The Gallery’s Ohana Of Artists

The Gallery at Ward Centre is not your typical art gallery.

As an artists’ cooperative, the shop is staffed by member artists who put in one day a week, which gives customers the opportunity to speak with one of the gallery’s talents.

“People who work here have all kinds of skills,” says Roger Whitlock, a painter and a former English professor at the University of Hawaii. “They are not only good artists, they have to be salespeople. They also need to be knowledgeable about their fellow artists. People like to come into the gallery and talk to the artists.”

“We all have one shot at being the feature show,” adds Lynda Sakraida, a handbag designer and former marketing executive for L’Oreal. “And we are all showing our art at the same time. You take advantage of everyone’s differences and talents when you have 17 artists.”

Gallery browsers could possibly meet Sakraida, or Whitlock’s fellow painters Susie Anderson, Mark Norseth, Gregory Pai and Debbie Young. The staff lineup also features woodworkers Michael Lee and Roy Tsumoto, as well as jewelers Babs Miyano-Young, Joel Park, Barbara Edelstein and Charlene Tashima. Rounding out the diversity of the gallery are scratchboard engraver Cindy Conklin, printmaker Laura Smith, glass artist Bud Spindt, silver metal clay artist Gorden Uyehara and mixed-media artist Doug Young.

 

Members say The Gallery at Ward Centre is one of the longest running art co-ops on Oahu, founded in 1988.

“It works because it is a family,” says Sakraida.

Whitlock adds: “We make sure everyone is fairly represented in terms of the work assigned and the space assigned.”

At the end of each month, the artists rearrange their artwork in a different location in the shop. The number of artists is determined by the amount of existing exhibit space, and new artists interested in joining when a space opens go through a four-month probationary period.

The inventive artists recently updated their logo, revamped their Web site and renovated their 650-square-foot space. With input from all 17 artists, the art emporium remodeling was done with suggestions from art installation expert Diana Tusher of the Tusher Architectural Group. The renovation planning committee consisted of Whitlock, Miyano-Young, Smith, and Sakraida as chairwoman. Conklin, president of the board of The Gallery at Ward Centre, guided the efforts as each of the artists rolled up his or her sleeves over four days to demolish, sand, paint, vacuum, organize, hammer, repair, clean and modernize for the Feb. 25 grand reopening celebration. The artists had to move all their pieces two days later, as the impending tsunami could have destroyed their work.

A small fire in the shop across the way, Mocha Java, on March 8 also caused some concern about the possibility of fire and water damage, but the gallery suffered no damage.

The cooperative gets the word out in many ways, including inviting guest artists. Whitlock says the guest artist sends out invitations for the opening to his or her own list of contacts.

“Then we send out invitations to our list,” he adds. “We hope that brings in people who don’t normally come. It creates a lot of activity in front of the gallery and inside the gallery.”

The gallery also spreads the word with painting demonstrations most Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., as well as monthly artist opening receptions on weekends, artist exhibits at other venues and an active e-vite list.

“We are always looking for more innovative and saleable art to bring here,” says Sakraida.

The Gallery at Ward Centre is located at 1200 Ala Moana Blvd. and is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 597-8034 or log on to www.gwcfineart.com.

 

Catering Much More Than Food

Yaneth Leialoha specializes in putting together luaus, where the aroma of food wafting from her six-foot grill beckons hungry guests.

Her catering and event-planning company Island Luau offers a menu of about 50 items, such as appetizers ranging from meat sticks to fruit and vegetable platters.

Hungry guests graze on a variety of dishes including laulau, chicken long rice, pulled pork, teriyaki chicken, haupia cake, brownies and cheesecakes. The most popular dishes include Huli-Huli chicken and coconut rice.

“We’re cooking right there in front of them,” says Leialoha. “It’s like we become a part of their family.”

Leialoha’s executive chef Kathryn Krohn, who previously owned a pasta business and an oyster bar, handles the grill on-site.

“It brings them together to see where their foods are coming from,” says Krohn.

Leialoha gushes about her team of 15 staffers, who make it possible to have parties for 10 to more than 700 people.

Leialoha’s forte is table decorations, for which she uses fresh flowers, plants, other adornments and music to create an atmosphere of aloha.

“We want to make it look good,” says Leialoha. “People tend to take lots of pictures. We also change the decorations so that the clients will see some different variations each time they hire us.”

“It’s from the beautiful heart that she has,” says Krohn.

Leialoha started her business two years ago, and since then the company has branched out to offer patriotic, sports, baby shower, Valentine’s, Mexican, Italian and holiday themes.

Ten years ago she coordinated her husband’s mandatory military picnic at Bellows Beach for 400 people.

During that picnic, she was refilling the food when someone asked her to cater a retirement party. Her calendar was soon filled with military events, baby showers, baby luaus, birthdays, graduation parties and corporate functions. Leialoha, a former banquet and catering manager who loves surfing and hiking, says that most of her catering events are outdoors.

The Kailua resident acknowledges the support of her clients, vendors, staff, friends and family, especially husband Frank, who is in the Navy, and their children, 16-year-old Iniki, 12-year-old Ikaika, 9-year-old Makoa and 2 year-old Mahealani.

Now she’s again looking forward to getting donations to compete in this year’s national Great American Bake Sale contest, as she won first place for Most Patriotic in the United States in 2009 and donated $800 in proceeds to the nonprofit organization Share Our Strength, which is dedicated to ending childhood hunger.

For more information, call 389-5380 or log on to www.islandluauevents.com .

 

The Family That Tattoos Together

Husband-and-wife team Dave and Peggy Sucher have run the gamut with tattoos, from ones that scratch the surface of a person to tattoos that provide a look into the soul of their customer.

“Every picture is a story,” say the Suchers, owners of Tattoo Hawaii Studio.

One heart-wrenching tattoo was requested by a student who got a full scholarship to Notre Dame. He asked for a portrait of his mother, who died when he was 12 years old, to be tattooed on his arm. The student looked in the mirror, touched the finished tattoo, and said, “She’s always with me.”

On the fun side, a customer got a tattoo in Thai writing that says, “It’s a tattoo.” His point was that when people ask him what the design says, he could tell them it says “It’s a tattoo.”

He hoped that they’d say, “I know it’s a tattoo, but what does it say?” An Abbott and Costello fan, no doubt.

The 1,100-square-foot studio offers custom tattoos as well as new designs to go over a tattoo a client wants covered up. He does the body tattoos, and she handles the cosmetic eyeliner and eyebrow tattoos.

For a complete tattoo removal, they refer their customers to laser removal studios.

Peggy says sometimes people think they want a tattoo, but it may not necessarily be such a good idea for them in the future.

“I have an obligation to play mom to talk about the tattoo,” she explains. “They may think that’s great, but it could be a job-stopper and a career-ender. Or let’s say your tail light is out. The police officer pulls you over. He sees that pot leaf tattoo on you. It becomes more than just a traffic stop now. It will change their life in one way or another. We want that changed in a positive way. We don’t want any ramifications down the road of ‘I wish they talked me out of that.‘They can get that tattoo elsewhere. I hope that when that tattoo comes back to bite them, they remember the lady who said not to do that.”

Dave previously worked as a journeyman machinist for an automotive company, and Peggy worked as a sales trainer for a department store while doing tattoos part time until 1994, when they opened their Altered Images Tattoo shop in Chicago. The couple moved to Hawaii in 2004 to join family and get away from the cold. The Maili residents worked in Waikiki at Skin Deep Tattoo for five years before opening their Tattoo Hawaii Studio on Kona Street in October. The couple and their two visiting artists have tattoo licenses from the state Department of Health, which requires an exam and passing tuberculosis and syphilis tests.

The Suchers are longtime members of both the National Tattoo Association and the Alliance for Professional Tattooists. He also makes custom pool cues, and she writes a column on tattooing and serves as a blood-borne pathogen instructor and lecturer on tattooing.

Being married and running a business together may not work for some couples, but it has worked out great for them.

“We understand each other,” Peggy says. “We talk about everything - if we have anything that upsets us, we don’t let it fester. We love our business. We love the world of tattooing. We are fortunate to share it with each other and to be able to do it together.”

Tattoo Hawaii Studio is located at 1430 Kona St. and is open from 1 to 8 p.m. daily. For more information, call 945-3120 or log on to tattoohawaiistudio.com. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Shooting South Seas Surfboards

To Karl Meinhardt, hunting for the just right shot to capture the essence of classic surfboards is what makes his business stand out.

“I look for the uniqueness of each board,” says Meinhardt, owner of South Seas Photography. “Some of the older boards that have been through the rigors of life - even boards that have been under people’s houses - those tend to have the most character because they have dirt, sand, grit and wax ingrained into the board. It brings out the character of the board. And I’ll do photos of old, classic boards that are so pristine and beautiful.”

The Kailua resident says his lens focuses on the best shots when he uses a combination of access to some of the top surfboard collectors with finding a board lying on the side of the road.

“The images sometimes come up unexpectedly,” he says. “If I see a board just lying there on the grass or in the dirt, that will be the shot. It is a combination of using a nice collection and the hunt to look for the boards in the unknown. That goes for the perfect beach shot, too.”

 

Meinhardt’s clients include homeowners and interior designers who want to to decorate with a framed photo of several brightly colored surfboards.

“When a client decides, they know the colors and the images they want,” he says.

Meinhardt gives clients several images to chose from at first, and provides additional options until one is chosen.

“They pick an image that means something to them personally,” he says.

Meinhardt grew up in Northern California, surfed Steamer’s Lane in Santa Cruz, traveled to many places and moved to Hawaii in 1995. His background includes working in advertising and interior design.

He shot photos and wrote articles about surfing for various publications for about a year before deciding to plunge into the fine arts aspect of surf photography in 2006.

“I just felt that the people of Polynesia have enriched my life so much, I decided to focus on their beach and the surf culture of Polynesia,” he explains. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. It’s the people of Polynesia who influenced me the most - their lifestyle and their family life.”

He gushes about his gratitude for the support of his clients, collectors, collaborators, friends and family, especially his wife Gina, who does the books, and their 5-year-old daughter Monroe.

Meinhardt notes that, at the start, getting the word out about his business was a challenge, but he found displaying his artwork at galleries helpful.

“If we work together as artists, we will do pretty good,” he says, noting that things are a little easier these days. In addition to his surf-board photos, Meinhardt has a large selection of pictures of Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji and the Cook Islands to complement his stock photography of waves and coastlines. He does personalized family portraits on the beach as well as photo sessions to capture the spirit of the surfer in action. When he’s not busy working on his upcoming coffee table book, titled Pure Polynesia - Lifestyle of Surfing, Paddling and Beach Culture of Polynesia, he is the go-to guy on the radio airwaves giving his expert opinion as travel consultant on what to do in the South Seas as a guest on McCoy Travel Radio with show host Melissa McCoy on Fridays at 1 p.m. on KAOI 1110 AM on Maui, and KUMU 1500 AM on Oahu.

For more information, call 383-9770 and www.SouthSeasPhotography.com.

 

Giving Creative Youths A New Voice

The young hip-hop community has a friend in Nicole “Niki” Kealoha.

Kealoha’s Diverse Art Center offers after-school classes in dance, DJ and urban art for young people. She says her 3,500-square-foot Kakaako studio is a hot spot for youths to get creative in a positive, supportive and productive environment.

“We use the arts not only to develop their skills, but to give them a voice,” she says. “We also let them know that their voice does not need to be one with no integrity and no character. We try to help them in their lives through the arts. It is our gateway to get them to a better place.”

The center also offers performance poetry and a special-needs class. Its human beat-box class - where students learn to use their voice to do percussion sounds and mimic DJs scratching records on turntables - has never been done in a classroom setting.

“It’s like vocals,” she says. “You have to do vocal warm-ups and strengthening and stretching.”

She also has an aerosol class, which is graffiti art.

 

“We are trying to change the mindset of everyone - of our youths and our community - about the stigma that is attached to the word graffiti,” she says. “It is a redirection of the youths’ energy.”

In the aerosol class, students are sometimes invited to do murals for beautification of businesses and in exchange, when they’re finished, the students keep the leftover expensive paints.

They are under strict direction to use their talents wisely.

“Some of our instructors have a fine arts background, and they also are teaching our students about the freedom of street art,” explains Kealoha, noting that they work with local artists.

The Castle High graduate did hip-hop dancing with Base, Big City Productions and 24-VII. Her background is varied: She has worked as a bank teller and as a performance arts assistant. It was during a transition period in her life when she pondered starting this business.

“How can I connect my need to use my passion for the creative arts and leave a legacy - for not only my children, but for the generations to come, and to impact the character of the younger generation?” says Kealoha, who started Diverse Art Center in October 2008.

She acknowledges that the success of her endeavors is made possible with the support of her friends, colleagues, collaborators and especially her husband Kalvin, and their children, Chloe, 9, and Ethan, 3.

To get the word out about what the Diverse Art Center does, Kealoha has several plans, including performances on Centerstage at Ala Moana Center. Meanwhile, beginning Feb. 13 at the studio, there is a once-a-month bboy dance-off.

From 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Feb. 27 the studio will use its parking lot to host an elements of hip-hop festival called Kala Hookuku Pahiahia (Art: Day of War) Competition, with booths, competitions for emcees, crew-on-crew b-boy and aerosol on canvas.

“We want the community to know what the youth is involved in,” adds Kealoha. “We want the community to know that it can be a lot more positive in its influence. We want to give the youth a platform to let them know you can be successful and you can use your art form without being destructive.”

Diverse Art Center is located at 1024 Queen St. on the second floor. Hours of operation are Mondays through Thursdays, 4:30 to 9:30 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call 275-7776, or go to: http://www.myspace.com/diverse arthi or diverseart.word-press.com.

 

Siblings Strive For Sweet Success

Joyce, Danny and Kelly Yeh are keeping it in the family with their Yo Go Krazy shop, where they offer both shave ice and self-serve frozen yogurt.

“Sometimes we can argue as siblings,” Danny admits, “but then we just get over it.”

The siblings, ages 22, 20 and 18 respectively, say they love the flexibility of being able to change things at the store according to what’s popular.

With an inventory of 50 flavors, they serve 14 flavors of frozen yogurt at a time, making sure to include two no-sugar-added flavors and two sorbets. Pre-packaged yogurt containers are also available. Honeydew, they say, is among their top selling flavors, and the honeydew/pineapple twist also is in high demand.

 

Their ice shaver produces the fine ice that soaks up the flavored syrups. They also sell snow bowls which have creamy ice and two toppings.

“We have dragon eye, gummy bear, jelly, walnuts and halo halo toppings,” says Joyce about some of their customer requests.

The Kalani High School graduates learned the ins and outs of business from their mom Nhu Diep and dad Ching. Since their elementary-school days they helped out at their parents’ booth at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet selling jewelry, gifts and teeth-whitening kits. The two oldest ran a teeth-whitening kiosk for a year at Pearlridge Center, which they closed just before opening Yo Go Krazy in October 2009.

The partners work together on lots of tasks in the store, but each also has their own responsibilities. Joyce orders the flavors, Danny cleans the machines and Kelly makes the shave ice. Mom and Dad still maintain their booth at the swap meet, but these days they also pitch in at their children’s business.

The siblings appreciate all the support from their friends, customers and especially their parents. The Kahala residents says they use business lessons they learned from Mom and Dad.

“Save money,” declares Joyce. “Don’t waste.”

“If it’s slow, don’t give up,” Danny adds. “It’s not always going to be busy.”

“Being clean is very important,” explains Kelly. “We are always scrubbing.”

With the help of one employee, they look forward to satisfying everyone’s sweet tooth.

“Go crazy,” quips Kelly. Yo Go Krazy is located at Pearlridge Center, Downtown lower level, during mall hours from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 487-3979, or log onto http://www.yogokrazy.com.

Reinventing The Brooch - It’s Hip

Women of all ages love bling and are scooping up the decorative jewelry that Jacci Delaneau creates with her company, Hip Heirlooms.

When accessories are right, every age group gets it,” she says.

Delaneau has invented a shiny embellishment that is used instead of a belt.

“It slips over a button,” she explains. “It’s a reinvention of the brooch with a contemporary spin. It’s classier than a belt, and people like the broochiness of it. This has a chain so that it doesn’t get lost when you have to undo it to go to the bathroom.”

The Hawaii Kai resident wears hers with jeans, but she says it can go on anything that has a button.

The hip heirloom fashion accessory is available at Riches at Kahala Mall, Red Pineapple at Ward Centre and Philanthropy By Madison and Co. in Kailua.

The idea of marketing this product had been on her mind for the past eight years.

“I didn’t want to worry about adding extra inches around my belt, so I pinned a brooch on my jeans,” she recalls. “It was cute and decorative. It was my own little trend for a little while.”

But marketing the idea was then put aside as something she might do someday.

Inspired in part by one of her friends who invented her own product, Delaneau set out in 2008 to make her hip heirloom a reality within a year. Using the knowledge she gained as a serial entrepreneur, she manufactures them in the United States.

This isn’t her first business endeavor. The native New Yorker once owned an Italian sportswear company with a partner as well as the Silk and Oil Galleries in Kaimuki.

She credits her worldwide travels for her positive attitude.

“Anything’s possible,” she says. “I’ve seen so many people live an unconventional life.”

She says she has one technique to overcome the fear that some people may not like her product.

“I just do it anyway,” she says.

She hopes to soon get Hip Heirlooms to boutiques on the Mainland.

For more information, call 888-466-4312 or log on to www.hipheirlooms.com.

From The Bassoon To Cartoons

Whatever comes to his mind is what Paul Barrett sketches, and these drawings star in his Grin-n-Barrett line of greeting cards.

The newest designs feature something that is near and dear to his heart - music.

“I view my job as a musician as a therapist,” explains Barrett, a bassoonist with the Honolulu Symphony since 1977. “If I invite people to pay money for my concerts, I want them to go away feeling better than they did in the beginning.”

And that’s also what he tries to do with his cards. One set, Musicians, depicts animals such as ducks, alligators and cats playing instruments. Another set, Deconstructed Instruments, shows parts of musical instruments displayed in a pattern.

“These are really unique because I don’t think anyone else has anything like this,” he says.

The “audition” for the cards started about 10 years ago as Barrett doodled on his sheet music, and he’s collected many designs over the years.

“A lot of the bassoon parts have my little doodles on them,” Barrett says. “The bassoon has a lot of rest, as there is frequently a lot of down time.”

What kick-started his business was the symphony’s bankruptcy announcement in October, so he needed to supplement his income.

“When one door closes, another door opens,” he says.

By Thanksgiving, the Kailua resident launched his Web site and debuted his Christmas line featuring Santa Claus playing instruments, as well as winter Christmas trees. On his other set of cards, which can be used all year round, he showcases angels playing violin, bassoon and trumpet. Using a computer, he works his designs over and over until, like his music compositions, he gets them just the way he wants. He also carries his trusty sketchbook with him in case something comes to mind.

He does special orders and can print up any of the designs shown on his Web site.

“It’s basically a real bootstrap thing,” says Barrett, who knew he wanted to be a musician since he was in the ninth grade at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.

Some of the cards also are influenced by his family, which includes wife Judy, Honolulu Symphony’s assistant concert master and an avid equestrian, as well as their adult children, Colin and Meghan.

In addition to his new life as an entrepreneur, Barrett gives private music lessons and teaches at University of Hawaii. He looks forward to playing for Hawaii Opera Theatre in its upcoming season, featuring Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Walkure and La Boheme.

One of the challenges this small-business owner faces is learning about the world of retail.

“I’m learning how to talk to buyers,” he says. “I’m learning how to present myself to them and get positive feedback from them. Everything I’ve done up until now is social networking and word of mouth. If anyone has advice for me, I’m really receptive because I’m really green to business.”

For more information, call 292-5010, or log on to www.grinnbarrettcards.com.

 

A Wiggly Way To Reduce Waste

The average family, says Mindy Jaffe, owner of Waikiki Worm Company, creates about four pounds of waste each week.

Jaffe’s shop serves as the headquarters for her mission to help the environment by getting people to use worm bins to get rid of their paper and food garbage. She says 34 percent of Oahu’s organic waste can be recycled, and Oahu residents generate 50,000 tons of food waste a year.

