From 100 Hours of Overtime to Zero! The Comeback Story of a 37-Year-Old Office Worker Who Hired 26 “AI Employees” for Free and Earns 800,000 Yen a Month Through a Side Hustle

What sets them apart from people who work with AI every day but see no results? E-tan’s X account—which grew from zero followers to over 50,000 in just a year and a half—is making waves.

AI handles everything—marketing, legal affairs, and accounting. Thanks to the evolution of generative AI, we’re approaching an era where even a single person can operate like a company. And best of all, there are no personnel costs.

E-tan, a resident of Hiroshima Prefecture, is living proof of this. He’s a 37-year-old ordinary office worker. Alongside his day job, he runs four side businesses—including posting on X, hosting seminars, and managing an online community—and reportedly earns between 800,000 and 1,000,000 yen per month.

Will AI take our jobs, or will we make the most of it? We asked E-tan about this crossroads.  

The Blind Spot of Those Who Think “AI Will Take My Job”

“Office jobs will disappear. White-collar workers will become obsolete.” Whenever people see predictions like these, many likely feel anxious, wondering, “How much longer will my job last?” However, E-tan sees things differently.

“Since the evolution of AI can’t be stopped, we have no choice but to become users of it. But I think people who believe AI will take their jobs simply haven’t studied the subject, which is why they feel this vague sense of anxiety. AI is undoubtedly an essential skill for every business professional today, but nobody is teaching it to us.”

So, how big of a gap will there be between those who use AI and those who don’t?

“The gap will definitely be about as wide as the difference between an iPhone and a feature phone. For example, manually writing meeting minutes takes about half a day, but with AI, it’s done in seconds. Plus, the results are more accurate than when done by hand, and you can use the time you save for other tasks.”

E-tan, who makes this observation, is a marketing professional who used to work up to 100 hours of overtime in a single month. Because he got home so late, he rarely ate meals with his family, and with fatigue building up, he would spend his weekends quietly at home.

That daily routine began to change in November 2022, when OpenAI released the conversational AI “ChatGPT.” It was free for anyone to use, and within two months of its release, the number of users worldwide exceeded 100 million.

However, at the time, it was said to lie without hesitation, and many voices warned that using it for work was dangerous. But E-tan saw things differently.

“To begin with, the nature of my work made it difficult to tell lies in a professional context. I was simply summarizing information I’d provided—such as drafting emails and meeting minutes. I gradually delegated my recurring monthly tasks to the AI one by one, and over the course of about a year, I managed to reduce my overtime. Now I go home on time every day.”

E-tan poured the time he gained this way into a side business. To support his family of three on his own, he began sharing his know-how on streamlining work with AI on X. Among his posts, an article titled “I’ve Hired 26 AI Employees Using NotebookLM and Am Working with Them” went viral.

How to Work with 26 Free AI Employees

This article, which generated a huge response, explains how to create 26 AI employees tailored to specific roles, such as business strategy, marketing, sales, legal, and accounting. It uses NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook), a service provided by Google. Since the AI generates responses based on uploaded materials, it’s unlikely to include inaccurate information.

“For example, if you input sales know-how, you can create an AI notebook specialized in sales. You can also define its tone, personality, and way of thinking. If you assign it the role of ‘a department head with 20 years of dedicated sales experience,’ you’ll create an AI employee that always puts the customer first.”

Feed it knowledge and give it a personality. When these two elements come together, the AI becomes a reliable subordinate who offers insights and suggestions. The result of hiring AI employees for each job role is a total of 26. Incidentally, he says this number was decided in consultation with Claude.

“Part of it was that I wanted to create a buzz, so I chose a number that wasn’t too many or too few—one that would make people react with, ‘What on earth is this?’”

The true purpose of this article lies beyond the creation of these 26 AI employees: bringing them all together for meetings to handle necessary tasks. Gemini holds the key to this.

“On its own, NotebookLM can only handle one-on-one interactions with individual notes, but when you integrate NotebookLM with Gemini, it becomes possible to have multiple notes discuss topics together within Gemini.”

On a single screen, AI employees from various job roles begin to discuss matters. Here’s how it’s used in actual business operations.

“For example, it’s possible to have an AI employee in General Affairs compile a list of time-consuming tasks, and then have the AI employee in charge of AI promotion propose ways to streamline them. It’s just as effective as a meeting between actual humans.”

The applications aren’t limited to operational improvements.

“When it comes to running a company—or launching new initiatives like planning—I think it’s crucial to break out of your own mental framework. By holding repeated meetings with AI employees who are experts in their fields, you can find answers that are better suited to your needs.”

What makes it possible to manage these 26 AI employees efficiently is that they’ve been fed his “Personal Notebook”—a document in which E-tan has put his personal information into words.

“My ‘Self-Note’ is about 50,000 characters long. I’ve written out my goals, past experiences, strengths, and weaknesses in detail, and I’ve had all of my AI employees read it. By doing this, I’ve created AI employees who truly understand me, enabling highly accurate interactions.”  

