 Welcome to Keys to Success, which is live on the ThinkTech Live Streaming Network series weekly on Thursdays at 11 a.m. We are your hosts. My name is Danilia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. Welcome to today's show. The goal of this show is to provide professional and personal development tools and profound insights on how to achieve success in life, career, and or business. We are very grateful for all the positive feedback we have received from viewers. One of the viewer comments from our last show was, all the Keys to Success episodes are filled with encouragement and knowledge. Great guests. You, our viewers and listeners, are our inspiration for the show. General John Tullan Jr., the United States Marine Corps Forces Pacific's commanding general, was our guest on our last show and his words of wisdom can be accessed on Newman Consulting Services website at newmanconsultingservices.com or our landing page at danilia.org. Our theme for today is, the American dream is alive and well. Joining us today in the studio, as our honored guest is Mrs. Kailani Cowell, owner of Kailani Spices. Mahalo for joining us today, Kailani. Mahalo too for having me here. Yes, welcome. Would it be all right if we call you Kai? Absolutely. Right. Now, our first question to you would be, share with our viewers if you will, why and when did you decide to start your spice business? I started about 12 years ago. And the big reason I did was to help people cook again. I was seeing my friends not cooking, going to the gym all the time and the families were suffering from not having cooked meals. And I would see what people were buying in the store and mostly processed food. And I grew up in the Philippines. My mom taken me to the farmers market and everything fresh. And I said, you know what? Let me come up with something that's quick and easy and tasty at the same time. And I discovered rubs. And rubs are a combination of spices with Hawaiian salt we put in. And if you just sprinkle it on whatever chicken, meat, any kind of pork or fish. And if you're vegetarian, you sprinkle on your vegetables, your salad. So if you put it on meat, you just rub it on and let it marinate and bake or grill. How simple is that? And it's healthy. And it's healthy at the same. Yeah, and in fact, that's one of the other reasons I start really getting into it because I found out that every spice is medicinal. And so you're eating well and at the same time getting healthy. Yes, that's great. So what are some of the challenges you experienced starting your spice business? Well, some of the challenges was where to get great spices. Because we're all about quality. So I had to find that out. And unfortunately, there's nobody doing dry spices in Hawaii. So... That's a good thing. Yeah, that's a good thing for you. That was opportunity in disguise. Yeah. You found the meat and you filled it. Exactly. I believe in what you just said, John. And that and then what bottles, what container, and who do I sell it to? And you know, Hawaii is great. I did cold calls and everybody was so friendly. And I just called them and we got into food land and down to earth and thank you, Hote. We started getting into those places. It's great. They were so, they were just so nice. Yeah. Yeah, that is one of the great things about Hawaii. I think our fear can hold us back from just asking. That's true. Our fear, we think, oh, they'll say, no, well, you know, once you call, you have a yes or no answer. So 50, 50 charts, I'll say go for it. Yes, because, you know, what's stopping us, right? That's exactly right. Except ourselves. And that's one of the keys to success, you know, being able to do what you need to do. Because if you don't do anything, you won't get anything. Exactly. We try and keep it simple. Yeah, just do it. Just do it. Okay. Shout out to you as some of the strategies that you incorporated while you were building your spice business, if you would. What I did was word of mouth because we're a small business so we didn't have a lot of money to advertise. So I did a lot of demos in the stores and I got local papers to print up about us, free. Like the Honolulu magazine did an article on us. And the Hawaiian, unfortunately, Aloha Airlines did too. Unfortunately, they're not around anymore. And also now what's happening, I'm realizing social media, I wish I'd known more about that in the beginning of my spice business, but now we're doing more and more of social media because we're realizing it really gets to the people quicker and faster. And so we're working on that. That's my new strategy. There's always a work in progress, right? Absolutely. Never quit. And social media was not, 12 years ago, social media is not like it is now. Things have changed dramatically over the last 12 years. So a lot of individuals who have had businesses for a while have actually not engaged in social media, but now we're finding we've got to engage in social media. I mean, that's the absolute necessity. Yes. Yes. So that's what I've learned. And this is the age of technology. Yes. There's nothing we can do about it. Our son said, don't telephone me anymore. You have to text or email me. All right. Took us about six months to get through that. Oh, I still like to telephone. And now we enjoy texting all the time. It's easier. That personal part of communication should never go away. Absolutely. When I want to say something personal or deeper than quick, I call the person. Right. Yeah. Because I can't say how I feel. That's true. And it can be misconstrued for you, Texas, as well. Exactly. Because when you write something, it could be misconstrued as to nearly just it. And there's a lot of ambiguous, when you look at something, well, I didn't mean it that way. Well, I took it that way. And whether you meant it that way or not, that's the way I was perceived. And the reason