 Thanks for joining us today Thursday for Adventures in Small Business. This program is presented as a partnership with ThinkTech, the Veterans Business Outreach Center of the Pacific, the Mink Center for Business and Leadership, the Small Business Development Center, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Thanks so much for joining us. During this program we talk about small business in Hawaii, what it takes to be a successful business owner, what inspires and motivates some of our top business leaders in the community, what are entrepreneurs doing, and what makes the difference in their success. We always hear it's a lot about the passion you feel, the commitment to your business. So today we're talking to one of those business owners that does exemplify those things, a real commitment to what her business does, making a difference, and helping make a contribution here to our economy in Hawaii. Please help me welcome Nalani Jenkins of 721 LLC. Thanks for joining us today Nalani. Thank you Jane. Thanks for having me. I'm glad we finally got you on the program because I've been excited to talk with you about what you're doing because you're a very busy woman and I think a lot of people will probably recognize you. Maybe give us a little bit about your background if you would. Well if people do recognize me and they think it's a little unusual in the business setting it could be because I'm better known as a Hawaiian singer and a musician in our high school years, which was one of them in years ago, decades. In fact I started a group called Naleo Pileme Hana with my two best friends in high school and we've been singing and performing Hawaiian music all over the world for the last number of years. What could be better than that? With your best friend, with something you love to do, something you can share globally, but you're extremely well known and still very very successful locally. Sounds like you have a lot to juggle. How do you manage 721 LLC and Naleo? Well, good question. How do you manage all the things that you do, right? I mean you just figure out ways to get stuff done, right? Especially if it's something you feel committed to and passionate about, right? Right. I think for Naleo it's been a number of years learning the business and a lot of it has to do with marketing. You'd be surprised. You make a record but then you take like two years to market that record, you know? And so there is a connection between us continuing to do our music but also being able to share it with the world. Like what a shame if you write a great song or you record a great album and nobody gets to hear it. Yes. So marketing has always been my passion and managing the group and I continue to do that through 721 as well. Okay, I see. So 721 is a marketing organization, correct? Correct. It's one of the things that we do for 721. So why don't you tell us a little bit about 721 and maybe give me your elevator speech. Oh yeah, sure. I learned this from the SBA, you know. Julie Purcell, great teacher. So 721 is a marketing communications and community engagement company. So I like to think of it as a three legged stool and what we do varies from client to client but it seems that everybody we work with needs pieces of those three elements, some heavier on one than the other. From a communication standpoint we have a digital marketing system that I develop and it's proprietary to 721 but it encompasses all of the things that a business needs to be able to communicate out to the general public and I spent several years working in that capacity for one of the large public relations firms here in Hawaii. Okay. And so communicating, right? Who's your target audience? What are you trying to share with them? What mediums work the best? Is it television? Is it radio? Is it written? Is it digital? Of course, a lot of things are going more digital. So we do communications work for a number of clients. We do community engagement. I think that one is the one that's a little hard for people to understand all the time but I like to think of it like this. We connect the unconnected. Okay. So sometimes their business has come to us and say, man, we're going to be doing work in this area. We really don't know who the leaders are. What the roadblocks are going to be? What do we need to do to look ahead? Plan for working within this community? And we help them be strategist. Okay, so do that. Your business success is helping other businesses be successful as well. Yes. Whatever their message might be, whatever their product or services they need to get out, you can help them figure out the best ways to do it or how to overcome obstacles on the way. Yeah. And so do you have long term relationships then with a lot of your clients over time? Yeah, for sure. I've had a really long term relationship with that group Nalail. Okay. But I guess so. Nalail has been 35 years together. And so yes, you get to know- That's quite a beta test there. Is this working? Right. And the music industry just think about it. How many changes have happened over the 35 years? Not unlike other businesses that you're probably familiar with and work with where it used to be very local, right? It