Doing Business in Hawaii

I moved to Hawaii 18 years ago fully intending to retire, or at least semi-retire. The plan was to spend my days relaxing in paradise. I looked forward to leisurely days of sipping mai-tais on the lanai and reading all the books I’d never had time for. I eagerly anticipated dabbling in the workshop, on fun projects previously abandoned or not yet begun. I envisioned Saturdays on the tennis court and Sundays at the beach. It was a good plan, structured yet flexible, designed to stimulate mind and body yet avoid anxiety and stress. And it would have worked except for one minor glitch: reality. It turns out, that as wonderful a place as Hawaii is to live, affordable it is not. My nest egg turned out to be not much nest and even less egg. My retirement plans were shelved; I went back to work; and having been self-employed for over 25 years and thus completely unemployable, I started a business (actually more than one).

The first of many businesses was a snorkel and beach gear rental shop. Off the beaten path, with little money for marketing and lots of competition, the shop lasted about a year. I like to think of the experience as an $80,000, 12 month, non-credit (pardon the pun), postgraduate course entitled “How Not To Do Business in Hawaii.” It was proof of the popular Hawaiian adage, which we all seem destined to learn the hard way: “the way to make a small fortune in Hawaii is to start with a large one.”

The second business, a faltering attempt to salvage the first business, was a modest visitor magazine about the beaches and activities available on the Big Island, named in a moment of inspiration, The Beach and Activity Guide to the Big Island. A surprisingly popular publication, our first print run, which we could afford, lasted about three days. Our next print run, which we couldn’t, lasted nearly five times as long. The BAG, as we affectionately called it, was our introduction to the all-too-common and universally dreaded Hawaii phenomenon, “the almost-success.” Unlike real success, which can provide a living, if not fame and fortune, and unlike dismal failure, which provides a valuable lesson and allows one to move on, almost-success is a cunning creature that resembles real success, yet at the end of the day, or year, or decade, leaves you with little cash, little confidence, and little else.

Many businesses followed. A larger visitor magazine, twice expanded and once reinvented, was a real success. Eventually, it was sold, unfortunately to an unscrupulous investor who had neither much cash nor the least hint of a clue. The business was a success; the sale was a dismal failure. We learned our lesson and moved on. A restaurant-and-shops discount program, complete with a colorful brochure and embossed plastic membership card, was an almost-success: three rounds, three draws, no harm, no foul, no cigar. A luxury vacation rental property had it all. Real success for a while, admittedly a short while, almost-success for a while longer, and eventually, dismal failure. Another postgraduate course completed (you don’t want to know the tuition), another lesson learned, another opportunity for onward moving.

Today my business is marketing. Coupled with graphic design and publishing, it has all the markings of success. With lots of hard work, a little help from friends and family, and a little upturn in the economy, I might be able to retire or semi-retire, in just a few more years, only 20 years or so behind schedule. I shouldn’t feel bad: unofficial statistics indicate that of all the people who move to Hawaii and start a business, 50% to 60% give up and leave the islands within a year, usually having been very successful in making a “small fortune in Hawaii.”

With this in mind, and for all those who move to Hawaii with such dreams, my marketing company makes this amazing offer: “We guarantee to save you 75% of your first-year start-up costs in any new business.” Normally our methodology is a closely held secret, but I will divulge it here for the very first time. First, we prepare for you a thoroughly researched and meticulously delineated business plan for the first year, carefully calculating all costs associated with the first-year operation, including a specific exit strategy. Then we implement the exit strategy. You cut us a check for 25% of those calculated costs, and we buy you a ticket home.

12/09/10