Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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Small Business Spotlight: Social Missions Brew Business for Midtown Coffee Shop
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Bird & Branch Coffee Shop on 45th Street and 9th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan is brewing opportunity for those struggling to find work.
“It’s just in our face all the time like the great need that New Yorkers have and I just felt like what I did either helping out at a soup kitchen or giving money were just very small Band-Aids to a huge problem,” said owner Faith Lee on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight with Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
Faith and her husband Brandon opened the store four and a half years ago not for a love of coffee but out of a mission to help New Yorkers overcome barriers to employment. They train mostly younger workers on soft skills that are transferrable to careers in retail and hospitality. Currently, six people work at Bird & Branch – down from 13 pre-pandemic.
“We allow them to sort of go through that process without the pressure of having to perform at the level we ultimately want them to perform at, but allows them to sort of grow into that space and I think people need that time,” she explained.
Bird & Branch Coffee Shop was awarded a $10,000 grant through Newell Brands’ “Made For More” Small Business Fund for their commitment in helping to restore the city through their skills training program. The makers of Ball® home canning products selected 10 small businesses for the grant out of about 2,000 applicants in recognition of those who have gone above and beyond in their local communities. The winners receive the grant, public relations support and exposure on the Ball home canning brand’s social media.
Faith was an opera singer for 10 years and Brandon worked in event marketing before they got into the coffee business with the help of friends and family who wanted to invest in their social mission.
“We were talking about it a lot to just our friends, random people we met, and every one of our investors actually approached us about investing,” Lee said. “We never pitched anyone.”
Sometimes the most effective sales strategy is not outwardly selling but letting one’s passion for his or her business shine through.
Bird & Branch is seeing a gradual increase in foot traffic now that some people have returned to work in Midtown offices more than a year after the pandemic ravaged the Big Apple. Their customer base changed in the pandemic from mostly commuters to Manhattanites living nearby.
During the height of the pandemic, they collected donations for breakfast meals they prepared for hospital workers. Lee told Connolly and Carousso that a number of her customers started inquiring about similar care packages to send their loved ones.
“We just started shipping out these care packages, which include baked goods that we make in-house as well just some other fun things,” she said. “People have been down or they haven’t seen each other in so long they just wanted to send their friends something and that has really enabled us to stay alive as well.”
Bird & Branch’s business pivot led to a full-time, profitable service.
See how to grow a business with a social mission on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight video above.
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WCBS 880 Weekly Rewind: U.S. Eyes a Return to Normal While COVID-19 Infections Remain a Concern Even for Vaccinated Adults
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Reopening the United States will largely depend on vaccinations against COVID-19. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is targeting July 1 to fully reopen the Big Apple. The 880 Weekly Rewind examines the keys to normalcy plus the details of President Joe Biden’s economic recovery agenda.
Hear deeper analysis of the top stories of the week and original reporting on The 880 Weekly Rewind hosted by Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS-AM New York. Listen to this week’s full show, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
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Small Business Spotlight: Gyms Feel Weight of the Pandemic 13 Months Later
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — While people start to think about getting in shape for the summer, fitness gyms are struggling to stay open.
Indoor fitness classes in New York City are allowed at 33 percent capacity. Outside of the city, gyms may increase their capacities from 33 percent to 50 percent on May 15. Many gym owners say it’s not enough to sustain as the COVID-19 pandemic nears its 14th month.
“Right now, we offer in-person classes but also online classes as well and some people do both,” said Katie Muehlenkamp, Brooklyn franchisee of The Bar Method with locations in Cobble Hill and Williamsburg.
On the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank, Muehlenkamp told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso that online classes have only supplemented her revenue.
“I generally find that people either prefer one or the other,” she said. “People who come back in-person generally just do the in-person, because they feel and see the value of being in-person much more.”
Muehlenkamp, a former competitive gymnast and instructor at the company’s flagship studio in San Francisco, said online classes can only work for a “small subset of people” because The Bar Method requires more space than a Brooklyn studio apartment. It consists of isometric exercise; small motions work targeted muscles to build strength.
She also said in-person classes offer a sense of camaraderie and accountability for one’s fitness goals that her clients are “craving.”
“We’re human beings. We have a fundamental desire to be around other people and fitness is just one aspect of it,” Muehlenkamp said.
But right now, The Bar Method hosts less than 40 classes a week with 10 people max. Pre-pandemic, they ran 80 in-person classes with up to 30 people in each class. They are now offering meditation classes at the Williamsburg location as clients seek mental health services to cope with the pandemic.
“I think there’s a huge generational group that’s looking for those outlets,” she said, noting other gym owners are launching adjacent health and wellness services.
Muehlenkamp is advocating for the GYMS Act of 2021, which would authorize the U.S. Small Business Administration to make initial and supplemental grants to privately owned fitness gyms that have struggled in the pandemic.
She received two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to pay employees and the SBA provided relief on business loans she obtained to open her franchises. But, the biggest sense of relief came when her landlords agreed to reduce her rents.
“I think they get it. I mean these are smart people,” Muehlenkamp said, acknowledging her landlords have their own financial obligations.
She said she approaches her negotiations with full disclosure and candor.
“It’s kind of like, ‘Okay, well if you don’t lower it to about the amount that I’m talking about, this business isn’t viable. Here’s my financial statements. I’m not hiding anything. This is the situation,'” Muehlenkamp explained.
While she feels uncertain about the fitness industry’s future, Muehlenkamp told Connolly and Carousso she is encouraged by new small businesses that are catering to current market needs.
Watch the Small Business Spotlight video above for more advice for fitness gyms and other hard-hit industries.
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WATCH: One-on-One with NYC Mayoral Candidate Scott Stringer
By Lynda Lopez, WCBS Newsradio 880
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — City Comptroller Scott Stringer got a boost in the mayor’s race this week with an endorsement from the United Federation of Teachers.
