Aloha, my name is Borys Rasin. I’m an immigrant from Ukraine who came to Hawaii in 2015 with no money, no connections, and no knowledge of English. Today, I own and run several multi-million-dollar businesses.

First, Best Flooring Honolulu, a successful flooring store that sells world-renowned brands like Mohawk, Shaw, Armstrong, Karndean, Mannington, and many others.

Second, Nroro, a brand that imports and sells flooring, wall paneling, moldings, underlayment, and a variety of other products.

On this channel, I share my journey and provide advice to help business owners like myself avoid the mistakes I made. I believe it’s better to learn from others’ mistakes rather than spending time and resources making the same errors yourself. By using the knowledge of others, you can get ahead of the competition. If you agree with my views, please Subscribe to my channel and Like this video to help me create more practical content like this.

This is the third out of four videos in a series dedicated to one of the biggest challenges business owners face in Hawaii – the labor force. In my previous videos, I discussed the conditions that make the Hawaii labor market one of the hardest places to run a business and the problems that arise from these conditions. In this video, I will share four out of nine solutions to help you tackle these challenges. Here are my solutions to help business owners deal with a challenging labor market, using Hawaii as an example:

Solution 1: Bring Employees from Other States

One of the most successful businesses on Oahu addresses labor force issues by bringing in employees from other states. The best companies cover the cost of air tickets, provide free accommodation, offer solid benefits, and even supply a personal vehicle, in addition to the salary. This solution offers several benefits:

– Lower Costs: Cheaper hourly rates compared to hiring local specialists.

– Employee Dependence: Employees rely on the employer for accommodation and transportation.

– High-Quality Talent: Access to top professionals from across the U.S.

However, this solution can also have drawbacks:

– Underqualified Employees: Candidates might lie during online interviews and arrive underqualified. Even if they have the needed qualifications, they may not perform as expected.

– Unexpected Departures: If an employee needs to leave urgently or departs earlier than expected, the employer will lose travel costs and other expenses meant to be spread out over time.

– Economic Slowdowns: During slow business periods, employers must still pay salaries, risking the chance of losing employees.

From my personal experience, I receive many job applications from candidates wanting to move to Hawaii from other states. Unfortunately, this solution doesn’t work for my business due to low margins, high responsibility, and an unstable flow of projects. However, it works perfectly for at least two of my friends who own construction businesses.

One friend runs a commercial flooring installation business. When he lands a job, it typically lasts from six to thirty-six months, ensuring his employees stay busy. The other runs a residential construction company, always busy with various services. He rents a separate house for his employees, pays high salaries, and promotes his job openings on his YouTube channel, attracting a steady stream of qualified candidates.

However, I’ve noticed that even when employees are brought from another state, they tend to work hard and efficiently only for a limited time. After six months to a year, the relaxed Hawaiian lifestyle often affects their work ethic. They slow down significantly, return to where they came from, or start their own businesses. In my opinion, this solution requires a regular rotation of personnel to be effective.

Solution 2: Run a business with your family. 

I see this solution in action the most, and I’m also using it myself. When all the key positions in the business are run by family members or close relatives, with 2-3 employees to fill in remaining job responsibilities. The advantages are:

1. Stable working team with high trust, as everyone in the business works toward the same goal.

2. Optimized business structure, with each person responsible for specific tasks and able to adjust as needed.

3. Great tax and financial optimization, since all money remains within the family after salaries are paid, along with other tax benefits.

However, there are significant disadvantages as well:

1. If the business faces financial problems, it can affect the entire family’s source of income, especially if there are no other unrelated sources.

2. Working with family can be challenging if there are strained relations or difficulty finding common ground.

3. You can’t easily terminate inefficient family members as you would with regular employees; negotiation and compromise are often necessary to maintain family relations.

4. While the business may be stable, it may not develop as rapidly as it could with hired experts.

A prime example is my own business, where my mom handles document creation and occasionally interacts with customers when I’m not in the store. My dad assists with deliveries, maintains company vehicles, and creates samples. I handle marketing and sales. I can name at least 10-12 more businesses in Hawaii that operate in a similar manner. One notable example is warehouses selling aftermarket auto parts, where a husband, daughter, and a few helpers handle sales, while the mother manages documents, and the son, with another helper, manages the warehouse. When a new container arrives, they all unload it together.

