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Business

14 Reasons Why Moms from ‘It’s Ma Business’ Can’t Wait to Leave Home

May 7, 2020 by Inside Press

 

 

 

 

The Moms of It’s Ma Business are looking forward to leaving their homes.  Here are a few reasons:  

14) Stop doing dishes (Cindy Greenstein, The Points Mom)

13) So that I can give a big hug to all the people that I’ve missed!!  (Lisa Sklar, Joy of Stylin’)

12) Really miss actually going into stores to choose my own items! (Sue Bolen of Sue Bolen Publicity, LLC)

11) Looking forward to getting dressed!  (Beth Greenberg, BG Designs Wardrobe Consulting)

10) So I can see my patients outside the hours of my child’s sleep schedule (Rebecca A. Harmon, Psy.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist)

09) I CANNOT WAIT to hug, laugh and celebrate in person with friends and family (Lisa Katz, Law Offices of Lisa S. Katz PLLC).

08) Visiting with and hugging my mom! (Karen Roth, Apogee Wealth Advisors)

07) Looking forward to gathering a large crowd around my table to toast to our good health!   And to being able to travel again. (Jackie Polikoff, Courtyard Travel)

06) I have become a short order cook, a laundromat and a barber all before 9 a.m.!!! I miss being a Moober driver! (Kathryn Weinberger, Beauty Releaf)

05) To my kids being able to socialize and get back to their normal schedules. (Jodi Baretz, LCSW, Mindful Mindset Coach and Therapist)

04) I’m excited to get the chance to walk through town, do my errands and run into old friends that I haven’t been able to see for such a long time!  (Debbie Lieberman,  Let’s Sort It Out By Deb)

03) Stop cleaning up in my kitchen 10 times a day! (Karen Graham, Discover Peach)

02) Wishing my kids could stop missing important milestones and enjoy being kids again (Marlo Klein, MBK Interiors/MBK Dorm)

01) Watch my kids play sports with their friends. (Dana E. Berk, SAMCRO Design)

 From our families to yours, we wish you and yours safety and well-being.  Happy Mother’s Day!  Visit all the moms of It’s Ma Business on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/Its-Ma-Business-515394522192063

Filed Under: Words & Wisdoms From Our Sponsors Tagged With: Business, homes, It's Ma Business, moms, mothers day, Normal Schedules, Socialize, Stores

Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce Compiling List of Merchant Response to COVID-19

March 17, 2020 by Inside Press

By Grace Bennett

With the Governor’s order to close area restaurants in effect, restaurants and other shops and service professionals impacted are looking for ideas and help on how to best ride out this period.

  Here in New Castle, those impacted found immediate support with an offer by the Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce “to maintain and continuously update a list of new offers and services created by local merchants and businesses to help move our community forward; to make our lives here at this time just a little bit easier and less complicated and to bring us all together in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.”

“This is a uniquely uncertain time for all of us; one where we can find comfort, assurance and security in knowing that we are all in this as one community and able to come closer (albeit six feet apart!) to your friends, family and neighbors,” explained Dawn Danker-Rosen, president of the Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce. “Every little bit of help and every act of kindness and compassion can make a difference for each of us individually to look ahead and see light and to find some sense of normalcy in this new and chaotic world.”

Rosen indicated that a list of the ways local merchants and businesses are here to help can be found at http://www.chappaquamillwood.org and that it will be regularly updated and distributed by email as well.

Grace Bennett is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Inside Press, now in its 17th year.

Filed Under: New Castle News Tagged With: Business, Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce, Support Local Business

Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce: Supporting Area Commerce

November 13, 2019 by The Inside Press

The Town of New Castle is comprised of a highly intelligent mix of creative, exciting and enterprising minds and individuals, families and partnerships with thriving businesses of all sizes and in all categories who are members of the Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber supports this ever evolving business community, and aims to help them prosper.

Many Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber members have built and grown their businesses through effective networking, productive collaborations and professional skill-building with businesspeople residing or doing business in the Town of New Castle (Chappaqua-Millwood), as well as neighboring towns in Westchester County. The potential is here for anyone–and opportunities abound through active participation and membership in the Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber’s mission is to foster the success of any business that aims to serve Town of New Castle residents. To fulfill this mission, the Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber creates programs and initiatives that inform and educate, as well as support and facilitate connections within the town and the community.

