AI Adoption Interviews

Q.What were the challenges before AI?

A.The website was far too old, social media wasn't bringing in customers, and phone handling was a hassle. The menu was handwritten, so every change took effort.

Q.Why PH AI Works?

A.First, I could consult entirely in Japanese. And the office is right near Little Tokyo in Makati — I was amazed to find an AI specialist with this track record in the neighborhood; someone you'd struggle to meet even in Japan. Given the cost of acquiring customers and of labor, AI was actually quite affordable.

Q.What exactly did you put in?

A.First a WordPress rebuild, then SEO/GEO aimed at small keywords — and we started ranking near the top. We use AI for Facebook-centered social marketing too: analytics, posts, and automation. We added an AI chatbot so it handles simple inquiries, and made the menu easy to update from a PC. Down the line I'd like to use AI to analyze rival shops and sharpen our own strategy.

Q.Timeline?

A.About a week of consultation, one to two months to build. We set a training period for staff and went into full operation about two weeks later.

Q.Results?

A.We've held a top 1–5 ranking on small keywords. Staff almost never handle simple inquiries now. SEO/GEO and social marketing worked, customers increased — we hired more (so labor cost rose), but sales rose more, so it's a net win. Honestly I was skeptical at first, but the return on investment has been excellent.

Q.Any difficulties, and a word for others?

A.Almost none — they took my direction and advice as-is. If anything, AI moves fast, so I hesitated over 'which one to adopt,' but deciding that with an expert was a big help. Businesses and shops that don't adopt AI will fall behind.

Q.Opening a salon in the Philippines is a big decision.

A.I spent about 20 years as a stylist in Japan. Seeing the energy of the Philippines on a trip, I decided to open here. I'd like to think this much experience is hard to find even in Japan.

Q.Why PH AI Works?

A.I'd been a customer of the operator before, so I went to them. We could talk in Japanese, and the AI track record was more than enough — no hesitation.

Q.What did you adopt?

A.A WordPress rebuild, with SEO/GEO left to AI. In particular, they automated the Google Analytics and Search Console analysis and improvement. We also added an AI chatbot, AI customer management, and AI marketing management.

Q.Results?

A.The biggest thing is that the labor for inquiries and bookings dropped to almost zero. Before, every time the phone rang mid-cut I'd keep the customer waiting to answer. Now I don't have to. If anything I keep marketing modest — push it and too many people come. The Philippines' population growth helps a lot, too.

Q.A word for those considering AI?

A.It's a world apart from Japan's declining beauty industry. Honestly, I can't imagine running a salon without AI anymore.

Q.What sparked the opening?

A.There was no personal gym in Manila where you could really communicate in Japanese. So we thought, we'll do it ourselves. When we learned the operator is a Nippon Sport Science University graduate, we hit it off completely.

Q.What did you adopt?

A.We built a WordPress site and use AI for SEO/GEO and Google Maps acquisition. Inquiries are handled by an AI chatbot, so the time we spend on them went to zero.

Q.Results?

A.People find us via Google Maps now, and inquiry handling is off our plate — so the trainers can focus on coaching.

Q.What's next?

A.We'd like to use AI to streamline our clients' training and meal plans.

Q.A word?

A.Even a small gym can make acquisition and operations this much easier with AI.

Q.What led to the request?

A.We'd already worked together on another business (video production), and it grew from there.

Q.What kind of system did you build?

A.A fairly large one in Next.js: email send/receive, schedule management, customer management, managing the site admin and multiple instructors, class schedules, evaluation management, instructor evaluations, marketing management, creating and managing teaching materials, linking materials to bookings, even semi-automated blog generation — essentially everything the school's operations need, in one.

Q.Budget and timeline?

A.Over ¥10 million, with development around 3–5 months. Given the scale, we took the time to do it right.

Q.Results?

A.It's a new launch, so there's no 'before vs after,' but customers are coming steadily. Having an efficient operating system from day one is huge.

Q.A word for those considering AI?

A.AI is essential technology for online English going forward. Schools that don't adopt it will, I think, decline.

Q.Tell us about the shop.

A.It's a small phone shop run by a Filipino owner — load (prepaid) sales, repairs, used handsets, accessories; several revenue streams. We're near Little Tokyo in Makati, so we occasionally need to serve Japanese customers who don't speak English.

Q.The challenge?

A.A lot of routine questions come in on Messenger — 'How much is this model?' 'In stock?' — and handling them was quietly draining.

Q.What did you adopt?

A.First, auto/semi-auto replies to routine Messenger inquiries, able to switch among Tagalog, English and Japanese, plus a recommendation feature that asks budget and use to suggest a handset. We also mass-produce Facebook posts — new arrivals, price drops, repair notices — with AI-generated copy and thumbnails.

Q.Results?

A.Inquiry handling got much easier, and we can keep posting on social without it stalling. We can serve Japanese customers without worrying about language.

Q.What's next?

A.Eventually I'd like to use AI smart glasses to smooth in-person service for Japanese customers, too.

