[⑭] Record of Reconstruction After Company Collapse | The Turnaround of a 'Failed Executive' Who Crawled Up from 50,000 Yen a Month
The morning after the company vanished in an instant.
I woke up in a state of near-unconsciousness, but for a while, I couldn't move from my chair.
The office, bathed in morning sunlight, felt many times larger than usual and was eerily silent.
The scratched desk I had used since the days when it was just me and my No. 2.
The break area where we all used to chat and laugh together.
In front of that refrigerator where new employees would happily report their first contracts.
All of it flashed before my eyes like a scene from a bad movie, a final flicker of memory.
Strangely, the hatred I had felt toward my No. 2 until yesterday, a hatred so intense I could have killed him, had vanished somewhere along with the morning sun.
My emotional memory had maxed out, leaving me in a state of 'nothingness'—a perfect zero, neither positive nor negative.
After staring blankly into space for a while, I tried to move my right hand and was struck by excruciating pain that took my breath away.
I wasn't even sure when I had lost my composure. It seemed I had punched the office wall with all my might while unconscious.
I headed straight to the hospital and had a rock-hard cast put on.
That night, in a dimly lit room, I sat alone gnawing on a piece of smoked chicken I had bought at 7-Eleven.
For a man who used to melt away millions of yen in a single night at Ginza clubs, that was the dinner on the day I lost everything. The bland taste of the meat disappeared down my throat along with an unbearable sense of misery.
I felt a strange sense of relief that the damage was only this much, and that I was still alive.
From the next day, my gritty 'reconstruction plan' began.
■ The Apology Tour to 60 Companies. The Harsh Reality of 'Only 3' Remaining
The second day after the collapse.
I first started an apology tour to the main company president who had supported me, as well as other related parties.
The only salvation at the bottom of despair was that two office workers remained: one continued to support me as an office assistant and secretary, and the other stayed on as an office assistant and sales representative.
Whether it was morning or late at night, if a job seeker requested an interview, I would conduct it at that time, running around desperately to put out the fires.
From Sapporo in the north to Fukuoka in the south.
Over the course of about a month, I explained the situation to nearly 60 client companies, repeating my apologies as if I were bowing on my knees.
However, the reality was far too cruel.
After visiting 60 companies, only 'three' agreed to continue their contracts.
The reason was simple. Because I had dumped all organizational management onto my No. 2, I had built absolutely no 'personal relationship' with the other 57 companies.
No one is going to trust a president (me) who suddenly appears to apologize when they haven't even had a conversation with him before.
The three companies that stayed were only those I had dealt with directly and primarily when I first started the business.
This was the heavy price to pay for a 'naked king' who saw employees only as 'soldiers' and sat back while leaving the organization to others.
■ The Death of the Naked King. The '4 Absolute Rules' I Imposed on Myself
How foolish I had been.
I completely killed off my past self, and in the process of rebuilding the company from scratch, I imposed 'four absolute rules' on myself regarding organizational development.
1. Always show up to the office (arrive on time, leave on time)
Deeply regretting the past where I didn't even do the obvious, I made it a point to arrive earlier than anyone else and work more diligently than anyone else.
2. Wear a suit
I discarded the flashy attire that carried over from my delusions as the 'King of the Night' and regained the appearance of a proper businessman.
3. President does not mean top; President means the very bottom
I am not an important person. I kept in mind that my role was to support the employees who stayed with me from the bottom, even if it meant getting covered in mud.
4. Credit cards confiscated, living on 50,000 yen cash per month
To return my sense of money to normal, I entrusted all my credit cards to my secretary. The only money I could use per month was '50,000 yen in cash.' For business dinners, I would receive cash from my secretary in advance, and the next day, I would always submit the change down to the last yen along with the receipts.
From a VIP room in Ginza to a 50,000 yen monthly allowance system.
This was the only path I chose to become a 'decent executive'.
