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  • Immigrants Create Billions For The US
  • Find Your High Paying Job Here
  • Meet The Waffle Master of NYC
  • Crowdfunding’s Pros and Cons for Immigrant Startups
  • Russian Immigrant Creates $130M Health Food Empire

Immigrants Create Billions For The US

By: Foulis Peacock

Immigrants in the U.S. are 2x as likely to start businesses as their native counterparts generating at least $1 trillion in annual sales revenue, per the New American Economy (NAE).

Driving the news: Immigration critics frequently assert that immigrants are more “likely to use public benefit programs” — positioning them as a burden on taxpayers. However, studies show that immigrant-owned small businesses in the U.S. generate billions of dollars in tax revenue each year.

The big picture: No matter where they relocate, immigrants frequently have more capital to start new enterprises than native-born citizens due to personal savings and family loans, the National Bureau of Economic Research has found.

Why immigrants are more likely to start small businesses:

  • Some economic researchers suggest that cross-cultural experience helps “internationally mobile individuals to develop skills and knowledge that augment their ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunities.”
  • Other studies theorize that discrimination in the labor market pushes immigrants to start their own ventures, per the Harvard Business Review.

“Outsiders face a tough struggle fitting into a new culture. They must figure out how to deal with, and overcome, frustration, loneliness and a steep learning curve.

And that’s why immigrants make such great entrepreneurs—they’re once again outsiders facing many of the same kinds of obstacles. Been there, done that.”

— Adrian Furnham, Wall Street Journal

By the numbers:

  • 1 out of every 5 entrepreneurs in the U.S. is an immigrant.
  • Approximately 3.2 million immigrants run their own businesses, says NAE, a group that supports immigration.
  • These businesses generate $1.3 trillion in total sales and $405.5 billion in tax revenue annually.
  • Almost 8 million Americans are employed at immigrant-run businesses, according to NAE.
  • Nearly half of all immigrant-owned startups are in accommodation and food service, retail trade, professional and technical services, says the National Bureau of Economic Research.
  • In 2012, immigrants started 40% of new businesses in California, New Jersey and New York.
  • These states have some of the largest immigrant populations in the country, the National Bureau of Economic Research found.
  • Latino immigrants are 40% more likely to start businesses than American-born Latinos.

 

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Find Your High Paying Job Here

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Meet The Waffle Master of NYC 3

Meet The Waffle Master of NYC

Immigrant Business Statistics: Name: Thomas DeGeest Country of Origin: Belgium Emigrated to the U.S.: 1997 Launched W&D: 2007 Annual Revenue: $5 million Jobs Created: 100

 

Thomas DeGeest traded in his six-figure IBM job, escaped PowerPoint hell and followed his dream of bringing authentic Belgian waffles to the streets of New York City.

Waffle maker of New York
Thomas DeGeest, CEO

Thomas DeGeest had a six-figure job at IBM when he came to America from Belgium. But, hungering for change after 12 years at the company, he decided to pursue his dream of running his own business and opened Wafels & Dinges, a food truck in New York City in 2007. Today, the business is thriving, with over roughly 100 employees who keep its operation running seven days a week, at least 14 hours a day. Featured everywhere from the CBS Early Show to Gourmet magazine, the growing brand is now available at eight brick-and-mortar locations in three cities and 8 mobile units—and DeGeest is achieving his American Dream. “People come to America for a reason,” he says. “They want to achieve something. New York is the epitome of this.”

Foulis Peacock, publisher of Immigrant Business, interviewed DeGeest, seeking his tips for other immigrants on how to build a successful business around foods from their native country. Here are some key takeaways.

People come to America for a reason. They want to achieve something.

Tap Your Immigrant Advantage

When DeGeest’s wife was contemplating a move to Brazil, he looked for a business he could run successfully without the ability to speak Portuguese, the native language. “I thought, ‘Why don’t I open a waffle store?’” he recalls. The move never happened, but when the idea kept simmering, he realized it was also an ideal venture for him to run in New York, as a native Belgian. “I can start a waffle store anywhere in the world because I have ‘street cred,’” he says.

Customize Your Product to Local Tastes

waffles8 (product shot?)“Americans love Hollywood. They love a lot of bells and whistles,” DeGeest realized as he traveled around the country for his corporate job. On that theory, he made sure to offer a lot of toppings to jazz up the waffles, from whipped cream to maple syrup. He also offered savory waffles with bacon—an “absolute no-no in Belgium,” and pulled pork. “You learn from the country you visit,” he says. “I spent a lot of time in the South—Louisiana and Texas.”

