After AI Takes Over Knowledge Work and Robots Take Over the Sweat, What's Left?! It's Community!

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This one too —

go right ahead〜〜〜

 

Ryo Asai

He's incredible〜〜〜, isn't he.

 

 

 

The film

To all our volunteers,

it's starting〜〜〜

 

Tomorrow

the whole shooting crew

gathers for the final meeting!

 

Open chat: "Supporters of Director Takumi Yamazaki"

https://line.me/ti/g2/LMalfILEK-I2tdh17ptx0r2Nvvadsche53fzYg

 

Film updates are here!

 

 

I went and met up with assistant director Uchi-san!

 

 

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSqxhq6gU/

It'll make you want to watch Netflix's

"YOU - Kimi ga Subete"!

 

 

What Ryo Asai had to say

about this film was incredible!

 

 

 

Akio Hiramoto's coaching

 

↓↓↓

 

What a wonderful time it was!

 

■ Learning how powerful it is to meet in person

　And then,

　sending a message or making a call right there on the spot...

 

■ So what do you do once you've met?

　・Help them organize their thinking

　・Offer concrete proposals

　・Communicate regularly (every 2 weeks)

 

■ Supporting and raising up the younger generation

　Building the next era

 

■ How to build a community

　How to go from fandom to becoming a community holder

 

■ Don't invite, don't push

　Make them want to buy!

　Make them want to join!

 

Ideas that came out of Hiramoto-san's invitation today!

Thank you so much!

 

 

AI keeps getting smarter.

 

Writing text.

Making images.

Pulling documents together.

Coming up with plans.

Talking things through with you.

 

Things we thought only humans could do until recently, AI has started doing one after another.

 

And as robots advance further, physical labor may shrink too.

 

So what is left for human beings then?

 

I've been thinking about this quite seriously lately.

 

One answer, I think, is

 

"community."

 

That may be what it comes down to.

 

People gathering together.

Having someone remember your name.

Having a part to play.

Being counted on.

Cheering someone on.

Laughing together.

Making something together.

 

None of this can be explained by efficiency alone.

 

If anything, it's interesting precisely because of human clumsiness, coincidence and emotion.

 

From here on, just as much as "what can this person do,"

 

"what kind of people gather around this person"

 

is going to matter.

 

I think of it as

 

"skill × community power."

 

That's the equation.

 

However capable you are, if there's no one around you, it's hard to extend that power.

 

Conversely, even without one outstanding skill, if you can gather people you can call in excellent people and build a place.

 

And someone with both skill and community power is, unsurprisingly, formidable.

 

So how do you actually build a community?

 

Here's how I'd lay it out.

 

First you need a "super content."

 

That sounds grand, but it really just means:

 

"something you could talk about passionately even if only one person were listening."

 

That's all it is.

 

Doing it because it's trending.

Doing it because it looks profitable.

Doing it because everyone else is.

 

None of that lasts.

 

You love it, and you can't help talking about it.

 

You end up spending time on it.

You end up spending money on it.

You end up looking things up about it.

 

Is there something like that for you?

 

On top of that:

 

You love it.

You're good at it.

It's useful to other people.

There are people who'd pay for it.

 

Where these overlap, you have the core of a community.

 

"I haven't found anything like that yet"

 

— some people will say that.

 

In that case, you don't have to start a community right away.

 

Just start by championing someone else.

 

Support an interesting person.

Join a community you like.

Help out at an event.

Introduce people to each other.

 

And while you're there,

 

"why do people gather in this place?"

 

— observe that.

 

Before long, what you yourself love starts to come into view.

 

One more thing that matters:

 

the sense that a community organizer is a "village chief."

 

When you receive participation fees or dues,

 

"my revenue went up"

 

— rather than thinking only that,

 

"I've been entrusted with tax revenue to run the village"

 

is closer to the right frame.

 

What should that money go toward to make the villagers happy?

 

What kind of place would feel good to be in?

 

Who should be given which role so that they shine?

 

Even the kid who doesn't stand out at school might be the one on goldfish duty.

 

Once you're on goldfish duty,

 

"thanks for feeding them"

 

— people say that to you.

 

And just like that, the kid has a place.

 

A community works the same way.

 

It isn't enough to simply attend —

 

"having a part to play"

 

is what matters.

 

Hosting is fine.

Reception is fine.

Photographer is fine.

Presenter is fine.

The person who dreams up the plan is fine.

 

When you're useful to someone,

that's where your place is made.

 

And one more thing.

 

In strong communities,

 

"the stars keep changing."

 

That's what I believe.

 

The organizer is always the one talking.

 

The same person always hosts.

 

The same person is always the one praised.

 

When it's like that, everyone around gradually turns into an audience.

 

On a strong baseball team,

 

today it's the number-two batter.

Next time the number-seven batter.

The time after that, the pitcher.

 

The person who shines is different from day to day.

 

A community is the same.

 

This month A-san plans it.

Next time B-san hosts.

The time after, C-san presents.

 

The star changes.

 

The organizer changes.

 

Even the role of host gets handed over, little by little.

 

That opens new gaps, and new people come in through them.

 

So what if you're starting from zero?

 

You don't need to gather a hundred people from the start.

 

Five is enough.

 

A get-together to watch football is fine.

A birthday party is fine.

A dinner is fine.

A tasting of something is fine.

 

"I'm doing this thing — want to come along?"

 

Whether you can say that.

 

That's where it starts.

 

Building a community is, in fact,

 

less "the skill of gathering people"

 

and more

 

"getting comfortable with inviting people."

 

That may be closer to the truth.

 

Invite people over and over.

Create the occasion over and over.

Fail over and over.

 

And through that, the strength builds, bit by bit.

 

Next,

 

"who is this place for?"

