#27 - Starting a Side Hustle with 450,000 Yen in Capital: 3 Rules for 'Hitting Small and Moving On'

There is a man who has launched over 75 companies and is still running seven businesses simultaneously.

His name is Chris Koerner. A serial entrepreneur based in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, the total valuation of the businesses he currently operates is approximately $25 million (about 3.75 billion yen). While raising four children at his 3-acre home, he partners with investors to buy one or two RV parks a month, runs the world's largest unofficial Buc-ee's online store, and operates a startup incubator with an acceptance rate of less than 1%.

However, his start was not spectacular. Raised by a single mother, he worked in a prison to earn money for business school tuition. At 23, while still in college, he opened an iPhone repair shop. Within 18 months, he expanded to 4-5 locations and sold them to a local competitor. *Note: Sources vary on whether there were 4 or 5 locations.

Here, he chose not to pursue the path of becoming a national chain. He took the cash from the sale and the validation he gained, and moved on to the next thing. It suits him better to hit small and move on rather than trying to grow something big—this first success experience became the prototype for the 75 companies that followed. Failure is just the number of times you step up to the plate, and as long as you avoid a fatal blow, you can swing as many times as you want. Koerner's business philosophy was almost entirely set at this point.

How to find an 'interesting business'

There is a theme that Koerner repeats in his 40,000-word monthly newsletter, social media posts, and his podcast, 'The Koerner Office.' His monthly reach is 20 to 30 million people. His newsletter alone has over 7,000 subscribers. *Note: Reach and subscriber numbers are based on statements made within the podcast. This data has not been verified in primary sources.

'Do not create demand yourself. Find demand that already exists.'

Texas Snax is a classic example. In November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, road trips within the U.S. surged, and the gap between tourists stopping at Buc-ee's and distant fans who couldn't visit widened rapidly. He went to a Buc-ee's store and bought $3,000 worth of snacks. He bought a domain and opened a store on Shopify. He took product photos and listed them. That was all he did. There was no flashy fundraising or business plan.

To provide some background, Buc-ee's is a massive convenience store chain from Texas, with each store having a sales floor area of 5,000 to 7,000 square meters. In addition to jerky, nuts, and their own brand of snacks, they also sell apparel and miscellaneous goods, and they have passionate fans as a staple of the quintessential Texas road trip. However, Buc-ee's does not operate its own e-commerce site. As of 2026, they have expanded to 54 stores nationwide and are planning to open at least 17 new stores between 2026 and 2031, but to get their products, you have to physically go to a store.

Koerner noticed this gap. There were already a massive number of fans who lived far from Texas and couldn't go to Buc-ee's. The demand was there from the start. He just found it and delivered it.

First-month sales were $161,000 (about 24 million yen). This sales figure has also been confirmed in an interview article by The Hustle.

As of 2024, Texas Snax has monthly sales of $250,000 to $300,000 (about 37.5 to 45 million yen) and has processed over 100,000 total orders. It carries about 1,200 types of products. Its share of the online market is about 90%. The profit margin is about 16%. Annual sales are on track to reach $5 million (about 750 million yen), continuing to grow at 30-70% year-over-year. *Note: Monthly sales and profit margins are based on Koerner's statements.

While it may look like 'just reselling,' it is actually a business that captures an entire niche market. There are people all over the U.S. who cannot go to Buc-ee's. Moreover, as the number of stores increases, the number of fans also increases, yet there is no e-commerce channel. While the number of fans keeps growing, there is no one supplying them online. He is filling that void by himself.

Repeating the same model — The case of LCDcycle

This pattern is not limited to Texas Snax. LCDcycle, which Koerner launched in 2013, has the same structure.

When he was running an iPhone repair shop, broken screens were nothing more than waste piling up in the back room. Disposing of them was also a hassle. One day, he received a call from a recycler—'I want to buy broken iPhone screens.' In that instant, the calculation in Koerner's head was rewritten. What was trash for the repair shop was raw material for another industry. Someone else was willing to pay for what he had been throwing away.