why we're talking about this is because in business, even today, even with social media, that personal relationship, that personal contact, that personal communication is still a very high priority. Yes. You know, very high priority. Yes. What is it about the spices that make it unique? Well, make them unique. Well, number one, we're certified organic. Right. You know, what's good for the planet, good for your body. Oh, I love it. I love it. No chemicals, no additives, no gluten, no MSG, no nuts. Now, you know, so many people allergic. Allergic. And each one has eight spices, except Chinese spice. All right. All right. And we have Hawaiian sea salt, so they're all rubs that makes it easy. So that's what we say, flavor without the labor. Oh, I love it. Yeah, like I said, you know, you shake it on, rub it in. Well, what was that tweetable moment again? Flavor, how you say? Flavor without the labor. Flavor, that's good. That's definitely a tweetable moment. So why don't you share with us a little bit about the health benefits of the spices? Like, OK, you've heard a lot about turmeric. Yes. But it's not even just turmeric. It's every single spice. And imagine my spices has eight spices in them that we roast. That's another unique thing about them. We roast it first, so it brings out the oils of the spices. And that's actually old school. If you go to India or Thailand, that's how they do the spices. They roast it first, and then we grind it. And then we make our formulas. So there's eight spices. And turmeric is like in our curry, which everybody knows. It helps prevent Alzheimer's and super high and antioxidant as well. And also, cinnamon is in our curry. And that's even higher in antioxidant than turmeric. And a lot of people don't realize that. That's new. And that boosts the brain function. And also, garlic. Garlic is almost all of our spices. I just love garlic. Yeah, it's good to do too. But the thing is, everybody has to eat it, you know. And it's so good for us. Absolutely. And one of the keys to success is being healthy. Yes. You know, being healthy is extremely important. Watch what you're putting in your body. You know, we're all not perfect, unfortunately. You know, we all love to eat different things. But, you know, the spices are one way of keeping your body healthy. Absolutely. And that's what I'm, that's what I was so upset when I was seeing what people were eating. And that's why, you know, we have a high obesity rate in America. And our poor children are all overweight. So it's lack of exercise and eating. It's not just exercising. We need to feed our bodies. As the saying goes, you are what you eat. That's so true. Yes, absolutely. OK, let's shift gears a bit. OK. What is your definition of the American dream? And do you feel you've accomplished it? My definition of American dream is, yes, I do. That's what's beautiful about America, that any person of color, like myself, or whatever economic level you're on in America, or you can achieve it through believing, hard work. And as we said before, doing it. And I feel you can come to America where a lot of countries, like India has a caste system. You can't go to this level if you're at this level in India. But in America, you can. Because I grew up in the projects. I came from the Philippines on a boat, came to America speaking only Tagalog, no English. And went to American school, learned English right away. And as soon as I could work, I worked. And I realized, because my mom taught us, she didn't want us to be on welfare. And we had to be because circumstances. And I remember her being embarrassed, including myself. As soon as I could work, we worked. And so to get out of that. And yes, I believe if you want something in America, you can achieve it. The only thing stopping you is yourself. Wow, so true. Yeah, and I. It's interesting because I'm from another country too, right, from Australia. And when you're from another country, your view of America is like, wow, this is so great, the American dream. That's what we think about, the American dream. And it is alive and well. It's so is, but so many individuals think it's not. They're so scared. A lot of people, you know, they say that maybe afraid of success. Or they don't believe in themselves enough. And all of us cannot be bosses. All of us can't own a business. And that's okay. But the ones who do want to have a business, they can achieve that. And it's to all what we've said, hard work, believing, and giving a good product. You can't give shoddy product. You have to give a great product and great service. Those are the two key things. Okay, well, we're going to take a break. That's the perfect time to take a break. This is Keys to Success on the Think Tech Live Streaming Network series. We're talking with Kailani, Cal, owner of Kailani Spices, regarding our theme today, The American Dream is Alive and Well. My name is Danelia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. Hi, my name is Justine Espiritu. This is my co-host, Matthew Johnson. Every Thursday at 4 p.m., we host the Hawaii Food and Farmers series. This is the place you can come to for insight on the perspective and history and passions of Hawaii's farmers and all folks involved in Hawaii's local food system. What kind of folks do we have on? So we have everyone from local farmers. We have foodies, chefs. We also have journalists, researchers, anyone who's actually working to help make Hawaii's local food system that much better. So join us every Thursday and tweet in us and ask us some questions and leave your comments as well. Thank you. For a very healthy summer, watch Viva Hawaii. We're giving you the best tips and with our best health coach here. So Viva health coach. Viva la comida saludable. Welcome back. This is Keys to Success on the Think Tech Livestreaming Network series. We encourage you to call our hotline