wasn't necessarily important to be able to communicate digitally or worldwide. But now everybody's markets change, right? Yes. Yeah. So some clients, yes, I know very intimately and that helps me to understand them better. Other clients have come to us almost entirely by referral. Okay. So we do have some- That's a great way to do business. Yeah, we do have some new clients that we just started working with. We worked with the building industry of Hawaii recently on a grant that they received to do disaster training preparedness throughout the South Pacific. Oh, terrific. And we helped them get the word out. Very, very important. Yeah. That's another place SBA gets out to play sometimes. Right. And so that's a community engagement aspect, but it's also communications. You know, having the right messaging. And how are you communicating it? And then the third leg of the stool for 721 is marketing. So putting those messages out there in the way that's most strategic and most efficient. Okay. So and you probably, you've worked with businesses on an individual project, or you may have long-term clients that take them through just ongoing change, development, growth, or- Yeah, for sure. I think they want to see happen. So 721. Yes, correct. 721 is going to be four years old this summer. And it was started because the day that we registered the business is was July 21st. So 721. That's where it came from. That's where it came from. I was trying to look at all different kinds of relationships with those numbers. Yeah, yeah. Well, I got a great story for you. But 721 is a company that I started with Tracy Lawson. Yes. So we are co-owners of the company. And we both bring very unique and different skill sets to 721. When we started the company, three and a half years ago, I was working at a large PR firm. I was also managing and marketing and doing other things. And I was ready for a change. And I was like, I want to do something else. And I'm very entrepreneur, always have been. And I really prefer to work for myself. Right? So I was looking at what could I do? And this was a big change point in my life. And just so happens the day was 721, right? When we registered. I had no idea until three years later. So this is new stuff for me thing. A few months ago, I happened to Google the meaning of 721. Oh. And I think I Googled it for some other reason. Like it wasn't like I was thinking there really was a meaning. I thought I think I was doing like SEO, you know, search engine optimization stuff for the company and trying to see what came up on Google. Well, 721. The meaning of that number sequence is that you're looking for change or that you're in a position in your life where you're shifting it's like a season. Oh my goodness, a major shift and change in the positive. What kind of serendipity I mean to have that happen. Yes. Right. I mean, we looked at the date and I play blackjack. So 21 is a great number. Seven is a great number. I'm kind of a numbers geek and so is Tracy because she's an engineer. And so the fact that they're, you know, divisible into each other and whatever, I know that sounds super nerdy, but everything just felt right about that name. Also as a marketer and a brander, I wanted a name that was completely clean slate. Okay. I looked at a lot of Hawaiian names for my company because that really would have resonated with me. But a lot of them were taken. Yes. You know, or they had preconceived notions of what that name symbolized. Right. And I wanted a clean slate. And so that's very interesting. 21. You've got it. I'll put all packaged together right there. Yeah. It just happened. Yeah. So some of it is is strategic and thoughtful. And some of it is just darn Sherlock. I like it when the two come together myself, you know, just by chance that it happened to be the right thing. Right. And obviously it sounds like it's been a great decision for you to move forward. Have you struggled with being the business owner again? It sounds like you've had experiences like with Naleo. So you kind of knew what to expect. Were there any surprises in going out of the music industry? Well, you know, so here's an interesting little fact about me because people really know me best as a musician. Yes. But honestly, I'm a business person who happens to play music. So the music industry was something I was forced to learn. And I wanted to learn to help us promote our music. But I was a commercial banker before we signed with Sony Records in the 90s. Oh my goodness. I was a bank manager and a commercial lender and a loan analyst for nine years. And so I got to look at a number of different businesses and my job actually for three of those nine years was to write these very lengthy reports for the lending committees about the structure of a company, their competitive analysis, their cash flow position, their profitability, what the market looked like and whether they were in summary a good candidate for a commercial loan. Oh my goodness. So it seems like you've really found the perfect thing. Being an entrepreneur, being a business owner seems like it is really capitalized on all of those experiences as well because one of the things that so