👋 Hi, I'm Nicholas Roberts. I create and perform music and write this daily blog about creativity, culture, and my life.

I live in Los Angeles with my wife and golden retriever.

Email me: hello@nicholasroberts.io

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There's a mochi shop in Japan that's been open for over 1,000 years.

Located in Kyoto, the shop, simply called Ichiwa, sells mochi to travelers visiting a nearby religious shrine.

Economics books and business classes will tell you that the healthiest metrics to look at for a business are its profit margins, growth trajectory, and forecast for new products.

However, this mochi shop subscribes to none of those principles.

Instead, it focuses on longevity. It asks how it can carry on, not grow.

The family-owned business thinks about their enterprise like a relay race, passing the baton through generations and serving and building their community.

Over 40% of the world's oldest businesses, around for more than 100 years, are all based in Japan—Nearly 3,000 Japanese businesses have been around for at least 200 years.

The Ichiwa shop doesn't believe that the goal of their business should be to drive revenue.

Instead, they have a higher calling. They want to serve mochi to hungry travelers visiting the local shrine.

Their business goal is to build a product that instills pride in their family and their community. Their singular vision is to make one product and make it exceptional.

Japanese businesses tend to have much lower bankruptcy rates than American businesses too.

When profits go up, they don't increase their expenses by hiring or expanding the business. They save their profits for a rainy day to weather economic downturns.

How would you do things differently if you were building something that lasted 1,000 years or 30+ generations?