Nearly every small business owner I know has a “Yelp experience”, which is often negative.  Yelp is an online directory and review site for local businesses. It has been around years. Their business model is selling online advertising to businesses on their directory site. These ads appear at the top of the page, so if...Read More

Now, more than ever might be the time to develop a small business in Hawaii. There is plenty of office, industrial and commercial space with more becoming available soon. We’ve all be struggling through the pandemic, and, perhaps some have come up with some good ideas. I have no interest in pursuing these ideas myself,...Read More

“Do you do car wraps? We get this question a few times a month. It’s one of those questions, though, that requires some questions from us, “What do you mean by car wrap? Full vehicle? Color change wrap? Panels of a vehicle? There are only a few vehicles in Kailua-Kona that have what is technically...Read More

There is one part of the Kona, Hawaii that is booming: real estate sales. I’ve talked to at least ten realtors in the past few weeks and all of them are saying that inventory is down, time on market is often a few days and many properties are selling above the listing price. That’s a...Read More

It’s now August 2020, and we’re in the midst of the 2020 COVID epidemic. Travel to and within Hawaii is restricted due to a mandatory 14-day quarantine, which means travel and tourism are basically shut down. This, of course, has decimated our economy and created what most estimate to be a 20% unemployment rate in...Read More

Some businesses go through employees quickly, looking at them as workers filling a role. If the roles are properly-defined and not too challenging to manage, employees can be replaced with little loss in production or efficiency. Fast food restaurants certainly fit this model, but for most businesses, high training costs and specialized skills make employee...Read More

I like to think of business ethics as what guides how you behave when no one is watching. It’s your moral code. Following a strong ethical code in business is what allows me to sleep well at night and go to the grocery store and not be worried about meeting someone I have wronged. It’s...Read More

There are many wonderful locally-owned small businesses in Kona. One of my favorites is Doggy Detail. This dog grooming business is just a few doors down from Kona Impact in the Old Industrial area. They have been in business a little more than a year now, and they seem to be growing all the time....Read More

Imagine a year from now, the late summer of 2021. By most indications, we’ll have the COVID epidemic’s health issues–infection and treatment–under control. A vaccine will be widely available, and very few people will be dying from the virus. For years, the economic effects will be with us, but let’s imagine that the health issues...Read More

$600 of School Supplies for Kona’s Kids On Saturday, Kona Impact loaded two shopping carts filled to the brim with school supplies for local Keiki. That included 60 three-ring binders, hundreds of file folders, pencils, highlighters, notebooks, glue sticks, colored pencils, and the entire remaining stock of Wal-Mart’s graph paper. As a former educator, I...Read More