Don’t Skimp on Quality

DeGeest relied on equipment and waffle mix from Belgium because he was confident they were the best. And he never relied on frozen waffles, although it was acceptable to sell them in Belgium. “New Yorkers are a much tougher audience,” he realized.

I always tell my personnel, ‘We sell people the best moment of their day. We’re there to make them happy.’”

Prepare for the Unexpected

DeGeest economized in building his business by investing in a waffle truck, rather than a store. However, the aging 1968 step up truck proved costly to maintain, and he quickly burned through his savings—at one point resorting to towing the truck behind his car to move it around New York. “We didn’t have a risk mitigation plan in place,” he says in retrospect.

Dish Up Some Magic

Meet The Waffle Master of NYC 4To capture the imagination and hearts of customers, DeGeest concocted a colorful story about being sent by the government of Belgium as a special envoy to address the deplorable state of waffles in America. The rest of his branding flowed from this. “We don’t sell waffles,” he says. “I always tell my personnel, ‘We sell people the best moment of their day. We’re there to make them happy.’” It’s also important to make sure the design elements of your business are engaging, he says. “Just food by itself is not necessarily going to be enough.”

You’re going to have to build economies of scale, to support multiple units. That’s where you really start making money in this business.

Maximize Output

If you want to run a food-truck business, realize that your most important asset is your vehicle, he says. “You have to put that asset to work as much as possible,” he says. His team keeps the truck running 18 hours a day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. “In New York City at any given time of day, there’s always someone who’s going to buy your product,” he says.

I can start a waffle store anywhere in the world because I have street cred

Build a Scalable Business

To add to his sales, he has done some limited wholesaling and branched out into catering and retail, selling products such as a Belgian spread called Spekuloos, which resembles peanut butter but tastes like gingerbread cookies, on his website, wafelsanddinges.com.

Originally, DeGeest’s goal was to build a brand that extended far beyond his original truck. “Eventually, you’re going to have to build economies of scale to support multiple units,” he advises others who would like to follow his path. “That’s where you really start making money in this business.”

Today with his 8 trucks operating around the city, and his five brick-and-mortar locations, he has achieved his goal, and Wafels and Dinges has become a New York City fixture.

Update – 2023

Celebrity parents
Rosanna Figuera  with Wafels & Dinges truck

Since this article was originally posted, there have been a number of major developments at Wafels & Dinges.

According to DeGeest, the most important development is that the company  has been “transformed into the child of a true immigrant family, with the involvement full time of my wife and business partner, Rossanna Figuera.  A native of Venezuela, Rossanna has been a Diplomat to the UN, a banker, an executive coach, a headhunter, and a successful entrepreneur, prior to joining the company full-time in early 2012.

Fast forward to 2023, they operate 8 brick & mortar locations across New York, Minneapolis and Colorado, run multiple trucks, cater events & offer nationwide shipping They’ve been named New York’s Best Food Truck by three different organizations; and they’ve beaten celebrity chef Bobby Flay in a throw down on the Food Network.

 

Interested in owning a Wafles & Dinges Franchise?

 

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Crowdfunding’s Pros and Cons for Immigrant Startups

Crowdfunding is hot right now, but is it right for you? Learn crowdfunding’s pros and cons in this revealing interview with Evan Cohen, a top executive of Indiegogo.

Immigrant Business:  Indiegogo has become one the of the top three crowdfunding sites on the web in a few short years. How did it get started?

Evan Cohen, Pros and Cons of Crowdfunding
Evan Cohen, Indiegogo

Cohen. Basically, our three founders — Slava, Danae, and Eric — believe that the system for entrepreneurs is broken in terms of access to capital. Before 2008, if you were a small business or you wanted to start a business, to get funded, you had to go to the bank and get a small business loan – which was really difficult. There are a lot of people out that are passionate about ideas for new businesses and new products, so our founders thought it would be better for the crowd to decide whether a business should exist or not instead of bank officer.  The idea was to democratize capital so that anybody could get it.

 

Immigrant Business: So what’s your role at Indiegogo?

Crowdfunding's Pros and Cons for Startups
Founders Slava Rubin, Danae Ringelmann, and Eric Schell

 Cohen: I’ve been with Indiegogo for about two years now and I’m in charge of the hardware design technology team, which means that we work with most of our largest hardware design technology campaigns, our entrepreneur campaigns you might say.

Immigrant Business: How do you define an entrepreneur campaign?

Cohen: The entrepreneurs we work closest with are usually trying to start a business, or trying to sell products.  Why would a client want to run a campaign?  Some people are looking for capital to start their business; some people are just looking to see if there’s anyone interested in helping them create a product and bring it to life. Some people need to get pre-orders for their product launch, while others are looking for market validation.  What we’re seeing more and more, are campaigners using the platform for marketing, market validation and pre-orders.

