Building, Failing, and Becoming: Living These 8 Principles as a Travel Entrepreneur

You Don’t Need Another Tactic. You Need a Way to Live.

If you’ve walked through this whole series, you’ve met eight Japanese principles that can reshape the way you build your travel business:

• Kaizen – continuous improvement
• Ikigai – purpose as your engine
• Wabi Sabi – beauty in imperfection
• Gaman – strength through endurance
• Kintsugi – turning cracks into gold
• Shoshin – beginner’s mind
• Omoiyari – deep, anticipatory empathy
• Mottainai – respect for every resource

This isn’t just a nice list.

It’s an operating system for how you:

• Build
• Fail
• Repair
• Grow
• And keep becoming the travel entrepreneur you’re meant to be

You are not just a booking engine with a pulse.
You are a Phenomenal Force in your clients’ lives—and when you live these principles, you become truly remarkable: worth remarking about, worth referring, worth remembering.

How the Principles Work Together

You can think of these eight principles as a kind of compass:

• Kaizen keeps you moving.
• Ikigai keeps you aligned.
• Wabi Sabi keeps you honest.
• Gaman keeps you steady.
• Kintsugi keeps you resilient.
• Shoshin keeps you curious.
• Omoiyari keeps you human.
• Mottainai keeps you resourceful.

On their own, each one is powerful.
Together, they give you a way to operate that doesn’t depend on:

• Algorithms
• Trends
• The latest “must-do” marketing tactic

They anchor you in who you are and how you choose to show up.

This Is Not About Perfection

You are not going to live all eight of these perfectly.

Some days:

• Kaizen will feel easy, and Gaman will feel impossible.
• You’ll be great at Omoiyari with clients and forget to extend it to yourself.
• You’ll practice Shoshin in your marketing and completely forget Mottainai when it comes to your time.

That doesn’t mean you’ve failed the assignment.

These principles are not a test you pass.
They’re a practice you return to.

You’re allowed to:

• Drift and come back
• Break and repair
• Outgrow old versions of your business and yourself

That’s Kintsugi in motion. That’s Shoshin in motion. That’s you, becoming.

Making the Principles Practical: A Simple Weekly Rhythm

To keep this from becoming “nice ideas I once read,” here’s a simple way to live them week by week.

1. Pick a “Principle of the Week”

Each week, choose one principle to focus on:

• Week 1: Kaizen
• Week 2: Ikigai
• Week 3: Wabi Sabi
• …and so on

Ask:

“How can I honor this principle in at least one concrete way this week?”

Examples:

• Kaizen: Improve one email, one form, or one step in your process.
• Ikigai: Say no to one misaligned inquiry, or refine one offer to fit you better.
• Wabi Sabi: Publish something that’s 80% “ready” instead of waiting for perfect.
• Gaman: Choose one steady action you’ll take even if you don’t feel like it.
• Kintsugi: Name one lesson from a hard season and turn it into a new boundary or process.
• Shoshin: Try one small experiment where you let yourself be a beginner.
• Omoiyari: Add one thoughtful touch to ease a client’s stress point.
• Mottainai: Repurpose one piece of content or reconnect with one past client.

2. Reflect on Fridays

At the end of the week, ask yourself:

• “Where did I live this principle?”
• “Where did I forget it?”
• “What did I learn?”

Write down a few lines. That’s how you turn ideas into identity.

3. Keep the Manifesto Visible

Print The Travel Entrepreneur Manifesto and put it where you work.

• Read it before big decisions.
• Glance at it before consults.
• Come back to it when you’re tired or discouraged.

You’re not promising to nail it every day.
You’re reminding yourself who you’re becoming.

Why This Makes You Remarkable

When you live this way:

• Clients feel the difference.
• Partners feel the difference.
• Your team (present or future) feels the difference.

Your referrals increase not just because you “did a good job,” but because:

• People can feel your Omoiyari.
• They see your Gaman when things get hard.
• They notice your Kaizen as you quietly keep getting better.
• They experience your Ikigai when your work clearly fits who you are.

You become remarkable—literally, someone people remark about:

• “You have to work with them.”
• “They took care of us in a way I’ve never experienced.”
• “They didn’t just book a trip; they changed how we felt.”

That’s the kind of word of mouth you can’t buy.

You Are Not Behind. You Are Becoming.

If part of you is thinking:

“I should have been living like this years ago,”

Take a breath.

Every detour, every “wrong” client, every messy season has given you data and depth. These principles don’t erase your past; they redeem it.

You are not behind.
You are becoming.

You are a Phenomenal Force—and when you live these principles, you become the kind of travel entrepreneur the industry desperately needs:

• Grounded
• Human
• Resilient
• Curious
• Empathetic
• Resourceful
• And truly, deeply remarkable

I’d love to hear from you:

Of the eight Japanese principles we’ve walked through, which one is your “next right step” in this season—and what’s one small way you’re going to live it out this week?

Drop it in the comments below. Naming it is your first move. Living it is how you build, fail, and become on purpose.