We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Koko Hayashi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Koko, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I did not find it by myself, but people around me told me. My life mission is to educate about better face posture. (1. Lip seal, 2. teeth apart, 3. tongue up) for better breathing and beauty.
Originally I started teaching face yoga for my fun, and as the views go up on youtube, I made it a real business.
The more social media I did, the more people taught me about face posture, especially tongue position. This inspired me to study more about it, and now I am one of the most known influencer in the niche space.
I learn from my followers all the time, and some of my tongue videos has gained millions of views, which proved that I am good at it.
So I think your purpose of life is not what you should try to find, but what your circumstance will tell you, at least in my case.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
We are Koko Face Yoga, THE natural solution to regain/maintenance your youthful appearance. We teach face yoga and face posture (how to use your facial muscles in better ways for daily facial activities) through our app, on-demand courses, sessions, instructor certifications and social media. As face yoga expert, I was featured at America’s Got Talent in July 2023, in addition to Shark Tank as an entrepreneur in 2019.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Find demand from the public and adapt instead of doing what you want to do. I originally started another business by misunderstanding that popular items in Japan will sell well in the USA, although they are different markets. For big companies, they can do product out, meaning they can market new products with big marketing budget and create demand, but small businesses cannot do that. For face yoga, I was originally doing it just for fun. Then the followers told me that it can become a real business.
2. Use technologies as much as possible. With technologies, you can save a lot of time and improve efficiency of the work and improve quality of the products too. No entrepreneur should hesitate to use technologies.
3. Build a solid team. You cannot do much by yourself. I keep using upwork or those to try new persons to find the best all the time. Don’t spend too much time to do interviews are those preparation. In general, interviews are useless. Unless the person works out successfully at least for a year, you cannot tell if the person is right fit for you.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
When I was 11 years old, my parents in Japan did a family trip to USA. At that time there was no internet, so everything I saw in U.S. was so extraordinary scenes that I have never seen in my life.
I have seen some sceneries from TV or magazines, but not so much.
So when I saw totally different word, I realized I am such a small person in the word, because the world is so big.
This trip inspired me to learn English so I can see more in the future, and years later here I am in California, leading 2 businesses.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kokofaceyoga.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kokohayashi/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kokofaceyoga/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/koko-hayashi/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kokohayashi
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCymph_9uF6n2qezt6B7s5GQ
- Other: https://kokofaceyoga.com/pages/about-us
Image Credits
Photo credits to: Koko Hayashi / Koko Face Yoga
