John Fund, nationally-known economic and political editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal, will be the keynote speaker at Small Business Hawaii's Annual Business Conference next month. Fund, a regular on "The Drudge Report, MSNBC, and other national business and television news programs, will share his views on, "Hawaii's Place in the Sun - and in the Nation's Business Community."

The 24th Annual Small Business Hawaii Conference will be held Wednesday, January 12, 2000, at the Ala Moana Hotel. It will be the first major business event of the millennium and you won't want to miss it.

Local and national business legislation, tax tips, success stories and the annual SBH Business Awards will all be part of this conference. Save that date now and send in your reservation. Your guests, clients and the public are all welcome.

George Mason, UH Hilo Chancellor Dr. Rose Tseng, a bi-partisan state legislative panel and mainland speakers U.S. Congressman Bob Barr and Federal Trade Commissioner, Orson Swindle, will join Fund. It is an excellent event to bring your business associates to.

U.H.'s JUNE JONES
SPARKS SBH'S TRADESHOW

The Second Annual Small Business Hawaii The Tradeshow '99 on November 16 and 17, at the Blaisdell Center, was a tremendous success. Exhibitors and walk-in traffic was up substantially from 1998 according to Mike Rossell of Production Hawaii, Inc., the show's producer. It was an excellent networking opportunity for new and existing businesses and helped participants do more business. It was also the best bargain in town for small businesses to exhibit and network. Tables were added to the booths for more choices this year.

Once again, Pacific Business News was The Tradeshow '99 major sponsor and did a terrific job.

KCCN radio talk host and KHON-TV sports director, Bob Hogue, did his noon to 2 pm radio show live from the Expo at Blaisdell. Several diversified business exhibitors had an opportunity to plug their business on the air. This show is different because it focuses on true small businesses and because it was not dominated by any one segment of the business community.

UH head football coach, June Jones, who engineered the greatest NCAA football turnaround, with the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, 0 - 12 in '98, 19 straight losses, and a WAC championship and bowl-bound team in '99, was the keynote luncheon speaker. His topic was, "Applying Success on the Gridiron to Your Business." About 160 people attended the luncheon - mostly women - and they were awe-struck by the man who clearly defined what leadership is all about. There was no accident to the team turnaround - it was designed.

Jones, former UH and Portland State football player, went on the NFL Atlanta Falcons and as coach of the San Diego Chargers. He returned to Hawaii because he wants to be here. Jones related the teamwork on the gridiron to the working relationship in business. He defined leadership qualities as: passion; discernment; integrity, and service. The four qualities of success are: shared commitment; chemistry among workers; camaraderie, and confidence. Jones said with opportunity and proper training one can achieve whatever goal is set, but without God and proper priorities, the success would be hollow. He quoted from Depression success author, Napoleon Hill, ("Think and Grow Rich") and shared stories of athletes and Olympians who had the persistence - and passion - to succeed. June Jones is one person who made - and continues to make - a difference in Hawaii.

A business and professional fashion show, featuring tee-shirts to evening gowns, was also part of the expo. Famed local Hawaiian designer, Mamo Howell, donated her famous upscale garments and attended the show in person.

Impressionist Billy Sage headlined "IMUA to 2000" featuring Hawaiian musician B. B. Shawn at the show's conclusion.

Plans are already underway for next year's tradeshow which hopefully can be held earlier prior to the crucial State Elections.

SBA TO SHIFT TO NEW
CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) plans to adopt within the next year a new, more precise industrial classification system that will serve as the basis for the agency's widely used small business size standards.

The new system known as the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), reflects recent business development trends by listing a greater number of advanced technology and service industries than the current Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), which has been in use since the 1930s.

The NAICS classification system now is used to compile business and trade statistics in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"A business owner can't compete with a manual typewriter when the rest of the world is humming along with computers, and that's one way to think about this move from SIC to NAICS," said SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez. "Whole new industries have emerged since the SIC system was first developed. Shifting to the new NAICS-based size standard table will help the SBA open new doors of opportunity for small business owners in these emerging industries."