While running a family business can be a good temporary solution, especially in the beginning, it eventually needs to transition partially or fully into one of the other solutions mentioned here; otherwise, the business will likely stagnate over time.

Solution 3. Train candidates locally. 

Starting a school or training ground for the specialties that your business needs the most is always a great idea. Not only does it solve staffing problems for your business, but it also opens avenues for a number of other benefits. Let’s take a look at some of them:

– You have a steady stream of candidates, and you know the qualification level of each of them in advance.

– Since candidates study at your facility, in most cases, they would want to land a job within your company and will stay loyal longer.

– You create new specialists for your field, which opens new cooperation opportunities with other businesses. Teaching as a business may eventually become more lucrative than your primary business.

However, there are many things to consider before jumping into this opportunity:

– It requires a lot of resources to start and keep it running. To be straightforward, it’s a separate business. You would need personnel to teach, as well as a venue, marketing, and sales, not to mention program and education materials.

– Not all positions justify starting an education or training program. Sometimes, you only need to fill one position, such as a bookkeeper, and it makes no sense to open a training program for this. Or perhaps you need a very experienced candidate or one who requires prolonged education; in this case, it also may not make sense.

– It’s expensive and time-consuming. While resources were mentioned earlier, it’s worth emphasizing again, as this is the biggest challenge.

Often, when you have too many people of the same specialty, you will eventually generate a high need for another specialty. For example, if you have many flooring installers, you will need many salespeople to support them with jobs. Then, with many salespeople, you’ll need many marketers to generate enough leads to keep everyone busy.

This approach makes sense when you constantly need people with the same set of skills. Then, you can create a program, hire a trainer, or become one yourself and start producing qualified candidates for your business to generate profit. I’ve been considering creating a training program for flooring installers. This way, I will always have flooring installers available and can expand my installation business. The only thing holding me back is time. Simply saying “hey, we teach how to install flooring” will not be enough, as any business requires advertising and marketing.

Solution 4: Transform your business to minimize the need for employees. 

There are multiple ways to achieve this, from automating processes or services, for example with AI, to avoiding processes or services that require employees you can’t find. Let’s explore how this can benefit us:

1) From my experience, the tasks for which you can’t find people consume the most time, which could otherwise be used more efficiently. By eliminating these tasks, you can free up time to further improve the strengths of your business.

2) By abstaining from certain processes or services, you can reduce the need for employees who are difficult to find in your market.

3) Transforming your business will eventually bring about changes that can positively impact your business by giving you an edge over competitors, such as being the first company in your niche to implement AI or automation.

4) Cutting back on services or processes that require employees can significantly reduce expenses, as you no longer need to invest in training, salaries, and benefits.

However, there are potential drawbacks:

1) Some tasks may be essential for your business, and stopping them could harm or even bankrupt your business.

2) In most cases, the tasks for which you can’t find people are the most profitable. Eliminating them could significantly reduce your sales or cause some customers to switch to competitors who offer those services.

3) Innovations like AI implementation or machinery automation typically require a large amount of capital and advanced preparations. Additionally, there is often extra time required to rectify mistakes and make adjustments after implementation.

A prime example of this strategy is my own businesses. When I realized that flooring installations consumed 85% of my time, not to mention the high turnover of staff, I decided to stop offering installation services to my customers and focus solely on selling construction materials. Initially, the results were dire—sales instantly dropped by over 60%. However, eight months later, I had returned to pre-drop sales numbers, selling materials only. As a result, I now have 85% more free time compared to when I was offering installation services. Another notable example involves my competitors who struggled to find drivers to deliver flooring. They opted to discontinue delivery services for customers. From what I know, and this is purely speculative, their sales dropped by 30%, and a significant portion of their B2B customers began working with us because we offer delivery services.

Here are four out of nine solutions to address the challenges of Hawaii and other tough labor markets. You can use one or combine multiple solutions to tackle labor market problems. Please let me know in the comments below if you agree with the solutions I’ve provided or if you’ve used any of them yourself. If you know of more solutions, please share them in the comments below. I read all of your comments and would love to hear your thoughts.

In my next video, I will share the remaining five solutions to survive and thrive as a business owner in the Hawaii labor market. Please like this video and subscribe to my YouTube channel to stay updated with my latest content. I will be sharing a lot of valuable information that you won’t want to miss.

See you in my next video. Take some time off to go surfing—the waves are pumping right now in Hawaii. Have an amazing day. Mahalo!