About Tyson Batino
I am passionate about helping businesses and companies scale
Brief summary
Half-Japanese and originally from Hawaii, my initial plan was to come to Japan for 2 years to save some money and then go to graduate school to become a licensed therapist. Since then I taught English for several years, become an HR manager, and started 3 businesses in Japan - one targeting Japanese customers, one targeting foreigners in Japan, and one targeting both!
I am passionate about helping businesses in Japan. Let me help you enter or expand in the Japanese market through my experience in recruitment, talent management, marketing, sales, and business process optimization. I also help startups with scaling and getting investment based on my experience working as a resident mentor for 500 global, a top startup accelerator in the world and founder institute Japan.
Looking for an internship? We are looking for 1 - 2 marketing interns at Scaling your Company.
Founding Scaling Your Company
I have seen many businesses struggle because of not having the right talent for marketing and sales to grow revenue, and no system for developing current employees or attracting the top talent to help push their company to the next stage.. Additionally, there is a lack of quality information in English on HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS in JAPAN.
Based on my experience of scaling two companies, I am now advising more than 25 businesses from a variety of industries to get the right people, systems to develop them, and how to get more inbound and outbound sales through utilizing marketing. Outside of advising companies, I run the scaling Japan podcast, create course to grow your business in Japan, and free business seminars on doing business in Japan.
500 Global Resident Mentor
I served as a resident mentor (highest level of commitment) for the Accelerate Aichi 500 Global startup accelerator program in 2022 - 2023 - doing seminars on market entry to Japan and lead generation and doing one-one with the 17 startups who were a part of the program. The following video is a panel discussion I lead on "Smart Work" and introducing AI to make work more efficient.
Founder Institute Startup Mentor
I have also participated as a mentor for group 1 and 2 for the famous silicon valley idea and pre-seed stage startup accelerator Founder Institute Tokyo program. I have lead seminars on hiring the right staff in Japan, business and revenue models, and lead generation in Japan.
Founding Japan Switch
After serving as HR Director for 5 years, I realized my knowledge of marketing, finance, and really understanding the financial and revenue generation aspects of running a business was lacking and affecting my ability to perform as a board member. To become a more diverse entrepreneur and better business person, I requested to create a subsidiary business.
I was able to rapidly scale Japan Switch sales to mid six-figure sales in one year with a small budget through viral marketing and paid ads and then COVID-19 hit us. I was able to continue growing the business despite border controls not allowing new foreigners coming into Japan and foreign residents getting laid off due to the inbound industry and in person service industries getting crushed. This lead to receiving a small feature in the who's who in the world of business in Japan in the Japan times.
Founding One Coin English
After working in the Japanese public sector for 3 years as a manager and trainer aiding cities like Kawasaki, Odawara, and Yokohama (the largest board of education in Japan), I knew the only way to make change was to start my own business. Within 6 years after founding our business, we were able to scale One Coin English to than 11 locations, 8000 active students, and 200 staff.
I developed all the recruitment, training, management, and HR processes while working as founder / HR director. During my last year, I ran operations managing a team of Japanese employees to develop processes and introduce new technology and systems for all 6 departments in our company. You can hear how I started my business in Japan on small business Japan podcast.
HR Manager and Trainer
At the age of 28 with no management experience, I was blessed with the opportunity to be promoted to assistant manager and trainer within 6 months of joining INTERAC, which employs more than 3000 teachers in Japan and is the second largest employer of teachers in Japan.
The 3 years I worked as an HR assistant manager was the hardest job of my life, much easier than becoming an entrepreneur because the jump from being a solid individual contributor to a high performing middle manager is one leap that most people are not able to make successfully.
I spent hours working overtime and studying about HR to become knowledgeable as both a manager and employee in a Japanese company. I was entrusted with managing a team of 150 full-time employees for our client, Yokohama city, the largest board of education and possibly the most important client in the company. This experience prepared me to enter the world of entrepreneurship.
Business Acheivements
Management and HR
Increasing employee satisfaction from 2.2 to 3.8 of 5 stars in one year as voted by 150 employees at Interac.
Acheiving a 4.2 star rating on glassdoor with around 30+ votes from One Coin English teachers and management.
Hiring over 400 part-time teachers (minimum of 15 hours a week) and hiring around 8 teachers monthly with no budget in Japan.
Marketing
Creating several facebook ads that received 1000 likes and 100 shares despite such a small foreigner market in Japan and growing a business to $40,000 MRR in one year only through facebook ads.
Creating two blogs in Japan (Japan Switch and BFF Tokyo) that combine for 60,000 monthly unique visitors focusing on a niche Japanese market of foreigners.
Operations
Created multiple processes and systems that each save more than a thousand labor hours a year.
Helped integrate a company with 5 departments to collaborate and work together through creating transparency, accountability, and care.
Created financial simulations that have helped multiple clients to improve their pricing and generate more revenue.
Media Apperances
Podcasts
- Small Business Japan : Scaling multiple companies
- Jobs in Japan : Eikaiwa Teacher to Opening a School
- Jobs in Japan : Opening a Japanese School
- Now and Zen : Serial entrepreneur in Japan
- Business Success Japan : Late Bloomer
Media Apperances
- Japan Times : Influential Foreign Business People
- Inspire Entrepreneurs : Moving Others Today
Scaling Japan Podcast
I also host the Scaling Japan Podcast which gets around 200 - 300 downloads per episode and talks about business in Japan and the various ways to grow your business here.
I can help you in these areas and more...
Recruitment and HR
Marketing
Operations
Now is the time to grow your company
Let me help you get the most out of your time and start scaling your business.
Get in Touch
Advisory sessions are done in Zoom.
I am currently based in Asahikawa, Japan.
北海道旭川市3条通8丁目842-2 神田館