 Aloha and welcome to Adventures in Small Business. I'm Jane Sawyer, the district director for the Hawaii District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. And this program is a partnership with our resource partners in Think Tech. So every other week we bring, or every week we bring a program to you to talk about small business in Hawaii. It's a partnership with the Veteran Business Outreach Center, the Hawaii Small Business Development Center, and the Patsy Mink Center for Business and Leadership. So we're happy to be here today to talk about what's going on with small business here in Hawaii. And I'm happy to have my guest, Janice Megan. She's one of the editors at Pacific Business News, and I'm sure you're all very aware and familiar with that publication. Congratulations to you weekly and then into your digital mailbox in the morning and afternoon. So welcome to the program, Janice. Thank you, Janice. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. So you've been involved with media and journalism for your entire career. You've got a lot of experience and that we're glad you're here in Hawaii. But tell us a little bit about what you've done. Well, I've been with PBM for 12 years now. Wow. Yeah. I've done a lot of doing a variety of things and covering a variety of businesses. I'm currently covering real estate, but I've also covered banking and retail and development and other things. And I've also done editing too. So before that, I worked for the Associated Press here and in a couple different places on the East Coast. So bringing a lot of experience to journalism here in Hawaii and you've always stayed very interested in this. What is it that intrigues you or got you into journalism in the first place? I guess just curiosity and learning about new things all the time. And you've covered other areas, not just business in the past, but you've stuck with business now for at least 12 years while you're here in Hawaii. What keeps you interested in that? I think because, well, there's always something new to learn in business every day. Yeah. And you have to look at different stories and different ways of reporting. You've also been in the business for some time, seen a lot of changes in media over the years. So what do you think are some of the key things that you've seen evolve and are most important, particularly for businesses to know who want to get the word out about what they're doing? Right. And what are some maybe... Well, there's been consolidation in media. We used to have two daily newspapers here in Honolulu and now we have one. PBN's been here the whole time. I think that there's, I mean, PBN does business coverage exclusively, but I don't think there's as much business coverage as there used to be locally. But there's also social media. So a lot of businesses are very savvy about building their brands and getting the word out about things that they're doing, especially restaurants and retail businesses. Because the social media has really changed the way a lot of people get information and get their news as well, the quality of the news, and then what people are really looking for. So as that changed, well, obviously it has changed your work significantly. Because though you go to print once a week, and I still love getting that paper in my inbox that they are in my office, but I also look forward to getting the notices of breaking news that come in the morning and in the afternoon from your publisher. Right. From our publisher. Yeah. Personally talking to me. That's right. Yes. So we write for the website every day continuously, so the email is really just a compilation of everything that's been posted up until in the last 24 hours basically. So when you're getting the three o'clock email, that's everything that's been posted since the previous day, most of it that day, some of it 20 minutes before. So it's really, it is very much more current, more immediate than you are getting new. And we actually put more on the web than we do in print just because the web is, it's unlimited and the print is, we're constrained by the number of pages in the paper. And another change that I've noticed with PBN significantly over the years is it is engaging the reader in other activities a lot more as well, not just providing the news, but also in many ways helping create news with events and activities. So how much has that taken a role in the paper? In the business, it's a big part of the business. So we have, as you mentioned, events. So we have, next week, we have our base event of the year called Business Leadership Hawaii. And we have, so for those recognition events, we have nominations open and businesses and individuals are nominated for various awards. So next week, there will be a business leader of the year award and the small business, the large business, I believe we have family owned business also. And then we're also giving a career achievement award to Jay Scheidler, who as you know is a real estate investor here in Hawaii. Yeah, a great product of our school systems and a great supporter of education here and business. They've named the Business School University of Hawaii for him, he's the largest benefactor. That's a great recognition for him and that is a really well attended and worthwhile program. It's always been a great event to put together and support. Right. We have some other recognition events that we have one called Women Who Mean Business and that recognizes women business leaders and business owners. And we also have 40 under 40, which is pretty self-explanatory, but it's for those who don't know, it's 40 young leaders under the age of 40. And those are, again, our business leaders or owners. And we just had an event last week called Best Workplaces and that is the businesses take a survey. The business owners and their employees take a survey, a very detailed survey by a third party and the highest ranking ones to get recognized and those are a lot of small businesses. And I was impressed by a lot of the perks that some of the small businesses have. They're doing creative things. I think that's one of the important things to note in some of these award programs is that it's not just kind of a popularity contest or who gets the most votes. You really are looking at recognizing best practices or unique achievements or accomplishments in a different area. Who generally nominates the businesses? Are they self-nominated? Employees nominate them? Other business leaders in the community nominate businesses they recognize? It varies. Some of the strongest nominations come from other business leaders who write and say you should recognize this, you know, I do business with this business or I know the person who is being nominated and these are all the reasons why they should be recognized. But we do get self-nominations as well and some of them are very strong. And I think one of the things I've noticed since we're kind of in the awards or business recognition as well is that very, very often you learn about these businesses and obstacles they've overcome. Special things that they have, you know, innovations they've made or changes they've made to make it a better place to work, doing business a better way, really commendable things or things they do to give