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CenterState Chamber Alliance gains new member
SYRACUSE — The Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce is the newest member of the CenterState Chamber Alliance. Syracuse–based CenterState CEO and the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce launched the alliance in June. The partnership allows members of each group access to services and benefits across all three organizations. That includes networking programs, education and training […]
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SYRACUSE — The Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce is the newest member of the CenterState Chamber Alliance.
Syracuse–based CenterState CEO and the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce launched the alliance in June. The partnership allows members of each group access to services and benefits across all three organizations.
That includes networking programs, education and training sessions, and member discounts. The three groups remain independent with their own local identities, management teams, board control, member relations efforts, and services
In addition to cross-promoting events, the three groups will work together on advocacy.
“This new partnership is a natural progression of Cayuga County’s strong history of collaborating with partners throughout CenterState New York,” Andrew Fish, executive director of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release. “We understand the importance of thinking and working regionally and know our members will see significant benefits from our joining this alliance.”
The Cayuga chamber has more than 400 members while CenterState has 2,000 and the Mohawk Valley Chamber has 900.
“With the support of the Mohawk Valley Chamber and now the Cayuga County Chamber this alliance is bringing together the business community on a regional level,” CenterState CEO President Robert Simpson said in the release. “Through our collaborative efforts we are able to effectively deliver an amplified voice and the benefits needed most by our members.”
Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com
First Niagara to open new mortgage center in Syracuse
SYRACUSE — Increased mortgage volumes are pushing First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) to open a new mortgage processing center in Syracuse. Mortgage originations are up more than 66 percent over the past year at Buffalo–based First Niagara. The processing center in Syracuse will join others in Buffalo and New Haven, Conn. and will
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SYRACUSE — Increased mortgage volumes are pushing First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) to open a new mortgage processing center in Syracuse.
Mortgage originations are up more than 66 percent over the past year at Buffalo–based First Niagara. The processing center in Syracuse will join others in Buffalo and New Haven, Conn. and will serve customers in First Niagara’s Central and Eastern New York regions.
“Obviously we’ve grown significantly in Central New York over the past 12 months with the HSBC acquisition,” says David Kavney, market executive for Central New York. “We’ve seen a significant increase in our residential mortgage business here in Central New York and across Upstate.”
Adding the center will create 25 new jobs at the bank. The center will be located in downtown Syracuse at 333 W. Washington St., where First Niagara already has a branch.
The 6,700-square-foot space was occupied previously by HSBC, but left vacant when the bank relocated remaining staff members following First Niagara’s acquisition earlier this year of the HSBC branch network in upstate New York.
The site will handle underwriting for loans once customers submit their applications, according to First Niagara. It will also set up loan closings.
And while already increasing mortgage volumes sparked the need for the new center, the site will also help the bank continue to grow lending in the future, says Tom Faughnan, senior vice president at First Niagara.
“I think number one, it gives us the ability to maintain and provide a great level of service,” he says. “But we also intend to fully leverage [the center] to increase that volume.”
The center will be up and running by Dec. 1, Kavney says. First Niagara already has about five of its staff members in place and expects to add another five in a week or so.
The goal is to be fully staffed by January or February, Kavney says.
The staff at the mortgage center will be new hires to the bank, Faughnan notes.
“One of the strategic opportunities we have here is that there’s a lot of good mortgage talent in the Central New York market and we want to be able to take advantage of that,” he says.
First Niagara has 49 branches and about 500 employees in its Central New York region, which stretches from the North Country to Binghamton and Auburn to the Utica-Rome area.
First Niagara has 430 branches, $36 billion in assets, and 6,000 employees in upstate New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
First Niagara Bank is number four in the Syracuse metro area deposit market with 21 branches, more than $808 million in deposits, and a deposit market share of more than 7.5 percent, according to the latest statistics from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. First Niagara is also number four in the Utica–Rome market with nine branches, $405.9 million in deposits, and a market share of about 11 percent.
The bank is number two in the Binghamton market with 10 branches, $342.5 million in deposits, and a market share of 12.8 percent.
Mooney Marketing Group (MMG) is growing exponentially
SYRACUSE — The Mooney Marketing Group (MMG) has operated under the radar since its incorporation in July 2009. No longer. Revenues are growing exponentially and so is the organization. MMG is a marketing/communications company providing advertising and collateral material, media strategy and placement, sales promotions and sponsorships, public relations, event management, and political/issue advertising. The
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SYRACUSE — The Mooney Marketing Group (MMG) has operated under the radar since its incorporation in July 2009. No longer. Revenues are growing exponentially and so is the organization.