The next day, Koerner incorporated LCDcycle. It was a business that bought broken iPhone screens from repair shops across the country and sold them as recycled parts. First-month sales were $28,000. The next month was $86,000. By the third month, it was $152,000. In just 17 months, it surpassed $4 million (about 600 million yen) in cumulative sales and reached a pace of over $600,000 in monthly sales. In the first year, it reached $2.1 million (about 315 million yen), and in 2015, annual sales were $8.8 million (about 1.32 billion yen). It eventually reached an annual sales scale of about $20 million (about 3 billion yen) and was sold in 2019. *Note: Sales data from the first year to 2015 is based on statements in the Nathan Latka Podcast EP 462. Cumulative sales at 17 months and the $600K monthly sales are based on data released in the Empact Showcase 2014 and statements on Koerner's official website. The final annual sales scale is based on statements in Koerner's newsletter.

Here, too, 'demand comes first.' Koerner did not invent a new product. He simply stood in a gap in an existing transaction. Repair shops were throwing away broken screens. Recyclers wanted the parts. He stood in between and took a commission from both sides. The mechanism is simple, but the person who noticed it moved first. And only the person who moved first earned $4 million in cumulative sales in 17 months.

Koerner's 'model' — 3 principles for starting small

When you look across his businesses, a common mindset emerges. These three principles were distilled from the experience of launching over 75 companies.

Principle 1: Demand First, Product Second

Don't start with 'It would be nice to have this product.' Start with 'What are these people spending their money on?'

RV park investment is the same. RV owners are looking for parking spaces. That demand exists regardless of the season. Mr. Corner has managed a total of over $50 million (approx. 7.5 billion yen) in his private RV park fund and has been involved in about 50 parks over the past six years. Most recently, he acquired a luxury RV resort on Flathead Lake in Montana for $5.5 million (approx. 825 million yen). This is the 26th property in the entire fund. *Acquisition amount and number of properties are based on Mr. Corner's X post (November 2024).

The cap rate for the entire RV park industry is 7-14%. In particular, 12-14% can be expected for value-add properties in rural areas. This is a yield 150-300 basis points higher than multifamily housing or self-storage. Every time Mr. Corner is asked 'Why RV parks?', he answers that it is because demand exists regardless of the season, operating costs are low, and the initial investment is relatively small instead of building a hotel, you just need to run power and water to existing land.

Principle 2: Keep It Simple

Texas Snax has no original products. RV parks have no restaurants or pools. They are just selling 'space and connection'.

This principle is most clearly expressed in Fast Tree Care. It is a tree care business launched in Dallas-Fort Worth in the summer of 2023, and it does not own a single chainsaw itself.

The mechanism is like this: acquire a domain, and attract customers through Google Ads, local SEO, and referrals from real estate agents. When an inquiry comes in, provide a quote, and outsource the actual work to four trusted crews (with another 6-8 teams on a waiting list). To borrow Mr. Corner's words, 'We are a lead generation factory with a truck attached.'

As for the track record, the first month's sales were $17,000. Half of the sales were earned in the fourth week alone, and the net profit was $2,300. The closing rate for in-person quotes is 77%, and the closing rate for phone quotes is 52%. It is growing by 20% month-over-month, and has achieved its first $20,000 week (weekly sales of $20,000). *Sales and closing rates are based on Mr. Corner's X post (September 2023).

Mr. Corner does not dabble in the hotel business because the service becomes complicated. There is no need for tree-cutting skills either. Focus only on customer acquisition and order management.

Principle 3: Don't Finish with Just One

A person who has created over 75 companies is still running 7 businesses in parallel. Do not bet your life on one business. Hit small, and when it starts running, move on to the next. If it doesn't go well, withdraw while the loss is small.

Looking at the current portfolio, this principle is easy to understand.

• Texas Snax — E-commerce (resale of snacks and miscellaneous goods)

• RV Park Private Fund — Real Estate (1-2 acquisitions per month)

• CoFounders.com — Incubator (over 1,100 applications per month, acceptance rate less than 1%)

• Fast Tree Care — Home Services (specializing in lead generation)

• Mining Syndicate — Crypto Asset Mining

• TKOwners — Entrepreneur Community (over 750 members, annual membership fee system)

• The Koerner Office — Media (Podcast + Newsletter)

The genres are all different, but the structure is the same. Find existing demand, keep it simple, and start small. The domain CoFounders.com was acquired for $65,000. According to Mr. Koerner, 'It was worth every penny as a vessel for the ideas I'll use for the rest of my life.' Spending this much on a single domain might seem expensive to some, but it's far cheaper than building a hotel. And it receives over 1,100 applications every month.

Where is the 'gap' in Japan?

