Inspiring Success: Report from the Summit Floor
“Are you ready for some inspiration,” asked moderator Jane Applegate in opening the Third annual New York Times Small Business Summit, a mid-October event that filled a New York Sheraton ballroom with attendees hungry for tips on making it big and, yes, for inspiration, too. In response to Applegate’s question, an anticipatory buzz filled the room as some 700 attendees made it plain that indeed they had come for inspiration and much more. They were not disappointed. Good advice, pithy insights, and road maps to success were offered by speaker after speaker, from the morning gavel to the closing remarks by Danny Meyer, president of the Union Square Hospitality Group and one of Manhattan’s most successful restaurateurs.
The day’s theme: Making it in one’s own business is still the American dream, and entrepreneurs are still making it big, by dint of hard work and long hours (“my own children put my face on a milk carton because I was the missing mom,” said Applegate, a leading expert on small business) but also because entrepreneurs bring unique perspectives and creativity to their job of doing something different and better enough to win customer loyalty. Oh, and they have a good time doing all of this because a subtext of this event can be summarized as: Entrepreneurs have more fun. “When you are a small business owner, you are in a privileged position because you are doing what you love,” said Meyer — and that was a remark that generated a cascade of applause.
“I might not get the salary I used to. But every day I get a thank you note from a customer,” said Sheril Cohen, a onetime financial services executive who left the world of high finance to found Girl on the Go, a small business that helps cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy buy wigs.
Remarks like that filled the ears of attendees who had a medley of activities to choose among, including break-outs on marketing one’s way to success, bringing innovative products to market, and even how-to advice about raising money. Everywhere, thinking outside the box predominated, such as this startling insight from cosmetics entrepreneur Christi Harris, CEO of CH Cosmetics, who had won a reputation for high-end cosmetics but who now is building an innovative business out of a revolutionary eyebrow razor that is sold at kiosks in malls: “Pop-up retailing is going to be huge. Kiosks are low risk. They can be popped up anywhere” — and, as Harris demonstrates, they are emerging as a powerful tool for immediately connecting new concepts to customers. Break the molds, don’t be confined by past shackles — these are still more empowering ideas that radiated through the Summit.
Think the New York Times Small Business Summit is a gumbo of perceptions and concepts and that is right. But, at bottom, what it is about is being. Marcy Shinder, an American Express Vice President working on OPEN from American Express, the company’s team dedicated to helping business owners succeed, expressed this succinctly in her welcoming remarks: “Small business owners tell us a key to success is connecting and that is what this Summit is about. Here, entrepreneurs connect with other successful business owners, with experts and with business leaders who are the definition of small business success.”
Now for the parting shot, a thought to ponder from Tom Scott, cofounder of Nantucket Nectars and the Summit’s luncheon speaker: “Where other people see obstacles [that prevent them from starting a business] I am blind. I’m sort of dumb. I only see the possibilities.” Of course his “blindness” was validated when he sold his share of Nantucket Nectars for many millions of dollars.
Attendees at the Summit, every one of them, came wanting to leave just a little smarter or maybe just a little dumber in Scott’s fashion — and they did that because, when the last words were spoken, this day was all about triumphing. It’s still happening. Every day. Entrepreneurs are flourishing. Success is exploding. Here. Now. There is the Summit’s parting gift, the gift — as moderator Applegate said at the start — of inspiration.
