Greater Good Radio - Connect, Learn, Heal, and Grow

As the owner of over 12 businesses, Duane was financially independent in his mid thirties with a story resembling Horatio Alger. His empire ranges from shopping centers and office high rises to professional baseball, media and bakery. Duane is the inspiration behind this project. He owns the radio station that we broadcast from, Sports Radio 1420 AM, Honolulu Magazine, Hawaii Business Magazine, Downtown Planet, Watermark Publishing, Punaluu Bake Shop and others not listed. He is part owner of the Star Bulletin, MidWeek and the San Francisco Giants professional baseball team. So what makes someone with so much success continue to work? Duane’s strength is connecting with the community in a special way. He’s not the fast talking business man type. He is very quiet, shy and spends substantial time thinking out his answers. He is a true example of, “actions speak louder than words.” Duane is a doer and business is his art. This interview is especially important because Duane does not normally give interviews. He doesn’t even interview for his own publications. Try a google search for him and you’ll come up short. So why did he come on our show? You’ll need to listen to find out. Some questions asked: You’re originally from a plantation community on the Big Island of Hawaii, how did you learn your business skills? Can you tell us about your first venture into entrepreneurship? What was the hardest thing about getting started and how did you overcome it? Can you tell us your view on using leverage in business? Can you share your view on how important it is to be community minded in business? Can you give some examples of how being community minded or having a social mission also makes bottom line profit sense? Can you talk about why you’re involved w/ Punaluu Bakery and how that business makes a difference? What are the biggest and most common mistakes you see entrepreneurs or business owners make when starting a new venture? What are the most important laws to becoming successful? What is the most important thing to teach your children? What was your biggest business challenge and how did you overcome it? Did you have your community minded vision before or after you obtained financial success? When did you decide to buy media companies? How old were you when you tried retiring? Can you tell us how the Hawaii Winter Baseball League started? How did that lead to ownership in the San Francisco Giants? What is AIO? How did you come up w/ the philosophy of AIO which is ‘Make your life; Make a difference’? What programs does AIO have that support this social mission? Any last advice for business people? BIO: Growing up in a plantation community in the rural area of the Big Island of Hawaii, Duane Kurisu learned the true meaning of community. It was there that his father, a machinist for the plantation and mother, a government employee taught him about taking care of people. “My mother used to bring people home for dinner because she felt sorry that they had no one to eat with. My father would have the children catch O’pae in the stream for our friends and neighbors.” says Duane. It was through experiences like those that Duane developed his sense of responsibility for others. Duane attended the University of Hawaii for both his undergraduate work and MBA. In his late 20’s, Duane formed his first company, Kurisu and Fergus and started developing real estate. Seven years and numerous deals later, Duane decided to retire and go fishing. That lasted for about 3 months and Duane, with a new mission set out to build community related businesses. This led to the Hawaii Winter Baseball League (HWBL) which was the first international professional baseball organization with players from around the world....