“This is where you come if you want to start a worm colony or you are ready to upgrade to a bigger system,” says Gaffe of her worm and soil boutique.

She says this is conservation at its best.

“Eat a banana,” she explains. “Put the banana peel in, the worms make vermicast (worm poop), you use vermicast to feed your banana plant so it grows. And you get to eat the banana again. It goes around and around.”

Jaffe, who studied environmental education, shows customers how to take care of the squirmy worms: Shred paper and cardboard for the bottom of the bin. Put in the worms. Feed and water worms - they eat paper, cardboard, egg cartons and leftover food. Six months later, harvest the vermicast, which can be used in the garden. She has several sizes of worm bins: 10-gallon, 10-foot and 5-foot bins, and a mini-bin.

“It’s not for everybody,” admits Jaffe, who is in her sixth year at Waikiki Worm Company. “There’s no odor. If it is well-managed, it should be great. Garbage doesn’t have to be bagged and put in the dumpster and hauled away, using fossil fuels, labor costs and then processed using water, electricity and money.”

She knows people who put the bins wherever they can find a spot - on the lanai, on the kitchen counter, under the sink, on a bookshelf and even under their bed. She has about 5,000 people doing vermicom-posting in Hawaii so far, which means that 20,000 pounds of waste a week processed 52 times a year equals 520 tons of waste that is not going to the dump.

Jaffe launched Waikiki Worm Company in 2004 from her Waikiki apartment, and in March 2009 established her storefront location.

She’s grateful for the support of her family, friends, customers and colleagues. And with the help of two part-time employees, she accomplishes her goal of sharing her passion for diverting waste from landfills and reducing pollution by reaching out to schools, workplaces and businesses. She beams when she discusses teaching students about the scientific process, the bugs and the decomposer organisms.

“It’s a fun, hands-on project,” she says.

Among the many schools continuing the vermicom-posting after attending Jaffe’s workshop is Hokulani Elementary, which started vermicomposting in 2007. The following year, the students upgraded to a commercial-sized bin to turn more than a ton of cafeteria waste into 260 pounds of vermicast, which they sold for $5 a pound. “They are generating money out of their garbage,” says Jaffe.

Jaffe designed the commercial-sized bins, which are shaped like a drain pipe and can empty into a bucket with an optional cover. Her commercial customers include Calvary By The Sea Montessori preschool, Windward Community College, Kapiolani Community College’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific and more. She hopes to see more restaurants, hotels, hospitals, correctional facilities and corporate offices start using the system.

Other facets of her firm include selling organic fertilizers and holding private workshops. She also offers a work service contract, where the customer feeds the worms and she takes care of the setup and the harvest.

“In a town like this, where we can do it all year round,” says Jaffe, “there is no reason why you can’t have one.”

Waikiki Worm Company is located at 1917 King St. The store is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. For more information, call 945-9676, or log onto www.waikikiworm.com.

Plastic-free Shopping Is In The Bag

A home economics teacher at her alma mater Kailua Intermediate, Fran Hewes always shares one lesson she learned the hard way: Don’t sew your own finger!

She practices what she preaches when creating soft, colorful cotton bags for her company, Alohaina Bags.

“The bags sure can hold a lot of stuff in them,” she says. “My sister used three bags to bring home about $400 worth of groceries. These are good beach bags, grocery bags and book bags.”

The washable-reusable bags are 16 inches high, 16 inches long and 5 inches wide. There are nine prints available, one of which, for example, is a floral pattern with color-coordinated striped lining.

“Each bag uses good thread and good fabric,” adds the Salt Lake resident. “And the stitching is reinforced so it won’t fall apart.”

Hewes says the company name expresses her love and respect for the land.

“It is sad to see the pictures of plastic all over the beach,” she explains. “So I’m doing my part, and I hope it helps in some small way.”

A portion of the proceeds from sales of the bags goes to Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi, which is active in conservation efforts.

Hewes has been sewing since she was 12 years old.

“My mom taught me to sew, since I was too tall and nothing in the store fit me,” says the 6-foot Hewes.

One of her ideas of happiness, she says, would be to have a fabric store of her own.

The Kailua High grad has 21 years of teaching experience in home economics, with past jobs at Lanai High and Elementary School, and Castle High School.

She started her company in 2007 because the reusable bags she got from stores were falling apart.

“I made my own reusable bag,” recalls the fun-loving Hewes. “Then my sister wanted one, and my mom wanted one, and my other sister wanted one.”

She credits her customers, friends and family, especially husband Jimmy, and adult children Selina, Casey and Cheryl for their encouragement, and acknowledges her family members for their input and assistance with various tasks, such as picking out fabrics.

One of the challenges of running her company, Hewes says, is getting people to visit her Web site, where they can place an order.

“My son is getting his master’s in business, and he is going to help me with the Web site,” she says.

Web orders have come from as far away as Canada.

She also offers gift-wrapping and a gift card with a personal message.

For more information, call 366-1940 or log onto www.alohainabags.com.

The Bottom Line Is Profitability

In these tough economic times, businesses need all the help they can get to minimize waste and turn a profit.

Profitability of Hawaii customizes computer software and makes accessing information easy for companies, locally and nationally.

“Every day, when the phone rings, you have to perform,” says owner Bob Kim.

One of the programs the firm has created allows multiple stores in national franchises to access an inventory list, so the company can do central ordering. This way there isn’t any overstock, Kim notes, and it reduces the waste of time, money and other resources.

In addition to customizing software, the company offers a document-scanning service. The firm can take 30 banker boxes full of information and put it onto one DVD or post it online, which saves space. Law firms, for example, often have loads of paperwork that’s needed for cases being worked on, and the document-scanning service makes the files easier to handle and store.

For banks, a check-imaging software was created, and it’s used all over the country, from New York to California, as well as on Guam.

Profitability of Hawaii’s clients include mom-and-pop businesses to larger companies in various fields including financial, medical, building and legal.

The company was founded 35 years ago by accounting professional Jim Alexander. Kim joined the firm 30 years ago to help with automation. When the

owner got sick, he was relied upon to help guide the company. Kim, a McKinley High graduate and Hawaii Kai resident, earned a share of the business and eventually took ownership.

With the tough times that many firms are experiencing, he says his work has increased and the money remains the same.

One of the opportunities he acknowledges is the chance to let his employees know that they are responsible for the success of the company.

“I practice taking care of my people,” he says. “I hope they will perpetuate the values I run the company with.”

In fact, Kim says he plans to turn the operations over to key employees in the future, if they earn it.

In addition to his employees, he says he appreciates all the support of his customers, friends, family and especially wife Nancy and their five sons David, twins Brian and Chris, Anthony and Jonathan.

Profitability of Hawaii is located at 1000 Bishop Street, seventh floor. For more information, call 536-6167 or log onto http://www.poh.com.

CORRECTION: In last week’s column, the hours of operation for Kali’s Nail Supply, located at 547 Halekauwila St., were incorrect. MidWeek regrets the error.

The hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month.

Nailing A Pretty Colorful Career

Kali Gregory is a big fan of nail salons. After all, she says,women like to feel pretty.

“(This is) not a nail salon,” the Liliha resident explains with a huge smile.

She distributes products wholesale to professional nail salons and retails nail polish to the public at her shop, Kali’s Nail Supply.

The 2,000-square-foot supply store services nail salons in Hawaii, Guam, Samoa and Saipan.

“Salons are the backbone of my business,” says Gregory. “We like sharing really cool stuff. Wherever possible, we encourage people to support their local salons.”

A special section of the store showcases chemical products that only licensed nail technicians are trained to use. And the love of her life and business partner Roger Crow distributes a nail system called Calgel through the shop, which uses organic ingredients that strengthen nails so they can grow naturally.

 

A nail technician herself with 25 years of experience, Gregory moved from Colorado to Hawaii in 1986 to sell her nail products to stores from the trunk of her car. A psychology major in college, she

brought her people skills to the nail table when she opened a nail salon in Kaneohe in 1990, which she ran for four years. She notes that she was a pioneer in the use of the fiberglass nail system in Hawaii.

She opened the Honolulu store in 1999. In 2004, she expanded her customer base by adding nail polishes, body washes and lotions that anyone can buy. With the help of two part-timers, she promotes several lines of nail polishes such as Zoya that feature hundreds of colors.

Her main goal is to help others.

“If you go in with your heart, you will come out with your heart and your pocket,” she says, noting that she can help people with fungal problems, too.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Gregory, a native New Yorker, has offered a first-responder discount to people in the military, fire department, police department and hospital workers. She also donates products to domestic abuse centers and others.

“When women walk out they feel pretty,” she says about the salon experience. “They walk with their shoulders back and their heads held high. We women have to feel pretty.”

Gregory says she wishes she could read the minds of her customers so she could pick all the colors and fragrances they desire.

“I want to have what you need available,” she says.

Kali’s Nail Supply is located at 547 Halekauwila St. Hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month. For more information, call 585-8788 or log on to kalinailsupply.com.

 

It’s Not Christmas Without Santa

It’s not easy being Santa Claus.

Mike Ching appears as Santa at hotels, malls and in advertisements with his company Honolulu Santa. If he can’t be there, he has a handful of trusted backups who fill in for him.

One of the keys to being a good Santa is to stay in character.

“I am smiling and upbeat for the whole time,” he says. “People can see your eyes. You have to keep up that Santa-charisma. That’s really important.”

Santa’s suit is another important factor. Ching has the classic Santa look,and also an old-fashioned European Father Christmas costume, which took two years of research to come up with. Upholstery material and padding help fine tune the look that costume maker Kathe James created.

 

“Santas have to make people say ‘Wow!’” he says. “‘Wow!’ is my business.”

And, he says, Santa acknowledges everybody, even the adults.

“He’ll shake everyone’s hand and say it is good to see you again,” Ching explains.

Ching, a UH communications and theater major who also is a magician, first played Santa when he was 9 years old, and was first fascinated by magic at the age of 5.

He enlisted the help of his sister to make him a Santa outfit when he was 27 and has offered his services to the hospitality and advertising industry ever since. He dons costumes for conventions in addition to performing as a magician with his company Magical Entertainments Hawaii.

He uses his Santa career to supplement his magical one.

He acknowledges the help and support of the many teachers, partners, friends, family and clients who have helped him through the years.

The Moanalua Valley resident gets his hands on anything Santa-related that he can. He even set up his Web site to offer tips for others who also would like to be Santa.

“It is not Christmas until we get to be Santa,” says Ching.

For more information, call 836-1800, or log onto HonoluluSanta.com.

Keeping An Eye On Real Estate

Adam Lee started Broker’s Eye as a hub of real estate so he’d have his hands and eyes on the latest details to better figure out what the next trend is.

These days, as CEO of the company, his projects include buying buildings, renovating apartments and selling them for a profit.

“We have fun doing the projects,” he says. “I think people see that.”

Apparently they do, as he was named one of the top 30 real estate agents under 30 in America by the National Association of Realtors in 2007.

One of his buildings is called Da Tabura, after radio personality and winemaker Lanai Tabura, one of his partners.

“When they see Da Tabura (on the front of the building), I’m not worried that they’ll drive away,” says Lee with confidence. “That name is not what is going to make or break the deal. It’s just something fun. It’s viral marketing. We sent it to all our contacts and got the word out that we have this project going.

“It’s important to think out of the box.”

In this project, as with several others, he allows apartment owners to select the color of their granite, flooring and paint.

Lee describes himself as an optimist, and says one of his strong points is being able to look at data from a neutral point of view and to see trends in the market.

“The perception of the market may be that it is slow or not a good time to buy,” he says.

But he defies that perception, as he recently sold 26 units of that apartment building before its grand opening. He says that there are certain parts of the market that are currently really hot. Five years ago properties on the west side of the island offered opportunities, and then the trend changed to properties closer to Honolulu because people wanted to live

closer to where they work.

The Roosevelt High graduate says a big part of his success is marketing.

“We do it in different ways every time,” he says. “For the six-story building on Piikoi and Lunalilo, we had Hawaii Pacific University cheerleaders on the busy corner cheering and bringing people to come in.”

Lee says doing the daily things that it takes to stay on top of trends can be a challenge.

“It’s easy to fall behind and not be able to catch up,” he says. “Just like washing dishes, it’s easy if you keep up all the time. It’s a commitment to wanting to know everything on the market and find the best properties, and thinking about the next trend based on that information. Once you have the knowledge, you have to be willing to pull the trigger and go for it.”

When he started working as a real estate associate in 2002 with his father’s company Abe Lee Realty and Abe Lee Development, which was established more than 30 years ago, he says he didn’t get special treatment.

“He gives everyone the same chance to learn and dive in about investing as well as general brokerage,” he says. “I took advantage of the wealth of information available at the company. I would always have a list of questions about things I wanted to learn. If you can learn five details every day, that’s 150 new things in a month.”

When he launched Broker’s Eye in 2003, Lee dispatched 12 drivers around town to snap photos of properties as soon as they became available in order to have the scoop on the latest information. Lee enjoys sharing information with people, and his Web site, BrokersEye.com, has “Basic Real Estate 101 tidbits” on video.

His book, First Million Is The Hardest, will launch soon. Lee says it offers tips to help readers develop business confidence to be able to make decisions.

His own decision is to work in real estate here in Hawaii.

“There is something special about our place; it’s paradise,” he says. “The Mainland loves it,Asia loves it, locals love it. Anybody who comes here loves it. As the world shrinks with global communication, travel gets faster. Hawaii is going to be top, top, top.”

For more information, call 630-6103, or log on to www.brokerseye.com.

The Place For Drapery And Design

Marc Miyahira’s company Kreative Kamaaina manufactures custom drapery for homes and businesses. The firm also offers other home-furnishing products, such as bedding, shower curtains, mini-blinds and even remote-controlled window treatments.

“A lot of people are comfortable with sitting back with their clicker and the TV,” says Miyahira. “They can do the same thing with the window treatments as well.”

The shop stocks several types of modern fabrics.

“There are antimicrobials woven into the fabric,” says the Damien graduate. “There are odor-eating fabrics that can go into kitchens that will take away some smells. There are people who like to smoke, and the drapery won’t absorb that smell in the home, or even pet smells.”

Miyahira says design shows on TV help his business, and he urges people to get involved in their home designs.

“Look for a style you want in your home,” he urges. “Bring a picture from a magazine. We don’t hold judgment. It doesn’t matter what the customer wants, as long as they like it.”

In addition to its main function in the drapery manufacturing business, Kreative Kamaaina can provide custom upholstery, cushions and bedding. It has branched out to represent some local vendors who provide hardwood and vinyl flooring.

When 50-year-old Trends of Hawaii decided to shut down its shop, Miyahira bought the company in 1999 in partnership with five employees and changed the name to Kreative Kamaaina.

“They (Trends of Hawaii) established a great reputation in terms of quality and integrity,” he says, “and we still have the same people. There are some very long-term people here in production and in sales.”

The Manoa resident acknowledges the support of his family, friends and 50 employees.

“Things are changing so fast,” says Miyahira. “We have to adapt. We cannot just be doing things the same way. We have to expand things. We will continue to improve efficiency through technology so we can service customers on a timely basis.”

To expose the marketplace to what the company can do, he opened a retail space in January 2008.

“Come in and look at these things,” he says. “It opens up a tremendous door for consumers.”

Kreative Kamaaina is located at 401 Kamakee St. The showroom is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. For more information, call 593-2702 or log onto http://www.kreativekamaaina.com. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

Coming Up With Creative Solutions

Debbie Hedrick and Stephanie Lake jazz up malls for special events and design eye-catching window displays for shops with their company, Creative Solutions.

“If we aren’t going to have fun, we aren’t going to do it,” says Hedrick.

With backgrounds in merchandising and marketing, they have the tricks of the trade to attract customers, whether it’s creating a snazzy sign for a business, setting up a photo shoot for a catalog or rearranging the inside of a store. They’ve made themed centerpieces for functions such as Pro Bowl parties. The self-described “Jills of all trades” come up with the ideas, order the decorations and set them up.

Among their most requested services are Christmas displays. A 25-foot-tall Christmas tree dresses up their “Toys Through Time” theme with oversized toys such as 4-foot-tall View-Master and a 12-foot-tall Tinker Toy at Pearlridge Center.

 

“We love it when we hear the joy in the children’s voices,” says Lake.

Hedrick says this is a time when shopping centers need to bring excitement.

“By the time we’re done, we know the maintenance workers, the operations departments and the marketing people,” says Hedrick.

“We aren’t pointers, we are hands-on.”

With the assistance of one full-time employee and about five independent contractors, they’ve worked on all the Islands.

Creative Solutions emerged in 2002 when Hedrick’s husband, Todd, mentioned that malls needed a professional to create advertisement displays for existing stores in the windows of empty stores.

Hedrick, a Hawaii Kai resident, appreciates the support of her husband and their children Sammy and Noah. Lake, a Makiki resident and Pahoa High School graduate, acknowledges the encouragement of husband Josh.

The ladies agree that planning is key to their success, and they keep their repertoire of decorations fresh by finding inspiration from many sources, including traveling to the Mainland and attending trade shows and conferences.

Future goals for the company are to expand into the hotel industry and to have their own decoration package for the Hawaii market.

“Every project has been different,” says Lake. “Whether it is promotion-driven or fashion-related, they trust us with the designs we come up with.”

For more information, call 330-6815 or log onto cs-hi.com.

 

Keeping Pooches Cool With A Pop

Darlene Tokunaga’s dog licks off the ice, then goes for the meaty part of an Icy Pooch Pop.

Tokunaga has concocted two flavors of the cool doggie treats, which have no added sugar or salt and are veterinarian approved.

“The Pooch Pop reflects the Hawaii lifestyle,” she says.“We have banana-peanut butter flavor, which is popular, and a loco moco.”

For the holidays, she will offer two additional flavors: Pumpkin Pie, and the turkey-cranberry flavor called the Gobble Gobbler. The banana-peanut butter pop, called the Plantation, is made with banana, peanut butter, yogurt and vanilla. The loco moco flavor is called the Loco Moe, which was inspired by her Shih Tzu Moemoe. It’s made with rice, egg, chicken, Spam Lite, honey and parsley.

Tokunaga began making the treats for her dogs - pug Chin, mix Chunks and French bulldog Mufasa. Soon she started expanding her crew of taste-testers to her friend’s dogs, and eventually her Makiki neighbors’ dogs. With the help of her adult son Adrian, they first introduced Icy Pooch Pops at the 2008 Pet Expo.

A graphic designer by trade, Tokunaga gets the word out by manning a booth at many of the doggie events around town.

“What makes our booth stand out is we have a freezer with the samples,” she says. “We also have our surfing blue dog banner and a blue umbrella that attract attention.”

She admits that one of the challenges of running the business full time is the economy.

“We are trying to keep things steady,” she explains, “and not get too anxious about what’s next. We go with the flow, and something good will happen soon.”

Icy Pooch Pops are sold at Pet Spots at Ward Warehouse, Koolau Pets at Windward Mall, Bark Avenue at Koko Marina, and Ohana Doggie Day Care in Honolulu.

In the stores, you can find the cool treats in freezers that may have a logo magnet on the front and/or a sign on the top.

“I love making dogs happy and meeting dog owners,” says Tokunaga.

For more information, log onto icypoochpops.com.

Designing With The Islands In Mind

The smell of the sanding wheel with which her maternal grandfather crafted opihi shell and kukui nut jewelry is just one of the fond memories that serves as Marla Momi Musick’s inspiration for her artistic endeavors. With her company Designs by Momi, she fashions contemporary jewelry.

Her Hawaiian Values Collection features silver pendants representing graciousness (ka ‘olu ‘olu), excellence (ke kela), harmony (ka lokahi) and family (ohana).

“I’m using my Hawaiian Values silver, silver coral branches and shells, and incorporating that into woven cording design,” says the Kamehameha Schools graduate of her newest work.

