#264 – Growing a 2-Person Business to $80k/Month with Eric Turner of Japan Dev
Oct 31, 2022
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Eric Turner, living in Japan as a foreigner and visiting Japan as a tourist, shares insights on starting as an indie hacker and picking a lucrative market. They discuss growing a job board, challenges finding a programming job in Japan, and the importance of sales for indie hackers.
The speaker shares their journey of building and growing a curated job board for English-speaking developers interested in tech jobs in Japan, highlighting the challenges of gaining customers and applicants and their approach of offering free job postings to companies with payment only upon successful hires.
The summary highlights a three-step process commonly used by successful indie hackers, involving researching and becoming knowledgeable about a specific topic important to them, organizing the research into a presentable format, and distributing the website to make it discoverable to the target audience.
The speaker shares insights and tips on building a successful job board, emphasizing the importance of niche targeting, addressing the cold start problem, utilizing search engine optimization (SEO), and collecting emails from the start.
Deep dives
Challenges of a VR Enthusiast
The speaker discusses their excitement for a new VR headset, the MetaQuest Pro, but shares the frustration of their purchase being declined. They reflect on a previous experience with their bank declining a charge from Meta, highlighting the skepticism around spending large amounts on Facebook-related purchases. Despite not knowing the specific features of the Quest Pro, the speaker is eager to try it, especially for the improved virtual meeting capabilities and resolution. They express their belief that virtual reality has more potential than augmented reality in creating immersive experiences.
Building and Growing Japan Dev
The speaker shares their journey of building and growing Japan Dev, a curated job board for English-speaking developers interested in tech jobs in Japan. They detail their own experience of moving to Japan initially as an English teacher and then searching for software engineering jobs. Recognizing the lack of respect for software in the Japanese tech industry, they aimed to improve the image and provide opportunities for international developers. They highlight the challenges of gaining customers and applicants, sharing their approach of offering free job postings to companies with payment only upon successful hires. They also discuss their efforts in search engine optimization (SEO) and creating valuable blog content to drive traffic to their website.
The Indi Hacker Strategy
The summary highlights a three-step process commonly used by successful indie hackers. Step one involves researching and becoming knowledgeable about a specific topic important to them. Step two involves organizing the research into a presentable format, often utilizing a grid format on a website. Step three, the most challenging step, is distributing the website and making it discoverable to the target audience. The speaker relates their experience of following this strategy, sharing the importance of SEO and blog content in driving traffic to their job board website, Japan Dev.
Starting a Tech Startup in a Conservative Industry
The speaker discusses their journey of starting a tech startup in Japan, a conservative tech industry where risk-taking is not encouraged. They worked for various companies in the industry, including Mercari, before deciding to build their own startup. The idea for the startup came from their own struggle to find a job and the need for a job board focused on the needs of people like them, including visa sponsorship and an international environment. With the support of their wife, they built the job board, which eventually gained traction and started generating income.
Lessons Learned in Building a Job Board
The speaker shares insights and tips on building a successful job board. They emphasize the importance of niche targeting and catering to a specific market. They highlight the need to address the cold start problem by leveraging initial buzz and personal connections. The speaker also stresses the significance of search engine optimization (SEO) and the importance of collecting emails from the start. They discuss their business model, which charges companies only when a successful placement is made, and share strategies to ensure companies pay, such as late fees and tracking applicant data. Overall, they remain optimistic about the potential of job boards and are planning to launch a new job board focused on mid-stage companies.
Eric Turner (@_etdev) talks living in Japan as a foreigner and visiting Japan as a tourist, finding inspiration to start as an indie hacker, picking a lucrative market, and shares some tips growing a job board with Courtland (@csallen) and Channing (@ChanningAllen).
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