Words of wisdom

Here's some advice from
a few award-winning Hawaii
small business owners

Dawn Krause

Owner, Calico General Store, Aloha Tower Marketplace

Award: SBA's Women's Business Advocate, 1998

Best advice: "The best piece of business advice I've received is also the same advice I would give to a struggling business. It came from my good friend and mentor Don Dymond, who owns Kalapawai Market in Kailua. Before I opened Calico General Store he taught me how to calculate my profit margins for each item in my inventory. And to watch the bottom line. The greatest merchandise, the most wonderful store displays, the best customer service, and clever advertising won't do you a bit of good if you can't pay your bills. You've got to know what kind of a profit margin you need to operate on in order to have a healthy business."

Martin Schiller

President, The Schiller Group Ltd.

Award: Services, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 1998

Best advice: "Hire the best people you can afford. Whatever is needed. You can't effectively cover all the management disciplines yourself."

Maile Meyer

Native Books & Beautiful Things

Awards: Retail Merchants of Hawaii 1996 Kahili award for specialty retail store and 1997 Governor's fashion industry for niche award

Best decision: "To transfer the ownership of the business to all the artists/craftspeople involved. Working with a group of people that trust and respect one another is an appropriate way of doing business on an island. Sixteen owners means resources can be pooled, creativity can be expanded, and work can be shared. It also means downturns are less dramatic, costs can be eased and spread. We've defined our own way of doing business and it's a model that sustains us all."

Ken Gilbert and Jean A. Santos

President and Vice President, respectively, Business Consulting Resources Inc.

Award: Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Persons of the Year, 1997

Best tip: "You have to know what your profits or losses are before you can turn a profit. Most small businesses do not have a clear picture of what their actual profit/loss or their break-even point is. A detailed monthly budget, ideally prepared using a spreadsheet program, should be developed and used as a monthly financial analysis tool to determine exactly what the cost of goods are, what the margin on sales is, and what the fixed and variable expenses are. This will enable the business owner to make the necessary strategic decisions to turn a profit."

Craig Parkin

President, Team Clean Inc.

Award: Small Business Administration's Welfare-to-Work Small Business Owner 1998

Best advice: "The advice that has been most beneficial to my business career comes from Dr. W. Edwards Deming who said, 'Profits follow quality.' "

Jon de Mello

Chief executive officer, the Mountain Apple Co.

Award: Small Business Administration's Small Businessman of the Year, 1997

Best decision: "The best decision I've made to help my business is to 'think globally'. By reaching beyond the edge of the local borders, it has allowed Hawaiian music, through the Mountain Apple Co., to expand our host culture awareness throughout the world."

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By Jerry Tune, Star-Bulletin