Rounding out her Hawaiian Values Collection are a Hawaiian ti-leaf necklace and a Hawaiian proverb necklace, as well as the start of a line of ocean-themed jewelry in her Voyaging collection sparked by her interest in paddling. Her Pahu collection showcases the scalloped design of the pahu drum on a bracelet and earrings.

She displays her work exclusively at Native Books Na Mea Hawaii.

“We need places like Native Books Na Mea Hawaii who support the artists,” she says. “What is great about them is they offer space to the community so they can meet the artist and communicate with them directly. This way, people get to know you and what your style is, and they look for new pieces. It’s nice to get to know the artist and see the changing of styles.

“One woman bought six of my ohana pieces and gave them to her siblings when their mom passed away,” says Musick. “That is the sort of relationship that means something to them.”

She adds that if her jewelry is not available at Native Books Na Mea Hawaii, anything that is in the comprehensive portfolio on her Web site can be ordered.

She also does graphic design, and that side of her business focuses on logos, business stationery, invitations and newsletters.

With a master’s in visual arts administration from New York University, Musick’s career path has included working in membership, fundraising and design at Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New York Public Library. While she lived in New York, she took advanced jewelry-making classes, and she eventually began creating designs with Hawaiian themes.

“That was a sign that I was starting to miss home,” Musick says.

She returned to Hawaii in 2005, and in addition to her jewelry and graphic design business, the Pacific Heights resident works full time as communications director for Hawaii Arts Alliance and participates in Maoli Arts Month.

She says she appreciates the help and support of all of her friends, family and customers.

“It takes a leap of faith to be a creative person,” she admits.

For more information, call Native Books Na Mea Hawaii at 596-8885 or log onto http://www.marlamomimusick.com/.

Designing With The Islands In Mind

The smell of the sanding wheel with which her maternal grandfather crafted opihi shell and kukui nut jewelry is just one of the fond memories that serves as Marla Momi Musick’s inspiration for her artistic endeavors. With her company Designs by Momi, she fashions contemporary jewelry.

Her Hawaiian Values Collection features silver pendants representing graciousness (ka ‘olu ‘olu), excellence (ke kela), harmony (ka lokahi) and family (ohana).

“I’m using my Hawaiian Values silver, silver coral branches and shells, and incorporating that into woven cording design,” says the Kamehameha Schools graduate of her newest work.

Rounding out her Hawaiian Values Collection are a Hawaiian ti-leaf necklace and a Hawaiian proverb necklace, as well as the start of a line of ocean-themed jewelry in her Voyaging collection sparked by her interest in paddling. Her Pahu collection showcases the scalloped design of the pahu drum on a bracelet and earrings.

She displays her work exclusively at Native Books Na Mea Hawaii.

“We need places like Native Books Na Mea Hawaii who support the artists,” she says. “What is great about them is they offer space to the community so they can meet the artist and communicate with them directly. This way, people get to know you and what your style is, and they look for new pieces. It’s nice to get to know the artist and see the changing of styles.

“One woman bought six of my ohana pieces and gave them to her siblings when their mom passed away,” says Musick. “That is the sort of relationship that means something to them.”

She adds that if her jewelry is not available at Native Books Na Mea Hawaii, anything that is in the comprehensive portfolio on her Web site can be ordered.

She also does graphic design, and that side of her business focuses on logos, business stationery, invitations and newsletters.

With a master’s in visual arts administration from New York University, Musick’s career path has included working in membership, fundraising and design at Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New York Public Library. While she lived in New York, she took advanced jewelry-making classes, and she eventually began creating designs with Hawaiian themes.

“That was a sign that I was starting to miss home,” Musick says.

She returned to Hawaii in 2005, and in addition to her jewelry and graphic design business, the Pacific Heights resident works full time as communications director for Hawaii Arts Alliance and participates in Maoli Arts Month.

She says she appreciates the help and support of all of her friends, family and customers.

“It takes a leap of faith to be a creative person,” she admits.

For more information, call Native Books Na Mea Hawaii at 596-8885 or log onto http://www.marlamomimusick.com/.

A Vacation Getaway For Canines

Sandy Van wants dogs to be “bowwowed” when they spend some time at Trade Winds Pet Suites, a boarding kennel for dogs with no crates or cages.

“Hopefully, when the dogs come here, they feel like they are on a vacation rather than in a boarding kennel,” says Van about the Waianae facility. “I really like it when the dogs come back after coming here a time or two and they are excited to see me when they come again. Then I know we are doing something right if the dogs are happy to come back.”

Van says there is plenty of room for dogs to roam around.

“There’s an indoor portion of the kennel where the dog can eat and sleep if it likes,” says Van. “And it opens to its own private 25-foot run that is fenced, so the dog can be inside or outside at any time of the day or night.”

In addition to the kennels, there are large play areas.

“I think when you are mixing dogs from different families, it is hard to tell how they would get along, or more importantly, how they might not get along,” she says. “So when we let them go into the play yard, they go by themselves unless they are dogs from the same family. We play with them and spend time with them, and get to know each dog’s personality.”

 

Owners can bring their dog’s favorite toys, treats and food.

“I also ask the owners to bring a piece of clothing or a blanket that has the owner’s scent on it for the dog,” she says.

Tradewinds Pet Suites is a division of Tradewinds Quarter Horses LLC, as she boards both dogs and horses. A freelance medical writer professionally, one of the challenges Van notes is getting the word out about her boarding business. Recommendations have come from a local veterinarian and her customers, and Van says the Internet is another way people are finding out about her services.

The Waianae resident acknowledges her friends with two and four legs, as well as her family for all their encouragement for the business. Van especially appreciates the support of her three sons Paul, Aaron and Jeremy. She also says her son Jeremy’s girlfriend, Alex Seibel, as well as Tradewinds part-time employee Sunny Kaapana are very helpful.

Her family wouldn’t be complete without her two German shepherds Gabi and Gabi’s son Tradewinds Achilles, Belgian shepherd Lyssa and mini-dachshund Muggsy.

“I’m a dog owner and lover myself,” says Van.

Tradewinds is located at 86-626 Puuhulu Road. For more information, call 696-4900 or log onto www.tradewindsqh.com/pets/.

Taking A Double Shot At Success

Vinny and Yuka Thieu love what they do at Fun Pix Hawaii, their Japanese photo sticker shop and nail salon.

The husband-and-wife team are manicurists, as they worked in a nail salon before they opened this business combination in July. The nail salon part of the business includes decorative embellishments - flowers, fruit, even a line of sea creatures such as turtles and fish. They emphasize their use of a product called Calgel, a nail gel system.

“Some women’s nails grow to a certain point then they break because they are brittle,” Vinny explains. “We use Calgel, and that makes the nails stronger.”

On the photo side of the business, the Thieus are happy to show customers how the five photo booths work, if they need any help.

“After people try it the first time, then they get a better idea of how to do it,” the couple reveals. “We try to explain it to them first but they don’t always listen.”

The photo booths, which were introduced in 1995 in Japan, are called purikura, which is short for print club - purinto kurabu.

 

The photo session can be done with just one person, and some booths can fit 10 people comfortably - a group of 14 people even managed to fit into one. As upbeat music plays, people inside the photo booths can have fun striking several poses, and there are some props available such as wigs and sunglasses. Clients select the best pictures, and they have a time limit to decorate the photos using colorful digital stickers such as hearts, stars, flowers, animals, cartoons and various other options. (The text is in Japanese, which they hope to translate into English in the future.) A 4-by-6 sheet then comes out of the machine with photo stickers of various sizes on it. Then people cut out the picture and give it to friends.

The 735-square-foot shop has its own photo board, so patrons can post their pictures if they desire. Yuka Thieu, who grew up two hours north of Tokyo in Sendai, has an album full of photo stickers she’s collected since she was 15 years old.

“These are my memories of me and my friends,” she says. “I’ve got my friends of friends in here, too. People take pictures to remember their friendships. They do it for their birthdays, a farewell party, Halloween and Christmas. Valentine’s Day is also pretty big.”

Customers in the shop sometimes like to take pictures with the couple’s 16-month-old daughter Miya.

To spread the word about the shop, they distribute fliers, and they acknowledge the support of all their friends, family and customers for helping them get the message out about their endeavor through word of mouth - and, of course, pictures are worth a thousand words.

Fun Pix Hawaii is located on the ground floor of the Century Center at 1750 Kalakaua Ave. Hours of operation are noon to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 949-9091 or log on to www.funpixhawaii.com.

A Personalized Business Style

Lee Ann Del Carpio, whose busy pace was once compared to a Chinese acrobat who juggles several spinning plates on sticks in each hand, is a leadership consultant who helps others achieve success in business and in life. With her company Inner Power International, she empowers individuals, entrepreneurs and organizations to utilize their passion and talent to go to the next level of triumph.

To do that, she asks her clients lots of questions about future goals.

“Where are they now?” she inquires. “Where do they want to go?

What is the current market position? What works? What doesn’t work? What gets in your way? Executive coaching is a process of change and transformation, and it is also a relationship.”

One of her first exercises with her customers clarifies the mission and the company’s core values.

“It is important to get clear on that now,” says Del Carpio, “and get a handle on how we navigate through change, and build leaders in the direction of where we want to go. We will be forward thinking in answering the question, ‘How will I find and sustain my edge in a constantly changing world?’”

For a progressive business, she says, you need systems, and she emphasizes that a good product or service is just one part of the big picture.

“Lots of people don’t have the whole business model,” she says. “You have to have the right attitude, skills set and business structure.”

One of Del Carpio’s clients, Liz Kelly, an author and public-relations professional, shares one of the tips she’s learned about having a team.

“If you have a system, you can train someone else to do your stuff,” Kelly says. “This way, if you go on vacation, your income continues.”

Del Carpio, a Chicago native, moved from New York to Hawaii in 2001 to begin a life where she could balance having a great career and raising a family. Her experience in intercultural management includes conducting corporate global leadership training for many industries, including Avon.

The Hawaii Kai resident appreciates the support of all her mentors, clients, friends, family and especially husband Javier and their two daughters, 4-year-old Angelena and 2-year-old Kaia.

“I want to be a good role model of a mom and demonstrate through how I live my life that girls and women can do anything,” Del Carpio emphasizes.

To empower other women, in partnership with the Richards Street YWCA she started a Cashflow Club for women that meets from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays starting Oct. 21. It will provide women with a nurturing environment to talk about how they can take control of their financial future. During the program they’ll play a Cashflow game created by Kim and Robert Kiyosaki to help them learn - Kim wrote Rich Woman - A Book On Investing For Women, and Robert is the author Rich Dad Poor Dad.

“My work is in both personal development and business,” says Del Carpio. “One without the other, I find, is not as powerful. When you put the two together in a systematic fashion, that’s when you get to feel the difference between those who are linked into a strategy that helps them achieve business results and brings them energy personally. That is an intangible competitive advantage.”

For more information, call 626-4680 or log onto www.innerpowerintl.com.

‘Tis The Season For Shave Ice In Hawaii

June Chan knows why shave ice is so popular at her new business Snow in Four Seasons.

“Hawaii weather is good for shave ice,” says Chan, explaining the poetic name of her shop. “You can eat the ice all year long. All different ages can eat it for all different seasons.”

The cold treat can include azuki beans, condensed milk and ice cream, too, and she also offers sugar-free syrup and ice cream. Acai bowls with granola and banana are served at the store, in addition to dim sum, cookies, pastries, hot dogs, saimin and other snacks.

The 500-square-foot shop is located on the Fun Factory side of Market City Shopping Center in the indoor alcove next to Duk Lee.

One of the entrepreneur’s goals, of course, is to lure in more customers.

“We do the best we can to make it good,” says Chan. “If they try it, they remember you, and they can come back.”

Her brother C.K. Leung is in charge of sales, marketing and training.

Snow in Four Seasons offers $5 coupons that organizations can sell for fundraising. “You can come in and use the coupon to buy something within six months,” Chan says.

The busy Hawaii Kai resident, who once owned a clothing shop in Kilohana Square, is at the shave ice store when she’s not doing nails, facials and waxing at her other shop, June’s Diamond Head Beauty Salon on Monsarrat Avenue, which she has owned for the past 13 years. Earlier this year, she opened the Kakaako-based Tasty House, which wholesales and retails dim sum.

Chan says she appreciates the support of all her customers, friends, family and especially her husband, Danny.

Snow in Four Seasons is located in Market City Shopping Center at 2919 Kapiolani Blvd. The hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 734-1878.

Heating Up Water The Green Way

“I believe in getting into hot water - it helps keep you clean.” -G.K. Chesterton

Bernard Kea keeps clean and green with a solar water heating system he offers in Hawaii, Guam and Singapore through his company SunEnergy Hawaii.

“It’s very simple,” says Kea, president of SunEnergy Hawaii. “The collector holds 50 gallons of water on the roof. That water soaks up the thermal properties of the sun. In the panel is a copper tubing system. So when you turn on hot water, it extracts heat from the water, and it pre-heats the water going into the conventional water heater.”

Kea likens it to a swamp (evaporative) cooler.

“My nephew plays football for Saint Louis,” he explains. “They have a big fishing cooler. Inside the fishing cooler is copper tubing. Before practice they fill up the cooler with ice and they put water in it. Then they hook the fishing cooler to a water hose. When the players drink from the spigot, the tap water circulates through the copper tubing, and it extracts the coldness from the ice water. When it comes out the other end, it’s cold water. It’s a simple concept, only in reverse.”

 

Kea says the system is maintenance-free once it is set up and customers save $30 to $45 a month. A homeowner can install it on his/her own if desired, or the company can install it for the homeowner.

“If I had to install it I probably could, and I’m not a plumber by any means,” says Kea, who previously worked as a director of operations and a controller in engineering and law firms.

The Kaiser High School graduate said he decided to do something meaningful and green. During his research on a business plan, he stumbled onto the Sun Cache product online.

“This product didn’t require you to change the water heater,” the Hawaii Kai resident says. “It didn’t require any pumps, sensors or controllers. The product was designed for California, and since we don’t have a lot of temperature variations for day and night, I thought it would be an ideal product for a tropical climate.”

He started SunEnergy Hawaii in 2008, and to get the word out, he displays at trade shows, does power point presentations and has a brochure. The entrepreneur appreciates the support of all his customers, friends, family and especially his son Joshua.

In the next few months, Kea plans to offer wind turbines from Honeywell that can generate energy for homes and businesses.

For more information, call 277-9057.

Two Friends And Their Two Closets

Jina Watanabe and Chong Yamamoto created their dream walk-in closet of blouses, dresses, shiny belts, and sparkly jewelry in the second location of their In My Closet boutique at Pearlridge Center uptown.

“We have everything from a T-shirt to an evening dress,” explains Watanabe about the new 500-square-foot shop that has the same atmosphere as their 2-year-old Kahala Mall venue.

“It is In My Closet,” says Yamamoto. “So it is literally small. These are things that we would wear ourselves. And if customers don’t know how to put things together, we are more than happy to help them, and they appreciate that.”

Fresh off a buying trip, Watanabe and Yamamoto picked out special merchandise just for the Pearlridge Center grand opening on Sept. 30.

“We brought in some styles so that our customers will find something different,” explained Watanabe.

Changing things up and keeping it fresh is a big part of the standard operating procedure for the business partners.

“We bring in things once to three times a week,” shares Yamamoto. “Our regulars usually know from our mannequins in the front that we brought in something new. Without our customers, we would never have been able to move forward.”

They do carry a handful of brands regularly including Bobi and Miss Me.

“We make decisions together,” Watanabe says. “We decide what to buy together. Since we’ve been friends together for a long time, it’s not like regular partners. We are like sisters, so we kind of know each other.”

“We bring out our stronger parts,” adds Yamamoto. “We each bring something different to the table.”

Friends since elementary school, Watanabe and Yamamoto have extensive business backgrounds. Watanabe, a St. Andrews Priory graduate and Kalani-Iki resident, managed Ferragamo at Waikiki and at Ala Moana for 12 years, and helped open several of their stores. Yamamoto, a Roosevelt High alumna and St. Louis resident, still owns Kainalu Designs, which has done Hawaiian jewelry concessions for the past 10 years at Duty Free Shops in Waikiki and at the airport, and wholesales to Macy’s.

Watanabe and Yamamoto appreciate the support of all their friends, family and customers - especially Watanabe’s husband Gary and son Dylan, and Yamamoto’s husband Craig and children Christopher, Ethan and Kai.

“We really enjoy what we do,” they say. “That is one of the reasons why we are successful. We love it when the customers tell us they got compliments.”

For more information, call the Pearlridge location at 486-5999, Kahala Mall store at 734-5999, and log onto: http://www.inmyclosethawaii.com. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Making Businesses More Efficient

Paul Borden quotes former CEO of General Electric Jack Welch as saying, “Nothing matters more in winning than getting the right people on the field.”

Borden, owner of Pagrebo Business Solutions, helps small businesses get the right people on the field with his 13-year-old business’ newest partnership with Profiles International.

Many people have heard of workplace scenarios where supervisors have no training in their position, or where slackers are given good opportunities while diligent workers are overlooked.

Borden’s work with Profiles International gives business owners the blueprint on how to get the best out of all managers, and employees, and most importantly how to have the right person in the right job.

“I ask a lot of questions,” explains Borden.

He says with the information he puts in to the reports that Profiles generates, he may find that an accountant may possibly have the traits that would make a great sales person.

The reports also can help managers work better with their team.

“Many supervisors don’t have any idea how to coach and train the people now that they are in charge,” Borden says. “The coaching report puts it in plain English. This is how each individual responds on your team. You can take a look at that and say, ‘I need to coach this person on this, and this is how I need to approach them.’ It is literally like paint-by-numbers from a management and coaching perspective. It is like an instruction book on how to coach your people.”

The report can also take a look at who the top performers of the company are and identify those characteristics so business owners can look for those traits in future employees. Once those characteristics are understood, the coaching report can show the manager how to get the other employees to reach that productivity level.

Employees may also look at the coaching report, so they will know what they can work on.

“By getting the best out of the people you already have,” notes Borden, “it can save companies money by using resources wisely since it takes three months salary to replace a person.”

Borden founded the Pagrebo Business Solutions in 1995 as a paralegal specializing in business and employment issues. His business name is a combination of the first few letters of his first, middle, and last name: Paul Gregory Borden. The Makakilo resident has since grown the firm to include business consulting, management coaching, mediation, and multimedia marketing. He expresses thankfulness for all the friends, family and customers who support him, especially his girlfriend Tracy Maeda.

One of the challenges Borden revealed is that since he is introducing something new, people are reluctant to change.

“My clients need to have a quick and positive impact,” he admits.

Trinh Ajah Hoyt, director of sales for Zekkou Ultimedia, is a believer.

“His time spent with our team created immediate increase in sales, productivity, and market presence,” notes Hoyt.

His plans for the future include growing the business so that it can help more people.

For more information on Pagrebo Business Solutions, call 227-7749 or log onto pagrebo.com

All A-Twitter Over T-shirts

Valentino Valdez hesitantly agreed to sign up for Twitter, only to discover that online social networking really does bring in clients to his design business.

“Every designer has friends who need design work,” says Valdez about his company, VALDEZign. “Friends, and friends of friends, throw work my way.”

Valdez says it was his friend, public relations professional Nathan Kam, who urged him to get on Twitter, a Web site where people write short sentences (140 characters or fewer) called “tweets” about anything they choose and share them with friends. Kam advised Valdez that if you’re interacting with people and showing your personality as if you’re hanging out, you can promote yourself without a pushy sell.

So Valdez signed up with Twitter last year, and when Kam was going to a conference, he asked Valdez to design a T-shirt for him with his unique Twitter name on it. The design has the letters IRL in a box, an acronym for In Real Life, by which he means meeting face to face. Orders poured in when the prolific online social networker Ryan Ozawa wore his own personalized Twitter T-shirt to a live webcast streaming event with the celebrity tech blogger Chris Parillo, who was vacationing in Hawaii at the time. Valdez then was tapped to create the Honolulu Twestival logo for the event.

 

Through his connections on Twitter, his shirts have been ordered in England, the Netherlands and Germany. He’s also creating the Twitter shirts for companies.

“It’s marketing and social at the same time,” he says.

