Lee Brice: Garth Brooks is my hero | Kurt's Country
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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Barbara Corcoran Told Her ‘Shark Tank’ Companies To Reinvent To Survive
In Best Of, Entertainment, Featured, Guest, Interview, Latest, News Stories, The World, Top News, videosBy Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK(WCBS 880) — Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran says 80 percent of the businesses she has invested in on “Shark Tank” will not survive the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The minute this problem started, I said, ‘Sit down and make a list of where every piece of your business comes from, and then, make, right next to it, a list of how you can replace it cause it ain’t going to be there anymore,'” Corcoran told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso of her conversations with the owners of the roughly 80 businesses she bought stake in on the hit ABC reality television program.
Corcoran said on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank, that only a few owners took her seriously when she told them to incorporate a tight team of workers into making decisions on reinventing themselves. Those that did “hit the floor running.”
She said business owners who are persistent and tenacious in their approach are the “warriors” who will survive the recession. She also emphasized communication with customers while working to actively sell current and new products and services.
“I’ve never seen a new business survive if it’s not led by a salesman,” Corcoran said, adding, “If you can’t sell your way out of a pickle, you don’t have a chance.”
She said if an entrepreneur can demonstrate he or she is a master of selling themselves and their business on “Shark Tank,” she’ll “buy anything.”
But, Barbara explained that getting on the show is not a true test of success even though it’s an arduous vetting process.
“When I’m in business with someone three months, maybe four months the most, it’s when the crap hits the fan, what do they do about it? The minute they start blaming somebody else, I know they’re a victim, they’re never going to make it,” she said.
On the flip side, Corcoran told Connolly and Carousso that those owners who take responsibility and actively look for solutions, are the successful business leaders with whom she is making profits.
She also told WCBS 880 that the model for a successful entrepreneur is their track record as a person. Overcoming failure and obstacles in life is an indication to Corcoran that she should invest in the person’s business.
“When I can spot somebody who’s been injured with something to prove, they get a burn in their chest that’s going to make them succeed if they’re hard workers,” she remarked. “I’m looking for that hustler.”
Meanwhile, with tens of millions of Americans unemployed amid the COVID-19 outbreak and business shutdowns, Corcoran is seeing a sizable shift in the real estate market with people fleeing the City for suburbs in New Jersey and Connecticut. The Corcoran Group owner says employers see their employees working efficiently at home and will cut unnecessary brick and mortar costs. U.S. office vacancy will rise from 16.8 percent to 19.4 percent by year’s end, according to Moody’s Analytics REIS estimates. Corcoran sees that as good news for tenants who have taken negotiating power from landlords.
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“The value per foot has got to drop substantially for the landlord to attract tenants and he’s going to have to become a salesman,” she said.
But, Barbara is bullish on the Big Apple.
“I have such confidence in the City. I have no doubt that the City will chug like it always does. We’re just going to hesitate and push forward,” Corcoran, who has lived in New York since she was 22 years old, said, punctuating, “I think it may recover faster than we think.”
She remembers seeing how the country rallied around New York City after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the “love” Americans displayed while embracing their fellow countrymen and women. She recalled she told her Corcoran Group sales team the real estate market would get “hot within 6 months” and it did with a new crop of buyers.
“I had that deep faith that the City always recovers,” said Corcoran.
Hear innovative and actionable ideas from Barbara Corcoran for business survival with examples from “Shark Tank” on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or on the media player above.
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Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Prez To Landlords, Tenants Amid Economic Turmoil: ‘Work It Out’
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Randy Peers says businesses have received “no relief” from commercial landlords in the borough during the coronavirus pandemic.
Citing data from the Chamber on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank, Peers tells Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso that 46 percent of businesses missed rent payments in May and only 21 percent of those surveyed received a concession from their landlords.
“I still think there’s some degree of denial on behalf of the real estate industry about what the long-term impact’s going to be,” Peers said, adding, “If you’re a smart landlord and you’ve had, for the most part, good tenants who’ve paid on time and have been good businesses in your space, you should do everything you can to work it out.”