Immigrant Business:  So how does somebody get started? Let’s say you’ve invented a product like Seymour Segnit’s thingCharger.  What’s your next step?


Related: Immigrant Entrepreneur Uses Crowdfunding to Launch US Product

 

Cohen: People come to Indiegogo in every conceivable stage of development: Some just have an idea; others already have their business plans thought out, and may have started prototyping, and doing market research. If you’ve got an idea and know that there’s a passionate audience that would support it, by using crowdfunding,  you can go directly to that audience and get them to help you fund your business with start-up capital. What you’re doing is taking funds from the crowd and using it to start your business, and in return – instead of giving some like equity or a dividend like in the stock market — you  give them sort of reward for believing in your idea.

Anyone with an idea can come to the platform, create a campaign, and launch – any time.  There’s no barrier to entry.

 

Immigrant Business: Could you give me an example?

Cohen: Let’s use the example of a restaurant. Even if you can’t get a small business loan, you could always go to the people that might be interested in the food that you’re cooking – and say, “Ok, if you give me fifty dollars today, I’ll give you a voucher worth of fifty dollars worth of food when my restaurant opens.”  So in return for the $50 donation, you give your subscriber a meal voucher as a reward. Because Indiegogo is a totally open platform, you can come and literally crowdfund anything.  There’s no limit to what can be launched, so if you have an idea —as long as it’s not illegal — you can launch it on Indiegogo.

 


Related: How Crowdfunding Works


 

Immigrant Business: What’s the most unusual campaign you’ve seen?

Cohen: We’ve got a campaign based in Brooklyn where they’re promoting a product called Kosher Switch, which allows observant  Jews to turn off the lights on the Sabbath, which is normally against Jewish law. Because the inventor couldn’t get a small business loan, he raised over $80,000 through Indiegogo. The key thing was that he knew the community in Brooklyn very well, and so he was able to get people to help him fund his first round of production. That $80,000 allowed him to go the manufacturer and place the initial purchase order and actually get the product up and running.

 

Immigrant Business: What a great story. So, is there a qualification process when people come to Indiegogo?

Cohen: Not really. It’s very self-serve. Anyone with an idea can come to the platform, create a campaign, and launch – any time.  There’s no barrier to entry.

Immigrant Business: It can’t really be that easy.

Cohen: It is, and it isn’t. The misperception about crowdfunding is that it’s easy. More campaigns fail than succeed across the industry. People think, “I have a great idea, I put it on a platform, and random people around the world are just going to give me money because they like my idea.” But that’s just not true.  There’s actually a very strategic way about launching a campaign and doing it properly and that sort of knowledge and experience are the reasons why some campaigns are successful and some aren’t.  So when we work with entrepreneurs, we explain this methodology and this strategy so that they understand how to actually be successful on the platform.

 

The platform costs are 5%. So Indiegogo takes 5% of whatever the campaign raises, that’s the only fee.

 

Immigrant Business: Sounds like a great service. How much does it cost?

Cohen: There’s no cost for the service – so anyone can jump into Indiegogo at anytime, and we’ll definitely provide you with these services.  We also have a ton of educational resources on our platform to help you.   Of course; we are a business, but our fees are based on usage. The platform costs are 5%. So Indiegogo takes 5% of whatever the campaign raises, that’s the only fee. So if you come to Indiegogo and you don’t raise any money, it costs you nothing.

I should probably explain that the two models: – fixed and flexible funding.

  • Fixed funding is the traditional crowdfunding model. For instance, if I set a $50,000 goal and if I don’t raise $50,000 everybody gets refunded and it’s like it never happened.
  • Flexible funding means that if you don’t hit your goal, you get to keep your funding.  This model is definitely more effective for like political action campaigns, non-profit campaigns, and also creative campaigns for filmmakers and artist where even if you fall short on your goal, you may have raised enough to make a go of the project if you scale back a little. So flexible funding is incredibly popular on the platform, but you to decide what you really need for your campaign.

Immigrant Business: So, what makes Indiegogo different from other crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter?

Cohen: First of all, we have the flexible and the fixed funding – and that’s a really big differentiator. Number two – and probably just as important– Indiegogo is an entirely open platform, so anyone can launch a campaign at any time. We didn’t want to be the people that ever say no. We want the crowd to ultimately decide, so we don’t curate, we let the platform kind of curate itself.

Immigrant Business: Sounds good, but how do you do that?

Cohen We have an algorithm called our “Gogo factor” which is very similar to Google page rate – it actually uses metrics to determine which campaigns get promoted and which ones don’t, and it’s entirely based on merit

 

 

Immigrant Business: What advice would you give a prospective client – somebody who is thinking about crowdfunding?