 

— decide that.

 

Try to make it for everyone and it usually lands with no one.

 

One person is enough.

 

"I want this person to come"

 

— decide who that is.

 

And build a place where that person thinks,

 

"this is a place for me."

 

That's the goal.

 

And once five or ten have gathered, ask them.

 

What was good?

What fell flat?

What would you like to do next time?

 

Don't think it through alone.

 

Ask the villagers.

 

At the same time, go and visit other communities.

 

"Why does this place feel good?"

"Why do I want to come back?"

 

Take in whatever is good.

 

At the next stage,

 

try running an event aimed outward.

 

Not an insiders-only gathering,

 

but an event you could bring friends to.

 

A showcase is fine.

A festival is fine.

A study session is fine.

 

What matters here is

 

not doing everything yourself.

 

A-san hosts.

B-san presents.

C-san takes reception.

 

Hand over the roles.

 

You become the conductor.

 

When participants stand on the stage, their friends come to watch.

 

And from there, new people come in again.

 

As it grows bigger still,

 

rather than only your own community,

 

you connect with people who have communities of their own.

 

X-san's community.

Y-san's community.

Z-san's community.

 

You invite those leaders as guests.

 

And then

 

"someone who grows one community"

 

becomes

 

"someone who connects communities to each other."

 

The role shifts.

 

Once you can do that, the numbers change dramatically.

 

And as a community grows, the people it needs change too.

 

At first you need someone who brings the energy.

 

Next you need someone who creates order.

 

After that, someone who runs the events.

 

Bigger still, and you need someone to organize information, and leaders for each region.

 

What's interesting is that

 

"every time a problem arises, the next role you need comes into view."

 

That's how it works.

 

In other words,

 

the difficulty itself becomes the next piece of content.

 

Right now, I'm rethinking several of my own communities.

 

Until now I stood at the front,

 

I did the talking,

 

I did the teaching.

 

That was the usual shape of it.

 

But from here, it'll be a little different.

 

Rather than staying the lead myself,

 

I want to make them

 

"places that produce the next lead."

 

For people who can coach,

I'll build a system that actually refers clients to them.

 

For people who can create events,

I'll hand the events over.

 

To younger people,

I'll give the stage to work as next-generation leaders.

 

From "a community you come to in order to learn"

 

to "a community where work and a part to play are born"

 

— that's the shift.

 

I think the way we do seminars will change too.

 

Up to now it's been:

 

the teacher teaches.

The participants take notes.

They go home and put it into practice.

 

That was the model.

 

But in reality, once they get home, they don't do it.

 

So you do it right there.

 

You message your friend right there.

 

You fix the date of the event right there.

 

You post to social media right there.

 

You invite someone right there.

 

Not a lecture room,

 

but an "execution room."

 

That's what it becomes.

 

And the teacher isn't someone who teaches,

 

but someone who does it alongside you.

 

The more the AI era advances,

 

the more the value of simply holding knowledge changes.

 

Search and the answer appears.

 

Ask an AI and it gives you a plan.

 

It writes the text for you too.

 

Which is exactly why:

 

who you're with.

 

Who you laugh with.

 

Who you're useful to.

 

Who you make things with.

 

Isn't it this value that rises instead?

 

A community isn't about fencing people in.

 

It's about building a place where a person can think,

 

"when I'm here, I can make the most of myself."

 

That's what it is.

 

And in the end,

 

it runs without you.

 

New stars are being born.

 

The next leaders are growing.

 

Get that far, and that community is strong.

 

What we'll need from here

 

isn't people who gather people,

 

but people who can build places where people thrive.

 

In the AI era, I think such people will be wanted more and more.

 

 

 

Wakayama was a joy!

 

 

Morning in Wakayama!

 

 

Thank you so much!

 

 

 

A genius calligrapher!

 

 

 

 

Link to Takumi Yamazaki’s ENGLISH Book “SHIFT”
https://amzn.to/2DYcFkG

Translated from the original Japanese post by Takumi Yamazaki: https://ameblo.jp/takumi-yamazaki/entry-12978688252.html

The Power to Dream Is the Power to Release the Brakes. Communication Is Not "the Power to Say the Right Thing." The Art of Getting It Across.

Check out Takumi’s NEW English youtube channel 🎵
↓↓↓
https://www.youtube.com/@takuway

Last night, Lake Kawaguchi.

Ogawa-kun's overnight retreat with 1,000 people.

 

 

Thank you so much!

Please do send me your photos〜〜〜

 

 

The power to dream is the power to release the brakes

 

"How amazing would it be if I could actually pull this off?"

 

When your life starts to move, the first thing you need may not be extraordinary talent or a perfect plan.

 

When something shows up in front of you,

 

"No way — that's impossible."

 

Is that the reflexive thought?

 

Or —

 

"Wouldn't it be fun if I could?"

 

Can you think that instead?

 

That slight difference changes every choice that follows.

 

I'm not always brimming with confidence myself when something new comes along.

 

It's scary.

 

I don't know if I can do it.

 

Maybe I'm not cut out for it.

 

That happens all the time.

 

Which is exactly why I tell myself:

 

"Amazing things might happen surprisingly easily."

 

When a chance arrives, I want to be the kind of person who can think,

 

"Whoa, here it comes!"

 

That's who I want to be.

 

The power to dream isn't the power to predict the future accurately.

 

I think it's the power to release, little by little, the brakes inside yourself.

 

Why we stop being able to see our dreams

 

When we were children, there were so many things we wanted to do.

 

If you wanted something, you said so.

 

If there was somewhere you wanted to go, you said so.

 

Watching TV, you could think,

 

"I want to do that!"

 

without a shred of hesitation.

 

But as adults, we start thinking:

 

"I probably can't."