The Twitter shirts are just one of Valdez’s projects. His creativity branches out into designing logos, business cards, digital photography and blog design. Several military folks abroad are on teams, and they ordered T-shirts with their unit name on it, and the team members’ names are written in the shape they specified. He recently designed postcard invitations for his alma mater, Maryknoll School, where he played on the basketball team. This former Spartan’s work was showcased on ESPN as one of the top three out of 400 entries when he entered a contest to show what Detroit Pistons basketball player Charlie Villanueva would look like with hair. Valdez’ creation was a parody of the Johnny Depp character in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Inspired by comic books while growing up, he enjoyed drawing and illustrations, which led him to his graphic design career. He started VALDEZign in 1999. His work history includes Honolulu Star-Bulletin and MidWeek as well as his current day job as a graphic designer with University of Hawaii West Oahu.

Valdez is appreciative of all the friends and family that supported him. He especially gushes with praise for his wife, Katrina, and their 3-year-old daughter, Oren.

Utilizing his artistic abilities, he hopes to somehow help the Friends of the Library, as his family outings often include a weekend trip to the library.

For more information on VALDEZign, call 277-9143 or log on to valdezign.com or http://twitter.com/valdezign.

A Smart And Stylish Way To Shop

Dianne Wennick sets a good example of how to look fashionable while doing something positive for the environment. An avid believer in making a stylish statement, she is passionate about wheeling her Rolser cart every time she shops so she uses fewer plastic bags.

With her company Cart-It Hawaii, she is among the first to bring the Rolser cart, which is manufactured in Spain, to the U.S.

“Whenever I walk around with it, people do a double take as they haven’t seen anything like it before,” says Wennick. “We have several designer bag looks and a camouflage look. Men and women like these. We have some with a more sporty look, and some close with a drawstring. We have one called the Plegomatic that folds up like a briefcase.”

One of the bags has a thermal lining so food items can be kept hot or cold. Some carts have bags that separate from the wheels.

 

Wennick advises keeping the cart in your car.

“I feel so good that I’m eliminating the use of about eight or nine plastic bags in a week,” she says. “It supports the environment, but it’s mostly about style.”

She first got the word out about the carts at dinner parties when she started the business about six months ago. These days she sells online, and the Internet is bringing her orders from as far away as New York, California and Washington. She delivers carts to customers on Oahu and puts on trunk shows at networking events.

“The people who come back to buy another one are those who want one to use just for grocery shopping and a different one to use at the mall,” she explains.

The carts have a reusable waterproof bag that can carry about 40 pounds.

Wennick has worked in real estate since the 1980s, and is a Realtor with East Oahu Realty.

The Kahala resident acknowledges her friends and family for their help, and she especially appreciates the encouragement of her husband, Larry, and their 4-year-old daughter Natalie.

“This is not only for our generation, this is for my daughter’s generation,” she says.

For more information, call 224-1272 or log onto cartithawaii.com.

Making A Bounce To The Malls

Paul Sailor bounces his bounce houses around the Islands for parties, and now he has two indoor locations where families can bring their children to play: Windward Mall and Pearlridge Center.

“Whenever it rains, we are packed,” says Sailor, who offers all-day and monthly passes as well as a two-hour party package at 808 Bounce locations, where families also can bring their own food.

Children ages 2 to 12 from churches, schools and other organizations come in and jump, slide and ride to their hearts’ content. There is a computer with wireless Internet available for parents to use while the kids are having fun, but the adults still need to keep an eye on their keiki.

Bringing his bouncer indoors was not something Sailor was planning at first.

 

“I was actually trying to see if I could find a place to sell some flowers at Windward Mall just for Valentine’s Day,” says Sailor about his innocent inquiry. “I was thinking of having a seasonal kiosk open maybe the week before Valentine’s so some of the last-minute people could get flowers.”

The flower idea didn’t work out, but General Growth Management did have some space open at the mall, and in November 2008, 808 Bounce had its first indoor location. The Pearlridge location opened in June 2009.

Sailor continues to deliver bounce houses to parties across the Islands, and he also can include some tables and chairs. He acknowledges that the success of his business has a great deal to do with the friends and family who support him, especially his five employees who are on time, friendly and good with the customers.

One of the things on Sailor’s agenda is to do his best to make sure every client is happy.

“I answer this phone 24/7,” he notes. “I figure if I can take care of it immediately, that will be the best.”

Sailor, a former Marine who was stationed at the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base, previously had a mobile detailing business. A graduate of Hawaii Pacific University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Sailor’s diverse background includes training horses. For the 808 Bounce business, he handles the operations and management. His wife, Emmanuelle, handles the marketing and social media, in addition to running her own business, The Press Release Company. The couple’s daughter Mikayla gets to enjoy the fruits of her parent’s labor.

They will be having holiday specials where they will partner with other businesses to help make something special for customers. Plans are in motion for a Halloween celebration. In the future, they hope to expand the business to the Mainland.

At Windward Mall, 808 Bounce is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. At Pearlridge, hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

For more information, call 366-6055 or log onto 808Bounce.com.

Tech To Assist Insurance Claims

Riki Fujitani helps insurance companies become more efficient with his company BlueWave Technology, which sells software to coordinate every aspect of an insurance claim.

“It is a better way to do things,” explains Fujitani. “Integration is by web services. Older platforms don’t have that. Everyone wants to buy new stuff, and they don’t want to buy the same old software that is 15 years old.”

This is a modern way to keep track and report information instead of having a paper trail for the insurance claim.

BlueWave Technology, which started in 2001, caters to the small to mid-size insurance companies that cover property, casualty and workers compensation. Of the company’s 50 employees, 40 are based in Hawaii and 10 are in various places, including New York, Kansas and India.

 

Fujitani, a 1979 Baldwin High School (Maui) graduate, appreciates the support of all those who have had a hand in making his business possible, especially his wife Mallory and their children McKenna, Cade and Emma.

His background includes working as a litigation attorney, and as a chief information officer.

Attending trade shows is one way the firm gets the word out about what it can do.

Once people understand the product, then sometimes it is a challenge to convince potential clients that a company from Hawaii can assist, Fujitani sayss.

“People have the perception that Hawaii is only a place for vacationing, and not a place for technology,” he says.

“We have the technology. We can do it.”

Fujitani relies on clients who can attest to their services to overcome that obstacle such as the 144-year-old insurance company, Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance, which-won a 2009 Model Carrier of the Year award for being innovative in the insurance industry.

That recognition helped BlueWave get acknowledged as the Company To Watch in the 2009 Vanguards in Insurance Practices Program sponsored by Insurance Networking News and Celent Insurance Group.

For more information, call 888-927-9981, or log onto bluewave-technology.com.

 

A Better Way To Bring Up Baby

Co-owners Naoko “Nicky” Lawnsby and Ashley Lukens reach out to families who want an eco-friendly lifestyle with their babies. Their Baby aWEARness store’s most popular items are cloth diapers and baby carriers.

“Cloth diapering is now high tech,” says Lukens. “It’s not the pins, the soaking and the rubber pants. Now there is a PVC liner with a pocket that you stick a microfiber insert into, so it absorbs a ton of moisture. It has a nylon liner that whisks the moisture away so baby stays dry. The diapers come as one size - the diaper grows as baby grows, and you only need to buy one set. They don’t require soaking anymore, so you just have to wash on hot.”

Lukens adds that baby-wearing is the new trend in baby accessorizing. They offer several types of baby carriers - a sling that carries the baby close to the parent. In addition to selling lunchboxes and toys, the shop also offers various classes in early childhood learning and pregnancy, as well as food workshops. Some of the topics listed on the Web site babyawearness.com are vaccines, home gardening, introduction to cloth diapering, how to use a baby carrier, breast-feeding, yoga and music.

“We like to educate,” says Lawnsby. “We want to empower them. We want to be a part of the community and serve the community. What they need, we’ll offer.

We are here to help people and give them information.”

The Baby aWEARness store was started by Cindy Urbanc in September 2007, and this year, Lawnsby and Lukens took over ownership. Lawnsby is a certified nurse midwife, an international board-certified lactation consultant, and a Japanese breast-massage specialist. Lawnsby’s grandmother and mother also were midwives. Lukens has a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies and economics from Vassar College, and she’s the eco-friendly mom of Audrey Jay Shannon.

They both appreciate all the help they’ve received from their friends and family.

The store plans to add a Mom and Baby Cafe to offer food twice a week, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., where moms can eat comfortably with their baby without worrying about bothering others, and also a play area for children. Dads are welcome too.

Baby aWEARness is located 2752 Woodlawn Drive, on the second floor of Manoa Marketplace. The store is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday. For more information, call 988-0010, or log onto babyawearness.com.

A Way To Stay Fashionably Healthy

Little did Denyse Ray know that, when she started her fashionable masks endeavor, the swine flu headlines would jump-start her business.

“Our little Website crashed because orders were coming in so rapidly,” says Ray with a smile about her lines of particulate respirator masks.

Her goal with Ease Mask is to give people options in protection from breathing in sulfur from fireworks or other toxins in the air that can be a danger to health.

“Not many people know this, but there is a mandate that says all preparedness kits should have a particulate mask in it,” Ray explains.

The reusable masks are soft and made of natural fabrics. They come in various colors with a matching waterproof pouch, in sizes from preschool-age to adult. The line expands with a Hawaiian pattern, and child-friendly patterns also are on the horizon. The masks are available at Longs, Don Quijote, Kmart and at the Blind Vendors Ohana newsstands at the airport.

“I have them in every color, in every purse,” she says.

She also offers what she calls the “bling line,” which is adorned with rhinestones and other decorations such as pearls, that can be custom ordered.

“We actually did one for a bride,” says Ray. “She had a cold. She wanted a mask and we made it beautiful for her.”

Custom-orders can include initials or company logos.

“The goal is to remove the stigma that is associated with pathogen protection, particulate protection, from one person to the next,” she says. “The sterile white has used up its time. Our tag line is ‘Air is better here.’”

The idea of fashionable particulate respirator masks came to Ray when she was called in on Sept. 11 to be a first responder and had to use her sleeve for days until they gave her a mask.

“When they finally passed one out to us, it was the kind you can get at the hardware store,” she remembers. “I thought, there is an untapped market here - women. Women like things that are pretty first, and functional.”

When she first launched her masks at the 2008 New Products Show, she sold out because people were buying them up for friends and family dealing with vog on the Big Island. She’s distributing through S & L Trading.

Another reason the masks are important to her is because her father passed away from mesothelioma.

“If I could save someone else’s dad from lung cancer, that would be really good for me.”

She appreciates the support of everyone who’s had a part in her production, especially her husband, Michael, her daughter Rashaan and granddaughter Qailah.

One of the biggest challenges she says she faces in running her business is the high cost of shipping, which she handles by making sure her she orders enough stock in advance.

Ray, who has a Ph.D. in psychology, focuses on quality control, and the future includes expanding the masks into vending machines or kiosks.

“We really would like for people to begin to think about protecting their respiratory system,” says Ray.

For more information, call 635-6548, or log on to easemask.com.

Here’s To Making Bars Profitable

Operating at a 20-percent loss has become second nature to bars in the restaurant industry, says Andrew Crawford, owner of the local franchise of Bevinco, a profit management and alcohol inventory control company. To combat that problem, he helps reduce the loss by providing concrete information to the business owner.

“Every week, we count and weigh what’s at the bar,” Crawford says, noting that a hand-held scanner also is used. “We provide a report of how the bar did each week. We try to keep it as paperless as possible. The e-mail written report has spreadsheet reports they can analyze.”

The process of weighing the inventory can take anywhere from one to four hours, with the average audit taking two hours.

Customers range from small bars to national franchises. Oahu clients include Chili’s, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

Crawford says the software, bar-code scanner, digital scale and laptop streamline the process to five times faster than manual data entry.

“We like to encourage the bar owners to give their bartenders the ability to sell the product and promote the product, and to reward good customers,” says Crawford. “We use what we call a comp tab to acknowledge good business practices. The owner is basically giving an allowance to bartenders so they can give a drink to customers as a thank you. This way they can tangibly evaluate how much they are giving away.”

Crawford was in the hospitality business in Canada with a 16-suite boutique hotel before he moved to Hawaii with his family. He opened Bevinco in 2006 and started serving the island of Maui, and this year expanded to Oahu. Crawford acknowledges his three employees, as well as the support of his wife, Tarra. They have two children: Kirra, 6, and Beckett, 11 months old.

One of the challenges Crawford has is to convince business owners to give him a chance. “It’s a hard to comprehend that there may be a loss,” he explains. “It’s a trust thing, too.”

He says fixing the bar takes it to a new level, and owners make more money.

“If you want to make more money, you can keep our services,” explains Crawford.

A Fun Book Club Just For Boys

Where there is drudgery, what can be done to make it fun? That’s the question Laura Blum asked herself to get her son Hugh to improve his reading. The answer was Book Club 4 Boys.

The club meets for about an hour once a month.

“The first 20 minutes is a physical activity,” Blum says. “Then once the boys release that excitement, they are ready for a snack and some discussion about the book. They’ll do the reading so they can have the fun.”

For example, they read Million Dollar Shot by Dan Gutman, about a boy who wins a poetry contest and gets to take a foul shot at an NBA game for a chance to win $1 million. For physical activity, they played basketball games from the book.

“It relates to the book and gets the energy out,” she adds.

 

During physical activity there is an incentive game where questions about the book are asked, and the boys are rewarded if they get it right. Snack time starts at the dining room table, and then the group goes more into detail about the book’s plot and what they liked and didn’t like. Sometimes even the snack is related to the book.

“I’ve learned over the years that hosting a book club for boys is a little different than for girls,” she says. “I start out with only the amount of boys that can fit at my table.”

Making things fun is something she does with the entire family, which includes her husband H. Brian Blum, and their four sons Hugh, 12; Hunter, 9; Hatrick, 6, and Heath, 3.

Blum started Book Club 4 Boys when a teacher suggested that Hugh might have to repeat first grade because of his reading. Then in 2004 her friends didn’t let them join a mommy-daughter book club, so she created her own book club for boys. By 2006, Hugh was reading at two grade levels higher than his class.

She posted the book club information online, and in 2008 Family Fun Magazine spotlighted her in its publication. Soon book publishers started contacting her to advertise on her website.

Each month she reviews books on the website. There are four types of books she reviews. There is story time for the preschooler; books for the beginning reader, from kindergarten to first grade; the independent reader in second to fourth grade; and the confident reader in fifth grade and above. She gives the Biggest BELCH Award to books with lots of action that boys, who are reluctant readers, will like. There are other books good for field trips, movies or that go with Boy Scout activities.

She invites parents who blog their book club activities to post a link to her Web site’s Round Up section so families can access a collection of ideas.

For more information, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or log onto www.Bookclub4boys.com.

Highlighting Small Business

I was at the Honolulu Police Headquarters covering a press conference after the shooting of seven Xerox employees by Byron Uesugi for eNewsHawaii.com when MidWeek editor Don Chapman called me on my cell phone, asking if I’d be willing do a feature article on a gun group in light of the Xerox shooting. Oh, yes, I’d love to write for MidWeek!

 

That was November 1999. A handful of freelance articles later and in April 2000 I accepted a full-time job with MidWeek. I went from the minute-by-minute excitement of working full time with the Rick Hamada Show on KHVH Radio 830 AM, where I’d been since 1997, to the nuances of working in print full time. MidWeek kindly allowed me to continue to work with Clear Channel Radio Hawaii on weekends, producing shows and doing news updates.

In 2003 I took over writing the Entrepreneurs column on small niche businesses, previously handled by former television reporter Ann Botticelli.

Thanks to everyone who helps make this column possible.

There’s so many things I love about writing this column. My favorite part is learning the back story of how a small business is started. My maternal grandfather was an entrepreneur who owned a restaurant and a nightclub in Brooklyn, N.Y., where I grew up, so I have a deep admiration for business owners and the steps they take to make their business succeed. I like seeing entrepreneurs in the community, at trade shows, in their shops and promoting their businesses. Thanks to all the entrepreneurs who opened up to share your story with me.

Whether the person has been in business for several months, a few years or decades, I find each person’s story of courage to be inspiring.

One of the owners I interviewed said it best: If the business is something you are passionate about, you’ll continue with it, no matter how many rejections you get.

Encouraging Families To Read

Nothing makes Hiroshi Sekido happier than seeing a family reading together. His BOOKOFF bookstore buys and sells used books, DVDs, CDs and video games.

“I want every family and everybody to come here,” Sekido says. “I feel so happy that we have books that people can buy.”

The store offers about 40,000 fiction, nonfiction, hardcover, paperbacks, comic books, manga and audiobooks at various prices, including a $1 section for both grown-ups and children.

“If it is in good condition, we buy it,” says Sekido. “Even if we already have plenty of that book, we will buy it. Our customers now have another option besides throwing away books.”

Sekido gushes that his employees are good workers.

 

“They help the customers, they help each other and they help me,” he says. “They even know more than me, and I like that.”

Sekido, who previously worked as a scuba instructor, opened the doors to his first BOOKOFF in 2000 in Shirokiya at Ala Moana Center, selling secondhand Japanese books, DVDs and CDs. BOOKOFF has a franchise in Japan with 1,000 stores, and there are additional Japanese language BOOKOFF shops in New York and Los Angeles.

Sekido, a Yokohama native, opened his first BOOKOFF because he loves reading in Japanese, and it was very expensive here in Hawaii when he wanted to get a Japanese foot shop with books to sell.

His wife, Atsuko, likes to bring their 8-year-old son Ryuya into the store because he shares his dad’s love of books.

Sekido hopes to open more English BOOKOFF shops in Hawaii.

BOOKOFF, located at Pearlridge Center Downtown, offers English-language books. The hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 485-0841. BOOKOFF at Ala Moana Center inside Shirokiya offers Japanese books. The hours of operation are 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. For more information, call 952-9115, or log onto: bookoffhawaii.com.

Reviving The Art Of Letter-writing

In a world of computer instant messages, e-mail and texting, Shauna Kahiapo hopes to revive the art of letter-writing with her eco-friendly stationery store Fresh Inc.

“Writing a letter is something that you take your time to do,” she explains. “A letter is something you can look at over and over again. I want to get folks to reconnect on a personal level.”

Every few months she’ll offer a letter-writing station at the shop where the store will supply a sheet of paper and an envelope to each customer who wants to write a letter, then Fresh Inc. will mail it.

Kahiapo believes stationery can be beautiful, practical and environmentally friendly. The Waste Not Paper line has writing paper with matching envelopes made using hydropower or wind power.

Its note sets, for example, are often made of cotton or bark fiber.

Two of the most popular items in the 450-square-foot boutique are lined journals and colorful ecobags. There also is a line of sticky notes that Kahiapo, a Koolau Baptist Academy graduate, designed herself, as she has a graphic design background. She also can custom design invitations.

It was when the Kaneohe resident lost her job that she was able to focus on a dream she’s had for some time. Her grandmother’s letters were one of the reasons she decided to perpetuate the nearly lost art of letter-writing and open the stationery store.

“I didn’t want to put limits on myself,” she says about the family business. “I let myself dream and follow through with action. I’m so very blessed to be doing something I’m passionate about.”

Kahiapo thanks her friends and family for their support, especially her husband Kahai Fukumitsu, and their 2-year-old son Seth, and admits that one of the challenges of running her own business is finding the balance between home and work.

“I focus on work when I am at the store so I don’t bring it home during family time,” she says.

Her goals include spreading her message about the environment and upgrading to a bigger store.

Fresh Inc. is located at Windward Mall at 46-056 Kamehameha Hwy. in Kaneohe. The hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. For more information, call 236-3203 or log on to www.freshinc.net.

Riding A Wave With Girls Who Surf

When Girls Who Surf’s Cherry Fu works overtime, she just may be riding a rolling wave.

“The first thing I share with my students is the standup position,” says Fu with a hearty laugh. “We get to the goal first! We know that’s what they want to accomplish. We get right to it. We give them tips and techniques, and safety situations.”

She keeps the classes small, with two to four students to one teacher. A basic lesson runs about 90 minutes. Sessions are arranged by reservation, and taught with the help of her staff of 10 surf instructors, both men and women.

