What I've Learned as a Small Buisness Owner in The World of AI
— Hey guys, quick plug before we start:
First, something serious: OurOtaru Investment Guide & Myoko Investment Guide. We spent half a year on these, they are packed with data and everything you need if you’re considering buying a ski home, in my two favorite towns.
Second, something silly:The YukiHomes Beanie. If you want to look as dumb as me, hit the preorder link, shipping Summer 2026, only making 50 because we are not sure how many people actually want them, so they will be limited. —
You can’t go five minutes on the internet these days without seeing a post about AI, either creating some perfect utopia or destroying the world, taking our jobs, and enslaving us.
The latter seems to get most of the headlines. I wonder why…
I’m just a random nobody who owns a small business that helps foreigners buy homes in Japan, but maybe some people will take some solace in my experience with AI and what I’ve learned so far.
So yeah, it’s amazing tool without a doubt. I use it every day single day to some degree but I’m also pretty skeptical of how much you can really outsource to it.
Simple stuff like cleaning up email lists, removing useless information, fixing grammar in articles (because I’m terrible at spelling and still mess up “there” way too often). It’s insanely useful for that.
I also use it a lot for brainstorming, coming up with ideas for Instagram videos, testing hooks, thinking through pacing, cuts, structure. Asking what the data says about what’s working right now.
But I don’t substitute my own brain for it like a lot of people seem to be doing.
I’m very confident that if I outsourced my marketing or my writing to ChatGPT or Claude, it would suck.
My videos would flop my writing would be full of mistakes and Yukihomes would slowly lose credibility.
The writing is generic. The ideas are surface-level. And it gets things wrong all the time.
It’s a really useful tool, but thats where I draw the line.
Where it is powerful is in low-stakes work:
speeding things up, giving you options, helping you think, helping you iterate faster.
But the direction, the taste, the judgment, that still has to come from you.
And this is the biggest thing I’ve learned running this business for the past two years:
People are still everything.
Hiring, finding, and working with talented, driven, motivated people, that’s the entire game.
Now, we’re a service business. We help people buy homes in Japan, renovate them, design them, and manage them as Airbnbs. So yeah, we’re very labor-intensive. So take this with a grain of salt.
But even on the NipponHomes side…
Our developer is insanely talented. No one is “vibe coding” our app the way he’s actually built it.
No one is “vibe designing” the UI the way we’ve dialed it in.
No one is “vibe designing” homes the way our interior designer is turning these places into something people actually want to stay in.
That level of taste, execution, and care doesn’t come from prompts.
It comes from people.
From our projects in Otaru to every single deal we’ve closed, none of it would exist without the amazing team we have built.
AI has made us faster. It’s made certain things easier. It’s definitely made us better in some areas.
But it hasn’t replaced the core of what actually makes this business work.
Really talented people.
So ya people are awesome.
That’s just my (probably meaningless) take on AI.
Browse opportunities yourself: Check out current listings at Nipponhomes.com
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This content is for informational and educational purposes only and reflects my personal opinions and experience. I am not a licensed financial advisor, tax advisor, or attorney. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making any investment decisions.
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