The Cost of Doing Business in Hawai`i
Recently, I’ve seen more of the local small businesses I love close and the passion in other owners around me start to die.
Starting and building a business in Hawai`i is no joke. It is hard. Starting a side hustle from the steady full time job and popping up at fairs is hard, but having a brick and mortar, manufacturing everything in Hawai`i, using local supplies and ingredients, and working with paid employees who live in Hawai`i is a whole other level of hard.
We knew it wasn’t going to be easy going into it. We heard the statistics that Hawai`i ranks dead last in the United States for the cost of doing business. And the statistics of how many businesses fail is undeniable. Plus living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean means the cost of living too is an all time high.
Yet we push on because of the belief that we have something of value to offer others. That we have a mission God placed on our hearts. In my case with Choco le`a, it’s “Bringing peace to our world, one chocolate at a time.”
But recently, I haven’t had much peace.
I continue to see every single expense line item on my budget increase, but it’s not an expected increase. We know we need to make 5% more every year, 10% would be better, and 15% would mean a profit for us, but it’s a hustle to hit that kind of growth. But these past couple of years, costs were not going up by 5%, 10%, or 15%. They’re going up 20%, 30%, 100%. It’s astronomical and quite frankly, unsustainable.
To make it worse, the amount people are spending in Hawai`i is decreasing understandably so as everyone is feeling the cost of living in Hawai`i.
That is what has made it all that much harder. It’s not the burden of I hope we can make it through this year, but how are we going to keep doing this for a long, long, time since we want to be around for generations to come.
I love this job and the privilege of the business God called me to do, but the cost of doing business in Hawai`i, is really costing us a lot.
Finding peace by piece:
All we can and should do, is give our absolute best in each piece we create and each conversation we have today, this week, this month, this year, for as long as God’s will allows us to do so. We may not be able to control the outcome, but we can have peace in knowing we are giving it all our, piece by piece.
“Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” -Isaiah 40:31