“It’s a lot like lifeguarding and firefighting in that it has a huge physical component to it,” Fu says. “The staff is hardworking.”

She gets the word out about Girls Who Surf by attending professional networking events, as well as connecting with travel and tourism activity agents.

Using her past athletic coaching and academic teaching experience, the Honolulu resident pours her energy into training her staff and teaching the students.

And she is determined to make a splash.

“I want us to be one of the leading surfing operations in the world,” explains Fu, a Harvard graduate who moved to Oahu from Boston in 2002.

She started the company in 2005 because she loves surfing and wanted to have an impact on the surfing world. She acknowledges the support of her family, friends and staff.

One of the challenges of running the business, she says, are state regulations.

“They are licensing operations, so there is a mandate that we need to have instructors who are licensed by the Department of Land and Natural Resources,” she says. “However, they test once a month, and they test some people at one time and there is a waiting list. This slows our growth, and it slows our profession from advancing. When people come to Hawaii, the surf instructor is one of the people they look for. So the customers don’t have as much access as they can to instructors because of that.”

Fu admits that this is not an easy job.

“Michael Jordan makes basketball look easy. Tiger Woods makes golf looks easy. It is because they are skilled at it. Surfing is a challenging sport. If you think it’s easy, it’s not that easy.”

And that’s where Girls Who Surf comes in.

For more information, call 772-4583, or log onto girlswhosurf.com.

Maximizing Fundraising Dollars

Fundraising isn’t easy. It’s lot of work, and often requires cash up front or a minimum order, which can affect the nonprofit’s bottom line. So a group of fundraising friends started Kala Kokua to address some of these concerns and make life a bit easier for fundraisers.

“We created something to help parents and organizations,” says Rod Suzumoto, a partner in Kala Kokua. “These days we have to fundraise for trips and registration fees for our children. Our program that we created is no-deposit and nominimums. We want to make sure the organization can maximize its fundraising.”

Kala Kokua sells a pack of two turkey drumsticks fully cooked, smoked, frozen and vacuum packed. A 16-ounce frozen kalua pork package also is available, and a 20-ounce kalua pork option debuts this summer.

Here’s how it works: Kala Kokua prints tickets with the organization’s name on them as well as the date, time and location of the product pickup. Kala Kokua then asks for the number of tickets the organization thinks it can sell, and three days before pickup, they put in the order for how many tickets were presold. The fundraising organization pays for what they’ve presold when Kala Kokua delivers the meat to the pickup location, about 45 minutes before the start of the sale. Many organizations have a cooler and a shady area reserved for about three hours. Kala Kokua suggests selling what you have if there are any walk-up orders, and then request additional products to be sent to you that day.

Suzumoto and his partners Yukio Yukawa and Alton Uehara have been friends since seventh grade at Kaimuki Intermediate School. Jason Tani also was involved when the company started in 2005, although he’s stepped out for a while.

Their friendship has pulled the partners through many experiences before, and this business is no different.

“Our bunch has been together for a long time,” says Yukawa. “We’ve done volunteer work together. We worked Summer Fun together at the Y. We played sports together on teams. Even playing together on teams is like working together like a job.”

Yukawa and Suzumoto, who both work in the hotel industry, talk to the organizations about the products. Uehara, who works in retail, handles ordering products.

“Being fully cooked and a frozen product, it is easy to handle,” explains Uehara. “When we do this we meet good people, we make new friends, and we like doing this year after year.”

The business partners acknowledge the hard work their friends and family put into supporting their efforts as well as the collaboration of other fundraising opportunities.

Kala Kokua sells on the Neighbor Islands, as well. For more information, call 721-3432, or log onto kalakokua.com.

Getting Into The Rhythm Of Salsa

Judah Oschner is quick on his feet when he’s teaching people to dance to the pulsating rhythms of salsa, and that energetic spirit reflects in his company, Aloha Rhumberos, where he teaches and performs salsa and does mobile DJ work.

“Salsa keeps me sane,” he says. “This is happy music, and we need to get that across. It’s wholesome. Anyone can do it, whether you are starting to walk or can barely walk. Just last month, at the West Coast Salsa Congress in Los Angeles, there was one guy dancing with one leg and a crutch. Then he dropped his crutch and the place went wild.”

With the help of his sister Sunshine, Judah wants to return to the roots of salsa with Aloha Rhumberos, which was established in 2002. He has taught private and group lessons in venues such as Mid-Pac Country Club and the Kailua Movement Center and also has coordinated a performing troupe which uses hip-hop, capoeira and other dance styles.

“Don’t think you’re going to be on Dancing With The Stars,” he says. “Come with an open mind and you will learn about the music, the history and about the entire culture.”

 

In addition to running Aloha Rhumberos, Judah works as a DJ at PlayBar in Waikiki (formerly Scruples).

The Oschner siblings appreciate all the many friends, family and supporters who have helped them over the years, especially their mom, Debra, for teaching them to dance salsa, and their dad, Ron, for teaching them sports. With the guidance of their mentor Edie the Salsa Freak and many others, including Sabor Tropical Productions, Alma Latina Productions, Hawaii Hispanic News, Hispanic Center of Hawaii, Albert Torres Productions and DanceSport California - the brother and sister team look forward to giving back to the community.

Judah says one challenge they face running the business is the economy.

“We are going to give more for what little they are going to pay,” he promises.

He has represented Hawaii at the annual World Salsa Championship, in which nearly 30 countries are involved - dancing with Sunshine in 2006 in Las Vegas, and with Nathalie Ho in 2007 in Florida.

The Kailua resident says it is important to perpetuate Latin music and culture.

“I want everyone to support all Latin events - restaurants, businesses and classes,” says Judah. “We are all in the same boat.”

One of those boats he’s in is the ninth annual Hawaii Summer Salsa Festival, which he says was the result of a conversation over dinner late one night.

“Latin Lady DJ Margarita was talking about having a backyard barbecue,” he recalls. That thought developed into the celebration of El Dia de San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2001 as the yearly fundraiser for the Hispanic Center of Hawaii. A portion of the proceeds goes to Latin Lady DJ Margarita this year to help in her battle with cervical cancer. The three-day salsa event June 18-20 has food, music and includes dancing from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 20 at McCoy Pavilion. Details are at summersalsainparadise.com.

“Anything I can do to help with salsa, I’ll do if I can,” he says.

He also assisted with the third annual Hawaii Salsa Festival back in February.

Salsa classes start in July at the Manoa Dance Studio at Manoa Marketplace. For more information, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or log onto myspace.com/dalionofjudahandsunshine.

Learning Fun For Kids And Parents

Children crawl through the center tube of a play caterpillar, climb into a house constructed of cushioned mats and trek over a soft bridge at WeePlay and Learn.

Nothing makes Mary Melzack, president of WeePlay and Learn, happier than seeing tiny tots singing songs, playing and learning their ABCs and 123s. That’s one reason she started the company.

“As a parent, you want the best for your child,” says Melzack, the mother of four. “I did this as a mom and as something I wanted for myself.”

Located at Ward Warehouse, WeePlay and Learn has sessions for infants to 5-year-olds. Parents can participate in programs with their children, or drop off their children for other programs. They can come anytime once a week, or sign up for unlimited sessions led by a staff of three full-time and two part-time employees. There also are workouts for parents three times a week, presently yoga, Pilates, cardio burn and turbo kick-boxing.

“Parents love the social aspect,” says Melzack. “It becomes like a family.”

She even offers monthly haircuts for the children.

 

What spurred Melzack to start her company was her son David, who is now 8.

“I tried watching some of the TV shows with him and doing the activities, but that wasn’t enough,” she recalls. “I joined all kinds of play huis and museum activities, and I still wanted more.”

WeePlay and Learn opened in 2004 in Koko Marina and operated there for five years. She took a year off, then reopened in September 2008 in a 10,000-square-foot space on the second floor at Ward Warehouse. Before Melzack opened WeePlay and Learn, she worked as a shopping center developer for 20 years. Melzack acknowledges the support of her friends and family, especially husband Brian, a busy man himself who owns four Bestsellers Books and Music stores here on Oahu, and their four children: David; Arianna, 7; Georgina, 2, and Constadina, 1.

“I feel I’ve made a difference,” she says about those who have come through the programs.

Melzack is also getting set to launch a parent/child pre-school in January.

WeePlay and Learn is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. For more information, call 396-2100, or log onto weeplayandlearn.com.

With Pamalu, Your Auto Is Covered

No matter how much time you spend in, or working on your car, Diane Crisologo, operations manager of Pamalu, wants to help customers make their cars look good and protect them as well with bed lining, window tinting and detailing.

Pamalu carries seat covers, dash covers, tonneau covers for truck beds, sidestep bars, window visors and more.

“I save people money on a lot of accessories,” Crisologo explains. “We try to get the best prices we can and get the discount for the customer. We also have detailing products for the doit-yourselfers and the smaller detailing places on the island.”

Another service the firm offers is vinyl graphics.

“I would take an idea a customer has and expound on it,” she says. “We do unique graphics for an individual car.”

Fulfilling client needs also becomes a matter of being green.

 

“Our manufacturers don’t have a lot of brochures for us to hand out anymore, so everything is online,” says Crisologo. “We can e-mail our customers photos and prices.”

She quickly points out that the 3,500-square-foot shop can do so much more.

“We are able to do creative work; it’s not just spraying lining,” Crisologo adds. “I can spray other items. I am doing canoe paddles and canoes. I have the ability to take my applications and do more than just a car.”

Crisologo has been working in the car lining business since 1989. Audrey Kamai, Crisologo’s sister, is owner of Pamalu, which opened in March 2004.

Vee Ignacio rounds out the staff as sales manager.

Along with appreciation for their additional, as-needed staff, they acknowledge their friends, family and customers for their support.

In the future, Crisologo hopes to have an auto mall where several shops can work together to service cars.

She says her first priority is helping customers.

“We can do it a little bit at a time so people can get what they want for their vehicles,” she says.

Pamalu is located at 1308 Hart St. in Honolulu. Hours of operation are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. For more information, call 554-8344, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or log onto pamalu.com.

Reshaping The Surfboard Business

What happens when you go on vacation to surf in Australia and some folks ask if you can help create something that’s better than what’s already out there? If you are Jimmy Freese, you end up combining your computer programming skills with your passion for surfing to create a full-fledged business of your own.

That fateful day during a surf vacation was in 2001, and three years later Aku Shaper machines were born. The Aku Shaper is a machine that shapes surf-boards in an efficient manner so there’s more time spent out on the ocean in the waves than in shaping the board.

“Or you could use the time to shape more boards and make more money,” explains Freese.

His Aku Shaper machines have been selling since 2004, and they are in places such as Japan, England, Peru, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, California, North Carolina and Hawaii.

“Everyone likes the cutter concept, and they get really excited,” says Freese, noting that almost all of his surfboards were made with the cutter. “It uses a circle cutter the size of a dinner plate and about 12 millimeters thick. And the machine spins in both directions.”

 

Once the machine is done with the board, putting on the finishing touches is all that is left. The company’s YouTube video shows that a board can be cut in about 18 minutes.

Freese says one of the challenges is getting the word out about what the machine can do. Some ways have included word of mouth, attending trade shows and getting publicity, such as the Aku Shaper’s recent feature in the February 2009 edition of Surfer Magazine.

“Surfing is a small industry, so you kind of know everyone,” says Freese, a Kailua resident and Punahou graduate who has been surfing since he was a child.

“Once shapers understand that you can make more boards in a shorter amount of time, they’re interested.”

The Aku Shaper business is a three-way partnership that uses the computer programming skills of Freese’s father, Ralph, a math professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and engineer Mike Richard, who specializes in manufacturing machines for the automotive and pharmaceutical industries. The company’s future includes other related products they are developing with the software.

For more information, log onto aps3000.com.

Inspiring Future Fashion Designers

Yvonne Chun Izumi has her students in stitches - literally - at Izumi Arts.

“There are Project Runway patterns now, and a lot of girls get inspired by that (TV show),” says Izumi. “They sew because they want to be creative and do something unique to express themselves. It’s not so much because of the frugality.”

One of her students had five proms to attend, and she made two of her prom dresses. Another student came up with her own line of organic dresses.

“I’m trying to revive the art of sewing,” says Izumi. “There is a whole new talented generation out there.”

After students master the basics with cotton, they can move on to other fabrics. She also teaches techniques to adjust patterns. Students also create decorative pillows, totes, quilts and clothing.

 

Izumi offers two-hour lessons once a week, and in summer sessions lessons are held twice a week in small, semi-private groups. This summer, she has a few openings left - for students who have mastered the intermediate level - in her junior fashion design studio with three-hour sessions twice a week.

“I enjoy teaching them as much as they enjoy learning,” Izumi says. “I make it pleasant for them.”

She has led school projects, and says it’s rewarding to see her students learn how to sew and get into fashion programs for college.

Izumi Arts is located above the iconic fabric store, Kaimuki Dry Goods.

“We literally have all our supplies at our fingertips,” says Izumi. “I can accompany them downstairs if they have a question on what to purchase.”

Izumi’s mom taught her to sew by hand at age 5, and spent weekends sewing with her. She attended sewing school from age 9, and the Maryknoll High School and University of Hawaii School of Fashion Design graduate also taught sewing at age 19 for Singer Company.

Prior to starting her sewing school in 2004, Izumi sold clothing in retail stores, designed children’s clothes, and taught English and art as well.

She says she appreciates the support of her friends and family, especially husband Dennis and their adult children Jonathan and Amber.

Izumi Arts is located at 1144 10th Ave. on the second floor. For more information, call 734-2610 or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

 

Focusing On Pet Photography

Deb McGuire is happiest when she’s eyeball to eyeball with an animal, so she started her company, Deb McGuire Photography, to combine a few of her passions: animals, photography and traveling.

She’s been on the back of a camel, on top of an elephant in India, and in the ocean an arm’s length away from a 14-foot-long, 1,100-pound false-killer whale named Kina. She’s currently planning a vacation to Arkansas to visit the tiger reserve at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.

Whether she is standing over a bug, or a lying on the grass to get a snapshot of a dog in a neighborhood park, McGuire uses her own tricks of the trade to capture a pet’s personality.

“I always know the pet’s name, but I may not know the pet’s parent’s (owner’s) name,” says McGuire as she fondly points to the photos of her model pets in her portfolio.

She gets to know the pet first by getting on its level, which sometimes include being on all fours. She also admits to using bribery.

 

“I always carry dog toys, dog treats and cat treats,” she reveals. “I become their favorite person right then and there. Then I photograph the pet in all angles. I like to keep them in a natural environment, whether they are a horse on a race track or cat under a bed.”

After she’s done shooting about 200 to 300 photos of the pet, she uploads the photos on her computer and whittles the number down to the best 10-15 for the owner to choose from. She can enlarge the picture up to a poster size, create a photo album, put the pet’s photo on a purse or even on a sterling silver charm necklace.

One of McGuire’s first pets was a dog named Heidi, who did lots of modeling when McGuire took her first photography class at age 14. Her career path includes modeling, acting, radio and television journalism as well as doing stock photography for five years.

“Ninety percent of photos I submitted to the stock photography were animals, and 90 percent of the photos they accepted were animals, so I thought there’s something going on there.”

Originally from Orange County, Calif., McGuire moved to Hawaii in 2005, and decided to concentrate on being a pet photographer as of January. She appreciates the support of her friends and family for her business and especially her husband, Tim, a retired Marine. He serves as the chief financial officer with duties to include putting together easels, cutting up foam core, and working with Photoshop. Her co-vice presidents of the company are their two cats, Sham-rock and Magic.

“The animal or pet comes first to me,” she says. “Other photographers are passionate about photography. They like taking the pictures, whether it is a building or a pet. Me, I like seeing the joy in the pet parent’s face when those photos come back.”

For more information on Deb McGuire Photography, call 247-5282 or log onto hawaiipetphotos.com.

Accounting For Small Businesses

Penalty fees, past due notices and unbalanced checkbooks - a lot can go wrong if accounting is not taken care of. That’s where Dustin Sellers and his company ProAccounting Hawaii come in with a message about the benefits of outsourcing accounting duties by small businesses.

“If it is something you don’t make money at and it isn’t your core business, if you can find somebody else to do it better, you should outsource it,” says Sellers. “We believe the timing is right from an economic environment to find areas that are administrative in nature, time-consuming, and that really don’t make any money.”

Sellers, along with business partner Ben Godsey and eight employees, help small businesses by doing their Quickbook accounting online.

ProAccounting also will take over the entire accounting process for the business, using web-based software that gives owners a financial picture of how their company is doing at a glance. Sellers explains that traditionally a person may do accounts receivable in the morning, print invoices in the afternoon, and then at the end of the week do a batched receipts review.

He says his challenge is getting business owners to grasp the idea that you can be effective 24/7 and know where you stand.

 

“When they talk to one of our clients, that is when they get it,” notes Sellers, a Punahou graduate. “It’s like anything, it is experiential. It’s like the first time you have your house cleaned by someone. They folded your clothes and put them all away for you, and you have another hour at work or with your kids. Until you have that great housekeeper you paid $50, you don’t know what you’re missing.”

ProAccounting clients include Ruby Tuesday and American Mattress.

“To the small-business owner, it means fewer headaches, fewer mistakes and more money in the bank,” he says. “That’s what the 28,000 small-business owners in Hawaii who drive our economy need the most right now.”

ProAccounting Hawaii was established in 2007 and purchased by Sellers and Dennis O’Connell in 2008. It is a sister company to ProService, which handles outsourced human resource services. O’Connell, director of operations for ProAccounting Hawaii, has 15 years of experience working in capital markets including Fidelity and State Street Global Advisors.

Sellers says there is a timeliness, a dependability and an accuracy involved in outsourcing.

“You can guarantee that your accounting, postings, invoicing, accounts recievable, accounts payable are pretty much 24/7 live,” he says, “because we are in fact taking the data throughout the day from the client and posting it in real time. It is almost like a conveyor belt.”

His goal for the company’s future? To drum up more clients, of course.

ProAccounting is located at 6600 Kalanianaole Hwy., Suite 200, in Hawaii Kai. For more information, call 524-0748 or log onto proaccountinghawaii.com.

Furnishings Embody Artistic Spirit

Having a store with his designs is one of the things artist Kaypee Soh scribbled on his list of 10 things to do in a tiny sketchbook while he was riding the subway in New York City eight years ago. His shop So’mace Lifestyle embodies his artistic spirit.

“I have a lot of ideas,” says Soh about his dream come to life. “Anything creative, I love to do.”

The 1,300 square-foot store is home to framed photos taken by Soh, as well as pillows, wallpaper, lamps and other items that have Soh’s designs. He can be found at the store fashioning new projects.

Business partners Kaypee Soh, Edward Macey and Isla Schmidt roll up their sleeves to carry out their vision for the shop. Macey, the managing director, handles business administration and lends an eye to designs using his architectural and project management background. Schmidt, an interior designer, uses her retail background to flesh out the look and feel of the store so customers can get a feel of what it would be like to have Soh’s nature-inspired motifs at home. Schmidt uses her interior design skills at the shop’s design center where people can sit down at the table and look at swatches, discuss ideas from magazine pictures, and doodle with colored markers.

 

“We call Kaypee’s designs modern Pacific-inspired,” says Schmidt. “Everything he does is inspired by nature.”

Some of the designs are of waves, or raindrops, as they do their best to be sure the merchandise is eco-friendly. Other places Soh admits to getting his inspiration are the colors from the cereal aisle, and from his friends in the New York fashion industry.

“Kaypee is the Jonathan Adler of the Pacific,” says Macey about Soh’s line of home accessories in the store, which opened in 2008.

The company website, which also has a blog, explains that artwork can be altered by size and color. Furniture fabric, wallpaper, rugs and lighting can also be customized.

Originally from Malaysia, Soh attended art school in London at East Ham College, and his career included doing commercial design campaigns for companies like American Express, MTV, and L’Oreal USA. One of his recent projects showcases his photography in the King Kamehameha Hotel in Kona.

