 This is Think Tech Hawai'i, Community Matters here. Aloha, and welcome to Business in Hawai'i with Reg Baker. We're broadcasting live from the downtown studios of Think Tech Hawai'i in beautiful Halalulu, Hawai'i. We broadcast every Thursday from 2 to 2.30, and we focus on success stories of businesses and individuals here in Hawai'i. Hawai'i has some challenges. We've got regulatory issues, tax issues, and staffing issues, but we do have people that are making it work, and we want to hear those stories and share with the audience how that happens. So, today we have Savin Patel, who is the president of Infinium Interiors. Savin is a veteran, and he has transitioned, and he has become very successful at what he's doing now, and we're going to hear his story. Savin, great to have you on the show. Well, thank you so much for having me. I think this is the second time you've been here, right? Yes. So, thank you. All right. So, we're going to hear a little bit more. I think the last time you were here, you were kind of sharing the show with someone else, and we were talking about two different stories, and you had such a compelling story. I thought it would be good to get you on again and delve a little bit more into the details. Now, can you just share with us a little bit about, you know, what's your background? Where are you from, and how did you get to Hawaii? Sure. So, I actually, I was born in India. So, I was born in India up until about the age of six. I moved to the U.S. So, my parents actually, so my sister and I, my parents moved a couple of years before my sister and I, so we were raised by our grandparents for about two years. So, we moved to New Jersey. That's essentially where I grew up. Great town. I'm from Jersey. I was born in Elizabeth. So, I'm familiar with New Jersey. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So, we grew up in New Jersey. You know, nice place to grow up for the most part. I was a bit of a challenged kid, to say the least. And after my time in New Jersey, I joined the Navy right out of high school. So, I joined the Navy, wasn't really ready for college, and so I spent a good portion of my time in the service on submarines. So, I was on four different fast attack submarines. My first tour duty was Hawaii back in the late 90s. Then back in about mid-2000s, 2006, I came back to Hawaii after numerous tours. I spent a little bit of time on submarines out of Pearl Harbor. At the time, I was a quartermaster, so I was involved with the navigation, and I was on the SSN 583, which is a Sargo, originally designed as a diesel and then transformed into a nuke. So, it was an older boat. What did you do when you were on submarine? So, I was a Yeoman, so I was mainly administrative HR type payroll when I was junior. So, the more senior I got, I was a senior chief. By the time I left the service in my last tour, I was a senior listed advisor, and the acronym was Chief of the Boat. So, you were the cop, right? Yeah, I was the cop. So, I was the advisor to the captain, and mainly dealt with personnel, operational type issues, operation of the ship, health of the ship. Well, it's great to have you here again, and thank you for your service, and it's kind of like talking to a brother-in-arms here. It is. And so, you finished and retired from the Navy, sounds like? So, actually, I didn't retire. I spent about 15 years in the Navy, and that's always a topic of conversation. There's a longer story behind that, but I got to a point in my career. I spent the 15 years that I was in the service. 11 of it was out to sea. It's tough. And so, it's a burnout when you're spending that much time out to sea. When I calculated the time, it was about eight years of total time spent under water. If you can imagine that, you know, kind of poking holes in the ocean throughout the world essentially. So, I got burnt out, and I was ready for a change at that point, and that's when I kind of took the leap. It's kind of funny about the Navy, they do tend to send you to sea. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough. I was, I guess, fortunate, unfortunate, whatever you want to call it, but I ended up doing a couple tours in Vietnam, and I was there during the evacuation of Saigon. So, I got to have some boots on the ground there for a while, and, you know, that helped break the monotony a little bit. It's a tough business. Yeah. So, then you got out of the Navy, and then you decided to do what? So, I transitioned out of the Navy, really had no idea what I wanted to do. It's hard for any service member that's been in the service to try to translate their skill set into the civilian world. Sometimes it doesn't translate to the world. Well, sometimes it doesn't, and I'm a great example of somebody that didn't really want it to translate either. I wanted to look for something much different, more of a business opportunity, something that I can get my hands on and really get involved with and kind of do it on my own. So I got into the commercial furniture business. You know, it was almost happenstance, because I was working with a sales recruiter, so interviewed well for it, got the job, then I was doing a lot of federal government work. It was the territories here for the military and also overseas in Asia. So very, very interesting job and position, and after about three years, I transitioned out of that. I loved the business. I loved the interior design facet of it. I