Skurf session
podcasters and radio show
Kimo/Todd/Ryan
Exporting Hawaii
Bubble tea supply karma and UH football games
luck = opportunity + preparedness
Transcript:
This is Evan’s Journal and it is July 29, 2005; it’s Friday night at 10:53. I have a few things to go over tonight and it’s pretty late, so after this I am going to sleep.
First, started off the day with another skurfing episode with my good buddy Kekoa. We actually left at 6:30 in the morning and went off in the Jet Ski and I tell you what, today was a pretty nice day. For some reason in the area that we go, the way the wind blows; it misses this certain area of the bay. So, everywhere else is real choppy, and choppy for Hawaii is where the water is real rough and bumpy. And we call it glassy when it’s smooth and that’s actually ideal for us to ride in, and it was pretty glassy this morning. It was real nice, the waves were small, maybe about one to two feet in our scale and that means about two to three feet max or so in the front. It was the first time I was actually pulling some floater moves and other things. So I am pretty happy with it. But the main thing about going skurfing in the morning or doing these activities is that it really balances me out. I get rid of all that junk that heaps up. I don’t know if you guys get that way when you are sitting in front of the computer, you are dealing with problems or you are constantly in meetings, and everything just seems to build up and build up and then it’s almost to the point where you can’t think anymore or you just–I don’t even know if it’s stressed out, because it not only stress it’s just full of stuff. And then, when we do this it allows us to dump everything. So, that’s truly the benefit. And I treat people nicer, I am in a much better mood and I think clear and we are looking to do that twice a week.
[00:01:58]
Today I had another idea, and the other idea that I had was to take the two of the top podcasters here in Hawaii which is Todd Cochrane who has Geek News Central and he has 20 or 30 something thousand subscribers.
[00:02:13]
And then also, Ryan Ozawa, who is the President of Hawaii Association of Podcasting. And then, he also has his own podcast called HawaiiUP. And the reason I like Ryan is because he is just a really helpful guy. I talk about him a lot, he is just a real helpful guy, and he is real knowledgeable. So, I thought why don’t we bring in the podcasters in with someone from Radio, a veteran of radio, maybe someone at the Cox Studio or at the KKEA, one of the General Managers or one of the Managers, bring them in along with myself and Kari and then we can have a dialogue. (1) We can explain what podcasting is, but (2) we can get a view of what radio actually thinks about this whole podcasting thing, because up to now it’s more or less speculation and people say this and that, but I haven’t heard anything from the horse’s mouth. People that are in radio, doing radio and then also people in radio that are doing podcasting. I think that’s going to be an interesting show. So I am waiting for Ryan to get back to me on that and he is supposed to be checking with Todd. That show should be pretty interesting I think.
[00:03:22]
Another thought that I was thinking of in regards to this show, is exporting Hawaii and what I mean by exporting Hawaii, we have a ton of items within Hawaii and that’s the thing that I truly think is the benefit of here in Hawaii is, you have certain agricultural and certain environmental factors or I don’t know what you would call it, it’s just you don’t have areas where you have clean water or clean air or the climate and temperature such as that area in Kona where they grow the coffee and you have a much better product. They are doing it in Kona right now also, they are taking salt water from 5,000 feet below the surface and then they are desalinating it a bit and shipping it out to Japan. And you know what? Kyo-ya who is doing that has the largest plant over there. They are doing 3,00,000 bottles, which sell in Japan for something like $3 or $4 or $5 dollars per bottle. I mean you can do the math on that, they are making huge dollars. There is also Abalone now that’s been grown in the big island and that’s looking to be exported as well as Kona coffee, Macadamia nuts and then pineapple and things like that. But how about this, how about our talent? Our talent that’s inside of our businesses and inside of the people that run these businesses? So that’s what I thought. I said, you know what, Hawaii has a really valuable resource in the fact that it’s super hard to do business here. It’s always ranked as one of the top worst places to do business; has the hardest business climate, has a expensive cost of living. And the people that can make it here are truly resilient and special. So, that’s what we are trying to do with this program; is take their knowledge and their experience and export that to the world. So the world can know (1) Hawaii is actually a legitimate place to do business, but (2) they can benefit from the experience of people who have made it in a very difficult spot to make it in.
[00:05:39]
Another thing on my list here is Karma and this is an interesting and roundabout way that life works. So, I told you in the last one or two journals ago about how we went into pitch our sponsor, which we were absolutely positively sure we were going to have sponsor. And flat out we were just turned out and they told us no, no way __. And then I was super depressed on that day. But then as I was thinking about it, I said you know what? I am going to do this project regardless. So why not just change the sponsor out to Bubble Tea supply, which is our other, business and we’ll just do it. We will fund it and if we get business from it great, if we don’t great whatever. That’s interesting when you think about it because this whole process is that we have been doing for this Greater Good Radio thing is taking community involvement or non-profit support and then seeing how that directly translates into business. And I didn’t even think about that really with the sponsorship of Bubble Tea supply, I just figured I need a sponsor and I am the only guy who’ll pay for it currently. So, long story short, we got a call today to sell Bubble Tea in the concessions at the UH football games. And it just so happens that our show is broadcast on KKEA AM 1420 which is sports and talk radio and KKEA has the exclusive broadcast rights for the UH football games and we are on one just before the UH football games; so we are on just before the pre-game. So it’s weird how this all works out; now, Bubble Tea supply is a sponsor, we are on an hour before the football games and we happen to be selling now at the football games. So it comes around full circle. I’ll keep you guys posted on — if you see any spike up in business or whatever. But I thought that was really interesting.
[00:07:36]
And then, the other thing I was thinking about today was luck, because I always have these conversations with people and they always say, oh so and so, they were lucky or you are lucky, or that’s lucky. But truly what really is luck; luck is when preparedness meets with opportunity; because if you are not prepared, the opportunity means nothing. It’s like this housing bubble thing or this market that’s just booming and booming. Everyone says, oh I should have bought homes. Even I have heard myself saying, oh I should have bought a home in 98 or 97 when the prices were just rock bottom and I had been making a fortune right now but the truth are matters, I didn’t have any money back then in 98. I couldn’t afford to put a down payment and buy a home. So was that truly a lucky thing that’s happening? Because the opportunity was there but I was not prepared to take advantage of it, so for me really that wasn’t luck. Same thing goes with riding these waves. If it’s pipeline, which is the premier spot on the north shore, and it’s 20 feet and just beautiful conditions for a pro surfer, that’s great; for someone who is a really great surfer that’s great, that’s lucky for them because they are going to have a great day. But for someone like me, I would die. I would go in there and I would literally get killed. So, that’s not luck for me. And that’s a thing that I was thinking about today because the harder that we work and the harder that we try the luckier we end up getting. And the more opportunities appear and the more things happen for our favor and the more, just the better life becomes.
So the moral of the story I guess is, the harder we work, the luckier we get. And if we look for those instances in our own lives, I think it’d be very interesting. So, if you guys have any interesting stories on that, post a comment up to the website at
greatergoodradio.com or you know I guess once we get a comment line, actually you can call in on that or email us.
Okay, so that’s it for the update in Evan’s Journal for July 29, Friday. I am going to go to sleep because I need to get up bright and early to start my day. Aloha!
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