I Am Selling My Eikaiwa in Yokohama (Great opportunity for anyone who has been thinking about starting a school)

# The Story:

I am planning on leaving Japan in the next couple months and selling the [Eikaiwa](https://www.novelgoals.com/) I established 8 years ago. I would ideally like to hand over the keys by August 1st but I understand that it is fast approaching.Basically what you would have is a great starting point. It is a one room classroom in a very unique building with another large tatami room that can be rented out by the hour. At the moment there are two teachers, myself and one other who only teaches on Sundays. I am not sure if he would stick around or not if I sold.It is in need of someone who can give it some TLC. Due to the pandemic and personal reasons the school has not met its true potential. I originally lived nearby and could teach in the evenings. However, I unfortunately moved and had a second child so I haven’t been able to work evenings for amost 4 years. As you can imagine, trying to run an eikaiwa without evening lessons has been a struggle. However, kids’ lessons are as popular as ever and have kept me afloat. Having done as well as we have without any evening classes is why I say the school has great potential.\*\*The ideal buyer:\*\*Someone who :・has been thinking about starting a school, but doesn’t want to go through all of the paperwork and money to get it done.・wants to be their own boss and has some basic business skills.・can speak a little Japanese or has someone close who can help them out. There are situations where you need to speak with an accountant or real estate agent. Obviously some new students want the system explained in Japanese. This is easy to work around and I can hand over the contract I have used. My Japanese is good, but not great and I haven’t really had any issues. ChatGTP is great for Japanese emails.If you currently have part time gigs (or a bit of savings) that they can use to make ends meet while they build up the school a bit more I think this would be a great opportunity for you. The school is not many students away from providing a very nice income.

# The pros:

**The tedious part is finished:** The company is established. It is a Goudougaisha (合同会社 No need to go through the process yourself.**Students:** There are 21 existing students (17 classes). 11 kids, 10 adults. Without any new students joining this year I forecast about ¥1.7M in sales from July to December.

\*\*The location:\*\*2min walk from Sakuragicho Station in Yokohama

12min from Minato Mirai110m from an elementary schoolSolid foot traffic going by everyday.Lots of professionals who need English for work in Minatomirai

Rent is very affordable considering the location (¥72000/mo)

**The owner:** The owner of the building is a student. She’s helpful, well connected around the neighborhood and easy to get along with.**Website:** high seo ranking when Sakuragicho eikaiwa is searched. Renewed the website for one year in March. Online booking system/crm (Vcita) is paid for through November.**Be your own boss:** This is probably the biggest benefit. I never get shamed by my boss if I cancel a lesson because of a sick kid at home. I can travel whenever I want outside of peak times. Work as much or as little as you want.

**Sponsor your own visa:** You would need to double check this, but according to Google, this is possible.**Chance to learn:** These past 8 years have been an amazing opportunity to learn about business in Japan and a great way to improve Japanese as well. No one would ever give you this learning opportunity. I am finding it looks great on a resume as well.

# The cons:

The school needs some TLC and some legwork to get it back up to where it should be. (It’s very doable though.)

**Liabilities:** You will be responsible for teaching the remainder of any already paid contracts. I have been very flexible with contract lengths: some pay each lesson, some pay yearly but most pay somewhere in between (10 to 20 lessons at a time) .**Stress:** There is some involved. Just be happy that you probably won’t have to go through a pandemic during your tenure.I am not sure how to go about pricing the school itself. I am willing to negotiate. I would guess less than or around ¥1million depending on how much is left on existing students contracts. I am happy to go into specifics about financials. If you are serious, dm me and we can set up a time to chat on Zoom or if you want to check out the school, I am open to that as well. Please arrange a time first. I am talking with one potential buyer tomorrow, so the earlier the better.

Edit 1: Here is the Facebook page of the building the school is in. [https://www.facebook.com/wakazuo](https://www.facebook.com/wakazuo)

Edit 2: I think anyone interested should look at this as a lifestyle company. I honestly feel the right person who is sick of working at an eikaiwa can come in and make more money while also being their own boss. You are probably 10 students about from making ¥5M a year.