MMG is a marketing/communications company providing advertising and collateral material, media strategy and placement, sales promotions and sponsorships, public relations, event management, and political/issue advertising. The firm’s mantra is: “We’ll manage your marketing while you manage your business.”
Headquartered in about 1,250 square feet at 247 W. Fayette St. in downtown Syracuse, MMG posted $1 million in revenue in 2010, $2 million in 2011, and $4 million in 2012. Patrick Mooney, the firm’s president and sole stockholder, says “… my goal is $6 million next year.” Mooney is looking for at least 2,500 square feet of space to accommodate the growth to 10 employees.
MMG currently works with a number of accounts, including Empower Federal Credit Union, McLane Company, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Honda City, Roma Tile, Jenny Craig, and Upstate Medical University. Mooney says that “70 percent of our accounts are located in Upstate with the remainder scattered around the country.” MMG is now working on projects for national associations because of referrals from Ann Marie Buerkle’s Congressional campaigns, which MMG helped to plan.
MMG’s staff includes Mooney as president, Bret Burghdurf as operations manager, and Brian DeJoseph in the role of media coordinator. Dennis Brogan (a.k.a. The Dome Ranger) is the director of brand development, Paul Rolince oversees a real-estate magazine published by the company, and Bob Clary handles the online/digital media.
MMG was originally set up as an LLC, but Mooney converted this year to a sub-S status with the help of Scrimale & Scrimale, CPAs in Solvay and James W. Cunningham at the law firm of Smith, Sovick, Kendrick & Sugnet, P.C. in Syracuse.
Mooney is a Syracuse native who attended Bishop Ludden High School in Geddes. He then matriculated at Syracuse University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science/business administration from the Maxwell School in 1993. He launched his career with WTVH-5 and WSYT Fox 68, selling media advertising for five years before joining Clear Channel Radio Syracuse in sales. In his mid-30s, he felt frustrated being limited to serving his clients only through a single media source. He also recognized that the “middle market” in this region was not being well served by existing advertising agencies.
Although he had never owned a business, Mooney says he was confident he could create a successful agency by focusing his experience on the middle-market niche and by leveraging the relationships he had established. The recent recession was the impetus to launch his start-up, utilizing his own savings to bankroll the business.
Driven by an ethic to under-promise and over-deliver, he spends most of the day visiting with clients to see that MMG is producing results. “I’m doing well if my customers are doing well,” says Mooney.
At age 41, Mooney stresses a daily focus to educate himself and his clients not only about traditional media but also the world of social/digital media. While admiring technology and what it can deliver, he describes himself as “old school, interested in the human element of each relationship.”
Mooney is married with three children and lives on Onondaga Hill. While consumed by the daily pressures of client service and of running a business, he admits to finding some time for golf. Besides focusing on developing his business, he has set a goal to reduce his current 14 handicap.
Mooney now has the best of both worlds: he has blended his entrepreneurial spirit with his passion for politics.
SHRM manager addresses HR issues following election
DeWITT — The Nov. 6 presidential election didn’t lift the cloud of ambiguity hovering around human resources, says a manager from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) who was in Central New York a few days after the polls closed. Michael Layman, manager of labor and employment policy at SHRM, visited the Syracuse area
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DeWITT — The Nov. 6 presidential election didn’t lift the cloud of ambiguity hovering around human resources, says a manager from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) who was in Central New York a few days after the polls closed.
Michael Layman, manager of labor and employment policy at SHRM, visited the Syracuse area Nov. 9 to speak to the organization’s Central New York Chapter. He gave a presentation at the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel at 6301 State Route 298 in DeWitt to about 30 Central New York SHRM members.
“We probably have more uncertainty now than six weeks ago, six months ago,” Layman says. “Because it’s very short-term uncertainty.”
The looming federal fiscal cliff — an increase in tax rates coupled with automatic spending cuts, especially defense cuts, known as sequestration — is the cause of the short-term uncertainty, according to Layman. Pressure is mounting on the U.S. Congress to pass legislation that will prevent the cliff before it arrives with the New Year, he adds.
It doesn’t help that this is a lame-duck session of Congress, a session that includes members who were voted out of office or opted not to run for re-election, Layman says. Therefore, he thinks the issue could linger into 2013, causing headaches for human-resources departments.
