moving to Hawaii... (transplants, sales, to rent)

[porkypine]

I am looking for feedback and opinions.

My husband and I are looking to relocate to Hawaii. We have been several times, and are in the midst of doing our research.

We are debating between the Big Island and Kauai. We are planning to give it a year and re-evaluate at that time. So we plan to rent at first, so not too concerned about the housing market.

I have a culinary degree but have not worked in my field for nearly 6 years. I have been operating a direct sales business for the past 7 years.

Has anyone heard of any pros or cons of direct sales in Hawaii?

I am planning to get a job, but also hoping to continue my business.

My husband has years of sales experience in construction...though he is open to anything, and not afraid to work. He is also going back to school, so hoping to continue that on the islands.

We are early 30 somethings, no kids, and not big on nightlife.

We are wondering if there are lots of married couples out there without kids? Would there be an area that may be a better fit for us?

any other advice for us as we research?

We have ordered some books, as well as searching the forums and web. Right now in search of jobs.

Thanks in advance for any info you would like to share.

[hothulamaui]

being young and no children you guys can pretty mch do as you want. bring as much money with you so you don't have to worry until you are settles. we have hardly any jobs now and you would have to take what was available, sometimes it will not be in your field. doesn't really matter if you have lots of education or experience sometimes we just don't have many job ops. but I do think if you can hang out long enough until something comes along you will eventually find something. have you visited the islands at all? big island is big and spread out. kauai is much smaller. I don't know about direct sales. what are you direct selling? would there be a market for it here?

[porkypine]

Yeah! We have been to both islands. We were to Kauai several years ago and loved it, then to the Big Island this spring for 10 days. I actually just returned from 2 weeks on Kauai.

We like both islands. Just debating which would be a better fit, and hoping for some feedback from some residents or new transplants.

I actually sell both SimplyFun, which creates family oriented, educational games AND Stampin' Up!....rubber stamping and scrapbooking...so not sure how much of a market there will be.

any game players or crafters out there?!?!

Even the big island won't be too big for me, as far as my business goes...I am used to traveling up to 3 hours for events here in the mid west!

thanks!

[hotzcatz]

Shipping via UPS is going to be way more expensive than you are probably used to, so most of your direct sales items would be shipped in either via ocean freight or USPS. Dunno if that changes anything in your business or not.

Unless you make them yourself, there aren't likely to be any scrap booking or crafting events, that I know of, so travel distances may not be of much importance. If you travel for three hours around here you are just right back where you started from.

I would guess finding employment will be one of your biggest difficulties. Perhaps it might be helpful if you could see if you can find employment and then look for a place to live near the job instead of picking somewhere to live and then looking for work nearby.