Cohen: There are two pieces of advice. One: I would recommend going through our educational resources. If you don’t read the educational materials, don’t do the research, the preparation before hand, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. The most important time for a campaign is the six weeks before a campaign goes live, and the preparation that goes into that will ultimately determine whether you have a strong launch and your campaign succeeds or not.

The first three days of the launch are crucial.If you get off  to a strong start, then you’re going to do much better on the platform, and people are going to respond to that market validation, and get excited about your project. If you get off to a very slow start, it’s very hard to recover from that because, even if people see a great idea, if nobody else is looking at it, they get discouraged about it.

Immigrant Business:  Right, so now – let’s say you’ve just come up with an idea and you’re about to launch. How do people find out about you?

Cohen:  What we say is the first 30% of your funds come from your network – your friends, your family, and your connections. Face it, if you launch a campaign and you can’t get your mom and dad to contribute to it, you’re probably not going to do very well. And that first 30% leads to the second 30% — which is like a a friend to friend external network, the next generation of people that contribute to your campaign. And then the final 30-40% comes from the platform.

Think about it like this.  Let’s say you’re hungry and you walk past a restaurant and nobody is eating inside. Psychologically, what are you thinking?  The service must be bad or maybe the food isn’t that great. On the other hand, if you come across a restaurant where there’s a line out the door, you’re thinking,  “Oh wow, that restaurant must really be good.  It’s full of people, and there’s a line out the door. I’d really like to check it out.” Well, your crowdfunding campaign works the exact same way. You have to bring the crowd to your campaign and build that line outside of your campaign so that other people on the platform will be excited by it and follow. And you start about six weeks before launch getting your network of friends and family excited about your idea, and if  that sort of viral  emotion continues to build,  that’s when campaigns really take off.

 

There are 10,000 campaigns live right now and we’ve had over 600,000 campaigns since we’ve launched in 2008

 

Immigrant Business: So it’s not just a turn key bit of magic. Indiegogo is a great platform, but you’ve got to know how to use it right. You’ve got to prime the pump, so to speak.

Cohen:  Absolutely.  And it goes back to that misperception — a lot of people see these mega million dollar campaigns on platforms and they think that they can do it too.  But every campaign is entirely different – all about the strategy and preparation.  And so the two keys to success are, one: read the educational materials, look at them understanding what you should be thinking about preparation, and two: research past campaigns that have been on the platform.

We did a study two years ago of campaigns that raised more than $100,000 on the platform, and we learned that over 85% of them had reviewed at least 10 campaigns or more on the campaign – really reviewed them.  We have case studies  up on the platform and you should be going through them and learning what woreds for them and figuring out how they did it, because case studies are the best examples of how it looks to be successful.  You’d be surprised how many companies I’ve talked to that haven’t even looked at any campaign pages before and I’m like, “Well, there’s 10,000 campaigns live right now and we’ve had over 600,000 campaigns since we’ve launched in 2008.”  There’s thousands and thousands of campaign examples that you should be reviewing and looking at to get inspiration for your own idea and your own campaign.

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Russian Immigrant Creates $80M Health Food Empire 1

Russian Immigrant Creates $130M Health Food Empire

Russian immigrant Michael Smolyansky found inspiration in a childhood drink. Today, his son Edward and daughter Julie (pictured above) lead a food empire with $130 million in annual revenue.

Michael Smolyansky came to Chicago in the 1970s from the Soviet Union, a young man with a dream common to many immigrants coming to the U.S.—the chance to be free and the opportunity to build a good life for his family. After two years of scrimping and saving, while Smolyansky worked as an engineer, he and his wife opened a Russian delicatessen, which they then parlayed into Russian Immigrant Creates $80M Health Food Empire 2a larger distribution network for Eastern European food.

But their real break came 10 years later, when they founded Lifeway Foods to make a healthy, yogurt-like drink called kefir. Not long after, Smolyansky brought his company public—the first Russian immigrant in the U.S. to do so. NASDAQ: LWAY.

In 2002, Michael Smolyansky tragically died of a heart attack. His then 27-year-old daughter Julie became CEO; younger brother Edward took over as controller. Despite considerable initial skepticism, the company has thrived since then. With $130 million in revenues for 2015, the 200-employee business has grown a whopping 560% over the past fifteen years.

Here’s their story:

 

Coming to America

It was 1976 Smolyansky, a 27-year-old engineer, and his 25-year-old wife decided they’d had enough of repressive life in the Soviet Union. They made a bold move: applying for permission to settle in the United States. Their timing was good. Just a year after the international Helsinki Accords were signed allowing Soviet Jews to leave the country, they were one of 48 families allowed to emigrate to Chicago.