Chamber members report that the skills, exposure and contacts gained through membership in the Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber have helped them start and expand new business ventures that may not have otherwise happened.

Among the many benefits of membership, the Chamber provides a host of member services which  build businesses including: a full listing and description of a member business (including its logo) on the Chamber website; member-to-member discounts, educational programs and seminars, key networking events; special business-community activities, events and parties; and business-town advocacy efforts.

The Chamber makes it a priority to promote greater awareness and enthusiasm for anyone who does business here; intensive efforts on behalf of any member business includes online, written and word-of-mouth communications between a member business and the community, as well as your business and the town government via social media, traditional media, grass roots marketing and special events.

In New Castle, active Chamber leadership and board are here to help. chappaquamillwood.org

Courtesy of the Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce

Filed Under: Discover New Castle Tagged With: Business, chamber, Chappaqua-Millwood Chamber of Commerce, Local Commerce, Members, Professional Skill Building, Town of New Castle

Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce: Linking Community to Businesses

August 24, 2019 by Madeline Rosenberg

Colorful awnings, decorative displays and windows adorned with local flyers: These are the storefronts that line downtown Pleasantville. Businesses spanning from gift shops to restaurants offer the village a variety of local options, many stores of which belong to the town’s business network, the Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber supports and promotes its 154 members who comprise an estimated 70 percent of the village’s businesses, according to Chamber President Bill Flooks. Information on the chamber’s website and social media pages, as well as its annual events and award ceremonies, helps make community members aware of what Pleasantville offers.

“We try to link the community with the businesses,” Flooks said. “That’s our goal, because that’s what you need for a successful business.”

On October 23, the chamber will honor businesses and service groups for their contributions to the village at the annual Chamber Appreciation Awards. Members also gather each April for the Business Person of the Year Event, a ceremony that celebrates the person who “consistently demonstrates business excellence, vision, innovation, leadership and community spirit,” according to their website. In addition to these events, the chamber holds six member meetings a year, which serve as “meet and greet” opportunities for local business owners and a way to communicate updates on community projects.

As apartments materialize on Washington Avenue and Memorial Plaza, the people who populate them will further the chamber’s goal of supporting local businesses, Flooks explained. The more people in the area, the more foot traffic.

“We’re trying to make Pleasantville a destination for people to come,” he said. “As we continue to grow, with what’s going on in the village, we will approach more businesses. And, hopefully more businesses will get involved when they realize that we can help promote them.”

Filed Under: Pleasantville Cover Stories Tagged With: Business, community, Downtown Pleasantville, Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce

Briarcliff “Points Kid” Jumps Miles Ahead

May 31, 2019 by Debra Hand

Vacation planning isn’t easy. Deciphering the complicated world of frequent flyer miles and credit card points, partner airlines and excursion fares with built-in stopovers seemingly requires an advanced degree. During his Briarcliff High School days, however, it was Rob Karp’s hobby. That hobby became a passion, and that passion turned into a thriving business before he was out of his teens.

On the Runway

Beyond balancing school, standardized tests, varsity soccer and the debate team, Karp (BHS ’15) had another commitment – leveraging airline and credit card points for free travel.  He had always loved flying, even as a young child.

“My true passion has always been planes and aviation; when other kids were playing on their Xboxes I was sitting on a computer being a virtual pilot on Microsoft Flight Simulator,” Karp recalled.

Fascinated with all facets of airline business, and aware of “these things called miles” which could be earned and used to pay for flights, he spent middle school Friday afternoons calling airlines’ customer service numbers with questions and poring over online blogs. Karp helped his father research business travel, and with his father’s accumulated miles got his entire family to Israel business class with a multi-day stopover in another country.

When area airports closed following Hurricane Sandy in late 2012, Karp succeeded in booking his family to Minneapolis for a bar mitzvah by routing them from Westchester County Airport, which opened first, through Atlanta. A relative was impressed and suggested he turn it into a business; three weeks later, a day shy of his 15th birthday, Karp Enterprises LLC was born.

