Tag Archives: New York City

WIMS Client Spotlight EF Hutton

WIMS Client Spotlight: EF Hutton

EF Hutton is a fast-paced high-growth global investment bank founded by experienced investment professionals that have collectively financed over $250 billion for public and private companies alike. They offer strategic advice and financing solutions to middle market and emerging growth companies across the globe. With the focus of a boutique investment bank and the support of a global syndicate network, EF Hutton is the ideal strategic partner.

The EF Hutton proprietary platform includes hundreds of brokers and over $6 billion in assets under management between the UK and the US, allowing them access to capital across two of the world’s most developed and wealthy markets. Their unique organizational structure affords them access to capital on a transcontinental scale.

  • Large Global Syndicate Network
  • Strong Institutional Fund Network
  • 16,000 Active Clients
  • 500 Finance Professionals
  • $6 Billion Assets Under Management
  • Proprietary Global Network With A Presence In Every Market

At EF Hutton, they conduct all aspects of their business with the utmost integrity. They are dedicated to providing objective strategic advice and financing solutions to companies across the globe.

Powerful Partnerships:

EF Hutton’s dynamic operating structure offers a unique alternative to traditional middle market investment banks. EF Hutton is a division of Kingswood USA, a subsidiary of Kingswood Group (AIM:KWG); the synergies of these divisions and direct access to KWG provides EF Hutton a unique global presence and broad platform outreach. Their differentiated equity platform allows for cross border access to global asset managers, banks, middle market credit funds, family offices, and specialty lenders. Since the founding of EF Hutton in May of 2020, they have found the Kingswood Group to be a powerful partner that shares our vision of rapid expansion.

About EF Hutton

EF Hutton (formerly Kingswood Capital Markets), division of Benchmark Investments, LLC is a global, full-service investment bank headquartered in New York, New York. EF Hutton is a division of Benchmark Investments, LLC, a subsidiary of Kingswood US, LLC, an indirect subsidiary of Kingswood Holdings Limited (AIM: KWG). The synergies and direct access to Kingswood Holdings Limited provide EF Hutton with a unique global presence and broad platform outreach to ensure success for its clients.

About Kingswood Holdings Limited

Kingswood Holdings Limited (trading as Kingswood) is an AIM-listed (AIM: KWG) international, fully integrated wealth management firm with approximately 18,000 active clients and approximately $8.7 billion of assets under advice and management. Securities are offered through Benchmark Investments, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC.

Contact

Joseph T. Rallo, CEO

590 Madison Avenue, 39th Floor, New York, NY 10022

[email protected]

About Mike Simmons & WIMS Consulting

Mike Simmons is the CEO of WIMS Consulting, a consulting firm and full-service marketing and sales agency specializing in marketing strategy, CRM programs, digital marketing, website development, business development, and additional services operating primarily in Charlotte, Miami, Tampa, and Southern California among other cities around the country. The firm’s ventures include equity positions in the following portfolio companies as well: EolianVR, ARRE (Augmented Reality Real Estate), Sunny Money Solar, and LDR BRD.

WIMS Client Spotlight: Custom Consortium

Custom Consortium is an e-commerce, and soon brick-and-mortar retail company as well, operating out of New York and Los Angeles. The company curates the world’s finest bespoke and customizable fashion brands so that individuals can discover and design them to create their own style. Their tagline is “Empower Your Individuality Through Our World of Customization.”

It works like this. You can discover products in their growing collection of brands. Next you design your favorite fashion items to express your individual tastes and needs. Then your products are custom-made and shipped to your door.

Their current brands include:

  • Saintly – Fully customizable, highly functional, and gorgeous leather weekenders and fine goods handmade in the heart of New York City.
  • Impish Lee – A sister-owned, NY-made lingerie brand that enables women to design their own intimate and lounge apparel online.
  • Awl & Sundry – Handcrafted custom shoes.
  • Black Lapel Custom Clothiers – Flawlessly fitting suits, shirts and blazers crafted individually to perfection.
  • Martenero – Customized mechanical watches.

They’ve recently partnered with Share a Sale to launch one of the highest commission affiliate programs in the fashion space. Plus, they also created an innovative twist via their Custom Style Ambassador program which allows you to create design collaborations with their customizable brands to generate a long-term revenue stream from them. They are looking to partner with influencers to help spread the word.

Take a look at the site and let us know what you think, we’d appreciate the feedback! If you see something you like, use promo code “DesignMyOwnStyle” to take 10% off your first order.

MOMPRENEURSHIP

Ten months ago, I became a mom for the first time. Four months after that, my second baby was born. I know the math seems kind of weird, but that’s because the second baby was my Etsy store, Casa Confetti. Yes, I started a business with a four-month-old. Yes, it’s been CRAZY. It has also been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, and although I’m still learning to juggle motherhood and entrepreneurship (a.k.a. mompreneurship), I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned along the way. Maybe this will inspire some of you who are on the fence to take the plunge and join me on this crazy journey. Come over to the dark side. We have cookies. And milk (of a different kind).