Despite having an impressive engineering background, it took about three months for Smolyansky to find a job as a draftsman in an engineering firm. His wife got work washing hair in a beauty salon.

During that time, Smolyansky, who had arrived in the U.S. with less than a $100, survived by relying on his wits and an entrepreneurial instinct. For example, before the family moved, they’d brought with them a variety of products they’d heard were in demand in the U.S. Once they were settled in Chicago, Smolyansky sold them to make extra money. And he bought books for 10 cents each at a church bazaar, then sold them at a used bookstore for a dollar. Using his engineering skills, he’d also fix and sell discarded electrical appliances.

 

Immigrants = Opportunity

Soon after the Smolyanskys emigrated, more Russian immigrants began moving into Chicago. They were moving to neighborhoods without any businesses catering to them—no food stores stocking Eastern European foods, no newsstands selling Russian newspapers, no insurance or real estate agents who could speak Russian. The native Chicago businesses simply hadn’t seen this influx of foreigners as an opportunity. And that created an opening for someone who did.

Smolyansky figured out that these new immigrants would surely want foods from their home countries, a taste of home in their new adopted country. A delicatessen serving Eastern European staples would fill the need.

The native Chicago businesses simply hadn’t seen this influx of foreigners as an opportunity. And that created an opening for someone who did.

After two years of scrimping and saving, the Smolyanskys had enough money to open their deli. Using the little money they had, they bought as much inventory as possible. Smolyansky worked as an engineer by day. At night, he’d relieve his wife at the store, while she picked up the children from school.

 

Growing from Retail to Distribution

Over the next several years, as more Russian immigrants moved to Chicago, other delicatessens sprang up. That gave the Smolyanskys another idea: Instead of just running a deli, they’d become a distributor, importing food from all over Eastern Europe and reselling to other stores. Ludmila ran the business during the day, while Michael, still at the engineering firm, worked the business at night.

 

The Aha Moment!

To find new products to distribute, the couple started to visit food shows overseas. At one such event in Germany in 1985, Smolyansky came across his childhood favorite: a creamy, protein-rich, yogurt-like drink called kefir. The light bulb went off again. Ludmila suggested that, since it wasn’t available in the U.S., Michael should make it himself and sell it back home through their food-distribution network.

 

Getting Started

Smolyansky started working on the project right away. He got hold of the recipe and began making the drink in his basement, spending the next eight months perfecting it. When he saw the product was ready to go, he decided it was time to start selling. Rather than randomly making sales calls on all the food stores in his neighborhood, he targeted Eastern European delicatessens. He figured that they’re the ones who would be most familiar with kefir and have an built-in demand.

 

Selling, Brewing, Delivering—a One-Man Operation

Running on a shoestring budget of a few thousand dollars, he would take orders during the day, making the drink that night and delivering it himself the next morning. “He was a one-man operation,” says Julie.

 

Growing the Business

Demand and sales grew, so that in 1986 Smolyansky left his engineering job to focus entirely on his business and formed Lifeway Foods. As demand grew, Smolyansky used his earnings to buy a small plant. With that, he began branching out from Chicago and selling to his old delicatessen distribution customers across the country.

With the coming of perestroika in the Soviet Union, interest in Russia mushroomed, and Smolyansky’s success attracted media attention. “It was very cyclical,” recalls Julie. “A story would come out and create more demand. Then the media would write about it again, creating even greater demand.” In need of expansion capital, a friend recommended that the company go public. Not knowing what that meant, Smolyansky went to a nearby library to look it up, then wrote his own business plan and found investors, going public on the NASDAQ in 1988.

 

Moving into the Mass Market

Thanks to all the media attention, customers of “mainstream” Chicago grocery stores started asking for kefir. Smolyansky realized this was an opportunity to move into the mass market. He started visiting gourmet trade shows and found that there was a growing natural foods market that had begun to develop in the ’70s. Recognizing the demand, he positioned kefir as not only delicious but a natural, healthful drink. In short order, both Whole Foods and Wild Oats, which was bought by Whole Foods in 2007, started to sell it, along with many mom-and-pop stores. As natural foods increasingly became a mass market, stores like Kroeger and Wegmans began snapping up the product, too.

Recognizing the demand, he positioned kefir as not only delicious but a natural, healthful drink.

Just four years later, Michael Smolyansky died unexpectedly. His daughter Julie, who had been working at the company since graduating from college, took over as CEO.

 

Growing and Capturing New Markets

Under her stewardship, the company has introduced a half dozen new product lines, expanded into the U.S. Latino and Southeast Asian markets and launched a line of low-and nonfat kefirs. And Lifeway is thriving—sales for the first six months of 2012 were $39.9 million, up from $35.5 million for the same period the year before.

