A Q&A with IMPACCT Brooklyn’s Economic Development Director Dale Charles
Owning a small business in Brooklyn isn’t easy for anyone. It can be even tougher still for women.
Various studies and reports, including a 2015 study by New York City’s Department of Small Business Services, found that women entrepreneurs more often think they lack core business skills and still need access to capital to help launch and sustain their businesses.
At the same time, there are more women-owned businesses in Brooklyn than in all but three other U.S. cities, according to the Center for an Urban Future. Researchers found that the number of women-owned businesses in Brooklyn grew 39 percent between 2007 and 2012, with a noted growth in companies owned by African-American, Asian and Latino.
Dale Charles has had a front-row seat to all of these changes, as well as the ongoing troubles that small business owners continue to face. Before she became Director of Economic Development at IMPACCT Brooklyn to help entrepreneurs to launch and keep their businesses open, Dale was an entrepreneur herself for more than 25 years. She knows the importance that small businesses have in our neighborhoods by offering important services and jobs.
Women in Brooklyn have and will continue to lift their neighbors, she says, including through the local economy.
Q. What role have women played as entrepreneurs to help strengthen communities in Brooklyn?
Like everywhere else in life, our communities benefit from seeing women thrive as business owners. In my experience, women tend to be more plugged into the work of strengthening our communities because they are naturally nurturing people. In some cases, women can be more inclined to do outreach on behalf of the community because we understand that there is power in numbers, especially when it comes to opening and sustaining a business.
Q. What do you think is the biggest misconception that the business community has about women entrepreneurs?
A. That success is somehow handed to women. A successful businesswoman has to work twice as hard as men to get the same validation. Thankfully, women today are more and more motivated, outspoken, and willing to fight for what they want.
Q. You owned your own small business before — what do you know today that you wish someone had told you then?
A. Set up a thorough business plan. When I started, I didn’t have a business plan to help me project the future of my business. I had a passion for what I did, found a location, built it out myself, and was open for business before the paint could dry on the walls. But all of that drive wasn’t enough.
Three years later, I’ve learned that to survive you need to plan before you fail. You need to know who, what, where, why, and how your business will succeed in the first three years on paper before you open your doors for business.
Q. What’s the most exciting thing about pursuing a small business today?
A. The most exciting thing about being an entrepreneur will always be seeing your business grow from nothing but an idea you had. It’s also still the scariest thing about starting a business, especially today when owners have to consider rent, city regulations, online shopping, etc., etc.
But we see more and more entrepreneurs embrace the challenges. For example, AWESOME Brooklyn — whose owners came to our Small Business workshops and attended our Rolling Up The Gates Storefront Stroll — opened up just a few months ago but has an impressive social media presence and is engaging customers in a smart, modern way.
Q. What do you think is different for women entrepreneurs today?
A. Women have always been willing to research and educate themselves — we want to understand and know what resources we have before doing anything else. What’s different nowadays is there is so much more access to education for women, including workshops and events we have here at IMPACCT Brooklyn.
We’ll work with anybody who wants and needs help by creating a business plan and making sure the money is in place before opening a business along with pro-bono legal services to save them money to put towards the buildout of their new commercial space. Given how difficult it is for small businesses to succeed in Brooklyn these days with high rents and such, entrepreneurs need all the help they can get. And the IMPACCT Brooklyn team is ready to help.
Got questions about your small business? Email Dale Charles and start getting some answers today!
