The New Year's Money Hunter. What my 9-year-old self taught me about the importance of 'charm' in business

The New Year's money hunter appears

New Year's money.
The beautiful sound of it makes my heart dance.

It is a wonderful event where you get money from adults just once a year, at New Year's. I might have liked New Year's even more than Christmas.

The reason for this is that in my house, my mother told me that Santa Claus only brings Christmas presents until you are in the 6th grade of elementary school.

Just as she said, as soon as I became a junior high school student, the presents from Santa stopped. However, New Year's was different. Even when I became a junior high or high school student, I still had a chance to get New Year's money every year. For me, New Year's money was an event of long-lasting hope.

I have a brother five years older than me and a sister three years older. I surpassed both of them and earned the most when I was in the 4th grade of elementary school.

I got 34,000 yen. If you only look at the amount, it is by no means a lot. There were some tough competitors in my class who earned 40,000 or 50,000 yen.

However, the people I should be comparing myself to are not my friends. It is strictly a battle against my own siblings.

My only weapon: 'charm'

Why did I earn so much New Year's money? To put it simply, it is because I had charm. Including myself, there were 13 cousins on my father's side and 9 on my mother's side. Among the cousins in both families, I was the youngest.

In Japan, from the period of high economic growth to the 'lost 30 years' after the collapse of the bubble economy in the Heisei era, there are still many companies that continue to use seniority-based systems. New Year's money is also a typical example of seniority. My brother and sister had higher unit prices.

Despite that, I earned the most among my siblings.

Compared to my older cousins, I was not particularly academic, nor was I good at sports. My body was also a size smaller. The only weapon I had, as someone who lacked those things, was charm.

At New Year's, after welcoming my father's relatives, from the next day, we would stay overnight at my mother's parents' house. Other relatives would also gather at my mother's parents' house, and we would spend a lively time together. It was fun for me to play with my cousins whom I could only meet a few times a year, but I had something even more fun than that.

If anything, I preferred being entertained by adults. As the youngest, I was told 'you're so cute, so cute' by the adults around me until my ears grew calluses. I was treated much more affectionately than when I played with my cousins.

In fact, my cousins would sometimes tease me, so there were times when I felt annoyed. However, my uncles and aunts would laugh when I goofed around and would play with me a lot.

The hated drunkards

After a while, my grandmother's siblings, my great-uncles and great-aunts, also came to offer their New Year's greetings. At the time, I didn't clearly understand the relationship.

When the uncles were shown into the guest room, they would immediately start drinking. The aunts would sigh, saying 'it's started again this year,' and gather in the kitchen as if to avoid them, holding their own party.

As for the cousins, they would gather in my grandparents' room as if fleeing, saying 'I don't want to deal with drunkards.'

And so, everyone spent their time as they pleased, watching New Year's specials, playing karuta, or reading manga. It seemed like everyone detested the drunks.

However, I alone had a different perspective.

"If this many adults are here, it's a chance to get them to play with me."

Thinking this, I dashed through the 10-meter-long hallway from the room where my cousins were hanging out to the living room where the uncles were gathered.

Then, sliding into the "scene," I sat formally and greeted them with a beaming smile, "Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year, what a cute kid. Whose child are you? Are you [Mother]'s child!?"

Mission accomplished. The uncles were interested in me.

Gotta catch 'em all, legendary Pokémon!!

I interacted with them with a bright, beaming smile, grinning the whole time.

From my perspective, drunks were rare creatures. Since there were no drinkers among my father's relatives, the only place I could see such a spectacle was at my mother's parents' house. As if looking at legendary Pokémon, my eyes sparkled at the drunken uncles.

(It's not just Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno. There's Ho-Oh and Lugia. And Entei, Suicune, and Raikou too! These are legendary Pokémon you can only see here. Gotta catch 'em all!!)

I had an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm.

No matter how many times the drunken uncles repeated the same stories, I listened with genuine interest. I leaned in, projecting an atmosphere that said, "I'm interested in you guys, so play with me."

Furthermore, I brought my remote-controlled car and invited them to play. When the uncles joined in, I carefully explained how to use it, and we played together, completely absorbed.

Drunks are such interesting people. They repeat the same things over and over, and the scale of what they talk about is so grand. I even felt like, "Are these people trying to change the world?"

Grown adults talking cheerfully. Just watching that was endlessly entertaining to me.

I nonchalantly sat on the uncles' laps and enjoyed the rowdy party with them. I heard later that my mother was surprised to see me jump into the circle of drunks. I was particularly taken with my great-uncle (my grandmother's older brother), who looked exactly like my grandmother.

