 and welcome to Connecting Hawaii Business on Think Tech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee, owner of Kathleen Lee Consulting, and I am your host for this program. Think Tech Hawaii is currently live-streamed on ThinkTechHawaii.com as well as on Think Tech Hawaii's Facebook and YouTube pages, and viewers like you have the opportunity to ask us questions during the show by emailing them to questions at ThinkTechHawaii.com. I am excited for today's show because we have someone who is a great entrepreneur, and we've already gone over a bunch of things before starting the show, but let's go ahead and introduce him first. We have Eddie Eke, Keili Inohomoku. He is the owner slash co-founder slash managing director of Go Hawaii Tours. Eke, welcome to the show. Hey Aloha, thanks for having me on the show. Well thank you. So tell us, let's just launch into this. Tell our viewers about yourself. So I grew up in Kona, Kiala Kikua Bay, and went to Kona Waena High School. I came to Oahu because I seen that the city energy and had to relocate, and so ended up over here in Oahu working in the tourism industry, working for various timeshare companies, activity and tour operators, and yeah that's how I ended up on Oahu. Awesome. Well how did you, let's do a two-part question. How and why, why did you decide to start your own business? And as far as the how goes, it's why I guess it's like what was your purpose you're diving for? So I don't know if that question was a little vague, but why or how did you start your own business? Well I always, you know, I didn't do well in school, believe it or not. I had this burning flame to do something great and I wasn't, you know, I felt like I wasn't, you know, reaching my potential in school. So actually I dropped out of school early and my mom said, hey, if you're gonna drop out, you better go out and make some money because you're gonna have to pay rent now. And so I did, I went and got my GED and I just started working. You know, I got into, I loved entrepreneurship and I loved the freedom that it could, you know, afford me and the opportunities. We grew up, you know, with basically no money. My mom was a single mom. She raised four of us. So I just, you know, I wanted to be able to buy the things I wanted to buy or go and do the things I wanted to do and have, you know, a comfortable living. Okay. And tell us a bit more about Go Hawaii tours. Yeah, so we're a tour operator here in Oahu. We operate shuttle buses and we're providing cultural and experience tours around the island. So, you know, we're doing stops over at Pearl Harbor. We're going, you know, around the island, different, you know, places on the island. But yeah, it's just a fun and exciting, you know, industry to be in. Tourism obviously is our industry right now. Our biggest one anyways. So that lured me in. I think that's, but that's wonderful, especially since he said that that's how you started out and, and Go Hawaii tours is, I think I had asked you this earlier. This is not your first business endeavor. Yeah. It's not your first and Go Hawaii tours is not your only one. So tell us a bit more about your, your other projects. Yeah. So before Go Hawaii tours and before I left the big island, I purchased some kayaks and I started doing kayak tours. I grew up in Kiala Kikua Bay, which is a popular snorkel destination. So one of the big activities to do is snorkeling over a Captain Cook's monument. And the only way to get there is by taking a cab. So we had a captive audience. But yeah, so I had three kayaks and, you know, I would take people over and do some snorkeling trips. We rented out the kayak and then me and my dad got together and started a fruit stand. So we had the fruit stand, we're renting out kayaks and that was a lot of fun. And then when I came over to Oahu, I got into timeshare and got really good at sales. I was, you know, working with some really big resorts and just learned a lot about, you know, sales and marketing. And I found that like, if you can, if you, if you're good at sales, you can, you can do anything. And, you know, with the knowledge I gained, I said, you know what, I should just go for it and really do something big. And so that's where our Go Hawaii came. And we launched in 2015. It was a small operation, just my brother and my business partner now, Steve, and we just went for it, you know, and it was just the three of us. And now we employ 40 people here on Oahu. It's just been incredible. I recently got into real estate. And one of the things I'm doing right now in my real estate strategy is adult care, foster care homes. So I recently just purchased a property and we take care of people with developmental disabilities. And that's actually more of a passion project, more than anything. I just love being able to give back and help, you know. Oh my goodness. That's, that's a lot. That's like a wide spread of, you know, different things almost. Yeah. And here's the thing. So, you know, they talk about diversifying, right? Because you wouldn't want to have all your eggs in one basket. So I said, well, I'm in tourism and who knows what's going to happen with tourism. So maybe I should get into health care too. You know, so I'm in health care now. That's awesome. That's funny how those things work. Yeah. And those are, you know, one or two of the top industries in Hawaii. And you said earlier that you started out, you started working at what age? Are you being like an entrepreneur? So yeah, I basically left high school. I was 17. And that's when I got into entrepreneurship. 