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce leader says three factors “should give landlords pause” before denying rent relief even when landlords are struggling to pay their own bills in the widespread economic downturn brought on by the business shutdowns amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Those factors include a “retail vacancy crisis” that started prior to the pandemic, leading to a supply surplus of commercial space. That is more prevalent with the shift to work from home and the implementation of digital tools in industries that had resisted technological advancements. And, Peers said a third of local businesses in Brooklyn might not recover from the shutdowns, meaning there will be less demand for commercial space.
He said landlords should realize businesses will scale back their brick and mortar footprint. Therefore, they and their tenants should find mutual solutions to the economic turmoil because they may not have companies interested in renting their properties.
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce recently launched a no-interest loan program after finding 84 percent of Brooklyn businesses that applied for the Federal Payment Protection Payment (PPP) loans, intended for small businesses, were unable to access funds for overhead costs.
“Once we give out a loan [and> it’s paid back, it goes back into the fund and we can help even more businesses,” Peers said of The Bring Back Brooklyn Fund that is raising money through donors online.
He described it as an investment in the community.
“Economic development of today is about attracting and retaining talent,” Peers said. “The more creative people that you can cultivate, both who are already there and living there, and the more that you can attract, you’re going to be more equipped for a knowledge-based economy, which is really the transformation that the United States has gone through.”
Peers believes Brooklyn businesses can team-up with their diverse community as they grappled with vandalism and looting from the protests for racial equality stemming from the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minnesota.
“The majority of small businesses in Brooklyn are owned by minorities, women and immigrants. They tackle it from a different perspective,” he said, noting owners can offer opportunities through employment.
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“Economic empowerment of communities of color is key and critical,” Peers said as the Chamber encourages companies to hire people within their communities.
Brooklyn has excelled in innovation, punctuated by the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s war-like manufacturing effort to help New York City combat the coronavirus.
“We’re second only to San Francisco in terms of new tech startups,” said Peers. “We’ve attracted innovators, we’ve attracted skilled workers and we’ve really had people who have taken risks and made investments in our communities.”
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce president told WCBS 880 he believes that entrepreneurial spirit and resilience is needed in the recovery as New York City enters phase one of reopening next week.
“COVID can temporarily kind of hold us back, but I think when we come out of this, we’re going to be a better community, we’re going to be a better Brooklyn, and we’re going to be even more creative and innovative than we were before,” Peers said.
Hear ideas for how communities can survive the economic crisis and thrive on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or the media player above.
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Small Business Spotlight: Entrepreneurs Make Innovative Pivots And Solutions To Survive
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Employees may not recognize their offices when they return because owners are reimagining the workplace to adjust to the new reality they face against the coronavirus pandemic.
“There are a lot of people suddenly in need of a home office setup,” said Greg Hayes, co-founder and chief executive officer of Branch – a high-quality furniture line based in Manhattan.
Hayes tells Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso its home office furniture sales have grown exponentially since March.
“We’re going to have an entire line of the company that’s focused on building out a work from home environment,” he said on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank.
“By far the biggest thing is an ergonomic chair,” Hayes said of its customers’ home office needs. “We can barely keep up with demand for ergonomic chair sales.”
Experts say an ergonomic workstation can reduce or prevent discomfort in your back, neck and other stress areas. An ergonomic chair supports one’s body in a neutral position to allow for long periods sitting at a desk rather than being hunched over the computer.
The Branch CEO said desks and storage products, namely credenzas, and filing cabinets are also in increased demand amid the pandemic.
Hayes started in commercial real estate in Toronto, Canada before moving to New York City and launching Branch in 2018. The furniture store allows companies to trade-in its used Branch furniture for a store credit to update its workspace. Now, many businesses will be doing that to implement social distancing measures.
“Things like acrylic panels or fabric panels to separate employees or spacing furniture out with things like credenzas. That’s been popular across the board,” he said.
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An entrepreneur on Staten Island is manufacturing partitions for the newly designed workplace.
“It’s very modern-looking, it’ll fit into pretty much any atmosphere you bring it into and we’re able to customize them,” said Scott Weisberg of Everything Entertainment.
The events company owner made several pivots when weddings and parties he had on the calendar were canceled. Weisberg was inspired by an advertisement online and immediately started looking into how he could improve other partitions on the market.
