When did I start?
When did people start carrying around bottled mineral water?
This is a phenomenon that did not exist at least 25 years ago. Nowadays, fewer people drink tap water outside.
Japanese water is safe. Every time I go abroad, I think that water in Japan is safe.
I can get safe water for free anywhere I want to drink it, even in hotels and when I am out and about.
Even in toilets. Even though they know that Japanese water is safe for drinking, Japanese people still buy water.
Why?
A long time ago, we were taught that water, safety, and oxygen were free. Now, both water and safety have become chargeable.
The same is true for oxygen. Oxygen bars are popular, and people are demanding paid oxygen for beauty and health.
Free air is good enough to live on, though. Customers are demanding higher quality, paid-for products.
There is a company in Shikoku that has taken advantage of this trend and expanded its business at once. This is a company that invested in my former company for a period of time.
They had a keen eye for the times, and when water became available, they quickly built a factory at the foot of a mountain in a certain area. It was very profitable.
Changes in lifestyles and lifestyles are equivalent to deregulation in a country. The deregulation of life and lifestyle is equivalent to the deregulation of a country, and the industry that has undergone a major change will create a business opportunity.
The same was true for Gulliver, a car-buying speciality store I assisted at the time. The deregulation of gas stations brought about major changes.
Most of Gulliver's first franchisees were either gas stations or franchisees of a certain franchise.
The ability to read the trends of the times is very important in business.
Last week, I met with the president of a company that operates a chain of about 300 low-priced Chinese restaurants in Japan.
He is not going to enter the uniform izakaya (Japanese-style pub) market, which is where all the current restaurant operators are entering. He knows what will happen a year from now.
He was able to decipher the future of the restaurant industry, and he was able to separate the businesses he is developing in Japan from those he is developing overseas.
Excellent.
For me, it is a very instructive time.
How to read the times and ride the escalator upward. It is a shortcut to business success!
Assentia Holdings Inc
Akira