 

"It's too late now."

 

"I don't have the money."

 

"I don't have the talent."

 

"It'd be embarrassing to fail."

 

We start listing the reasons we can't before we even get to what we want.

 

It's less that the accelerator got weaker, and more that we added more brakes.

 

So what you need in order to dream isn't to force new dreams into existence.

 

"Maybe I could do that too."

 

It's about widening the range of what you can believe that about.

 

When you see someone else succeed,

 

"They pulled it off because they're them."

 

instead of ending there,

 

"If this person could do it, maybe I have a shot too."

 

there are moments when you can think that.

 

In that moment, one brake comes off.

 

The scenery you see changes.

 

Things you would have walked right past before now look like

 

"a place I'd like to visit,"

 

"work I'd like to try,"

 

"a person I'd like to meet,"

 

"a world I'd like to experience."

 

That's how they start to appear.

 

Curiosity is the power to step outside yourself

 

People can only choose from among the things they already know about.

 

That's a surprisingly big problem.

 

Open your smartphone today and it serves you one thing you already like after another.

 

Watch sports, and you get sports.

 

Watch cooking, and you get cooking.

 

Watch music, and you get music.

 

It's convenient.

 

It's fun.

 

But left alone, your whole life gets built out of "the world you already like."

 

That's why it matters to step outside yourself on purpose.

 

Read a magazine you never read.

 

Read a history article you had no interest in.

 

Listen to someone from a field you know nothing about.

 

Go to a museum.

 

Go somewhere you've never been.

 

Open a book you'd never normally pick up.

 

At first, you might think,

 

"Not really my thing."

 

That's a fair first reaction.

 

But read a little further, and suddenly:

 

"Oh — this is actually interesting."

 

That happens.

 

That's the doorway to curiosity.

 

People with curiosity aren't people with wide interests.

 

They're "people who touch the things they aren't interested in yet."

 

If you want more options in life, you have to touch worlds you don't know.

 

 

Communication isn't the ability to say the right thing

 

The hardest part of any relationship is when opinions differ.

 

You think it's A.

 

They say it's X.

 

At this point, most people reflexively say,

 

"No, it's A, surely."

 

and start explaining the correct answer.

 

But the relationship stops right there.

 

What matters is asking,

 

"What made you think it's X?"

 

Just that.

 

Listen to them.

 

And then:

 

"So because you went through that, you see it as X."

 

"Because that's what you value, you chose X."

 

First, understand their world.

 

Only then do you say,

 

"I see. That makes complete sense. Can I tell you why I think it's A?"

 

That's how you say it.

 

The order is everything.

 

Try to persuade before you understand, and communication becomes a fight.

 

Share your thinking after you understand, and it becomes a dialogue.

 

People receive the "air" more than the words

 

There's a part of communication that never becomes words.

 

Say someone asks you,

 

"Want to come along next time?"

 

Let's say that's what you hear.

 

The same words can land in completely different ways.

 

"If I say no, this person is going to be in trouble."

 

Sometimes it feels like that.

 

"Even if I decline, this person will go and have a great time."

 

And sometimes it feels like that.

 

The words are identical.

 

But what comes across is different.

 

We unconsciously read the other person's expression, voice, breathing, posture, their impatience or ease, their hope or fear.

 

So just as much as what you say,

 

"what state you're in when you say it"

 

matters.

 

If you talk while watching their face, thinking,

 

"What will they think of me?"

 

"Will they dislike me?"

 

"What if they turn me down?"

 

your voice loses its bounce.

 

Conversely, when you talk about something you genuinely find interesting, at your own rhythm, that air carries.

 

Before you polish your delivery, tune your own state.

 

This matters enormously.

 

Trying to understand the pain

 

There's an idea about communication that I hold close.

 

Love is trying to understand the other person's pain.

 

They're angry.

 

They push back.

 

They keep their distance.

 

They use harsh words.

 

If you look only at the visible behavior, you land on

 

"What an unpleasant person,"

 

and that's the end of it.

 

But try asking:

 

"What's underneath this reaction?"

 

Just try considering it.

 

Maybe they were hurt before.

 

Maybe they were betrayed.

 

Maybe there's a fear they haven't found words for yet.

 

Of course, you can't decide someone's past for them.

 

But you can think:

 

"Even if no one else in the world understands this person, at least I will try."

 

You can choose that.

 

And when you do, your expression and your voice change.

 

The air shifts from trying to change them to trying to understand them.

 

Only from there does a real conversation begin.

 

Look for the "blue" inside the words that sting

 

Say a long message arrives from someone.

 

"Thank you for today. But please don't invite me again — that kind of place isn't for me. Still, I'd like us to stay friends."

 

When we read something like that, our heart snags on

 

"don't invite me again"

 

and "isn't for me."

 

Those are the parts that grab us.

 

And we want to argue back.

 

But try dividing the message into two colors.

 

Red for the parts that hurt.

 

Blue for the parts you're grateful for.

 

Do that, and you'll see there's blue here too:

 

"Thank you for today."

 

"I'd like us to stay friends."

 

That blue is there as well.

 

Don't react to the red. Reply to the blue.

 

"Thank you for coming today."

 

"Thank you for telling me honestly."

 

"Let's stay friends."

 

Reply like that, and the relationship doesn't break.

 

This doesn't mean swallowing your feelings to accommodate them.

 

It means finding the part between you that can still connect.

 

People with this habit end up with a much bigger "overlap" in their relationships.

 

If you want good connections, give them first

 

I want to meet good people.

 

I want a lucky life.

 

I want someone to help me.

 

Everyone thinks this.

 

But the people who receive good connections are also the ones who give them.

 

When a disaster strikes someone's hometown, you write:

 

"Is your family okay?"

 

You reach out.