Stringer has been in New York City politics for about three decades, but has struggled to gain momentum.
He tells anchor Lynda Lopez for this week’s 880 Weekly Rewind that he believes his government experience is a critical advantage in leading the city’s economic recovery, reopening schools and jump-starting the city’s culture and entertainment.
“I’m good to go if the voters will have me, these are very serious issues. We cannot get this wrong and don’t need a mayor, or can afford a mayor on training wheels who has no experience working in government, understanding that we have to navigate Washington, Albany and City Hall,” Stringer said. “We need a mayor who can build real affordable housing, we need a mayor who’s going to invest in the education of all our children, not just some, we need a mayor who understands the health disparities that COVID brought to bear and has a plan to address those issues and no one in this race has my government experience and my progressive agenda that can bring the city back to life, bring the city back to life open the economy differently than we closed it.”
A recent NY1/IPSOS poll showed Stringer rising to third place behind Andrew Yang and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams in the mayoral race just two months ahead of the primaries.
“I think momentum is clearly coming our way because I have a real vision for how to open this economy, how we’re going to put people back to work, bring New York City back to life and I’ve got the skills to do it,” Stringer said. “I have the experience, I’m ready on day one.”
The poll finds COVID, crime and affordable housing matter most to New Yorkers when it comes to choosing the next mayor, but with the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd this week, racial justice and police reform are top of mind for many people around the country.
Stringer called it a “verdict in the interest of justice,” but said this is not a time for celebration.
“While we did see justice in the case, we have so much more to do and the next mayor has to be at the epicenter of this,” Stringer said. “It’s time now to think about a police department that believes in one standard of justice, does not overpolice Black and Brown communities.”
He would make police reform a priority and has developed a public safety plan that would allow the police to catch dangerous criminals, but also reimagine how to better respond to 911 calls involving mental health, quality of life and wellness issues.
“We cannot have the same department making the same mistakes over and over again,” Stringer said. “We need to focus police on doing police work and we need to focus city government on making sure that we have a different response to people who have mental health issues, a different response when it comes to working with our young people, we need more mentors and violence interrupters in communities to work with our children, to keep them out of the criminal justice system. Right now, we have a status quo situation in New York City and other cities are starting to think differently about how we can create a public safety plan. I have a public safety plan that I’ll put into effect on day one, but this is a conversation that cannot end with the George Floyd verdict, it has to be an ongoing discussion about how to bring justice to our streets and also make sure New Yorkers are safe. We have to understand that we can do both and we must do both.”
Stringer is also concerned learning loss will have a dire impact on school children in low-income neighborhoods.
“The first thing we have to do is make sure our kids will get the tutoring services they need, the mental health services they need. My kids have gone through a very tough year but their mom and dad have a certain amount of privilege that can deal with these issues, I worry about the kids in homeless shelters and the kids in public housing who didn’t have remote learning devices or didn’t have internet access. The next mayor’s got to level the playing field for these children and I can’t wait to get started fighting for every one of our kids,” Stringer said.
Stringer, a parent of two New York City public school students, said he would immediately meet with principals, teachers and parents to get kids back in classrooms.
Stringer said he will also prioritize reopening small businesses and providing them economic assistance to help bring the city back from the devastation of the pandemic. He believes the next mayor must focus the recovery on the middle class and the working poor.
Hear deeper analysis of the top stories of the week and original reporting on The 880 Weekly Rewind hosted by Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM on WCBS-AM New York. Listen to this week’s full show, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
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‘Influence starts with listening’: High-powered business coach on inspiring results
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The most successful business leaders inspire and motivate their employees to do their best work.
“The number one reason people will do things for you is because they like you,” said Alisa Cohn – a former startup CFO who blossomed into a startup and CEO coach, advising the leaders of major corporations such as Pfizer, Microsoft, Google and IBM.
Cohn writes, “Influence is the way you get others on board and sell your ideas.” On the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank, she elaborated by telling Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso that “influence starts with listening” to employees’ perspectives and aspirations.
“When you listen to people and hear back what they say, that is the way people begin to start liking you, appreciating you, and that relatedness is going to help you sell ideas even if they’re a little bit controversial to the person that you’re talking to,” she explained.
This effort to understand diverse views will put workers in the best position to succeed and achieve corporate goals.
“You can’t just tell people what to do even if you’re the boss,” Cohn said, adding, “They don’t do what you want them to do just because you want them to do it, and if they did, they’re not really the best workers because you want people who are innovative, and creative, and resourceful. You don’t just want compliant order takers.”
The highly regarded business coach and guest lecturer at Harvard University and Cornell University allows it’s hard work to cultivate a team of entrepreneurial-minded employees, but that will foster sustainable growth.
“If you invented and are now building a startup around a new way of doing COVID testing that’s quick and easy, that’s fantastic but that may not be the market need over time,” Cohn said of sustainability in an unprecedented business climate. “You got to expand that to think overall about doing testing of other kinds of things so that people can get the information they need, because they don’t necessarily need to know forever if they have COVID, but they do need to understand important health information about themselves over time.”
Cohn told Connolly and Carousso the best way to grow a brand is to build a strong reputation and find opportunities to disseminate your ideas with potential customers and the business community.
“It’s very helpful to share your ideas on a blog, get published, and over time get published on more and more prestigious and high-end publications so your ideas have merit,” she said.
Links to publications where you and your business were quoted or featured on your website are effective marketing tools along with client testimonials. Cohn calls this “social proof” whereby those with whom you’ve done quality business are implicitly or explicitly endorsing your services.
Learn how to grow a sustainable business and empower your workers to deliver results on the Small Business Spotlight video above.
