Where do we go next?
I started RetireJapan in 2013.
It’s been an amazing 10+ years.
I have learned so much and gotten so much value from running the blog, then the focum, the social media accounts, and now the YouTube channel.
Hopefully I have helped some other people along the way too.
The last couple of years have been insanely productive and satisfying. We’ve done all sorts of fun projects (Your First Ten Million Yen, RetireJapan TV, the YouTube channel, our first video course) and I think we got into a really good rhythm on social media, putting something out pretty much every day and slowly growing our following on each channel.
But circumstances have changed.
Unretired Japan
I’ve mentioned it a few times on the blog and in videos, but I went back to work full time in April.
This was not because I ran out of money, or for any other financial reason, but rather because my wife needed my help with her business.
I’ve been helping her with her English school for over 20 years now, but I had hoped to take a step back and not really be too involved day to day. Sadly this was no longer possible, and after a bad year for student recruitment and a teacher deciding to leave, we figured the best thing would be for me to come back as a full time teacher and be more involved with the school.
So far it is working: student recruitment is up a lot this year, and the school is working very smoothly.
But I have almost no time and head space for RetireJapan.
The contrast to the last couple of years is jarring.
Whereas before I had 30, 40, 50 hours a week to spend on RetireJapan, now I have around 1/10th of that.
And even the little time I have spent on RetireJapan since April is time I have taken away from the school.
A fork in the road
I’m not quite sure what to do next.
In an ideal world I would not have to do anything with the school and could just focus all my energy on RetireJapan.
But in my real world that is not an option.
It feels like trying to do both at the same time means that neither is going to work very well.
Put another way, if I could concentrate on one or the other I think it would be not 2x but rather 4x or 10x the results.
And focusing on the school for a couple of years might allow us to get it to a successful exit.
On the other hand, Elon Musk has managed to run half a dozen companies without affecting their success too much (although I am not Elon Musk, my wife’s school and RetireJapan are not Tesla and SpaceX either).
The options
1. Not working on the school and working on RetireJapan 100%
is NOT an option. If it were a normal job then I would almost certainly have bowed out completely by now, but my wife is the owner. She is already working too hard as it is and if I don’t help her I’m not sure things are going to work out. This is not because I am amazing but rather because we have extremely complementary skillsets (with almost no overlap) and of course it is much easier to do something as a team than on your own. If I decided not to help her anymore I don’t think that would do our relationship any favours…
Also the school is not just about us, it is about the hundreds of students and their families, and our staff (some of whom have mortgages to pay). It’s a big responsibility.
2. Doing the minimum on the school and spending as much time on RetireJapan as possible
This seems like a bad option. I have 17 classes a week and am in charge of curriculum, marketing, teacher training, and dealing with unpleasant customers, so even the bare minimum is at least 30 hours a week. Doing the bare minimum would likely not grow the school or improve its systems enough to make a difference in terms of making it easier to sell or pass on later.
3. Splitting my time equally between the school and RetireJapan
Knowing myself better than I did before, I am not sure this is going to work very well. It is very similar to option 2, and seems likely to result in substandard outcomes for both.
4. Spend most of my time on the school
and figure out the minimum effective dose for RetireJapan to keep it alive until we sort the school out. This seems like the best option to me at the moment. Focusing on the school for 2-3 years would likely get us close to a decent solution, and then I could pick up RetireJapan after that. The big question in this scenario is what is the minimum I can do with RetireJapan to keep it alive without spending dozens of hours a week on it?
5. Focus on the school and give up RetireJapan
I don’t think I want to do this. RetireJapan is my baby and I think what it does is important. But maybe I am making excuses and giving myself an out for not putting all of my effort into the school.
What do you think? What should I do? And if you agree that option 4. might be the best, what should I do to keep RetireJapan on life support?
How about leaving the resources up , the chat forum etc but don’t add anything til you’re ready or is that simplistic?
No, that would make a lot of sense 🙂
How about hiring someone to do the research and manage the day-to-day, with your oversight. That’s how Elon Musk and many business leaders do it.
A slightly larger RJ team is definitely part of the long-term plan 🙂
That is a tough spot. I agree with option 4. This is a great resource for so many people who really need it. Leave the forums running, maybe solicit more guest posts, dial back the blog to once a month or just whatever occasional post you can manage — I’d still read it!
Thank you!
Is it possible to hire someone part-time to take over the most time-consuming aspects of both roles?
Would it be possible to tie-in your school work to Retire Japan in some way to kill two birds with one stone?
What does your wife think?
I’m sorry, I don’t have a solution or an answer, but it would be a shame to lose either or both.
I’m not great at delegating unfortunately -trying to get other people to do things usually takes me more time than just doing it myself 😉
Quality over quantity. When any NISA/iDeCo or other big news occurs, you could send it out. You aren’t going to stop keeping up with investment/retirement news in Japan. You just need to forget the ‘ぎむ‘ posts.
I think mentally letting go of the schedule is going to be important.
