-
NJ Veterans Group Rebuilds Sandy-Destroyed Housing as Homelessness Crisis Worsens in Pandemic
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW JERSEY (WCBS 880) — It’s been nearly a decade since Superstorm Sandy rocked the Tri-State, but a veterans organization is still trying to rebuild while the COVID-19 pandemic compounds the homelessness issue at the heart of its mission.
There are nearly 600 homeless veterans in New Jersey – a jump of 7.99 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
The American Legion Post 107 is hoping to reduce the number of homeless vets in Hudson County, estimated to be 70, by about a third next year when it anticipates phase II of its post-Sandy rebuild will be complete.
“Our objective is to take homeless veterans off the street,” said Post 107 Commander John Carey.
Phase I of rebuilding the Veterans Center of Hoboken took six veterans off the streets into fully-furnished apartments. Phase II will add 18 studios and six single-bedroom apartments to house 24 of our nation’s heroes. The organization hopes to break ground this summer for completion next year.
“Our apartments are furnished from everything from a toothbrush to a microwave oven,” said Carey who stressed this as the differentiating factor between the Veterans Center of Hoboken and other grassroots organizations that provide shelter for veterans – sometimes without even a mattress.
“These men, like myself, we served our country and for whatever reason they have a major problem right now, we need to service that problem,” said Carey who was drafted by the U.S. Army in 1965 and served two years in Thailand and Vietnam.
The Post Commander described his service as the “FedEx for Vietnam,” telling WCBS 880’s Neil A. Carousso, “We delivered everything from a bullet to a plane to Vietnam.”
Today, Carey is leading the non-profit effort to support his peers. It’s heartbreaking for him to walk by homeless vets on nearly every bench he passes along the Hudson River.
“The word homeless should never be used with the word veteran,” he emphasized.
The Veterans Center of Hoboken has provided meals, clothes and emotional support, virtually, during the pandemic.
“They’re out of the shelters because they can’t crowd in the shelters so they’re really all over the place,” Commander Carey explained. “We bring them food, clothing, we have a veterans closet where we bring them clothes.”
Carey told WCBS 880 he believes mental illness is at the root cause of the veterans homelessness issue and housing is a step for healing their wounds and providing dignity for those who bravely served the country.
“We will have an office there where we’re going to work with the VA. They’re going to have a counseling person there every day,” he said.
American Legion Post 107 has raised about $2 million from the community for the project.
They need roughly $3.75 million more to put Phase II over the finish line in the next 18 months. You can read more about the project and donate here.
-
Mr. Wonderful’s 3 Steps for Growing Your Business Again
In Best Of, Entertainment, Featured, Guest, Interview, Latest, News Stories, Technology, The World, videosBy Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary stressed business owners need to adapt to what he believes are permanent changes to consumer behavior as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast, presented by The First National Bank of Long Island, the self-made multi-millionaire entrepreneur made several recommendations of digital tools, sharing actionable advice for business recovery with host Joe Connolly. Mr. Wonderful also revealed what some of his companies have found success doing despite the economic turmoil.
1. MAKE THE “GREAT DIGITAL PIVOT”
O’Leary divulged that only 36 of the 56 companies he had been invested in across “almost every sector” nationwide are still in business a year into the pandemic.
“They did the great digital pivot and that involves figuring out how to set up a platform – most of them use Shopify not Amazon, number one – to change their websites to be far more interesting and engaging,” he told Connolly.
Shopify allows businesses to create their own e-commerce website using the platform whereas Amazon is the consumer-facing website for companies’ online marketplace.
“They went to 4K photography, 1080p video, they told stories about their products, they had other customers talk about testimonials and how they were using them, so they really engaged people for the first time in ways they’ve never done before because they were forced to – everybody was working remotely,” O’Leary said.
He also shared the trick to monetizing digital content on the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast. More on that later in Mr. Wonderful’s 3rd step to growing again.
2. PUT YOUR CUSTOMER FIRST
O’Leary said the best way to sell is to “promise customer support and deliver on it.”
He told Connolly his frequent advice to young entrepreneurs is that the customer is always number one, and if you treat them like that, you can have a very profitable business.
“The differentiating factor in selling is customer service,” O’Leary said, adding, “You can actually sell the same product for a higher price if you’re in the top quartile of customer service for it.”
The software tycoon invoked Apple as a prime example.
