I want to be a strategist for business owners who want to go on the offensive but lack a solid foundation.

I am pleased to announce that as of June 2026, I will be spinning off "Keieisha no Okan" (The Business Owner's Mom), where I have been serving as an executive officer, into a separate business entity and will be assuming the role of Representative.

Moving forward, I will manage two companies: "AZuRu," a professional athlete management and sports marketing business I founded in October 2021, and "AZuRu(Azuru)," and "Keieisha no Okan," and will continue to contribute even more to improving our clients' business performance.

"Keieisha no Okan" is a business that supports small and medium-sized enterprise owners through both consulting and back-office support. Four years have passed since the service began, and with the expansion of the business, we have decided to incorporate it. However, it was never a smooth path according to the business plan; we constantly faced the struggles of our clients head-on, pivoted our business model, and only now have we finally begun to see the fruits of our labor.

Helping to alleviate the loneliness and anxiety of business owners

Keieisha no Okan is an operational support service that assists business owners aiming for independence from startup through their fifth year. Specifically, this includes accounting, labor management, general affairs, coordination with professional advisors, preparation of trial balance sheets, and decision-making support. In other words, it is work that builds the "defense" needed to move the business forward.

Through this business, as I faced business owners from various industries, I felt this many times.

There is anxiety that cannot be shown to employees and burdens that cannot be brought home to family—cash flow, hiring, organization, taxes, evaluations, etc. They want to consult with someone, but they don't know where to start. While standing on the front lines and having to envision the company's future, they are exhausted and sometimes "cannot even organize what they are struggling with themselves."

However, the president cannot stop the company in that state and must continue to make decisions every day.

Every time I meet such business owners, I feel firsthand that what they need is not just someone to tell them the right thing, but someone who can see their blind spots and provide help exactly where it is needed.

Defensive support might sound plain, but there is nothing scarier than a business whose defense is not solid. The numbers are not visible. The criteria for judgment are ambiguous. There are no systems, and evaluations are vague. Yet, they only want to increase sales. They only want to paint a big picture for the future.

I understand that feeling painfully well, but when you build a large building on unstable ground, something will inevitably go wrong somewhere. That is why "defending" is not "not attacking," but rather preparation to attack effectively.

The weight of the word "empathy"

There are many commonalities between back-office support for business owners and athlete management. Some time after founding AZuRu, I began to have more opportunities where I felt I didn't want to use the word "empathy" lightly.

This is because empathy is not just about being kind to the other person or smoothing things over; it is about intervening in the other person's "reality."

There are times when I have to say things that are hard to hear. I sometimes take the role of intentionally creating tension by saying, "Now is not the time," or "This is dangerous if you continue this way." If I only chose to be a comfortable presence for the other person, I would surely be unfaithful to their future.

However, to be honest, in the past, out of too much concern for the other person, I would prepare absolute "should-be" arguments (logical correctness), which would sometimes block their escape routes and put pressure (debuff) on them. Because I was too passionate and involved in their business, I sometimes almost ended up stripping away their autonomy.

From that experience, we arrived at our unique support style. That is "Setting & Reminding."

Instead of getting too close and interfering constantly, we first clearly 'set' the goals and paths (milestones) that truly need to be addressed from the chaotic situation.

And then, to ensure the decided plan is not swept away by daily tasks, we check progress from an appropriate distance, and while sometimes offering painful advice, we continue to 'remind' (push them).

Furthermore, if things don't go well, we reset them each time.

I realized that this human-centric "Setting & Reminding" mechanism, which AI cannot do, is the optimal distance to guide business owners toward "self-propulsion (graduation)" without making them dependent.

Aiming for "Consulting that pays for itself"

There is one more ideal that we uphold as professionals.

That is, for us to step in and review unnecessary expenses (life insurance, non-life insurance, credit cards, electricity bills, communication costs, general office equipment, real estate-related, vehicle-related, etc.) to reduce costs, or to help business owners focus on front-line operations through business efficiency improvements, thereby generating new sales.

In other words, it is to create a state of "consulting that pays for itself", where the amount of cost reduction plus sales improvement we generate exceeds the consulting fee you pay. Our goal is not to receive a fee for management, but to continue providing value that results in zero actual burden or even a net gain.

A person who manages their own life

At AZuRu, we view those with whom we have management contracts not just as competitors, but as "individuals who manage their own lives".

We engage with them not only on their competitive performance and contracts, but also on "why they have continued in that sport, what kind of person they want to become through the sport, and what kind of value they want to give back to the world". This stance is consistently written in the company profile on our website and in our note articles.

While general management tends to focus on the "period of their competitive career", our desire to "accompany them through life" has grown stronger with a longer-term perspective. In short, we want to be "a navigator and strategist who thinks together even about the next course of their life".

If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.

This is an African proverb made famous by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, and it is not by my own strength alone that I have been able to continue this far.

The people who have been involved with me so far. The athletes and business owners who signed contracts and trusted me from the early stages of the service. The seniors and old friends who supported me strictly but warmly. And the people who reached out to me without saying a word at every turning point.

Especially during times when things weren't going well, I keenly felt the gratitude for such people, and there were many moments when I thought I was moving forward on my own, but in reality, I was just being supported.

Furthermore, there were times when I was pushed forward, and times when I was made to stop; without the words spoken to me at those times, the work entrusted to me, and the time people believed in me and waited, this company would not exist today.

That is why now, as we enter a phase where we can gradually expand our business, I accept it not as "something I achieved myself", but as "a milestone reached together with those who have been involved up to this point".

Recently, former seniors and old friends have joined as "new colleagues", sharing burdens that I could not carry alone. I have begun to see scenery I could not see by myself, and I have been blessed with experts who can support each other with their respective strengths while aiming in the same direction.

Business expansion might sound like a positive and powerful word from the outside, but for me, it is not just about chasing sales or scale. It also means an increasing responsibility to respond to the trust and expectations I have received so far in an even greater way, so I am filled with both gratitude and a sense of sobriety.

Introduction and support cases of 'Management's Mom'

As other support cases, I will introduce cases where we were deeply involved from proposal to execution and implementation.

I want to repay this gratitude with my future work.

Now that I am managing two companies, it is not that my anxieties have disappeared, of course. If anything, the weight of responsibility has increased.

More people's livelihoods and expectations than ever before are now tied to my own decisions. A single decision might change the speed of someone's future. Honestly, that feeling is still frightening to me even now.

As a 'business mom' providing defensive support to stabilize the foundation, and as AZuRu providing offensive strategies to connect people and value to expand the future, I feel that by coordinating these roles, I can gradually give shape to the value that only that specific company can deliver.

There are things I understand precisely because my journey has not always been smooth sailing. Even if you are lost, even if you are afraid, being sincere with the person in front of you. Facing them properly rather than trying to look good. Only that accumulation of efforts eventually becomes trust.

The challenges ahead are not about expansion to make something look bigger, but rather a broadening to repay the trust and expectations I have received so far through the quality of my work, the way I engage, and the value I deliver.

Between defense and offense.
Between ideals and reality.
Between loneliness and hope.

I want to continue to stand by the side of business owners and challengers who still try to move forward.

I'm glad I consulted you back then.
I'm glad you worried along with me back then.

I will continue to accumulate work, one piece at a time, that makes people feel that way.

If there are parts of my thinking that resonate with you, I would be very happy, and if you have any collaborations or consultations, let's start by talking casually.

Please contact me via the inquiry form, or X (formerly Twitter) direct message.