The V-Shaped Recovery Expert, 'Sister Terumi'

Thank you for visiting, whether this is our first time meeting or not.

I am Akimi Tanaka, also known as Sister Terumi, and I provide full-hearted support to solo entrepreneurs who feel lost.
I am Sister Terumi, also known as Akimi Tanaka.

Thankfully, as I meet new people in person and through social media, I am increasingly being asked, 'What do you do?' and 'What kind of work have you done in the past?'

Here, I would like to share a bit more deeply about my activities to date and my philosophy, so that you can get to know the person I am.

Living as a Revolutionary

To me, entrepreneurship is a 'revolution'.
I carry this belief in my entrepreneurial activities.

My work involves handing a ticket to take on a challenge to those who have considered ending their lives or have given up, telling them, 'You are needed.' This is the revolution of entrepreneurship. And that 'impulse' to reach out whenever I see someone who has given up is the origin of everything I do.

The Birth of the V-Shaped Recovery Expert

I originally worked in sales at a major car dealership, but the company my father ran (also in the car sales industry) faced a bankruptcy crisis. Although I had my doubts, I decided to rejoin the company, thinking, 'There will be many difficulties, but there are people who need me. I want to be a strength to them.'

The first thing I did upon joining was to make everyone—whether full-time or part-time—feel needed, give them a role, and unite them as a team. It has always been my belief that anyone will absolutely shine when they are needed.

As a result, each person was able to utilize their strengths in their own place, and we were able to achieve a 'V-shaped recovery' in our business performance.

This experience still lives on in many places today, including the philosophy I hold dear—that 'people shine when they are needed'—and the direction of my activities.

As an aside, people around me who watched my father's company go through its V-shaped recovery started calling me the 'V-Shaped Recovery Expert' (laughs).

I Want Moms to Feel Happy

I worked for a long time in the automotive industry in sales, management, and as a sales training instructor, but after giving birth, I took maternity leave and experienced being a full-time housewife for the first time. For me, the world of a full-time housewife was something I had never experienced before.

When moms got together, the conversation would always end up being about complaints about their husbands or their children. While I wondered, 'Is this really interesting?', I also felt, 'It's not that the moms are bad, but that this environment where they can't enjoy themselves is the problem.'

Then, following the suicide of a mom friend due to postpartum depression, I started activities with the mission of 'wanting moms to feel happy even after becoming moms, wanting them to live with rich hearts, and creating an environment where that can be achieved.'

First, to use negative energy in a positive direction, in 2014, I launched a mom circle called 'bizmomnagaokakyo' with eight other mom friends. We chose flea markets, which are easy for anyone to participate in, and differentiated ourselves by using the keyword 'something a little better,' bringing together our respective strengths to sell items and donating a portion of the proceeds to educational institutions.

People Shine When They Have a Role

As I mentioned earlier,
my motto is 'people shine when they are needed.'

Through our activities in the mom circle, I actually saw moms becoming handmade artists or working hard as kindergarten officers, shining in their own respective places. Seeing them shine after being given a role and seeing them act proactively made me realize once again the importance of creating an environment where people can shine.

As for my own track record, I organized events that involved not just moms but also local shops. I was approached to be an executive committee member for a large event planned in front of the station and participated in the planning and operation from the beginning. We named it 'Mom & Kids Marugoto Marche,' and it was held three times a year from 2017 to 2019, attracting a total of approximately 21,000 people.

Through these events, I naturally gained a reputation as someone with 'planning skills' and 'the ability to attract people,' which led to inquiries from local governments and large companies. Taking this as an opportunity to further expand the scope of my activities, I launched OTOKUNI Les Amis in 2018, a team that operates with a bit more social impact than a typical mom circle.

As a bit of a backstory, I was once told that 'mom circles end in two or three years as the children grow up,' which made me incredibly frustrated. That frustration became one of the reasons I was able to keep going—I was determined to prove them wrong! (laughs)

My core philosophy is 'Win-Win-Win' (Sanpo-yoshi).

For the markets held in front of the station, I would decide on a theme for each one. To ensure the shops created products that aligned with that theme, I often gave them advice like, 'Wouldn't this sell well?' and worked with them to bring those ideas to life.

In practice, my intuition that 'this will definitely sell' and the ideas I came up with, such as 'wouldn't this sell well,' were hits one after another. Before I knew it, a flow had been established where I was consulting for each individual shop and achieving results, such as 'a bakery that was struggling to attract customers became a popular shop after participating in the event.'

People around me started saying, 'You're the person to consult when we're in trouble' and 'You should work as a consultant, a V-shaped recovery expert.' However, at the time, I was still an employee receiving a salary from my company and acting as a sort of public relations captain for the town, so I had no intention of starting a business. I only charged the shops for event participation fees, and I conducted my own activities for free.

Initially, it was close to volunteer work, but the other party was happy, the people around us were happy, and I was happy too. Since 'Win-Win-Win' is the basis of my thinking, it wasn't about 'self-sacrifice,' but rather the feeling that 'it's fine as long as I'm being useful.'

Looking back now, I realize I spent years building trust, creating a track record, and taking the massive amount of action necessary in the early stages of starting a business.

And then, becoming an entrepreneur

Seeing the people I advised succeed one after another gave me confidence in my ability as a consultant. On the other hand, because it was free, there were times when my advice was ignored or I was treated carelessly. As a giver, I continued to give, but I also felt increasingly sad, and the thought that 'this isn't right' began to sprout.

By that time, more and more people around me were saying, 'Shouldn't you be charging money and working as a consultant?' Since my father's company was also stable, I made up my mind, resigned in 2020, and started my activities as an entrepreneur.

Now, while sharing on social media that 'even women raising children can create places where they can play an active role in the community,' I am developing courses and other programs both in-person and online.

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