The Latest
The Multi-Tiered Approach to Gaining Exposure and Credibility. Become a Repeat Source for the Media
Husband Sent Flirty Texts before Mica Miller’s Death, Waitress Says
Kristi Noem on Retraction: Kim Jong Un ‘Should Not be in the Book’
Kevin O’Leary: AI bossware can ID protesters and bar them from jobs
Neil A. Carousso Joins Growing NewsNation Network
Neil A. Carousso Departing WCBS 880
Art Business Founded by Former Foster Child Speaks to the Human Experience
1010 WINS Small Business $10K Challenge: Small Business Owners Make their Pitch for $10,000
NYC’s Élan Flowers Evolves into Blooming Subscription and Corporate Services
Creating an Authentic Retail Experience Online
-
Pro Dancer Launches ‘Unconventional’ Dance Studio for Underserved New Yorkers
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A new type of dance studio is coming to New York City.
Busola George is an accomplished dancer who started SoL-I Movement Center to improve access to dance rehearsal spaces in Manhattan that are more affordable. Rehearsal spaces in the borough, she says, can cost dancers upwards of $40 an hour, which can add up quickly given the time needed to perfect the craft.
“The need I saw was at the foundation, the access to affordable rehearsal space, as well as the need for a community,” said George on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
“SoL-I Movement Center is a studio that uses an unconventional shared space model to offer affordable rehearsal space to aspiring professional dance and theater performers as well as offer career advancing services, wellness classes, and professional training.”
Career guidance, mentorship and networking is what separates the center from other dance studios. George’s classes also add socialization and wellness techniques, including meditation.
“I’ve pivoted in the sense of adding kind of more services, more nuanced services, and also really zoning in on who my target market is,” she said. “I was able to realize how much community is needed for dancers and how they don’t really have that. That’s why some of the services that we have are going to induce a collaborative environment for dancers.”
George recently won the grand prize of $20,000 at the Brooklyn Public Library’s PowerUP! business plan competition.
Watch the Small Business Spotlight video above.
-
Small DIY Home Furniture Business Turns to Organic Social Media Content to Elevate Engagement
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Digital advertisements were a slam dunk for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, but recent changes to Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms have made it difficult to break through and expensive to generate sales. A Brooklyn home furniture company found a strategy that works for their business.
Hoek Home creates modular, quick assembly desks, tables and stools from their factory in Brooklyn. Brian Chu and Conor Coghlan started the business after hearing from family and friends about how difficult it was to set up and move furniture.
“It’s not really about an aesthetic for us. It’s more about a system and simplifying people’s lives,” said Coghlan on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
Coghlan and Chu met while studying architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. They reconnected years later to start their own design and fabrication firm, A05 Studio and later Hoek Home.
Initially, Hoek Home got a sales boost by promoting their home office videos on Facebook and Instagram. Within the last few months, their customer acquisition costs have skyrocketed. Now, they rely on user-generated content.
“We would ask our customers to send videos of themselves assembling the desk and share it on their story. So essentially what we’re trying to do is advertise through word-of-mouth,” Chu said.
They’ve also partnered with micro-influencers to promote their furniture on social media.
“We’ve gained quite a following through some partners that we work with, some advisors that have really helped us out,” said Chu.
Hoek’s Home Office Desk sells for $495 on their website and accounts for 60-70% of their sales.
“It really offers a huge amount of value to have your desk set up during the week, and then, say you’re having friends over for dinner, you’re having a party on the weekend, and you just need that extra space, you just click it back together. You can hang it on the wall, you can slide it under your bed,” Coghlan said.
Coghlan and Chu say listening to customers’ feedback has helped them grow. They even have a whiteboard in their factory with a list of what they call “expanded ideas.”
“We actually have outreach to our customers to hear what their experiences are with the furniture that they have so we can take their comments and really try to fine-tune and tweak certain portions of our design to to come up with a new product or a new feature or just make the product better,” said Chu.
