Thank you fellow members of the Chamber and distinguished guests…and THANK YOU! Team Cleinman; for it is upon your good work that this honor has been bestowed. I am, this evening, humbled by this acknowledgement and by the presence of a significant portion of our team and their spouses. This night is for you! Thank you for your hard work and for your dedication to excellence.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you have provided me with a unique opportunity this evening to stand before you and offer some perspective. Tonight, I’d like to share with you the genesis of our firm and where we are heading. I’d also like to share some thoughts on our area’s future. Perhaps, through the story of Cleinman Performance Partners, others might better understand some opportunities before this body and our entire county.
First, know that I am one of you. Born on a farm in Edmeston, I was raised in Gilbertsville by hardworking parents who cared for their community. I am a graduate of Gilbertsville Central School, from which I take my only formal education. My parents were grocers for 30 years. At times, in addition to being the village’s significant food source, they were the community newspaper; telephone booth, baby sitting service and social services department. I bought my first home in Gilbertsville and have lived in Oneonta since 1983. Thirty years ago, together with a small group of concerned citizens, we created the Major’s Inn Foundation to acquire and preserve that National Historic Site. A tax payer since my teens and a land-owner since age 23, I have a deep, deep appreciation for our County’s culture; our history and our environment. We all have much of which to be proud.
As a serial entrepreneur, I have been involved in the development of almost two dozen companies and divisions of companies that have employed hundreds of people; both in this county and others. I have bought and sold businesses; have had business failures and successes. I know what it takes to start with nothing; to turn ideas into economic engines that employ people who pay taxes who support those who employ others who pay taxes. Entrepreneurship is the heart of the American economy. Indeed, of 95 million businesses in the United States, only about 17,000 employ more than 500 people. When it comes to our economy, LITTLE IS BIG!
This year marks my 40th year in the eyecare industry. Eyecare is a broad $32 billion market comprised of hundreds of companies that manufacture and distribute instruments, equipment, frames, lenses, sunglasses, contact lenses, pharmaceuticals, eyeglass cases, software and many other tangible products. Indeed, from this very county, a number of firms import and distribute eyewear throughout North America. The hundreds of firms in our industry manufacture, import, process and distribute tangible products that touch the lives of virtually one hundred percent of the population.
Cleinman Performance Partners is the leading business development consultancy in the eyecare industry in North America, and likely, in the world. Founded in 1989 as a one-man band, today we employ 23 talented individuals in Oneonta and another 15 or so contractors throughout the country…and we have several open positions. We have clients in 45 states and a payroll that currently exceeds $2.0 million dollars. Our staff own homes and pay taxes…yet we have not, in our entire history, earned a single dollar from Otsego County.
Indeed, less than 1 percent of our revenue has come from New York State. From our headquarters in beautiful downtown Oneonta, we impact the lives of hundreds of professionals and thousands of their staff by helping them do what they do better. Based on our proprietary data base and empirical research, we provide our clients with support services; coaching, solutions and wisdom. We help our clients build, improve, merge, buy and sell. We assist with the design of compensation systems and employment relationships. We help them with their relationships and the development of their business skills.
We manufacture nothing…nothing but ideas and solutions.
The Giraffe is our brand…because these wonderful animals symbolize our core competency; that of providing our clients with a better perspective…as the watchdog of the herd. And like the giraffe, our firm leads a quiet existence and leaves a small footprint. Indeed, in spite of our 22 year history, up until we built our new building in Oneonta two years ago…involving the preservation and improved use of two historical but otherwise white elephant properties…the vast majority of you likely didn’t even know we existed.
And except for the wood smoke rising from my office fireplace, we produce no toxic waste nor impact our environment any more significantly than a psychiatrist or chiropractor…or an accounting firm. Our firm grew by almost 40% last year. Our five year plan calls for growth to near $10 million in revenue and a significant increase in our current payroll. Our growth is the direct result of building a recognized brand that our target audience trusts; then matching good people with good ideas. Ladies and Gentlemen, Cleinman Performance Partners is a knowledge business; a clean business. We are an importer of money into Otsego County. Businesses like ours are our area’s future.
But I must also tell you that businesses like ours can exist most anywhere. Indeed, from a recruiting perspective, it would be much easier for us to be located in a major city where talent is easier to attract. Several of our current workforce commutes from Albany and Utica. It would be more productive for us to locate in an environment where business services are more accessible; where transportation is easier and cheaper; where the business community is more diverse. But we have chosen otherwise. Our commitment to this area is significant.
There are some that say that our area is dying. Our tax base is eroding. Good jobs are hard to find. Our youth are leaving us for better opportunity elsewhere. There are some that are scared that our environment will be soured by industry; from fracking and all that comes with it. Yes, like anywhere else, we do have our troubles and challenges.
Will we stop fracking? While I truly hope so, I also understand the motivations of farmers and landowners who can’t afford to pay ever-increasing property taxes. Fracking is an economic engine that will be hard to stop…without alternative solutions to the underlying motivations.
Can we stop our youth from leaving the area? While I’d like to think so, like many of you I must be honest and confess that I encouraged my children to seek opportunity elsewhere.
