 Welcome to Adventures in Small Business. This is a collaboration of U.S. Small Business Administration, Hawaii District Office, and its partners, where we showcase the stories of local entrepreneurs and small businesses. Today we have a very special and fun guest, Sara Michaels, who will tell us how to turn your passion into a small business. Hello, Sara. Hello. Nice to be here. Thank you for being here. So turning passion into a business, that's everyone's dream. I'm so excited to talk about it. I'm so excited too. But before, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure. So I'm from the island of Kauai, from way in the Boonee side, where there's probably nothing. And I've been practicing hula since a child. Wow. How old? Five years old. That's a lot of experience. Practicing, always practicing, practicing. Nice. So how did you decide to start a business? What was your motivation? Well, it was pretty much trial by fire. I was actually teaching at an elementary school, and I want to give the props out to all those teachers out there because they work very, very hard. And while I was good at it, I burnt out. So then I started my business. You burned out. There was just too much pressure. There's a lot involved there. There's a lot of people and pieces to incorporate. There's the students, there's the admin, there's the parents, and it's just kind of like walking across that bridge with a donkey, and everyone tells you how to carry it different. But as a business owner, I get to tell myself how to carry that donkey. That's pretty nice. So you feel like you want to be your own boss? Yes. That's the way. Yes, it is. So can you tell us about your business concept? Sure. There's actually two business concepts. The first one is about fun, and the second one is hula dance therapy. So let me tell you about the first one. And before I do so, I want to tell you about what makes superhero hula unique. And that's, we have crystallized the technical aspects of learning how to dance hula in one to eight hours. And what this means is that someone with no or very little experience can look really good in one to eight hours for the sake of something really amazing like health or healing. So can I go into the two different parts? Yeah, please. All right. So the first one is fun, which is what everyone needs and loves in today's real and probably stressful environment, because let's face it, all of us go to work, right? So for fun, what we offer are hula dance parties, bridal hula lessons, and visualize this. This is the latest trend. Okay. It's something a little odd, but something really fun. It's singles who want to do a sexy self-celebration. So imagine this pretty awesome wedding experience minus the marriage. So the makeup, the awesome dress, the professional photos, the professional video. And it's all for you and it's all in celebration of yourself and feeling good and you don't have to worry about the other stuff. So that, that's the latest trend about the fun. That's celebration of your femininity and saying, right, that's, that's a popular trend nowadays. Yeah. And very important to come back to your core and who you are. So yeah. Wow. So you mentioned learning hula in one to eight hours. Yeah. For me, as not experienced hula dancer, sounds impossible. Is it really possible? It's very, very possible, because there, there is a certain process and certain steps and depending on your learning style, it can be totally broken down in one to eight hours. For the technical aspects of it, don't mix that up with the culture for the technical aspects of the dance. Okay. So your services or hula classes, fun parties or celebration of femininity for girls. And also you mentioned dance therapy. Yes. So hula dance therapy is the second part. And this is deep transformative stuff wrapped in fun because there's a lot out there that is offered for therapy. And when we think therapy, we think like, oh, it's a lot of hard work. Oh my gosh. But when you wrap it in fun, that's what makes it worth it. So close your eyes and kind of think like healing dance parties or dancing, something special in honor of someone that you once loved. And the focus can be on healing flow, feeling good about stuff and turning things that bother you into your superpower. Wow. Yeah. It sounds amazing. It is amazing. So it is kind of a new therapy type of therapy, right? When people think of therapy, they think going to psychologists and talking about your problems. But you are doing completely different way. Yeah. Well, dance therapy has been along for a while. American Dance Therapy Association is like a big organization that I'm actually a member of. But Hula Dance Therapy is something unique and different because it's a very traditional dance. So a lot of, we'll talk about that later, but a lot of care and deep respect has to be done in order to be able to do this. So preserving Hawaiian history and traditions, that's important too. And the deep care and the, I'm going to take a moment to pause here because it's so important. The presentation of the cultural appropriation that has happened for the history in a careful and respectful way, yet wrapped in fun so people are able to receive the knowledge in a healthy, good way. That sounds amazing. So as I understand your passion is dancing Hula, teaching Hula, and also helping people, right? Helping people. Yes, I love it. That is what I live for. May I talk about my special heartfelt project? Please. All right. So related to the Hula Dance Therapy is something that our social enterprise superhero Hula has launched called the Survivors Project. Now, I want to talk first about what makes it so important. Did you know that one out of three women and one out of four men have undergone or experienced domestic violence? That's a lot. Like in this room, we had, well, we had three people. So that means one out of the three of us, hello, has experienced domestic violence. That means if you go out with a group of your friends, wow, I mean, that's a lot of people and furthermore women who stay in abusive relationships do this because they are afraid of not having necessities like food, shelter, basic things for their