing logistics. And everything was going smoothly until finalizing the first big order I had negotiated with a well-known Japanese supplier. And we were both excited to get started. To ensure quality, I hired a translator for communication and documentation. I thought I was being thorough, but in hindsight, I should have been more involved in double checking everything.
When the shipment arrived, I eagerly inspected the products. But as I unpacked the boxes, I realized that something was wrong. The products weren't exactly what I'd ordered. They were similar, but key specifications were off. Colors, sizes, and even some materials differed from what I'd agreed upon.
I immediately contacted the supplier to figure out what happened. It turned out a crucial part of the order details had been mistranslated. A seemingly small error in translating product specifications led to the supplier shipping items I hadn't intended to sell. They had followed the instructions they received precisely, but those instructions weren't accurate. Due to the translation issue.
This mistake cost me a lot of money. I had to deal with returning incorrect items and negotiating with the supplier. And I lost valuable time and missed the opportunity to capitalize on the initial product launch excitement. My business was set back by months and the whole experience was incredibly frustrating. In retrospect, I should have been more involved in the translation process, even though I'd hired someone for the job.
In a business dependent on clear communication across languages and cultures, it's crucial to double check everything, especially key details that could impact operational success. I also learned the importance of building strong supplier relationships. Fortunately, the supplier was understanding and we worked out a solution. But the whole situation could have been avoided if I'd taken extra steps to ensure accuracy from the start. Since then, I've been much more careful with translations and communication.
Making sure I understand exactly what's being conveyed and that my partners do too. The translation mishap was a tough lesson, but it made me a more meticulous and cautious side hustler. All things considered, I feel better equipped to handle the complexities of running and importing business across different languages and cultures. [Music]
Big thanks to Adam for sharing this story. And as I always say, in these episodes, never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
I think Adam said something about how this made him a more meticulous and cautious entrepreneur side hustler. And that's what happens. Every time I experienced a defeat like this, I'm like, "Oh, what can I do differently next time to avoid this particular defeat?" I might have some other challenge or obstacle, but I think it's important to keep that in mind. I might have some other challenge or obstacle, but just got to keep going. Just got to keep trying new things.
So big thanks to Adam. Big thanks to you, our listeners. Thank you for making this podcast possible for more than 2,850 days, 2,855 to be precise. If you have a question or an update about your hustle, you know where to go, sidehustleschool.com. And of course, new episodes out every day, seven days a week, including tomorrow.
My name's Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." Yeah! [Music]