Click here to read the strategies that Julie Smolyansky used to grow Lifeway 560% since she took over.

Lessons from the Smolyansky’s experience

 

1. New immigrants = Opportunity

New immigrants create instant markets. Not only do they need the basic necessities of settling in a new country—housing, employment—but they also create a demand for products and services from their home country or culture—everything from foodstuffs to in-language media and financial services.

In Michael Smolyansky’s case he benefited twice from the immigrant market:

First, he understood that Russian immigrants like him would need foods from their home country and started a delicatessen business.

Second, he then parlayed that experience to create a company that produced a product for that market. His company, Lifeway Foods, got its start by producing and selling kefir specifically to the ethnic Russian market in the US.

Our Resource channel has immigrant populations by state. Click here to find out more.

 

2. Bring Products from Home and Adapt Them for the U.S. Market

Look for products or services from home that could fill a demand here. As Julie Smolyansky states, “Many immigrants can probably find a similar situation to my father’s. Search for a staple from your country that’s popular and bring it to America. There’s an instant ethnic market here. If you do it properly, you can create interest outside of that ethnic group.”

Here’s an example of an Immpreneur who took one of his favorite foods from his home country and adapted it to the American market.

And it’s not just foodstuffs.

Here’s a great article on a British couple who imported a concept from their home country and are now running a $19 million company.

3. Understand American Consumer Trends.

This is critical. You may spot an opportunity to import a product or service to the US, but if you don’t know how to market it, you’re sunk. You need to understand how Americans buy and why they buy. In Smolyansky’s case, he came to understand early on, that there was a rapidly growing market for natural, healthy food. He emphasized Kefir’s healthful benefits and managed to break into the mainstream health-food market.

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The Big Story

  1. Immigrants Create Billions For The US
  2. Find Your High Paying Job Here
  3. Meet The Waffle Master of NYC
  4. Crowdfunding’s Pros and Cons for Immigrant Startups
  5. Russian Immigrant Creates $130M Health Food Empire

Finance

Crowdfunding’s Pros and Cons for Immigrant Startups

Immigrant Business

Crowdfunding is hot right now, but is it right for you? Learn crowdfunding’s pros and cons in this revealing interview with Evan Cohen, a top executive of Indiegogo. Immigrant Business:  Indiegogo has become one the of the top three crowdfunding sites on the web in a few short years. How did it get started? Cohen. Basically, our three […]

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  • Five Steps to Build Credit in the U.S.
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  • Avoid These Five Credit Pitfalls
  • Why Bank Loans Are Still Worth the Trouble.

Franchises

Restaurant Chain Reinvents Itself During Pandemic to Thrive

David Smith

When the Covid 19 pandemic hit, many restaurants closed their doors, some to never open again, but Fazoli’s, a Quick Serve Restaurant (QSR) chain featuring Italian food, jumped to the head of the class with lower costs,  and increased profitability. Read on to see why Fazoli’s succeeded!   The First Makeover A dozen years ago, […]

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  • ‘We Buy Ugly Houses’ Helps Immigrants Succeed In Real Estate
  • CMIT Solutions – Helping Immigrants Tap Into A $668 Billion Opportunity
  • Immigrant Entrepreneur Finds Success with The UPS Store: ‘A Business That Won’t Go Away’
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SUCCESS STORIES

Immigrants Create Billions For The US

fp@immigrantbiz.org

By: Foulis Peacock Immigrants in the U.S. are 2x as likely to start businesses as their native counterparts generating at least $1 trillion in annual sales revenue, per the New American Economy (NAE). Driving the news: Immigration critics frequently assert that immigrants are more “likely to use public benefit programs” — positioning them as a burden on […]

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Meet The Waffle Master of NYC 3

Meet The Waffle Master of NYC

David Smith

Immigrant Business Statistics: Name: Thomas DeGeest Country of Origin: Belgium Emigrated to the U.S.: 1997 Launched W&D: 2007 Annual Revenue: $5 million Jobs Created: 100   Thomas DeGeest traded in his six-figure IBM job, escaped PowerPoint hell and followed his dream of bringing authentic Belgian waffles to the streets of New York City. Thomas DeGeest had a six-figure job at IBM when […]

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Russian Immigrant Creates $80M Health Food Empire 1

Russian Immigrant Creates $130M Health Food Empire

David Smith

Russian immigrant Michael Smolyansky found inspiration in a childhood drink. Today, his son Edward and daughter Julie (pictured above) lead a food empire with $130 million in annual revenue. Michael Smolyansky came to Chicago in the 1970s from the Soviet Union, a young man with a dream common to many immigrants coming to the U.S.—the chance […]

