Archive for Hawaii

How This Hawaii Surfer Boy Went From Rags to Riches

Jay Alvarrez was borSee the source imagen on the beautiful island of Hawaii and raised by parents who always supported him. When Alvarrez was just 14, his mother passed away. She had an incredible impact on his life and taught him how to love others well. After her death, Jay got the phrase “let’s live” tattooed on the inside of his bottom lip, a memento he lives by and will never forget. After his mother’s tragic death, Alvarrez made the decision to drop out of high school and live the life he knew his mother wanted for him. He began experimenting with film, and started to document his adrenalin including adventures, capturing beautiful footage of his experiences and travels. Posting these incredible videos to social media, Alvarrez began to accumulate quite a following. This was the beginning of his path to stardom. Producing increasingly impressive content, Alvarrez’s work began to catch the eyes of companies such as Calvin Klein, Bonds Swimwear, and Hyundai and participated in high paying advertisements, and sponsorships. These new sources of income blessed Jay with more opportunities to travel the world and build a brand of himself. This is how Jay Alvarrez is an entrepreneur. He wisely gripped his wide array of talents and turned them into an outstanding source of income. His fashion and self-developed trends have spread across the world, and he has inspired million to go out into the world and go live. This is a perfect example of a rags-to-riches situation. He was handed nothing, and became a self-made millionaire. See the source imageFast forward to the present, Alvarrez boasts a hefty 5.9 million followers on Instagram, he has travelled the world several times over, and is now a designer and primary ambassador for DoucheBags, a luggage business whose mission is to create “Better journeys through smarter travel gear”. Learn from this and apply it to your life. Recognize the areas that you have been blessed in and use that to your advantage. Use your gifts to help other people and you might make a little money in the process.

He Must Increase, I Must Decrease: HE>i

What started as a simple phrase became a successful clothing and decal shop. Kaimana Plemer, Kainoa Plemer and Chris Ballard live on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii. They are part owners of the brand HE>i. The idea for the brand was born in 2003 when Kaimana Plemer wanted to create a catchy design for his screen saver. He liked the “>” symbol, and then, he remembered John 3:30. “He must become greater and greater, and I must become lesser and lesser.” The brothers opened a smalls store in Waialua with their friend, Chris.

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The small store became a hit and the company now runs two store on Oahu. The stores carry clothing, decals and many other products with the “HE>i” logo. Many larger companies have contacted “HE>i”, asking to sell the products in their own stores, but Kaimana, Kainoa and Chris have refused. They prefer to focus on their current stores and the sales they make online. In these markets, “HE>i” has had immense success. The logo can be seen across the country and across the world.

I remember walking into the store and being amazed that the company made enough profit on t-shirts and decals to run two whole stores! The brand catches the eye and leads people to ask questions. What a great conversation starter about faith and God. I found this brand and its message to be inspiring. If you have not seen it already, check it out!