back to the community that you may not have been aware of and it really kind of reinforces how important the businesses in our community are for not only creating jobs in our way of life but also in creating the vitality or the energy or the good things that happen in our community. We put a heavy emphasis on community involvement and giving back to the community. And so even with, it's one of the things that I've been very impressed with even SBA's Small Business Awards over the years. Nominations are open right now. Small Business Person of the Year, Exporter of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Family Owned Small Business of the Year. These are rigorous nominations so we collect a lot of information and we do keep most of that information, particularly the proprietary information, confidential which is a critical thing. When we're talking about those key things that businesses do, but you can get those nominations, call our office or go to SBA.gov and you'll be able to find information on that or go to the Small Business Development Center website and get your nomination forms today. And they can go to the PBN website and get their nomination forms. So there are lots of good things and this is a good way for a small business to actually get their brand out there, get more recognition and actually get their name in the news as well. Sometimes not just for this award but an award can make them visible to other businesses or to more customers. People become interested. People want to put their dollars where they're going to have a positive social impact or help their communities as well with let our dollars do the talking. So it can be very positive in parlaying an award into more publicity in many, many different ways. Because I would think that some of those people you see that are brought to your attention and awards may become or be recommended for advisory councils or other interviews or questions when you may be seeking input on a different issue. Does that happen? Yeah, and especially with the 40 under 40, they tend to be kind of up and coming leaders and some of the people that we've written about 5, 10 years ago are now established leaders in the community and sometimes they move on to different jobs or they start new businesses and a lot of them put it on their resume I've seen or on their LinkedIn page. We also have another event that is pretty much solely small business is called the Hawaii's Fastest 50. Fastest 50? Let's talk about that after we come back from break. So make sure you join us and we'll tell you all about Fastest 50. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. My name is Stephanie Mock and I'm one of three hosts of Think Tech Hawaii's Hawaii Food and Farmer series. Our other hosts are Matt Johnson and Pomei Weigert and we talk to those who are in the fields and behind the scenes of our local food system. We talk to farmers, chefs, restaurateurs and more to learn more about what goes into sustainable agriculture here in Hawaii. We are on Thursdays at 4 p.m. and we hope we'll see you next time. Hi, thanks for sticking with us for the second half of this adventures in small business. We've talked a little bit about building your brand, getting your name in the paper, what are some of the ways that Pacific Business News helps people learn about other businesses in the community. We're here with Janice Megan, so thanks for being with us again today. We've talked a little bit about nominating people for awards or the SBA awards, business leaders, the fastest 50, the 40 under 40. Fastest 50 is a very, very popular one and one that can kind of follow a business or really create some other opportunities for a business. So tell us a little bit about what Fastest 50 is about. So Fastest 50 is the 50 fastest growing companies in Hawaii that submit to the contest. But they have to disclose their revenues for the previous three years. And those we do not, well, they have to disclose their financials and they are tabulated by an independent accounting firm. And they calculate the rate of growth over from the first year to the third year. And some years we've had businesses with over a thousand percent growth. Wow. It's amazing. Generally number 50 is looking at 30 to 50 percent growth. So these are companies that are really, really growing. And we have an event, it's usually in August, and we have a luncheon where we recognize them and we recognize them in the paper and online as well. So it's a good way, I always learn a lot about new businesses that maybe weren't on my radar. And generally these are newer businesses that are ramping up pretty quickly? No, not always. Some of them have changed. Some of them have been around for years, but they've just had some really good years. And some of them are repeat on the list. Some of them make the list every year because they're just growing and growing. Some of them make the list and then come back five years later. So it's all different. And some of them are random companies. But they have to have been in business, I don't recall the exact, it's spelled out in the contest rules or the recognition award rules when they have, how long they have had to have been in business. And people can find that information by going to your website. Is it up year round or is it just when that specific award is being opened? I don't think it's up yet. It's probably after the new year. Okay, I think there's probably so many that come up too that you want to kind of check and see which ones you're eligible for. Because yes, we've seen, and I watch a lot of these pretty closely because I do watch for what SBA customers are in these. And I'm very happy to say that very often there's about very frequently 30 to 50% of them are our customers as well. So that's a good thing to see that the companies that we help are continuing to grow and to continue to create jobs and all those things that you want to see a small business doing here in Hawaii. So it's fun to be able to notice that and see the criteria. Yeah, we have a new event coming up early next year that focuses on the technology industry. And then we have another industry specific event in the fall called the Pineapple Awards that recognizes tourism and hospitality. And usually with all of these you may be in tourism and hospitality. There's a range of all different sized businesses. So you do make sure that a number of them are focused on smaller businesses as well as some of the industry leaders. Right, so in that particular one we would have the large hotel of the year which is the Hilton's and the Sheraton's and the Marriott's. And then we have a boutique hotel of the year. So this year we recognize the new Otane Kamana Beach Hotel. Oh, that's always a favorite. Yes, lovely. And encouraging that they're still doing well after all these years kind of staying true to their brand and their image but also keeping up with so many changes that have gone on in the industry and with the tourism product that is Hawaii. We also recognize tours and activities businesses and a lot of those are small businesses. Yeah, that's good to know. I always make sure because it is a tough area for small businesses to make sure that they are getting their name out there, being creative about it. It