Scott Western

Where it began

In November 2003, I launched a small two-person start-up in Japan’s heavily regulated financial services industry.

We had no brand, no marketing system, and no consistent way to generate enquiries. Just an untested idea for a portfolio management service and a lot of pressure to make it work.

Getting started was not cheap. We needed about $96,000 just to open the doors. That included a twelve-month office deposit, equipment, and a ¥5 million yen license deposit for the Ministry of Finance. Before we could legally operate, the pressure to earn money was already there.

Looking back, the problem was not the service. It was that we had no clear or reliable way to generate enquiries.

Early Progress and an Unexpected Ceiling

By the end of our first full year in 2004, we had reached just over $250,000 in recurring revenue and hired two more staff.

Over the next couple of years, we hovered just under $350,000. It was respectable, but we had clearly hit a ceiling.

My founding partner and I were strong in product development and financial analysis. I had learned enough SEO to keep our site visible, but beyond that we knew very little about marketing or scaling a business. We tried countless ideas, mostly based on guesswork, and wasted a lot of time and money.

Eventually, we accepted that we needed outside help and in 2007 we brought in a 50/50 partner who agreed to invest over $1 million into the business.

The First Cracks

Within months (late 2007) the Credit Crunch hit (beginning of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis).

Our monthly spending jumped to $120,000 while revenue stayed the same. Our new partner became occupied with problems in his other businesses and spent less time in Japan. The marketing direction we were relying on never really happened.

In January 2008, I received news that my dad had passed away following a routine operation. I flew back to the UK, and when I returned to Japan, I reviewed the marketing activity that had been approved in my absence.

Three decisions stood out.

$14,000 had been spent on a one-page ad in a new English-language Asian investors magazine, even though we served Japanese nationals.

Another $21,000 went into professionally produced videos that had no clear distribution plan.

We had also committed to $7,500 per month in PPC contracts that sent traffic to a generic homepage.

None of it produced a single meaningful enquiry.

We had spent $42,500 and committed to another $37,500 with nothing to show for it.

I could feel the pressure building.

The tactics were random, disconnected, and sold by people who never took the time to understand our business.

The Downward Spiral

Then the Lehman shock hit in September 2008. Markets collapsed and fear spread quickly.

Our clients became nervous, and new enquiries slowed. The pressure intensified.

In November 2008, I received another call. My mum had died suddenly following an accident, just 11 months after my dad. I returned to the UK again, this time overwhelmed.

While I was there, Bernie Madoff’s fraud came to light. Clients panicked. Some wanted to close everything.

My wife at the time, called me from Japan to tell me she was tired of my long hours and suggested I quit and get a normal job. Her words, though practical, felt cold and poorly timed.

For the first time in my life, I felt completely lost and alone.

Reaching the Lowest Point

When I returned to Japan in early 2009, the situation was worse.

We were doing everything we could to keep the business going, but expenses were still higher than revenue. Our partner injected another $500,000 just to stay afloat.

The hardest part was this.

Our service was still good. Most clients were happy, even during the market chaos. What failed was our marketing. It was inconsistent, rushed, and built on guesswork instead of a system.

In early 2010, we transferred our clients to a larger Japanese competitor. After seven years, I was no longer a business owner.

Shortly after, my marriage ended and I had to leave the family home. Between 2008 and 2010, it felt like everything had been stripped away.

It was the darkest period of my life…

Choosing to Rise

Despite everything, I decided not to give up.

I made a commitment to myself to rebuild, no matter how long it took. I put everything into learning marketing, copywriting, advertising, and business growth.

I promised myself I would never again hand over the marketing of my business to someone who did not truly understand it.

One lesson became very clear.

Real growth and profit come from the ability to generate enquiries and turn them into customers, not just from the quality of the service. A great service means very little without a consistent flow of enquiries.

I had learned this the hard way.

My Breakthrough

Over the next 18 months, I studied intensely.

I read multiple marketing books each month, joined mastermind groups, attended seminars, and completed courses across marketing, copywriting, and advertising.

Eventually, I created a simple structure built on three core elements: Attraction, Conversion, and Retention. Later, this evolved into what I now call Planning, Nurturing, and Harvesting.

I presented my ideas to the company that had acquired my old service. They agreed to test it. One of their campaigns had been running for 18 months and averaged only 2 leads per month.

After applying my system, the first month produced 27 enquiries. That was a 1,250% improvement.

That moment changed everything.

Building a Repeatable System

We continued testing and refining the approach.

The results became more consistent and predictable. Over time, I shaped everything into a clear, repeatable system that could be applied across different service-based businesses.

This became the foundation of the Get More Customers Method™.

To validate it further, I tested it with two business friends. Both saw strong results. For the first time, I felt confident that I understood how to generate enquiries and grow a business in a structured way.

People began asking if I could help them do the same. After careful thought, I decided to offer it as a service.

A New Beginning

In late 2011, I launched Asahina Marketing and Asahina Video to help businesses with marketing, advertising, and enquiry generation. Later, both sites merged and became scottasahina.com.

After my divorce, I legally changed my name back to Scott Western and rebranded again.

Why I Help Businesses

During my own struggles, I felt like a victim of marketing.

Agencies sold tactics instead of solutions. They focused more on their fees than my results.

I carried that stress every day and felt ashamed that things were not improving. Even telling my then five-year-old daughter that her piano lessons had to wait made me feel inadequate.

I never want another business owner to feel that way.

A old quote from Zig Ziglar helped me reset my direction:

Looking back, the system I eventually created is exactly what I needed back then.

I just did not have it at the time.

Moving Forward

If you are struggling to generate enough warm, pre-qualified enquiries and new customers, you have three choices:

1. If you have more time than money, you can learn marketing and build your own system.
2. If you have more money than time, you can hire someone you trust who already knows how to build it properly.
3. Or you can continue doing what you are doing and hope things improve on their own, although they rarely do.

If you would like to see whether I can help, the best next step is to watch the introduction video on my homepage.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope my experience helps you avoid the mistakes I made and gives you a clearer path forward.

Scott Western
Creator of the Get More Customers Method™