“The most likely scenario in the lame-duck session is that the two parties agree to punt most of the issues into the New Year by three to six months and let the new Congress handle it,” he says. “So that will be complex for employers and benefit administrators to deal with a short-term tax extension, if Congress is to change tax rates in the middle of next year through larger tax reform.”
Federal contractors are also in an awkward position, according to Layman. If sequestration does go through, many could lose a large chunk of revenue, which could necessitate laying off employees, he says. But Department of Labor guidance told firms they don’t have to issue notices to employees that could be affected by such layoffs to comply with Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requirements that necessitate notification 60 days before mass layoffs or plant closings.
Some companies still issued conditional notices, Layman says. Others, such as Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), which employs about 2,300 people in Salina and another 2,900 people in Owego, have publicly stated that they will not issue sequestration-related WARN notices.
“If the employers didn’t comply with the WARN Act, will they be liable for back pay and missed wages?” Layman says. “I certainly have no answer for that, but that’s one big issue that HR professionals and employers are encouraged to seek counsel on.”
Layman extended his discussion beyond the fiscal cliff’s ramifications. He discussed an executive order President Barack Obama issued giving some undocumented workers under the age of 30 who came to the United States before they were 16 years old a two-year deferral from deportation. That order is likely to stand with the president’s re-election, he says.
But it could cause unresolved issues for human-resources departments.
“There’s a lot of questions about what’s that going to mean for an employer when an undocumented employee comes and applies for a job,” Layman says. “This is another issue where folks are going to want to seek legal counsel based upon their circumstances.”
Other issues Layman discussed included Internal Revenue Code Section 127 benefits — employers’ ability to give their workers up to $5,250 in tax-free educational assistance per year. Those benefits, which are a major retention tool, are set to expire at the end of the year, he says.
And, the election seemed to solidify the federal health-care reform law, Layman continues, adding that human-resources departments should still watch out for Congressional action that would modify it.
The Central New York SHRM has about 550 members, according to its chapter president, Pamela Gavenda. It brought Layman to the area to give its members a heads-up on issues they may face over the next 12 months.
“We thought this would be useful after the elections so we could get a preview of what’s going on over the next year,” Gavenda says.
JGB Enterprises plays role in Superstorm Sandy cleanup
SALINA — In the week following Superstorm Sandy, JGB Enterprises, Inc. worked around the clock to produce about 3,000 hose assemblies that helped clear water from flooded buildings across the East Coast. It’s a business the Salina–based company, which produces industrial and hydraulic hoses and fittings, has been building for the last several years, says
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SALINA — In the week following Superstorm Sandy, JGB Enterprises, Inc. worked around the clock to produce about 3,000 hose assemblies that helped clear water from flooded buildings across the East Coast.
It’s a business the Salina–based company, which produces industrial and hydraulic hoses and fittings, has been building for the last several years, says Steve Starrantino, JGB vice president. Ron Ugalde, based at JGB’s Charlotte, N.C. location as its southeast regional manager, first recognized the opportunity.
“He was heavily involved in day-to-day business with these pump contractors,” Starrantino says. “He identified a major market and the rest is history. It’s grown significantly and he has since passed that wisdom onto other parts of our company.”
JGB knew Sandy was coming so it began working with its clients in the “dewatering” space ahead of time, Starrantino says. The company reached out to let them know JGB was positioned to provide the hose they would need.
The products ranged in size from 2 inches to a foot. JGB had worked with most of the customers it dealt with in the wake of Sandy in the past, Starrantino says.
The company was able to become more entrenched with a few thanks to its strong response time. During the aftermath of the storm, a team at JGB was working 24 hours a day to fill orders.
Customers relied on JGB more heavily since the firm was demonstrating a strong turnaround capability, Starrantino says. Many of the hose deliveries took place in the middle of the night, he adds.
A team of 15 to 20 people worked directly on the Sandy jobs. That includes staff in Charlotte and Salina.
The firm has worked on other disaster-response projects in the past, including storms in Florida and Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, Starrantino says. Usually, it’s the company’s Charlotte office that is most heavily involved in the work, he adds.
But because of Sandy’s unusual focus on the Northeast, the Salina location was also a part of the effort.
Starrantino adds that the Sandy-related work finally started winding down Nov. 9. The company’s customers have said JGB hoses helped clear subway tunnels, the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and major commercial buildings throughout New York and New Jersey, he says.
