Former Californian found success in paradise. (Interviews).Like many before and after him, Tony Lam Tony Lam (born in 1937) is a politician from California. In 1992, he won a seat on the Westminster City Council, becoming the first Vietnam-born person to be elected into a political office in the United States. took a Hawaii Hawaii, island, United States Hawaii, island (1990 pop. 120,217), 4,037 sq mi (10,456 sq km), largest and southernmost island of the state of Hawaii and coextensive with Hawaii co.; known as the Big Island. vacation in 1991, fell in love with the islands and never left. The owner of a general merchandise store in Stockton Stockton, city (1990 pop. 210,943), seat of San Joaquin co., central Calif., on the San Joaquin River; inc. 1850. One of the fastest-growing U.S. cities during the late 20th cent., Stockton is an inland seaport located at the head of the San Joaquin delta. , Calif., Lam sold the business and opened a salvage salvage, in maritime law, the compensation that the owner must pay for having his vessel or cargo saved from peril, such as shipwreck, fire, or capture by an enemy. Salvage is awarded only when the party making the rescue was under no legal obligation to do so. merchandise shop in downtown Honolulu Downtown Honolulu is the current and historic central part of Honolulu—bounded by Nuʻuanu Stream to the west, Ward Avenue to the east, Vineyard Boulevard to the north, and Honolulu Harbor to the . Seven businesses later, Lam has found success as owner of Hawaii Digital Sign Pro, which provides sign, printing and film-processing services to commercial photographers, advertising agencies and their clients. Started in 1995 with $30,000 of Lam's savings, Hawaii Digital saw steady growth at first, then leaped from two employees and $271,391 in revenue in 1999 to six employees and $768,327 in revenue last year. Lam expects to exceed $1 million in revenue this year or next, and expects to add more employees. "I was just doing all kinds of businesses to make money and went into this accidentally," he said. "I just fell in love with it." Lam purchased a 36-inch printer at an auction, intending to provide enlarging ENLARGING. Extending or making more comprehensive; as an enlarging statute, which is one extending the common law. services to graphic artists and advertising agencies. Customers referred Hawaii Digital to others and the company has been growing ever since, and is now in its third location. "They just refer one customer after another," said Lam, whose clients number more than 300 and include City Bank, McDonald' and KFC-Hawaii. The company is expanding into wedding photography and 3-D and "flip" imaging that is becoming more popular due to major technology advances, Lam says. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion