A New Yorker created a thriving business by leaving the Wall Street pressure cooker and moving into her own kitchen. Now she's passing on some tips to the next generation.

Two-year-old Kate dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.

"When I grow up I think it would be fun to own a small business," says young entrepreneur Kate Wellde.

Flipping through “Hannah's Homework,” a book on entrepreneurship for young girls, Kate might pick up the author's secret ingredient of small-business success: good research.

That author is Pat Helding the owner of the "Fat Witch Bakery" in Chelsea Market. The seemingly unassuming shop grosses more than seven figures a year — a goal reached by only three percent of women owned businesses in the United States.

"Best brownie there is in the city,” says one customer.

“They're really good,” adds another.

"I usually don't buy baked goods, but these I buy," adds a third.

Owning a small business wasn't Helding's first career. She worked at the American Stock Exchange for 13 years as one of the first women specialists on Wall Street.

"What I was doing was exciting, but what I wanted was something satisfying and creative," says Helding.

Fifteen years ago Helding took out a $20,000 loan and built Fat Witch Bakery on the corner stone of a family recipe.

"Brownies at that time were really the only thing I could bake," says Helding.

She hasn't looked back since but along her journey she noticed something was missing.

"The books that I found were written mainly for many women in their thirties, about, well, Îyou’ve been in businesses, or you've been a housewife and now you want to go into business,’ and I thought, Îwhy aren't we encouraging girls?’" says Helding.

Woman-owned businesses contribute more than $3.6 trillion to the U.S economy each year. All the more reason, Helding says, she wants to inspire young girls.

The story takes the reader through the failed business scheme of young Hannah the witch and ends with a workbook where the reader can brainstorm ideas of her own.

"Very few businesses get lucky,” says Helding. “It’s hard work and a lot of it is research, but that doesn't mean it's bad; it's good!"

And that's something Kate may take to heart as she strikes out on her own.

"I also want to be a New York Yankee," says Kate.

Hannah's Homework is available at www.fatwitch.com or at the "Fat Witch Bakery.”

— Cheryl Wills