Unable to contain my laughter, I shouted to my mother, "There's an old man here who looks exactly like Grandma!!"

I was especially doted on by that great-uncle who "looked exactly like her." According to my mother, he was usually unsociable and had a bad temper when drinking. Apparently, when he was young, he would sometimes get into fights on New Year's Day due to his drunken state.

However, I managed to win over the heart of even that grumpy great-uncle.

After they had finished playing with me for a while, 'that thing' appeared from the inner pockets of the uncles' suits.

'Here you go, have some New Year's money.'

I got New Year's money one after another from the smiling uncles.

I want to make sure there is no misunderstanding here.

I didn't jump into the uncles' circle just for the money. As the youngest, I was the ultimate 'attention seeker'.

Since so many adults had come who might play with me, I just wanted them to 'pay attention' to me.

How could I get them to play with me?
Should I act silly and spread some charm?
If they thought I was 'funny,' would they play with me?

It was a survival strategy I thought up as a 9-year-old. The money was just a result that followed.

Once the uncles had finished drinking and were satisfied, they disappeared before I knew it. I went back to the room where my cousins were and showed off my New Year's money to my older sister.

'That's not fair, you're so lucky!!' my sister exclaimed in frustration.

From my perspective, I coolly replied, 'You were the one who hated the drunks, right? I just had them play with me.'

In this way, throughout elementary school, I continued to earn New Year's money by spreading my charm every year.

Chuunibyou. Plucking the buds of opportunity

However, when I became a middle schooler, my state of mind changed. A so-called 'chuunibyou' mindset sprouted, and I started to find interacting with relatives to be a hassle.

It should have been a 'hopeful event' where I could still get New Year's money even as a middle or high schooler. But ironically, I threw away the opportunity myself.

During the New Year, even though I went back to my hometown with my mother, I ignored the relatives when they came over. Naturally, there was no way they would dote on me. Even though the amount per New Year's gift went up, the number of people giving them decreased. By discarding the charm that should have been my only weapon, the shadow of the former New Year's gift hunter faded away.

Time passed, and nearly 20 years after becoming a working adult, I had completely forgotten that I possessed a weapon called 'charm'.

I work as a writer as a side job alongside my regular office job. I've been doing it quietly for nearly three years, but it's quite difficult to earn a stable income. Even though I set a 'target monthly income of X yen,' I hadn't been able to achieve it for a long time.

Thinking I had to learn skills to earn money, I tried things other than writing, but none of them produced any results.

I struggled, thinking, 'There is no way I, being nobody, can earn money.'

Dig up your buried charm

It was then that I saw on social media why senior writers continue to earn money.

“Because I had such-and-such skills”
“Because I had such-and-such track record”

Nothing like that was written.

What is more important than that is:

Thinking about what the other person is dissatisfied with
Thinking about what the other person wants
Proactively making suggestions
Thinking about the benefits for the other person

They say that by standing in the other person's shoes, you get 'chosen'.

I suddenly remembered my own behavior as a child. In a sense, my thinking back then was selfish, as I just wanted adults to play with me.

However, it could be said that I was always thinking and acting from the other person's perspective, wondering, 'What can I do to make the adults happy?'

Looking back, how about now? My focus is only on myself, wondering, 'How can I make money?'

The most necessary thing to survive in the business world is a connection of hearts. To create that connection, you need 'charm.' In other words, wasn't my former self, who possessed charm, the strongest? If I have that, maybe I will be chosen.

Charm is by no means about fawning over the other person.It is about offering communication that makes the other person feel good.

Since my 9-year-old self could do it, I should be able to do it now, too. As evidence, I think the interactions I have continued on social media are a glimpse of that childhood charm.

Since becoming an adult, I have only been looking at 'what I don't have.' That is why I thought of myself as 'someone who has nothing.' This year, I will dig up the 'what I have = charm' that has been buried deep in the ground for a long time.

I want to share this realization with you as well.

For those of you working as freelancers, including those with side jobs, I think many of you are struggling like me because you cannot earn money.

For those people, I want you to stop and think once more.

What is important is not necessarily just skills or track records. How much can you think of the other person and act? How much can you make the other person happy? I believe that results will follow after that.

Well, I don't think results will come immediately just by saying, 'I'll spread some charm!' Even so, let's proceed without rushing or getting impatient.

New Year's Gift Hunter. The next thing I'm aiming for is your heart.

Thank you for reading until the end. Your follows and likes are a great encouragement to me. I will continue to cherish my connection with you.