“When you buy a laptop from them, you’re paying 50 percent more than the exact same machine’s function on a Windows-based product or a brand you may not know, but because Apple makes you pay for customer support and you respect it and you want it, you pay a crazy amount more,” he said.
3. REDUCE YOUR CUSTOMER ACQUISITION COSTS
WCBS Business Producer Neil A. Carousso posed the number one question WCBS 880 listeners had for O’Leary, which was “How do you monetize digital content?”
Mr. Wonderful responded the only metric for monetizing digital content is whether it can reduce customer acquisition costs for one’s product or service.
“Basically, what you’re trying to do when you make new digital content is to tell a story about your product, show it in its best light, try and get testimonials from other users who are using it and why they use it, and try and acquire customers at the lowest cost you can,” the Shark explained.
“Remember, long-term outcome is basically customer acquisition costs have to be less than lifetime value of the customer acquired. Otherwise, you go out of business,” O’Leary added.
He produces a plethora of content for the companies he’s invested in and shows behind-the-scenes of commercial shoots, media appearances, and his daily life on his YouTube channel, which includes afternoon bike rides along Miami Beach, playing the guitar, cooking in his “Chef Wonderful” videos and enjoying O’Leary Fine Wines with his wife Linda.
A bonus step for growing your business again, O’Leary acknowledges, is a healthy work-life balance.
“I don’t work 9 to 5, obviously, and I try and find life balance in doing the things I love to do while I’m working,” said Mr. Wonderful. “I work seven days a week, but I don’t work every hour.”
-
Small Business Spotlight: What Pandemic-Proof Businesses are Doing to Survive and Thrive
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Every company has become a tech company.
AlleyWatch Founder and CEO Reza Chowdhury says brand news businesses are currently in better shape than the ones that existed pre-pandemic because they’ve entered the market at lower costs with the COVID-19 pandemic in mind.
“The businesses that have survived have really, in an interesting exercise of elasticity of demand, in many cases have raised their prices because they have less demand and this is a real paradox when it comes to economics,” Chowdhury said on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by Dime Community Bank.
These businesses are trying to cover their losses by raising prices on fewer customers.
“When things open up, new entrants will be able to enter because the demand will rise,” the tech founder explained, adding, “They’ll be able to come in with some sort of advantage.”
Those advantages include lower rents that will allow new businesses to undercut their competitors on price.
Chowdhury told WCBS 880’s Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso these new businesses should remain lean and keep their costs low until the future becomes more clear.
AlleyWatch currently has six employees – an amazingly small team for such an influential trade publication that features a daily startup funding report that shows what types of companies and industries are wooing investors. It offers other advertising and content services, too.
While some traditional retailers and professional services firms had resisted building their online presence, they’ve been catching up in the last year. Chowdhury believes they do have transferrable skills that will help them sell online.
“There’s a bit of storytelling involved to get people interested in these products on a digital level,” he said, noting brick-and-mortar stores double as in-person advertising.
The tech guru told WCBS 880 business owners should just try everything in the realm of digital content at first. Businesses should tell their story and share their brand identity to attract target customers. Then, Chowdhury said, utilize a number of research tools available to track engagement and monitor how many people are visiting the point-of-sale website from social media posts.
“You’re going to get, really, an instant feedback mechanism and feedback loop from these tools,” he said, continuing, “The beauty of digital is you can attribute this to where the lead came from.”
From there, Chowdhury says, invest the remaining advertising budget in content that has performed well and can be attributed to sales.
Watch the WCBS Small Business Spotlight video above for tips on implementing a digital strategy and the new trends in business investment.
-
‘Last Year Was Last Year’: Mets Slugger Pete Alonso Fully Locked in for 2021
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso is fully locked in as the team wraps up camp in Florida and gets ready for the season opener on April 1 against Washington.
The Polar Bear, who joined Wayne Randazzo and Ed Coleman on Tuesday for our Mets 2021 Season Preview Special to share his personal and team goals, said he can’t wait to hear the roar of the crowd in Flushing once again following an unprecedented shortened season without fans.
“I think this year, 2021, is all about resiliency,” Alonso said. “To be back at Citi Field with a full capacity crowd and hearing the stadium shake when people go nuts, I haven’t found a better feeling. It’s an adrenaline rush and I miss that feeling, I miss the fans being there cheering us on because when we have a packed house it’s unbelievable what type of hostile environment they can create for the other team. Walking in there when you’ve got 45,000 rabid Mets fans doing the ‘Lets Go Mets’ chant, I miss it.”