many people don't get are the numbers in being a business owner or really understanding their financials or their positioning. You've got the marketing piece to go with it as well. Then you have also the understanding of passion and expanding and getting the things out to everybody. So all of those are kind of, I mean, I think critical components for a small business owner. Would you agree? Oh yeah, totally. You know, it's funny where life takes you, right? And sometimes you think it's serendipity, but my tutu, who I'm named after, who lived to be a hundred. So my tutu's not with us anymore, but she always told me, she goes Nalani. There's a value in Hawaiian culture called Kohouia, which means you're on a path and you'll get to crossroads or forks in the path and you'll think that you're making a choice to go left or right. Because Kohouia means choice, no choice. Oh, meaning, yeah, you might take this choice and it's okay. Don't fret on it too much because if that's not where you're supposed to go, you're probably going to go back here. And wherever you go along this road is going to give you new experiences, new truths. And so I think all of these things have intentionally, in some way or another, come together to make me who I am and all these different experiences I think have value. That's terrific. I mean, you know, you sound like you've looked at a lot of experiences, a lot of different places and have all of those resources to bring together what you have now. Where do you see yourself going in the next five years? Oh, the next five years. Well, like I didn't have enough going on, I decided to go back to school. No, I know, crazy, right? But the company's growing. I have more support now. I have employees and I have support from Tracy as well. And so decided to go back and get my PhD in organizational leadership, strategic change and innovation. Oh my goodness. So where am I going to go with that? I'm not sure, but anywhere. Yeah, but I think a lot of organizations need that kind of strategic thinking. And I think if I'm going to be a communicator, a marketer and a community engagement person, I need to understand what is going on within organizations, what's going on in the communities that they serve, what change are they trying to affect, and how are all of those things connected? Because that's like my passion to connect the unconnected, right? So how are all of those things connected and how can we utilize our skill sets to help our clients make those connections and, you know, for the purpose of growing their business. I think it's very interesting because I think, you know, so many people hearing you say this, I'm going to study how to connect things and do better process and things would say, how do you make a business out of that? How do you, say, monetize that? But so many businesses are looking for guidance and needing assistance because they're working still on keeping their business going and hopefully growing, but they're producing products or services. So sometimes have someone who can help them, if they can define or see their goal, how do we get there? Right. So to actually implement that planning process, right, is a big thing, you know. So you've had to do some of that kind of planning or searching and plotting yourself. Was that, I mean, you remember of our emerging leaders cohort last year? Yes. So can you tell us a little bit about your experience in the class as well? Great experience. So it went on for seven months, was it, Jane? I'm trying to remember like how long it's a... Yeah, it's a pretty long period and we're doing that recruitment right now. Right. So it's an interesting thing. Let's hold that thought and we can start right after our break with our emerging leaders cohort and maybe some of the lessons that Nalani gleaned from a life full of lessons and a lifetime of lessons of work and play and in friendship as well. So we'll be right back. Hi, I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines and it's about creating a superior culture of excellence, leadership, and finding greatness. I interview guests who are successful in business, sports, and life, which is sure to inspire you in finding your greatness. Join me every Monday as we go Beyond the Lines at 11 a.m. Aloha. Hey, Aloha. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii airing every Wednesday here on Think Tech Hawaii, live from the studios. I'll bring you guests, I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that, you know, may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me because Security Matters. Aloha. Thanks for joining us after our break. We're back here with Adventures in Small Business and Nalani Jenkins, the president of 721 LLC. So thanks very much for joining us, everybody. We're talking about looking at resources and things that help business move along and so we were discussing a little bit our emerging leaders class and along with emerging leaders you've got a lot of other things that 721 has taken advantage of. Native Hawaiian-owned, woman-owned, DBE with the state. Yeah, Hawaii Department of Transportation, we're an H.DBE, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, which