Duane Kurisu - Owner of Kurisu and Fergus, AIO Group, San Francisco Giants

Dr. Rob Robinsion, a leading authority and top selling author on angel investing and early stage technology startups shares with us his view on entrepreneurship, venture capital and investing in early stage companies. He explains the most effective way to approach an institutional investor and breaks down what is most important. Avoid the common mistakes that many unknowing entrepreneurs make. We also talk about the success of recent IPO and Hoku Scientific. Some of the questions asked: Can you tell us a bit about the PACE program and how it got started? Can you tell us how the Case Foundation helps the UH business plan competition? Can you give some success stories from the UH Business Plan Boot Camp? Can you tell us about the UH Angels and what they do? Can you explain how a VC operates and how they get compensated? What’s the difference between an angel and a VC? What’s their average investment amount? How does an Angel get paid? Can you give examples of companies that the Angels have funded and why? What’s the process for an entrepreneur pitch the UH Angels (UHA)? What types of businesses do they invest in? What are they looking for in a business? What’s the ratio that UHA will invest in? How do you determine who can pitch the UHA? Can you talk about why Hoku Scientific was able to go public in 4 years and other companies didn’t? What is a fuel cell and why is it important? How does Act 221 now known as Act 215 affect the business environment in Hawaii startups? What’s the outlook for Hawaii companies? What community organizations or non profits are the companies that the UH Angels are involved with? How has this affected their bottom line? How about yourself, are there non profits that you are involved in? How has that helped your business? What was the hardest negotiation that you’ve been involved in? Any advice for today’s young business person? BIO: Robert J. Robinson was born and raised in Durban, South Africa. He attended the University of Natal, Durban, graduating with a B.Commerce in 1983, majoring in Psychology, Business Administration, and Economics. In 1984 he completed a BA in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Cape Town, and in 1987 obtained his MA at the University of Cape Town. While working on his MA, he was employed as an internal consultant and facilitator at ESKOM (the national electricity utility), where he was involved in a huge turnaround project, being personally involved with job redesign, quality programs, and culture change. In 1987 he co-founded Work and Life Change, a management consulting company, before leaving for Stanford University, where he completed a Ph.D. in social psychology in 1991, specializing in group conflict. From 1991 to 2001 he was on the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2001, Dr. Robinson was a visiting professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management before accepting the position of Barry and Virginia Weinman Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and E-Business at the University of Hawaii, College of Business Administration. At UH, Dr. Robinson is also executive director of the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business (PACE2). He is married to Eileen Donahue Robinson, Ph.D., and has three sons, twins Colin and Andrew born in 1999, and Graham born 2003. Dr. Robinson teaches in the areas of Entrepreneurship, Negotiation, and Management. He helped develop the required first year MBA course at HBS called Negotiation, which emphasizes negotiation and decision analysis, and the development of negotiation skills; and a second year MBA elective, Entrepreneurial Negotiations, which examines the challenges facing entrepreneurs on issues such as finding and forming partnersh...

Dr. Rob Robinson - Executive Director of UH Angels, University of Hawaii & Author

Dr. Gary Bell is opening his second resort spa in Waikiki, Hawaii. He shares the business side of the medical, spa and wellness industries. Learn how a near fatal auto accident led Dr. Bell to Chiropractic medicine and then to multiple spas. Links: Serenity Spa Hawaii Listen on Youtube:

Dr. Gary Bell - Owner of Spinal Dynamics and Serenity Spa Hawaii

Lincoln Jacobe is well on his way to a media empire. His companies include television, radio, print, web and events. He represents Jasmine Trias, Camille Valesco and was the bridge between American Idol and Hawaii during the auditions. Lincoln just founded a non profit organization to offer technology scholarships to Hawaii’s youth. BIO: Toth, Catherine. “LEADERSHIP CORNER.” Honolulu Advertiser 19 07. 2004. Leadership Corner. 29 09 2005 . LEADERSHIP CORNER TV production CEO combines mother’s advice with risk taking Interviewed by Catherine E. Toth Advertiser Staff Writer Name: Lincoln Jacobe. Age: 34. Title: Chief executive officer. Organization: Hawai’i Pacific Entertainment, which specializes in TV and film production, sports and entertainment, special-event management, marketing consulting and technology media. High school: Farrington High School (1988). College: Associate degree in business and accounting from Kapi’olani Community College; some course work in travel industry management at Hawai’i Pacific University Breakthrough job: Working as a front-desk manager for Marc Resorts at age 20. “They recognized my early development of management skills, leadership style and work ethics, which they fostered, that gave me a jump-start to my career in business management.” Little-known fact: Though he works with computers all day long, Jacobe doesn’t own one at home. He doesn’t have a DVD player, a stereo system or a CD player. He doesn’t even have cable TV. “Zero technology. Long ago I decided that since I work with technology all day, every day, the only way I can truly relax is to have a house with just a bed, not one single device or gadget. As a young entrepreneur, the bed and a good magazine are all I need at home to relax.” Major challenge: After the Sept. 11 attacks, which affected his business significantly, Jacobe’s challenge has been finding new business opportunities by creating marketing campaigns and finding new avenues of revenue. • • • Q. You’re now representing “American Idol” finalist Jasmine Trias, who recently had a cameo in “North Shore.” What kind of potential does she have? A. She has really good potential. There have been a lot of exciting opportunities that will actually transpire in the fall once she returns home. … There’s a lot of interest in her nationally and internationally as well. Talent and personality — she’s got both. That what it takes to be successful. Q. How did you go from working in a hotel to running a production, management and marketing company with seven full-time employees, producing two TV shows (“Tech Buzz Hawai’i” on KHON and “Flavors of Technology” on OC16) and managing such local celebrities as Nohelani Cypriano? A. Our business literally started on a kitchen table in my business partner’s (Joseph Collins) house he had just bought in ‘Ewa Beach. We had one Apple computer and dial-up Internet access. We used his home phone line for our phone and fax. Q. You were a hotel manager with Marc Resorts, a company you helped during its startup years. And your educational background is in accounting. What made you switch from the tourism industry, in which you have years of experience, to starting your own entertainment-based company? A. I was working nights and days and long hours running other people’s businesses. I had to sit myself down at age 25 and ask, ‘What do I really want to do? Do I really want to give all this blood, sweat and tears to somebody else’s bottom line?’ And the answer was no. Q. What made you choose entertainment as the industry in which you woul...