The Sandy-related work took longer than an average disaster operation for JGB, Starrantino says. Most of the time, dewatering does not take weeks.
But the high concentration of people and buildings so close to the shore in Sandy’s target zone meant more work for JGB and its clients.
About 60 percent of JGB’s regular business is with the military. The company provides hoses for fuel and water. Its products are used to refuel tanks and other military vehicles and to help purify water, Starrantino says.
The company’s commercial business includes a number of markets, he adds. One of the busiest recently has been oil and gas.
The firm has benefited from the resources boom in various parts of the country that has been brought on by new drilling techniques like hydrofracking, Starrantino says.
“That has been one of our fastest growing commercial markets,” he says.
JGB employs 230 people companywide at locations in Salina, Buffalo, St. Louis, Mo.; and Charlotte, N.C.
Northside UP to use Collaborative Impact Prize to launch small-business program
SYRACUSE — The Northside Urban Partnership (Northside UP) has won the first ever CNY Collaborative Impact Prize philanthropy grant from the Central New York Community Foundation. The $85,000 prize will help launch the Incubating Northside Culture project on Syracuse’s Northside. The project will help entrepreneurs launch small businesses in Northside neighborhoods by providing support, education,
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SYRACUSE — The Northside Urban Partnership (Northside UP) has won the first ever CNY Collaborative Impact Prize philanthropy grant from the Central New York Community Foundation.
The $85,000 prize will help launch the Incubating Northside Culture project on Syracuse’s Northside. The project will help entrepreneurs launch small businesses in Northside neighborhoods by providing support, education, and lending assistance, according to the foundation.
Twelve business concepts will be launched in the program’s first year.
“This grant will provide an opportunity for the greater Syracuse community to discover the many talents and cultural assets that are often hidden within the neighborhood,” Dominic Robinson, director of Northside UP, said in a news release. “Northsiders, representing countries from across the world, will be given access to the education, support and financing necessary to translate their unique talents, cultures, and experiences into a viable business.”
The CNY Collaborative Impact Prize is a special one-time grant made in celebration of the Community Foundation’s 85th anniversary. Northside UP beat out 15 other applicants.
Northside UP is a collaboration of business and community organizations aiming to revitalize the Northside neighborhood of Syracuse.
The Community Foundation is a charitable foundation with assets of more than $130 million. It awards close to $6.7 million in grants to nonprofit organizations annually.
Calico Gals sewing up online sales plans after e200 graduation
DeWITT — A Central New York quilt and sewing shop wants to patch into online sales. “Although I’ve stayed up with the social-media pieces and I do have a nice website, I’ve never had an online store,” says Janet Lutz, who owns Calico Gals, Inc. “Probably within the next six months we will have that,
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DeWITT — A Central New York quilt and sewing shop wants to patch into online sales.
“Although I’ve stayed up with the social-media pieces and I do have a nice website, I’ve never had an online store,” says Janet Lutz, who owns Calico Gals, Inc. “Probably within the next six months we will have that, maybe sooner.”
Lutz operates two brick-and-mortar Calico Gals stores. One is in the town of DeWitt at 3906 New Court Ave., where she leases 4,000 square feet of space from Robert Pomfrey. The other store, dubbed Calico Gals Harborview, is situated in Oswego at 199 W. 1st St., where she leases about 2,000 square feet from Anthony Pauldine.
The online store won’t be a small undertaking, Lutz says. She’s viewing it like a second business rather than an appendage sewn onto her physical stores.
Starting the online store will likely require hiring two part-time employees. That would bring Calico Gals’ total employee count to 31, including Lutz. Aside from Lutz, all of the company’s employees are part time. About 20 work in DeWitt, and nine work in Oswego.
Calico Gals caters to quilters and sewers, offering fabrics, sewing machines, support, and classes. It’s a destination that allows people to interact around their hobbies, which are often interactive in nature, Lutz explains.
But the business still needs to adapt to online retail, she says.
“The world of retail has changed so much in the last 12 years,” Lutz says. “We shop differently. Even my demographic shops differently. They do enjoy seeing and touching and looking at things, but the Internet has changed our lives, and it’s totally changed retail.”
Calico Gals generates revenue of just under $1 million annually, according to Lutz, and she would like to crack the $1 million sales barrier in 2013.
Lutz’s foray into online sales will come after she finished the Emerging 200 Initiative (e200) offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Syracuse district office. The initiative, which the Syracuse district schedules over eight months, aims to train small-business leaders so they can expand and hire.
