We had the good fortune of connecting with MICHIHO ONOZUKA and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi MICHIHO, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The thought process behind starting my own business originated from a strong recommendation by a friend, leading me to become a financial consultant. Prior to this, I had spent 12 years working in marketing and sales roles for technology companies in Japan. After moving to San Diego in 2001, I focused on raising my son as a stay-at-home mom while also running a child development class and teaching at a Japanese Saturday school.

Initially, I hesitated to pursue the role of a financial consultant because it was unrelated to my previous career, and I lacked confidence in my English language skills. However, my friend’s enthusiasm and desire to work with me convinced me to take the leap into this new job.
Recognizing the low financial literacy among Japanese people, I aimed to address this issue through financial education. Three years ago, we started conducting weekly Japanese financial Zoom seminars for Japanese individuals living in the United States. Despite some trial and error, the seminars have grown steadily, with approximately 300 members from 35 states now participating and enhancing their financial literacy.
Our business model is unique, offering the opportunity to earn while learning. Japanese financial consultants are scarce in the US finance industry, so our focus is on providing educational programs to train Japanese consultants. Furthermore, we plan to expand our reach by holding seminars in multiple languages such as Spanish and Korean, necessitating diverse business partners with proficiency in these languages.
Our mission is to leave no family behind concerning financial knowledge. We firmly believe that continuous financial education can enrich the lives of individuals in the United States, both mentally and financially. As we strive to expand, we are actively seeking business partners, and my dream is to establish our business team across all 50 states.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Our mission is “No Family Left Behind”. We conduct financial education activities for middle-class families. We teach our clients the basic financial knowledge they need to manage their assets properly. In particular, our Japanese team conducts seminars in Japanese for Japanese people living in the United States. My team’s dream is to connect with Japanese people in all 50 states. It has now expanded to 35 states in three years.

We Japanese have almost never learned about finance in our school education. Therefore, many people do not know the correct investment knowledge. I believe that financial knowledge is very important to live in the US, where medical expenses, college expenses, and nursing care expenses are all expensive. It is no exaggeration to say that financial knowledge is a survival skill for living in the US.
We educate our clients so that they can choose the financial products they need according to their life stage, and if necessary, we make proposals regarding financial products. When our clients are thinking about life plans for the 100-year life era, we stay close to their needs and dreams and help them build real affluence.

Until now, there were almost no Japanese financial consultants in the American financial industry. Our Japanese team is steadily growing and expanding, and we are proud that our current activities are making history.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’ve lived in San Diego for 20 years and there are so many great places to introduce, it’s hard to choose, but I’ll introduce you to my favorite spots to experience in a week.

The beach is the best in San Diego!
My favorites are Del Mar Beach and Solana Beach.
Del Mar Beach is the first place my son walked when he was an 11 months old baby!
During the college application process in the pandemic, I even walked along the beach praying for him to get into the college of his choice. It is a place filled with many memories of parenting.

Solana Beach is my favorite walking place.
There are fashionable shops, restaurants, and breweries. Visit the Farmer’s Market on Sundays. There are so many breweries in San Diego that it is said to be the mecca of craft beer, so be sure to give them a try.

-CULUTURE Brewing Co.

-Pizza Port
If you like baseball, please visit Petco Park.
The San Diego Padres have pitcher Yu Darvish.
Many Japanese people rushed to support the match card with Shohei Otani, who is very popular in the United States!

If you like history and art, I recommend Balboa Park.
Balboa Park is a huge comprehensive park with about 30 facilities, including the most famous San Diego Zoo in the United States. I especially recommend the San Diego Natural History Museum. Dinosaur fossils and animal figurines are on display at real size, making it a highly recommended spot for families with children.

World Famous San Diego Zoo
This zoo is huge! About 800 species and over 4,000 animals are kept here.

Sea World and Legoland are also recommended for fun with your kids.

Meditation Garden in Encinitas is also my favorite power spot.
It is a comfortable space with many kinds of plants and the sound of water in a pond with carp.
It overlooks the sea and is the best place for meditation.


My favorite restaurants;

Japanese
Kokoro restraurant
Yokohama Yakitori Koubou

Menya UltraThai
Siam Nara Thai Cuisine

Cafe
CLAIRE’S ON CEDROS
Pannikin Coffee & Tea

Winery
BernardoWinery

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The first person I would like to thank is my friend Ai Hashimoto, who recruited me for my current job. I lost my mother four years ago, I decided to visit Japan more often for my father who lives alone in Japan. For that reason, I once quit my career as a Japanese teacher. However, a pandemic occurred shortly after that, and it became difficult to return to Japan. My son’s college application process was also in pandemic. All of my son’s 11th high school track and field games have been cancelled, the opening football game in Hawaii that the whole family was looking forward to has also been cancelled, and there is no prospect of restarting the football season, there was a time when everything was fumbling around and I couldn’t see the light of hope. In the midst of all the stress, Ai recommended me to become a financial consultant. I thank her from the bottom of my heart for paving the way for my new challenges.

Website: https://dreambuilderfs.com/michihoo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifecoach_michiho_ca/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michiho.onozuka

Image Credits
1.January Convention in Las Vegas 2.July Convention in Las Vegas 3.San Diego Team (Ai, Nobue and me) 4.San Diego Team (Ai, Nobue and me) 5.Michiho 6. Ai and me 7. with my son Andrew

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