Every Day a New Adventure, New Project

Our spotlight today is on Mike and Miriam Risko.

Business: Mike Risko Music
Owners: Mike and Miriam Risko 
Address: 144-146 Croton Ave.
Ossining NY 10562

How did you come up with the name?
It was easy! It made sense to use his name in the business name because he was teaching all the lessons when we first opened in 1995. We became Mike Risko Music when we bought our building in 2009 and opened a music store in addition to our music school.

Why choose that location? Why start a business in this town?
As long time residents of Ossining, we really believe in this community. We started our business in Ossining in 1995 and bought a building here in 2009. The building we bought was the home of Ossining Music Center for 30 years, We loved the idea of keeping the music going in that location so when the opportunity arose to move our school into the building and open a store, we took it. In addition to all the new and exciting things we do in our building, there are so many memories here for us and long time customers of Ossining Music that it is the perfect location.

We also want to see Ossining thrive since we live here and have our business here. It is like a little artistic village on the river with so many hidden gems. We really love to bring people into Ossining to see our business and to see all the other amazing things here. We have a lot of customers from outside of this town and it is exciting to show them that they can come here and do something cool like take a music lesson. We believe that having a strong business in Ossining will help contribute to it’s success and we are excited for what the future of Ossining holds.

Briefly, what business are you in?
Music School, Music Store and Musical Entertainment

What's the most difficult moment or challenge you've faced as a business owner?
The most difficult challenge we have faced is when we were renovating our building. There are two sections to our building and while we renovated our music store, we moved all our gear and merchandise into the music school section. It was quite a challenge to direct kids to their lessons amongst guitar trees with thousands of dollars worth of guitars hanging from them. We tried to keep things fun always offering a craft project to waiting students and coffee and donuts on Saturdays to parents. People were so nice and understanding. Dealing with construction in your house or your business is never fun but we are so glad we renovated our store and are so pleased with the way it looks that now we look back on it and we are relieved we got through it.

Were there any challenges that made you second guess your decision to be an entrepreneur?
We have never second guessed being entrepreneurs. Every day is a new adventure or a new project. It is really fun to be able to think of an idea and watch it turn into something. Being an entrepreneur means that we work around the clock, but luckily for us, we are a married couple and we can talk about work any time of the day which helps. It also helps that we work together really well.

What's been your favorite moment or proudest achievement since opening?
We have a lot of achievements that we are proud of but our proudest moments are watching so many kids and adults turn into musicians and have little successes on their instruments. There is nothing better than seeing a mom or dad smile while his or her child is playing the piano or hits that one challenging note in a song. Being recognized by the community at the end of April by being given the Ambassadors Award by the Ossining Democratic committee is pretty exciting too but making people’s musical dreams come true overrides everything!

What's the most innovative idea your employees or customers have had that you put into practice?
We try to take every opportunity and turn it into something fun. Every year there is a great big firemans parade in Ossining which closes our street. A few years ago we watched a few customers take chairs out of their cars so they could watch the parade from our parking lot. Now, every year we close our parking lot the day of the parade and invite anyone who wants to come to sit and watch the parade with us. We have kids activities, a dj and people bring food and family and watch the parade together. It was fun getting that idea from watching just a few people sit and watch the parade and it is awesome to support our fire department in Ossining.

How do you deal with difficult customers?
We really try to make sure to avoid issues with customers by having great customer service and good communication. This is a way to ensure that a lot of issues don't arise. That being said, sometimes it is hard to avoid a situation. We try to figure out how to make it work out because even if the customer is being difficult, they are still the customer and we have to figure out a way to work with them, especially because we all live in the same community.

How does your business give back or get involved in the community?
We get involved in a lot of local organizations. Every year we provide music with our band for the Ossining MATTERS reception and auction as volunteers. This year we are very excited to play because we have incorporated Ray Sanchez, Ossining Superintendent into our band for this event. He plays guitar and Mike has been coaching him on some songs and he is going to play with our band, The Mike Risko Band, at the event on 5/3. We are excited to have him join us. We always like to think of innovative ways to get involved and since we offer some unique services through our business, we like to find ways to volunteer when we can.

The plan behind this series at Patch is to shine the spotlight on all our favorite local businesses, and to learn a little about the ones we may not know that well.