Up To Speed, Part 7: "Shigoto" in Japan

In April of 1999 I switched jobs into my dream job; selling titanium to terrorists. Just kidding about the terrorists, but not the titanium. I learned a completely new job from ground zero up: business, international business, Japanese business (many confusing things here that don't make a lot of sense to the western mind), import/export, eyeglasses, titanium, screws and more. I sold titanium round wire in 10 to 20kg coils to eyeglass manufacturers. And I loved it. It was so different from teaching English, and so much more challenging that it really suited my style. Tough but I loved it through and through. I helped build the little company into a global entity and was responsible for all of the non-Asia territory. It took me all over Europe several times a year, Korea, HK, China, even down to Brazil to install some manufacturing machinery! I really loved that job.
 
On October 1st 2000 we established a second company to deal solely with the international aspect of the business. I was an equal partner in this business (had to front a fair bit of cash, but worth the investment, or so I thought at the time) and had equal responsibility. It was pretty scary for someone who, just a scant six months earlier was an educational clown. I got a lot of hell from my boss, but as we are the same age, I didn't take any crap, either. It worked out well and we respected each other. With this in mind it looked like I had definitely extended my roots even deeper into Japanese soil. I could not see myself pulling out any time soon. Of course, time would change all that...
 
I worked at Arkhe as their sales guy, gopher, international bruiser, money gatherer, IT specialist, educator, global brand trotter/developer and marketer, stock guy, delivery boy, beating post and more. It was a fantastic experience as I learned so much from it all. I traveled to the following countries: France, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, China, Korea and Brazil. I met so many people and made so many fantastic connections, using my "magic" as three of my Italian and french good friends tell me I have, to deepen friendships and create bonds that are lasting to this day. With my associate in Hong Kong and another in Korea, we expanded this little company to a global distributor with clients in many countries. I sold everything from tiny screws to complex machines for brazing (welding) specialized titanium alloys to make eyeglasses. I taught, I gathered more devout followers and trustworthy associates around the globe.
 
Then the optical industry in Japan (and the world) went sour and many companies went bankrupt. We still did well, though and started to diversify into the biodegradable product industry. As time went by, eventually our sales did go down as China increased its quality and the pricing was very low compared to made in Japan. Our profit margins on raw materials went down from 30-50% to 5-10% and became very difficult to get large orders. Everyone was downsizing. So we started to get hit as well. It got to the point that no matter how hard I tried I could not expand further to make enough money to cover all of the expenses. I decided it was time to move on. But to do what??? And how to support Mayu and I? This was tough because even though it seems to be the dream of all men to "have their own business", as Mayu often reminds me, I constantly said, "I NEVER want to own my own business!"

 

I love you!

 

Cam

 

Stay tuned for Part 8: My Own Business? Never!

 

Up To Speed Links:

 

 

Part 1: Day One to University Graduation

Part 2: My Working Life in Canada
Part 3: Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Part 4: My First Baby

Part 5: Lost in Space

Part 6: Turning Japanese... Sort of