Archives: May 2011

Hypnotism Can help You Conquer Problems

Are you anxious about presentations or public speaking? How about procrastination, an inability to concentrate or a lack of motivation? Fear of making sales calls? Many businesspeople suffer from one or more of these issues, but few take advantage of an effective and relatively easy treatment: hypnosis. Mindy Ash, hypnotherapist at Hawaii Hypnotherapy Center, says hypnosis has been proven to…

Traveling Babies Are Their Clients

Before boarding a flight in January for a six-week vacation on Oahu, Leilani and Stefen Reid of British Columbia rented online a crib, a high chair, a booster seat, adult bicycles and trailers for their 2-year-old son, Jackson, and daughter, Malaea, age 4. “After hours of traveling, I was so thankful to have a crib set up with bedding the…

Hawaii Macadamia Nuts

Whether they are raw, salted, pepped up with Spam or one of 13 other flavors, macadamia nuts have been a great Hawaii snack since the first planting in 1881. Here’s an overview of Hawaii’s mac nut industry: 300 Pounds per square inch needed to crack the shell 4,000 Hawaii employees working in mac-nut farming $30.8 million Value of mac-nut farms…

Yoga in the Classroom

The many benefits of yoga are especially valuable to children, and that’s why a new nonprofit is bringing yoga into public elementary schools. “I believe movement exercise and mindful activities such as yoga help to stimulate brain growth and development, and when that’s happening there is a greater potential for learning,” says Brynne Caleda, founder of Stretch Your Imagination. At…

Pau Hana: Call of the Drum

Dr. Ricardo Custodio, medical director at the Waianae District Comprehensive Health & Hospital Board Inc., wanted to support his wife’s passion for belly dancing, so he learned and perfected the art of Middle Eastern drumming. “I figured drumming would be a neat way to share the experience,” he says. “I was tired of being just the chauffeur or the groupie.”…

What it’s worth? 

What it’s worth? $5,678 If you’re always entertaining guests at home and want to make a good impression, forget about your boring china and antique vases. The Toto Neorest 600 Elongated Toilet/Bidet is a way to make a statement, says Jennifer Kitazaki, product specialist at Hawaii Home Expo, which sells about two each month. Cool features: The Neorest 600 has…

Coffee for Coffee’s Sake

There are a lot of reasons we visit our local coffeehouse: client meetings, free Wi-Fi or just the routine caffeine fix. For these purposes, your franchise coffee shop, with its roaring espresso machine and big Bunn brewers, works just fine. But when it’s really about the coffee, you might want to visit Dennis McQuoid’s new Beach Bum Café in downtown…

APEC: Is Your Business Ready?

The people planning Hawaii’s role as host for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting this November have crucial advice for local businesses hoping to get in on the action: “You snooze, you lose.” They don’t use exactly those words, but the message is clear: Local businesses should think now about how they can leverage a gathering of up to 20,000…

ZERO Down for Solar Power

If a solar power system  is too expensive for your household budget, how about zero down and pay as you go? That’s what partner companies Sunetric and SunRun are offering to homeowners on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island. Here’s how it works: • No money down: SunRun pays for the photovoltaic system and Sunetric installs it. The resident then…

Ask SmallBiz

Q. I’m told my business would not have been covered if we’d been hit by the March 11 tsunami. But, last year, I added “water damage” to my insurance. What gives? A. I can see why you’re confused. A tsunami is a “flood,” which is not the same as water damage in an insurance policy. Let’s talk about that. Flood is…

Blending Old and New Marketing

Tourists have hundreds of ways to spend their money; here’s how more than a dozen small companies draw them in. Well-tended tourists in skin-baring dresses and tropical shirts sip after-dinner drinks on the terrace at Duke’s restaurant, while a Hawaiian singer croons and waves lap onto Waikiki Beach. General manager Dylan Ching, scanning the room, excuses himself to have two…