After setting the rookie record with 53 dingers two years ago, the slugger suffered a bit of a setback in the 2020 season, but was still on pace for what would have been a 40 homer season in a full year.
“Last year was last year,” he said as he looks toward the future.
He’s had a pretty strong spring so far and has set high goals for himself for the full 162-game season.
“I’d like to drive in 130 runs and I’d like to win a gold glove,” Alonso said. “That can only be done by staying locked in and being meticulous every single day. Those numbers will be what they are at the end of the year, but if I reach those numbers it’s because I stick to my plan, I stayed locked in and I was able to perform and capitalize on opportunities. I just want to be as consistent as I possibly can.”
For now, he’s focused on finishing up camp.
“The more game reps, the more ready I’ll be,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a very good place offensively and defensively, as well, I feel really good about where my body is, getting it up to full game speed. It’s been a really productive and good spring for me, but I want to be able to carry that over into the regular season when the lights turn on.”
There’s a lot riding on a Met defense in the infield this year, but Alonso said there’s a good chemistry between himself, Jeff McNeil, J.D. Davis and Francisco Lindor.
“We’ve worked really well so far this spring and I feel like that we want to give the pitcher’s confidence out there that we’re going to go out there and make plays every single day,” Alonso said. “Defense is a staple in the game of baseball and we want to provide that and just peace of mind for pictures and. We want to go out there and perform that’s the biggest thing I think that. Because we have a good chemistry, we’re gelling extremely well right now in camp I think that’s going to translate incredibly during the season.”
Neil A. Carousso produces special coverage of New York Mets baseball for the WCBS Mets Radio Network.
-
WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast: ‘Shark Tank’ Star Kevin O’Leary Boasts of ‘Digital 2.0 America’ in Growing Out of Pandemic
In Best Of, Entertainment, Featured, Guest, Interview, Latest, News Stories, Technology, The World, Top News, videosBy Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Kevin O’Leary, the self-made entrepreneur turned TV “Shark,” brought his straight-shooting, no-frills flare to the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast with Joe Connolly, presented by The First National Bank of Long Island, in sharing how to grow one’s business again.
O’Leary, who was nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful” by co-star Barbara Corcoran in season one of ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank,” praised business owners for their grit and resilience during the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic that has levied a burden on the economy over the past year and shut down major industries, namely restaurants and hospitality companies.
“The great thing about the American entrepreneur is they don’t let failure stop them,” he said. “The majority of them try again and learn from their mistakes.”
O’Leary emphasized a changed economy, telling Connolly owners must pursue a digital “transformation” to survive the pandemic.
“You’ve got to realize that you have to do a digital pivot,” he explained.
Mr. Wonderful said only 36 of the 56 companies he had been invested in are still in business a year into the pandemic, noting many of his still-standing “Shark Tank’ companies shifted to using Shopify for their e-commerce platform and incorporated high-quality photography and video to connect and find new customers.
“They really engaged people for the first time in ways they’ve never done before because they were forced to – everybody was working remotely,” said O’Leary.
“Retail is really challenged because if you’re just (in a) 1,200 square-foot space in a mall and the traffic’s dropped 20 percent, I don’t think that’s going to work out for anybody because consumer preferences have dramatically changed in the last year towards online retail,” he noted.
He suggested direct-to-consumer sales will help businesses to cut and manage costs, grow their gross margins, and build for the future.
O’Leary does not anticipate remote work habits will be broken. He’s actually betting on it to stay by shrinking his real estate portfolio from 31 percent to 8 percent over the next three years while the market adjusts to the post-pandemic economy.
“I haven’t had a cold or been sick since March 7th of last year and I’m starting to like it,” he said, adding, “I don’t think I’m getting in an elevator in New York going up to the 78th floor with 60 people ever again – not in December. I’m not going into a packed restaurant. That may just be me; I’m a germaphobe, but I’ve talked to lots of other people that have the same concerns.”
Kathy Wylde, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for New York City, cited the “burnout” some employees feel by working from home where many feel they are always at work. She believes employers and employees want to return when it’s safe to do so. Mr. Wonderful disagrees with her assessment.
Photo Credit: ABC. “They have no interest in coming back to headquarters – not now, not ever,” O’Leary said of his workers. “In fact, if you try and force them, they’re going to find a job somewhere else where they get that flexibility.”
The O’Leary Financial Group founder told the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast that he hears most of his 10,000 employees enjoy working from home to take care of children and elderly parents while avoiding rough commutes in major metropolitan cities like New York.
