We caught up with this year’s ImpactPHL Award honoree to see how the Philadelphia business community has contributed to their success. Check out what Ken Weinstein, President, Philly Office Retail has to say as we highlight one of the excellent small businesses that drives the Greater Philadelphia region. Join us to celebrate the 36th Annual Excellence Award winners on Thursday, November 8.
ImpactPHL Award Honoree
Philly Office Retail
Where did the idea for your business come from?
Jumpstart Germantown is the solution to several challenges in the real estate development world – a large number of hungry, aspiring developers seeking knowledge, experience and funding, a lack of diversity in the development community and tens of thousands of blighted properties throughout the Philadelphia area.
Over the years, I received many requests to mentor individuals interested in getting into real estate development. And for years, I met with aspiring developers one at a time to encourage them to join the real estate development world and share my passion until the number of people seeking mentorship was more than I could reasonably handle. Three and half years ago, I decided on a better approach, to reach thousands of mentees who wanted to improve the communities in which they live and work. By offering 10 hours of training, providing mentors, networking with other developers and the community and making loans to get them started, Jumpstart Germantown has helped create a nest egg for hundreds of local developers and reduce the blight that is plaguing our communities.
What makes your business model special?
Jumpstart Germantown is a mission driven business with the goal of reducing blight while keeping gentrification at bay, creating wealth locally, and diversifying the development field. By offering no-cost training to aspiring developers to help them improve their communities, Philly Office Retail has created a unique model of community development and revenue generating through its popular Jumpstart Germantown Loan Program. The Jumpstart model can and has been replicated in other “middle” neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area, including SW Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, Kensington, Hunting Park, Olney, Tioga and North Philadelphia West, and around the state and country, where Jumpstart inquiries are being received weekly. In addition to being good for the community, Jumpstart makes good business sense by improving residential properties in the areas where Philly Office Retail and other community developers operate and producing good will and loan revenues to support additional development.
What is your business philosophy?
My business philosophy, across many social enterprises, is pretty simple – doing well by doing good. By improving the communities in which my businesses operate, we create profit while making the Philadelphia region a better place to live, work and enjoy. I accomplished this goal by buying and renovating blighted commercial properties through Philly Office Retail, providing good food and friendly service as founder and owner of Trolley Car Diner, in Mt. Airy, Trolley Car Cafe, in East Falls, and Trolley Car Station, in West Philadelphia, cleaning and greening the Mt. Airy commercial corridor as co-founder and Chair of the Mt. Airy BID, encouraging low income Philadelphians to stay in their homes, reducing gentrification, as President of Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC), raising the level of education in our public schools as founder and organizer of Trolley Car Teachers’ Fund, promoting exercise and a healthier lifestyle as founder and head of the Trolley Car Table Tennis Club, and provider of training, networking and funding for a new generation of real estate developers as founder of Jumpstart Germantown.
Others will be looking to you for advice about starting and/or operating a business here. What are you top 3 tips?
This is advice I give all those who go through our Jumpstart Training Program but it’s applicable to anyone starting a business.
- Use mentors. Find people who have done (or are doing) what you want to do. Talk to them, shadow them, ask them questions. You’ll learn from those who have already tried and failed or tried and succeeded.
- Find your niche. Decide what you want to do and focus on that goal. Don’t get distracted and avoid mission creep.
- Build your team. You’re going to need a good team of professionals to help you succeed. Even if you are going into business for yourself, you’ll still need professionals to do what you can’t (i.e. accountant, architect, lawyer, insurance broker, banker, marketing consultant).
What’s something that you think would surprise people about your business?
What may surprise people the most is that we haven’t advertised. We’ve had nearly 850 applicants for our Training Program, and have provided more than 100 loans, over the past 3 years, and haven’t advertised our Jumpstart Program once. Our Training Program applicant pool is primarily generated via word of mouth and our Loan Program is promoted by our Training Program graduates to their friends, family and realtors. We’ve also received great press coverage which generates a buzz and a significant increase in applicants.
Be sure to grab your tickets to help celebrate Ken and his team at Philly Office Retail as the ImpactPHL Award honoree at the 36th Annual Excellence Awards on Thursday, November 8.