Lincoln Jacobe - CEO of Hawaii Pacific Entertainment, PacificNews.net and Flavors of Technology

Leahi Swim School is the largest private swim school in Hawaii. From its inception, the Leahi Swim School has taught tens of thousands of children to swim. They currently employ over 55 part time swimming instructors and is now teaching children of former students. The School recently launched a new program to teach adults to swim which affects over 50% of Hawaii adults. This program is spearheaded by her son, Ben. Lori Komer took a swimming certification class in college to fulfill her P.E. credits and realized that she liked that much better than her dental hygienist major. With some help from her husband she started teaching swimming lessons and eventually founded the Leahi Swim School in 1974. Lori shares with us her stories and experiences of how she got started and forged her way in a male dominated business environment. She talks about the succession of her business to Ben and the breakthrough moment in her business. Lori is currently planning to expand to the west side of Oahu with Ben. Lori shares with us the joy and pain of passing on her business to her son. She is a board member of the Hawaii Opera Theater and former board member of the Hawaii School for Girls. Some questions asked: Why did you start a swim school? When you first started, how large was the school? Number of teachers and students? How large has the school grown to now? How did you expand/grow? How old were you when you started swimming? Is swimming something you’ve been passionate about? Other interviews talked about turning your passion into a career or moneymaker, was this your intention? Were you always an entrepreneur? Who guided you? How do you find young adults to assist with lessons? Are they trained? Why do you teach in heated pools? You teach adult swim classes also, is it difficult for adults to learn to swim as opposed to learning as a child? What makes Leahi different from other swim schools? Is running the swim school business your main occupation? What did you do before the swim school business? Did you quit your job to start the swim school or did you make the leap to doing the business full time slowly? How did you know it was time to just focus on the swim school? How did this come about, what is the story behind the LSS? What are your thoughts on being a female businesswoman? What did you do for marketing in the beginning to gain credibility? How do you find talented employees? How long did it take you to get to ‘critical mass’? What was the turning point? How do you use the internet to help your business? What’s your competitive advantage and how do you keep it? Do you have advice to females who want to go into business or start a business? Any advice of where they can get assistance? What are Leahi’s plans for the future? You’re looking for a pool in the Leeward area, what are you looking for? Mention website and when classes will be held next…contact number. When you knew you wanted to start the LSS what was the first thing you did? How long did it take to write your business plan? What were the major milestones achieved to get LSS up and running? What was the most difficult challenge to getting started and running your business? How did you obtain financing? What community organizations or non profits are you involved with? How has that helped your business? Do you find it harder to do business because you’re a woman? Any advice for today’s young business person? What are the 3 biggest mistakes people make when starting their own business and what do you suggest for them to overcome these mistakes? How did you develop your business skills and entrepreneurial abilities? BIO: Leahi Swim School was founded in 1974. We are the largest private swim school in Hawaii.