I would just let the forum work, maybe do a blog post when you have time but not as a regular thing, and maybe the odd social media post to link to posts or videos that are already up as they will be useful to newcomers. But please don’t give it up!
That sounds like an eminently sensible plan 🙂
First of all let me say that I have benefited immensely from this forum and follow you on every outlet – so, thank you so much! So because of that I would prefer option 4, where you keep retire Japan on minimum life support and keep the chat forum open – I hope you can work it out with your personal and family goals!
Thank you!
Hi Ben you have created a great forum. I agree with Peter Burden above. Stop pouring time into content but keep the forum going. That way I am sure something good will come from the community. We all appreciate the way you have helped us all and we can wait until another idea or time to make content returns. But keeping the forum community would be great and would I believe keep your options open
Will definitely be keeping the forum open and seeing what else can be done 🙂
I echo what others have said here and hope you can keep RetireJapan ticking over until you have more time. If I were you then I would try to cut down on non-essential screen time. For instance, don’t read and post 30 articles a week, limit it to 10. And not even every week, only when you feel like it. You might be able to make a new video in the time you free up, or you might not. Don’t make a video unless you really want to! The forum will keep chugging along nicely and hopefully you won’t lose many subscribers by cutting back on blogs and videos. Good luck!
Thanks! That is always the conundrum: make more content or try to make more meaningful content…
Don’t give up on RetireJapan at any cost, please. I’ve learned a lot, and we need this resource. Very much appreciated. It takes a huge amount of energy, time, money and skill to build something like this. I would vote for just keeping it going with a little bit of effort here and there, maybe updates once every 2 weeks, keep them short and positive. As for the school, ganbatte kudasai! 🙂
Thank you! Pretty sure we’ll keep it going in one form or another.
I’m primarily here every week for the Monday read and the forum. If just keeping the website open and posting once every week or two is feasible that would be great to see. Would having more guest posts lighten the load or is that actually just as much work? Many forum members have a lot of useful information they could share I imagine.
Always happy to run guest posts but they have kind of dried up a bit recently…
Reserve a night with your wife – just the two you, some nice food, a notepad and a pen. Talk about values, using Retire Japan and The School as your guide posts. What you and what your wife place high on your respective lists may vary widely. However, it’s the crossover/common values that Retire Japan/The School represent to you and your wife in terms of your personal values that could help you both discover a possible option you weren’t even considering. You may surprise each other. Sometimes familiarity lends itself to a certain degree of assuming we know exactly what our partner wants/needs. Together you may surprise each other as you dig deeper for options and choices.
Best of luck to you both. (For selfish reasons I do hope Retire Japan will continue for a good long time!)
Sarah in Nagoya
Thanks! Coincidentally we have our 20th anniversary trip to Shikoku next week, so will be doing a lot of talking 🙂
Why not outsource some of the retirejapan stuff? Plenty of good writers/content producers who could help out
The main things I would want to outsource are not really operating yet! Something to consider for the future.
Option 4 seems to be the best (only?) one in the short/medium-term. But it doesn’t seem that it will make you happy. I wonder how attached your wife is to the school and what she sees as its future. Sarah’s idea above makes a whole lot of sense. As I understand it from other posts of yours, finances are not a huge issue, so it would be good to find a solution that leaves both of you happy with how you are spending your time.
I recently discovered your site so I truly hope you keep it going, even at the barest minimum until a time is right to get back to it. There is a wealth of info that people need who are trying to survive and make sense of money issues. You’ve done a wonderful job. Let others help during your time of need.
I always look forward to the Monday read: I usually check Sunday evening to get it early! Would be sad if you had to stop it, but I understand there’s a time for everything. I hope RJ doesn’t lose the personal touch. I’m sure I’m not the only reader who’s interested in following your take on things. Have a great trip!
Option 4 all the way.
I, like many here, have benefited greatly from all the wealth of information you have provided us over the years.
Personally I love the monday read and that is my go to every week. I would love to see it continue but of course only when you can – once a week, once every two weeks or whatever works for you. Youtube etc I don’t watch too much, only the odd big thing. I think you have enough content out there for people interested in coming to Japan so could probably just do the odd video when some big changes come up or something new and exciting.
Of course it is up to you but we would all love to see you stick around as we feel we know you quite well!
Anyway, thanks for everything until now. Enjoy your trip to Shikoku – a real gem.
It’s gonna have to be option 4 all the way!
Closing everything would be a shame, the website and forum are so so helpful!
Keep the forum running, with a fatherly watchful eye, to make sure spammers don’t invade the forum.
Change the Monday read to the… Monthly read?
As for RJ YT videos… Maybe a monthly short instead?
Thanks! That would be a very manageable schedule 🙂
Option 4 unless you can delegate school responsibilities to someone else or sell the school. You might care to look into Comiru to help reduce the administrative tasks at the school. Hiring someone who could do most of your work at the school might be good, too, if you can afford it.
