Norm Brodsky

Norm Brodsky, who co-authors Inc. Magazine's "Street Smarts" column, is the founder of six businesses, including a three-time Inc. 500 company. He began writing "Street Smarts" after being featured on Inc.'s cover in July 1995. The column was nominated for a National Magazine award in 2006. He recently concluded a nine-part series, "The Offer," about his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to sell his companies.

A graduate of Rider College and Brooklyn Law School, Brodsky began his professional career as a lawyer, but the slow pace of the courtroom made him want to do something different. His first entrepreneurial endeavor was Perfect Courier, a messenger service and trucking company in Brooklyn, New York. When the rise of fax machines in the early 80s decreased the need for messengers, Brodsky began looking for other opportunities.A phone call from a customer asking about box storage prompted him to call storage facilities in the area. Recognizing that others were charging too much and the potential market was great, Brodsky began CitiStorage with the profits from his trucking company. The archival storage and retrieval company now holds more than three million boxes. Brodsky and his wife, Elaine, run both CitiStorage and PerfectCourier from their Brooklyn office.