went off and started Infinium Interiors at that point. So you started Infinium from scratch? From scratch. From scratch. Very good. But you also went to school for a while, too, here, didn't you? I did. When I left the service, I didn't have a college education. I was partially done, but I didn't have a bachelor's degree. So I completed a bachelor's degree immediately following that. I went into an MBA program at the University of Hawaii. That was really my kind of college time, per se, because it was kind of, you know, in classroom type of education. Well, it also gives you time to think a little bit, too, and kind of plan out what your next step is going to be. Yeah. I think it was, I think for me, at least going to college later in life was highly beneficial vice-earlier in life and kind of life skills that I picked up while I was in the service and then being able to apply it in an educational environment, I felt for me was a lot more beneficial. You know, and I think maybe, you know, people value those life skills and experience a little bit differently today than they did back in the 70s. When I transitioned out, you know, I was a little older, and then I went to college. And so by the time I graduated from college here in Hawaii, I went to HCC and then UH. By the time I graduated, I was 28 years old, and I was going to work for some of these companies where they were hiring people that were 22, 23 years old. And that was, you know, it's illegal now, but that was a big issue, and that was something that I had to explain over and over and over again about how am I going to work for people that were younger than me. And I reminded them that when I was in the military, almost all of my bosses were younger than me. So it wasn't an issue. So anyways, you know, it's these little things that make it a little bit difficult or challenging at times for military to, you know, make that transition. It is. It is. And you know, I think the military training that you get is, I mean, it's immense. There's so much that you get out of the service that they get some matter of taking that skill set and seeing where it's going to best fit for you and for whatever organization you're going to join. Right. Very good. So then you went in, you got out, and then you went to school, you got your MBA, and then you, how did you decide, I guess you worked for a while, and then you learned the industry that way, and then you figured that was kind of the industry that you wanted to have as a business? Right. So again, one of the key benefits of being in the military is you're very adaptable and you learn things very, very quickly. So I picked up on the industry, you know, within about a three year, about a two year time period. And after about the third year that I was working for this company, it was time to kind of move on and do what I really wanted to do and be in charge of my own destiny and, you know, run and operate my own business. And you know, I was right in the middle of an MBA program and I kind of had this idea and I kind of just went for it. I went for it and thinking, okay, it's going to be a slow start. You know, it doesn't have to be, you know, push, push, push, we'll grow slowly, but it just didn't work out that way. It naturally just went very fast, very quickly. We grew, you know, to levels that I couldn't even imagine. And it's been great. It's been great. Well, and I'm going to want to spend some time talking about the company and what some of the challenges were and what it does and how it does it. And I'm going to save that a little bit for the second part of the show. I want to ask you a question right now that, again, is like a personal experience. But what was one of the bigger challenges when you were transitioning from the military into the civilian workforce? And you had the advantage of the education, but was there any particular challenge that you had to overcome as far as how people perceived you? I think it was uncertainty was probably one of the biggest things that I felt like I had to kind of overcome, and I think other people had to overcome as well. Uncertainty in what respect? Uncertainty in the sense of you do have some very tangible skill sets when you get out of the service, but is it really going to apply to, you know, a particular organization? And a lot of times the answer is no, it just isn't. You're going to have to learn and you're going to have to start over. You're not going to be in a management position, especially from an enlisted side. You're going to start probably somewhere lower level and you'll have to work your way up. And it's not to say that you can't move up fairly quickly. It can be accelerated. It could be accelerated, but you do have to put the time, the effort, and you have to go through the process just like everybody else does. And just like any other job, you've got to prove yourself. And if you do, then you'll be rewarded for that. But sometimes, you know, the skill sets can be one thing, but it's the, I guess, the traits of the person that can really make a difference. And we touch a little bit on that, you know, you call it will, I call it attitude. I mean, you know, sometimes, you know, the military will build that can-do attitude into you. And so I think with that can-do attitude, it can almost be a detriment in a lot of ways when you get into the civilian sector, because you are, you've learned to push hard for a very long period of