Over the past three decades, I have attempted to recruit executives to our area to manage in the firms that I’ve created…with limited success. I’m told that our housing stock is too old; that our property taxes are too high; that there’s nowhere to shop; that we’re too isolated. Yet, we’ve had great success hiring individuals who left our area in their early years, only to return later to raise their families. There’s a lesson here.
Having traveled extensively to and within most every market in these United States, I can think of no better place to enjoy life. We have a set of ingredients here that are like no other that I’ve seen anywhere. Our combination of environmental beauty; access to the arts; proximity to the greatest city on the planet; and comfortable way of life is second to none. And considering the proportion of second home owners, it’s clear that we are where many people want to live…if they could see the means by which they could earn more than a subsistence living. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have what it takes in Otsego County to be another Boise or Bozeman…or even Boulder.
Indeed, in his book Boomtown USA, author John Schultz notes that ours is in the top 100 areas in America with boom potential. We have the ingredients for prosperity beyond our current status. And with the connectivity afforded by the internet; with our shrinking world; we offer a unique alternative to the metropolitan way of life.
But, the reality is that many of our citizens and communities struggle. Many are unemployed or under-employed and we’re over-taxed. For us to truly succeed economically and environmentally we have to be more creative; we have to think “out of the box.” We have to throw out old ways of thinking. Frankly, our situation reminds me of an oft used quote…”If we continue to do what we’ve been doing, we’ll continue to get what we’ve been getting.”
I share the following ideas with you, not as a complaint, but as a platform for what I believe to be necessary change. They’re derived from my own experiences as an entrepreneur in this area. They represent what I believe would make a powerful and positive difference for our local business community.
• As it relates to economic development, it’s time to segment our marketing by focusing our business development message towards specific and identifiable targets. We must make a more concerted effort to attract and retain knowledge businesses like Cleinman Performance Partners. Many of these firms can locate anywhere. Is Otsego County “top of mind?”
• We must do more to externalize our economic development. To attract businesses to our area, our economic developers should invest more time outside of the county…designing and offering specific programs to attract knowledge businesses. We must provide them the resources to do so.
• Our banks must consider new ways to serve their customers. Our modern economy is no longer manufacturing-based. It is in our community’s best interest for local banks to understand where the real value lives in knowledge-based businesses. Let’s create products and services that support firms whose assets exist not on their balance sheet in the form of depreciating equipment and facilities, but in the intellectual capital of our valuable and appreciating assets – otherwise known as employees.
• We should work toward a stronger connection between this community and the tens of thousands of alumni who have graduated from our institutions of higher learning. This would bring tremendous benefit to local businesses seeking employees at every level. Knowledge-based companies such as mine seek the vital, leading edge technology acumen of a youthful demographic. We also desire the thoughtful leadership of experienced and educated managers to lead our business development teams. These people know our area. I have to believe that some of these college graduates would be interested in returning to our community to pursue professional opportunities; to raise their families. Some have businesses which could be relocated with great benefit to both the entrepreneur and our area. Imagine how beneficial it would be to our community, to alum, and indeed the colleges, if the leaders of our educational institutions helped local businesses establish communication links with this highly qualified, targeted audience. It’s time for an alumnae campaign to…Come Home to Oneonta!
• These are troubling economic times; globally, nationally and indeed, locally. At every level, there are interesting ideas on the table: hiring city and county managers; consolidating the town and the city of Oneonta; exploring new economic engines for downtown. Too often we entrench ourselves in the thinking of old; we over-embrace conventional wisdom, draw lines in the sand, and refuse to listen to another perspective. Let’s challenge each other, not to just agree, but to think bigger, and act bolder.
• I encourage all of us to modify our purchasing behaviors by thinking local. This is not a charity appeal. Our farming community and our local service businesses are deserving of our support. I’m amazed how often an out of town contractor wins work from our governments when we have unemployed workers in our backyard. Our retail community will not thrive if we’re more willing to drive 80 miles than walk 300 feet.
• Lastly, let’s stop apologizing for who we are. Let’s celebrate it! Most of my team is comprised of people who grew up in this area and left to pursue opportunities in cities across North America. Eventually, they migrated back home. Why? Because this is a great place to raise children. Because the general cost of living is reasonable. Because there is so much to do and to enjoy. Because we’re centrally located and because the environment – the rolling green hills, the rivers and streams, the village homes and the country barns – they are rare and beautiful. If we recognize this about ourselves, protect it and develop it appropriately, and promote it effectively, it is only a matter of time before the rest of country understands all the potential that Otsego County represents?
My fellow business leaders, no, I am not running for political office. I simply share these thoughts as a humbled small business owner trying to do what’s right for my team and my community. Our business has been successful in spite of many barriers. I, for one, believe that our area can support greater economic opportunity while maintaining a physical and cultural environment the envy of a nation. The two are not in conflict. My appeal is that we thing bigger and be more creative in how we approach business development; that we look at our challenges with a new set of eyes; eyes focused on encouraging entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Eyes focused on starting and relocating knowledge businesses that will help build our tax base; provide professional employment opportunity; and add to our resources… all while leaving the softest of footprints.
In closing, I’d like to congratulate, Gruver Zweifel & Scott, also a knowledge business, on your much deserved award.
Thank you all for this great honor and the opportunity to stand before you. And thank you for allowing me to share some different perspective.