Looking at Mr. Koerner's list of businesses—Texas Snax, RV parks, domain investing, tree care—they seem unrelated at first glance. But they share a common thread: they are all businesses that can be started without any special skills.

In Japan, there is a strong assumption that 'side hustle equals selling skills'—programming, design, writing, translation. But Mr. Koerner's approach is different. He isn't selling skills; he is selling the 'gap between supply and demand'.

The same gap exists in Japan. It's just that no one has 'translated' it yet. We will look at this specifically below.

Gap 1: E-commerce channels for region-specific products — The Texas Snax model

Just as Buc-ee's doesn't have its own e-commerce site, there are countless products in Japan that you 'can only buy if you go there'.

Hokkaido's Rokkatei and Shiroi Koibito. Fukuoka's Torimon. Kyoto's Ajarimochi. They are only available in stores or within their respective regions, but they have fans nationwide. In fact, an e-commerce site called 'Hokkaido Souvenir Expedition' uses this structure, with about half of its sales coming from overseas.

The point is that manufacturers aren't doing e-commerce in earnest. While there are cases where products are listed as return gifts for the Hometown Tax (Furusato Nozei) program, there are few e-commerce sites that meet the 'I want to buy it right now' demand. When Satoya, a long-established Japanese confectionery shop in Yamagata, opened an online store during the COVID-19 pandemic, they received over 100 orders in the first hour. The demand was there; there was simply no supply.

The way to start is the same as Texas Snax. Source locally and sell on Shopify. The capital required is just a few tens of thousands of yen for inventory and the cost of a domain. If you want to minimize inventory risk, you can start with pre-orders.

Gap 2: The Japanese version of 'renting out space' — The RV park model

What Mr. Koerner is selling with his RV parks is just 'space and connectivity.' Does the same structure exist in Japan? Yes, it does.

As of February 2026, there are approximately 600 RV parks certified by the Japan RV Association nationwide. The number of recreational vehicles owned in Japan is 165,000 (as of 2024, an increase of 10,000 from the previous year). The RV sales market hit a record high of 105.4 billion yen in 2023. The lifestyle of sleeping in a car is steadily spreading in Japan as well.

However, RV parks are not the only 'renting out space' business.

The parking space sharing service akippa has over 4.3 million cumulative members. Spacee is growing as a platform for renting out everything from conference rooms to photo studios by the hour. There are approximately 9 million vacant houses nationwide. With the revision of the Building Standards Act effective April 2025, regulations on converting vacant houses with a total floor area of 200 square meters or less into private lodging (minpaku) have been relaxed. The number of foreign visitors to Japan exceeded 33 million in 2024, and that momentum is expected to continue through 2025 and 2026.

In other words, the gap between 'unused space' and 'people who need space' is expanding in Japan. You don't need to build a building yourself. Deliver existing space to people who are already there. It's the same structure as Mr. Koerner's RV parks.

Gap 3: Home services specializing in lead generation — The Fast Tree Care model

Fast Tree Care doesn't hire its own craftsmen; it only handles customer acquisition. Can this structure be brought to Japan? Actually, it already partially exists.

'Curama' (Kurashi no Market) is one of the largest matching services in Japan, with over 400 categories including house cleaning and air conditioner cleaning, and over 100,000 cumulative registered service providers. Individual business owners register their services, and consumers choose and request them directly. The commission fee is 20% of the service price.

There is a gap here for a 'Fast Tree Care' model. Kurashi no Market is a model where 'craftsmen register on a platform and wait.' On the other hand, the Fast Tree Care model is one where 'you gather customers and outsource to craftsmen.' The subject is different.

If you were to do this in Japan, for example, you could narrow it down to a specific region for 'air conditioner cleaning.' You build your own website, rank high in Google local searches, and when an inquiry comes in, you outsource it to a skilled sole proprietor. In fact, there have been reports of individuals starting an air conditioner cleaning business and reaching 900,000 yen in monthly sales.

The point is that you don't need to have the technical skills yourself. Just as Mr. Koerner runs a tree care business without holding a chainsaw, you focus on customer acquisition and matching. Initial investment can start from just a few tens of thousands of yen per month for a domain and Google Ads.

Gap 4: Waste Intermediation — The LCDcycle Model

The essence of LCDcycle is the structure where 'trash for one person is a product for another.' The same structure exists in Japan as well.

