Benjy Portnoy @SmallBizElevatr Shares Sweet Solutions

Benjy Portnoy’s first business was a little candy stand he set up when he was five to sell left over candy bars to relatives when they gathered for a family Thanksgiving.

Today his Website, SmallBizElevator.com, dispenses sweet solutions to entrepreneurs hungry to get their small businesses off the ground.

Portnoy tells a funny story about his first business that still sticks with him today.

“When my grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles walked through the door, everyone gathered around the booth, and I set forth my value proposition: each piece of candy was five cents, or you could get 3 pieces for a dollar,” he recalls.

But what he lacked in math skills at the time, the five year old entrepreneur more than made up for in chutzpah.

It is a quality that has propelled Portnoy through a career building experiences in graphic/Web design, WordPress, voiceover, marketing, social media, and copywriting.

That experience has also included working with Fortune 500 companies, bestselling authors, the neighborhood pizza place, and even a painter next door who wanted to take her skills pro.

Portnoy has turned his experience into a super cool Website offering how-to videos, posts and articles, and podcast interviews with experts (including this recent discussion with startup expert Bijoy Goswami) aimed at helping business owners at all levels of development realize their goals.

BizSugar was a huge help in spreading the message about the resources the site offers, says Portnoy.

“The most challenging piece of launching this business has been getting traffic to the site,” he admits. “That’s where BizSugar has been absolute magic. As soon as I started placing my articles there, I would get close to 30 or 40 Sugars (which turned into traffic to the site!).”

Portnoy also insists the BizSugar community is a great place to connect with others in the entrepreneurial and small business community, and to learn from experts and innovators in the field.

“I’ve only been a part of BizSugar for a short time, but it’s become a SERIOUS tool in my marketing arsenal,” Portnoy said. “I plan to keep contributing to and learning from it for a long time.”

If you’d like to add BizSugar to your marketing and networking tool box, plus have the opportunity to be a featured “Contributor of the Week”, here’s a way to sweeten your small business offerings.

Simply sign up for a free account at BizSugar.com and start sharing small business news and tips, and comment and vote on the contributions of others.

Don’t forget to “like” our Facebook fan page and join the conversation in the BizSugar community there too!