 

When you notice someone taking on a challenge,

 

"I'm rooting for you."

 

you tell them so.

 

If you know someone worth introducing, you connect them.

 

If someone's struggling, you lend a hand.

 

Around people who hand over these small good things first, relationships quietly accumulate.

 

Luck isn't only something that drops out of the sky.

 

What builds up between people can come back one day in a different form.

 

Don't try to get it across in one go

 

People don't understand everything from hearing it once.

 

That's true at work and in relationships alike.

 

Something that doesn't land from one person clicks when another says it.

 

Some people understand through numbers.

 

Some understand through stories.

 

Some don't get it until they've lived it.

 

So don't try to win someone over in a single strike.

 

If anything, hold it lightly:

 

"It's normal for it not to land the first time."

 

That's enough.

 

Leave room for them to understand at their own speed.

 

If it helps, let them hear it from someone else.

 

Let them look at it from another angle.

 

Give it time.

 

Communication isn't about winning or losing.

 

Being able to wait while understanding grows inside another person is a strength of its own.

 

Goals change "now" more than they change the future

 

I think there's one big misunderstanding about goals.

 

Goals aren't only there to change the future.

 

They're there to change who you are right now.

 

For example, you decide:

 

"This month, I'll get this far."

 

Just that.

 

And what you do today changes.

 

Who you spend your time on changes.

 

What you decline changes.

 

How long you cling to any one thing changes too.

 

Without a goal,

 

"being someone who's working hard"

 

can become the purpose in itself.

 

You do the same thing over and over.

 

No results, and yet you tell yourself,

 

"Well, I worked this hard,"

 

and call it good.

 

With a goal, you can judge,

 

"This approach won't get me there,"

 

and move on to the next one.

 

That isn't cold — it's refreshing.

 

You stop clinging, to others and to yourself.

 

And a plan isn't there to increase your grit.

 

It's there to get you to your goal with the least possible effort.

 

It's like grocery shopping.

 

Go to the supermarket without deciding what you're making, and you'll walk the same aisles over and over.

 

Decide you're making sukiyaki tonight, and you buy what you need and go home.

 

The goal is the destination.

 

The plan is the route.

 

What you're bad at isn't necessarily a flaw

 

I have plenty of things I'm bad at.

 

I'm not good at managing paperwork.

 

I'm bad at detailed work.

 

I'm certainly not a good driver.

 

On the other hand, I'm good at pointing and saying,

 

"Let's go there,"

 

or "Let's do this."

 

That, I can do.

 

And there are people who are exactly the opposite.

 

People who aren't good at choosing a direction, but are extraordinarily good at building the systems that carry you in the direction that's been chosen.

 

People who are strong with numbers.

 

People who are good at organizing.

 

People who are good at supporting others.

 

So being bad at something doesn't only mean

 

"I have no ability."

 

It's not only that.

 

It's also "room for someone else's gift to enter."

 

That's what it is.

 

You don't need to become someone who can do everything alone.

 

What am I here to handle?

 

And from where onward should I borrow someone else's strength?

 

Once you know that, a team is born.

 

Being in a good state is a skill

 

The harder someone tries, the more they corner themselves with

 

"I have to try harder,"

 

"I absolutely have to do this."

 

That's the pressure they put on themselves.

 

And then the body stiffens.

 

Your field of vision narrows.

 

Your breathing gets shallow.

 

Things you could normally do become impossible.

 

Sports are the same.

 

"I have to make this shot."

 

The moment you think that, you tense up.

 

"I can't afford a mistake."

 

Think that, and your body stops moving.

 

So what you need isn't just fighting spirit.

 

It's the skill of returning yourself to a settled state.

 

Breathe deeply.

 

Close your eyes for a moment.

 

Let your shoulders drop.

 

Straighten your posture.

 

Instead of trying to hear the sound, try feeling that "the sound is reaching me."

 

Instead of trying to see the scenery, try feeling that "the scenery is coming in."

 

Even that alone can shift the tension in your body a little.

 

If you want to change the result, change the action.

 

If you want to change the action, change the choice.

 

If you want to change the choice, look at the thinking.

 

And thinking is heavily shaped by your emotions and your physical and mental state in that moment.

 

So the more important the decision, the more you tune your own state first.

 

This is the opposite of sheer willpower.

 

Live with intention

 

We live a large part of each day in "reaction."

 

A notification arrives, so you look.

 

Someone says something, so you get angry.

 

You're invited, so you go.

 

You get anxious, so you quit.

 

You're praised, so you push harder.

 

You're criticized, so you sink.

 

Live like this, and today comes out looking a lot like yesterday.

 

To change your life, put a little "intention" into those reactions.

 

"Who do I want to be today?"

 

"Right now, am I trying to understand this person?"

 

"Is this really something I'm choosing?"

 

"Am I looking at the reasons I can't, or at the possibility that I can?"

 

"Where am I headed?"

 

Living every moment of the day intentionally is probably impossible.

 

But you can come back to yourself once an hour.

 

Going beyond your own measuring stick

 

When I made a big decision in my youth, my father wept.

 

I don't think even he knew whether what I was holding was truly an opportunity.

 

Even so, in the end he said,

 

"I won't stop you. Go."

 

Those were his words.

 

Hearing that, I actually became frightened.

 

Being opposed would have given me an escape route.

 

If it hadn't worked out, I could have said,

 

"Well, they did tell me not to."

 

That escape was available.

 

But the moment he pushed me forward, the escape route was gone.

 

From that day, one measuring stick formed inside me:

 

"I want to live a life worthy of the tears my father shed that day."

 

That's the measure.

 

Everyone carries a different measuring stick.

 

A parent's words.

 

A promise made to someone.

 

A moment that stung.

 

A time you were saved.