Lori Komer - Owner of Leahi Swim School

Mike Post is the most successful television music producer in history. He has 2 pieces of music playing every minute of each day that he will earn royalties on for 75 years after his death. Mike shares with us his unique philosphy on music, business and passion. We interviewed him in his Kahala beach front vacation home on a beautiful Hawaiian day. Mike shared how he got started as a teenager and the string of opportunities and challenges that led him ultimately to success. He gives advice on how to do the same for our lives and the interview is ‘intense’. I first had a meeting with Mike prior to this interview. A friend of mine and I met with him to discuss a music project and business. He initially alloted 30 minutes but ended up staying for an hour and ran off to his golf tee time. Although we had been given a lot of information the one thing that I could not stop thinking about was how excited and how much passion Mike had for what he does. Here’s a guy in his 60’s, well beyond financial independence. He flies in a private jet and mingles with the Hollywood elite and he was still so excited about music. He literally eats, sleeps and bleeds music. I left that meeting thinking to myself that if I can live a life with just 10% of the passion and excitement that Mike Post has for what he does I’ll live an extremely successful life. Thank you for inspiring me Mike, I hope to share your message with the world. Some questions asked: How did you get your start in music? How did you learn your business skills? What were the major milestones in your success? What’s the most important thing a musician needs to be successful? What’s the most common mistakes you see musicians make professionally? What is the most important thing to teach your children? What community or non profit organizations are you a part of? How does your community involvement increase your business success? Any advice for young entrepreneurs? How do you develop up and coming musicians? BIO: Moreland, Jennifer. “Mike Post.” The Museum of Broadcast Communications NA. 04 09 2005 http ://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/P/htmlP/postmike/postmike.htm. Mike Post, one of the most successful composers in television history, has written music for television since the 1970s. He has won five Grammy awards for his theme songs and, by his own count, has scored over 6,000 hours of television and film. Post has produced the signature melodies for programs such as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue. His distinct themes often have intense, industrial rock music cross-cut with smooth jazz sounds. These compositions are noted for their unique blending of styles as well as for the dramatic manner in which they complement a show’s narrative. Post is regarded as the youngest musician ever to be appointed as musical director for a television program, assuming that role in 1969, at age 24, on The Andy Williams Show. Prior to that appointment, Post worked primarily as a session musician for a number of major artists including Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Sonny and Cher–he played guitar on “I Got You Babe” in 1965. He was also a successful producer and arranger, winning a Grammy at age 22 for Best Instrumental Arrangement on Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas.” Post began his career in Los Angeles with the country-rock band First Edition, featuring Kenny Rogers. In the late 1960s he joined forces with Pete Carpenter, trombonist, arranger, and a veteran of television theme scoring, and began to write music for television. Post and Carpenter began working for producer Stephen J. Cannell and first wrote the theme for Cannell’s cop show Toma in 1973. The Rockford Files theme, however,

Mike Post - Owner of Mike Post Productions, Law and Order, NYPD Blue, 5 X Grammy Award Winner

Hale runs a boutique architecture firm Pacific Atelier. Pacific Atelier designs real estate projects ranging from large resorts and hotels to residential properties. With 8 architects on staff, they offer an interesting way of building teamwork and corporate culture while adding a twist to their marketing. Kimi is the ying while Hale is the yang. He handles the technical aspects and she is the creative. In this interview you’ll hear innovative marketing strategies along with how an architecture company can work with the community. Kimi’s story is a bit different. On a dare she quit her job and opened her own PR firm. After building it up successfully she decided with Hale that being a full time mother was the best thing for the family. For one year she held on to her business until she finally decided to assign her clients and let go. Hear how hard that was and the release she felt once she made the decision to just do it. Some questions asked: Bio: Hale Takazawa – Iolani 86 – UCLA – BS Civil Engineering – University of Oregon – Masters of Architecture – Ferraro Choi and Associates, Honolulu – OMNI Architects, NY, NY – Worked in the World Trade Center – Came home in 98 and joined Pacific Atelier as partner – Helped to turn company around – from Red to Black – Currently 13 people in company – Book of Lists Top 20 Architecture Firms – Partner, Fabrizio Medosi is Italian (they have their own “hapa” thing going) – PBN 40 under 40 2004 – Sunrise Rotary – Touch of Iolani Planning Committee – his class this year! Tickets Available! Kimi Takazawa – Punahou 88 – Columbia College, NY, NY – Parsons School of Design – Varied career paths – Chiat/Day – advertising – design school – Ferraro Choi – GHK, NY, NY – Came home in 98 switched careers to Public Relations (something I always wanted to do) – Myers Advertising – PRWorks – Daisy Dog, Inc. – started my own company (2000) – Clients were Kaka’ako Kitchen, Parade of Homes, Law Offices of Ian Mattoch, Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park, Kraft, Schuler Homes, HAMBI, Junior League of Honolulu, Elist – 2002 had Neo (August) – 2002 (Dec.) Resigned all my clients – 2003 (Jan.) Joined the Baby Hui – 2004 (Sep.) had Jett Links: Pacific Atelier Listen on Youtube:

