And so it was, until one day almost two and a half years ago when a new customer walked through Matsu's door. Mel Robbins was tall, blond, slender, and fashion-conscious. As she waited on Robbins that day, Muramatsu chatted her up. Robbins explained that she was an executive coach and delivered her standard elevator speech. "I work with mentally healthy people who are stuck, bored, overwhelmed," she said. "Usually my clients are very successful people, but somehow they don't relate to themselves that way. I help people create plans that inspire them. And then I coach them in the implementation of those plans."
Robbins, a former corporate attorney who has been coaching business executives for five years, already had a datebook full of appointments, and she generally doesn't take on new clients without a referral. But she liked Muramatsu and gave her a card. Muramatsu, for her part, was skeptical. But Robbins's words stayed with her. Muramatsu knew that despite her passion and ambition, she often felt overwhelmed. She needed some way to get her creative juices flowing again. Two months later, the two women began working together.
Robbins returned to Matsu and explained how she works. They'd start by doing an assessment of where Muramatsu stood in terms of what she wanted to accomplish personally and professionally. She'd ask her to identify her goals and dreams, and then together they'd create a step-by-step plan to get there. Muramatsu definitely had some exciting ideas--starting a line of jewelry, hosting a fashion show. But the daily demands of her business were a constant distraction. Robbins explained that the main thing she offers clients is accountability. "It's one thing to write down a plan on a piece of paper and say, 'Sure, I'll get that done,' and an entirely different story to execute it and have the results be satisfactory," she says. "Most people drop the ball at step number two, and almost all drop the ball at step number three. The most important thing a coach can do is help you execute a plan."
Muramatsu decided it was worth a try. Unlike many coaches, Robbins does not require a retainer or any long-term commitment. "I'll sign a confidentiality agreement, but otherwise, there's no contract, no proposal. We define what it is that we're going to do, and as long as it keeps making sense, we keep going," she says. She'd bill Muramatsu $250 an hour, and the two would meet once a week, with occasional phone check-ins as needed.
During their first meeting, Robbins walked into the boutique's tiny back office. The piles of paper stacked haphazardly confirmed what she'd sensed in Muramatsu from the beginning: The day-to-day operations of the business were not running as smoothly as they could be, and that was draining Muramatsu's creative energy. Muramatsu admitted as much. "I went to art school, not business school," she says. As the two chatted, Robbins realized that her new client had a problem shared by nearly all small companies: an overinvolved owner. "Every decision had to go through her," she says. "She was trying to do all of her own marketing, all of her own publicity. She was trying to be in the store all the time because she believed that the sales were better when she was there. I saw someone who was extraordinarily talented and tremendously overwhelmed." An overwhelmed entrepreneur, of course, is seldom an effective manager, and Robbins was not surprised to hear that Muramatsu was frustrated by the pace at which her business was growing.
The first goal of the coaching, the two decided, would be to free up some of Muramatsu's time "so she could actually get out there and do the things she wants to be doing--things she can't do if she's standing in her store," says Robbins. And that involved taking a hard look at Muramatsu's skills--the creative and artistic aspects of her business--and her weaknesses, mostly in the dollars-and-cents realm. They also began dividing her tasks into those she needed to do herself and those that could be delegated.
For the most part, the hourlong coaching sessions have been in-depth conversations about the operations of the boutique. Muramatsu uses Robbins as an objective sounding board, hashing out everything from small problems, such as a scheduling mishap with employees, to larger issues, like finessing cash flow. Robbins's role is to keep her client focused; she's developed a laser eye for tasks on Muramatsu's plate that don't belong there. "Mel helps me access what I have," says Muramatsu. They've spent many sessions developing a new employee-training program so Muramatsu can leave the store. She's learned to trust her bookkeeper and inventory manager to make key decisions, which has boosted her confidence and her creativity tremendously.
It also allowed her and Robbins to take the next step. These days, coaching sessions focus on larger goals--writing that book, planning that fashion show. Robbins makes sure that Muramatsu breaks big, daunting tasks into a series of smaller, more manageable goals. And she is diligent about following up to make sure tasks have been completed, which Muramatsu says has been incentive enough to make sure future plans don't get lost in the blur of day-to-day operations.