Employers in professional services find productivity is up and they have a widened talent pool across the country and world.
The “Shark Tank” investor said he has made informed business decisions by listening to others he encounters while working remotely, himself, from his Miami Beach dream house where he joined Connolly virtually from his home studio.
One example of this is when he struck up a conversation with the nurse who administered his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine recently. She explained that at 24 years old she was uncomfortable with the lack of data around the vaccine and fertility.
“I had obviously heard of anti-vaxxers before, but I always thought they were the lunatic fringe – the 10 percent that thought the government was injecting them with a chip or something,” O’Leary said.
“I’m under the impression now, or at least in terms of my investment philosophy, that we’re going to get to a place pretty soon in the next 6 weeks, maybe 8 weeks, where we will have vaccinated two-thirds of the country and we’re going to hit a brick wall. The other third isn’t going to take it,” he believes, thus he’s downsizing his physical footprint, beefing investment in the digital space, and encouraging restaurateurs to re-think their indoor and outdoor dining areas while improving their digital ordering systems for takeout and delivery.
O’Leary sold his first business, renamed The Learning Company from SoftKey Software Products, to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999. Now, he owns O’Leary Financial Group, which is a conglomerate of brands that includes investment firm O’Leary Funds. He also serves as chairman of O’Shares ETFs. Kevin, a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur, owns O’Leary Fine Wines. Mr. Wonderful is also heavily invested in financial literacy firm Beanstox, Inc., which is geared towards young people in their 20s and 30s who are more interested in business and investing because of the pandemic.
“Basically, we’ve made it so simple that you try and take 100 dollars a week and put it into the markets through indexing,” he told Connolly of Beanstox. “It’s a tool to help people solve a big problem in America: 100 million Americans do not have anything set aside for their retirement.”
Mr. Wonderful knows how to have fun, too. He shows his lighter side to his 401,000 YouTube subscribers. His hobbies include biking, cooking and playing the guitar.
“I don’t work 9 to 5, obviously, and I try and find life balance in doing the things I love to do while I’m working,” O’Leary said in response to a question from WCBS Business Producer Neil A. Carousso, adding, “I work seven days a week, but I don’t work every hour.”
You can see Kevin O’Leary’s routine, his business philosophy, and actionable advice for growing your business again despite the pandemic on the WCBS Virtual Business Breakfast with Joe Connolly, presented by The First National Bank of Long Island. Watch the full program above.
About Kevin O’Leary:
Photo Credit: ABC Kevin O’Leary’s success story starts where most entrepreneurs begin: with a big idea and zero cash.
Kevin O’Leary was born to a middle class family in 1954. The combination of Kevin’s mother’s family heritage as merchants and his father’s Irish charisma truly meant that O’Leary was born for business. Kevin learned most of his business intuition from his mother. She taught him key business and financial insights from an early age. These became Kevin’s core philosophies, and the pillars upon which he would one day build his empire.
Kevin’s approach to business went through major changes as a teenager. During his second day on the job at a local ice cream shop, his boss came into the front of the store where Kevin was scooping ice cream. She looked at Kevin and asked him to scrape all the gum between the Mexican tiles on the floor. Kevin refused and he was fired. That was the moment he realized he never wanted to work for someone else again and charted his path into entrepreneurship as a high school student.
As a university student, Kevin’s innate business sense led him along several different paths – including some very unusual, very entrepreneurial ways of making a profit.
Not long after he finished his MBA, Kevin had a meeting that changed his life forever.
He met a man who had a strange idea for a software product – an idea with huge, high-profit potential that Kevin immediately recognized.After years of ups, downs, sacrifices, challenges, and lessons learned — not to mention a critical phone call that nearly cost him everything — the opportunity that Kevin saw eventually turned into a computer software giant that was acquired for more than $4 billion dollars.
After his extraordinary success at the software company, he founded – and a difficult period of obstacles and legal disputes – Kevin eventually found himself on television, quickly becoming a sought-after host and personality on a range of shows – including Discovery’s Project Earth, CBC’s Dragons’ Den, and ABC’s Shark Tank.
Kevin has since launched O’Leary Funds, an investment fund company; O’Leary Fine Wines; and a best-selling book series on financial literacy.
In 2014, Kevin founded O’Leary Financial Group – a group of brands and services that share Kevin’s guiding principles of honesty, directness, convenience, and above all, great value.
Featured
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