life. So using this Hula Dance Therapy, we're able to provide a different level of care where we can help them dance out of that part in their life that maybe was passed down to them through generations and dance out into a beautiful new template and by template, I mean like a different feeling in your life, a different energy and just feel better. So Superhero Hula is not just a business, but also kind of a nonprofit organization helping community, right? But without the red tape. Yeah. So we wanted to stay a regular business and a social enterprise instead of a nonprofit because of the red tape, but we really want to just get into there and help. And so, like you said, we have this project going on where 25 donations of just $22 can help another survivor or sometimes we put this online so we can reach the maximum amount of people. So it's really fun. So it all sounds really fun, but also must be challenging, right? Everyone's dreaming about turning their passions into a business, but not many people actually do it. So can you tell me a little bit about your challenges and how did you overcome those challenges? Sure. Starting this business. So let me flip a little bit. There are three challenges that basically I've gone through in my business, and this is just broadly for the Hula company specifically, there was the historical challenge of, like I mentioned earlier, presenting it in a fun, engaging manner, but still presenting the cultural appropriation that has happened and to understand and deeply respect where this sacred dance has come from. So that was the first one. And then the second one is planning. Let me talk about this very one, it's this huge one. And you and the SBA and the Patsy Ming Center have been instrumental in helping me do this part because once you turn on that creator, set the brain, the logical planning part kind of turns off. And so the business plan to write out the new ideas and the workflow is so important. And then the last one is the financial one because it's related. And I'm actually learning through school that accounting has its own language and what we like to avoid things like money because it's real life and getting those bills paid, it's a real part of life. And so to learn the language being behind it is something that all these programs at the SBA offers, which is wonderful. Well, you summarized it really well. It is a very big challenge for most of our clients, business planning, financial planning, especially for autistic people and autistic souls like yourself, right? Yes. I think you've seen that more than you have. So yeah, I'm pretty proud of you that you actually went out of your comfort zone and took you time to learn all of those things because of course, advisor helps a lot, but you have to put your own effort, your own time in learning and taking time to actually understand all of that. Thanks. Well, it was with your help and like we're going to cover next probably is the team's help too, right? Oh yeah, teams are very important. You have to surround yourself with professional team of advisors. Like we have a saying you need to have a bail team. Bail meaning a banker, accountant, insurance agent, a lawyer. That makes sense. So add the business advisor to, Noel always says you should add a social media advisor too because this is a big one. Yes, social media is huge. Nowadays. But yeah, let's talk about that after a break. Sure. It will be one minute and we will be back talking about bail team. Aloha and Mabuhay. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii with Think Tech Hawaii. We come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch for our mission of empowerment. We aim to enrich and lighten, educate, entertain and we hope to empower. Again, maraming, salamat po, Mabuhay and Aloha. Aloha. I'm Wendy Lo. And I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at two o'clock live from Think Tech Hawaii. And on our show, we talk about taking your health back. And what does that mean? It means mind, body and soul. Anything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're going to be talking about. Whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fascia health, beautiful smile health, whatever it means, let's take healthy back. Aloha. Aloha. Aloha. Welcome back to Adventures in Small Business. Today we're talking with Sarah Michaels, how to turn your passion into business. Welcome back. So, Sarah, we were talking about bail team, advisors, bankers, insurance agents, lawyers. Can you tell me about your team? What kind of advisors did you have? Letting all the secrets out, right? So be for banker. I am still currently looking for that, but I also am going to school at LCC full time this semester and learning more about the language of accounting so that when I go in to find an actual banker, I have a little bit more knowledge as to what makes a good one. And then the A, that's accounting, is that correct? Yeah. Okay. You're the expert. You learned the A. Accounting. I have hired someone and outsourced that work as a contractor to set my business up with quick books at automations because that's very important for me because I don't want to feel bad making money. I want to feel good and have that all automated and not be extra work. So that's my A for accounting. I is... Insurance. Insurance. Got that too. Yes. That's very, very important. Insurance and permits. Absolutely. And lawyer. Lawyer. For that, I'm kind of going a more cost effective, which is what I learned in the launch my business. That's what you use. Cost effective. Not cheap. Cost effective way. And I'm doing the legal shield right now. So it's like a monthly expense instead of those big hourly fees. Hopefully when I'm able to go to the next platform and the next level, I'll be able to hire my own personal lawyer that would be amazing to protect and keep us stable and everything like that. But in the meantime, legal shield is what I'm using. What about business law corp? Have you heard of it? Yes. I think you recommended that to me a while ago and they have really valuable resources. Is it at the Patsy Mink Center? So business law corp is a non-profit organization providing