Starting an Illustration Side Business in My 50s — Can I Sell Overseas with Zero English, Living in the Countryside? [Overseas Side-Job Journal, Vol. 1]

“To sell illustrations on an overseas site, you have to be able to speak English, right?”

Believing that, I kept locking the door on myself.

I cannot speak English —
using that reality as an excuse, I was putting a lid on the possibilities.

But now, I am putting my art out to the world on Fiverr, a global skills marketplace.

My English is below middle-school level.
I live in the countryside in Ehime, an ordinary company employee.
And I am 55 this year.

Even so —
the door was forced open.
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■ I Gave Up on “Selling” on SNS

When I started SNS,
I felt the joy of being able to draw, and at the same time, honestly, I also wanted to “make it a side job.”

About four years ago, I started posting on Instagram and X.
Counting Threads as well, my followers have, thankfully, grown to about 20,000.

I assumed that if my followers grew, work would naturally follow.

In fact, through offline meetups and other events, my circle of fellow illustrators who share the same hobby kept widening.

But — then, something strange happened.

The closer I got to people, the harder it became to sell.

Once I realised that, SNS became for me, a place for connection, not a place “to sell.”

But —

Earnings stayed at zero.

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■ Three Months on Coconala, a Complete Miss

“Then, a platform,” I thought, and went to Coconala.

I polished my profile, listed a service, and thought through the pricing.
I did what I could.

And then I waited.

…… Three months.

Zero orders.

At that moment, I clearly realised.
An SNS follower count is, after all, nothing more than a superficial number.

When I looked into it, the domestic illustration market was completely a red ocean.
Oversupply, price competition, and a track-record-first culture.

Honestly, I thought this.

“Continuing to fight here would put me at a bit of a disadvantage.”

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■ The Idea of “Selling Overseas”

At that point, I changed my point of view.

The weak yen, around ¥160 to the dollar.
Its value when seen in dollars.
And then — a thought struck me: perhaps there are very few Japanese illustrators overseas.

Once again, I organised my strengths.

• Showa retro
• Bijin-ga (beautiful-woman portraits)
• Mechanical details such as motorcycles

In Japan, they may be “common.”
But overseas, they could become a distinctive strength.

So I set my sights on
Fiverr and
INPRNT.

Both are markets where Japanese people are very few.

■ The Biggest Wall Was, After All, English

Here, reality pulled me back.

Obviously — I do not understand English.

Even when translated into Japanese, it somehow does not feel right.
(A common experience with overseas sites.)

I opened the gig (service introduction page) registration screen —
and my hands stopped at the very first sentence.

It just did not move forward at all.

“I knew it — this is impossible for me!”

Honestly, I almost closed it as it was.

⸻

■ What Opened the Door Was AI

At that moment, I tried asking AI, just in case.
(In my case, Claude.)

“How should I write this in English?”

The text that came back was —
natural, polite English at a level I could never write myself.

Honestly, I am a suspicious person by nature (lol),
so I also tried Google Translate and other AIs.

The result — all of them produced English even more impressive than the Japanese.

That is when I realised.

“You do not need to be able to speak English. You just need to be able to ask AI.”

Read the story of starting a side job with AI here

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■ Even with Zero English, It Takes Shape

From there, things moved quickly.

• Title
• Description
• Tags
• FAQ

I created them all while talking with AI.

“Does this wording get across?”
“Is it rude?”
“Is there a punchier way to say it?”

Even without English skills,
with the “ability to think,” the “ability to ask,” and
“not giving up,” you can absolutely move forward.

I now have two gigs published on Fiverr.

• Showa-retro portraits
• Mechanical illustrations

INPRNT is currently under review (the second attempt).
Honestly, this one is not straightforward either. But —

I have not quit yet.

■ Age 54: This Is Where It Starts

To be honest.

I still have zero orders.

But —
I am standing in a completely different place from who I was three months ago.

• Even if you cannot speak English, you can go overseas
• Even from the countryside, you can connect with the world
• Even at 54, you can start something new

In this blog, I will write it all.

What went well.
What did not.
Embarrassing failures too.

All of it, the reality as it is.

If it can give even a small hint to someone who thinks “it is too late,” I will be happy.

Addendum: I wrote this article in May 2026. Since it is a good opportunity, I will honestly add what has happened as of now (August 2026). The overseas platforms I have registered with have grown to five. I have also listed more than 50 works in total.

Related: The story of challenging the European market

A complete comparison of five overseas platforms — read the summary here