17. My goodness. Now you're making me rethink every, like all my plans. I'm like, dang it. I'm not saying don't go to school because, you know, there, and I'll be honest, there's things that I, that I know that I just can't do. I, you know, I didn't learn certain things, right? I didn't go to college. So, you know, some of the things I missed out on, you know, now I have to compensate by finding, you know, talented people to fill those roles, right? And, you know, one of the most important parts. So how this all clicked and how I figured all this out is I read a book called The E-Meth Mastery. And it was written by Michael E. Gerber and the whole concept of the book. I don't know if you've ever read it, but it's a great book. The concept is, you know, if you're going to build a business, right? Don't create a job for yourself. What you really want to do is you want to, you want to basically work on it, not in it, right? So if you're really good at making cakes and you start a cake business, but you're just making cakes all day, we're not really truly creating a business. You're creating a job, right? So a lot of people forget the whole goal is, is, you know, to start with the end in mind, you're going to start a business, you got to know where you want to be. And that business has to operate like its own living and breathing organism without you, right? And that's like truly where, you know, the business becomes its own entity outside of yourself. So you have, you know, no effect on, you know, whether it's growing or any of that, it just happens naturally. And so I got really interested in that. And that's how I think we grew so fast was I was really focused on finding people, right? And that was our biggest asset, finding talented people and people that knew things and, you know, knew how to do things that I didn't know how to do. Right? That is so, that's brilliant. Like I'm listening to you going, okay, like, not a lot of people kind of think about that, right? Because you're right, they do kind of end up kind of getting into the trenches and they're working it and not building it. So I love how you brought that up. I know we said that the show title was how to grow a business from zero to seven figures. But I do want to go over some challenges first, like in the next four minutes before we go on break. So you are in the tourism industry. And as you are well aware, the COVID-19 pandemic hit Hawaii very hard. So how did you folks deal with that? Yeah, I mean, you know, March of 2020, we shut down all operations, right? And so for us, that was, you know, we were like, we're going to have to close for two weeks. This is crazy. How are we going to survive this? This is insane. Two weeks of shutdown. And, you know, a year later, we're all going, wow, I can't believe we thought it was going to be two weeks. But yeah, it was a scary time for us. We really had to, you know, we have a lot of commercial locations. You know, we have leases on equipment. We have a fleet of buses, you know, and, you know, just a park them, you know, to store this equipment. I mean, we've got these leases and, you know, it's a lot of money, right? Anyways, so we basically, lucky some of our landlords were really helpful and they worked with us. Some didn't. And so we just, you know, we just tightened the belts, right? I mean, you know, we're shut down for a whole year. So we had to do everything we could to get through it. How are you guys doing so far currently? Yeah, it's been good. We basically had to lay off pretty much every single employee we had, which was a bitter pill to swallow. That was a really hard part. But we basically brought back about 90% of our core group, our team. Some of our guys went off and did some other things, but majority of our people have come back. And interestingly enough, we are right back to doing the same numbers we were doing pre-COVID. So I guess we got really lucky. Yeah, it looks like you guys are doing something, right? If you're back to those numbers, we are going to go on break soon. But when we come back, okay, we would love for you to go over more tips and other things that you would like to share with people who might be budding entrepreneurs or even current entrepreneurs. So we'll be right back. Host of Hawaii, the state of clean energy on Think Tech Hawaii. Hawaii, the state of clean energy is about following the many clean energy initiatives in Hawaii. Hawaii, the state of clean energy appears weekly on Think Tech Hawaii at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays. Thank you so much for watching our show. We'll see you then. Aloha. Welcome back to Connecting Hawaii Business. I'm Kathleen Lee and my guest today is Eddie Eke Kili Nohomoku, owner, co-founder, managing director of Go Hawaii Tours. And before we went on break, we talked about how his company dealt with the pandemic. Eke, can you go over that? Some of the things that you had mentioned as far as like adapting went? Yeah, you know, adapting wise, it was, you know, for us in the transportation business, you know, we looked at ways to pivot, right? That was our first, you know, okay, how are we going to, we didn't know how long this was going to go for. And, you know, as, you know, the news kept coming out, we started all kind of getting together and going, guys, I think this is going to be longer than, you know, a couple of months. This could be like, you know, a year maybe or longer. So