Waste cooking oil from restaurants is in demand as a raw material for biodiesel fuel. Offcuts from construction sites are materials for DIY enthusiasts and craft artists. Apparel inventory is circulated through reuse shops and flea market apps.

In all these cases, the 'discarding side' and the 'wanting side' are not directly connected. Standing between them is the LCDcycle-style business. In Japan, services with similar structures are starting to emerge, such as TABETE for food loss reduction and ReduceGo for surplus food matching. However, the categories are still limited.

Translating the 3 Principles into Japanese

When reinterpreting Mr. Koerner's 3 principles for the Japanese context, it looks like this:

Principle 1 (Demand First) → Start not with 'what shall I make,' but with 'who is struggling with what.' People who want local specialties, people looking for empty space, people who want to hire someone to clean their house. The demand already exists.

Principle 2 (Don't Complicate It) → Don't do everything yourself. Outsource the technical work and focus on customer acquisition and the system. Just as Fast Tree Care doesn't hold a chainsaw, you don't need air conditioner cleaning skills.

Principle 3 (Don't Finish with Just One) → Don't bet everything on one business. Start small, and once it's running, move on to the next. Start with EC resale with a few tens of thousands of yen in stock, and if it goes well, expand the product line. Even if you fail, the loss is limited.

Mr. Koerner admits that among the more than 75 companies he has launched, 'only 3 really became big.' His batting average is not high. But because the loss per attempt is small, he can step up to the plate as many times as he wants. While Texas Snax, which started with $3,000 in snack inventory, grew to a $5 million annual sales scale, the more than 70 companies that didn't work out were quietly folded. Most of them aren't even remembered by his newsletter readers.

This is the crucial part. If you can keep the loss per failure small, a low batting average is not a problem. This is because the profit from one win can absorb the losses from 10 defeats. This asymmetry is the core of Mr. Koerner's model. Win big, lose small. For an individual starting a side hustle in Japan, there is hardly a more rational approach. A batter who repeats single hits and occasionally gets a home run can win in terms of the number of at-bats compared to a batter who keeps striking out while aiming for a home run.

What you can do today

Write down one thing in your area that 'can only be bought locally.' If it is not sold online, there is a Texas Snax-style gap. First, just check if the same product is listed on Mercari or BASE. If there are listings but they are few, that is your entry point. When Mr. Koerner put $3,000 worth of snacks into his cart in front of a Buc-ee's shelf, he was doing the same level of verification work.

Reference Information
・Chris Koerner Official Website — Background and Business List
https://chrisjkoerner.com
・The Koerner Office (Podcast) — Deep dive into business ideas and small businesses
https://chrisjkoerner.com/podcast
・The Hustle — Texas Snax Business Model Analysis
https://thehustle.co/how-one-man-created-a-multimillion-dollar-resale-market-for-buc-ees-snacks
・Fort Worth Magazine — Texas Snax Founder Interview
・Nathan Latka Podcast EP 462 — "$8.8M 2015 Sales of iPhone Repair Parts with CEO Chris Koerner"
https://nathanlatkathetop.libsyn.com/ep-462-88m-2015-sales-of-iphone-repair-parts-with-ceo-chris-koerner
・The Startup Storys — "How Chris Koerner Built 75 Businesses (and How He Finds Business Ideas)" (March 2026)
https://www.thestartupstorys.com/2026/03/chris-koerner-75-businesses-case-study.html
・Mr. Koerner X Post — Fast Tree Care First Month Results (September 2023)
https://x.com/mhp_guy/status/1697422359068553589
・Mr. Koerner X Post — RV Park Investment (Acquisition of property at Flathead Lake, Montana, November 2024)
https://x.com/mhp_guy/status/1849092280885383270
・C-Store Dive — Tracking Buc-ee's Nationwide Expansion
https://www.cstoredive.com/news/buc-ees-growth-us/696454/
・Loan Analytics — "RV Park Industry Outlook 2025: Data-Driven Trends in Occupancy, Revenue & Cap Rates"
https://www.analytics.loan/post/rv-park-industry-outlook-2025-data-driven-trends-in-occupancy-revenue-cap-rates
・Japan RV Association — List of RV Park Certified Facilities
https://www.jrva.com/activity/rvpark/
・Net Shop Manager Forum — "Hokkaido Souvenir Expedition" Cross-border EC Case Study
https://netshop.impress.co.jp/node/2076
※ Figures are from official websites and news reports. Exchange rate is estimated at 1 dollar = 150 yen.

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