Taking Off

Demand grew quickly as word of his miles and points wizardry spread.  Known locally as “the points kid,” Karp’s early success and decision to charge for services was largely due to word of mouth in the Briarcliff Moms and Chappaqua Moms Facebook groups. He spent up to 30 hours every week analyzing customers’ points and miles, intended destinations and dates, researching creative ways to book flights for no or drastically reduced cost. Eventually he used money earned as a soccer referee to hire someone to build a website.

Karp also familiarized himself with credit card “points” programs, offering paid consultations to help clients maximize point-earning potential based on spending habits. And he continued to immerse himself in the aviation business; for his BHS science research project, Karp worked with Delta’s Domestic Revenue Group, analyzing “hub” ramifications of airline mergers and interning for two summers at Delta’s Atlanta headquarters.

Word of the young entrepreneur’s expertise spread. He was featured by Bloomberg TV and Fortune.com, and as a BHS junior was named a “Westchester Wunderkind of 2014,” celebrating the area’s brightest young professionals under 30. By the time Karp graduated from BHS in June, 2015, Karp had worked with 100 customers, all on his own.

Spreading His Wings: Expansion during the College Years

Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration (“SHA”) was a perfect fit for Karp. After his BHS graduation, he rebranded his company “MilesAhead,” but shut down 90% of his business the first semester.

“I wanted to start college with no strings attached,” he said. “It was one of the best decisions I’ve made, because stepping away made me realize how much I missed the business.”

Late that first semester, he hired three students part-time who shared his passion for aviation to help him research and book flights. Shifting his focus to luxury travel, in January 2016 Karp partnered with large national agency Valerie Wilson Travel, a member of the Virtuoso network, which provided MilesAhead with access to special airline values and hotel perks. Karp forged his own relationships with travel vendors, his team now having visited roughly 300 properties.

“I saw an opportunity,” Karp said. “Customers whose flights I was booking were booking hotels elsewhere, but said that they would be happy to give me the business if I were to provide it.” Building industry connections allowed him to expand MilesAhead’s offerings to hotels by the start of sophomore year.

Through 2017, his team was mostly Cornell students working part-time; Karp eventually became busy enough to hire a full-time assistant and independent off-campus “contractors,” also aviation enthusiasts, he met via connections. MilesAhead developed a presence on campus, and this past year was the first student owned and operated company to exhibit at the Hotel School Career Fair.

Flying High: Growth and Customer Service

Even during his BHS days, Karp recognized the need to keep clients happy, for example driving out to JFK himself to resolve a ticketing glitch. “That was an early example of my company’s commitment to customer service.”

He wants to make things as easy as possible for clients, and finds that MilesAhead’s use of the AXUS itinerary management app is a “key part of the customer experience.” Clients can download AXUS to their phones and view multiple trips–all flight, hotel and excursion information–and get updates on changes.

Karp has grown his company considerably–this spring about a dozen part-timers–to cover customers’ travel needs before, during and after their trips. MilesAhead is now comprised of Advisors who build trips, the Concierge Team, which finds and books anything from private guides to dinner reservations, and the VIP Team, which deals with logistics such as check-in and boarding passes.

The Sky’s The Limit

As a college student, Karp managed to devote 50-70 hours a week to MilesAhead, but upon his graduation this month is poised to “hit the ground running.” He has secured Manhattan office space and will have six full-time employees, all with the company for over two years, as well as additional part-timers. MilesAhead’s growth has not gone unnoticed; Karp and his company have been featured in or on CBSTV, the Cornell SHA magazine, the New York Times, and Forbes.com.

“I’m a full-time business owner and CEO.  But it’s been one of the best learning experiences–being a student, a ‘college kid,’ and business owner all at the same time. I’ve learned to prioritize and what’s important to me,” he said, noting his evolving role. “Now my focus is building, developing and training my team and growth. We’re always looking for awesome new young talent, and have exciting and grandiose plans to keep expanding. We’re still savvy and thrifty,” Karp added, “but with building our luxury services, we have maintained our commitment to keeping that personal touch.” 

Filed Under: Briarcliff Cover Stories Tagged With: Briarcliff High Schol, Business, kid, miles, Points, Rob Karp, startup, Travel

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