Winter 2024
By Lauren Hurwitz
In 2015, Scarsdale resident Jill Staffin was vacationing with her then 13-year-old daughter at a street fair in Florida when her daughter became fascinated by the booths that sold handcrafted soap. She suggested to Staffin, “Mommy, we should make soap together!” Staffin started to Google “how to make soap,” and almost 10 years later, she’s selling her Copper Faucet Soap Company products at farmers’ markets across Westchester, including the one at the New York Botanical Garden.
Staffin loves “meeting people in the community and educating them about natural skincare and healthier options for their homes.” She also loves collaborating with local businesses and sources many ingredients from other vendors she’s met on her journey, including those selling coffee, dried botanicals, and olive oil but says that the life of an entrepreneur also comes with challenges, such as “knowing how to scale your business so you can grow.” According to Staffin, “There’s a lot of trial and error, long days, working weekends, selling outdoors in all types of weather, reinvesting back into your business, and staying ahead of the game by ordering raw materials far in advance, especially when we are faced with supply chain issues.” She feels very fortunate that her hard work has paid off and suggests that budding entrepreneurs should “Go for it,” but should do their research first and not rush into it. She advises, “Growing a business takes time, so be patient and be sure to surround yourself with supportive people. Take the risk!”
Fellow risk-taker, Dr. Elina Skripochnik PT, DPT, Owner of Elina Physical Therapy and Co-Founder of Speed Networking Westchester Events, knew she found her passion after spending time shadowing a pediatric physical therapist over 20 years ago. “With PT, you see the families consistently for months and form lasting connections,” Dr. Skripochnik says. Aside from private physical therapy sessions, Dr. Skripochnik leads playgroups for babies and toddlers of all abilities to build a community for new parents and to help parents feel confident when handling their babies and working on motor milestones. Working for herself, she’s found it especially rewarding to know things have been done correctly – the way she wants them done and not simply based on generalized treatment plans because every child has different requirements and restrictions. Still, there are challenges. “When I started, I didn’t know what forms I needed. I learned that rules and regulations are always changing but had to figure out how to find the latest information, which wasn’t easy for someone who didn’t have the appropriate skills like a small business lawyer has,” she shares.
Attorneys can help with a variety of aspects of forming and protecting a business according to Kymberly A. Robinson, Scarsdale-based Attorney-at-Law, Owner of KYMESQ, and Co-Founder of Speed Networking Westchester Events. After nearly two decades of practicing law, she loves working with women, especially in the wellness and beauty spaces but touches clients with various backgrounds throughout Westchester County. Robinson stresses the “importance of having contracts in place for any time you enter into a professional relationship.” She advises that whenever someone has rights, responsibilities, and obligations, that is a clue that there should be an agreement in writing, and certain provisions should be included in contracts to protect you and your business in case you end up in litigation. If you’re thinking about creating your own business, Robinson says to get a lawyer who will help you with entity selection to ensure the proper entity is formed, such as whether to form a professional limited liability company (PLLC) or a limited liability company (LLC.) A good lawyer should also advise on compliance obligations and encourage properly drafted enforceable contracts. Attorneys, like Robinson, can also help with other business law matters, such as trademarks, buying or selling a business, non-disclosure agreements, employment contracts, and more.
After attending many networking events as female entrepreneurs and not making any significant connections, Robinson and Dr. Skripochnik created Speed Networking Westchester Events where they bring women together for one-on-one conversations that lead to collaborations, referrals, and partnerships. They use sponsorships from female-owned businesses to showcase their offerings to other entrepreneurs; a portion of the proceeds are donated to non-profit organizations that support females in their endeavors. All are welcome, and tickets are typically $50 per event and include a swag bag.
Another tool Westchester-based budding entrepreneurs can take advantage of is the Women’s Enterprise Development Center where CEO Nikki Hahn says they’ve been helping locals build their companies for about 30 years. With locations in both White Plains and Poughkeepsie, their strong focus on women helps budding and established entrepreneurs alike with “business training, mentoring, networking, access to capital and New York State Minority Women Business Enterprise Certification assistance,” and they also offer services to men. WEDC programs are available in English and Spanish and serve about 1,200 clients per year. According to Hahn, the core program is the Entrepreneurship Growth Lab where they run six cohorts a year, for about 15 weeks each, that have a heavy focus on customer discovery. WEDC clients often have a side hustle and aren’t sure if their passion can help them prosper. Hahn says, “We can help them formalize their business and think about who their customer is, how they’re reaching their customer, what are reasonable projections, what percentage of the people in their orbit are their clients, and more.”
If you’re thinking of starting a business, Hahn suggests reaching out to WEDC for a free one-on-one business advising session to flesh out your idea, conduct customer discovery to find out if there’s a need and a market for your idea, and ask “people you don’t know. Don’t ask your family and friends – they’ll just tell you what you want to hear.” Lastly, she recommends opening a business account and advises against comingling business and personal finances. Doing so is “a disaster when you go to do taxes.”
WEDC has helped tens of thousands of Westchester entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. Successful shops like Ice Cream Social and Araras Coffee & More are on their list of recent standouts. “The idea here is to lift up the communities and help those who don’t have access to traditional business training,” says Hahn. They’re able to offer programs for free or a very low cost and even have scholarships for those for whom price is a barrier.
@speednetworkingwestchester