The end of the year is a time that many business owners reflect on the past year and look forward to the next. It�s a great time to seriously consider making changes. What should we do more of? What should we do less of? What opportunities are we missing? There are two broad approaches to […]
We have seen this scenario many times: a person opens a new business and tries to become established by offering the lowest price in town for his product or service. Twenty-five dollar oil changes; graphic design work for $40/hour; painting/handyman service for $20/hour or some product selling for just above the cost to buy. You […]
At Kona Impact, we typically have two times of the year–December and June–when we reflect and look forward. We try to take a detailed look at what’s working, what isn’t, and where we want to be in the future. I like to say that everything is on the table for discussion at these times; every […]
Kona Impact has been making signs in Hawaii for years. We’ve done boats, outrigger canoes, windows, harbor signs, vans, cars, food trucks, real estate signs–you name it, we’ve done it. And since we’ve made a sign or two, we learned a few things along the way. Here are our three cardinal rules for making signage […]
We live and work in the heart of the world-famous Kona coffee region. A big part of our economy is connected to the coffee industry. Kona Impact has several coffee clients. It is the only coffee we drink.A lot of farmers are great at farming and less effective at marketing. This is not a problem […]
Kona Impact has worked with thousands of entrepreneurs over the years. We often see these entrepreneurs at different stages of their businesses, from day 1 when they get an idea and are ready to run with it, to the waning days of business as they begin the steps to liquidate their assets and close up […]
Last month Kona Impact ordered some expensive equipment from a large, very well known copier company. We received an invoice and were happy to see that we could pay online. We would not have to write a check, prepare an envelope and hope that it got from here to there. Having just received a payment […]
I found out yesterday that my local barber is leaving the island soon. I’ll miss him as much for his excellent haircuts as his grumpy, opinionated personality. Even though I could have easily labeled him as rude, out-of-place, and genuinely disagreeable (at times), I challenged myself to look at each haircut as a time to […]
Here is something most business owners understand to some extent: a solid relationship with a supplier is invaluable, especially in times when many businesses are working near or at capacity. You need your supplier just as much as your suppliers need you. A little non-secret in the business world is that suppliers turn down business […]
Marketing expenses are often looked at very narrowly: how much did I spend on a promotion, and how much did I make on the promotion? Minus out expenses, and you’ll have a very crude measure of how much return you received on your marketing investment. That narrow focus, however, will not give you a complete […]