 

A kindness you received from someone.

 

When you can't see your dreams anymore, it helps to look at what measuring stick you're carrying.

 

And then a time comes when you go beyond even that measure.

 

The bee doesn't know it's growing a forest

 

A bee flies from flower to flower to gather nectar.

 

As far as the bee is concerned, it's just collecting nectar.

 

But the pollen on its legs gets carried to the next flower, helping the plants pollinate.

 

And as a result, the forest spreads.

 

I think people are the same.

 

You're just doing the work in front of you.

 

Just chasing your own dream.

 

Just writing a book.

 

Just talking to someone.

 

Just taking on a challenge.

 

But someone who sees you doing it may have a brake come off.

 

"If this person is doing it, maybe I'll try too."

 

Someone thinks that.

 

And years later, someone may tell you,

 

"Back then, your words changed my life."

 

It happens.

 

Often about something so small you don't even remember it.

 

So don't underestimate your own attempts.

 

By moving forward, you may be growing a forest somewhere you'll never see.

 

The power to dream.

 

The curiosity to step into worlds you don't know.

 

Communication that seeks to understand before it seeks to change.

 

The ability to tune your own state.

 

The ability to set a goal and make a plan.

 

And knowing that your life is connected to someone else's.

 

What changes a life may not be some special answer hidden somewhere.

 

Next time a chance comes, just once, try thinking —

 

not "That's impossible, isn't it?"

 

but

 

"How amazing would it be if I could actually pull this off?"

 

Just once.

 

That's where the scenery starts to change.

 

 

How to become "unforgettable" to your customers!

The basics of nurturing you can start today

 

B-san, who runs a small custom furniture shop in town, used to have this worry: "Plenty of people peek into the shop or take a brochure home, but only a handful ever go as far as asking for a quote…"

 

So B-san started asking customers for their email address when handing over a brochure, and sending out one genuinely useful email a month — things like "seasonal wood maintenance tips" or "layout tricks to make a room feel larger."

 

With no hard selling at all, only information useful for daily life, six months later a message arrived from one customer: "I saw the email you sent, and I've decided I really do want that dining table I've always wanted!"

 

Nurturing is exactly B-san's approach. Rather than chasing after customers who won't buy right away, you stay in step with their pace, deliver useful information, and grow them into "fans." This is a major key to getting results in business from here on.

 

〜〜〜

 

Don't lose the "maybe next time"!

What is "nurturing," the art of growing fans?

 

"I'd like to buy it someday." "It looks nice, but I don't need it right now." Have you ever felt drawn to a shop or service but not bought on the spot?

 

In business, the process of staying carefully connected with these "prospects who won't buy immediately but could become future customers"and gradually raising their desire to buy is called "nurturing."It sounds like jargon, but at its core it's very simple: building a relationship with your customer.

 

Why does nurturing matter now?

• Buyer behavior has changed: When we buy something, we don't go straight to a salesperson. We check reviews on our phones, look at comparison sites, and gather information thoroughly on our own before ever visiting the shop.

• "People who want to buy right now" are a tiny fraction: The "buy-now customers" who see a flyer or an ad and purchase immediately are actually only a few percent of the whole. The vast majority are "someday customers" (the information-gathering layer) — and if you leave them alone, they'll forget you exist.

• Trust is what decides it: By continuing to deliver useful information regularly even to the people who don't buy right away, you become the one they remember first when the moment to buy finally arrives.

 

 

Yume no Tane — what a rich, full session that was!

Thank you so much!

 

Nao-kun

Dai-chan

 

 

Yume no Tane | ~Connection, Encouragement, Contribution~ The internet radio station that cheers on your dreamsAn internet radio station delivering programs full of dreams, themed around "connection, encouragement, contribution." Sending your feelings out by voice. Radio as your own personal medium.www.yumenotane.jp

 

At Yume no Tane,

you can have your own radio show〜〜〜

 

 

Everyone in the coaching group,

I'm looking forward to it!

 

The fifth cohort has

a whole new air about it.

 

 

I spoke on Ken Honda's program〜〜

There might be an archive!

 

 

 

Scenes from the seminar in Shibuya

 

 

 

Thank you so much!

 

 

The after-party looks like fun!

 

 

 

All around the country —

thank you so much!

Shinkai-san, and Nabe from Takamatsu!!!

 

 

A haircut first thing in the morning —

thank you!

 

 

It was a wonderful time!

 

Link to Takumi Yamazaki’s ENGLISH Book “SHIFT”
https://amzn.to/2DYcFkG

Translated from the original Japanese post by Takumi Yamazaki: https://ameblo.jp/takumi-yamazaki/entry-12978570700.html

[The Essence of Sales] Sales Is the Act of Actively Trying to Make the Other Person Happier.

Check out Takumi’s NEW English youtube channel 🎵
↓↓↓
https://www.youtube.com/@takuway

 

Sales. When people hear that word, they picture

 

 

 

"the job of selling products,"
"the job of closing contracts,"
"the job of persuading people,"
"the job of chasing quotas."

 

That's the image a lot of people carry.

 

 

 

But what if that very definition is wrong?

If it is, the way you sell changes quite a lot.

 

_______________________________

 

Here's what I learned!

_______________________________

 

Listening to sales consultant Masao Nakamura this time, the line that stayed with me most was this one.

 

↓↓↓

 

Sales is

the act of actively trying to make the other person happier.

 

 

Selling the product isn't the goal.

 

The product or service is merely a "means" of carrying that person to a better place than where they are now.

 

Once that lands, the whole landscape of sales looks different.

 

〜〜〜〜

 

Say there's someone worried about dullness in their skin.

One salesperson immediately produces the product:

 

"In that case, this serum. It contains a vitamin C derivative."

