Our Exciting Journey to Cerulean Bay
If you are going to have a financially secure future, you usually have to work very hard for it. Everyone has to decide what "financial success" means to them and then they have to decide for themselves how they are going to achieve it.
Obviously, there are no guarantees in life. Risks, pitfalls and curve balls that can really knock you down are around every corner.
After working in the corporate world for so many years, several major disruptions including economic downturns, jobs being offshored and Covid have caused us to rethink how we want to achieve our definition of "financial success". We have decided that life is too short and that we are going to follow a dream of ours before it is too late.
We are so excited about this new adventure, this new journey not only to a better financial future but to a place where we can enjoy life so much more fully than we can now. We are prepared to do whatever it takes to turn this dream into a reality so that we can leave the corporate world behind once and for all and have more control over how our time will be spent. And what better way is there to do that than by doing something we love?
Togo Village, Qamea Island, Fiji
Our Dream and The Inspiration
It has always been a dream of ours to own an import business but we never knew what we would import or where things would come from. After finding some really cool things over the years in stores like Pier 1 and Cost Plus World Market, we thought it would just be so great if we could travel the world and find unique and original handmade pieces, beautiful craftsmanship that was truly different and had not yet been fully discovered.
We have always been very proud and supportive of American-made products and knew that we would find some really great artists here to work with. But we also wanted to support artists in far off places who could provide authentic pieces that cannot be made in the US. These awesome pieces would only be found in certain parts of the world, places that Americans don’t really visit or even think of.
These pieces would be high quality and unique and would help to educate others about a country’s culture. We did not want to import anything that was mass-produced or cheaply made, there is way too much of that out there already. We did not want to be connected to the typical touristy stuff people buy when they are overseas (who needs another refrigerator magnet or silly shot glass?) but rather we wanted to directly connect with people who could produce pieces that would help others to build a truly beautiful yet different look for their homes through our imports. But we were just not able to figure out exactly what that look would be. And it was just not a dream we could pursue while raising 3 boys.
Matangi Island, Fiji
But then in 2017 things changed. With our boys grown and old enough to stay at home and watch the house, we were invited to go to Fiji with some friends. So we bought our tickets and made plans to meet our friends there. But then something came up and our friends were no longer able to go. Since we could not get a refund on our tickets, we decided to go by ourselves. We decided to turn the trip into the honeymoon we never had (we got married in 1994).
We didn’t know where we were going to stay but we knew it was not going to be some major hotel chain with a party atmosphere. We wanted something quiet, laid back and preferably as authentically Fijian as possible.
After researching a number of sites online, we found a small, adults only, all-inclusive resort that was off the beaten path. And as luck would have it, we absolutely fell in love with Fiji.
The Fijian people are truly amazing, so warm, so welcoming and so genuine. We were able to visit a local village and it was there that inspiration struck as we discovered the beauty and incredible craftsmanship of wood carvings. We discovered tapa barkcloth and how incredibly awesome it looks when properly framed and hung on a wall.
We also discovered ocean-inspired glass and metal artistry. While many travelers buy a piece here or there as a souvenir, we knew that there is so much more to those pieces than that. There is a whole fascinating culture with centuries of tradition behind them. There is also the borderline poverty and rough living conditions that many villagers live with which surprised us at first but then inspired us even more.
We wanted so much to help change that.
Togo Village, Qamea Island, Fiji
The Plan
So we thought “since so many people dream of taking a trip to the South Pacific and never do, why don’t we bring the South Pacific to them?”
Of course, we couldn’t bring the amazing white sandy beaches and palm trees back to the States, but we could bring back the incredible art and pieces of the culture. We realized that whatever purchases we made, that money would go directly to the artisans and craftsmen because we would be buying directly from them. We could directly help those villages financially.
During the flight home, we promised ourselves that this trip would not simply be something we checked off of the proverbial bucket list. We were going to turn it into something. With us losing our primary source of income in the coming months due to a job being offshored, we began laying the foundation for our import business. We began researching and contacting various artists and craftsmen. We began researching other far-off places, including the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Bali. We are looking at the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar.
