Sunday Message From Ben: What Hawaii Businesses Need. Right Now.

“A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” – General George S. Patton

Aloha,

This quote by General George Patton is one that I often use, and encourage us to live by at ProService. I am a huge believer that in almost all things in life, it is better to move quickly in the right direction in general, than to wait. In moving forward, you learn more, improve more rapidly and almost always have better results. Moving forward always results in some discomfort and course corrections as we encounter obstacles, but these are just part of the path. They are our teachers and not something to view negatively.

This is where we are today with reopening in Hawaii.

We finally have a plan for reopening, and this week I had the pleasure of participating in a great webinar discussion on What Hawaii Needs to Recover. Right Now. moderated by Bill Dorman of Hawaii Public Radio with three influential and inspiring business and community leaders including Micah Kane of the Hawaii Community Foundation, Paul Kosasa of ABC Stores and Monica Toguchi Ryan of the legendary Highway Inn.

The panel talked about many topics from how some companies are partnering and creating innovative business models to how leaders can advocate for policy improvements and more public support. I encourage you to watch it and, more important, to take action and have a voice.

From the discussion, here were my main points and takeaways:

For months, the complexity of the coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed Hawaii. At least now we have a plan and a framework for opening tourism and reopening our businesses.
Like George Patton’s plan, Hawaii’s plans will be messy and have lots of imperfections. We need to stay the course and we have an obligation to speak up and be constructive so that the Mayor’s framework and the State’s reopening plan for travel and tourism advance and improve.
On the flip side, we need to listen, have empathy, and address others’ concerns. The neighbor islands, for instance, need better plans for treatment capacity and medical travel. These are solvable challenges.
Big Picture, COVID is here to stay and is not going away. It is dangerous, but the good news is that it is more treatable and therefore less dangerous today than it was a few months ago.
To best live with COVID, I advocate for a mask wearing mandate when in closed public spaces and daily, government sponsored testing centers to minimize local spread. Make Hawaii a place with great testing and great common sense protocols. We will not eliminate COVID, but we can do sensible, low impact things to limit its spread.
Smaller, local businesses (and kids) have borne the brunt of overly broad government restrictions. They need relief and they need your business. Our encouragement is to speak up and to shop local. Each of us has a choice. Share your voice. Encourage your friends. Write to congress and our senators for further small business relief. Post your story on Facebook and Instagram. Tell your story authentically. Most people don’t yet know and understand the dire plight of small businesses, and they will not unless you speak up.

I believe all of us have a story worth sharing, and I encourage each of you to share it. Post it on Facebook and Instagram. Send your email to congress, the Governor and the Mayor. Monica has been a great example of sharing your story and advocating for help with her recent video. Monica’s story is one that many people can relate to and it's happening all over Hawaii. We are not all the same and will not all agree. We don’t have to. Let’s celebrate the diversity of local businesses and support it.

A simple ask:

At ProService, we continue to be on a big mission to help as many Hawaii businesses as possible. In 2020, we pivoted our resources to become the trusted voice and experts for employers navigating work in the era of COVID. We directly invested in more client service staff and internal training knowing that our clients needed expert consultations now more than ever before. Our quick actions meant that our clients saw a higher PPP approval rate than other businesses statewide and our consultations helped strategically maximize how funds were spent to benefit you the most. And, just a few weeks ago we launched our Pandemic Rebate to reduce monthly costs for our clients because we know every dollar matters. All this to say, at ProService we pride ourselves on being a human resources partner who does things differently.

If you’ve been pleased with our service and expertise, we have a simple ask: Please recommend or refer us to other Hawaii companies who may benefit by joining our Prohana.

As we grow and continue to reinvest in serving Hawaii employers, your recommendation will help your friend, help our business and will ultimately help our community recover together.

With Aloha,

Ben Godsey

President & CEO

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