can take a big chunk of their budget to keep their name out prominently, to advertise, to get into publications. So there are a lot of different things that small businesses need to do. So I wanted to see if you have some tips about keeping their name current. Of course we're looking at Shop Small coming up which is a big promotion. We're going to hear a lot about Black Friday but before Black Friday and Cyber Monday rolls around, remember to Shop Small Business Saturday. There'll be a lot of things happening and there are a lot of fun events that are coming up with that. So what are some other things that people might be able to do with that? Well, we talked about social media and we've talked to a lot of businesses that don't spend money on advertising but they pour a lot of time and effort into social media which is free. Unless you pay to boost your post on Facebook, it's essentially free. But another way, some businesses have hired public relations people and then some are just they reach out to PBN, they'll reach out to reporters on their own or we will reach out to them if we know of them but there's so many businesses out there, it's hard to get to everyone. But we do feature a small business every week. We do a small business feature and it's usually a short story about the business and then a question and answer with usually the owner of the business and that's a weekly feature, you can always find it in PBN and then they're also on the website and we have a small business page so that you can read all, go back and read all the profiles back probably about two years, I think. Oh, okay, so it will live on, so to speak. A small business could contact you or call your newsroom or whatever and say, I've got a story or we're doing a special event or we're featuring something special in our neighborhood. I think with shop small business Saturday a lot of people are maybe looking to their neighborhood shopping centers or putting a contest together or a passport kind of function that perhaps something like that happening they could call and say all these businesses in our neighborhood are doing something maybe it's something you could send somebody out to cover or if you're doing something, what would make it newsworthy? Yeah, I think business is banding together we tend to focus more on the business of doing business rather than the consumer side of things. Our small business profiles, we look at issues that a lot of small businesses face like what do you do when the founder, I wrote one a couple weeks ago and family business on Maui and the founder passed away last year so they're kind of regrouping and looking at the future with the second generation and possibly the third generation running the business we get a lot of people talking about how they hire that's always an issue especially when unemployment is 2% it's a difficult thing especially with retail businesses how do you find good people, what do you do to keep your people once you find them, how you finance expansion or growth how you finance a large purchase such as a building or capital equipment those things can really change how you operate and it can shift your profitability as well your prospects for the long-term survival One of the stories that I did years ago about an orthodontist who purchased a building and using the SBA's headcode loan I spoke to the guy at Headco maybe a year later and he said my phone didn't stop ringing after that story because I think a lot of people weren't aware that financing was available to them and so it could open a lot of doors especially for somebody who's looking to purchase their own real estate instead of lease and control their costs that way and that program is definitely a terrific program I think another thing that was interesting about that was that the orthodontist was a woman it was her first purchase so she was in a field that wasn't common for women at that time to be involved in and to make a significant purchase like that so it was a good size loan and it went pretty smoothly and she didn't use 100% of the building so she leased out so she became a landlord in the process and I've seen that she's done quite well and has multiple offices now and that's another eye-opener for other businesses to see how you can really take that, solve your problem I need to have a place to operate and usually they also find that okay I'm generating more revenue I'm creating an asset and it's just good all the way around and it shows other people that they can do it also those are the best stories too the ones that somebody does something and it works well and readers can look at it and say I've always wanted to do that or I haven't been able to figure out how I can afford to do that or we also get people who maybe quit their job and start a new job and entrepreneurs and who among us hasn't thought about doing it yes so there's a lot of, it's the kind of news you can use and advice that other people can take and apply to their own businesses or their own careers do you usually get tips when you hear about businesses or activities that are going on do you really have to go out and hunt or do you like people that give you tips yes, I'll leave them keep calling, send me an email or I meet people when I go to events or I'm just out and about and I call in business cards or talk with people I've gotten to know some people there yes, you have to be out in the community that's another reason to get out and mix it up or go to events or host events and be out and around yes, and our other reporters that's how they're out in the community and meet new people and they're on their beats and at events and they get to meet new people we're always meeting new people so it's important to be out and around your business as well as working in your business and keeping things going I know it's hard but it is good to keep to be known in the community and to be known in particular the community that you're working with and the community that you serve and to push yourself outside your comfort zone and meet new people and learn new things so business associations, business related events chambers and industry groups and things like that are very, very worthwhile to get the word out and talk more about right, and it's not even just getting your business into the media, it's making new business connections business to business kind of goes well and you never know who you're going to meet I mean you can't just talk about your business you need to be seeking business and looking for ways to provide your product or service to somebody in a way that is beneficial because that business exchange is all about absolutely any last minute tips we're going to be wrapping up for today you'll be able to check this out and see this on a ThinkTech YouTube channel so you have anything else you'd like to close with for Pacific Business News Janice? No, just keep your keep telling us your stories I guess so thanks so much for joining us today make sure you check us out at www.sba.gov backslash hi to check on a lot of those programs it'll be coming up for your business, for networking and for keeping your business in the news and getting your brand out there so thank you very much for joining us appreciate you being here Janice thank you very much