Identify a need and carve out your niche.

I started designing invitations and printables while planning my wedding, when I decided to save some money by making my own welcome cards and favor tags. But it wasn’t until I was pregnant with my son and planning my baby shower that I really hit my stride. I had become seriously obsessed with finding the perfect baby shower invitations, and no matter how hard I looked I just didn’t see anything that fit my style. I finally got so exasperated that I decided to design my own. Without realizing it at the time, I had found my niche!

Know your market.

By the time that I decided to take the plunge and start Casa Confetti, I was pretty much an expert in the Etsy printable invitation market. I knew what search terms yielded what kinds of results because I had run so many searches myself, which allowed me to tailor my product descriptions in order to maximize views. I knew what other Etsy stores charged for their products. And I had identified the major players in the printables market, because I had seen their names pop up in searches over and over again. A little more research into the nuts and bolts of setting up an Etsy store and I was ready to go. But I can’t stress how important doing this kind of background research is – you’ve got to know your market! And studying the habits of other, successful entrepreneurs is a must.

You can’t do it all, and that’s okay.

Being a mom is a 24/7 job. Being an entrepreneur is a 24/7 job. So, yes, a lot of the time it feels like I’m trying to squeeze 48 hours into a 24-hour day. And I don’t really know how to do it. It means that a lot of the time, a lot of things don’t get done. And that’s ok.

As a mompreneur, you need to be realistic. Everything takes about ten times as long to do with a child. Of course I wish I could sit in a quiet space designing invitations all day, but that’s not an option with a tiny tyrant around. Instead, I work with what I have. Coming up with a new, original design takes lots of time and energy, so once I do one, I make tiny edits and squeeze out about ten different variations from it. It becomes a baby shower invitation, a birthday party invitation, and a bridal shower invitation. I make a few minor changes and, voila! Three additional products.

My best-selling items are baby shower and first birthday invitations, because that’s what I know best. It makes me happy to work with customers who are in the same life stage as me, so I try to stick with that. Eventually I’d like to break into weddings, but for now, I like where I am. Which brings me to my next point.

Love where you are.

The flexibility that being your own boss affords you is invaluable when you’re a mom. Even if I have to work until 2 a.m. to fulfill my orders from that day, and then wake up at 7 a.m. when my husband brings my crying baby to the bed, the fact that I can be there for the little things makes all the difference in the world. I can put off orders for an hour to take my son to the park. I am hyper-diligent about getting orders out almost as soon as they’re received, so that if my son, Levi, is having a bad day, I can afford to spend time with him and cut myself some slack.

Any entrepreneur can tell you that starting your own business is full of highs and lows. Some days I feel like I don’t even have time to breathe. I’ll be bombarded with orders and questions from potential buyers, and I find myself questioning how in the world I’ll get it all done. Other days are slower, and having Levi there as a constant makes it easier to ride out these lows. I’ll start to feel down on myself for not being at the level where I feel like I should be, but then I remember that part of the appeal of this job is having time to spend with my baby. If I can do that and still make money, then it’s going as well as I could ever hope.

Don’t sell yourself short.

Even before I had Levi, the question started popping up in almost every conversation: “So, are you going back to work?” The truth is that at first I didn’t know the answer. I knew that I didn’t want to work full-time, but if I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t sure that I was willing to go the full-on, stay-at-home-mom route either. Motherhood had given me this crazy surge of courage. I firmly believe that the best gift you can give your child is a happy mom. So I got to getting happy.

At first when people asked me if I was back at work, I’d get embarrassed and kind of mutter under my breath, “No, just staying at home.” But I wasn’t JUST staying at home! I was working 24 hours a day! I had started a business and had already had more sales than I could have ever anticipated. So I’d quietly add, “Oh you know, it’s no big deal, I just started a little Etsy store on the side. It’s silly.” But then my store started taking off, and I started to feel immensely proud of my store and my ability. I realized that I had been selling myself short – if I were a man, I’d have been introducing myself as a CEO. So why as a woman was I “just a mom?” Once I changed my attitude, I started feeling so much more fulfilled and empowered. I get to spend time with my son and still make more than I was earning as a lawyer. As everyone says, the key to having it all is realizing that you already do!

—-

Gaby Abrams is the owner of Casa Confetti Party Designs on Etsy and a stay-at-home mom to Levi (10 months old). She lives in New York City with her husband, Jake. Prior to having a baby and starting Casa Confetti, Gaby worked as a lawyer. Follow Gaby on Instagram at @casaconfettishop or email her at [email protected].

Casa Confetti Logo