time. And, you know, the people that you're around now generally may not be the same way. So you have to, you know, you have to force yourself to slow down a little bit, be a little more deliberate about your thinking, how you're going to approach problems, because you are going to approach problems in a much different way than you would if it's in a service, because you're going from an environment where it's very structured, very written down for you, you know, you get told exactly what to do for any particular situation. And how to do it. And how to do it, and you practice it, where when you get into the civilian world and more importantly, in a business environment, it's very ambiguous. It's more ambiguous than you can imagine, because there is a lot of unknowns and there's a lot of things, you know, aside from just the people side that has a tremendous effect on a business. That's right. Interpersonal skills are important in both environments, but maybe a little bit more so in a civilian environment, because you do have to collaborate and work together. And if you're too aggressive and too can-do-ish, I guess you can kind of push some people away. More detrimental. Yeah, no, that's a good point. So patience is probably a good virtue then. Yeah. You know, I guess, you know, everybody's had their own little stories. I've had mine, you've had yours, but, you know, the press of villains, you know, to continue a pursuit of what you want to accomplish, that's a positive too. So you can't give up easily, you got to keep working at it. And so I think there's a lot of wisdom that, you know, people can share and learn from us, you know, in coaching them through this process. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah, absolutely. We're going to take a short break. We're going to be gone for about a minute, and we're going to come back. And then I want to switch gears a little bit and start getting into the company and what your thought process was and how you selected the industry and the company and how you set it up and got it going. So I think there's a great story there. As a matter of fact, you already mentioned that it grew quickly so that we want to hear about that. But this is Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We're going to take a short 60-second break, and we'll be right back. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Hi, I'm Pete McGinnis-Mark, and every Monday at one o'clock, I present Think Tech Hawaii's Research in Manoa, where we bring together researchers from across the campus to describe a whole series of scientifically interesting topics of interest both to Hawaii and around the world. So hopefully you can join me one o'clock, Monday afternoon, for Think Tech Hawaii's Research in Manoa. Back to Business in Hawaii. I'm Reg Baker, and I'm here today with Savin Patel, and we're talking about Infinium Interiors, which is a furniture-type company, and I know that's a poor description, so I'm going to let Savin describe the company a little bit more. What exactly is it that you do? Okay, so Infinium Interiors, we're a contract furniture distributor. So essentially, the process works very simply. We do a lot of consultation with the client, and our clients include just end-users that maybe owners of companies, COOs, executives. That's a picture of the website there, isn't it? That is, that's our website. So our client base is not just end-users, we'll work with architects, designers, contractors. So there's kind of this stakeholder network that we're working with continuously on a variety of different projects. So where we come in, we do the consultation with an end-user client or one of the design firms. We help with product selection, we also help with the aesthetics. The larger part, aside from that commodity piece of furniture, is we really value service, and the service part includes our ability to do some light interior design work, space planning work, be able to provide visuals where a client can see what their space will look like, have them move around in the space, if we can, and that kind of helps really dial in the scope of what we're trying to achieve for the client. So they can get a real feel for what it is that they've designed and they're, you know, I guess putting together, they can really sense what that's going to feel like. They can sense it, we invite, you know, for them to get employees involved with some of the decision making, some of the decision making process, not all of it, but some of it, which is helpful because, you know, from my perspective, from our company's perspective, is that, you know, our customer are those employees, right? They're the ones that we want to make sure when they're operating in that environment, that is it going to be satisfactory? Is it going to provide what that client is looking for? Whether it's collaboration, whether it's the need for some privacy, whatever it might be, and is it going to be a workplace that's going to help them grow as a business and be branded a specific way as well? Well, and they could also be a great source for promoting the company, whether they're telling everybody that comes over to visit, oh yeah, you know, if any of them put this together and they're great to work with, I mean, it could be a good testimonial. It is, it is, and I will tell you our biggest marketeers are our customers. But, you know, we do some light marketing, but a majority of our