In researching these wonderful locations, we realized that these island nations have their own stories to tell and their own styles of artistry and craftsmanship.
The whole concept of tropical home accessories and décor really came to life for us.
Starting the Journey
We began ordering lots of samples and discovered some of the pitfalls that can occur when shipping from so far away. We continued to fuel our motivation by reminding ourselves of what we had seen during our trip, remembering who we had met and remembering how we can help them.
Our hope was that as the business grew, we could both work the business full-time and be able to financially survive on that alone. We had our plan in place and just as we were ready to go full speed into the future with marketing and sales, the pandemic hit. We experienced yet another layoff.
That knocked the wind out of our sails but only temporarily. It was yet another clear indication that we have to take our financial future into our own hands and trust God as we build this together. Covid was not going to stop us.
We continued doing everything we could to set up our business even with all of the Covid restrictions and with all of the civil unrest here in the US along with the highly negative political climate. Not the best time or environment for starting a new business! But life is going to move forward no matter what. The clock will keep ticking. So this import business is happening. Period.
Life can throw all kinds of things at you. What are you going to do about it? If it doesn’t kill you first, stop complaining, pick yourself up and move on. With our passion for the tropics, home design and decor, and for helping others, that’s exactly what we are doing.
Hand-carved sea turtle with removable shell
Starting a business is definitely not for the faint of heart, especially with things like Covid and now during these difficult economic times. During all of this, we have been thinking that there must be others out there who also dream of owning their own business, of doing something on their own that they are truly passionate about. Of being their own boss! So we want to help others by putting our story out there. Striking out on your own is so hard, it’s scary and it’s very expensive! But nonetheless, we wanted to share our journey with you. We are just getting back on our feet post-Covid and we have a long way to go. But it is our hope that our story will inspire you to never give up on your dreams and to encourage you to turn those dreams into small achievable goals while staying strong no matter what. The road up until now has not been easy for us. But we are not giving up and neither should anyone else who has a burning desire to strike out on their own. We are going on this journey.
We will also share with you what we discover along the way about the artistry and the craftsmanship of the South Pacific and of tropical places less traveled in Cerulean Living, our new online tropical lifestyle magazine. There we will celebrate the culture, the artists, the music, the food and drinks and also feature amazing resorts and travel tips to get there.
That is what Cerulean Bay® is all about: taking care of ourselves while putting other people first and helping those we can along the way. It’s about bringing the true beauty of these tropical places to you while bringing much-needed attention to the wonderful people who live in these amazingly beautiful yet economically and geographically challenged places. That is primary our goal. That is why we are here today.
Fiji Islands
One other quick note about us: We have never been big TV watchers but one of our most favorite shows is Frasier. The writing for the show is simply the best. In the last episode of the series, Frasier is ending his last radio show with the cast of the show watching him through the studio windows. He gives his audience a quote from the poem “Ulysses” by Alfred Lord Tennyson saying the following:
“It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be that we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And though we are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will;
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Frasier then tells his audience, “I’ve been thinking about that poem a lot lately. And I think what it says is that, while it’s tempting to play it safe, the more we’re willing to risk, the more alive we are. In the end, what we regret most are the chances we never took. And I hope that explains, at least a little, this journey on which I am about to embark.”
That is us right now. Life has beaten us up a bit but we are still strong in will after so many years and we are not about to yield. We are still striving, still seeking, and we will get there. That is exactly where we are at, embarking on what will be an incredible journey to a place which inspires others to imagine and then create a true tropical lifestyle at home. A place inspired by warm, tropical ocean air and the scent of frangipani. A place where one can imagine relaxing from dawn till dusk in cerulean waters, in a hammock under swaying palms or in a comfortable chair under a thatched roof with good friends and some wonderful tropical drinks. A place where they can create a look and feel that it is unique and personal to them. A tropical lifestyle that they can truly enjoy everyday with family and friends. A journey to Cerulean Bay. Will you join us?
- Tom and Edna Harkay
Horseshoe Bay, Matangi Island, Fiji