we really need to start figuring out how to pivot. And so, you know, we went and looked at different options, like providing transportation services for churches, you know, providing transportation for, you know, government contracts, military, that type of stuff. But yeah, I mean, you know, pretty much we had, we came up with every idea possible to just, you know, adapt, right? That's really creative, I think, you know, instead of panicking, you guys were like, well, let's see what we can work with, right? And then go from there. So on that note, what tips are you able to offer for entrepreneurs? Because again, our show is talking about going from zero to seven figures in a few years. Where do people even start? Yeah, I mean, you know, I started this business with like zero dollars, you know, you can bootstrap any company, you know, if you put your mind to it really, because if you think about it, the way we started was I never started out with, you know, 10 shuttle buses, right? I started out just selling tickets for those transportation companies, right? So we basically looked at our numbers and we were, wow, we have enough business to fill up one of our own buses. So I think it's time to go get a bus. Tickets start progressively, you know, you don't have to go out and spend a bunch of money on stuff. Building websites are easy, you know, anyone can do it nowadays, not that hard. You know, getting yourself out there, you know, connecting yourself. I mean, there's so many channels, you know, for businesses, you got Yelp, you've got, you know, in my industry, you got Trip Advisor, which is a really good way to, you know, find customers and, you know, social media, the power of social media now is incredible. You know, so you don't have to start a business. You don't have to have money to start a business. You really don't. You just got to have, you know, the drive, you know, and the will to do it. I do want to point out though to viewers out there that I can, I met through social media, I believe it was through a feature that Hawaii entrepreneurs had for you. So this is like community working together to link people up. And I'm so grateful for that. You had talked earlier about, and even you just mentioned it, what is, or how important is sales and marketing when it comes to business? So important. I mean, that is like, I mean, it's the pinnacle of, you know, business, because really what it is is you got a product and you don't have a business without a product, whether it's you and you're selling yourself, or, you know, it's a can of soda or juice, right? But you need to be able to present that product to your audience. And, you know, sales, there's so many levels to sales and marketing. But at the base of it, it's really, you know, finding out what that customer wants and needs and solving that problem. If that customer has a problem, you got to look at, you know, ways to solve that problem. Right. And, you know, a lot of times it's just about, you know, solving, you know, a problem for that customer. You also mentioned earlier that the industry that you're in, especially in Hawaii, is very competitive. Yeah. How do you stand out? It is. It's competitive. And it's also, you know, right now, controversial. A lot of the community, you know, there's mixed, you know, reactions with the tourism industry right now. I think, you know, it's grown so much over the years. And so a lot of people feel like, oh, our, you know, our homes, you know, our back yards are being, you know, trampled on by all these tourists. And so for us, we just focus on doing things the right way and doing it, Pono. So, you know, we're educating our guests, right? So they're not, we're not just throwing them on a bus and going, hey, here's this beach here, here's this beach. And, you know, we're trying to do it respectfully. And we're trying to give more value by sharing our cultures and our values of us and who we are here in Hawaii. Yeah, I think that's absolutely important that you're doing that in your capacity. What are some lessons that you have learned so far as a business owner that you can share with people? Yeah, one of the biggest ones is balancing, you know, that's the hardest thing. And I've been struggling with that forever. And I finally got to a point where, you know, I get so obsessive about it, right? And I'm just, you know, I'm in the weeds all the time. And I'm constantly trying to put out this fire and figure this out. But, you know, you got to figure out a way to step back and, you know, look at everything as a whole and not, you know, worry too much about the little things, you know, and have that balance where you can have time for yourself too. Otherwise, you just get, you know, like I said, just you get stuck in the weeds. Yeah. Is there anything else that you would like to add that I, you know, have not gone over, especially when it comes to building something from scratch or go Hawaii tours or anything that I missed? Yeah, you know, like I said, sales and marketing is really important. You know, your people are going to be your biggest asset. So, you know, when you're hiring and you're looking for, you know, people to help you run the business, you know, they're a representation of the company, right? And so, you know, you want to find the best people out there and it can be hard. So, you have to, you know, provide the best, you know, work environment, right? And that's building the camaraderie and having a good, solid team and working