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Fuse American Culture with Your Own to Succeed

Reema Khan: Fusing Cultures to Create Success

David Smith

Immigrant entrepreneur Reema Khan explains how she combined her Indian culture with America’s to create a successful business. After getting an MBA and a good accounting job in America, Reema Khan was laid off in an economic downturn. Rather than look for something else, she started her own company, And what better business to target […]

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Indian Immigrant Threads Her Way To Success In The US 1

Brow Bar: Indian Immigrant Threads Her Way To Success In The US

David Smith

Immigrant Business Statistics: Name: Reema Khan | Country of Origin: India | Immigrated to US: 1996 | Business name: s.h.a.p.e.s. Brow Bar | Location: Chicago, IL | Emigrated to U.S.: 1996 | Annual Revenue: $14 Million | Jobs Created: 350 Indian immigrant Reema Khan turned an ancient beauty technique from her home country into a […]

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CMIT Solutions 4

CMIT Solutions – Helping Immigrants Tap Into A $668 Billion Opportunity

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CMIT Solutions Keeps America’s Small Businesses Running Immigrant entrepreneurs and the tech industry have done well by each other. Many companies launched by new Americans are globally dominant (think eBay and Google), but there are tens of thousands of others with similar immigrant origins and innovation. Meanwhile, as many reports on Immigrant Business can attest, […]

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Cleveland Study Highlights Positive Economic Impact of Immigrants 1

Immigrants Revitalizing America’s Heartland

Immigrant Business

While Trump continues his assault on immigrants (from “shithole” countries and all points west – but not north), recent data shows the immense economic value that immigrants from ALL parts of the world have on the U.S. economy. Numerous studies posted by Immigrant Business in the past have already highlighted similar data, but a stunning new […]

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Lemons into Lemonade 2

Immigrant Entrepreneur Finds Success with The UPS Store: ‘A Business That Won’t Go Away’

David Smith

Name: Naresh Bhatt; Country of Origin: India; Immigrated to US: 1993; Franchise Name: The UPS Store; Launched: 2007; Franchises Owned: 8; Estimated Annual Revenue: $4million: Jobs Created: 40 Sometimes the worst thing that happens turns out to be one of the best. After 12 years with his employer, Naresh Bhatt lost his well-paying job during […]

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Why PuroClean? Insights From An Owner

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Franchise Buyer, Diego Melians, Explains Why He Chose PuroClean. Diego Melians highlights what attracted him to the PuroClean opportunity and how the company’s culture and support enabled him to build a successful, thriving business. He also gives his own advice to prospective franchise owners thinking about joining PuroClean’s network of successful franchisees. Learn More About The […]

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How Scheduling Software Helps Small Businesses Thrive

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Scheduling Software Helps Small Businesses Increase Productivity & Maximize Profits – Find Out How The Fiscal Policy Institute’s Immigration Research Center conducted a study of businesses with fewer than 100 employees to determine how many businesses are owned by those who came to America from abroad. They also wanted to determine what types of businesses […]

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8 Commonsense Ways for Building Value in Your Company 3

8 Great Ways to Build Value in Your Company – And Score a BIG Payoff

David Smith

Hard work, common sense and a commitment to customer service can build tremendous value in a company – and potentially lead to a very big payoff. Overview Ten years ago, two brothers from South Africa came to America looking to make it in the music business. After studying at Boston’s fabled Berklee College of Music, Gary […]

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Rytech Builds a Recession-Proof Business

Water Damage – A $60 Billion Opportunity

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Saving Homes from Water Damage and Mold, Rytech Franchise Builds a Recession-Proof Business When thinking about franchising opportunities, or business opportunities in general, Rytech Inc. is probably not the first company that comes to mind. But if your home suffers any kind of water damage—busted pipes, a leaky roof, flooding from rain, sewage backups—then to […]

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The Seven Keys to Raising Start-up Money

The Seven Keys to Raising Start-up Money

David Smith

Immigrant entrepreneur Aziz Makhani parlayed common assets like savings, sweat equity, friendship and enthusiasm into the realization of a special dream — to teach American kids how to play world-class soccer. Like many immigrant entrepreneurs, Aziz Makhani didn’t need millions of dollars to launch his big idea. To make KickShot, his soccer board game, a […]

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Selling Your Company pt. 2: How to Come out on Top

Selling Your Company pt. 2: How to Come out on Top

David Smith

Selling your company can be the fulfilling end to a long journey, a brief rest before taking the next step, or a deal you’ll regret the rest of your life. Mad Mimi co-founders Gary and Dean Levitt provide some insights to help you come out on top. Today when tech startups with paper valuations worth […]

