When I have time on Saturdays, I will highlight one locally owned and operated place to. Other than local ownership, my only criteria is that the food is awesome or great in some way. This weeks I’d like to put a spotlight on Chirashi Sushi Don by Jiro. It is located in a small kiosk […]
Taking an idea to a sustainable business is the goal of every business owner. It all starts with an idea, a dream if you will. How can I deliver a superior product to the marketplace? How can I offer a service that will solve a problem? How can I take a successful mainland concept and […]
Ask most small business owners where their customers come from and they will have a pretty good idea. For example, at Kona Impact, we ask every new client how he or she heard about us. The answers usually contain one or more of the following: referral from another business, saw our vehicle, saw a sign, […]
There are very few business owners I know who have not failed at least once in business. I certainly have. In 2000, I had a website that was similar to ideas behind the condo listing sites like Home Away and VRBO. A lot of money went into the development of the website, but, alas it […]
This is one of my favorite TED talks. In only a handful of minutes, the speakers shows how some movements begin. 1. Are movements leader-driven? Well, at first someone needs to come up with an idea, but it is only a good idea when the second person (and 3rd, 4th and so on) validates it. […]
As the economy improves, a lot of people are thinking about starting new businesses or extending the reach of their current businesses. We probably meet at least ten new entrepreneurs at Kona Impact each month. Some have an old idea with a new twist while others are looking to create a new category of business […]
Marketing is much like putting a jig saw puzzle together; it is hard to see the big picture with only a few pieces. We often see what I call the “Social Only” strategy. This is characterized by a business owner or employee relying on Facebook or Twitter for marketing messages. I also call this the […]
We all like to say that we support our local economy and want to keep our money in Hawaii. In principle, it makes sense to buy locally as the money spent at a local business tends to stay on the island and make for a more vibrant and dynamic local economy. Here are five locally-owned […]
On April 21, Google rolled out an update to its search engine focused on mobile sites. Read more about it here: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2015/04/rolling-out-mobile-friendly-update.html. This will affect every business with a website—for good or for bad. We have all come across a lot of websites on our phones that are nearly impossible to read because they are […]
I love TED talks. I love them so much so, that I decided to replace my morning news reading with a TED talk. They are much more uplifting than the news, and I find them a great way to get my mind thinking about what I do and what I can be doing. One of […]