I am a RetireJapan reader and I feel thankful with what you shared here as well as on LinkedIn. I haven’t applied your finance advices but I consider you as a successful foreigner in Japan. I prefer observing how the successful people live and and some reflections with my life.
Refer to the concerns that you mentioned in this article, I believe that any decisions you make will always bring you to a better version of you. When you are considering things it also means you may feel it is time to change. You can also get back to any old projects or ideas in the future but with a better approaches and new solutions.
I ‘run’ Tokyo Comedy Bar but the the best thing I did for me and the bar was go back to fulltime work in January. Forced me to make big decisions, delegate most of the bar work and it was a real eye-opener: I realised how much of the stuff was better handed over to someone else. So my recommendation is to outsource as much as possible and then focus on the biggest parts of RJ while helping with the English school.
That is great advice and my biggest weakness.
Yep, delegation is a hard but necessary first step into management. Helping and guiding those who do your old job is a fulfilling and worthwhile pursuit. But never do it for them.
Hope you can keep it going Ben I find it of great help not just for financial issues
Have you thought about charging a yearly fee maybe? Might offer more options for you
Like #4, and certainly hope Retire Japan continues – look forward to it every week! Maybe consider hiring a staff of English teacher interns to work at Retire Japan – perhaps a chance to improve both sides?
If I were you, would go with option 4. Your wife’s school is without question priority one, but if you’re able to keep RJ going albeit from a distance, this side hustle just might morph to something bigger with more and more foreigners moving here each year. Even if you don’t need the finances, having something meaningful to do post-retirement goes a long way…one can only play golf and keep traveling for so long.
4 sounds like the best for you & yours.
For me personally, I like The Monday Read (something to look forward to on a day of the week that I don’t look forward to 😅)& the forum the best…all the best in whatever option you decide is best for you.
Retire Japan is a super resource, and potentially valuable….one that you could over time monetise. Keep it ticking over would be my somewhat biased advice. Good luck with whatever decision you make 🙂
I’m relatively a newcomer to Retire Japan and appreciate finding out how other foreigners like yourself are navigating the pension system, dealing with questions such as continuing to live in Japan. I think it is best to discuss calmly with your wife and maybe together you will find a good middle ground. I am sure she wants you to be happy but if you are forced to take on something that is her personal passion (and not yours), it will be reflected in your teaching, your relationship with the school, students and ultimately with your wife and anyone else nearby (in-laws, children, friends). I am sure the ones who follow you appreciate all the information you have already provided us with since you started (like I mentioned, I am still a newcomer and now, just recently retired after 30 years of work in teaching English).I am trying to slowly go over the many things you have discussed/written about. Perhaps there is a way to delegate a few things around the readership you have built?
Right. I live in Shikoku, so next time call me and I’ll tell you all the things you wanted to see and do aren’t worth it and then, boom, you’ve got ten days back.
I like Sarah’s idea, very much.
The Venn crossover may also guide the content posts for the coming years.
Delegating may be the next step in your life’s progression.
Your priorities are most important. Whatever you decide, we’ll still be here. Good luck.
Hi Ben, i agree with what others have stated. What you have built in the forum and the guidebooks (NISA, iDeco, general ) is an invaluable resource. It’s what actually got me off my ass at age 48 and start doing what I should have started two decades prior- investing! I am eternay grateful.
I cutting back on the weekly posts and while maybe adding an occasional special post; keeping the forum alive is the way to go.
Adrian.
Thanks Adrian! Currently doing a lot of thinking and will no doubt write a follow up post after we get back!
Another lurker chiming in to say that I really appreciate the wealth of information you’ve brought to us here. If I hadn’t stumbled across RetireJapan I am sure I would never have set up my Rakuten Shoken account and NISA! So thank you for that.
Eikaiwa is exhausting stuff and it’s absolutely understandable that there are simply not enough hours in the day. Please don’t burn yourself out for our sakes. I would agree that 4 is looking like the most viable option, given the situation.
A couple of posters above have mentioned outsourcing RJ content, so I thought I’d make the case for the opposing perspective – I come to your blog for your voice, as it were, and I think that’s what makes RJ special. Over the years I’ve seen plenty of small, interesting personal websites grow into big bland brands, where the original founder no longer writes content and a mass of samey articles are churned out by outsourced staff. These sites tend to completely lose their identity and what set them apart in the first place. No doubt a Ben-less (or Ben-lite) RJ would still be high quality content, but it wouldn’t have quite the same character. Your writing voice is very much associated with the content – to me, anyway.
Well, just a bit of food for thought. Personally I’d be more than happy with a “Monthly Read” (as suggested above) and the forum doing its thing, until the dust settles. There’s years of archived articles to search through, as well… maybe not always a pressing need to add new content just for the sake of it.
Thanks Eleanor! Really appreciate the kind words, and agree that I don’t like the idea of outsourcing the content of RetireJapan (other than guest posts). It really is my baby, and not something I am willing to give up, sell, pass on, etc. I plan to be doing this for a very long time yet 😉