Author: Joy

By Michelle Harrington This post is brought to you by Emagine Web Marketing, an associate of Fujita & Miura Public Relations. Emagine Web Marketing is a development and marketing company that helps small businesses expand their reach and increase sales online through innovative and effective web marketing and optimization strategies. Growth is an ever-present, integral part of a successful business. Like a well-tended garden, the growth of your business will remain vital and able to withstand the ever-changing landscape in market and economy. Your website is no different – the success of your website relies on the quality of attention and maintenance you put into it.
15 January, 2010 /
blk_dots_white1_400x372We’ve just completed a round of holidays and most of us have spent a good amount of time with friends, family, and co-workers in the process of celebrating.  Though holiday get-togethers can sometimes be stressful, it’s important to recognize how very important they are.  “Psychology Today” recently reported that “In surveys to determine the factors that contribute most to human happiness, respondents consistently rate connection to friends and family-love, intimacy, social affiliation-above wealth or fame, even above physical health...Loneliness isn’t about being alone; it’s about not feeling connected.”
29 December, 2009 /
This post is brought to you by guest columnist Ryan Esaki.  Esaki is a Kaua`i entrepreneur, one of the co-founders of the mega-popular ukulele website, ukuleleunderground.com as well as a small independent record label, Town Hero Records LLC. He is also a web strategies consultant.  For more information about Ryan Esaki, go to ryanesaki.com.
01 December, 2009 /
Self-Storage-for-Business1We’ve found that while many are calling this a “challenging economy,” many businesses are making the best of the times.  So, if we all can put ourselves in the mindset that challenges are opportunities waiting to be unearthed, then here are three free PR tips for maximizing the times. 1)    Clean up and clear out.  Clutter is useless and takes up space that could be better used.  Having stacks of old things around is also unattractive.  Give your customers, your employees, and yourself more room to move around and a nice, organized space in which to work.  Be merciless about the clearing.  Donate items that you can no longer use to a nonprofit that might be able to use them.  Recycle what you can.  If there are things you absolutely cannot part with, organize them, label them, and put them in storage.  A cleaner, clearer workspace will make everyone feel better – your customers, your employees, and you, and it will symbolically provide the needed open space for useful, and perhaps moneymaking things and ideas.
30 October, 2009 /
We love Stuart Elliott's advertising articles in the New York Times.  This one we thought was particularly good, given the need to have smart marketing campaigns these days that effectively attract consumers and inspire them to buy your products or services.
21 September, 2009 /
kim-chee1For those of you who have gardens, there comes a time when everything is going off and you need to find something to do with all of it.  Give away some of it, yes, but also consider making things that use a lot garden harvest and that keep a long time.  Kim chee is one of those things. My kim chee recipe is a combination of several, namely, "The Korean Kitchen" by Copeland Marks wth Manjo Kim and Tyler Florence, who I've found has excellent tips on international dishes. A few notes about kim chee: according to "The Korean Kitchen," kim chee has seven components including a hot or sweet chili taste, saltiness, sweetness, sourness, bitterness, astringency, and any ingredient that will intensify or enhance flavor.  The great thing about kim chee is that the salt in it softens all kinds of greens, even ones that have gotten a little tough from late harvesting.  In my recipe, I use kale, bok choy, radicchio (Italian chicory), and chard, plus I add garlic chives and green onions, which I also grow.  My husband, who lived in Korea while he was in the Air Force, likes the bitter greens because he says it tastes more authentic than the pure cabbage kim chee that we buy in the store.
25 August, 2009 /
  Another easy, healthy entrée to make for any occasion, flexible enough to be a regular night's dinner or a dish for your next family gathering, is furikake salmon.  In addition to how quickly you can whip this up, it only takes six ingredients (including salt and pepper)!  Here's how you can create this dish at home:
20 August, 2009 /
Pono Market"Pack to Fly" is a term heard often in Kauai restaurants and stores, usually referring to the packaging of food being taken on an airplane.  Most times, this food will be presented as omiyage (o-mee-yah-gay), the Japanese tradition of gifts given to co-workers, family, and friends upon returning from a trip.  Omiyage has been adopted by Hawaii and Kauai locals and usually involves food.  Anyone can take on this custom by buying and giving locally-made favorites from the places that they visit.
27 July, 2009 /