Advice for young entrepreneurs

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

Being young is hard enough. Being a young entrepreneur can have its own set of challenges.

Here's some advice from those who have been there, done that to help other young entrepreneurs find their way:

• Learn all you can: Take a class or a workshop on marketing, accounting, Web design, public speaking — whatever will apply to running a business. And if you never become a small-business owner, you can still apply these skills and tools to other jobs. "It's important for young people to know that if they're looking to get work, the more skills they have, the more marketable they'll be to employers," said Jerel Yamamoto, chairman of Hilo's Junior Achievement program, "and the more productive they will be."

• Keep it simple: When Neal Kido created his Web site, www.surfboardshack.com, he didn't make it complicated. And that made his business less expensive to run. He charges $15 to people who want to post their used boards to sell — substantially less than what surf shops charge. And he doesn't ship anything through his site; buyers connect with sellers, instead. "Because I'm on the Web, I don't have overhead costs," said Kido, 24.

• Write a solid business plan: This is one of the most important components of your business — and you should have this done before anything else. Loan programs will require one and many organizations, such as the Small Business Administration, can offer help. "You have to have a business plan," said Eric Lau, 22, who helped create a discount card program with classmates at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. "That's the advice everyone gave us."

• Don't let failure get you down: Jimmy Chan tried designing T-shirts in college. While his "Got Beer?" design worked, his second one didn't. At 23, he started Hawaiian Chip Co., cooking sweet potato and taro chips in a Kalihi kitchen he rented. Sales have grown 30 percent every year, and now the 29-year-old operates the business full time.

• Utilize your skills: Steve Wakita had learned how to design Web pages while at Hawai'i Pacific University. He turned that into a business, creating a unique search engine scheduled to launch at the end of this month. Kido, who works as a Web developer at Wet Sands LLC, applied his Web skills to his own online business.

• Know your money: One of the biggest challenges facing any business owner isn't how to generate revenue but how to manage it. Anyone unfamiliar with running a business should learn about taxes, insurance costs, retirement savings and other financial matters. Check with business organizations such as the SBA (www.sba.gov) and the Hawai'i Women's Business Center (www.hwbc.org) for workshops and programs that can help.

• Follow a passion: If you love what you do, you'll be more committed — and more likely to keep the business going. It was the best advice Kido ever got, from a business professor at UH. "He told me to find a passion and apply myself to that," Kido said. "It was as simple as that."

• Stay focused: At one time Chan had tried to move away from making gourmet chips to expand into different markets. But that was a mistake. "Plan properly and stick to that plan," Chan said. "Within my first two years, the company kind of turned into something that wasn't at all familiar. I think I was trying to chase a bigger market than I had wanted."

• Use youth to your advantage: Young entrepreneurs agree that sometimes people don't take them seriously because of their age. But that can be an advantage. "Every time I go and talk to big corporations, they're surprised to see how young I am," said Wakita, 22. "But being young can be positive. I know the market. I know my age demographic. I know what they want and hopefully can create something they can use."

• Give back: Community service can be both rewarding and a great way to market a business. "Doing business is more than just doing business," said Yamamoto, who oversees Hilo's JA program that requires community service. "It's about giving back, too."

• Have faith: "If you don't believe in yourself, it's not going to happen," Kido said. "You have to believe in yourself and keep going. There's going to be ups and downs, but if you perservere, in the end, you'll achieve your goal."