See growth ideas on the Small Business Spotlight video above.
-
Giants Fans Start Super Bowl Dreaming
Executive Produced by Carousso Enterprises, LLC.
Bayside, NY — Fans of the New York Football Giants are hungry for a playoff run after a six year drought. This year’s playoff team comes unexpected as Daniel Jones leads Big Blue into the Divisional Round against their rival Eagles Saturday night.
Justin Joseph talked to Giants fans at Bourbon Street on Bell Boulevard in Bayside, Queens for NY2C’s On The Call.
-
Bronx Fashion Entrepreneur Inspires Disadvantaged Youth
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Flora Montes overcame a broken home to become an entrepreneur and mother.
She found purpose by cooking for corporations in the Bronx after culinary school and developed a network. She later got hooked on fashion after attending Latin Fashion Week in 2012 and launched her own fashion business, Bronx Fashion Week, two years later.
“Fashion should never just be defined to, you know, six foot tall, size two. So that’s the main mission of Bronx Fashion Week,” said Montes on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
Bronx Fashion Week has more events each year than New York Fashion Week and attracts more than a thousand attendees. It highlights local designers and models and benefits non-profit organizations with which they partner.
“One thing I’ve learned is that fashion is more than fabric and there’s a story behind every stitch and we’re built on those stories.”
Montes recently expanded to serve schools in the South Bronx, and the response has been overwhelming.
“They actually came to me and told me that they had gone to the principal and told the principal that we had to come back,” she said. “We teach them fashion history, we’re teaching them the runway, we’re teaching them the behind the scenes of how a fashion house runs.”
The fashion CEO believes future leaders are in those classrooms and hopes to inspire kids to pursue their career dreams despite disadvantages they might face in their upbringings.
“For me, the fashion part of it is about the inclusivity and the diversity. And, fashion is in everything, In everything we do. You can wear a pair of pajamas like I tell my students and you’re wearing something that is defining who you are,” said Montes.
See this uplifting and inspiring story on the Small Business Spotlight video above.
-
Local Business Leader: NYC Should be the ‘Best Place in America to Work from Home’
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Manhattan’s economy has changed drastically in the three years since the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted New York. Still, not much has been done to address the new needs of residents and workers.
Office occupancy remains below 50% and only a small percentage of those who have returned are working in-person five days a week. As a result, businesses that once thrived in office districts are struggling if they even survived the pandemic.
“I think we should make New York the best place in America, if not the world, to work from home,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
“That’s gotta be part of the strategy and certainly converting some of those office buildings, the ones that allow it for residential, it should happen. We’ve got to accelerate and expedite it,” he added.
Conversions to residential use have stalled due to government red tape. Bowles believes creating more of a residential borough will create more demand for the kinds of goods and services that small businesses are selling in those districts.
“Manhattan, certainly, is one borough where we’ve really seen the aging of the population, and so that’s led to kind of more doctor’s offices, healthcare offices, other things that I think are catering to an older population and we may see more of that going forward,” the business leader said.
The Center for an Urban Future is also reporting on many opportunities for small businesses to service non-profits who work in disadvantaged communities and launch technology companies in markets that have not been addressed such as “women and family tech” in which women are the main consumers.
“New York has a chance to be a real leader nationally or globally in that sub-sector of technology,” Bowles said. “E-learning is another area where New York has seen a real growth in local startups. There’s just so many different facets of tech that are still strong here and I think that that is going to continue to drive a lot of spending on small businesses and also kind of drive employment growth in the city.”
See ideas for new businesses and new markets on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight video above.
Social Feeds
VIDEO: Told the airline to book us on the next flight out (SPONTANEOUS TRIP!)
VIDEO: The Taylor Swift Effect | WCBS Business Breakfast
VIDEO: Future of NYC | WCBS Business Breakfast
VIDEO: Reasons for New Yorkers to be Optimistic | WCBS Business Breakfast
VIDEO: NYC's AI Chatbot | WCBS Business Breakfast