Summit of Bosses // Advice for people running a company

Let’s begin by hearing a bit about each panelist’s background.
Shloime Weber: When I got married, I was in kollel for a few years. At that time, 40 years ago, most people worked in diamonds or shmatte factories. But my father had a different idea for me. Nixon had just gone to China and signed an agreement allowing imports, and now there was this new opportunity: customs. So I figured I would try to get a license to be a customs broker. It’s a very difficult test. Just four percent of people pass it, and usually those are people who have already been in the industry for a few years. Chasdei Hashem, I passed the test.
I started looking for a job, but no one wanted to give me one. So I decided to start my own business. What we do is end to end. Everyone who imports needs to do customs clearance. They need to move the shipment from the point of origin to the destination and then warehouse it and deliver it. We arrange space on the vessels, contact the carriers, everything—as I said, end to end.
Hershel Wertheimer: I went out to look for a job after I got married, and I interviewed with a printing company. The guy said he would pay me $11 an hour until he could replace me with someone who had trained for this position. I said, “Look, $11 an hour is not a living wage. I would like to make at least $15.” He said, “If you’re still here in four weeks, you’ll get $15.”
I was not discouraged. I knew that I would do whatever it took to make my first job successful. I took the job and then I started going to the library, reading day and night. Four weeks later, I got my raise.
A few years later, my father, who founded Hamaspik, decided to retire, and I took over the company. Hamaspik is an organization that provides services for people with developmental disabilities, such as autism or Down syndrome. We provide services to help them get through the day.
At that time, Hamaspik had approximately 50 employees. On my first day I gathered the staff and committed to no firings for the next year. It took a lot of work and a lot of devotion, but 80 or 90 percent are still here all these years later. And today we have over 900 employees.

Yossi Itzkowitz: When I got married, my father told me that a friend of his was opening a store in Boro Park and I should go work there. After a couple of months, the owner said he wanted me to go around selling office supplies for him instead of working in the store. I felt that I’m not a salesperson by nature, so I told my father I wanted to work for him instead. My father had a very small store. People would come in looking for things, and we wouldn’t have them.
At Purim time, we were selling costumes from a small container that we were keeping outside, and we got a message from the city that we had to take it away or else they would tow it with everything inside. It took me hours to clear it all away, and I decided then that I had to move on. By Erev Pesach, my store Toys 4 U was already open.
I didn’t have money, but I didn’t borrow either. I did whatever I could with what I had. The floor in the store was concrete, and I left it that way. We didn’t have air conditioning the first year. Every penny that I had was used for purchasing inventory. Eventually, we also opened a store in Monsey, and now we have eight stores. I also started The Monsey View and The Boro Park View, and I own a costume business, a doll company, and a sports company.

Okay, now that everyone has been introduced, here’s the first question. Have you ever put a lot of money into something and then had to pull out? And on the flip side, was there ever a time that you almost stopped investing in a project but decided to continue—and it worked out?
Shloime Weber: It’s a little hard for me to answer this question, because I’m in a service business. It’s not like I invest in equipment; I invest in people. Of course, that’s a mixed investment. When you invest in people, you build them. You try to motivate them and mold them into the company culture. If you invest in a person and it doesn’t work out, obviously you part ways.
This question can also apply to landing major clients. To be successful, you have to stay in their face. Even if your initial meeting didn’t land the deal or even if a follow-up meeting doesn’t do it, send something for Purim and for other occasions. Eventually they might have an issue with their current provider or they might have a need that you can fill, and they will reach out to you. They will remember you if you don’t let them forget about you. And once they are yours, they are yours for life.

That sounds like good advice. There are many studies about sending gifts to a company before you even have their business. You’ll get their attention if you keep sending things.
Hershel, was there any particular investment of yours that was risky but paid off?
Hershel Wertheimer: I am by nature really mission-driven, and my entire company’s focus from A to Z is to help another Yid. That drive to help others, whatever it takes, gets me into this kind of trouble constantly, meaning that I take big risks.
Opening Hamaspik for mental health in the first place was a big risk. But we saw a huge demand in the community: the need to address mental health issues affecting so many in our community. We allocated resources and manpower. But the moment we approached OMH (Office of Mental Health, a government agency), their response was, “Stay out of this. It’s not for you. Retract your application.” People thought we could never succeed in becoming licensed.