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Connecticut Business Program Helps Owners Scale
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
STAMFORD, CONN. (WCBS 880) — A business development program in Connecticut has had a strong track record of helping mostly female business owners improve their operations and scale.
For 25 years, the Women’s Business Development Council of Stamford has provided operational and marketing training to business owners at all stages.
“One of the most common problems we see with entrepreneurs is they’re not charging enough, and women entrepreneurs in particular are not paying themselves, which makes it particularly difficult if they want to scale their business down the line,” said Carol Cheswick, a WBDC advisor and entrepreneur.
Cheswick joined her mentee Annya White-Brown of NaturalAnnie Essentials on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank, to discuss the resources available to business owners through the WBDC.
“The WBDC is focused on helping women and men become empowered financially through education, through understanding the opportunities and how they can grow their business and really understand what the different tools are that they can use to help build their businesses,” said Cheswick.
The advisor calls White-Brown a “natural marketer.” She took a nine-week course through the WBDC to improve her grasp on budgeting, margins and other core financial elements of her business.
“You got to look at the numbers to see your past activities, to see how you’re going to profit as a business and move forward,” said White-Brown, continuing, “Those numbers are crucial in how you market your business. Those numbers are crucial as to how you stay in business. So having to go through that every week was really good.”
White-Brown started NaturalAnnie Essentials as a skincare business in 2015 after she developed a home remedy for her daughter. In 2019, she introduced candles.
“About a year later, candles was all that we were selling. So, we had to make that decision to move forward with what was working best,” she said.
Most of NaturalAnnie Essentials’ sales are via their website. White-Brown also created a “candle bar” called Sip & Pour where customers can make their own candles.
“It’s a BYOB event. So, they bring their own beverage, food, if they’d like, and they make candles and have a great afternoon.”
White-Brown is planning on applying to a new $10,000 grant offered by the WBDC for businesses in existence for at least two years with at least $25,000 in sales that have identified a specific traceable need that will help them scale.
See more on the Women’s Business Development Council on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight video above.
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Brooklyn Store Owner Launches Concert Series, Sees Sales Growth after COVID
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A Brooklyn store owner has found creative ways to grow during the pandemic.
Doug Grater took advantage of lower rents during the pandemic shutdown and moved his Something Else apparel store in Park Slope one block from its original location in a residential neighborhood to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Union Street that is once again flooded with tourists.
“Union is turning into a major thoroughfare,” Grater said on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
He pointed to the proximity to Prospect Park and the subways as one reason he was confident in the move he first described to WCBS 880 in May 2021. Now, many bars and restaurants are opening on Union.
“I believe in New York City, I believe in the street traffic, and I believe in people walking down a street for a AAA location and that’s what I pay for,” he said.
“I believe in New York City, I believe in the street traffic,” Grater said. Photo credit Doug Grater Grater recently invested in a fully hand-painted storefront, which has attracted more people inside the store.
People in the community are also rushing to the gates to enjoy free weekly concerts outside Something Else.
Grater told WCBS 880 he came up with the idea while riding his bike around his Brooklyn neighborhood one day during the height of the pandemic and saw a band playing in the street to no one. He invited them to perform when COVID restrictions in the city were eased.
Grater recently invested in a fully hand-painted storefront, which has attracted more people inside the store. Photo credit Doug Grater “We pretty much built a venue outside called the Something Else Concert Series,” the retail owner said. “We’ve probably had over 50 shows with all different local bands and it’s become a real success.”
Grater said that experience is his way of giving back to the community.
See more marketing and growth ideas on the Small Business Spotlight video above.
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Queens Smoothie Bar Provides Job Training for Local Youth
Executive Produced by Carousso Enterprises, LLC.
Jamaica, NY — The Nourish Spot made history at the most recent U.S. Open when it became the first minority-owned vendor from Queens at the tennis tournament. Dawn Kelly, a former communications executive at Prudential, has shaped her health-conscious brand around giving back to her Jamaica community.
Kelly provides career training to local youth and hopes to have more openings by being a vendor at New York’s sports stadiums.
NY2C’s On The Call is executive produced by Carousso Enterprises, LLC.
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Fighting Words! Knicks and Nets Fans Grease Hoops Rivalry
Executive Produced by Carousso Enterprises, LLC.
New York, NY — The Knicks/Nets rivalry has been reignited with both teams’ projections on the rise. New York is a basketball town after all!
Jenna Hofmann talks with Nets and Knicks fans ahead of their first matchup of 2022.
NY2C’s On The Call is executive produced by Carousso Enterprises, LLC.
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Economic Headwinds Provide Business Opportunities in Queens
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — There are opportunities for business growth in Queens as more residents move out of Manhattan over high rents in an economy battered by high inflation and its toll on cost-of-living expenses.
Long Island City and Jamaica are among the areas where new apartment buildings are being erected.
“There are approximately over 10,000 new apartment units coming to Downtown (Jamaica) in the next 24 to 36 months,” said Justin Rodgers, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
The Queens native said there will be a need for new restaurants, bars and nightlife.
“So now, the focus really is to get mom and pop restaurants on side streets where rents could range anywhere between $30 per square foot to maybe $60 per square foot,” he said.
Rodgers’ pitch to business owners is a line from the 1989 film “Field of Dreams”: “If you build it, they will come.” With greater density in the most diverse borough of New York City, he believes independently owned restaurants in residential neighborhoods would fare better than on Jamaica Avenue, where rents have soared to up to $250 per square foot.
“Just before the pandemic, we had (a) very difficult time trying to attract our mom and pop restaurants to Downtown Jamaica, specifically, but you know, financing has now become an issue with interest rates increasing and it looks like the Fed is going to definitely increase rates once again.”
The Greater Jamaica Development Corporation has opened a new co-working space on Parsons Boulevard for hybrid workers in both the private and public sector.
“We are finding that a lot of businesses in the healthcare industry we’re starting to attract to our co-working space, environmental firms we are attracting to our co-working space, as well as public affairs type of firms,” said Rodgers. “Most of these firms are either sole proprietors or have maybe one or two employees, but I would definitely say, specifically, healthcare is definitely somewhere where people definitely need to look into.”
The JFK Revitalization Project is also providing opportunities for small and mid-size businesses in which minority and women-owned enterprises (MWBE) are prioritized for state contracts.
“That’s a great opportunity for small businesses in Queens to try to figure out how to get involved with that project,” said Rodgers, who co-chairs the project’s business development committee. “It’s $18 billion worth of work and it’s not only on the construction side, you have professional services and vendors as well.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office predicts the JFK Revitalization Project will create more than 10,000 jobs.
Rodgers told WCBS 880 he will help any small business owner who would like to apply. You can contact him through the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation at (718) 291-0282.
See more on where to spot business opportunities in Queens on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight video above.
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