Meet Dean Jackson: A Jamaican Entrepreneur in Japan

Hi, friends!

As I stated in my most recent post, I'll be adding new things to my blog. I've had the idea for a little while now to chat with a few persons who are here in Japan and have launched a business here. Well, I've stopped procrastinating, and here's our first guest.

Welcome, Dean! Please tell us about yourself. My name is Dean Jackson. I'm 32 years old and I graduated from the University of Technology Jamaica with a major in Marketing and a minor in Human Resource Management. 

I've been living in Japan for the past 7 1/2 years teaching English and doing various endeavors from selling Jamaican T-shirts, Dj-ing, event promotion, phone case distribution and on the odd side,  wedding ministering ( don't ask , won't tell). I've always been involved in business. As a teenager, I can safely say my friends and I were the first to put sound system cassettes from parties and mix tapes  onto CDs in Jamaica and distribute them to cassette vendors in the Kingston area. Other things  I've sold include cell phones, cars , wrist bands, earrings, belly rings, candies and some things I can't even remember.

My problem was that I was too focused on making money and not doing what I liked and what had meaning to me.  My latest projects , Irie876.com® ( a Jamaican goods website, based in Japan, selling: seasonings, pepper sauces, ackee, soup mixes, snacks,  art, crafts, accessories etc  ) and IRIE iDRIN© ( a digital patois sticker collection now available for Line messenger)  have filled that void. 

How was your business idea birthed? - Irie876.com® all started from a painting I received from a friend just about two years ago. She was going to throw it out but decided to give it to me. The painting was one of those Ocho Rios craft market paintings with Rastafarians playing drums and singing. Another friend came to my house and saw the  painting and said "oh nice, you started selling Jamaican paintings" ( people who know me always know I'm selling something). I laughed and said "no , but that's a good idea". So I thought about it , wrote plans, discussed it with the same friend and decided that I'm going to start a website that sells Jamaican arts and craft. At that same time my job was going through a period of down time (contract rest /break time, one of those Japanese things) which entailed 3 months no work. So during the months before the down time I contacted a web and graphic designer and got the site built. During the down time, I planned a trip to Jamaica, went around to all these artiste and bought some of their work. While in Jamaica I got an inspired thought to buy a few Jamaican food products and accessories to sell on the site. Well, up to this day I haven't sold one painting ( except some smaller desk paintings) but the food and accessories are doing great. I have faith the right opportunity will appear for the crafts and paintings.

So you have LINE stickers out. Tell us about them. iRIE iDRIN© basically branched out from irie876.com®, I had made my designer create a few logos for 876 and decided to keep 2 of them (one is the logo on the site now and the other, a rasta character I named "iDrin". iDRIN was actually the sales rep for 876 for some time and was featured in various digital posters and adverts, I even got my brother (nivek productions) to animate him.  

One day I was looking at a message on "Line messenger" and the stickers I received and thought "wouldn't it be cool to have a Jamaican patois sticker set?" but I didn't think much of it. Then the idea kept on coming back to me now and then. One day I looked at the  iDRIN character on irie876's site  and thought,  "wow you are the perfect character for a Line sticker". So right then and there I started to think of the illustrations I wanted and wrote them down and drew a few. At this time there was no creators market where  individuals could sell stickers but I thought I'd just contact "Line" with my idea once it was finished and see if they would go into a contract or buy the illustrations from me.  A week after I got my ideas down on paper the creators market was announced. It was destiny. iRIE iDRIN©  was launched on September 2nd,  2014, and has gotten 1000 plus downloads in the three weeks since it's been up.

Interesting stuff! Any advice for others who'd like to start their own business? My advice to individuals that want to start a business (or are in business already) is to be open to ideas and opportunities by  being grateful about your situation now, because if you're not feeling grateful you can't see the opportunities around you.  Also take the first step in faith and every step after that, don't worry about not having enough money, time or know how. Do what you can do now to the best of your ability, and find people who can help you do the things you can't. Never doubt your abilities or the outcome. Use the power of visualization to create the outcomes you want in your mind first, have faith and prepare for the manifestation of that outcome and have fun. I  also recommend  having a group you can brain storm ideas with (mastermind) even if it's just one other person. The ideas and the support you will get through masterminding is priceless.

Thanks, Dean! All the best to you!

You may contact Dean from his website, or you may give him a call at +81-908-072-2409.