means that we're woman-owned, Native Hawaiian-owned, veteran-owned because Tracy is also a veteran and a woman and that we meet the criteria for the size and the scope of what we do. So that positions you to do work with the state and potentially special certifications that can help you get a whole range of different contracts, even with major vendors and things like that. Yeah, so I'll give you an example because it seems sometimes a little hard to understand what we do. Let's say the Department of Transportation has a big World Works Improvement Project coming up and they may need communication support during the term of the project. So people communicating with the community so they know what the traffic issues might be, what the construction noise and other construction issues might be. They might hire us to facilitate that communications part of it. It also could be something that leads up to something that they're going to do. So we may be hired to do a study or to do public meetings with individuals out in different areas of the city or the state to talk about, hey, if this road is going to be built or this highway or this extension, what do you think about it? What does it mean to you? What input do you have that we should be bringing back to the state so that we can all make better informed decisions and plan more effectively? So you're one of the groups or organizations that will put together those meetings. It's not always just the state saying, okay, we're going to come out and listen to you or collect a little information and then put it in a folder. You really collect the information, look at it, analyze it, give real feedback. Yeah, and you know, communications, I think we all, including myself, we all know like communications goes south. Like you have big problems, right? So it's great to get good data, but are we getting it out to the right people and are we getting it out in a timely way, right? So it's really having an overall strategy and helping organizations who a lot of times they don't have a dedicated communications person or maybe project to project. They don't have somebody on that project that is dedicated to communication. So they're all trying to wear like two or three hats. Right, and maybe not doing the best job. So to be able to contract with someone like yourself to do that helps though everybody feel better about it and the project be more effective and better accepted, better understood, all of those things. And so because of Tracy's background too in construction, she's a safety consultant and owns her own safety consulting company, as well as being co-owner of 721 with me. Because of her background, a lot of times there are technical issues that'll come up within some of development projects that we're working on that I can get good insights from Tracy on and stay ahead of the curve. I think you've got a great partner there too. We're going to give her a quick shout out, okay? Oh yeah. Because Tracy Lawson Lawson and Associates was just selected or just named recently but selected earlier this year as the small business person of the year for the city and county of Honolulu. So we go congratulations to Tracy. Yeah, yeah, whoop whoop for Tracy. We'll be doing a big statewide awards presentation coming up with SBA on May 3rd at the Waikiki Prince. So it's a great function, it's great to get out there and an expo and see other businesses that are successful and congratulate and meet the best small business owners and entrepreneurs in the state. So and Tracy's among them. So yeah. I'm very proud of her and also the fact that she's also one of my clients. So we want to make sure we give her a good shout out because 721 does all of her communications and marketing. Okay. That's a great relationship to have and to get together with other businesses where you network, you rely on each other, you can trust and know each other's services. And I think that may be one of the benefits that came out of the Emerging Leaders Program. Oh yeah, I'm glad you brought that back. First of all, got to meet a great bunch of people, right? And they told us in the beginning you'd get really close with these people. But these are all, and it's true, but these are all people who are walking the same path as you. Maybe at different times along that path, but we have shared experiences, we lean on each other even now, we might call each other and bounce ideas off. But the content of the class also was really helpful. And if you're a business owner and you are going a mile a minute all the time, we tend, I know I do, I tend to focus on the stuff I like and the stuff I don't like is like piling up on the side of my desk and I'm not really like getting to it in a timely manner. I think that's typical for businesses. Well, this really made us focus and there were different areas. Finance, there was planning, right? There was management and marketing. And so we took big components of those and then at the end of the class we kind of pulled them all together to do this growth plan. And I loved it because I was feeling like my business was running me. Yes. You know. And now I felt like I was getting a handle on stuff and I was starting