at 415-871-2474 to join our conversation or tweet us at thinktechhi if you have any questions or comments. We've been talking with Kailani Cowell, owner of Kailani Spices regarding our theme today, The American Dream is Alive and Well. My name is Danilia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. Welcome back to the show. Kai. Hi. Just when we left off, you were sharing some wonderful words of wisdom. So you shared with us that you didn't grow up here in America. You grew up in Thailand, you said? The Philippines. The Philippines, okay. Yes. All right, so how did that go? How was that? I know you were young when you came over, but do you remember anything about your humble beginnings? Oh, absolutely. A member living in the Philippines on dirt floor. But you know, we didn't feel poor. No, you didn't do it when you were a child. No. You're just happy. We were not poor. We were eating, my mom was working, supporting me and my cousins and auntie. Yeah, so no, we were not poor. Isn't that the beautiful thing about children? Children don't, you know, they don't get involved in all of that. It's the adults that think about, well, we don't have this and we don't have that, but children just enjoy life. No matter where you see children, they're always having a good time. They're doing something fun. And as adults, we tend to stop doing that. Yeah, that's true. And what we teach in our schools, we have a vocational school as well. And when we say poor, you know, happiness is something that you can't put a price on. That's true. And if you, long as you have happiness in your life, you're fine, that's success. See, money is not always success. It's how you live, you know, and what's in your heart. Everybody, as you said before, everybody can own a business, but everybody could be successful. That's right. And be self-sustainable. And that's the key. That's the formula. And as you said, it is about being happy because happiness means different things to different people. But a lot of the time, we are resistant to happiness because we say, oh, that will never happen. I will never have that. Well, you might have it if you start thinking about it and start acting towards achieving it. Because Henry Ford said, if you think you can, if you think you can, you're right. So we have to go ahead and do what we need to do. So how did your mother explain America when you moved over here? Yeah, the streets are paper gold. I love it, I love it. But you know what, that's so great because that's what you're expecting. I know that the streets aren't paper gold, but in a lot of ways it is because the American dream is alive and well and there's so much opportunity here. Yes. And often people say, well, you know, it's just really hard work. Well, yes it is, but it's the journey that counts. You know what? It's the journey that counts. So share the journey with us. The journey has been rocky, but I was telling Don, my husband, I wouldn't have met all these wonderful people and the business people, regular people, the moms and the kids, when they come to my table tasting my famous curry fried rice with cranberries, I could throw that in. We look forward to eating some of that. Yes, I brought some as you know for your lunch today. All right, thank you. And then a piece of chicken with the Kona spice or the Hawaiian spice and parents, when they see their children eating it and they say to me, I can't believe my peeky child is eating your food. That warms my heart. And I said, yes, they do because I feel that they came from, you know, they're the beginning, they're just starting and they know what's fresh and what's good. And it's the parents that prevents the children from eating, I see this all the time. So that and seeing people's faces when they taste the food and how it makes them happy. And then I have a banner with the health benefits that even they actually read it and they're serious. Will this help me? I said, if you continue to eat healthy, I can see that they're maybe overweight or something. And just exercise one hour a day. That's all you need one hour a day. There's 24 hours in a day. I said, you be fine and stop taking the meds. It's the meds that's making us unhealthy. And that's one of the things that Danil and I have found out in life that there's drugs or drugs, whether they're legal or illegal, they're still drugs. That's true. And you still put them in it to your body. You're putting something foreign into your body. And what you're saying that your spices are natural. They're organic and like, imagine I was telling people each of my spice rub has eight spices. I eat, my husband and I, we eat that every day in some form or another of one of the spices in our food. Imagine if you did that, even if you just put in your scrambled eggs, when people say, I don't have time to put in your tuna fish, open up a can of tuna, sprinkle. But every day, and that's our vitamins, that's our drug every day. And we don't do any drugs, drugs. That's wonderful. Except my husband has to have his heart thing. Other than that, we exercise, we eat. I cook almost every day. That's right. That's right. What a lucky man. Are you saying something, John? You know, our show is called Keys to Success. And the reason we call it Keys to Success because we feel that anyone can be successful. And one of our standard questions would be, share with us your three top success habits. You give a great product. That's one. Yes, and you believe, I believe in it. And believing in hard work and focus. You have to focus. And these are all things like, my mind is always going, but I really focused when I started. I was really serious. I really said, you know, it's so funny this is saying if people really knew what, how to start a business, they really knew what really went on. They probably wouldn't. That's very true. That's very true. And so I said, oh my gosh, you mean I have to pay, have payroll? Yeah. