When life hands you lemons — or in this case, bananas — ditch the lemonade and bake banana bread instead.
Caitlin Makary of Bedford-Stuyvesant studied fashion design at Pratt Institute and, after several years in the industry, she “couldn’t stomach” pursuing another corporate design job. As friends devoured her homemade vegan banana bread during climbing trips, they urged her to open shop. Consequently, she launched her banana-bread bakery Dank in the fall of 2015 while working part time for Nautica.
By tapping into the knowledge she gleaned from having worked for small employers, and with a sister who boasts 10 years of restaurant experience (she owns Father Knows Best restaurant and bar in Bushwick), the budding entrepreneur quickly got schooled — especially since she didn’t even rely on a recipe at first.
“I was basically given a crash course on working in a commercial kitchen . . . [Previously], I’d eyeball everything as I mixed it.”
The 32-year-old has been working solely on Dank since August 2016 and, despite typical entrepreneurial pangs of “uncertainty, fear, doubt, crushing anxiety” and pulling the occasional all-nighter, she powered through and hired a baker to work alongside her.
Makary explains, “I always wanted to work for myself. It just took me about 10 years to figure out how.”
Previously, she’d tried selling vintage clothing, sewing in a Dumbo factory and designing clothing for puppets, but nothing panned out.
Hitting her sweet stride with banana bread, the Brooklynite says, “I love that every day is different. New York also makes a lot of logistics possible — public transportation is (mostly) great, and you have access to material sourcing and a marketplace that exists.”
Makary’s not alone. According to the 2016 BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneur Report, 20- to 35-year-old entrepreneurs are starting more companies, managing bigger staffs and landing higher profits compared to baby boomers.
Peter Shankman, founder of ShankMinds: Breakthrough, a private business mastermind community, says that’s not surprising. “We live in the age of the Zucks,” he says, alluding to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
However, he cautions: “Entrepreneurship is lonely as hell. If you don’t have a tribe to whom you can ask questions, bounce ideas off of and check [and] ask for help from those who have done it before, you’re just waiting to fail.”
Vipul Lakhi, the 30-year founder and CEO of e-commerce site My Trio Rings in the Diamond District, discovered his tribe. The Times Square resident notes, “One of my favorite organizations is Startup Leadership Program, which trains cohorts and allows entrepreneurs to share candid and relevant advice and inspiration with one another.”
He completed the six-month course five years ago and stays active with new members who help each other grow in marketing, legal, hiring, fund-raising and more.
Brian Essig of Hoboken, NJ, tapped into a knowledge base, too, by identifying what he needed to learn. The president of Web site-design firm Creating Digital, with offices in NoMad and Hoboken, quit his job at an Internet company on a Friday and officially launched his company on a Monday. While he points out there are seldom overnight successes (he landed freelance clients while working full time), he pursued insight online and from other agencies.
The 32-year-old boss to 15 employees says, “To learn about entrepreneurship, I read as much as I could online. I’ve always been a bootstrapper. We know how to accomplish big things on a small budget.”
Seeking information is key, along with wearing multiple hats and thinking on the fly. May McCarthy, author of “The Path to Wealth” (Hierophant Publishing), recommends research before succumbing to the allure of unlimited income and flexible schedules; don’t simply pursue entrepreneurship to earn millions or as an escape from a job you hate.
Before abruptly quitting that day job, she advises assessing everything required for your business, from bookkeeping and marketing to taxes and insurance. “Creating a business plan is the first step to determining the feasibility of a new business. The Small Business Administration has resources and mentors to assist as well.”
If you decide to take the leap, this concrete jungle is a litmus test for survival. Shankman adds, “New York City is truly the center of the universe. The entrepreneur life works perfectly here because there’s no BS here — if you have the chops to make it here, you will. If you don’t, you find out almost immediately.”