Starting a Business Outside Your Home Country

Starting your own small business is a bumpy road to success no matter how long you’ve lived in the town or city you’re based in. 
 
But what if you want to also start your own business outside of your home country, and be location independent?
 
How do you figure out all the details, like time zone differences, your local tax rules, and knowing absolutely no one local who works in your industry? That can be especially challenging if you’re facing other challenges as well, like cultural differences and language barriers.
 
However, this week’s guest found a way to overcome those challenges and start a location independent business ten years ago (and she is still in business)!
 
 What this episode covers:

• What is Jamie’s company, Studio Aiuto?
• What makes a brand, more specifically Jamie’s target audience Aiuto-focused? For those of you who don’t know Italian, it is the Italian word for “help”, just to give you a sense of what she gravitates towards…
• Jamie’s mission…to use design to make a small difference in society and how that ties into the bigger picture of her work.
• Many of her clients are people who have lived with illnesses and have made their business out of something that could have been very negative but actually isn’t. Here’s what she likes about that aspect the most.
• Why her work is “more than a job. It’s a connection from my heart.”
• Jamie was responsible for my website’s branding audit. Seriously though, can’t recommend her enough! We chatted too about the important role she played in making my website much more suitable for my current goals of my business.
• An important part of U.S history ten years ago was the mortgage crisis. We talked a little bit about how that lead to her decision to not get a job in what she majored in when she was in college, interior architecture, but to help businesses with their design instead.
• How starting out by working for free and meeting people in person, formed the business relationships she still has today.
•  Jamie’s advice on working for free when you’re just starting out: “provide an invoice with the total slashed out, so that it’s clear what dollar amount you’re donating.” And how she used that tactic when she was first starting out.
• Why she thinks that’s important: it’s all about credibility
• How she went from just general graphic design services that were based off “concept and feeling” to also considering things from a strategic business point of view.
•  Why when she looks back Jamie really values niching down rather than being a jack of all trades
• Why she values the idea more of taking a business course of getting a mentor, or coach, or taking a business coach more than she did 10 years ago.
• The very basic fact about running a business that I added in: not everyone is lucky enough to be connected to someone who can help you with your bookkeeping, has run a business before, or can help fill the gaps of aspects of your business you’re still not great at.
• Why you shouldn’t let that stop you as a creative from being open to learning about the business or feel like there’s no need to learn those skills if you know someone who can help you out.
• The fear of moving abroad to start a business and thinking about the worst-case scenario: “if it doesn’t work, you can just go back home!”
• The importance of getting to know the rules of a country if you’re going to set up your business there long-term
• Why Jamie doesn’t necessarily work with local, Japanese businesses and what she does to make connections with businesses abroad more meaningful.
• How being a new parent has impacted her business…
•  Why she sees being available by platforms like Skype and chat as so important for her business.
• How being able to be mobile and do stuff like record videos and soundbites with something like a smartphone has made working with people internationally so convenient
• I added on some of my own examples of how only communicating by written messages can be misunderstood and why you need to reach out to people in more ways than just written communication is so important.
• Jamie’s advice on boundaries with clients and customers: make sure you’re okay with working with that person and you have similar ideals and beliefs, and why that’s so important…
• The importance of outlining things in your scope of work via your contract…
• Her online course Looks That Sell: what it is all about
• Why strategy and growth perfectly describe her business

 About Jamie (and Studio Aiuto)
 
Jamie is a brand strategist, graphic designer, world dweller, and mamma. Jaime Di Dio Aoyama grew up knowing she would have a career in art or design and craved living in the world.
 
Jaime’s exposure to French started as a toddler and continued into her university years. She then began studying Italian and took a semester abroad in Florence where she casually attended classes on interior architecture and Italian language emerging herself in the local scene. Returning to the US, she completed her degree in interior architecture while embarking upon her journey with the Japanese language.
 
Days after graduation, Jaime moved to Tokyo with her now husband, a native of the metropolis and began teaching English and doing freelance graphic design. Returning to the states 3 years later, the couple founded Studio Aiuto, a brand strategy and graphic design consultancy.
 
Passionate about using design for the greater good, Jaime works with well-living and heart-centered businesses. When she’s not working, she’s playing with her daughter or finding a few quiet minutes with her husband.
 
Jaime currently lives with her artist husband and toddler daughter in a coastal village outside Tokyo and is on the cusp of her 4th international move.
 
Where you can find Jamie (and Studio Aiuto) online
 
Website: www.studioaiuto.com
Instagram:www.instagram.com/studioaiutodesign 
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaimedidioaoyama
 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
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