Federal procurement officials and others use size standards to determine whether a business is large or small. Knowing the correct size standard can pave the way for a firm to receive contracts and assistance reserved only for small businesses.

The SBA outlined its vision for the new NAICS system in a proposed rule in the Oct. 22 issue of the Federal Register, which can be obtained through the Internet at http://www.sba.gov/size/section04c.htm. The proposed rule seeks adoption of the NAICS-based size standards on Oct. 1, 2000 - the start of the federal government's fiscal year 2001.

As part of the switchover, SBA plans to use the guidelines outlined in the rule to convert size standards based on the SIC system to size standards for the NAICS system. Through this process, SBA intends to retain, to the extent practical, the small business status of firms currently eligible for federal small business programs. Interested parties may file comments until Dec. 21, 1999.

Further information about NAICS is available on the U.S. Bureau of Census' web site at http://www.census.gov/naics.

PRITCHETT PUBLISHES YEAR 2000
CLINTON COUNTDOWN CALENDAR

This year, well known Hawaii editorial cartoonist John Pritchett was contracted by a Washington D.C. company Politically Disgusted, Inc., to provide fourteen Bill and Hillary cartoons for a specialty gift calendar: "THE FINAL DAYS: The Bill and Hillary Countdown Calendar 2000.

In addition to Pritchett's cartoons, this high quality, 14" x 10". calendar is full of hilarious quotes and anecdotes that will keep you laughing as you countdown the final days until the Clintons are finally out of the White House for good. This calendar makes a great Christmas gift.

For information on how to get your calendar, call Pritchett at: (808) 921-2878 or hit the net and go to:

http://www.politicallydisgusted.com.

The price is $15.00 each plus $4.00 shipping and handling.

SBH JOINS 'SAVE OUR
STAR BULLETIN' CAMPAIGN

Small Business Hawaii joined the citizen effort to "Save the (Honolulu) Star-Bulletin" afternoon newspaper at its November 16 Board Meeting, adopting a resolution of support. The paper was originally set to fold October 30 when owner Liberty Newspapers, announced it would shut it down without trying to find a buyer, even though the paper was profitable. The action was an outgrowth of the sale by Gannett Corporation, 7 years ago, when it sold the SB to buy the morning Honolulu Advertiser. Both papers had been under federal Failing Newspaper Act legislative protection; ironically instituted to save the Advertiser 20 years ago. Some community leaders publicly stated a theory that Gannett planned to dump the paper all along and would be paid $30 million by the Advertiser to allow for the one-paper monopoly in Honolulu.

Court action by the State and the "SOS" group, headed by former Democratic Party head, Richard Port, was successful in getting a Temporary Restraining Order until a future trial on anti-trust and violations of the Failing Newspaper Act, can be held - tentatively scheduled for next year.

The idea of a local group, or a Mainland White Knight, coming to the aid of the paper is problematic because TROs not withstanding, it will be difficult to save the SB since Gannett owns all presses, computers, equipment and furnishings. Only the name and the employees are up for grabs.

SBH believes in competition and believes Hawaii already has too many one-voice government and private monopolies.

Save Our StarBulletin also has its own website.

NEW WEB ADDRESS FOR
SMALL BUSINESS HAWAII

Small Business Hawaii is moving to a new domain on the internet. Our new address is:

http://www.smallbusinesshawaii.org

Fact is the new domain is already working with a temporary "work in progress" page with links going to current content at the original site.

In the coming weeks and months new issues of Small Business News online as well as informational content, photos and more will be published to the new URL. Issues of SB News starting with January 2000 will be posted to the new site. The old URL will continue to serve as SBH's Archive site with back issue highlights of SB News going to February 1995. SBH's web continues to be served through Hawaii's H4.