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‘Shark Tank’ Investor Kevin O’Leary Shares His Keys To Small Business Survival
In Best Of, Featured, Guest, Interview, Latest, News Stories, Technology, The World, Top News, videosBy Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary stresses communication and a pivot to digital sales during the “unprecedented” coronavirus pandemic.
“Learn to communicate,” O’Leary advised in a wide-ranging interview with Joe Connolly on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank.
“Your employees and your customers: They want to hear from you every day,” he said.
O’Leary is known as “Mr. Wonderful” on ABC’s hit Friday night reality TV program “Shark Tank.” He is also a contributor to CNBC that re-runs episodes of “Shark Tank” when the market is closed. In 1986, he founded Softkey, an educational software company based in Toronto, that he sold to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999. He owns O’Leary Financial Group, which is a conglomerate of brands that includes investment firm O’Leary Funds. He also owns O’Leary Fine Wines. His net worth is estimated at $400 million.
“When you’re honest with your customers, they become incredibly loyal,” O’Leary said, adding, “The minute they smell B.S., you’ve lost them forever. Don’t lie to people.”
He shares his philosophy on business with Connolly, including that owners should become profitable by their third year in operations, or “take it behind the barn and shoot it.” During the global health crisis, O’Leary says owners must adjust to the changing market while playing to one’s strengths.
“They genuinely care about companies and products and services that they’ve grown to trust and they want to support them during this period of difficulty to make sure that these businesses survive,” he said.
One way to stay afloat, O’Leary underscored, is to learn digital marketing and focus one’s energy on targeting local customers.
“It means you may have to get a Shopify license, you may have to learn how to use DocuSign, you may have to understand the geo-locking tools of Facebook,” Mr. Wonderful said on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast.
“Geo-locking” is a tool within paid Facebook campaigns that allows users to target a preferred audience to optimize a paid post’s impact by demographics.
“I only want to spend my advertising dollars, reaching out to people in this specific area,” O’Leary explained, adding, “That’s what we’re finding is really working, being very concentrated in what you’re trying to do, because in times like these, you really want to play to your strengths.”
O’Leary told WCBS 880 he’s looking to cut real estate costs as his employees work from home. He said if employees are being productive and companies are using digital conferencing services and maximizing on digital marketing strategy, businesses can “save a ton of money.”
“Now the only thing is, it’s not good news for rates, it’s not good news for landlords, it’s not good news for retail space, it’s not good news for real estate, generally, because we don’t need it. Yeah, we need our houses and our apartments, but nothing else,” said Mr. Wonderful.
Hear more from entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary, including what opportunities he spotted in his “Shark Tank” investments, on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast above and on the RADIO.COM app.
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Small Business Survival: Brooklyn Navy Yard Manufacturers Step Up During the COVID-19 Crisis
In Best Of, Featured, Guest, Interview, Latest, News Stories, Technology, The World, Top News, videosBy Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Businesses at the Brooklyn Navy Yard industrial complex are revitalizing the country’s manufacturing amid the global pandemic.
David Ehrenberg is the President and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, which produces roughly $2.35 billion of annual economic output for New York City among more than 400 companies located there across various industries.
“These are not your old school manufacturers. These are very high-tech, very creative hardware companies,” Ehrenberg told WCBS 880’s Joe Connolly on this week’s WCBS Small Business Spotlight focusing on small business survival, sponsored by BNB Bank.
Brooklyn Navy Yard businesses employ more than 10,000 workers – many of whom have become essential workers as they produce vital medical equipment needed to treat the coronavirus.
“Our tenants have really been doing amazing, amazing things, producing everything from medical gowns to face shields, hand sanitizer and a series of other products,” said Ehrenberg, noting that this equipment is being shipped directly to hospitals.