The partners plan to expand the product line and open stores in Miami, California and Canada in the future.

So’mace Lifestyle is located at 1115 Young St. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 593-8780, or log onto somacelifestyle.com

CORRECTION: In last week’s Entrepreneur article on Sanders Piano, Todd Sanders did not start his own moving company, S and S Delivery, he acquired it. MidWeek regrets the error.

A Family Business Stays In Tune

The Sanders family piano business has added three things to its two stores so more people can tickle the ivories.

Piano Outlet at Pearl Highlands Center is the only authorized Yamaha dealer in the state. The Sanders Piano shop on King Street now sells sheet music. And the second generation, Steven Sanders and his wife Li, may be grooming the third generation of the Sanders dynasty with their children Victoria, 3, and newborn Olivia, who was born April 16.

At the helm now are the first and second generations, working six days a week together. Bill Sanders, president, oversees the details of the business, including expenses and advertising. Son Steven, who serves as sales manager, says one of the lessons he learned from Dad is to pay attention to the details.

“Being in sales and marketing, a lot of times you are planning the big picture,” admits the younger Sanders, who started taking piano lessons at age 6. “The thing that he really impresses upon me is to make sure all the little parts are in line, and then big picture will come together.”

When ABC Music store closed last year, the 4,000-square-foot Piano Outlet became the only authorized Yamaha dealer in Hawaii.

“Yamaha is a leader, one of the strongest brands in pianos and digital pianos,” says Sanders. “The Yamaha Clarinova is almost like Q-tips or Coca-Cola because they are the first digital pianos made popular to take the place of an acoustic grand piano. In Hawaii, we do have a very large Asian population, and the Yamaha branding in that population is probably unparalleled. There is no other brand that is recognized as being synonymous with good-quality instruments as Yamaha.”

The 5,500-square-foot Sanders Piano location carries Steinway and Kawai pianos. And since ABC Music closed, piano teachers cried out that they no longer had a place to get sheet music and books, so Sanders Piano filled the gap.

“One piece may be done by three publishers,” says Sanders. The family got into the piano business when Bill Sanders worked for his uncle at the Ed Jeffrey Piano and Organ Center, which opened in 1954. When his uncle passed away, Bill Sanders became the piano dealer. The company name changed to Baldwin Piano Center in 1972, and over time it changed to Baldwin Sanders, and then Sanders Piano.

Piano Outlet opened 15 years ago at the inception of Pearl Highland Center.

Steven Sanders, the youngest of four siblings, worked for Norwest Financial for a couple of years before he joined the company officially in 1994. His brother Todd, who used to move the pianos, started his own moving company, S and S Delivery. The family extends its appreciation for the support of friends and customers.

One of the challenges of running a piano business, Sanders notes, is music-making is a lifelong commitment.

“Getting people interested in music has always been a challenge for our industry,” he reveals. “Our lessons program helps expose people, and it is fun.”

There are more than 1,000 students a week who take piano lessons at both stores.

“We focus on what we are good at: the cultivation of music,” adds Sanders.

Sanders Piano is located at 1500 S. King St. For more information, call 946-6500 or log onto sanderspianos.com. Piano Outlet is located at Pearl Highland Center at 1000 Kamehameha Hwy. For more information, call 456-0562 or log onto thepianooutlethawaii.com.

CORRECTION: The caption in last week’s Entrepreneur article on EMME Inc. identified Robert Pennybacker as the director of Emme Tomimbang’s documentary John A. Burns: The Man and His Times. Lisa Altieri Sosa served as the co-producer/director. Roy Kimura was director/writer. We regret the error.

Emme’s Up-close Look At History

Emme Tomimbang profiles an important man, an important time and an important milestone with the limited release of her second DVD, titled John A. Burns: The Man and His Times.

With her television production company, EMME Inc.(Emme Tomimbang Multi-Media Enterprises), Tomimbang says the show is a biography of John Burns, a visionary who was the father of the modern-day democratic revolution in the 1940s and 1950s, and Hawaii governor from 1962 to 1974. Burns created the University of Hawaii medical school, law school and helped organize unions. In addition to DVDs available, John A. Burns: The Man and His Times, directed by Robert Penebacker, will air on KHON2 at 9 p.m. April 15 and at 4 p.m. April 19 in honor of the 50th anniversary of statehood.

Tomimbang originally created this one-hour special in 2000, and incoming medical students view the documentary every year.

“He was pivitol for the time when Hawaii was being shaped,” she says of Burns. “Here I am documenting my husband’s father’s life, who is one of the crafters of the statehood bill. It’s kind of surreal for me, not just to have my own statehood understanding, but to make it part of the legacy to share with other people.”

 

The show has been updated with an introduction by her husband, James Burns, a retired chief judge of Hawaii’s Intermediate Court of Appeals.

“He looks so much like his dad that the older generation see him and say ‘Governor Burns,’” Tomimbang says.

Judge Burns says Tomimbang insisted he go on camera, so, like a good husband, he complied.

“She told me everything to do and everything not to do,” Burns admits. “I had to lift my chin, turn my face and sit up straight. I prefer her in front of the camera, and I prefer to be somewhere else.”

There are plans in place to get the DVD into schools and libraries as an educational piece.

Tomimbang’s first DVD release, Mabuhay with Aloha - The Hawaii Filipino Experience 1906-2006, was created for the Filipino Centennial.

The year 2009 is a big one for Tomimbang: the 50th anniversary of statehood, the 100th anniversary of JohnA. Burns’birth and also the 15th anniversary of EMME Inc., where she produces her show, Emme’s Island Moments - stories of Hawaii including entertainers, chefs and other interests. Before starting her company in 1994, the Farrington High School graduate worked in radio and television news.

Tomimbang has participated in many meaningful events over time, and a recent one is especially touching for her: when her web designer helped her stream her 2008 Christmas show online for the military in Afghanistan and Kuwait. That show featured Raiatea Helm and had a retrospective piece on Aunty Genoa Keawe.

“Anyone can show anything on computer, but you have to look at the financial aspect,” she says. “I still have to find a way to sponsor it.”

Tomimbang admits that one of the challenges of running your own television production company is finding those sponsors.

“I have to be more innovative and creative,” she explains. “I make deals and I lower my production expenses. You are constantly finding ways to cope with what’s in the market. Without my sponsors, I would not be on the air. Sometimes it’s moment to moment, but at least it is on the air!”

Speaking of on the air, Emme’s Island Moments segments also are shown on Hawaiian Airlines flights.

“I’m not only on air, I’m also in air,” she says with a hearty laugh. “I feel honored and so lucky for being on the air for this long. Thanks to my sponsors.”

For more information, call 947-6677 or log onto emmeinc.com. ldelacruz@ midweek.com

Got Good Kids’ Stuff? Sell ‘Em

Making good use of good things is something Terrance Iwamoto believes in, and with the current economy, he is spot-on.

With his new business, Rhea Lana’s Children’s Consignment Events, Iwamoto is calling all folks who want to buy or sell gently used designer children’s clothes, furniture and maternity clothes. The hottest-selling items, he predicts, will be strollers, car seats and cribs.

“I found that, with this kind of niche, we get a lot of loyal customers,” he notes. “Everyone is helping each other.”

Baby Gap and Disney are among the brand names at the four-day sale at a location to be announced a month prior the event. In addition to clothes, there are books, videos, and toys for newborns to children in the early teen years.

People interested in selling their designer products can register online as consignors. The consignor inputs details of the inventory: size, brand name, asking price.

 

“We suggest people sell it for 20 to 25 percent of what they paid for it,” explains Iwamoto.

Consignors print the inventory list and drop off the items the day before the sale. From there, Rhea Lana will check the goods to be sure they are not torn, soiled or outdated. Anything that doesn’t meet the criteria is rejected. The consignor can go online to keep track of their account, as the items have a barcode. Then, at the end of the four-day sale, a check of 70 percent of the amount sold is made out to the consignor. A small fee is subtracted based on the number of items inventoried. Consignors can then pick up what wasn’t sold, or they can go online to indicate they would like to donate their unsold items and Rhea Lana will arrange for the items to be donated. For the inaugural sale, donated items will go to the Next Step homeless shelter in Kakaako.

“When I went to one of the events, women were going nuts,” observed Iwamoto. “They were rummaging through things, and they had a handful of clothes.”

Iwamoto says one of the challenges is getting people to know what this is about.

“Some folks are doing a wait and see, so they can understand the concept once they see it in action,” he notes. “So we are doing some community programs.”

Iwamoto can share with nonprofits how they can use the sale as part of their fundraising efforts.

Iwamoto joined the Rhea Lana franchise in 2008, as it matches the theme of a business he started in 2004, Mr. Ink Plus, located at 670 Auahi St.

“We recycle cartridges,” explains the McKinley High graduate about the inkjet, toner, fax and copy machine cartridges.

The Aiea resident says he got the Rhea Lana idea in part because his wife Judy had several bags of their children’s clothes she was going to give to relatives since they paid good money for them.

As the father of two sons, Zachary, 12, and Matthew, 9, Iwamoto says, “We know all too well that children grow out of their clothes so fast.”

Iwamoto encourages those interested in selling to log in now to start their inventory or join the e-mail list for more details on the next sale.

Oahu’s first Rhea Lana’s Children’s Consignment Event will be held July 23-26. For more information, call 306-5999, log onto Rhealana.com or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

A Creative Mom-Daughter Team

Sweet-smelling awapuhi, pineapple and tuberose are just a few of the scents the mother-and-daughter team of Stephanie Schoening and Kawehi Seno use to make island-designed sachet stones with their company, S&S Kreations.

The stones are made in familiar Island shapes such as aloha shirts, muumuu, honu, seashells, board shorts and surfboards, as well as ladybugs, motorcycles, teddy bears, dragonflies and more.

“It’s a different way to have potpourri,” says Seno. “They’re decorative. There are a lot of uses for them in your drawers, closets, cars and suitcases.”

The sachet stones are infused with the fragrances, which also include puakenikeni, plumeria, bubble gum, cotton candy, coconut and baby powder.

The company was started four years ago by Schoening, a lupus and two-time breast and uterine cancer survivor, because she couldn’t work. She says she appreciates the assistance of her family, especially her husband, Neill.

Seno joined the company in June 2008 after she was laid off from a job she had for 18 years.

“We know what we do, and we know how to do everything,” says Seno about the division of labor. “A lot of people call us to do favors for their party.”

They currently are designing masks for an upcoming masquerade party.

Schoening has been doing ceramics for 36 years, and has a line of ceramic turtles available at Under the Koa Tree and Nohea Gallery. The ceramics come in various designs and can be used as centerpieces.

Also passionate about good causes, mother and daughter have done fundraisers for the American Cancer Society Relay For Life in Waianae with a pink breast cancer ribbon stone, and 600 lavender ribbons for the Lupus Foundation.

Seno, a 1990 Pearl City High School graduate, has recruited husband Wesley and their children Kula, Kalei, Haku and Ano’i to help out. Her niece Loke also gets in on the action.

One of her challenges, Seno admits, is that she has had to learn a different system.

“Another challenge is making sure I can live up to my mom,” explains Seno, a Nanakuli resident.

“She is the bomb. She is awesome. She does it all. I’ve been trying to absorb it more and more.”

For more information, call 554-2595, or e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Helping Plan Life’s Big Moments

As a wedding planner, Karine France-Matsumoto once averted an emergency without the bride ever knowing there was a problem.

“It was the night before the wedding,” she recalls. “I noticed that the tables for the guests had not arrived. I called the vendor and resolved the situation.

“The bride never knew. Otherwise, we may have been standing up eating pupus.”

Helping happy couples on their special day is just what France-Matsumoto loves doing with her company, Seasons of Life Wedding and Event Planning.

After all, she says, no two weddings are alike.

“You have your unique couples’ likes and dislikes, which can be shown in the decor, program, games at the reception, colors and mood,” she explains.

“This is the biggest party of their life. Some people want all the details, and some people want something simple.”

 

She offers free consultations, where she learns about how the couple met, how they got engaged and what ideas they may have.

She enjoys the organizing, planning and coordinating.

“It is really fun to have things to cross off on the todo list,” the Mid-Pacific Institute graduate notes. “I get excited in the planning process. On the day of the wedding, I need to be prepared and to be the calmest person in case there’s a storm, so the couple can enjoy this day. I get teary-eyed every time. It is going to be over so fast.”

The Aina Haina resident has planned weddings for friends and family for the past 10 years in addition to working as a promotional consultant before making the jump to fulfill her dream of owning her own business this year. She thanks her friends and family, and especially her husband Craig, as well as their children Nicole, Taryn, Jordan and Taylor, for their love and support.

To keep current with the industry, she has taken courses on being a professional bridal consultant, and she plans to stay up-to-date on trends in the business.

And, as a party planner, France-Matsumoto doesn’t want her involvement with the couple to stop at the wedding. She’s willing to help them plan their child’s first birthday party, sweet 16, graduation party and more.

“When the family is celebrating a special anniversary or a big Christmas party, I’ll be there,” she says. “It really epitomizes the name of my company, Seasons of Life. So many moments in our lives are gifts.”

For more information, call 387-0949, log on to SeasonsOfLifeEvents.com or send an e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). com.

The Beauty Of Hawaiian Gourds

Celes Molina’s colorful designs hug a gourd with heartwarming images of Hawaii. He fashions flowers or fish on umeke (bowl), ipu (gourd) and ipu heke (double calabash).

“It’s like a canvas except it is a round object,” the artisan notes. “There’s more to just putting the color on. There’s the curvature, and the different sizes that will dictate how your composition will come out.”

The most popular designs are bright hibiscus, bird of paradise, sharks and manini. Molina’s work can be found at select craft fairs as well as the Haleiwa Arts Festival, Merrie Monarch Festival and the monthly Artfest at Kapiolani Park.

Born and raised in the Waipahu area, Molina left Hawaii in 1947 to serve in the Army, and then the Air Force. He started designing ipu 35 years ago while living in California.

 

“By doing the Hawaiian designs, it kept me close to the Islands,” explains Molina, who now makes his home in Makaha. “I used to make frequent trips to the Islands to see my parents when they were alive. But since they died, the trips were not that many. I did these local motifs because it made me closer to the Islands.”

His gourds were offered as first -place trophies to participants in the E Hula Mau competition in Southern California for a few years. Kumu hula who were on the West Coast participating as judges in the competition or hosting a workshop at the time may still have his ipu heke.

Finding the perfect gourds is a challenge, he notes, because there are other people scouring for gourds too. So persistence is key.

“If you are at the gourd farm, if you are able to find two gourds that would make a good ipu heke, then you take it,” he says. “The gourds are there. You need to spend more time looking for them.”

He personally decorates the gourds by hand, and each bears his signature ladybug.

Molina says he’s focusing on the designs he already has, and additional designs will come when he feels the time is right. “There are so many more (designs) I haven’t done,” he admits. “I have them in my mind.” For more information, call 695-8458.

 

Pet Sitters On The Windward Side

2 Sisters Pet Sitters may be a tongue twister, but the two sisters insist their dog-walking and pet-sitting services are easy to understand.

Keri Gall takes care of the animals, and Lori Sampaio handles administrative duties. If needed, Sampaio pitches in with animal care.

“We offer dog walking on the weekdays in Kailua, Kaneohe and Waimanalo,” says Gall about the 30-minute sessions that can include a second dog. “We walk the dog in their neighborhood privately. We also offer bathing services, if they have a contract with us. And we don’t charge extra if you have a naughty dog.”

Gall offers a free in-home consultation with the owners and their pet to learn what type of experience and training the animal has.

“For a lot of people, their pets are like their children,” says Sampaio. “They don’t want their kids, I mean their pets, to be locked up all day or not have attention. But people have got to work.”

For pet sitting, they visit the customer’s home to care for their dog, cat, bird, fish or other pet.

 

“Dogs are drawn to people that they know really like them,” says Gall. For instance, she says, “I’m just walking in the neighborhood, and one lady sees me. Her Chihuahua who is usually petrified of people just comes right up to me. So she just used me this past week for some pet sitting. She said her dog usually hates other people, and she felt very comfortable with me.”

The sisters advise traveling owners to call to let them know they’ve arrived home safely.

“I’m not going to stop taking care of your pet until I hear from you,” emphasizes Sampaio. “Three or four of our clients have gotten stuck in their travel plans already. “

Other services the sisters offer are pet-supply shopping, light grooming, overnight pet care, medication administration, and transportation. Kailua residents are offered a 15-minute service if they need a cat-litter changing or a pet feeding.

To spread the word about their company, the sisters have found that car magnets, stickers, signs, and word-of-mouth from their large family work best for them.

Gall and Sampaio grew up in Kailua. Both attended St. Anthony of Padua and have been involved with animals since they were little. Their family, which includes brother Kona, had a cat named Fred and a Doberman pincher named Jake.

Prior to joining her sister in the family business last year, Sampaio, a St. Francis School graduate, worked in finance and in the airline industry. She still maintains a part-time job at Whole Foods, and she appreciates the support of her children, Kimo and Miki.

Gall, a Kailua High School graduate, started working as a vet technician at 15 years old. Her career path includes spending nine years as a manager of a 14-acre horse ranch in Waimanalo. In addition to running this business, she also works part time at The Shack. She credits husband Rob and their children Kela and Kilia for their help.

In addition to plans to expand business, someday Gall would like to have a small facility with a big back yard to host animals while their owners are away.

For more information, call 291-4836, or log on to www.2SistersPetSitters.com.

Thinking Outside The Treasure Box

Sara Perry says she’d glue something on anything that didn’t run away.

Her Treasure Boxes is a line of hand-decorated boxes and purses featuring vintage images.

Perry says jokingly that she was born 50 years too late as she loves to create Hawaiian-themed boxes with retro surf pictures, hula dancers, pinup girls, and black-and-white photos from the 1920s.

She takes an unfinished wood box, paints it and puts a lining on the inside. After 15-20 coats of glue and paper, she adds the beads and doodads. The whole process takes about two weeks to create one box, as the glue needs to dry before she can continue on the next side of the box.

“I don’t do the same box twice, even if I use the same picture twice,” notes Perry. “The paper dries differently, and it takes on different colors when it’s finished. I put a glaze on it to make it shiny, and a clear acrylic coat to make it waterproof. It looks different than what I did on the previous box. The style continually changes.”

Perry also welcomes special orders. For example, a woman asked her to make a box for her husband, who then worked for Pan Am.

 

“I had fun digging up old posters and making the box,” Perry recalls. “He cried when I gave it to him. He loved, loved, loved this box.”

Other special orders include utilizing old family photos, pet pictures or a dream destination.

The boxes can be traced to the days when, as a child, she used to pick up shiny, sparkly stuff and bring it home.

“I always needed somewhere to put all my junk,” reminisces Perry. “I always had a box. I figured other people would need a place to put their stuff in too. It’s artwork that is very functional and pretty.”

She credits her friends and family for their support in her artistic endeavor, especially her husband Matthew.

Her work can be found at craft fairs, including the upcoming Waikiki Artfest at Kapiolani Park March 14 and 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Her mom, Nancy Calhoun, who also decorates boxes, is one of the founders of the Handcrafters and Artisans Alliance, which coordinates the aforementioned monthly art fest. The Treasure Boxes also will be available in April at the Merrie Monarch Festival’s craft fair, and

on Mother’s Day at the Lanikai Craft Faire.

Perry’s knack for crafts started as a child, when her mom had a dress shop.

“If I wanted money for something, it was going to come in at Christmas or my birthday, or I had to figure out some way to make money,” Perry, a Waianae resident, explains. “I was always making jewelry or something I could sell to get an extra $5. I always did something crafty to make money.”

Over the years her craft experience has included ceramics, scrapbooking, wire-wrapped pendants and painting on canvas.

Perry admits one of her challenges is to come up with something different or a new color combination. To overcome that, she finds inspiration everywhere, including museums in Italy, where she lived for two years.

She says one of her goals is to display her work in an established gallery.

For more information, call 696-6717 or log onto treasureboxes.wetpaint.com.

 

Helping Customers Look Good

Lek White is a wizard with a pincushion, a pair of scissors and a sewing machine. She hems pants, takes in clothing, alters sleeves and does other repairs at her Designer Alterations shop.