Out comes the product, straight away.

 

That's the sales call you've seen a hundred times.

 

 

 

The other one asks,

"When does the dullness bother you most?"
"In the morning when you look in the mirror? Or in the evening?"

They ask.

 

 

 

Even if both are handling the same serum, these two started from completely different places.

 

 

One is thinking, "I want to sell this product."

The other is thinking, "I want to know this person."

 

That difference is enormous.

 

 

The moment a seller starts thinking "how do I get them to buy," the other person braces.

 

 

"How do I say no?"
"Isn't this expensive?"
"Do I really need it?"
"I want this conversation to end."

 

Seller and buyer end up facing each other.

In a way, it's a tug of war.

 

 

 

But real sales isn't about facing each other.

It's about standing side by side.

 

 

"Where is it you want to go?"
"What would you need to get there?"
"Let's think it through together."

 

Do that, and you're no longer seller and buyer.You're a team looking at the same future.

 

 

That's where trust begins.

 

In Nakamura-san's talk, what struck me most was his idea of "trust-based selling."

 

Sales that don't work start light and get heavier toward the end.

 

You say hello,
you explain the product,
you give the presentation,

and then at the very end,

"So, what do you think?"
"Why not decide today?"
"There's a bonus if you act now."

All the force goes into the close.

 

 

But sales that work do the opposite.

 

 

They put the most effort in at the very beginning.

Get to know the person.
Listen to them.
Understand them.
Build trust.

 

 

 

And then the other person starts to say,

"Actually, I've been struggling with something."
"What I really want is…"

They start talking.

 

 

Nakamura-san said that once you reach this point, 70 percent of the sales process is already done.

 

 

I think that's exactly right.

Without trust in place, however good the product, any explanation sounds like a pitch.

 

 

But once trust exists, a proposal sounds like the continuation of a conversation.

That gap is huge.

 

 

And sales has one more important role.

 

That is:

finding out what the person truly wants.

 

 

For example,

"I want to start doing something for my health"

— say a woman in her fifties says that.

 

 

On the surface, it looks like she wants a health supplement.

 

 

But as you listen, out might come:

"My daughter is getting married next year."
"I want to be there looking well."
"And after that, I want to stay well enough to travel with my grandchildren."

That kind of story may emerge.

 

 

What this person truly wants isn't a health supplement.

It's a future where she spends time with her family, in good health.

The product is the means of getting to that future.

 

 

 

Get this wrong, and sales turns immediately into a conversation about specs.

Price.
Ingredients.
Features.
How it differs from the competition.

 

 

And then the other person starts comparing.

"Is there anything cheaper?"
"Is there anything better?"
"How much is it online?"

You've climbed into the price-competition ring yourself.

 

 

 

But start from the future instead —

"What is it you really want to become?"

— and the conversation changes.

 

 

 

The worry or wish someone puts into words may be only a fraction of it.

 

 

"I want dinner prep to be easier"

— someone saying that may really be thinking,

"I want to sit around the table with my family, unhurried."
"I want to listen to my kid without getting irritated."
"I want a little room in my heart after I get home from work."

That may be what's underneath.

 

 

 

Sales, I think, is also the work of putting what lies beneath into words together.

 

 

And then there was a deeper point still.

 

 

 

Customers often say,

"Nothing's really wrong."
"I'm fine as I am."

They say that.

 

 

And so,

"There was no need there."

is how some salespeople come back.

 

 

But is that actually true?

 

 

 

It may be that the person simply doesn't know what "better" looks like.

 

 

For example, to someone saying,

"Nothing's really a problem right now,"

you might ask,

"What if you had a little room to breathe after work, and could go out with your family on a day off without feeling wiped out the next day?"

Try asking that.

 

 

And they might say,

"Well, that would be lovely."

That might be the answer.

 

 

What was born in that moment is "hope."

 

 

Sales isn't only about searching for needs.

It's also the work of creating hope.

 

 

 

Of course, this doesn't mean manufacturing needs by stoking anxiety.

 

"There's also a future like this available to you"

— you show them a possibility they hadn't yet seen.

 

And then you sort out, together:

where they are now,
the future they want,
and the gap in between.

That gap becomes the need.

 

Only now do you get to the proposal.

 

But a proposal is not a product explanation.

 

 

First,

"why are things the way they are right now?"

You sort out the cause.

 

Next,

"how can this be solved?"

You sort out the method.

 

And on top of that:

"As one means of making that method real, there is this product."

That's the shape of it.

 

 

It's the same as a doctor.

"My head hurts."

No doctor hands over medicine the instant you say that.

 

 

They listen,
check your condition,
consider the cause,
decide on a treatment,
and prescribe the medicine last.

Sales is the same.

 

"I get tired easily."

The instant you hear that, replying

"In that case, this product!"

is far too fast.

 

 

This requires something of the seller too: the ability to wait.

You hold back the urge to get the product out quickly.

 

 

Listen.
Understand.
Look at the future.
Sort out the cause.

And bring it out last.

That's the order.

 

 

One more thing that mattered was the idea of "self-congruence."

 

Out loud you're saying,

"This is for you."
"I really do recommend it."

 

while inside you're thinking,

"I hope they buy."
"I'm short of my numbers this month."
"Does this actually suit this person?"

That's what's going on underneath.

 

That kind of gap reaches the other person more than you'd expect.

 

 

Your expression.
Your voice.
Your pauses.
Your eyes.
The air around you.

 

People pick up a great deal beyond words.

 

So in sales, what matters is this:

Do you genuinely want to be useful to this person?

Do you genuinely believe in the product?

Are you proud of your work?

Are you interested in the other person?

 

This is where it counts.

 

Maybe this is why copying the words of people who sell well doesn't work on its own.