to run my business a little more effectively. And I think it shows you some sometimes the places where you really are doing things right even as we get lost in that like, oh my goodness, there is so much to do, so much I want to do. And I don't like this, I like this or I'm good at this so let's do this and have that place to shine. But getting you a better understanding of some of the other pieces and how they're interrelated. Yes. So it's a, I love that program and we've had some great results. So we are recruiting right now. So anybody out there who knows somebody you need to, it's not for the light-hearted. It's not for beginners. So you need to have a couple years in business, at least three years in business, have annual revenues of over $250,000 have at least one employee which is a big area of discussion because this, the, your whole cohort is looking at growing their business and bringing in more people and needing more people and that just magnifies everything. The need to have a good cash flow, got to meet payroll. You're going to have to provide benefits. You're going to have to be competitive to keep and retain that worker. Yeah, absolutely. You're going to have to train them so you're going to have to know your process, know what your mission and vision of your organization is. Did the class help you really kind of get a really strong handle on those things or? Absolutely. And you know what was the biggest thing? I mean, I don't know if anybody shares these things. The biggest thing for me was not what I expected. There was a challenge exercise so to speak about scaling. And I realized that one of the reasons that I never like wanted a lot of employees was some of these scaling issues. Just that, oh my gosh, I got to do payroll and I got to do... I have people responsible for me. That means I really have to be consistent in bringing in contracts and I don't really want to manage somebody. I just want to do it all myself. But it was causing me to have just overload. Yes. Right? So I had to come to a slap me in the head kind of conversation and say, okay, Nolani, it's time for you to start growing and stop being not necessarily afraid of it, but putting it on that back shelf and saying, okay, you can't scale, why aren't you doing it? Okay. Face those things and then have a plan to grow. And so we've already experienced growth since graduating from the class and hired another new employee. So, you know. That's great. Yeah, we're moving in the right direction. We're coming up on close, but I did want to ask you one thing, just kind of a reflection, you know, as a native Hawaiian woman, entrepreneur, sometimes it's considered a little unusual. What what do you think brought you here as do you think this is a good opportunity for others? Oh, yeah, I really try whenever I'm out and about to encourage other native Hawaiians to really look at being an entrepreneur, running your own business. My daddy's from North Carolina. He was a businessman his whole life. My mom's Hawaiian. So I came from a kind of a mixed household. And I think I learned a lot of my business stuff from my dad, you know. But I'll give you a quick story. Dr. Chun, who is one of my fondest people that I know, told me a story about the opihe. And he said they tried the aquafarm opihe. And the opihe would just come out flat, tasteless, no real body to them. And they realized it was because opihe out in the ocean have to cling on to the rocks and they suction on to the rocks. And every time the waves come and go, they have to hold on to make some stronger. I think being an entrepreneur has made me a stronger person to endure all the things that entrepreneurs have to go through, you know. And I think it's been a great decision for me. And I think other native Hawaiians would enjoy it. And it lets you express yourself, speak your truth. And you've also shown us how successfully you followed your personality, your nature, your dreams. So we congratulate you for that. Thank you so much for joining us here this weekend adventures in small business. And we will be looking for you and listening for Naleo out there over the coming months. And wish you the best of luck with all those big events coming on. And congratulations also Naleo with the OO award coming up in May as well. Thank you. If anybody wants to check us out it's NaleoPiliMehana.com. Okay. NaleoPiliMehana.com. Naleo.com is the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. Not going to get you to the website. So NaleoPiliMehana.com. You're not going to hear any good music there. Well, you could get a little bit different music. But okay. But thank you so much and congratulations. We wish you much continued success. Thank you. Same to you too. Thank you so much. And remember give SBA call if you're interested in the Emerging Leaders Program. If you want to come and celebrate small business with us on May 3rd at the Waikiki Prince. A great expo. We'll have some great tastings going on. It'll be a terrific event with some of Hawaii's best small businesses. So come on out. Please join us. And www.sba.gov. Backslash Hawaii for the Hawaii District Office. Look forward to seeing you again on ThinkTech. Aloha.