Blog

Kona Businesses and Barriers to Entry

Wouldn’t you like to own a business where there is no competition? Better yet, wouldn’t it be great not to have to worry about competitors coming into your market? There are, of course, very few businesses that have such high barriers. In Kona, Hawaii some of the big barriers to entry include the following: Exclusive […]

I’m Proud of this One-Star Review!

I’ve been online long enough to remember the famous 1993 cartoon, where one dog is talkingïto another dog. He says, On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. It’s an internet classic. The joke is that anyone can post anything online. Well, 26 years later and we still (and always will) have people who take […]

Free "Buy Local" T-shirts at Kona Impact

We did a lot of thinking last year about how we can help our community become a place where entrepreneurism thrives and locally-owned and operated businesses start, grow and prosper. We all know the numbers: very little of the money spent at big box retailers cycles through our community. We know, for example, that a […]

Free "Buy Local" T-shirts at Kona Impact

Last year, we did a lot of thinking about how we can help our community become a place where entrepreneurism thrives and locally-owned and operated businesses start, grow, and prosper. We all know the numbers: very little money spent at big box retailers cycles through our community. We know, for example, that a big part […]

Business Lessons from David Bowie

A life well lived, a game well played: David Bowie (1947-2016, RIP) It’s hard not to imagine anyone from my generation, the one before it, and perhaps current generations, who has not been inspired and touched by a David Bowie song. For me, it was “Changes,” which I played incessantly as an early teen. It […]

Repeating failure – Is it time to try something new?

I was thinking the other day about what conversations I have that are the most frustrating. These are the conversations I have several times a year, and they all have the same script. The entrepreneur… Realizes she is struggling with her business. Knows the business is important to her livelihood Has used several off-island, low-cost […]