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Low-Cost, Hi- Growth Opportunity in Education Sector

David Smith

More than 60 years ago, a high school math teacher in Osaka Japan developed a nearly fool-proof technique for supercharging how kids learn math and reading. Now more than 4 million kids around the globe are learning the Kumon system while thousands of Kumon franchisees enjoy a fulfilling and profitable business. Overview Education today seems more […]

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Immigrants' Daughter Finds Her Bliss With Travel Franchise 1

Immigrants’ Daughter Finds Her Bliss Booking Dream Vacations

David Smith

Doing what you really love out of the comfort of your own home sounds too good to be true, but this daughter of immigrants, has created a thriving business doing just that! Aggie Batista was born and raised in New York City, but comes from a classic immigrant family. Her mother, a member of a […]

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Memories of Hunger Drives Immigrant to Succeed 1

Memories of Hunger Drives Immigrant to Succeed

David Smith

 Name: Mike Gelfgot; Country of Origin: Uzbekistan; Immigrated to US: 1993; Franchise Name: Anytime Fitness; Launched: 2010; Franchises Owned: 23; Estimated Annual Revenue: $9.8 million: Jobs Created: 200   As a child in Soviet Uzbekistan, Mike Gelfgot had to steal food to help his family survive, and he’s used those painful memories to drive him […]

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Work Smarter, Not Longer: Lessons Learned from America's Taco Shop 1

Work Smarter, Not Longer: 4 Key Success Strategies for Food Franchises

David Smith

America Bortin, CEO of America’s Taco Store, shares 4 key strategies on how she grew her small store into one of the fastest growing food franchises in the U.S. We recently spoke with America and Terry Bortin, founders of multi million dollar America’s Taco Shop franchise, who talked about growing their business and shared these […]

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Culture

Desi Mom Diaries: Bringing Up Baby in America

Desi Mom Diaries: Bringing Up Baby in America

David Smith

Deepika Jain, shares what she’s learned about raising children in America. When you’re a new, financially insecure immigrant, raising a child isn’t easy. This is especially true if your new country is vastly different culturally from your home country, as is the United States compared to India.   My husband and I arrived in USA […]

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Accelerating Growth of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in New Jersey

Celebrating New Jersey’s Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Hollywood Helps Celebrate “Immigrant Heritage Month” in June

Election 2016: Trump Inspires More Immigrants to Seek Citizenship

Digital Marketing

How To Set Up Your Online Sales Plan

How To Set Up Your Online Sales Plan

David Smith

A step-by-step guide to building your online sales plan and making your website a selling machine. Building a website Even a simple site can be a powerful income-producing tool that will win your business leads and generate sales. If you have put off starting a site because you are too busy running your business, don’t […]

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Social Media Tips from Ming Wang Knits

Introduction to Online Marketing

Communications

Bringing Your Business In the Cloud 1

Bringing Your Business In the Cloud

David Smith

Small business owners are discovering the value of bring their business in the cloud. Using cloud services has helped them control the bottom line and allow them to concentrate on growing their businesses. Today’s entrepreneurs have too much on their plates. They want to be focused on marketing their products and services, but increasingly they’re forced […]

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How to Make Data Security a Business Asset

WiFi HotSpots Benefit Business

Is Your Internet Fast Enough to Keep Up With the Competition?

Best global phone plans

Even More News

Immigrants Create Billions For The US

By: Foulis Peacock Immigrants in the U.S. are 2x as likely to start businesses as their native counterparts generating at least $1 trillion in annual sales revenue, per the New American Economy (NAE). Driving the news: Immigration critics frequently assert that immigrants are more “likely to use public benefit programs” — positioning them as a burden on […]

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Find Your High Paying Job Here

Meet The Waffle Master of NYC

Crowdfunding’s Pros and Cons for Immigrant Startups

On The Road Again 1

Recent Posts

  • Immigrants Create Billions For The US
  • Find Your High Paying Job Here
  • Meet The Waffle Master of NYC
  • Crowdfunding’s Pros and Cons for Immigrant Startups
  • Russian Immigrant Creates $130M Health Food Empire

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WATCH – CEO of Signal 88 explains opportunity in the $44 Billion private security industry Watch CEO Reed Nyffeler explains the extraordinary growth of Signal 88 in the US’s rapidly growing $44 Billion private security industry, including what it takes to succeed as a franchisee. And as you’ll see, Nyffeler is passionate about working with immigrant […]

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Bin There Dump That

Proving the wisdom of the old say, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Bin There Dump That” has created a network of highly successful franchises that place dumpsters bins at surburban homes and then remove them when the home remodeling is done. Watch as John Ferracuti explains the success of Bin There Dump That. […]

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