business is generated through our customer network that we have, through our partner network, you know, and we are with the customer forever. We, you know, we don't ever leave their side. And we've gotten to the point where we've just taken away the warranty. We said, if there's ever an issue that you have, just call us, right? It's in our best interest to make sure that you're taken care of if you do have an issue. And that customer service and that referral network, you know, the coconut wireless, word of mouth, all right, and that's powerful. And that's probably one of the best ways to get referrals. It is, it is. And I think, you know, I would attribute a lot of that to maintaining those relationships, developing them, fine-tuning them, staying in touch with people. You know, the people side of business is probably the most important, because if you don't have that, you really can't do business. That's right. Well, you've got to have that relationship, you know, and relationships are very important regardless of the industry or the location you're doing business. Can you just, you know, spend a minute and, you know, maybe I just want clarification. If I was going to open a new office, when do I reach out to you? Do I talk to my architect first, or do I talk to some other person, or do I get you involved right from the get-go? And how does that all evolve? Well, two ways. If there is an architect or designer involved, we always encourage, you know, if you're going to work with us or whoever it is that you're going to work with, try to get that furniture dealer and distributor involved early. And if it's a larger build-out, and maybe with an architectural design firm, they've got their own network, so they'll reach out, they'll take clients out to some of the showrooms to see the product and kind of meet the people that they would be working with. That's one way. What I would tell you, furniture is usually forgotten about because there's so much going on from the time that delivery would happen of furniture that it tends to be kind of, you tend to be late in the game a lot of times. And we try to be preventative as much as we can to get in there early, to make sure that everybody understands timing. Well, I would think so because sometimes when you're building things out, and then furniture is the last thought, I guess the question is, will it fit? Will it fit, right. And sometimes you're limited to what will fit, rather than what might work the best. Will it fit? Do we have a budget that's going to work, right? And that's oftentimes the scenario. The earlier the better is what I would advise you. Well, it sounds like if I'm going to be moving into a place, and I'm working with an architect, to get everybody working together at the same time is probably the best solution. That's the best way. And do you have any limitations on the type of furniture that you can help locate and purchase and bring on board? Or how does that work? We're pretty unlimited as far as access. There are some exclusive areas that we can't really access. But, you know, we've got, for projects, we've actually had, we've done production in overseas. So we've been able to actually build something. And Bali, we've done that, we've brought container loads worth of furniture out here. And actually, it's a different business that I'm actually looking at at this point. But so our ability to source product at some very deep discounting for a client is pretty immense. Wow. So it could certainly pay to bring you into the loop sooner versus later. You know, it could actually save money and keep you within budget. I highly recommend it. Yeah, I would imagine. Now tell me, you said that your company experienced some great growth and I can understand why, but it's exceeding your expectations? It's exceeding my expectations in a couple of ways. You know, when I first started back in 2014, it was myself and after about six months I had my first employee. She's still with me. She's awesome. And who is that? So Ariel. Ariel Murray. So hi, Ariel. And so she's still with me and she did a fantastic job. There was just her and I working out of my condo. And you know, when I started, I pretty much put my life savings into the business, right? Me to the point that I still remember and I still joke about it. I remember I was looking at my bank account and I had $2.85, right? And here I am a 35-year-old with $2.85 in my bank account. And you know, I kind of understood the risk, but I also understood kind of the reward side of it and doing that. Because when you do grow very fast, it requires a lot of capital. And if you don't have a bank that's willing to lend to you, which most banks aren't going to lend to you that early, you are going to have to fork up your own money or figure out some other way of being able to access capital. You know, and that's a point that a lot of people either don't plan for or don't appreciate. You know, and if you're a business owner and you're starting a business, one of the primary reasons for failure is lack of capital. And that's something that's been proven over and over again. But a lot of people that actually work and, you know, the employees that are in the work environment, labor force, they don't realize that a lot of these businesses start where the owners are taking huge risks. They're gambling everything to make this work. And you know, you need to be appreciative of that. You know, there's