legal consultations to small business owners and it's free of charge, 30 minutes consultations. Wow. That's even better. Some of the lawyers do a lot of pro bono work. So it's a really wonderful organization we recommend to a lot of clients because legal services can be very costly, right? And if the viewers kind of forget the name of that, they can just contact the which organization, the Patsy Mink Center or SBA would have that. The best way to book an appointment would be going to HTDC.org slash legal. You will see all information there. That's great. Thanks. So what about marketing? I feel like marketing is one of the biggest challenges for a lot of businesses out there. How is your experience with marketing? Yeah. Well, I love to do the guerrilla marketing or like the free stuff because that's always like what you do when you first start out in your bootstrapping. So there's a lot of things out there like Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, you name it, right? So you're asking for my specific business. So what do you feel is the most important when doing social media or marketing for your business? What would be your advice or small business advice? Okay. Here's my secret tip. Remembering that every single post you make reaches another person like you. So when I post something, I am actually talking to one person on an individual basis instead of like, Hey, I'm just going to spam out all my things or I'm just going to, you know, write about all my specials and sell things all the time because no one is going to follow your channel. They're going to, it's so easy to mute things nowadays. It's so easy to kind of hide that you're unfollowing the person. But to remember that, Hey, I am trying to make things valuable for the person at the end because there is one person who is looking at your one post and to make that connection. So the key is to provide value, not just shouting, I'm so great, look at me by my services, right? Before, after definitely works too. But that's, you know, an added value that you're showing that one, just imagining that one person. I can totally agree. So where did you learn all of that? And those marketing tricks, I think a lot of common sense, because you go to like a lot of different things and a lot of people tell you, you know, what to do. But there's one specific really, really good resource that I think you have more information on. Would you like to share? Oh, so one of the classes that you took was launch my business, right? That's, it's amazing. It's a program of Patsy Mink Center teaching small business owners about how to start a business, how to build your strategy, how to write a business plan, right? And you were one of the participants, right? It was amazing. I finished my website at the end of it. That's the website. And then also SBA has a lot of events and classes and training courses. So we actually have one coming up about social media. It's not about Facebook, Instagram or any others, but it's about Google. So actually Google is becoming a new social media platform. You can create your own Google listing. So on March 21st, we're going to have a training workshop at the Patsy Mink Center for Business and Leadership. We're going to talk about Google My Business Tools, how to create your own free website, how to list your business on Google, how to rank high on Google and how to use all the tools that they're providing. I can give a personal assessment to that because as a business owner, having a Google listing and getting those reviews in definitely has helped improve my business and get me clients at the end of the day. So do attend. It's very valuable. And it is free for Shop Small Hawaii vendors. It's really easy to become a Shop Small Hawaii vendor. You just have to register at ShopSmallHawaii.org and you're in. So here's this opportunity. What about other education? We mentioned Launch My Business. Did you take any other classes, courses? Could you recommend any to our viewers? Sure. Personally, I took, I have an education degree. I'm going to LCC for an Accounting Certificate. But education that's individual and personal, I recommend really having your passion in place, really having that planning with SBA resources in place and listening to your intuition or your inner guidance is really, really key in order to move your business forward and keep yourself in a really sustainable, healthy place. So these would be your main tips for small business owners. So what do you imagine yourself in the future, let's say in five years? What are your future goals? A typical question everyone's asking. Well, I am on the Ellen show doing something similar like this and that is my dream and it will be about my upcoming book launch. Nice. So after Hula dancing lessons, you're planning to actually write a book about dance therapy, I'm guessing. Not dance therapy per se, it's kind of a bigger picture because in learning how to use Hula as a dance therapy wrapped in fun, I also learned how to harness and create good energy for myself and that's actually what's really, really useful into these lives because not everyone, understandably, well, I love it, not everyone loves to dance or they have different ways of doing things, but good energy, having like a really good feeling in your day despite the stresses of work or a daily life, that's so important in all these. I'm really looking forward to your book and really would like to learn dance Hula sometime in the future. You said one to eight hours, that sounds good. I think I could do that. So where can we find you? If someone would like to book a lesson with you, where can they find more information? Sure. You can go to superherohula.com and if you go to the backslash gratitude page, you'll find more about our wonderful and amazing survivors project, superherohula.com. Thank you so much, Sarah, for sharing your story and inspiring us. For more information about SBA, our upcoming events and resources, please check SBA.org website. Look for Hawaii Honolulu. We have a lot of great events coming up and stay with adventures and small business. Every Thursday, 11 a.m., looking forward to more great guests and see you soon.