Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 7, 1 July 2002 — Aloha's Complete Event Service gets boost for karaoke and DJ entertainment from OHA business loan [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aloha's Complete Event Service gets boost for karaoke and DJ entertainment from OHA business loan

By Caitriona Kearns When David Kane was a young 17~year~old he spent his nights working as a DJ and learning the ropes of a business that would occupy him over the next 10 years, Kane loved being the entertainment for a spe~ eial celebration whether it was a prom, birthday or wedding because he met new people and enjoyed the accolades he received, īn 1993, Kane graduated from high school and embarked on a new career path as a business owner with a micro loan from the Office of

Hawaiian Affairs' Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Program, With the loan he purchased an existing DJ business that included a van and sound equipment and within weeks was running his own company, A few years later he had an idea to expand and spent a year gearing up for the expansion with training from OHA and Alu Like. By April 1997 he was ready to take the leap and qualified for a second loan in the amount of $66,000 from the Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Program, This loan paid for

six new systems includ~ ing three karaoke systems as j well as a new V van and an upgrade to his old \/^n ĪSJri\\/ Tia rrinlr1

offer rentals of karaoke systems for the endless number of family eelebrations in Hawai'i, and support up

to seven events on any given night with DJ or karaoke services, As his business has grown Kane has developed and fine~tuned his marketing and sales operation by

Duiiamg customer aataDases, targeting direct mail to his different customers and devel~ j

oping ineentive pro~

grams drive sales, Yellow Pages advertising for the promotion of karaoke rentals is now being cut because results from a customer follow-up survey indicated that few calls received from the Yellow Pages generated sales, Referrals generated the majority of sales, īn the early years, Kane did not know about follow-up on sales, He

now touts it to be the most impor~ tant thing he ean do to increase sales, Most of his marketing knowledge he has picked up from attend~ ing seminars, reading books, going to Alu Like and OHA small business workshops and hanging out at f.. Small Business Administration Development Centers, He is enamored by marketing gurus whose books he devours, "Borders is a favorite family hangout," he says, "ī'm a business section guy with a love for marketing, ī try to learn the latest on marketing~with~ no-money," Recently, Kane has renamed his business Aloha's Complete Event Services, naming the business after his wife, His goal is to diversify into the management of event services whereby he will provide a full package of services for any event, offering entertainment; catering; See BUSINESS on page 6

Pā'oihana

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Dcivicl einel Alohei Keine book event services frorn their horne office.

BUSINESS from page 4 rentals of tables, chairs, tents and limousines; floral arrangements; balloons; and of course, karaoke with a ehoiee of over 1300 songs. īn order to be price competitive annual contracts with vendors have been negotiated and Kane plans to pass better rates on to customers. So far, most of his karaoke rentals and DJ services have been for family or school events and now with the expansion in services he is also targeting new customers for corporate events. 9-11 reconfirmed and strengthened his belief in growth opportunities within the industry since there was no significant mimber of cancellations on events in the months afterwards. His philosophy is that celebrations and family events will continue despite terrorist attacks. For more information about OHA's loan fund, eall 594-1924. For Aloha's Complete Event Services, eall 5202564. ■