Parting Shot: Office Views

10:00 A.M.  Monday Hokua Condominium, Honolulu Photography by Twain Newhart >> For World Wide Window Cleaning, height is never an issue. From cleaning to specialty work, the fear is not height – it’s windy conditions. Cleaning Hokua’s windows takes five days, but the Century Center condominium tower, for instance, takes 14. Categories: Media, Parting Shot

Innovation: Wearable Ads

Wish you could afford to run commercials promoting your company and products all day long? Now you can with Pacific Digital Signs’ sexy new Digital Nametag. “This will definitely stop people in their tracks and deliver a perfect message every time,” says PDS president Vince Mitchell. More than a nametag The nametag is the size of a standard business card…

Editor’s Note: Best Chance to Fix Our Schools

If a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, Hawaii has already taken the third step on its most important modern journey. And the pace is about to pick up. The journey began on Nov. 2, when the state’s voters eliminated the elected Board of Education and handed the power to appoint the school board to the…

Talk Story with Geoffrey Bannister

Bannister was, most recently, president of the Study Abroad Foundation in Indiana and president at Butler University from 1989 to 2000. He takes over at HPU on July 1, but already his plans are taking shape. HB: If you could make a call to action to Hawaii’s business community, what would it be? A: It would be to work closely with…

Social Media Can Wreck Your Career

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is the latest celebrity to be fired over social media, because of callous tweets about the devastating tsunami in Japan. In February, Rep. Chris Lee, R-N.Y., resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives after stories emerged that he sent a bare-chested photo of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist. And, how can we forget those…

Banking Revolution

Choosing a bank used to be fairly simple: People typically selected the bank that was closest to home or work. That was before the Internet. Now there’s banking everywhere through smartphones, with First Hawaiian Bank rolling out its app this summer, joining Bank of Hawaii in the race for mobile customers. Hawaii National Bank has a mobile banking product and,…

Businesses Support Public Schools

The new track at Lahainaluna High School on Maui, along with the field and turf, have been made possible because of millions of dollars worth of in-kind and cash donations by Maui businesses and residents. Additional changes are coming in the future. Athletic facilities at Lahainaluna High School, Hawaii’s oldest public school, were so inadequate that track athletes had to…

Sorrow & Anxiety

Local businesses have responded quickly and generously to help the victims of Japan’s tsunami disaster. In fact, every one of the dozens of companies contacted by Hawaii Business says it has either launched its own fundraising effort or contributed to aid groups. “The outpouring of support has truly been inspiring,” says Tyler Tokioka, Island Insurance VP of external affairs and…

Big Box Stores

The critics’ story is familiar: Giant stores move into an American community and destroy its small businesses, local values and sense of place. The same story is being told now in Hawaii, as shoppers abandon longtime neighborhood businesses to buy at the big-box stores owned by outside corporations. The truth is that this retail trend has been occurring in Hawaii…

Hopes and Dreams– Extended Version

Yu-Hsuan “Anthia” Chen, 25. Born: Taiwan. MBA: HPU, marketing. Plans after graduation: Start my career in Hawaii. Maria Goto, 26. Born: Honolulu. MBA: UH, general. Plans after graduation: Work for N&K CPAs. Kandice Johns, 29. Born: Wailuku, Maui. MBA: UH, general. Plans after graduation: Possibly work for Ulupono Initiative. Ngoc Nguyen, 28. Born: Hanoi, Vietnam. MBA: UH, entrepreneurship. Plans after…

Hopes & Dreams

Moderator Steve Petranik, editor of Hawaii Business Yu-Hsuan “Anthia” Chen, 25  Born: Taiwan MBA: HPU, marketing Plans after graduation: Start career in Hawaii, then return to Taiwan to help father’s business Maria Goto, 26  Born: Honolulu MBA: UH, general Plans after graduation: Work for N&K CPAs Kandice Johns, 29 Born: Wailuku, Maui MBA: UH, general Plans after graduation: Possibly work…