The second annual Chosen Business Conference, an expo that celebrates Lubavitch-owned businesses and supports entrepreneurs in the community, is taking place in Crown Heights on Sunday.
Organized by the Crown Heights Young Entrepreneurs (CHYE), it is billed as the biggest and most anticipated local business event of the year with over 60 booths.
Sponsoring this year’s event is David “Duddy” Farkash, founder of RFK Financial in Partnership with MassMutual Metro NY, a widely renowned life insurance agency.
Held at the Beis Rivkah Rose Hall, the expo features a trade show and a networking opportunity with business leaders and investors from around the Tri-State Area.
It opened with a keynote address by serial entrepreneur and activist investor David Schottenstein entitled, “There is Only One CEO… Important Lessons I Learned the Hard Way.” He went into detail about some of the legal challenges he has faced and how he has emerged from them stronger than ever before.
Schottenstein is the founder and former CEO of Privé Revaux sunglasses and has started and sold multiple companies and has ownership interests in a number of successful ventures including OneWheel, Mizzen & Main and his latest venture, 7th Heaven Chocolate Co.
The focus of Schottenstein’s talk was bitachon and why entrepreneurs must cultivate their trust in Hashem. Bitachon enables entrepreneurs to operate at all times in an unfailingly ethical and legal manner, which will spare them a great deal of financial and legal trouble.
“The most important message I hope to get out there is to always remember that blessings come from Hashem,” Schottenstein told COLlive.com ahead of the speech.
“As frum Jews, and especially as chassidim of the Rebbe, we pride ourselves on our bitachon. Many of us follow the Rebbe’s directive to learn in-depth Shaar HaBitachon in Chovos haLevavos. And yet we too can fall short if we’re not careful. It’s not enough to know that Hashem is in charge – that Hashem is the CEO.
“You must internalize it. It’s easy to lose focus. When you forget that God determines your parnasa, that’s when you create the space for making bad decisions. You may think that you are being clever cutting a corner here or there but it will catch up with you sooner or later. If you remember where your blessings come from, you won’t do things that are remotely questionable or unethical in business.”
In his talk, Schottenstein spoke candidly about his own past struggles and the lessons he has learned from them.
“Hashem determined your parnasa on Rosh Hashana, so doing anything questionable or even what some may call a “gray area” is never going to help. You’re going to still make the same amount of money that Hashem has allocated for you so you may as well stay far, far away from even the smallest hint of anything questionable or unethical. You’re not going to save or earn an extra dollar by doing something that isn’t 100% ‘kosher.’ Not only will you not gain more, but it’s likely to come back and bite you and cause you to suffer. Whenever you face the consequences, it’s painful for you, your business, and your family. Trust me, I know from experience.”
“Many frum business people are taught about the value of giving tzedaka, which is extremely important. In fact, I remember a talk I heard from a more experienced businessman when I was starting out about tzedakah and that speech had a huge impact on me. Since then, I have always made giving tzedakah THE priority. But we need to speak more about bitachon. We need to do a better job of teaching the next generation of entrepreneurs that God is in control and that not only will they not profit more by bending or breaking rules, but they will potentially pay a terrible price if they ever do business in a way that God does not condone. By operating from a place of true bitachon and recognizing Hashem is the source of everything you only end up doing things you would be comfortable with having printed on the front page of the New York Times.”
“And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, whenever we are confronted with hardship or challenges in life there are two ways we can respond – you can crawl into a hole and be miserable and play victim or you can use the challenge to strengthen yourself, your bitachon, your family, and your marriage. In my keynote, I’m going to talk about how I did that and how you can do it too.”
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I hadn’t known about the 7th Heaven chocolates.
I went to the website and made a big order.
This is so exciting 🙂
First time hearing David speak.
Very powerful and courageous.
Hashem should bless him and his beautiful family with only revealed good, and lchatchila Ariber since Hashem is actively in charge.
David I am so inspired! Keep your head held so high, you have so many supporters and after today’s speech multiply that number by 10! I am so happy I came to hear it. HERO.
Such bravery
David, I listened to your speech and was very impressed with you owning up to what you did. Everybody makes mistakes in life, some worse than others., as long as we own up to it and learn from it and help others not to make the same mistakes and you’re doing just that.
May the almighty have pity on you, your family and all parties involved and take you all out of this mess.
What a poweful life long lesson
The speech was raw, real and beautiful. I really loved the part at the end where he said don’t make yourself a victim and don’t point your finger at everyone else for your own problems. Learn and grow from the experience. That was so powerful and the acknowledgment to his wife for pushing him in that direction was special. Yashar Koach and hatzlocha!
I know David is very close with Rabbi SholomBer Lipskar and you can see that he is an “apt pupil” and is absorbing the Rebbe’s teachings. It’s beautiful seeing how their relationship has borne such beautiful fruit and may Hashem bless them both to continue their beautiful partnership. It’s a shame that not everyone down there has learned the lesson that a REAL man owns his mistake and grows from it. Kol Hakavod to David and to Rabbi SB Lipskar! 💪🏼 Giborim!! Chazak!!
David Thank you for Being so brave and sharing your journey teaching us lessons that are so important to know.I personally feel that this experience made you so much stronger, smarter and its going to take you on a much higher level of success spiritually and physically. Hashem is with you, and so are we. You truly overcame your challenges and what we don’t realize is that we have challenges as a test and to make us bigger better smarter stronger people! Joseph was put in jail and came out to be a king! All the BLESSINGS to you and… Read more »
Kol hakavod to David Schottenstein. Acknowledging where one has made a mistake and learned from it takes courage and humility, and I truly respect such a person. Kol hakavod to you! May HaShem bless you and your family with all the brochos, especially nachas from your children.
Kol hakavod, David Schottenstein! Your son Ari, who devotedly volunteers in our Friendship Circle, is such a wonderful mentch and a testament to the character and upbringing of you and your wonderful wife. Wishing you and your family all revealed good!