Bednark Studio, Voodoo Manufacturing and Farmshelf – previous WCBS Small Business Spotlight subjects housed in the Brooklyn Navy Yard – are contributing to the broad COVID-19 fight. Bednark Studio is manufacturing face shields for frontline hospital workers in the City, 3-D-printing company Voodoo Manufacturing makes FDA-approved medical devices, and Farmshelf has been on the cutting edge of the changes in the U.S. food supply that has been accelerated by the coronavirus outbreak.
“A lot of people think that manufacturing is dead in New York and it’s not,” Ehrenberg said, adding that because of lower real estate prices in Brooklyn, growing technology companies that emphasize a high standard of craftsmanship and design can attract top talent the Big Apple has to offer.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. head told Connolly they started communicating with New York City officials and local hospitals about their needs before they contacted business owners to discover that they were ahead of the curve.
“We had companies who were ordering materials, who have relationships with factories in China, who were buying tens of thousands of gowns be shipped over here and donated,” he said.
Ehrenberg highlighted the “civic pride” of Brooklyn Navy Yard businesses, saying owners respond to his contacts by asking if there’s more they can do to contribute to the City’s response.
https://twitter.com/NeilACarousso/status/1252988378498379777
“The supply chains have just eased up, both, because of the level of demand, but also, you have certain countries (that) are keeping supplies for themselves right now,” he said.
His tenants have been able to manufacture fully American made products in their factories even before President Donald J. Trump invoked the Korean War era Defense Production Act to mandate U.S. companies to make medical equipment. The President and other government officials, namely New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, have revealed they are relying on countries like China, where the coronavirus originated, to import life-saving equipment such as ventilators and N95 masks.
Listen to the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast above to hear how businesses in the Brooklyn Navy Yard are revolutionizing American manufacturing in the time of dire need.
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Small Business Survival: Hospitality Company Develops Way To Stay Alive Amid Crisis
In Best Of, Featured, Guest, Interview, Latest, News Stories, Technology, The World, Top News, videosBy Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – A New York City-based events company forced to shutter its operations temporarily after eight years in business due to the coronavirus pandemic has developed new revenue streams from adjacent services.
“Everything was great, 2020’s a huge year for us, could not wait,” William Petz, founder of Quiet Events, Inc. told WCBS 880 of the upward trajectory for his business heading into this year. He has 120,000 people on his e-mail list and hundreds attend each event nationwide.
That was the sentiment across the business community before the COVID-19 crisis forced the closure of businesses throughout the country. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index sunk 8.1 points in March to 96.4 – the largest monthly decline in the survey’s history – ending historic business confidence. The NFIB survey indicates business owners are bracing for further loss of revenue amid the rapid recession the global economy was thrust into with the fatal and highly contagious novel virus.
“You’ll have workplaces that will be filled with different types of reminders and postings designed to change behavior and to ingrain certain type(s) of safe approaches towards how you even navigate the office,” David Lewis, founder of human resources consulting firm OperationsInc, told WCBS 880 Business Reporter Joe Connolly.
Business owners are adapting and creating new services, some of which may be long-term offerings, as they struggle to stay afloat. That’s the topic on this week’s WCBS Small Business Spotlight focusing on small business survival, sponsored by BNB Bank.
Quiet Events hosts concert-like experiences with disc jockeys for people to enjoy their favorite genres of music in headphones designed by the company.
“You don’t have to fight about what club you’re going to tonight because all the clubs are in one,” Petz said.
If you enjoy pop music, but your friend likes country, for example, you can both enjoy each other’s company while listening to your music of choice from the DJ you prefer.
“You can enjoy having a meal or drinking with some friends or talking with them without hearing the loudness of the music behind you,” Petz said, adding, “But, then when you put the headphones on, you guys are just jamming out and you have your own personality.”
Petz said his company is called “Quiet Events” because it is a “fun night out” when you will only hear partiers singing along to the music in their ears, if you aren’t wearing headphones.
Hospitality businesses such as Quiet Events have been crushed by the coronavirus outbreak.
“We started to see the impacts already by getting the headphones manufactured in China,” Petz said.
He laid off 11 of his 13 employees and he stopped taking a paycheck three weeks ago.