■ The final 'first aid' that kept the three lifeline companies connected
That said, the relationship with the three companies that remained was like walking on thin ice; with the company's credibility in tatters, they could have cut ties at any moment.
If I lost this lifeline, the company would go completely bankrupt.
I didn't have the luxury of saying pretty things. To ensure they wouldn't cut ties, I worked desperately to deliver solid results for those three companies.
Now, I have reached a point where I have a deep, family-like relationship with the presidents of those three companies.
■ The first six months. 'Laying the foundation' by crawling on the ground
Days spent facing the three lifeline companies desperately and continuing to return results.
For the first six months, I poured all my energy solely into rebuilding the company's 'foundation'.
I did not pursue flashy expansion at all. While continuing to live on 50,000 yen a month, I simply built up credibility right in front of me, one millimeter at a time. It was a gritty, ground-crawling time, the exact opposite of the view I used to look down on from my high-rise apartment.
■ Increasing employees after one year and the true use of 'psychological techniques'
By the time a year had passed since the collapse, the company's strength had begun to return little by little, and the number of employees had increased to six. At this time, I clearly changed 'something' within myself.
It was the way I used and consciously perceived that 'psychological hack that exploits human bugs' which had once driven me mad and been abused by my second-in-command.
In the past, I used this technique to 'make others dependent and control them as my soldiers'.
However, for the new employees who had seen hell and followed me, believing in me from scratch, I took a completely different approach.
The true completion of the 'art of winning people's hearts' will be for another day
■ A 'multi-hundred million yen buyout' in the fifth year of the company
The organization from then on was strong. A team bound not by fear or bravado, but by true trust, was a resilient creature completely different from the 'castle in the sand' I had seen during my host days or right after starting the business.
After that, the company continued to grow steadily for three years. It was a solid and powerful growth, as if the madness of the past had been a lie.
In the fifth year since founding.
The organization, which started with 6 people, eventually grew to a scale of 30 employees, consistently generating 100 million yen in monthly sales.
And finally, our company achieved a buyout at a valuation of several hundred million yen.
It was the moment when what I had built up from scratch in the mud was finally evaluated as 'numbers'.
When I saw the enormous amount transferred into my account, I felt none of the arrogant 'emptiness' I had once felt in the high-rise apartment.
'What I have done was not wrong.' Quietly, only a sense of certain affirmation filled my chest.
■ The Gears That Started Turning and the Truth of That Day
The days I spent bowing my head with my right arm in a cast, living a life on 50,000 yen a month. From that morning when I lost everything, my 'pathetic resume' reached a conclusion along with a result of several hundred million yen.
However, there is still a 'final piece' left in the story.
In fact, around the time the company was steadily breathing back to life, I reunited with that 'traitorous No. 2' who had taken everything from me, and we ended up sharing a drink.
The 'real reason for the betrayal' he told me there was beyond my imagination.
Why was he able to carry out the perfect betrayal? Why were we unable to hate each other?
📖 What will be told in the following story (17 episodes in total)
① Self-introduction article
② Memories of the day a household with a 20 million yen annual income fell into extreme poverty as a single-parent family at age 7
③ My elementary school days in extreme poverty
④ Junior high school days when reality hit me
⑤ Why didn't I turn to delinquency?
⑥ Choosing a high school with no basis
⑦ Dropping out of high school at 16 / Becoming a NEET
⑧ The story of how I raised my deviation score to 73, but failed all entrance exams after two years of ronin
⑨ Becoming a "host" to earn money
⑩ From extreme life in Kabukicho to reaching a peak monthly income of 10 million yen
⑪ Starting a business → Dissolving my savings in an instant
⑫ The morning that vanished in 3 minutes due to the betrayal of my beloved disciple: 1
⑬ The morning that vanished in 3 minutes due to the betrayal of my beloved disciple: 2
⑭ Reconstructing a company on the verge of bankruptcy
⑮ Reunion with the beloved disciple who betrayed me
Last Buyout for several hundred million
Afterword The buyout was the wrong answer