Q.What was it like before you used AI?

A.I was running a YouTube channel, but I didn't really understand how to read the analytics numbers or turn them into the next move. Honestly, I was posting videos mostly on instinct.

Q.What exactly did you put in?

A.A setup where, once a week, Claude Code automatically gathers the channel's analytics data and produces an improvement report. From there, we go through it together and fix the content based on what it shows.

Q.Results?

A.In about six months, views roughly doubled and subscribers grew about 1.2×. I was already confident in the content — it was a pretty solid channel to begin with — so the growth rate might look modest. Even so, it's climbing steadily.

Q.What struck you most?

A.Honestly, I wish I'd put this in from the very start of the channel. If I'd been watching the numbers and improving from launch, I could have grown faster and bigger — so I do regret that a little.

Q.What's next?

A.Right now it's just YouTube, but I'd like to analyze the data from TikTok, Instagram and X the same way — auto-reported — and improve the content on each.

Q.A word for those considering it?

A.In the end, this is basically marketing automation. Thanks to it, I no longer need a marketing consultant or a dedicated analytics person. Even a solo creator can keep running data-driven improvements with AI, without hiring specialist staff.

Q.What problem brought you in?

A.I wanted to accept PayPal payments on my site, but I could no longer log into the PayPal account I'd set up earlier, and that's where I was stuck. That account had a Philippine BDO bank account linked to it, but the email domain I'd registered it with had expired. There was nothing I could do on my own — I was completely stuck.

Q.How did you solve it?

A.First, they contacted PayPal support and sorted out the old account that still had the BDO bank account tied to it. Then, using an email on the .com domain I'd already obtained for the site, they created a fresh PayPal account and re-linked the BDO account that had been freed from the old one.

Q.What about the site itself?

A.Once the new PayPal account was usable, they installed a full set of PayPal payment buttons and links on the site. Now customers can pay directly from the site.

Q.What's the AI analytics part?

A.Along with payments, we introduced an AI tool that analyzes the site's sales and marketing. We can look at the numbers together and talk through what to fix and how, which is a big help. That part is still ongoing.

Q.Why PH AI Works?

A.Honestly, the PayPal–BDO linking — with English correspondence involved — was completely beyond me alone. Being able to consult entirely in Japanese, and to hand over everything from the payment recovery to the site setup and the AI analysis beyond that, made a huge difference.

Q.A word for others considering it?

A.When you run into a payment problem abroad, you can really grind to a halt. Having someone you can hand that to makes all the difference — I felt it firsthand.

Q.First, tell us about your business.

A.I run an online shop by myself near Manila. As I started sourcing new products, I ended up dealing with overseas suppliers more and more. Email and chat I can manage with a dictionary, but the real problem was video calls.

Q.Where exactly were you struggling?

A.My English is around B1. If someone speaks slowly, I understand. But in a meeting the other side talks at normal speed, and I have to listen while also thinking about how to reply. My head would fill up, and I'd end up only saying 'Yes' or 'OK' the whole time. During an important price negotiation, I couldn't say even half of what I wanted to — it really hurt, because that conversation directly affects my business.

Q.What solution did you first consider?

A.Honestly, my first idea was to buy smart glasses with a translation feature. But most cost over ¥100,000, which is a lot for an individual. I'd almost given up when I talked to PH AI Works, and they said, 'You can do most of the same thing with just your PC and Zoom.' That was a real eye-opener.

Q.How do you use the tool they built?

A.I split my screen in two — the tool on the left, Zoom or Google Meet on the right. Before the meeting I enter my background, my English level, the other person's profile and that day's agenda. When they speak, the tool reads the English captions Zoom shows and translates them into Japanese. On top of that, it automatically suggests three English replies that fit the moment, so I just pick the closest one or tweak it a little into my own words.

Q.Whose AI does it use?

A.I can choose between ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini depending on the situation. For negotiations I use the one that thinks things through carefully, and for chattier meetings the one that responds quickly. I'm not locked into a single option, which is reassuring.

Q.What's the biggest change since you started using it?

A.I'm no longer afraid of meetings in English. Before, just having a meeting on the calendar weighed on me; now I can tell myself, 'It'll suggest replies for me, so I'll be fine.' I stopped missing what the other side says, so I can ask my own questions and negotiate terms too. In the end I didn't need the smart glasses that cost over ¥100,000 — adding this tool to the PC and Zoom I already had was enough.

Q.We hear there's also a feature for after the meeting.

A.Yes. They added a feature that saves the meeting and lets me organize and analyze it with AI afterward. I can look back at what we discussed with a supplier last time and what I need to prepare for next time, which cuts down on he-said-she-said misunderstandings. When you run a business alone, records like this quietly make a big difference.

Q.What would you like to ask for next?

A.My anxiety about meetings is gone, so now I want to grow the shop itself. I'd love to ask them for SEO and GEO work so my shop gets found through search and AI, plus traffic analysis to see where my customers are coming from.