For any new company, expenses seem to pile up faster than anything else, while revenues aren’t seldom seen until long into the future. Our first big expense was a deep cut into my personal savings.
We commissioned the services of a market research firm here in Hawaii called Market Trends Pacific to find our potential readers and uncover their buying and lifestyle habits. A survey questionnaire was drafted that was way too long with way too many questions. Three drafts later, 200 people between 18 and 45 were called. You can see the results in the sidebar:
In addition, MTP conducted 11 one-to-one stakeholder interviews with industry heavy-hitters within the fields of art, retail, hotel, visitor, financial and restaurant. Although many understandably expressed worry and doubt in an economic time such as today, they did see some small beacon of hope. The answers remained anonymous, but their responses were enormously telling, and strengthened our inkling for the need a quality magazine in Hawaii.