The class helped Lutz put together a growth-action plan, she contends. Now she’s looking at her company’s financials strategically. Lutz is also evaluating her marketing and money-making operations.
“Part of my growth-action plan is to pull back and fine-tune what I have, and then go forward with growth,” Lutz says. “Although I did have a business plan before, I didn’t really have a strong growth plan. Every time I saw something I liked, I’d say, ‘Oh, that’s a good idea. Let’s try that.’ ”
Lutz also wants to work on the human-resources end of Calico Gals, she says. She plans to draw up an organizational chart, which she never had previously, and write job descriptions for her employees.
The business has prospered without those human-resources aspects because it’s what Lutz calls a “hobby job” for employees — they work there for enjoyment. Now, she says, it’s grown to the point where more definition is necessary.
If she hadn’t enrolled in the SBA’s e200 course, Lutz says she would have entered another training program.
“It was great timing for me,” she says. “What I learned is that my business, even though it’s a small business, [is] a real business. It’s just as important as any of the others. It’s just as important to me and the people who work here.”
e200’s future
The SBA’s Syracuse district graduated this year’s e200 class Nov. 7. It was the second class to graduate from the initiative in Syracuse and consisted of 17 business leaders.
The program will be back for a third year, according to Bernard Paprocki, SBA Syracuse district director.
“We’re very excited about that,” he says. “Not every city that had it this year was re-upped for next year, so we feel very good about the fact that our program was working very well and was recognized.”
Next year’s program will operate along the same timeline as this year’s, which started in the spring, Paprocki continues. The SBA is looking for approximately the same number of participants.
Interested business owners can contact Cathy Pokines at cathy.pokines@sba.gov or (315) 471-9393. The first year of the Syracuse district e200 was limited to companies in the city of Syracuse, but the SBA has since expanded it to accept businesses from areas surrounding the city.
Entrepreneur works to blast product to success
CLAY — The National Hockey League’s lockout isn’t doing one Central New York entrepreneur any favors. Rich Settembre, the founder of Way Cool Product Co., was hoping his products would be adopted by ice rinks that host NHL games, giving them visibility. But even with the top professional hockey league making no progress toward resuming
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CLAY — The National Hockey League’s lockout isn’t doing one Central New York entrepreneur any favors.
Rich Settembre, the founder of Way Cool Product Co., was hoping his products would be adopted by ice rinks that host NHL games, giving them visibility. But even with the top professional hockey league making no progress toward resuming play, he feels he has plenty of avenues for increasing sales.
“The San Jose Sharks and Carolina Hurricanes already have these,” Settembre says. “The NHL schedule has been screwed up this year. Meanwhile, I’ll still put them out there.”
Way Cool Product Co. makes products it calls Blasters, rubber-bladed tools that can push materials like snow, water, sludge, oil, or sediment. Blasters come in a range of sizes, typically from 24 inches to 48 inches, and Way Cool Product Co. puts together versions for clearing ice rinks, sidewalks, roofs, and waste.
Settembre developed the product in 2009 as a way to clear snow from his roof quickly and easily. Then he tried it for pushing snow from his driveway and decided it might be commercially viable. After patenting the product, he took it to the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas in 2010 to see if it would draw any interest from companies.
“The thing I learned was that there isn’t an easy way to get a product into the market,” Settembre says. “The shovel industry is basically shovels they make in China or an injection-molding house for a couple dollars. I didn’t think at the time it would be wise to pursue a consumer-type product. It would make more sense to pursue a commercial, high-margin, well-made product.”
Syracuse SCORE counseling led Settembre to try to market the product to hockey and ice skating rinks. And it generated interest.
“The speed is important to them,” Settembre says. “If they’re in a tournament, they have to clean the ice very quickly. There seemed to be a need for it in terms of safety and efficiency.”
From there, Settembre moved on to market the product for clearing sidewalks and other applications. He says he received positive feedback and orders after offering Blasters for trial at the wastewater-treatment plant in Syracuse, and an environmental company purchased some to clear oil from the inside of tankers. The product is also useful for companies that clear snow, he adds.
Marketing the Blasters to ice-skating rinks can be done in a targeted manner because they have a trade magazine, Rink Magazine, and a trade association, according to Settembre. The War Memorial Arena in downtown Syracuse, where the minor-league American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch play home games, will be purchasing some of the products, he says. Still, he was hoping rink managers would see Blasters at nationally televised NHL games and inquire about them.