 

 

If you're going to copy a top salesperson, copy not just

"what they say"

but

 

"the state of heart they bring to the person in front of them."

Copy that instead.

 

 

And then, the close.

This, too, isn't "the technique of making someone buy."

 

What it really is:

supporting someone so they can choose, convinced, for themselves.

"It's cheaper today."
"You really should decide now."

It isn't about forcing a decision.

 

"Is there anything you're unsure about?"
"Let's work through this part together."
"I think this one suits you better. But in the end, please decide for yourself."

You support the decision that way.

 

 

Making someone buy and letting someone choose are different things.

 

People treasure what they chose themselves.

 

And sales doesn't end the moment someone buys, either.

If anything,for the customer, that's where it starts.

Buying a diet product doesn't make you lose weight that day.

 

Are they using it properly?
Are they running into trouble?
Are they able to keep it up?
Are they getting results?

You stay involved that far.

 

If you contacted them every day before the contract and your replies slow down the moment they buy,

 

"Ah — they just wanted the sale,"

is what comes across.

 

Conversely, if you're someone who stays just as involved after the purchase,

"I'm glad I chose this person"

is what they feel.

 

And referrals grow from there.

 

A referral comes

"Could you introduce me to someone?"

— less because you asked that,

 

and more as the result of creating an experience someone wants to tell others about

— that may be closer to the truth.

 

 

The part about money stuck with me too.

 

If you have genuinely been useful, and the person says "thank you" and pays you for it, there is no need to feel guilty about receiving it.

 

Being cheap isn't the only way to serve a customer.

Profit is what keeps the company going.
It protects the livelihoods of the people who work there.
It funds the next product.
It lets you deliver value to even more people.

 

So,

"raising revenue is a bad thing"

simply isn't true.

 

But underneath it all sits the question:

are you truly delivering value?

— that is the question underneath.

 

That's the part you can't let slip.

 

Listening to all this, I thought sales is a little like a confession of love.

 

"I want to be useful to you."

You tell them that.

 

Being turned down once doesn't mean you stop caring about the person.

When they need you, you try to be of help again.

 

Rather than using someone to make a sale, you build a bridge of trust.

Only across that bridge do the product and the service travel.

 

When sales stops working, before you ask,

"What words should I use?"
"How should I close?"

come back here first.

 

Am I truly trying to understand this person?

Am I thinking about what would make this person happy?

Am I looking at that future together with them?

Do I truly believe in this product?

Do my words and my heart match?

 

 

Sales is

not the work of selling products, but the work of carrying the person in front of you into a future better than the one they have now.

The product is the means of getting there.

 

 

Masao-chan,

thank you so much!

 

The video will air on PLAYFULLY!

Stay tuned〜〜〜

 

↓↓↓

 

Playfully app - App Store: Download "Playfully" by Interakt Techsol Pvt Ltd on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and games similar to "Playfully."apps.apple.com

 

 

Location scouting again today

 

 

With assistant director Uchi-san!

 

 

 

Thank you so much!

Link to Takumi Yamazaki’s ENGLISH Book “SHIFT”
https://amzn.to/2DYcFkG

Translated from the original Japanese post by Takumi Yamazaki: https://ameblo.jp/takumi-yamazaki/entry-12978355340.html

"I Think Appearance Is 100% of It. Here's Why..." "The Meaning of the Next World's Existence"

Check out Takumi’s NEW English youtube channel 🎵
↓↓↓
https://www.youtube.com/@takuway

Today

I'm getting my past life read〜

 

Amalia-san, from Dubai.

Looking forward to it!

 

Past lives and all that —

do you believe in them?

 

Me,

I'm in the camp that believes.

 

When you die there's a next world,

and there's a life being lived in that world,

and though the concepts are different from over here,

 

you become one part of that whole

and come over to this side.

 

The droplets of learning you gathered on Earth,

you return them to the lake on the other side.

 

That's the feeling I have.

 

The things that made you happy.
The things that didn't work out.
Falling for someone.
The things you simply couldn't forgive.

 

Everything experienced here
becomes a single drop,
and dissolves into a great lake.

 

When I think of it that way,
even the events that never gave me an answer
start to look a little different.

 

Ah — I'm still only partway through the learning.

 

How it really is, I don't know.

But I,
for my part, imagine it this way.

 

If I hear the story of my past life,
will something about who I am now
come into view as well, I wonder.

 

What kind of droplet do I want to carry back?
 

I'll write about today's experience on the blog again!

 

 

Yesterday was a 13-hour location scout.

Partway through we had the PLAYFULLY shoot in Shibuya, and

 

what a long haul it was〜〜〜

 

PLAYFULLY is

 

 

Masao-chan,

thank you so much!

 

The secrets of sales —

we learned them!

 

↓↓↓

 

I'll write up the secrets of sales in tomorrow's blog!

 

 

Talking about the changes coming to our times...

 

 

Discovering new stars...

 

 

Partway through I got hungry,

so I grabbed a gap and hit Matsuya (lol)

 

 

Great work, everyone!

 

 

In Hamamatsu too,

thank you so much!

 

 

Yamamoto-san from Hiroshima University

is doing great things〜〜〜

 

 

Come on over here〜〜〜

 

https://utage-system.com/p/tCjlOYNnUD3Q

 

I think appearance is 100% of it.

 

_______________________________

 

Appearance is 100% of it

 

“Appearance is 100% of it.”

A bit of an overstatement?!

 

But
when you're thinking about how you come across,
it feels fine to hold it that strongly.

 

And “appearance”
isn't only about your features.

 

With what expression,
in what posture,
are you listening to the person in front of you?

 

“I'm so glad to see you.”

Even if that's what you feel,
if you reply while looking at your phone,
how is it going to land?

 

“I really value this work.”