“We do whatever a customer needs,” says White. “Even just sewing on a button. We help them look good.”

Whether it is adjusting a wedding gown for the big day, making an evening gown fit better for a beauty pageant or altering a new outfit for a trip to Vegas, White looks forward to continuing on for many more years in business. At her side is her niece Lucy Palmer, who is growing into an alteration maven under the tutelage of her aunt.

Word of mouth is how most people have heard about the 21-year-old business.

White describes a recent job where a pair of pants needed to be shortened with a logo removed and re-attached.

“When he tried them on, he said he couldn’t believe it,” White recalls about the customer’s happiness with her work.

Palmer, who affectionately calls White “Mom,” says customers are impressed when White can fit a wedding dress, as folks often order them from the Mainland, and then need to adjust them. “That is a lot of work,” explains Palmer. “We pay attention to the customers. For example, when people get older, their legs are different, as in one hip is higher. She notices all the small differences.”

 

She also accepts vouchers from employees of Hawaiian and Northwest airlines who need their uniforms fixed.

White says the turnaround time is generally about a week.

“It makes me happy when customers try on the clothes and they say, ‘This is marvelous!’ I like it when they walk out of here happy with what we did.”

For White, the seeds for owning her own business were sown at an early age as she needed to fend for herself the best she could after her mom passed away when she was only 2 years old, and her father died when she was 17. Growing up as the third of five children, her family didn’t have enough money to put her through school past sixth grade. That didn’t stop her, as she did alterations at a military base in Thailand for five years, and also in Tennessee before moving to Hawaii in 1986.

She soon landed a job doing alterations with Oak Tree Clothing at Windward Mall. After a while, Oak Tree sold her the industrial sewing machine she was using, allowing her to do repairs at the shop and keep any money she earned from the repairs. But soon Oak Tree refused her the space, so in June 1988, she started Designer Alterations at her own location in Kaneohe.

Over the years, she’s never forgotten her humble start. She helped put her niece through college, and now White also is supporting a poor student in Thailand.

“I asked a family member, who is a teacher, to find a student who works hard but needs help,” she says about the young person’s photo hanging in her shop. “I can’t do a whole lot, but if I can help one, that is good.”

For White, giving to others includes feeding the hungry at Honolulu Church of God, where husband Douglas is pastor. She acknowledges becoming a Christian as an important step to her success, as is the love of her family including son Wayne, and son Christopher, who died in 1974.

Designer Alterations is located in Kaneohe at 45-1048 D Kamehameha Highway in the T. Yogi Building. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. Call 247-6483.

 

A Secret Look At Store Service

Michelle Chun’s company Insight Twenty20 provides mystery shoppers to help business owners determine how they are doing with customer service. Basically, she sends her employees to “shop” at various businesses, and to check on service.

“It’s professional feedback,” says Chun. “The report is written in a much more objective way, and it is a way to positively help the clients because they want to keep track of how the service is provided. The shoppers are the eyes and the ears for them.”

Her clients include hotels, retail stores, restaurants, bars, nightclubs - any service-related business. The client customizes a list of areas it wants covered in the report, which ranges from the time a patron steps foot in the establishment to the time they leave. Examples of what a mystery shopper looks for are how the transaction at the cash register goes, appearance of the property and merchandise stocked. Some clients want to focus on how the employee greeted the shopper, while another is more concerned with the sales pitch. The shopper files the finished report, and it’s sent to the client.

 

“One of my clients said these reports are like the Holy Grail,” Chun recalls, noting some businesses use the reports to recognize employees for a job well done.

“Some base their employee bonuses on the report,” she adds. “Other companies that have multiple locations have a friendly competition to see who has the highest customer service.”

Chun says she learned a lot about customer service while she lived in Japan.

“The Japanese are the epitome of customer service,” she says. “You could just buy a handkerchief and they make you feel like you bought a diamond ring. They are really appreciative.”

Chun worked as a mystery shopper in 1999 for another company, which was sold. In 2006, the Moanalua High School graduate took those clients and started Insight Twenty20.

One of the challenges she experiences is hiring good people. Chun employs 15 to 20 part-time, independent contractors to do the mystery shopping.

“They are the ones who are turning in the reports,” says Chun. “That is what keeps our clients happy. It is hard to find people who are dependable, as it is not an easy job. So we invest a lot of time and money in the screening process and orientation training process. You have to enjoy writing and be detailed-oriented. It is a writing and observing job, not a shopping job. You don’t necessarily have to enjoy shopping to do this job.”

Her goals are to grow the business and publish what she’s learned about customer service.

For more information, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or log onto insight20.com

 

A One-stop Tech Shop In Kalihi

CyberLife PC partner Danny Lawson says his company offers free diagnosis for computer problems.

“We are really pushing the tech services,” Lawson explains. “In other computer-repair businesses, because of some corporate policies in place, a repair person is not allowed to do certain repairs. Because we are a small business, we do what it takes to make customers happy.”

For example, some companies don’t deal with AC/DC jacks, but CyberLife PC does. The shop offers a variety of services for both Macs and PCs, including computer rentals, selling used computers and on-site service. Data retrieval, data backup, and installation of hardware and software are among the services offered. For customers who have warranties on their computers, CyberLife PC can handle details so customers don’t have to go to the manufacturer.

“Instead of buying a new computer, let us check it out,” says Lawson. “If it is not worth it, I’ll tell you to just buy a new one and the reason why. Just give us a chance to look at it. If we don’t do the legwork, we do not charge you for it.”

 

In addition, CyberLife PC sells Mobi phones, and they have plans to add more phone services from other companies.

One of the tips Lawson has for customers is to be as precise as possible in describing what is wrong with their computer.

“It’s like going to the doctor,” he explains. “If you go to the doctor and just say ‘I’m sick, ’ it’s not as helpful as saying ‘My stomach hurts.’ That makes it easier for the doctor to narrow down the diagnosis.”

Lawson is in charge of bringing the business in and spreading the word about its services. With partner Christopher Allegretti as lead technician, there are several technical experts on the team, including Kevin Komoto, who serves as sales manager and technician, and Jazze Moore, a technician. The company already is in expansion mode, as a second location is in the works.

Lawson, a Waikele resident, has 18 years of experience in the computer industry, including working with CompUSA in Utah before transferring to the Hawaii location in 2002. After CompUSA closed in March 2008, he decided to look into being his own boss.

“If I can start something from the ground up and grow it, that’ll be better,” recalls Lawson about opening the Aina Haina shop in May 2008. In September of last year, it moved to its present 580-square-foot Kalihi location.

Customers have heard about the shop through word of mouth. An 82-year-old woman heard about the store from some friends, and visited the shop on the chance that CyberLife PC could help. Her computer crashed, and others had told her to abandon it, as it was not worth it.

“She told us she went all over the place and everyone told her no,” Lawson recalls. “People told her to send it to the Mainland, and that it was going to cost at least $1,500. In one hour, we retrieved her wedding picture from when she was 22 years old. When she saw it, she just started crying. That must have been one of the happiest days of my life. That’s when I knew that starting this company was the right thing to do.”

CyberLife PC is located at 1721 Liliha St., and is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. For more information, call 377-6767, log onto cyberlifepc.com.

Sharing The Culture Of Hawaii

Pahu drums, carved fish hooks, books and Niihau shell lei are a few of the handiworks featured at Mea Makamae, a retail store located in the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Partners in the endeavor are Maile Meyer, a collaborator of the Ward Warehouse-based retail store Native Books/Na Mea Hawaii; Peter Apo, a veteran cultural consultant who provides the native perspective to the visitor industry; Rob Iopa, an architect whose company WCIT Architecture designed the store and the remodel of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, and Ke Kai Kealoha, a project manager.

They created Mea Makamae as a place where people could learn more about Hawaii’s cultural traditions.

“We really are a portal to a Hawaiian experience,” emphasizes Kealoha, operations manager. “It’s like the layers of an onion. We are one attempt at trying to uncover the layers to sharing who and what we are.”

In addition to showcasing handcrafted products made by artisans who carry on the practices of their ancestors, the 259-square-foot store is on a mission to help give people a deeper understanding and a unique feel of Hawaii.

 

Their plan is threefold: First is to focus on a theme every six weeks. For the royalty theme, the boutique sells symbols of royalty such as the feather kahili and feather lei made by Paulette Kahalepuna, Gladys Brede, Joe Recca and Kuahiwi Lorenzo. To commemorate the theme every few months, they’ll hold a one-day workshop. Second, at 10 a.m. each Monday they will offer a one-hour class on topics such as lei-making, hula and weaving. Third, small groups can take a tour guided by a cultural expert, who will transport them to that time period with stops at Kawaiahao Church, the window from which Queen Lydia Liliuokalani gazed out, the royal mausoleum Maunaala and Queen Emma’s summer palace.

With the help of staff, Mea Makamae also can request special orders from the artisans.

Kealoha says one of the challenges is coordinating the business.

“On the retail side, it is finding a system that works, that makes you accountable, that feels right so that you don’t lose that warm and fuzzy feeling.”

For more information, call 921-7248 or log on to MeaMakamae.com.

Self-improvement With Hypnosis

Mindy Sue Ash says anyone can be hypnotized.

“Hypnosis is 100 percent safe and natural,” she says. “If you are walking and talking, and you can follow directions, you can be hypnotized. This is something most people don’t realize.”

As owner of the Hawaii Hypnosis Center, Ash helps people stop smoking, ease chronic pain or lose weight. Physicians sometimes refer patients to her.

But, she stresses, hypnosis isn’t a magic pill that just solves a problem.

“You have to sincerely be committed and want to achieve the goal,” explains Ash. “I can’t make you do something against your will. You have to want to be hypnotized.”

She cites the power of suggestion as a key to hypnosis. For example, when a child gets hurt and a mom says she’ll kiss it and make it better, that’s a waking hypnotic suggestion.

 

“The child will believe it and the pain will subside,” she says.

According to Ash, hypnosis is something we do throughout the day in prayer, meditation, daydreams and what she calls highway hypnosis. Highway hypnosis is when people drive home and they don’t remember how they got there.

“Our minds work on two levels,” she explains. “We have the conscious mind and we have the subconscious mind.

The conscious mind is where we think. We have our willpower; we make plans with the conscious mind. That’s the mind we’d love to believe is in control, but the fact is it is not. The subconscious controls our habits and our behaviors. With hypnosis, we can directly communicate with the subconscious mind and release those bad habits and create new habits.”

Ash became interested in hypnosis 13 years ago when she formed some of her own new habits as she followed motivational speaker Anthony Robbins’ teachings to harness the power of the subconscious mind to attain goals. She used his principles and found she wanted to help others reach their potential. A former advertising executive, Ash has been hypnotizing people for more than two years. She trained at the Hypnotherapy Academy of America in Santa Fe, N.M., and is certified by the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners as a clinical hypnotherapist. She also is certified as a smoking cessation specialist.

One of the challenges of her business is educating people on what hypnosis is.

“It’s undoing the (false information in) TV shows, the stage shows and the movies,” she says. “People have a distorted sense of what’s real and what’s not real.”

To help people learn about hypnosis, Ash does public speaking and has launched her website HawaiiHypnosisCenter.com.

Ash meets with prospective clients to review what hypnosis is and discuss the client’s goals. She then guides them into a hypnotic state, or trance, which only takes a few seconds.

The sessions last 25 to 40 minutes. Being hypnotized, she explains, feels like when you are just about to go to sleep but aren’t quite asleep yet. When the client is in a trance, she gives them suggestions to make the requested change.

“It’s like I’m reading a bedtime story,” she describes.

Ash provides a personalized CD to some clients so they can perform self-hypnosis and listen to the suggestions on their own time.

“I want to help you be the best you can be,” she says, “and not let anything in your brain that is negative stand in your way.”

For more information, call 221-7353 or log onto http://www.HawaiiHypnosisCenter.com.

Making A Name At Craft Fairs

Carol Sakai totes her creations to craft fairs all around town. With Carol Y. Sakai Designs, she has several lines, including Japanese faces on clocks, jewelry, wall hangings and picture frames.

“I also have petroglyphs on wall hangings, jewelry and clocks,” she says. “Then there’s what I call my happy line - my whimsical line of hula girls, bears, bunnies and lucky frogs on pins, magnets, business-card holders and memos. They are so cute.”

The Kaneohe-based innovator originally started making Christmas ornaments with bread dough as a hobby. The flour, salt and water mixture was baked, painted and sealed.

“With Hawaii’s moisture, the ornaments would burst,” explains Sakai, who retired after 31 years as a state employee. “So I moved onto polymer clay. People were so interested that I moved on to a craft fair, sharing a booth with a friend.”

The Farrington High graduate says she hopes to add silver clay to her inventory.

 

With 38 years of craft fairs under her belt, she does roughly 40 events a year with the help of some of her friends. To help her clients, both locals and vis-

itors, she decided to use her name for her company.

“Carol Y. Sakai Designs is easier to remember than trying to remember a different company name,” she explains.

Sakai appreciates the support of her three grown children, Shari, Scott and Shaun, and four grandchildren.

With scheduling fairs, manning booths and making products, she says one of her challenges is juggling her time.

“I enjoy making the crafts,” she notes. “And I like that customers show their appreciation. It’s nice strokes.”

Her next craft fair, the monthly Handcrafters and Artisans Alliance, is Feb. 14 and 15 at Kapiolani Park, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m..

For more information, call 235-8601.

Finding The Perfect Sitter Online

Kathryn Custer posted her baby-sitting availability on Craig’s List, resulting in nine families vying for her services within two days. That’s when she realized there was a great need for baby sitters in Hawaii and launched an online service that helps parents and baby sitters find each other: keikisitters.com.

She remembered how her own mom had the hardest time finding baby sitters.

“She would go to boutiques and look at the employees and ask if they liked children,” the entrepreneur recalls.

Here’s how the online service works. Parents pay for a membership and then post the job, pay, location, skills and certifications they are looking for. That listing goes to all of the baby sitters registered. The sitters look at the jobs, view the parents’ profile and contact them directly. Parents can view a sitter’s photo, profile, resume, references, availability calendar, background-check results and education. Once a sitter is chosen, the parents can delete their posting.

 

In order to be a qualified, baby sitter, applicants must be 18 years old and pass the background check, which costs $10.

“We partnered with Lexis Nexis, the nation’s leading background-check company,” adds Custer. “Every sitter must pass the national criminal search that checks all states for felonies and misdemeanors. The search is so thorough, we can even see minor traffic violations. We strongly recommend parents interview sitters and contact their references to ensure a good match.”

There are more than 600 people online who baby-sit, pet-sit and house-sit as well as elder companions and tutors.

Before Custer moved to Hawaii in 2007, she had started a similar service in California, where she personally interviewed the sitters and the families, and matched them up over the phone.

“To accommodate more families, I thought it would be best to do it online,” she says. “There are unlimited amounts of families that can find sitters without my schedule stopping them.”

One of the challenges of the business, she admits, is that she must face her fear of public speaking to promote the business.

“I have to put myself out there,” she says. “I tell myself I can do this. It takes a lot of courage.”

With the help of a staff of eight, including three website designers, she launched the site in March of last year. She also appreciates support from her family and friends.

Keiki Sitters also offers group childcare that includes fun toys, face painting and lots of baby sitters for events such as seminars and parties. She says so far, the most keiki they’ve watched were 150 children in four rooms during a military deployment brief.

Plans for the future include upgrading the website and franchising keikisitters.com to three locations: Australia, San Diego and San Luis Obispo, Calif.

For more information, log on to http://KeikiSitters.com.

Nothing Says Love Like A Lei

Holly Reiplinger zips around her Po’ohala Lei and Flowers shop greeting customers, stringing lei, answering the phone and sharing aloha.

“Lei are always a nice occasion,” says Reiplinger. “It is just love. The quality of our lei is outstanding. We take great pride in what we do.”

The Kamehameha Schools Song Contest kicks off the shop’s busy season in March, which continues through July. In addition to proms, a major job at the store is mailing lei to the Mainland for graduation. There’s also May Day, Mother’s Day and local college graduations to keep the shop active. December also is a busy time for the shop.

Some of the most popular lei are tuberose combinations, such as tuberose with carnation or orchid.

“Gingers are always popular, whether it’s single gingers or feathered gingers,” she says. “Double ginger is kind of taking the place of the old-time double carnation. That’s like our queen lei, our majestic lei. We usually carry it in the shop, but it’s best to special order it.”

Other popular lei include hala, and the seasonal pakalana and puakenikeni. “Pikake is always popular no matter what time of year,” adds the Punahou graduate.

The shop’s name, po’ohala, means to carry on the virtues and skills of the family, which is what Reiplinger is doing in more ways than one. Her goal is to use only locally grown flowers. “We would like to support our local growers as much as possible because we are all struggling. I don’t want to see our own flowers disappear. We have enough things disappearing. As it is, ilima is hard to get because the people who do it now are older and it is too much work. Flowers are such a big part of Hawaii.”

She hopes the next generation will step up so there will be more harder-to-find blossoms available.

Reiplinger is setting a good example by carrying on the tradition herself as the shop, then called Sweetheart’s Lei Shop, was owned previously by her father- and mother-in-law, Henry and Elizabeth “Sweetheart” Lau, from 1982 to 2005. Two weeks after Sweetheart’s Lei Shop closed, Reiplinger, her brother- and sister-in-law reopened it as Po’ohala Lei and Flowers.

When her brother-in-law passed away, Reiplinger carried on the legacy as sole owner with the love and aloha of a multitude friends and family. Reiplinger’s children, Nate, Deacon and Moani, continue to donate their time to lend a hand, along with many in their ohana.

“They are willing to help,” she says. “I don’t even call them. They just show up in shifts and they come when they can. I couldn’t do it without them.”

Reiplinger, a Waialae resident, has been surrounded by the Hawaiian culture her entire life as she grew up in the entertainment business. Her brother was famous local comedian Rap Reiplinger. Her grandmother started the Royal Hawaiian Girls Glee Club, and her mom was a dancer in the Kodak Hula Show. Reiplinger’s career path includes dancing hula and office work. She learned to string lei and different aspects of the business by helping out at Sweetheart’s Lei Shop.

“You don’t really learn until it’s all your own,” she admits.

What began as an unusual request is now more common - lei for dogs when the owners get married. “Dogs are a part of the family,” explains Reiplinger. “We’ve never had any cat leis, but we’ve done horses for parades.”

Another special request she fulfills is sending lei and flowers to transplanted Islanders who may be in hospice. People want to send fragrant lei to their friends to make their rooms smell like Hawaii. “You’re helping a little bit to give someone those nice memories, and it may be their last.”

Po’ohala Lei and Flowers keeps family and cultural traditions alive. “The people that we meet here, it’s our version of the Cheers bar,” says Reiplinger. “It’s a combination of the culture we are trying to share, and the customer service we give that people just come back, and they share a part of our big family. Then they become a part of our ohana.”

Po’ohala Lei & Flowers is located at 69 N. Beretania St. The hours of operation are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, call 537-3011.

Getting Islanders Organized

Kelly Galvin, whose career path has included working in travel, retail and in advertising, says it’s natural for her to be organized. So these days she makes her living helping others with her company Organized In Paradise.

“It is a skill to be learned,” Galvin says. “The more you practice it, the better you get at it. And that’s what stops people; sometimes they give up.”

Being indecisive and postponing actions is one cause of disorganization. Galvin uses incoming mail as an example. When mail comes in, open it. If it is something you don’t need, toss it out. The rest can be sorted according to what it is. Are they bills that need to be paid? Are there invitations that need responses?

“I don’t necessarily believe that paper needs to be handled only once,” she explains. “I believe you do need to make a decision on it.”

She goes to the client’s site where they discuss the project and decide whether it will be a good fit for both of them. Together they create a hands-on plan, which may be as short as two sessions or up to 50 or more.

One of the challenging things she finds is getting clients to stick to the plan. The ultimate goal is for the client to be able to sustain the organization on their own.

Galvin’s three test questions for attaining success in organization are: Is it functioning and efficient? Is it easy? Does it look good?