some, you know, not very many people are willing to do that. Yeah, and I think there's a reasonable way of doing that. I think you do need to protect yourself. I mean, I did protect myself. I knew that I was going to be that low in my bank account, but I also knew that there was going to be a return that would happen in a fairly reasonable amount of time. So that, I mean, you've got to understand risk mitigation, because if you don't, you're not going to last very long. And that, you know, I would advise anybody of that, even whether you're undercapitalized or not, you've got to be careful of your cash flow, right? Don't worry so much about your profit, worry about your cash flows. What's coming in, and you've got to manage that very well. And I guess part of the risk mitigation is having a good ability to forecast and look a little bit down the road to see where you're headed. And if it's in a good direction, great. But if it's not, fix it before it's too late. Sure, sure, yeah. So that becomes an important part of the process. What do you think was one of your biggest challenges, I know, other than, you know, running low in the bank account? You know, your business is surviving, it's grown well, it's better than you expected. What was one of the challenges that you encountered? I think the challenge would be when you're the new person on the block, the new kid on the block, you're starting, whether you've had relationships in the past that could translate, you're still starting from scratch. So you have to build a lot of relationships, and that means that's a lot of work in its own. So not only are you, you know, you're everybody, you're the CEO, you're the chief marketing officer, you're the CFO, but you've got to do it all. But building that, building the relationships and being able to develop the business, you know, the most challenging part for our business, and it won't really change is that the length of time that we turn over and order or until cash does start coming in can last, it could be 90 to 120 days at times. So it's a very long period, and so as you're building, you've got to have this funnel of projects that you've got going, and then the orders start coming. And that was probably one of, that was a big challenge. It wasn't so bad because it was a few people, not a lot of people that you had to worry so much about. I think the other challenge that I had was really, you know, what's my next step? Where do I go from here? What am I looking for in this business? Because your mind is just your scramble mode, right? Every day you're going out there, you're looking for every rock that you can turn and you may go back to that same rock and turn it over again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it feels like a fight at times. A trial and error, trial and error, that's what it takes. And different, for example, advertising, what works, what doesn't work. Sometimes you've got to try and spend a little bit of money and see what triggers those sales. It's not a simple process, but it's that constant trying to make things better, looking ahead, where am I going, and what do I have to change to get there? You've got some expansion plans. We do, we actually have quite a bit going on that I'm looking at right now. So from the commercial business side, we're looking to expand markets external to Hawaii. So we're looking at Chicago, which I'm pretty bullish on Chicago. I think that is the place that we're going to be next from our commercial furniture side, which will be another year and a half, two years before we get there, but we're kind of putting things in motion for that to happen. But then in case in point, you're planning for that and that's two years down the road. Right. So that's the type of foresight that you really need to develop. Right. And I think you have to have that because today I may be saying to you that we're going to be in Chicago two years and tomorrow something may totally change that you want to know that well ahead of time, when you're getting ready to move offices or expand out to a certain area or certain product line, whatever it might be. The other expansion side is here locally, and which is our contract residential side. So we've already have projects that we're working on, a lot of the new development projects for micro units specifically. Wow. So it's very modular furniture, very different. And then we're looking to open up an actual showroom just for contract residential. So the product mix is very different than what most people would see on the island. There's an appetite for it. So we've found this niche that we feel like it's going to be good for the market. Very good. Well, it sounds like exciting times, a lot of opportunity. You're a good model to emulate for people that are either in business or coming out of the military and wanting to go into business. So congratulations and thank you for being on the show. Thank you very much. Unfortunately, we've run out of time. So we need to, I guess, maybe schedule another follow-up to see how things are going as far as Chicago is concerned. All right, thank you, Sam. Thank you very much. This is Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We broadcast live every Thursday from 2 to 2.30, from the Think Tech studios in downtown Halalulu. We have some very sophisticated technicians that help us produce the show, and we want to say thank you to them. Until next week, aloha.