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work, but you know what? I love, you know what, Daniel, you said the right thing. It's the journey. That's right. And that's, and when I look back, when I look back, I said, and the humble, I started KCC farmers market. And I was so nervous. I couldn't sleep. We had, I had to be there like 4.30 in the morning. And I said, what if nobody buys my spices, right? And I had all this food. Everyone bought everything sold out, the food sold out. And yeah, so that's, that to me, the journey has been fantastic. Absolutely. You know, I recall the first time that I gave a presentation to a thousand people up on stage. I threw up before I went up on stage. I was so nervous. I was up all night and it was just, it was just terrible that I got up on stage. I had the podium and there was a glass of water on the podium and I said, great to see everybody. And I knocked that glass of water on the people in the front row and the whole, the whole auditorium was just really quiet. And I thought, okay, I can either run off here and right now cry, never to be seen again, or I can just go for it. So I looked at everybody and said, isn't that a great way to start a seminar? And you know, everyone started laughing. And at the end of the day, I had a standing vocation and that was my beginning. You know, it's like, you've just got to go for it. You just have to go for it. Yes, yeah. So true. I remember a little more humbling beginning when we did our first seminar. Oh, the very first? The very first seminar and only three people showed up. Wow. But the thing is, we didn't stop. Yeah, you kept on going. And now it morphed into what Daniel you just shared with you, a thousand people were there. Right. There's a very different teaching, three people and a thousand people. Yeah. Everything is, but you have to stay committed. Yeah. Imagine if you had stopped. Yes. We wouldn't be where we are now. Absolutely. Yeah, I know. So, you know, were you ever ready to give up at any point at lots of times? At times I'd be crying and I'd call my friend, I can't do this. I'm not meant to do this, da, da, da. Oh yes, you can, Kai. You have a great product. Keep on going. All right. He said, that's what business is about. Yes. The hurdles. If you got, that's what it is. Yes. It's never gonna be black and white. You know, it's always gonna be, ooh. Well, I remember many nights crying. I mean, you know, it's like, oh my gosh. You know, how am I gonna get, how are we gonna get to the next stage? How are we gonna, but you know what? It's faith, belief and just never giving up. That's true. Sometimes people think it's really easy, but it's not. And it doesn't matter whether you have a business or not. Life itself can be a series of challenges, but if you look at it, that you're meant to go through that process in order to get to where you're supposed to be. And then you look back and you go, it was all worth it. Yes. It was all worth it. I believe that no matter who you are. That's true. If they've gone through a journey at the end, was it worth it? And I'd say 99.9% of the time people say absolutely. Despite all the challenges, it's worth it. That's true. So Kai, what counsel could you give our viewers and listeners and young entrepreneurs to help them with their business startups? Definitely, like with all the things we said, you have to believe in your product, yourself. You have to do the hard work. You can't do it for money. You have to do it because it's your love, it's your passion. And it's a cliche, but the money will come and I truly believe that. Unless, if you don't have a great product and you don't put your whole heart and soul, it won't happen. You can't do it because I see this happen all the time. Like a popular product, other people will follow. But they're just doing it for the money, I can see it. That's never gonna succeed. I'm in the food manufacturer and that's the beauty of Hawaii. We're one of the largest local food manufacturers that do a lot of local, then most of the states on the mainland. And we have some really great local products and most of the ones I've met I've been passionate, hardworking. In fact, this weekend we have Made in Hawaii show honoring all our local vendors that makes local products. They're gonna be at Blaisdale and I've done this many, many years and you'll see, you can see the passion and the products and taste it at the Made in Hawaii this weekend starting tomorrow through Sunday. Fantastic, oh that's great, really great. So are there any other keys to success? Like it, just like I said, believe in yourself and do it for the love. Yes, okay. And it will come, it will come and yeah. Yeah, absolutely, thank you. So actually that went fast, didn't it? We're out of town where we're about to wrap it up. Kalani Kays, I would say Kays, thank you. Words of wisdom with regards to key success can be found on Newman Consulting Services webpage, NewmanConsolingServices.com and landing page, denilia.org. By now you know how to spell my name. Thanks to you, our viewers and listeners for tuning in. Thanks to our broadcast engineer, Zuri Bender, our floor manager, Nick Sexton and to Jay Fadil, our executive producer who puts it all together. Thank you, Kai, for joining us today and sharing your insights to success. Thank you. Thank tech keys to success. We'll be back on Thursday at 11 a.m. So tune in again please and ask your friends and family to do so as well. My name is Denilia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm now the half of the duo, John Newman. And leaving you today, Denilia and I would like to share a quote from Thomas Edison which says, many of life failures are people who didn't realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Thank you all. Aloha. Aloha, everyone. Aloha, everyone.