You say that,
but what if the documents you hand over are a mess?

What's inside your heart
won't necessarily reach the other person just as it is.

 

And that
is a bit of a shame, isn't it.

 

For me,
tidying up your appearance

is “making sure what you feel gets through”

— that's what I think it is.

 

Before buying expensive clothes,
smooth out the wrinkles in what you're already wearing.

 

Before saying something clever,
turn your body toward the person you're with.

 

Ahh〜〜〜

writing this, it's nothing but self-reflection...

 

If you're glad to see them,
try letting that feeling show on your face.

 

Leaning on “they'll surely understand” —
that's something
we may do more often than we realize.

 

Of course,
you can't know the whole of a person from looks alone.

 

There are brusque people who are kind,
and smiling people who don't keep their promises.

 

So
I want to take my time getting to know people.

 

And on top of that,
how do I look to others?
Worth taking another look, just once.

 

Today, before you meet someone,
try asking the you in the mirror:

 

“That I'm looking forward to seeing you —
does this face get that across?”

 

Nana-san's “power to change your impression” is

off the charts!

 

Won't you come to the party?!

 

 

The locations, the casting, the costume-fitting scenes — all of it is under confidentiality, so I can't write a single thing about it here.

 

But

it's coming along nicely〜〜〜

 

 

Say out loud the thing you want to happen.

 

However big it is,

and, surprisingly, however small it is too,

the difficulty is actually the same?!

 

↓↓↓

 

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSqkqbGKs/

 

 

The famous princess of investing

There's so much to learn

from her articles, isn't there.

 

↓↓↓

 

I Just Wanted Freedom. | Asuka Izumi It's not that I wanted to quit being a company employee. I didn't especially want to become an investor either. I just wanted freedom. The freedom to choose my own life for myself. I started investing at 20, but with starting capital of only a little over 100,000 yen, and feeling my way through it self-taught and haphazard, it was nowhere near enough to live on. And then…note.com

 

 

“Keep working, build a system for growing your money, and become able to choose how you live.”

 

① What you want is less “quitting your job” than “being able to choose”

It isn't that the author disliked her company.
What she wanted was the freedom of “work if you want to work; quit when you want to quit.”

In other words, the purpose of growing your money is to increase the options in your own life.

 

② To become able to choose, you need room in your finances

If you can't live once the salary stops, then even when you want to quit, you can't easily do it.

The author writes that because she had investment income on top of her salary, she could think “I can quit if I hate it,” and she felt the stress of work less keenly.

 

③ So there's no need to quit your company right away

Being an employee has its strength: a more or less fixed salary arriving every month.

When your income is predictable, it's easier to separate living expenses from money for the future. The author kept this stable income while continuing to invest.

 

④ Change what you do with the money you earn

If you spend all of your salary, nothing is left for the future.

So the author set things up so that when her salary or bonus came in, it was automatically sent to a securities account — an account for buying investment products such as stocks.

That is, rather than “invest whatever's left over,” she built a system that invests first.

 

⑤ Combine the income you earn by working with returns from investment

At your job, you work and receive a salary.
With investment, you put money into companies and aim to receive a share of their growth and profit.

That's what the author means by “having your money work too.” That said, investments can produce a profit, and they can also produce a loss.

 

⑥ Observe the people who are doing well, and learn their thinking and their actions

The author didn't dismiss the high earners she met at work as “people from a different world” — she observed the differences.

The argument is: before deciding “I could never do that,” look for the behavior you can take as a reference. That said, it isn't proven that copying someone produces the same result.

 

“There's a correct order to investing”

 

↓↓↓

 

The concrete steps

There's an invitation to a workshop that explains them

 

↓↓↓

 

The Magic 8-Figure Investment Method, Starting From 100,000 Yen

[Asuka Izumi's Whimsical Letter]

http://asuka88.xsrv.jp/merumaga/touroku01.html

 

 

Shisha

Source: Al Fakher CROWN BAR | Official Japan Store

https://share.google/rhqs7rpopI0jDRHSU

 

Nicotine-free

shisha —

nice〜〜〜

 

 

The latest work produced by Shimada

A period drama

 

“Honoo Kagayohe”

 

Following its April 3 release, by popular demand

screenings are still continuing

 

Takumi's directorial debut film

“Yaruki no Switch (The Motivation Switch)”

is currently shooting, but

there will be a talk show as well, so

if you have the time,

please do come!

 

September 21 (Mon., national holiday)

From 15:30

@ Akihabara UDX

Talk show after the screening

 

Guests

Tobi Araki (lead)

Apollo (live performance of the theme song)

Keima Horie (original author)

Go Shimada (producer)

 

We'll be waiting for you at the theater!

 

As for tickets,

there are no same-day tickets;

please purchase in advance via Dreampass (the film re-screening site)

There are no tickets at the door!

 

https://www.dreampass.jp/e6403

 

Cast

Tobi Araki

Gennosuke

Hina Higuchi

Yutaro

Metal Yoshida

Koya Matsuo

Taishi Sugie

Sho

 

Konatsu Kato

So Yoshihisa

Diamond☆Yukai

 

Yoshitaka Hara

Shota Totsuka

 

Masaki Kyomoto (special appearance)

Baijaku Nakamura

 

Narration

Shota Aoi

 

Original story: Keima Horie

Screenplay: Atsuhiro Tomioka

Screenplay collaboration: Mika Sawada

Director: Keita Matsuda

 

Theme song: Apollo

Character design: Yoshitaka Amano

Title calligraphy: Kofu Sakamoto

 

IS Field

Link to Takumi Yamazaki’s ENGLISH Book “SHIFT”
https://amzn.to/2DYcFkG

Source: https://ameblo.jp/takumi-yamazaki/entry-12978188494.html