The Reality of an AI Side Hustle That Earns 800,000 a Month

E-tan, who manages a team of 26 AI employees, is currently juggling four side hustles.

“The first is posting on X, the second is PR projects on X, the third is online seminars, and the fourth is an online community. Roughly speaking, my total monthly income from these ranges from 800,000 to 1,000,000 yen.”

This is in addition to her salary from her main job. It didn’t take her that long to get to this point.

“I started on X in March ’25 and began monetizing it in September. From there, I started getting projects and earned about 50,000 yen. After my followers exceeded 10,000 in December, both the fees and the number of projects gradually increased.”

As for the third source—seminars—he was invited to speak at a free seminar in December, where he felt a positive response, and began hosting his own paid seminars starting in March of the following year. “Aisaro,” an online community he launched around the same time dedicated to seriously studying AI and X, has also been well-received, with membership now totaling about 100 people.

It’s a truly inspiring story, but the reality behind the scenes is far from glamorous.

“Every day, I go home at the end of the workday and start my side business at 9 p.m., after finishing housework and childcare. I usually finish around 2 a.m., so I get about three to four hours of sleep. AI is evolving every day, so if I don’t keep up with it constantly, I’ll be left behind in no time. But I once pushed myself too hard and ended up getting sick, so now I’m trying to find a balance that doesn’t strain me.”

It may seem grueling, but he doesn’t see it that way. Although his total working hours have increased compared to when he was putting in 100 hours of overtime, he laughs and says, “AI is like a hobby for me, so I’m able to enjoy working on it.”

“Before this, climbing the corporate ladder was the most important measure of success in my life. But while everyone around me kept getting promoted, I couldn’t. It was tough supporting a family of three on a regular employee’s salary, so I was just scraping by, using my bonus to cover the monthly deficit.My personal allowance was 15,000 yen a month, and I couldn’t even afford to let my children do what they wanted. I spent every day worrying that I might not even be able to send them to college.” 

He says they even gave up traveling—a hobby they shared as a couple—and cooked at home as much as possible because eating out was too expensive. However, AI has removed the financial barrier that once stood in the way of the things he wanted to do.  

Furthermore, my role at my main job has changed. I used to be in the marketing department, but now I’m part of the AI Promotion Department, which spearheads the company’s AI initiatives.

“I’m able to apply the AI knowledge I gained through my side hustle to my main job, creating a positive cycle. Whether it’s my main job or my side hustle, many people tell me that what I share is helpful. As my horizons have broadened in this way, I’ve come to realize that my main job isn’t everything.”

Now is your last chance to learn AI  

E-tan shares everything—from how to build a team of 26 AI employees to other know-how—completely free of charge.

“A year ago, even though I was spending most of my time at work, I was in the red every month. Financial constraints kept me from pursuing hobbies or going out with my family, and I was constantly worried about the future. Thanks to AI, that person is now living a busy but fulfilling life.”

There are still many people in the same situation I used to be in. That’s why I’m not holding anything back. And I say it’s best to get started as soon as possible.

“AI has changed dramatically in just the past year alone. It will continue to evolve at an incredible pace. So, I believe that anyone who can’t use AI right now will still be unable to use it five or ten years from now. It’s clear that AI will become an even bigger part of our lives going forward, so I think now is the last chance to learn.”

Some people might think it’s fine to start whenever they want. However, I can say with certainty that this is a naive view. That’s because the pace of AI’s evolution far outstrips the speed at which humans can learn how to use these tools. We’re still in a phase where humans issue prompts to drive AI, but eventually, AI will operate autonomously.

If you wait until then to start using it in a panic, you won’t have the chance to learn the basic thought process of “how to give instructions.” In other words, “now” is the exact turning point between resigning yourself to being a consumer who treats AI as a black box and becoming someone who understands AI’s characteristics and takes control of it.

“Much of the information out there about AI focuses solely on convenient uses and know-how. But what I really want to convey is the ‘way of thinking’ that lies just before that. Why are you using AI? I believe that the clearer you are on that point, the better you’ll be able to master AI.”  

In my case, too, because I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do, AI kept lending me a hand. I want as many people as possible to know that.”  

▼E-tan: A 37-year-old living in Hiroshima Prefecture. An office worker who’s reclaiming time for work and life by combining AI with time-saving strategies. He used to be swamped with 100 hours of overtime per month, but by leveraging AI, he’s now able to leave work on time.Inspired by his hobby of AI, he began posting on X and reached 56,000 followers within one year and four months of launching his account. As a leading authority on NotebookLM, he shares practical tips for improving work efficiency that anyone can replicate every day.In July ’26, he published his first book, *The Ultimate Guide to AI Work: NotebookLM Practical Skills* (KADOKAWA).

■ Click here to purchase *The Ultimate Guide to AI Work: NotebookLM Practical Skills*