Then, he developed proprietary software to host his Quiet Events virtually as people self-isolate.
“YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, it’s just one dimension. It’s basically, you’re watching content,” said Petz. “People’s attention needs to be engaged and you need to feel like you’re being social, so that’s what we created – a platform which is patent pending.”
The platform features a virtual “DJ battle” in which three DJs vie for attention and likes. Attendees can switch between the DJs and can see the percentage of people watching each performer. Petz said that creates the “FOMO” or “fear of missing out” that his company thrives on with its in-person events.
Quiet Events’ first promoted online shows were last weekend, but as Petz tweaked the virtual experience over the last three weeks, 500-1,000 people participated in each trial event. In the interim, the online events are free, but attendees are encouraged to tip the DJs.
“They don’t just play; they really do interact,” Petz said of the DJs. “They look at the chatroom. They do shout-outs.”
He hopes to re-hire his employees in the near future as he works on several adjacent services to bring in revenue while in-person events are banned to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“We did this for ourselves, initially for the DJs,” said Petz. “Dell, before we even broadcast it out, somehow, they found out [and they said>, ‘Look, we love what you’re doing and we’d love to create an experience for our employees.’”
He then saw there was a market for leasing his software to other businesses and organizations to create corporate events on both the Quiet Events website and other companies’ sites.
“We have a partnership with Crunch Fitness to do fitness events,” Petz said. “Quiet Events also used to do something called Quiet Comedy. It’s three comedians battling it out against each other. So, it’s really three of anything battling and we’re working on making that so it’s not just three but it’s more or less.”
A traveling nurse company reached out to Quiet Events looking to hire it for a morale-booster as its staff fights its own battle on the frontlines of the COVID-19 health crisis.
He has also received interest from a charitable organization looking to compensate the DJs for performing for their audience while providing a way for participants to donate to the non-profit’s cause.
“It’s what entrepreneurs do,” Petz said.
Hear how entrepreneurs like William Petz are developing solutions and adjacent services to stay afloat and re-hire workers on this week’s WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast available on the RADIO.COM app.
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Small Business Survival: Brooklyn Navy Yard Business Ramps Up War-Like Effort to Make Face Shields for Hospital Workers
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Businesses in the Brooklyn Navy Yard are invigorated with the same spirit and patriotism that defined the East River industrial complex during World War II when factories produced ships used to fight Nazi Germany.
Michael Bednark reinvented his design and fabrication company named Bednark Studio to make face shields as protective gear for medical professionals in New York who are treating COVID-19 patients. He told Joe Connolly on this week’s WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast focusing on small business survival, sponsored by BNB Bank, that he is surrounded by small businesses who are stepping up in the battle against the deadly virus.
“I’m looking right across the street right now to a very large manufacturer called Cyre Precision. They are manufacturing hospital gowns and other safety equipment for our frontline workers,” Bednark said, adding, “The building to my right, they’re working on a ventilator prototype.”
At the impetus of the coronavirus outbreak in New York City, which is now the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, he was forced to layoff workers. When he started hearing reports about the lack of Personal Protective Equipment or PPE for hospital workers, he worked with his design team through a weekend in mid-March to develop a face shield prototype to protect nurses and doctors against the contagious novel virus.
Bednark was in touch with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene through the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He sent pictures to the Department late Saturday evening and scheduled a meeting at its Long Island City headquarters for first thing the next morning.
“We drove over there Sunday morning, we met with them at 9:45, and at 10 AM, they said ‘let’s go with it.’”
Bednark hired 160 workers and moved into a 5,000 square foot event space in the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to maximize social distancing as advised by health experts to slow the spread of coronavirus. Bednark Studio takes employees’ temperatures when they report to work and it sanitizes the workspace every night.
He orders lunch to be delivered for his workers from local restaurants hit hard by the shutdown of non-essential businesses.
“Like most New Yorkers, we have a real sense of urgency,” Bednark said.
