Daily News' Small Biz: Big Impact Conference shows big hopes
BY ELIZABETH LAZAROWITZ DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
Wednesday, March 12th 2008, 4:00 AM
Smith for News
Daily News Business Editor Scott Wenger speaks as NY Daily News hosts Your Money Small Business: Big Impact Conference at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
New Yorkers have big hopes for their small business ideas.
That was clear Tuesday at the Daily News' second Small Biz: Big Impact Conference, which featured speakers from the city's business community and government, and drew a crowd of 500 attendees.
Panelists with business concepts ranging from cheesecake to diaper bags gave the audience at CUNY's Borough of Manhattan Community College tips and advice on the challenges of launching a business, hiring workers, finding financing, building a brand name, constantly innovating and fending off competition.
"The biggest problem is when people think they know it all," said Pearl Chin, director of the Chinatown Manpower Project's Business Outreach Center, which offers small business counseling services. "Know what you don't know."
Entrepreneurs like Shakoor and Marissa Watson, owners of Shakoor's Sweet Tooth bakery in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, gave their recipe for small business success, which included ingredients such as persistence, patience and resourcefulness.
"You really have to be relentless with your business," Marissa Watson said. "Anybody who tells you it's easy is doing it wrong."
Planning and research are also essential to keeping a business afloat, said Phaedra Thomas, executive director of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corp. "The ones who make it are the persistent ones."