In episode 5, you’ll meet Chris Iousa, owner of Destaré (http://destare.com/) martini bar and Chaibo (http://chaibo.com/) coffee and tea house in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Listen as he shares how small businesses have the power to transform Main Street and revitalize communities. Small Biz Stories (http://constantcontact.com/smallbizstories) tells the story of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet — small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Find us on Stitcher (http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/constant-contact/small-biz-stories?refid=stpr). You can also read the transcript below: Small Biz Stories is brought to you by Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp). Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses and nonprofits connect to new and existing customers with email marketing (http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing). Find out more at ConstantContact.com (http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp). Chris: The chasing of money, it actually bores me. It's just not something that intrigues me. It's difficult for me to be around a lot of other business people. They're talking about their profits and their return on investments. It doesn't inspire me. It's like, what have you done? What have you created? What difference have you made in the communities that you're in? By default, the businesses do make money, but that's never been my passion. It's been really about engaging with customers, engaging the neighborhood, hoping to help make people feel a little more pride in their community. Dave: Chris Iousa remembers the first time he drove through Fitchburg. The old mill town architecture and Victorian homes awoke an excitement that hasn’t left him since. Driving down Main Street, Chris saw an opportunity to revitalize a community and reclaim Fitchburg as the destination spot it once was during the peak of its industrial and commercial prosperity. Like many small business owners, Chris is passionate about his local community. He knows his customers’ names and their favorite orders. He listens to his staff and gives them opportunities to directly contribute to the business. Above all, Chris holds a strong conviction that small businesses have the power to transform communities. Today, Chris shares how he overcame doubts and challenges to create profitable and influential businesses in his community. He’ll share how his approach as a business owner has changed over time and his best piece of advice for those just starting out. More than fifty percent of small businesses fail within the first five years. These are the stories of those who beat the odds. My name is Dave Charest and I’ll be your host as we share the stories of some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet, small business owners. You’ll hear how they got started, their biggest challenges, and their dreams for the future. Chris’s interest in community development stems from a background in real estate. For years, Chris has made lasting impact by renovating space and stimulating neighborhoods. Chris: My passion is transforming space. Prior to acquiring this building, most of my development activities were looking in the most desperate of residential neighborhoods. I'd find the worst house in the neighborhood and I went in and renovated it. We did a full development of the space of the building. I watched on a small scale that our efforts on one building in a neighborhood would start getting. I'd send my crews down there. The landscapers would go out and do their thing. Then I'd watch the next weekend a property that had been completely unmaintained for years and years and years, now the other person, a neighbor was out actually raking the leaves that had been accumulating for many, many years. I looked at that and I said, "You can't count on the neighborhood transforming but you can make a difference."