together, right? And that's like I said, you know, it's the most important part of your company is your people and having a solid team and camaraderie. This just came up while I was listening to you for those that are like, oh my god, I've been in my business for two years and nothing is happening, right? Because I know you said it took you about three to four years, which is in the business world, it's a short amount of time, but it's four years is still a long time. What would you, what do you have to say or what are your thoughts you'd like to share on those individuals that are like, forget this, this is too hard, like two years and I'm not moving? What would you like to tell them? Change, change something, you know, you gotta think outside of the box, you know, if something's not working, you know, try something else, but don't give up, you know, just keep going. You know, entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, you know, it's, you know, it can be lonely, you're out there and you're on your own and it's, you know, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of stressful days, you know, where you come home and you're exhausted, but, you know, if you can get over that hump, it gets easier, it just does. And then you get to that point, you know, and you get that one day where you go, wow, I'm so glad I kept pushing through because I can, I can smell the roses now, you know, so it's worth it, you know, but it's not going to be easy. Yeah, I keep coming up with these questions even though I asked you a while back, oh, is there anything else you'd like to add? That was like my conclusion, but I'm like, okay, cool, we still have time. I can still have some questions. Awesome. So we have about five minutes left. What are some of your favorite or best parts about being an entrepreneur? Even with the challenges that you mentioned, you know, sleepless nights, it's going to take a while, you might get discouraged, you need balance. What are your favorite parts about being a business owner? There's so many, there's so many, but I love to, you know, one of the biggest things I was sharing with you about, you know, building a team, right, and finding these really, you know, key employees, but I love putting together systems, right, to create something that, you know, like I said, runs, you know, with you or without you. So like creating these systems, I get, that's one of my favorite parts about it is, you know, processes and, you know, setting it up. So like when I started, I had like 10 hats, right? I was doing, you know, I was the, I was the website builder. I was a guy that was, you know, the HR guy, I was doing contracts, I was doing the admin, but you get to a point where you have to work yourself out of that job, right? So, you know, as you work yourself out, you know, you get really good at it, and then you create, you know, that job title and what needs to be done, and then you put somebody in place, and then you move on to the next thing, and you create the system, put it together, fill that position, and then you move on. But by the time, you know, you get to a point where you've kind of created a system, the whole business is running by itself, you step back, and you look at the organizational chart, you go, holy crap, I actually built this whole thing, and, you know, we've got reservationists that know what they're doing. We've got, you know, management in place that the managers are working with the team, and it's, it's, it's amazing to see how it's all starting to work all in one symbiotic relationship, you know, and that's the fun part about business, right? Is seeing it all work, and you've built every part of it, right? And it's exciting. Other parts that I love about being an entrepreneur is, you know, like I said, the freedom, you know, spending time with family, doing things that I love, just, you know, generally having, you know, a better perspective on, on, on life. Now I can kind of, you know, like I said, smell the roses and enjoy. Yeah. And like you said, work on projects that you mentioned, right? That passion project. Yes, exactly. Let's pull out the Gohawaii Tours website. And okay, if people need to get a hold of you or Gohawaii Tours, where would they go? Yeah, you can email me e.moku at gohawaitours.com. We have our website right there that you guys are going to be pulling up. That has our contact information. Heck, call me. I mean, I love to help and, and I love sharing with, you know, budding entrepreneurs. So, you know, I have a, I'm mentoring someone right now and I, that's, I really enjoy it. So reach out to me. Yeah. And to, to our viewers out there, we, we mentioned, we mentioned that Eke started out early in his life, which means that he is still fairly young. How old are you right now? I'm 32. Right. Zero to seven figures in a few years and you're 32. So congratulations on your accomplishment. So awesome, Eke. Thank you. Anyone can do it. Anyone can do it. Any final words before you wrap up our show? No, thanks for having me on the show. I really enjoyed this. And yeah, if anyone wants to reach out, if you need some help or, you know, some consulting or mentoring, let me know. I'm available. And I'm always willing to help. Thank you so much, Eke. And on, on that note, thank you to our viewers for tuning in today and mahalo to Jay Fidel and the staff at Think Tech Hawaii as well for making shows like this possible. We had Michael helping us out today. So thank you, Michael. And until next time, aloha.