A Tax Accountant Earning ¥700,000 a Month on Coconala. The Record of Reaching Top Placement in the Licensed-Professionals Category in Under a Year
JUN, who runs an accounting practice while working at a listed IT company, started on Coconala in June 2019 and within a year reached ¥700,000+ in monthly sales and top placement (PRO certification) in the licensed-professionals category. His first order, two months in, was worth ¥3,000. A case showing how well professional credentials pair with skill marketplaces.
This is a translation of the Japanese original. The Japanese version and cited primary sources are authoritative for all figures.
The Published Numbers
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Coconala sales | ¥700,000+/month (under a year in; as of February 2020) |
| First order | About 2 months after starting — ¥3,000 |
| Position | Top placement in the licensed-professionals category, PRO certified |
| Day job | Employed at a listed IT company (plus running an accounting practice). Combined monthly income “comfortably exceeds ¥1,000,000” |
What the Business Is
JUN is a “portfolio career” practitioner: a licensed tax accountant who also works at a listed company. He listed tax consultation and accounting services on Coconala and grew to over ¥700,000 a month in under a year. What’s novel is that in a profession where trust is everything, he made a skill marketplace’s search and rankings his main customer-acquisition battleground — not a firm website, not SEO.
What This Case Teaches
A national license × a marketplace is an “arbitrage of trust.” Licensed professionals carry high credibility but are traditionally weak at customer acquisition (relying on referrals and reputation). Coconala attracts plenty of demand for tax advice, yet few credentialed professionals take it seriously. Simply listing head-on into that supply–demand gap was enough to take the top of the category. Bringing trust into a low-competition venue is an idea that transplants directly to other licensed professions and specialists.
The distance from a ¥3,000 first order to ¥700,000 a month is closed by “visible track record.” On a marketplace, buyers choose by review count and certification badges more than price. Early low-priced orders are not a loss — they are an investment in ranking. It is exactly the same structure as Matsuume Take’s ¥780 start.
Pricing That Defies Professional Convention
JUN’s first order was ¥3,000. By the standards of tax-advisory retainers that’s an “impossible” price — but as strategy it is correct. A new marketplace seller starts from zero reviews, credentials or not. Pricing low to collect the first ten reviews as fast as possible is not pricing; it is advertising spend for top placement, and once the track record accumulates, prices can be restored.
With the traditional professional-services playbook — a firm website plus referrals — this “making your track record visible” takes years. On Coconala it takes months, because the platform supplies the trust-display machinery: reviews, ranks, PRO certification.
Designing a Portfolio Career: Day Job × License × Marketplace
JUN’s income mix (salary from a listed IT company + accounting practice + Coconala) diversifies across income sources with different risk profiles. Especially notable is that exposure on Coconala can also spill over into client acquisition for the accounting practice — he uses the skill marketplace both as a revenue source and as a point of contact with new clients.
Beyond tax accountants, the same supply–demand gap exists for administrative scriveners, labor consultants, SME management consultants — any licensed profession that is “high in trust, weak at acquisition.” Bringing a marketplace’s acquisition power into a market protected by a licensing barrier — the reproducibility of that combination is the heart of this case.
Related Reading
Sources
This article summarizes and analyzes the public sources above. Please refer to the primary sources for details.