Hale and Kimi Takazawa - Owner of Pacific Atelier and Daisy Dog, Inc

Todd Cochrane had over 1.2 million podcast downloads last month. More impressive is that he only started his podcast 9 months ago. Todd is also the author of the first book on podcasting. This is a chance to have top podcasters discuss and debate with a top radio veteran and consultant for Cox Radio. This show is a bit different from our normal social entrepreneurship theme but we felt it was important to do. The discussion was enlightening, funny and definitely worth our time. Ryan’s listenership is primarily international. He had over 30,000 downloads last month on a show that concentrates on his personal life. Ryan is the founder of the Hawaii Association of Podcasting and is leading the podcast movement in Hawaii. Kimo adds a new twist in that he comes from decades of experience in terrestrial radio. He’s a veteran radio broadcaster, consultant, newspaper columnist and soon to be podcaster. Kimo has a wealth of knowledge on the past and current trends of radio. Some questions asked: In a nutshell, what is podcasting? Why is podcasting important? What is radio’s view on podcasting? How do you think podcasting will affect or impact radio listeners? Is podcasting the “radio killer”? Where do you think podcasting will be in 5 years from now? How can we make money with podcasting? Tell us about the venture capital investment now in podcasting? How much does it cost to podcast? What is the international impact from podcasting? BIO: Todd Cochrane The Author of Podcasting the Do it Your Self Gudide (www.amazon.com/podcasting), Todd Cochrane originally from Quincy Michigan but today he lives and works in Honolulu Hawaii. His professional background is in Aviation Electronics and has served for 21 years in the United States Navy. Married he and his wife Shoko, together they have 4 children. His ongoing professional and personal interest in new technologies keep’s abreast of the latest developments in the technology world. His interest in podcasting has it roots from nearly 15 years of participating in different online communities. Before the advent of the Internet as we know it today he enabled people share ideas and data by running a dial-up bulletin board, to this day has a hobby BBS still on the net. Many times these old school BBS systems were the only connection to home and family while deployed to remote locations around the globe. He developed a interest in and deployed a personal weblog in 2001. In 2002 he launched the popular technology news site Geek News Central (www.geeknewscentral.com) and has worked hard to build a significant readership. After learning about podcasting in late 2004 he quickly started his own show and now has one of the popular technology news-based podcast today. It compliments the Geek News Central Weblog. Todd’s understanding of the coming change to media distribution and consumption he launched Podcast Connect Inc. in 2005 (www.podcastconnect.com) and is steadily working to implement unique podcasting opportunities that keep the podcaster best interest at heart. He is also a founder of the fast growing Tech Podcast Network (www.techpodcasts.com). Geek News Central www.geeknewscentral.com contact for website geeknews@gmail.com and company info Podcast Connect Inc. www.podcastconnect.com Ryan Ozawa Ryan Kawailani Ozawa has spent too much time publishing and playing online since 1994. Having posted both poignant and pointless thoughts on the Internet long before the tech trendsetters coined the guttural nounverb “blog,” he is a longtime advocate and fan of personal expression on the web. In 1998, his love of online journals prompted him to establish Diarist.Net, one of the first resources devoted to escribitionism...