Transcript
Speaker 1: Here's the question we want to answer now How can we, as business owners, apply the same Japanese concept that Toyota used to become the leading manufacturer in the world into our lives and businesses so that we can have that same increase in operational efficiency?
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Action Academy podcast. Stand back while I celebrate freedom, the show where we help you achieve financial independence with the mindsets, methods and actionable steps from guests who've already earned their freedom. Choose to do what you want with who you want. with who you want when you want, with another episode today. Now, here's your host, brian Lubin.
Speaker 1: This is a period of my day, every single day, where I learn cool shit. I literally spend over an hour every single morning going through business books, articles, websites, youtube videos, trying to find interesting tidbits and actionable steps that you guys can use in these podcasts. It's so much fun for me because I learn the most interesting things and I can directly share them with you guys. The reason I do all of this is because on real estate podcasts and business podcasts, there seems to be the same topics kind of regurgitated over and over again. I do this to provide something fresh and new for you guys. Hopefully you enjoy it. Now that you guys know the rationale behind this and that I'm not a complete and total nerd, we can get into the topic of today's show.
Speaker 1: One of the business books that's rotating in my stack right now is the Lean Startup, and it's a book that talks about how to structure and organize your business to be the most efficient business possible, and it brings up a lot of different case studies from large companies that we all know, and one of the companies mentioned is Toyota. In the manufacturing world, toyota is at the top of the pyramid. They are the pinnacle of operating systems and efficiencies. And they do this with one Japanese principle that they utilize across their entire organization, called Genchi Genbutsu. The literal English translation for this is real location, real thing, but the implied translation is go and see for yourself. So today, as always, we are going to provide a story for context and then we are going to apply it into your freaking life and your freaking business. Today, ladies and gentlemen, bear with me, sit tight. The story that we're going to use today to demonstrate is how they created the Toyota Sienna minivan and how it became the number one minivan in the entire world. The production of this van was assigned to a Japanese engineer, yuji Yokio. So, to take manufacturing terms and make them normal, yuji is an absolute baller over in Japan. He is a stud and he is killing it in the manufacturing game. He is the engineer that is on top of the game. But just one problem he has never stepped foot in North America, which is going to be the main market for the Toyota Sienna minivan. So, yeah, we can kind of see how that would become a problem, right? What most major companies would do is they would conduct market research with air quotes and they would send out surveys to the North American market and they would try to figure out and collect data to be able to make a best informed decision on what the American consumer wants. Correct. That course of action would essentially be status quo for what most large companies and manufacturers would do, but not Toyota and not UG. What happens next is what separates Toyota from the rest of the manufacturing world and makes them the top of the top. You see, our boy UG is not a normal cat.
Speaker 1: This guy operates with the concept of Genji Genbutsu, which once again translates literally to go and see for yourself How Toyota uses. That is the context that you cannot be sure about any business problem until you go out and see it firsthand for yourself. It is unacceptable to take anything for granted or to rely on the reports of others for your ultimate business decision. So this MFR books a one-way flight to America, rents a Toyota Sienna minivan and takes this minivan on a road trip through all 50 states, logging over 53,000 miles of driving. This guy firsthand experienced how his own product was working. He was also able to get direct customer feedback from every corner of America. This guy was getting feedback on the Toyota Sienna from Californians, from Indianians, from New York, georgia, all across the country, and what this allowed was for a realization that he had not even thought about before, which was the fact that all their marketing had been directed towards the parents and the grandparents that were purchasing the van, or they had not realized was the reasons that the grandparents and the parents purchased the van was for the experience of the family and the kids that were riding in the back. So Yuji finishes his road trip and travels back to Japan to make the necessary tweaks and adjustments to his product. First thing he does is he changes the entire back cabin to make it more comfortable for long distance travel, and he also includes the TVs and the headrests that are entertainment systems for the kids, and that's where that was born. So what happens from this is they change the entire marketing campaign, instead of to the parents and to the grandparents is now for the family and for the children, and they increased sales year over year 60% for the Toyota Sienna minivan, making it the most popular minivan in human existence. So cool, great job, toyota. Let's land the plane.
Speaker 1: Here's the question we want to answer now. How can we, as business owners, apply the same Japanese concept that Toyota used to become the leading manufacturer in the world into our lives and businesses so that we can have that same increase in operational efficiency. Here are three ways that we can implement Genchi Genbutsu into our lives and businesses today. Example number one if you are a business owner and you are relying on the reports of others for what your freaking customer wants and you are not rolling up your sleeves and getting down in the trenches and talking to the customer yourself, reevaluate that. Another way we want to work on the business not in the business, but this is how you work on the business is directly talking to your customer and using that feedback to apply the changes that you want to make to the business.
Speaker 1: Example number two for my investors, instead of spending every waking hour reading bigger pockets books and reading articles and watching YouTube videos on how to flip houses and how to renovate the properties, find someone that is doing it and go tour the house with them. Walk around the house with them. Figure out what they're looking at, how they're doing it. This is how you get the direct feedback. Instead of reading the books, you're doing the actions. That's the key. And the third example is for people that are trying to start their own side projects. Start their own side house, start their own business.
Speaker 1: Instead of your market research process and air quotes being looking up all this information and data online about what your market segment wants, what you need to do is pick up the phone and call 100 people that you think would be great customers and you ask them what they want. Okay, that is how you do it. That is literally what this concept is talking about, and Toyota still does it at the highest level and the highest degree, even as they operate today. If one of the largest companies in the entire world is still doing this, you can do it too. Pick up the phone, talk to your customers, go apply the concept again, jigun Bitsu, in your life today, and you will be better off for it. I am actively implementing it in my life as well, so I'm going to always walk the walk as I talk the talk.
Speaker 1: Two pieces of housekeeping. If you want to book a 15 minute free freedom call with me to talk about how to leave your W2 job that you freaking hate, i have two spots available for this week. Book a call on the link below. Also, i am doing a really crappy job of promoting my own free ebook that I created that I don't talk about literally at all, because I suck at marketing it. So check out W2TheWorldTravellercom or book a call with me in the link below.
Speaker 1: Talk to you guys tomorrow, and here's a closing message. Hey, real quick. If you're still listening to today's episode, i'm assuming you got value from it, so I need your help. Specifically, my two year vision with this show is to help over 1 million people do what they want, when they want, with who they want, and I can only do that with your help. There are two main ways that a podcast grows One is through ratings and reviews, and the other is word of mouth. If you could, please leave me a five star rating and a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as well as send this to one or two friends that you think would get value from it, we can reach the people that we're looking to reach. Thanks in advance and talk tomorrow.
