The Man Who Failed His Way to 5,000 Stores

I read a story this week about Hirotake Yano, the founder of Daiso – you know, those ubiquitous dollar stores where you go in for one thing and emerge with 47 plastic containers you didn't know you needed.

Yano failed nine times before he struck gold. Failed his university entrance exams. Failed at a fishery business. Lost his family business and went bankrupt. The banks chased him out of town. He started Daiso on a mobile truck because he'd "failed at everything else" and was literally running from debt collectors.

By his own admission: "I am not a talented man."

Even the $1 concept – the foundation of his global empire – wasn't genius marketing. One day, he and his wife were so overwhelmed by customers that they couldn't tag prices fast enough. In pure exhaustion, Yano shouted: "Everything is 100 yen! Just take it!"

He didn't do it to be a disruptor. He did it because he was tired of labeling things.

The customers loved it. Today, Daiso has over 5,000 stores worldwide.

I keep thinking about that moment. The exhausted shout. The accidental empire. The fact that what made him billions wasn't brilliance – it was being too overwhelmed to do things the complicated way.

Yano sold items for 100 yen that cost him 98 yen. Non-existent profit margins. Every business expert would call that stupid.

But he chose volume over prestige. Customer trust over ego. Built wealth on 2-yen margins repeated five million times.

I know people who've been "almost ready" to retire for three years now. The portfolio isn't quite optimized. The budget has a few gaps. They need one more year to get the numbers "right."

Meanwhile, time keeps moving. And unlike Yano's inventory, you can't restock it.

I'm not saying the planning doesn't matter. But there's a point where "one more year of optimization" is just expensive procrastination. The 2% you might gain with perfect timing doesn't usually justify the year of health and freedom you spent perfecting it.

Yano started from the back of a truck with creditors chasing him. Not exactly ideal conditions. But he started.

Here's Yano's track record before Daiso: University rejection. Fishery business collapse. Family business lost. Bankruptcy. Debt. Living out of a truck.

If LinkedIn existed in 1977 Japan, his profile would've been depressing.

But he kept driving the truck.

I think about this whenever I hear someone say they're "not ready" to start investing because they don't understand the market well enough yet. Or they're waiting to exercise until they can afford the right gym. Or they're delaying the doctor's appointment until they've lost some weight first.

The market doesn't pause while you read one more book. Your bone density doesn't wait for you to find the perfect workout program. That concerning symptom isn't going to become less concerning because you postponed looking at it.

Yano didn't understand retail. He was a failed fisherman running from debt. He learned by doing – badly at first, then less badly, then well enough to build 5,000 stores.

Every investor who's been in the market long enough has a drawer full of failures. Bought at the top. Sold at the bottom. Panic-sold in March 2020. The difference between people who build wealth and people who don't isn't that they never fail. It's that they keep showing up after they do.

Yano's story is inspiring, but here's what makes it useful: he succeeded by being aggressively ordinary.

He didn't innovate. He sold household goods people needed. He didn't disrupt. He made shopping simpler by accident. He didn't have vision. He was running from debt.

We're obsessed with being extraordinary. The perfect retiree with the perfect plan executing the perfect transition.

Yano just kept driving the truck. Not because he had it figured out. Because he literally didn't have other options and was too tired to overthink it.

Maybe that's accidentally brilliant. Being too exhausted to complicate things. Too broke to be precious about margins. Too failed-out to care about looking sophisticated.

Sometimes the best strategy is simply being too tired to do things the hard way.

Your Turn:
What would you start if "good enough right now" was actually good enough?
What are you overcomplicating because simple feels like failure?
If your track record looked like Yano's – nine spectacular failures before one mediocre success – would you still be in the truck?

👉 Hit reply and share your thoughts – I’d love to hear what’s resonating with you.

☕ If this weekend musing gave you permission to be "not a talented person" and try anyway – or reminded you that being too tired to overcomplicate things might be the smartest strategy – consider buying L-Plate Retiree a coffee on Ko-fi. Your support helps me keep driving the truck, even when I'm not sure where it's going.

The Check-Up – Tracking Your Portfolio's Health

You wouldn't drive a car without a dashboard, and you shouldn't invest without a clear way to track your progress! Portfolio Monitoring is the continuous process of evaluating your portfolio's performance against your goals. This is a crucial step in managing your wealth, ensuring you stay on track with your Personal Financial Assessment and your long-term plan.

First, you need to measure your Performance. There are two main ways to look at your returns:

1. Time-Weighted Rate of Return (TWR): This is the standard way to measure how well your investments are doing, independent of when you put money in or take it out. It's the best way to compare your performance to a benchmark (like a global stock index).

2. Money-Weighted Rate of Return (MWR): This measures the return on the actual money you have invested, so it's sensitive to the timing of your cash flows. This is often a more personal and relevant number for L-Plate Retirees.

Next, you must Benchmark your performance. Comparing your portfolio's return to a relevant index (or a blended index that matches your asset allocation) tells you if you're adding value or if you'd be better off just buying a simple index fund. If your portfolio is consistently underperforming its benchmark, it's a sign that something needs to change.

Global Considerations: Be aware that performance reporting standards can vary. In developed markets, data is usually reliable. In emerging markets, data quality can be a challenge, so a degree of skepticism and manual verification might be necessary.

Adapting to Your Needs: As an L-Plate Retiree, your monitoring system should be simple and clear. Focus on the bottom line (total return) and a clear comparison to your benchmark. The goal is to avoid getting bogged down in complex details and to focus on the long-term strategic allocation. Technology, like personal finance software, can make this process much easier, providing you with a clear, simple dashboard.

The key is consistency. Regularly checking your portfolio's health—not daily, but perhaps quarterly—allows you to make informed decisions and prevents small issues from becoming big problems.

L-Plate Takeaways:

• Monitor Consistently: Regularly check your portfolio's performance against your goals. Quarterly is a good rhythm.

• Use the Right Metric: TWR is for comparing to benchmarks; MWR is for seeing your personal return.

• Benchmark Everything: Always compare your returns to a relevant index to see if you're adding value.

• Keep it Simple: Your monitoring system should be easy to understand and focus on the long-term strategic allocation.

• Technology is Your Dashboard: Use personal finance software to simplify the tracking and reporting process.