Ask SmallBiz: Conversation Starter
Q. I often find myself face to face with prospective clients, but it feels tacky to introduce myself and start talking to them about my business services or to ask them about their needs. How can I get over this…
Small Business
Finding Your Way into the Food Business
Just about everyone has a family recipe or talk-of-the-town potluck dish they think is ono enough to be a grocery-store bestseller. These are our six steps to take your product from concept to consumer. Most of our guides are entrepreneurs…
Ask SmallBiz: Selling a Business
Q. Our children have no interest in taking over our business, so my wife and I have decided to sell it. How should we proceed? A. Selling your business is one of the most important things you will ever do. Here…
Ukulele Boom Generates Global Sales for Hawaii Companies
Four or five times a year, Mike Upton closes the door in Petaluma, Calif., and flies to China to check an operation that’s making several hundred-thousand Hawaii-inspired ukuleles a year. Originally based in Hawaii, Upton moved to California but maintains…
Unique Scholarships Give Second Chance at College
Jasmine “Tita” Kuhaulua never thought college was an option while she was in high school. After graduation, she had three children in quick succession and the possibility of college receded further. But, the Waialeale Project has changed everything for the 25-year-old, part-time…
6 Great Small Nonprofits and What Makes Them Succeed
Hanahauoli School The first rule of not-for-profits,” writes nonprofit consultant Peter Brinckerhoff, “is mission, mission, and more mission.” Mission, he points out, is a nonprofit organization’s legal reason for existence. It’s why the staff works long hours, often for a…
Not Made in Hawaii
When was the last time you went to a luau and enjoyed deep-fried onion ring chips with your squid luau and lomi salmon? Never, that’s when. But Tim’s Cascade Snacks doesn’t care. The Washington-based manufacturer makes a lot of money…
Easing the Stress of Leaving Home
Cynthia Arnold, second from left, sits between Nellie and Herbert Lum, who needed help moving out of the home they had lived in for 40 years. Arnold and Dan and Julie Ihara, at right, operate Senior Move Managers to help…
My Job: Helping Animals Fight Cancer
Name: Shoko Watanabe, VMD Job: Veterinarian, trained in oncology, at the VCA Family Animal Hospital in Pearl City. Years on the job: 3 Toughest part: It’s hard telling pet owners that their companions have cancer and that chemotherapy could cost…
