Why Choose Artisan Consulting

Trusted Advisor & Consultant to Japanese, American, & Multinational Manufacturing Businesses

With over 20 years of expertise in branding, marketing, business development, and I.T., we have been the trusted  Japanese and American Business consultants to businesses seeking success in the U.S. and other English-speaking international markets as well as in Japan.

We have empowered businesses of all sizes to safeguard their investments by exposing overcharging, misinformation, and subpar work from their advertising, marketing, design, branding, and IT teams.

Team Leaders

Leah Workman Head Consultant

Chief U.S. Consultant, Leah Workman

Our American team is led by Leah Workman, a seasoned marketing and IT professional with over 20 years of experience who is ironically, also part of the Japanese business consulting team.


During her almost decade living in Japan, Leah passed the JLPT 1 within a few years and went on to matriculate in Waseda University's Economics and Political Science department as their first western student. Graduating with a degree in political science, she went on to start her career in Japan in a business consulting firm with a focus on IT infrastructure and then met Hiroshi Hibino and they both moved to Los Angeles to start what would become a digital marketing agency.


Ms. Workman has worked with a wide range of businesses, in her position as V.P. of Artisan Crew, a boutique Los Angeles digital advertising agency, and went on to become the Vice President of an American professional beauty products brand while remaining a consultant with her original firm.


She is an expert in all aspects of web development marketing, business branding, hiring, and I.T., and she is passionate about helping SMBs  with a special focus on helping Japanese businesses succeed in the international market.


She personally conducts or oversees each English audit.


She doesn't believe in predatory business practices, that might makes right, or that making the most money possible are great reasons to run a business.


She likes artisans, individual service, employee-owned businesses, businesses ingrained in local culture and Restaurateurs who remember that your spouse doesn't eat onions.

Hiroshi Hibino Head Consultant

Chief Japanese Consultant, Hiroshi Hibino

Our Japanese team is led by the detailed and precise Hiroshi Hibino, a veteran system engineer, software developer, and international business owner, marketing advisor and IT professional with over 25 years of experience in both Los Angeles and Tokyo.


He personally oversees all Japanese Audits and project-manages all Japanese clients, but is an expert in American business consulting.


From his start as an elite system  software developer in Tokyo to running a multinational / multicultural business based out of Los Angeles, Hiroshi is familiar with what makes projects work and what makes them derail, and has a special talent for project management.


What we do

Here's what we can do for you

Review bids and proposals

We can help you review bids and proposals from marketing, design, and IT companies to ensure that you are getting a fair deal.

We can help you analyze your marketing and IT spending to identify areas where your spending isn’t justified by the returns

Analyze your spending

Evaluate your team's performance

We can help you evaluate the performance of your creative design, marketing, and I.T. team to ensure that they are meeting their pay grade and your expectations

Find the right marketing and I.T. partners

We can help you narrow down choices you’re looking at now in your efforts to find the right marketing and IT partners or hires for your business. 

Help you choose the right internal hires

We’ve reviewed over 8,000 resumes, conducted more than 1,000 interviews, vetted countless proposals, managed millions in I.T. spending, saved millions more.


Audit your pain-points

ROI tanking? Growth stagnating? Costs skyrocketing? Projects stalling? But you're not getting answers? We get them for you.

Here's why we're better. Period.

We:

  • Only take a set amount of work at any given time—Quality over quantity. This ensures that we can give each client the attention they deserve.
  • Don't take your money and outsource to cheap junior staff—Every review or consulting project is led and handled by an expert in the field.
  • We provide unbiased advice—unaffiliated with any specific marketing, design, content, or IT company, we offer objective feedback to empower your decisions and address your concerns about current performance.

1

We are native speakers in Japanese and English who are actual professionals in our field

Meaning we can communicate effectively with your team and evaluate accurately for the target market or technical needs. We’re not guessing, we’re experts in our fields, in our native languages. Having worked for a quarter century in marketing and I.T. in both the U.S. and Japan, the number of hires in both countries who are working because they speak a language, but have no actual specialty knowledge in the field of work they’re employed in was truly shocking. Even clerks at 7-11 are bilingual today, that doesn’t mean they’re qualified to run your advertising campaigns or give feedback on your target market.

2

We are unbiased advisors

We are committed to providing our clients with unbiased advice because we care more about making this industry good than we do about getting rich and huge

3

We have a proven track record

We have proven success in helping Japanese businesses succeed in the US market, and cut unnecessary costs and eliminate wasteful spends for SMBs.


4

We Understand Your Unique Challenges

We understand the unique challenges that Japanese businesses and manufacturers face in the U.S. market and international business landscapes as well as the obstacles American businesses encounter in Japan. Additionally, we specialize in helping SMBs achieve growth and efficiency without exceeding their budgets.

Mission

Our mission is to protect your business from being overcharged or misled by your marketing and I.T. teams or hires, while helping you build a holistic and sustainable operation. We aim to ensure your exceptional product or service is backed by a healthy, well-structured I.T., branding, and marketing infrastructure that drives success.


Important Note: If you're a non-Japanese or American business operating in Japan, we will not support unethical business practices. There’s no place for shady, corner-cutting tactics here. If your approach prioritizes short-term profits for a select few over the health and integrity of the entire business, don’t bother reaching out. We’re committed to fostering sustainable, ethical growth and ensuring your business thrives, not enabling greed or exploitation.