Norm Brodsky

Norm Brodsky, a serial entrepreneur and co-author of Inc Magazine's "Street Smarts," has founded six businesses, including CitiStorage, the largest independent, privately owned archival storage and retrieval company in the country. He started his professional journey as a lawyer before transitioning into entrepreneurship with his first venture, Perfect Courier, a messenger service and trucking company based in Brooklyn, New York. Brodsky and his wife, Elaine, continue to operate both CitiStorage and Perfect Courier from their Brooklyn office. In 2007, he sold these companies along with a document destruction company he co-founded, U.S. Document Security, to Allied Capital.

Brodsky has contributed extensively to Inc. through his "Street Smarts" column, which was nominated for a National Magazine award in 2006, and through his book "The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up," co-authored with Inc. editor-at-large Bo Burlingham. His insights into entrepreneurship have been shared on the cover of Inc. in July 1995 and in numerous articles since. Recently, he concluded a nine-part series titled "The Offer," detailing his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to sell his businesses.

An active mentor and speaker, Brodsky has been guiding emerging entrepreneurs for over 25 years. He serves as a Master of Ceremonies at the Inc. 5000 Conference, America’s largest annual gathering of private entrepreneurs, and owns three companies in the hospitality and restaurant sectors, including Kobeyaki, a fast-casual Japanese restaurant, and two hotels in North Dakota named Black Gold Suites. In 2019, Rider University recognized his contributions to business and entrepreneurship by naming their business school the Norm Brodsky College of Business.