“We make stuff out of acrylic, we make stuff out of plexiglass, and everything else all the time. I can make this in my shop,” he thought a few weeks ago even though he wasn’t enamored with the thin profit margins, but felt, “We could do something to help out.”
Everything Entertainment Weisberg’s new clients include a veterinary office, a real estate firm and beauty salons. He’s received interest from Manhattan building managers to install these so-called sneeze guards at reception desks.
Aside from the new service, he made adjacent moves to his existing hospitality business of 32 years to rent tents to existing local hospital clients in the Tri-State Area and state governments for COVID-19 testing sites.
Restaurateurs are calling Weisberg for long-term rentals of its modular tents to maximize their outdoor space to allow for social distancing when they are allowed to reopen for dine-in meals.
“It’s limitless on what we can provide,” he said, laughing that he doesn’t know how much modular tent space he owns. “Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands square feet, I have no idea. It’s a lot.”
Weisberg and Hayes, like many entrepreneurs, are tapping into their creativity and seemingly endless stream of ideas to develop solutions to survive and make a positive impact during an unprecedented time in history that has significantly altered the way businesses operate. The COVID-19 pandemic is also accelerating the implementation of advanced technology in industries that have been largely undisrupted.
Listen to the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or on the media player above for more on what the future of industries look like post-coronavirus.
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‘Back Off’: Ex-Bloomberg Chief Of Staff On Gov’t’s Role In Small Business Recovery
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – As parts of the country, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut begin to reopen in phases, business owners must change their operations to adjust to the new normal in the age of COVID-19.
“This isn’t just about revenues and profits for me, said Peter Madonia who owns the family-run Madonia Brothers Bakery in The Bronx’s Little Italy. “This is also about the fabric of a vibrant neighborhood.”
Madonia is the chairman of the Belmont District Management Association. He told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank, that some restaurants will not be able to survive as they already operate on small margins, but there is a path to recovery if they begin to reopen this month and owners are given the freedom to develop solutions.
“Every business should know what is expected of it in terms of customer interaction, occupancy capacity, masks or no masks,” Madonia explained. “And then, I think they have to back off a little bit – the government.”
He served as chief of staff to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and formerly worked as Chief Operating Officer of the Rockefeller Foundation. He tells WCBS 880 city and state governments need to provide “clarity” on health guidelines.
“None of them have made a payroll,” Madonia said of government officials. “I don’t want you telling me how to run my business. Tell me what the macro level rules are and I, as the entrepreneur, will figure out how to make my business work in that context or not.”
He emphasized he has “real confidence” in business owners pivoting in this unprecedented time.
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Madonia is reimagining his operations and that of his business community on Arthur Avenue. A large majority of their customers – 80 percent – drive from 10-40 miles away to its establishments. It has never been a profitable option to close its lots in the evening, but the business improvement district (BID) leader is considering it to boost sales in this unprecedented time.
“The restaurants can increase capacity on the street and curb,” he said of this proposal the BID is considering.
“I think the City has to have some flexible understanding that not every neighborhood is the same, not every business district is the same, and let the business districts innovate a little bit on how theirs works best in what a new normal looks like,” said Madonia.
Listen to the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or above for more on the local economic recovery and small business survival.
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‘Shark Tank’ Star Daymond John Reveals Creative Business Solutions To Survive Coronavirus Pandemic
In Best Of, Entertainment, Featured, Guest, Interview, Latest, News Stories, Technology, The World, Top News, videosBy Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Entrepreneur Daymond John, an investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” is encouraging his businesses to think outside the box to survive the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Once you know what you have with your staff and what you have with your inventory, find out who else out there you can collaborate with,” John told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight focusing on small business survival, sponsored by BNB Bank.
The FUBU founder and bestselling author of “Power Shift: Transform Any Situation, Close Any Deal and Achieve any Outcome” pointed to Cowboy Fitness, based in Utah and Colorado, which he invested in on season 4 of “Shark Tank,” as an example of how business owners should pivot.
“They basically loaned (their members) the equipment, and then, now, he does video conferences, kind of like a Peloton,” John said, adding that Cowboy Fitness retained most of its members by creating a new service.
