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Name: Pamela Reed

Business: Humboldt & Jackson, bar and event space

Industry: Food & Beverage 

Location: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

Reason for starting: My husband and I always wanted to open our own restaurant and happened to stumble upon the perfect space. I always thought we would achieve something like this later in life, but the stars and moon aligned sooner than we thought.

How do you define success? I define success by happiness. In order to be successful, I feel you have to be happy with what you are doing.

Related: Read about another foodie entrepreneur who created her own event space here. 

Biggest Success: Our biggest success has been our write ups by amazing media outlets like The Wall Street Journal and the Daily News. It’s one thing to have your friends and family say ‘great job!’ and it’s another to be acknowledged by professionals in your field who could choose anyone to feature. That definitely felt great.

Our goals are to continue to grow the business and make more people in the community aware of our existence. We are a quintessential neighborhood bar and event space that I think so many people can enjoy! So we hope to bring in new neighbors and friends for many years to come.

What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it? Our biggest challenge is probably location and getting people to know we are there. Our location is on a very residential street which we knew would be a blessing and a curse. We are off the beaten path so have an awesome local following but it’s always challenging to let other people know we are there. So in other words, marketing and awareness are our biggest challenges.

In 2014, my father passed away from cancer at the age of 59. I always knew but really realized then that life is very short and can be taken from you suddenly. This definitely influenced my decision to ‘go for it’ without looking back and over thinking things.

Related: When In Doubt, Go For It

Who is your most important role model? My most important role model is my husband. Not to sound cliche, but without him, I would’ve never made this jump and I would have kept day dreaming about owning my own business someday. I really respect someone who will just ‘go for it’, that’s decisive and also knows a lot about the business so it’s more of a calculated risk instead of just blind risk

[box_light]Website   www.humboldtandjackson.com 
Twitter   @434HUMBOLDT 
Facebook   www.facebook.com/Humboldt-Jackson[/box_light]

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Read about another Food & Beverage entrepreneur here.

Edited by The Story Exchange