Orange County Advertiser welcomes guest blogger, Kari Adler, founder and owner of Have a Tiki Day in Laguna Beach. She shares her tips as a young entrepreneur in Orange County.

Are you Having A Tiki Day? I am and you can to! I decided to Have A Tiki Day™ in 2009 after graduating from UC Irvine with a Criminology and Law Degree. Like many college graduates, I had no clue what I wanted to do or if I wanted to use my degree at all. And for those who know me personally, you know I’m not one to take orders, from anyone!

My solution, become an entrepreneur and create my own brand! Easy? NOT SO MUCH. I soon realized that having an idea is one thing, but actually creating a business with it was a totally different ballgame.

Many people have innovative ideas, yet don’t follow through out of fear and rejection from others. Learn to THROW THAT AWAY! Fear has no power and will only paralyze you from life. If you don’t try, you’ll never know. If I listened to those haters who said I was wasting my time and college education by creating my own industry, I wouldn’t have clients wearing HAVE A TIKI DAY™ all around the world! My clients have been from Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, Singapore, Hawaii, and more! Hmmmmmm, who was right? Instead of Having A Tiki Day for the past year, I would still be in Law School wondering what if.

My strength and wisdom has brought HAVE A TIKI DAY™ to life at the Laguna Village Arts & Flowers in Laguna Beach. My following Tiki Tips are helpful tools I have learned as a 24 year-old entrepreneur building an apparel brand in Orange County.

TIKI TIP: Confidence, Confidence, Confidence

I cannot emphasize this enough. Confidence is the key to everything we do in life. If YOU don’t have confidence in yourself, no one else will either. This relates to everything from starting a business, to dating, to how we dress. Always be your genuine self because a copy can be spotted a mile away. Besides, copying is boresville, and no one likes a bore! As any entrepreneur knows, you must have the passion first before anyone else can.

True Story Last Week: My friend walked into my shop with dog hair all over his shirt. As a crazy perfectionist and lover of lint rollers, I literally lint rolled him from head to toe before he could hug me. I know I know a little obsessive. But that’s who I am and as a confident man he didn’t mind at all. Imagine a 47 year old man getting lint rolled by a 90lb. 4’11 woman. It was pretty funny.

My point is, confidence with who you are makes life a lot easier to deal with. It’s draining to worry about what other people are thinking about you, so why bother. Fear of rejection and judgment will only hinder you in life. Entrepreneurs especially MUST overcome fear. I did and I now have a trademarked brand of apparel that is worn by men, women and children all over the world!

TIKI TIP: Say Goodbye to Flappers

Everyone knows a flapper. I’ve known many and many is an understatement. A flapper is someone who flaps their mouth about anything and everything but will never actually help you. People love to make suggestions about what you can do and who you can go to and who they know to help you. Most of this chatter is exactly that, chatter! My tiki tip is to view everyone as a flapper and then see who really comes through for you.

Surround yourself with Doers, not flapper’s! If someone doesn’t return a phone call and email after they said to contact them, they’re a flapper! Don’t take it personally, just move on to the next. You don’t have time to waste mental energy on wishing and wondering why someone doesn’t respond. Who cares why because it won’t make a difference. Once you get the hang of this, it’ll be easy to let the flapper’s just flap away from you!

Stay tuned for my next blog and more Tiki Tips for your personal and professional life. I’ll keep it fun and informative with a dose of Kari’s personal perfectionism!

Grab a Tiki Tee, Tote or Tip and HAVE A TIKI DAY™!