They have also secured partnerships with local stores that are shuttered and suffering from the lack of foot traffic. The retailers sell athletic apparel to its gym members at a 30 percent discount. In turn, Cowboy Fitness earns 5 percent on each sale. John calls this a “win-win” solution.
The 51-year-old businessman says technological advancements have been implemented much faster because of the coronavirus pandemic, forcing companies to develop new efficiencies and work-from-home policies. The fashion brand expert says traditional retail will not be able to bounce back without making vast changes to its business model.
“If I had Macy’s, one of the most famous and iconic retailers in the world, I would have cameras in there that are showing people’s style or various other things that people can feel like they can go in there because they’re an influencer,” John said, emphasizing, “They have to really make sure they become more of an events space than anything else.”
At The Shark Group, which he founded in 2009, John advises businesses on product awareness and developing genuine, innovative approaches to grow brands. One of the companies he works with is Bombas, a sock company founded by Dave Heath, whose core mission is to donate one pair of socks to the homeless community for every pair bought.
.@TheSharkDaymond tells @JoeConnollybiz and me he looks to invest in companies on @ABCSharkTank that “add value” to the communities they serve like @BOMBAS. #SharkTank #branding
More with Daymond on the @WCBS880 Small Business Spotlight Podcast: https://t.co/oYPQxdqcka pic.twitter.com/w2mCxr2vUj
— Neil A. Carousso (@NeilACarousso) May 13, 2020
“The millennials today, and people today, they want to say I didn’t give one time at the end of the year, I gave 400 times,” John explained. “How do you find ways to add more value to the person and barter in your deals?”
That’s what he is looking for on “Shark Tank:” Companies that are not only making money, but also demonstrate authenticity and passion for the communities they serve.
“I’m trying to find out if I like the entrepreneur personally, if I feel that I could communicate with them, I could add value to them, they’re a problem solver not a problem creator and whether this business works out or not, we’ll do another business together,” he said.
John took Connolly and Carousso behind the scenes of the reality TV show, telling WCBS 880 that the Sharks are competitive and the negotiating among the millionaires and billionaires is “real.”
“You don’t want to get embarrassed on national television by Mark Cuban or Barbara (Corcoran) beating you out in front of everybody,” John said.
He revealed “Shark Tank” pitches can last up to two hours, but viewers only see 8 minutes. Finalizing deals can last months after the taping as the Sharks vet businesses carefully before writing a check out of their own bank accounts.
When asked if he believes entrepreneurs are born or made, the Queens native said it’s “instinct,” elaborating that people are often discouraged from starting their own businesses because of difficulty or the dismissive attitude that it’s “never been done before.” But, John had already started a few businesses before he was 18 when he launched FUBU, now worth about $400 million, out of his home in Hollis.
While driving around Queens, his mother, Margot, encouraged him to follow his dreams. She said, as John recalled, “Every single thing around here started with one person that had one idea that took one action. Why can that not be you?”
“I started by selling hats on the corner in 1989 and I had sold $800 worth of hats in one hour,” he said of his first designed ski caps that he made by hand. “I just had to sow a straight line to really figure out how to make these hats.”
He closed that business three times between 1989 and 1992 because he ran out of money. But, his shirts became popular, in part, because he loaned them to local artists on the rise who wore FUBU T-shirts in music videos.
John’s mother took him to trade shows around the country where he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales. But, he needed inventory. As an inexperienced young businessman, he was unable to secure a loan from a bank, so Margot took out a $100,000 loan on her house that John said was only worth $75,000.
“I sell all the furniture in my house, move in industrial sowing machines, sleep in sleeping bags next to the sowing machines,” he said of his hustle.
He also worked at Red Lobster at night to make money to invest into his dream clothing business that he operated during the day.
John said he bought an advertisement in The New York Times or New York Daily News seeking investors to provide the funding he needed to fill orders and move FUBU out of his home in Hollis.
“Thirty-three people called. 30 of them were loan sharks or Kevin O’Leary-type of people,” his fellow “Shark Tank” star quipped. “One of them was Samsung’s textile division.”
They signed a deal for Samsung to take over manufacturing, reducing costs, and John learned a lesson in business he would later impart on others while living the American Dream.