It’s a war-like effort to fight #coronavirus. Michael Bednark tells @JoeConnollybiz how he shifted gears and ramped up production of face shields at the @BklynNavyYard for frontline hospital workers. @wcbs880 #SmallBusinessSpotlight #DifferenceMakers https://t.co/F8Hd9HBsZj pic.twitter.com/8mj0QZ8SYP
— Neil A. Carousso (@NeilACarousso) April 8, 2020
He told Connolly his team is averaging 200,000 face shields a day. By comparison, hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer said its Liverpool, New York factory makes 4,000 face shields a day.
“We welcome anyone to come and start making anything they can, look at what they have around them, what they’re abilities are and figure out a product that they can make,” Bednark said.
Listen to the WCBS Small Business Podcast above to hear how small businesses are producing vital PPE equipment for hospital workers on the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus.
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NJ Woman Starts Effort To Help Medical Professionals At Frontlines Of COVID-19 Crisis
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW JERSEY (WCBS 880) – A community is coming together in Chatham and Madison, NJ to support the doctors and nurses on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Chatham resident Liz Bernich saw a Facebook post from her friend last week about a group in Huntington, Long Island that delivered food to their local hospital for the staff who are testing and treating patients for COVID-19. She shared the post with the Chatham Community Forum on Facebook to see if there was interest do the same at Morristown Medical Center. She became inundated with messages from people who were interested in supporting the initiative.
“My phone was just lighting up,” Bernich, who is a principal at The Caldwell Partners, told WCBS producer Neil A. Carousso via Skype from her home where she is working while non-essential businesses are shutdown.
Soon after gathering interest from her community, residents in Madison, where her husband works as a high school teacher, contacted her asking if they can volunteer. She launched the Front Line Appreciation Group or FLAG on Facebook to mobilize volunteers and encourage them and first responders to share their experiences with the organically growing group of community members.
Bernich contacted a local restaurant on Friday morning to order take-out for that night. The restaurant was thrilled to have business since Gov. Phil Murphy ordered all restaurants statewide be closed on Monday, except take-out and delivery services, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Friends connected her with nurses in the emergency room at Morristown Medical Center.
“We found out very quickly that a lot of the folks in the ICU units were being basically locked down in their units during their shifts, so they’re unable to access the cafeteria,” Bernich said.
Nurses and doctors working 12-hour shifts during a global pandemic were ordered not to leave their stations to prevent contamination of other hospital areas, patients and employees.
“You can tell they need the energy, they need the support, they’re stressed, they have different protocols, more to worry about,” said Bernich. “I met with a nurse…she was crying and it’s hard there.”
Medical professionals are also lacking basic supplies, including N95 respirator masks, gloves and gowns to protect themselves from the deadly and highly contagious novel virus. Bernich said she has even collected medical supplies to donate to Morristown Medical Center, but she now encourages people looking to donate supplies to hospitals to do so through government channels.
She personally delivered food to hospital workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak through the weekend. Now, local eateries suffering economically are delivering healthy dinners that FLAG members order.
“You don’t always know how many people you’re connected to that are connected to people on the frontlines until something like this happens and we’ve gotten notes left and right from mothers and nieces and aunts, grandparents, of how much good we’re doing and it just really feels good, feels great,” she said.
Bernich received more than $35,000 dollars in just three days of the Facebook group’s existence.
“Many of those donations are $10 and $20 increments,” she emphasized.
All of the funds are used for food delivery for staff at Morristown Medical Center.
Just like Bernich was inspired by a friend’s post, she hopes people will see what FLAG is doing in Chatham and Madison and spread joy to hospital workers in their communities.
“We’ve already been able to get this up-and-running in Summit, New Jersey to support Overlook hospital, and now, we’re getting this up-and-running in Wycoff, New Jersey,” Bernich said, adding, “When I say ‘we’re getting this up-and-running,’ we’re just inspiring people, we’re not doing any of the leg work, but they’re welcome to use our process.”
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