A “half-year working / half-year childcare”
work style than can only be achieved
as a freelancer
Ashishi Murakami
Freelancer
PROFILE
Joined Accenture after graduating from university, worked for 6 years, and retired after working as a manager. Since then, has been working as a freelancer, and is in charge of a wide range of work from consulting to football fan’s support activities with a motto of “half-year working / half-year traveling”. After the birth of his first child in 2019, Mr. Murakami changed his lifestyle to “half-year working / half-year childcare”.
Please tell us about your work as a consultant.
Basically, my role is to help the customer’s work proceed smoothly and it mainly involves PMO work and supporting the project manager. I myself have experience as a project manager, but I have other things I want to do, so I stepped down from that heavy responsibility. A project manager often requires a 100% work rate, but a PMO can make do at a lower work rate.
I think I first encountered Sevenzen through the Accenture alumni community. There is something like a mailing list, where information and opinions are actively exchanged in a wide range of fields, such as recruiting projects and job consultations. Mr.Yokoyama, the president of Sevenzen, also came from that same company, so I believe our first connection was through there.
What lead you to the “half-year working /
half-year traveling” and “half-year working / half-year childcare” work style?
The reason I left the company in 2006 was to watch the soccer World Cup. Since then, while continuing my consulting work, I have traveled around the world to watch soccer games and run an “online lounge” where I share tips to enjoy World Cup more with supporters. I have also published a book titled “Half-year Working” in 2017 and turned my hobbies into businesses. Then, following my getting married 3 years ago and having a child, I changed my mindset to “half-year working / half-year childcare”
Consulting work is my main job, but if I work at full capacity, I won’t be able to spend my time on other things, so I adjust the working hours according to the project’s situation and try to balance it with other businesses and childcare.
Have there been any changes in the way
you work or attitude since the birth of your child?
I still love soccer, but I was also feeling a certain ephemerality. After watching a game, the excitement remains, but nothing of physical, of substance, does. In that sense, having a family and children was a big turning point.
My wife is also a freelancer, so between 9:00 and 17:00 while we leave our child at a nursery school, we do some consulting work, writing, and the setting up and running of an “online lounge” for the World Cup to being held in Qatar this year. After 17:00 and on weekends, spending time with family has become a daily routine.
There are some difficulties, but since I am a freelancer, I have much more free time than a company employee, and I am able to be actively involved in raising my children. In the future, I want to flexibly change the weight of consulting work and other businesses and choose the best work style for myself and my family at any given time.
Interview: Spring 2022