One of her specialties is to help people in the moving process. She sets up executive offices so that the staff has a working office running in a jiffy to take care of business, and she assists families moving into a new home. She focuses her efforts on the home and home-based businesses.

The Hawaii Kai resident, who moved to Hawaii from California in July 2001, notes that Hawaii houses don’t have basements or attics, so storage is different, especially with the humidity factor.

She says the simplest thing can be the solution. For example, a client can use a list posted in a prominent place so that it is easy to see.

“A little thing can make all the difference,” Galvin adds.

For more information, call 221-9153 or log onto http://www.organizedinparadise.com.

Creating A Word Game In Pidgin

Mark Bell, who prides himself in being able to turn his pidgin on and off like a light switch, created a game called Da Scramble. It’s a crossword game in pidgin similar to Scrabble except there’s no board and no points to add up. The person to get rid of all their tiles first is the winner. Players spell pidgin words in a crossword manner with all their tiles facing up.

“If you can be persuasive enough to convince someone a word is pidgin, that can count too,” explained the game’s inventor. “I’ve watched folks play it, and they are having a blast.”

The game is available at Tinker Toys at Kahala Mall, Island Treasures in Koko Marina and Island Treasures in Kailua, as well as other venues.

Bell says speaking pidgin isn’t just the words.

“There’s a music about it,” says Bell in perfect English. “You don’t really speak pidgin unless you know the pattern of how to do it.”

Bell, who grew up in Waianae through sixth grade,

wanted to come up with a fun, low-tech activity for families to do together so they could interact and have fun. Through that, he came up with the idea of a pidgin version of Scrabble.

“I called up the manufactures of Scrabble and asked them if they would be interested in creating Scrabble for regional areas,” he says. “They said no, and said I could go ahead and do it if I wanted to, as long as I don’t use their name and the words from their instructions.”

One of Bell’s first entrepreneurial ventures was when he was 21 years old. The Maryknoll High School graduate created his own brand of Polynesian Kasava Chips, where he grew the kasava and cooked, packaged, sold and delivered the chips. His background includes working in sales and marketing as well as creating his own company, Postcard CD. A self-described idea man, Bell created a postcard with a CD attached to it for companies, featuring tourist spots such as the Polynesian Cultural Center and Hanauma Bay.

With the support of his wife Minako and their 16-year-old son Matthew, the Hawaii Kai family now has a new game that generations can enjoy together. Bell already is working on a customized version of the game for the surf community. He also can personalize Da Scramble for businesses that would like their own version for promotional purposes.

For more information, call 348-3933, or log onto www.dascramble.com.

Saving The World One Tux At A Time

Save the world, have a ball and rent a tuxedo. That’s the philosophy of Karen Mukai and her team at Tuxedos by Hale Niu at their new store on Waialae Avenue.

“We want this to be a lifestyle business,” explains Mukai. “We want people to see us as more than just once in a lifetime.”

The “save the world” part comes from Tuxedos by Hale Niu’s policy of making a donation to charity when customers rent their formal wear for that organization’s fundraising event. That policy stems from Mukai and partners John Henry Felix’s and Julie Lumives’belief in phil-anthropic giving.

“He’s giving back in style,” Mukai says of Felix.

And with the presidential inauguration of Honolulu native Barack Obama coming Jan. 20, Tuxedos by Hale Niu is offering a special to folks planning to dress to the nines for the historic occasion.

Also as part of its community relations, proceeds from the company’s second-hand prom dress sale go to Abilities Unlimited, which trains and finds employment for people with developmental disabilities.

In addition to owning this shop, Mukai also works for Abilities Unlimited, and she is the vice president of Best Bridal Hawaii, a wedding salon in Waikiki.

Mukai’s family legacy starts with her paternal uncle Ed Kato, who opened the shop on Kapahulu Avenue 50 years ago.

“We were the first tuxedo rental store in the islands,” explains Mukai.

Kato’s son, Bert, an attorney, managed the store.

“We have the inventory on the premises,” she notes. “So the tuxedo you try on is the one that gets altered to fit you.”

Mukai recently acquired inventory of Tuxedo Junction, which boasts some of the newer colors. Lumives, who worked with Tuxedo Junction for 27 years, is now general manager of Tuxedos by Hale Niu.

“As a University of Hawaii fashion major,” Lumives says, “I learned that the Kato family was the forerunner with Sato Clothier, a men’s clothing shop in downtown Honolulu, in getting Hawaii men to dress up.”

The Kapahulu shop closed in December 2007 and reopened in July on Waialae Avenue with more showroom space.

Mukai says getting the word out about its new location is one of the challenges of running a business.

“People are still trying to find us at our Kapahulu location,” says Mukai, a Hawaii Kai resident. “The kind people at our former location tell customers where our new location is.”

The team at the emporium expresses deep gratitude for the support of all its customers, workers, friends and family that helps make the future possible.

“We are working to expand to the West side in 2009, perhaps in the Aiea area,” Mukai reveals.

Tuxedos by Hale Niu is located at 4210 Waialae Ave. For more information, call 734-2125. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Cleaning Up In The Soap Business

The husband-and-wife team of Ashley and Holly Harding are on top of their game with their company Bubble Shack Hawaiian Soap Company.

“It’s been a little crazy the last couple years,” Holly admits. “We feel like we are on a treadmill and we can’t stop the button. I’m not complaining.”

With a line of soaps, body washes, loofah soaps, lotions and candles, the Mililani residents are proud their products are in stores across Hawaii, as well as the Mainland, Japan, Canada and Sweden.

Their 3,000-square-foot Pearl City warehouse is the heart of the operation.

Among the 22 scents they offer in sets are Hawaiian Super Lavender Tropical Trio and Juicy Pineapple Tropical Trio. Sets include body wash, lotion and soap. There also is a line of loofah soaps that come in 13 different scents, such as Coconut Cream, Coconut Lime Verbena, Gardenias by the Sea Shack and Hawaiian Waters Ocean Bliss.

 

Their presence on Oahu includes some Star Markets, Walgreens Kaneohe, Down to Earth, Dole Plantation, Surf and Sea, Coco Cove and more. They also will be available at Target when it opens in March 2009. A complete list of stores that offer the soaps is on their website, http://www.bubbleshack-hawaii.com.

One of the challenges the company faces is keeping up with the demand.

“We are able to get the orders, but people are paying slow in this economy,” explains Holly. “You have to make decisions and prioritize things you wish you didn’t have to. We will buy supplies to keep the orders up versus getting other things.”

The Hardings, both professional musicians who previously owned a music entertainment agency, moved from Boston to Hawaii in 2003. It was his music job that brought the couple to the Islands. He plays saxophone with several groups, and she plays clarinet on a fill-in basis with the Honolulu Symphony. Needing to supplement their income, the couple decided to fill a niche that was missing at the swap meet at the time. Their soaps were made within a week.

“Starting up at the swap meet was such a great thing,” Holly says. “It gave us so much exposure. People would come to the swap meet on their vacation. They had stores on the Mainland, and they ordered. It gave us a lot of freedom to expand and go into wholesale. The swap meet is an awesome place to start a business. It gives anyone the chance to start without a lot of overhead costs.”

She credits discipline in music for their strength in business.

“We were in the mindset that we were going to be workaholics,” she admits. “As a child, I practiced music six to eight hours a day. So I went from juggling schoolwork and music to juggling a side business and music. That’s how we’ve always been. We love to work, and we love to have fun.”

For more information, log onto bubbleshackhawaii.com.

No Sweat For Nursing Moms

Growing up helping out in her family’s retail store selling towels to tourists, Carie Anderson learned many lessons about business. With an entrepreneurial spirit of her own, Anderson and her business partners invented the Snuzi.

“I tried to look for a product like the one we came up with, but there wasn’t any,” explains Anderson, who named the company I Nurse in Style.

The Snuzi goes on a person’s arm when feeding a baby so it soaks up the perspiration between the arm and the baby’s head.

“My first try was to take my husband’s sock, cut off the toes, and slip it on my arm,” Anderson says.

Ten prototypes later, she and business partners Kimberly Lee and Kristy Kono came up with the present design.

The Snuzi comes in two sizes: Small is 10.5 to 12.5 inches in diameter, and large is 13 to 16 inches in diameter. They come in various fabric prints, and there are sets with matching burp cloths. In addition to the Snuzi, they offer a keiki caddy strap that prevents an infant from slipping through the holes of the baby stroller.

 

The Snuzi is making its way around town at craft fairs and is is available at Little People in Hawaii at Windward Mall. The company website has a complete list of the locations.

These three moms cut and sew the Snuzis themselves when they’re not busy taking care of their families and working. They give thanks to all of their friends and family who have supported them through the process. Lee and Kono, whose husbands, Keola and Mark, respectively, are police officers, are dispatchers with the Honolulu Police Department. Each couple has two children - the Lees have 4-year-old Hunter and 2-year-old Hudson, and the Konos have 3-year-old Kylan and 2-month-old Kaylee, who uses the Snuzi. Anderson works part time as a medical lab technologist for organ transplants, and her husband, Erik, is a nurse. Their children are 4-year-old Ian and 3-year-old Dane.

“We have a 30-page operating agreement that tells what everyone’s duties are,” says Anderson. “It tells us what to do if any situations come up, such as someone wants out. It’s a business document. The agreement is great to have as it gives us peace of mind.”

Future goals for the company include getting their product sold at more stores locally and nationally.

Upcoming craft fairs where you can find the Snuzi are Dec. 6 at the Mililani Town Association at 95-303 Kaloapau St. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Dec. 7 at Castle High School at 45-386 Kaneohe Bay Drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Dec. 17 at Waterfront Plaza at Restaurant Row at 500 Ala Moana Blvd. from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, call 780-1512 or log onto inurseinstyle.com.

A Traveler’s Taste For The Exotic

Siam Imports has Thai-style futons, Tibetan singing bowls, Hindu statues and many other exotic things that appeal to owner Kevin Costello’s broad clientèle.

“We’ve got belly-dancing scarves, bed covers, wood carving panels, incense, jewelry and clothing,” Costello elaborates. “We’ve got young students to older people. There’s people with not so much money, and people with a lot of money. I try to keep it like that, and I want to keep as many people as possible happy.”

The Tibetan singing bowl is sometimes used for meditation. The bowl is placed in the palm of the hand, and a small mallet is used in a circular motion on the bowl, which makes a singing sound. Other imports include Buddha images, drums, cushions and tapestries. The 400-square-foot shop carries items from more than 50 small businesses in Thailand mostly, and also from India, Nepal and Burma. He says he’s been dealing with these businesses for many years, and he’s presently dealing with the next generation, so he interacts with the sons and daughters of the companies.

“Word of mouth is how people find out about the store,” says Costello, as he credits his good visibility with the amount of foot traffic.

 

Utilizing the sidewalk, he displays a sales rack, a mannequin with a dress and some woven basket handbags.

Siam Imports has been at the King Street location for 12 years. He had a second shop on Beretania for seven years until he closed it last year.

Originally from New York, Costello graduated from Chaminade University in 1984.

One of the challenges of doing business, he says, is rising costs.

“Over the last couple of years the dollar lost some value toward the Thai bhat,” notes Costello. “That, coupled with shipping costs, and the cost of goods over there has gone up, so it’s almost a triple whammy effect.

“The economy in Asia is slowing down as they can’t afford to keep inventory on hand. I usually have stuff made for me, and I like to pick up stuff that’s already on hand. So the stuff that’s on hand is less to choose from.”

Costello says he appreciates the support of his wife, Saengdao, who helps out a lot in the store, and sometimes works the cash register.

With four trips a year to stock up the shop, their 10-year-old daughter Kelly, who attends Mid-Pac, has some input on the boutique’s jewelry selection during the summers.

With the help of some part-timers, the shop is open seven days a week. Costello also wholesales some of his wares. He still maintains a 600-square-foot showroom where he has more statues and woodcarvings.

“We bring in unique stuff, make people happy and they tell their friends.”

Siam Imports, located at 2567 S. King St., is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. For more information, call 951-7426.

 

Teipel Sold On The Auction Business

In the auction business, a good turnout of bidders can result in the sellers getting true market value for their assets even if they are old, used or collectibles. Joe Teipel, CEO of Auction Action, specializes in auctions.

He assesses whether an auction would be appropriate. If it is, he and his crew prepare the auction. They organize, tag, catalogue and advertise the auction. “The bidders are often looking for a bargain,” reveals Teipel.

He conducts the auction, collects money, helps buyers get their items and gives proceeds of the sale to the client.

There are many reasons a business may want to have an auction.

“Sometimes the business owner would prefer to travel the world and follow other interests instead of operating the business,” Teipel explains. Perhaps the company is doing a renovation and they want to get cash for all of the furniture from the door-knobs to the cabinets and the windows. For real estate, he can do pre-foreclosure auctions and foreclosure auctions.

 

“This is a one-shot sale, winner take all, no retake kind of event,” adds Teipel. “It’s not like a retail store where you keep trying tomorrow or the next day. If you don’t hit the bull’s-eye, hopefully you hit the target.”

There are also the charity benefit auctions for schools, churches, and nonprofit organizations. “It’s a reward to see people’s generosity,” notes Teipel. “I help them learn about the art and science to get the maximum return.”

Teipel, who attended Iolani and Mid-Pacific Institute, started Surf News Network in 1976, which provided surf reports for local media until he sold it in 2000 to Gary Kewley, who authors the MidWeek column Surf News.

Teipel’s deep voice emcees many events, including endurance races such as the Honolulu Marathon, Century Ride, Tinman and Rough Water Swim.

His auction career began in the 1980s when he was booked to do fashion auctions around town. The Western College of Auctioneering graduate especially acknowledges the support of his wife, Miho, who works in the company in many capacities, including auction administrator.

In one of his latest ventures, he was a co-founder of the Ocean Network channel 349 and a host of the television show Ocean Rush, which is an action-packed, high-adrenaline, extreme sports show.

“In the landscape of business, there is a thing called change.” explains Teipel. “You can’t stop it, and I don’t cause it. My goal is to create happiness and success for both buyer and seller.”

For more information, call 538-1961 or log onto joeteipel.com.

 

Taking Care Of Everything Online

A Star Wars Darth Vader in fierce black samurai regalia is standing in LavaNet owner Pali Kaaihue’s office. The action figure represents technology of the future that is steeped in ancient traditions, and that’s something that LavaNet does in many ways.

“I created the tagline ‘Everything online,’” explains Kaaihue. “We do anything and everything with being online: web design, streaming audio and video.”

The company offers network design, where they can hook up two computers in a private home or 2,000 computers at a business. There’s security, disaster recovery and virtual IT (information technology) services. Another popular service is colocation, where customers are connected to LavaNet’s Internet and get the security monitoring and maintenance of LavaNet.

Thousands of people have viewed its streaming video for the Slack Key Festivals and the Pakele Live series of Hawaiian Music concerts. LavaNet’s ability to create the mauitoday.tv site snowballed into the company creating its own television series called Doko Ga TV. Kaaihue, a 1989 Maryknoll grad, thought it would be a fantastic idea to have an updated version of the Japanese magazine TV show he grew up watching called Shoko Ga Shiritai. The hosts of the show, Kaaiahue and Sachiko Uchida, do interviews featuring the celebrities, food, culture and fun things for viewers in Hawaii and in Japan. The show is on OC16 at 7 p.m. Mondays, and will be aired on other outlets as well.

Before Kaaihue owned LavaNet he could play a few computer games, but that’s about it. As a musician - he’s the leader of the Hawaiiian music group PALI - he mastered drums, bass, piano and guitar. He once owned a Hawaiian music kiosk at Aloha Tower, and traveled Japan as a musician. When he returned from Japan, he heard from his voice coach about a LavaNet customer-service job opening. LavaNet started in 1994, and Kaaihue joined it in 1996.

“I got yelled at on the first day on the job because I didn’t know you were supposed to shut down Windows 3.1,” he recalls. “I just pressed the button. Over time, I’ve learned to build a server and a computer.”

In 2005, the company was approached by a large Internet provider that wanted to purchase it and the deal didn’t go through.

That’s when Kaaihue sold his Hawaii Kai home and took out a loan to buy the business in 2006.

“One of the things we wanted to do is to offer things the national companies are offering,” explains Kaaihue. “We upgraded the e-mail system and various systems within. We are on the same playing field as everyone else.”

He mentions one challenge is not being able to do everything the customers want.

“We are more than happy to give a referral if it’s something we can’t do,” he says. “We live on a small island, and it is best to find ways to work with people.”

Projects include making an Office of Hawaiian Affairs Internet television channel, creating the home page for Yahoo of Japan and landing an account with SoftBank, a top communication company in Japan. One of the firm’s goals for the future is to provide a training academy for Native Hawaiians and Polynesians so they can get real-world experience and someday intern with the company.

And although it doesn’t sound like something Darth Vader would go for, Kaaihue looks forward to LavaNet providing video centers for the upcoming 2010 Healing Our Spirit Worldwide conference in Honolulu.

LavaNet offices are located at 733 Bishop St., Suite 1170. For more information, call 545-5282, or log onto www.lava.net.

Audio Visual Company Has It Wired

Audio Visual Company president Thomas Lee says any year with an eight in it is a good luck year for him.

Back in 1978 he bought Hoffman’s TV, a consumer store, which he sold, and then bought Audio Visual Company in August 1988. The year 2008 marks 30 years for Lee as an entrepreneur, and 20 years as owner of the Audio Visual Company.

The sound system at Blaisdell Concert Hall, digital signs at Royal Hawaiian Center and video screens at the University of Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Center are just a handful of the types of projects contracted by the firm.

Lee says the business does only commercial jobs, which range from simple to complex. The simplest is what the industry calls the “hang and bang,” which is putting up a projector and a screen. More complicated jobs include designing a control center, where cameras and computers are linked together.

 

“We integrate a multiple amount of electronic equipment so they can all communicate to each other,” Lee notes. “The simplest way to explain it is, if you bought a stereo system for your home, you have a TV, stereo, VCR, DVD player and multiple remotes.

You can wire it up many different ways, and this can be designed to be wired up the way you like it. In the commercial world, we go so far as putting in 10 times more equipment.

You can connect to people around the world. You press certain buttons, flat panels turn on, the sound system turns on, you connect to Japan or Oregon or wherever. You can see four, six or eight sites at the same time. You can see each other as a checkerboard square or you can see the person who is talking. This is very complicated because it goes through a bridge, which costs $10,000 to $100,000.”

The firm was named Technology Company of the Year at the Technology Industry Awards held at the Hawaii Prince Hotel in October. With 45 employees who work in research, sales, engineering and as technicians, the business has interconnected hospitals, hotels, schools, business board rooms and shopping centers, as well as command centers for the military and the police.

Keeping current with technology is something this entrepreneur promotes.

“The biggest challenge is technology grows so fast and changes so fast,” explains Lee. “You learn one thing today, there’s two more things to learn tomorrow. When you finally think you have the right amount of employees, and you train them, there’s more for them to learn.”

Lee, who attended St. Joseph School and Saint Louis High School, says one of the biggest jobs recently is 10 courtrooms in Hilo, where everything is being recorded at the same time.

“The judge, the witness, the defense and the prosecutor all have cameras on them,” says Lee. “A voice-activated switcher focuses the camera on the voice that is recorded on a hard drive server.”

Another feature of the courtroom job is an interactive panel system that records where a drawing, done by a witness, shows up on all the monitors for the judge and the jurors. The system has a recall feature so if the judge wants to go back to what the witness said, it can play back electronically.

Lee says he especially appreciates the support of his family, friends and all his employees. His parents, Lorraine and Alfred, helped him buy his first business 30 years ago. He thanks his wife, Christine, and their children Kaleo and Jennifer, for their encouragement. Lee’s brother Patrick serves as the vice president of sales. Vice president Rena Gormley, who has been with the firm more than 20 years, handles operations.

Future goals for the business include rebuilding so the showroom and sales office are in the same place.

Audio Visual Company is located at 98-820 Moanalua Road. The hours of operation are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, call 485-3200, or log onto theavco.com

The Goshi Family Has It Covered