Not that interest from the skating industry has been waning. The Blasters are distributed by 10 different companies, including two in Canada, according to Settembre. That’s after Way Cool Product Co. gained four distributors in September.
“We’re reaching that critical mass where people are calling in to distributors and ordering it,” Settembre says. “Right now, I’m designing special squeegees for the prison system.”
Settembre declined to share revenue totals for Way Cool Product Co. The company increased revenue by 30 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2012, he says. For the whole of 2012, it will likely grow revenue by 20 percent.
Way Cool Product Co. has one employee — Settembre. He runs the company from his home at 4305 Luna Course in Clay and contracts with local manufacturers to produce Blaster components. Then he assembles and packs small orders himself. He can contract larger orders out for packing.
Settembre created computer-aided design (CAD) drawings to ensure the components meet specifications and fit properly. Parts are manufactured more precisely than they could have been a few decades ago, he says.
“There were no CAD drawings 15, 20 years ago,” he says. “I would have done my own mechanical drawings. But there was no laser cutting, there was no water-jet cutting.”
The Blasters aren’t the first products Settembre developed. In the late 1970s he created a safety binding for cross-country skiers. He called the binding the Avant 1 and sold it through another company he started, Sett Nordic Systems. But the market moved away from the binding, which could fit a variety of boots.
“What happened was, every manufacturer of cross-country ski boots decided to make their own dedicated ski binding that only fit their boot,” he says.
Settembre says he was retired from Welch Allyn when he developed the Blasters. He still considers himself retired from being an employee, but not retired from being productive.
And he’s enjoying promoting his product.
“They have them now at Cornell University, Syracuse University, a list of rinks around the country,” he says. “We just had an order from Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida for one of our 48-inch models. We’ve sold hundreds of these around the country and around the world.”
LaPage puts WellTrail on a path to growth
VAN BUREN — Kelli LaPage believes her corporate wellness company WellTrail, Inc. is ready to turn a corner. The firm will roughly double its revenue to $380,000 this year, and LaPage feels confident enough in its growth prospects to target $1 million in revenue in 2013. WellTrail also hired its first employee outside of New
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VAN BUREN — Kelli LaPage believes her corporate wellness company WellTrail, Inc. is ready to turn a corner.
The firm will roughly double its revenue to $380,000 this year, and LaPage feels confident enough in its growth prospects to target $1 million in revenue in 2013. WellTrail also hired its first employee outside of New York state in August — a full-time worker in Minnesota who gave it three full-time employees, including LaPage.
And if all goes as planned, LaPage wants to hire three more full-time employees by the middle of 2013.
“I feel that we are at that point where we have the process in place, we have the resources in place, we have the infrastructure in place,” she says. “It’s the perfect scenario for growth.”
WellTrail offers health risk assessments, biometric screenings, wellness credit programs, injury-prevention services, injury-management services, educational services, wellness challenges, customized progress reporting, and consulting services through people it calls WellGuides. WellGuides are health-care professionals who can assist employees following wellness programs with one-on-one guidance, support, and motivation.
That personalized approach is what makes WellTrail unique, according to LaPage. It actively helps employees participate, rather than being a passive service that requires them to find their own wellness solutions.
When LaPage founded WellTrail in 2008, the business only offered its WellGuide services. They’re still its foundation, but LaPage says she came to realize different companies she wanted to work with needed different levels of wellness programs. So she added other options, beefing up the company’s online offerings and adding options such as lunch-and-learn sessions.
The move has helped growth, she says. WellTrail is also expanding thanks to work it’s doing with Zeigler Cat, a Minneapolis–based Caterpillar construction equipment dealer with locations in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri.
“Zeigler Cat, we’ve been with them two-and-a-half, three years now,” LaPage says. “It grew each year. Right now we’re targeting growth around Central New York and around Zeigler’s territories in the Midwest.”
Increasing work with Zeigler Cat allowed WellTrail to hire its employee in Minnesota, LaPage says. Before that hiring, the company was relying more heavily on independent contractors, she says. It will have used three contractors this year, down from eight in 2011.
In Central New York, WellTrail’s clients include the Syracuse–based law firm Hancock Estabrook, LLP and Syracuse–headquartered Anoplate Corp., which provides metal-finishing services to industry.
LaPage runs WellTrail from 425 square feet of office space at her home at 7421 W. Dead Creek Road in Van Buren. Although she expects to lease outside office space once WellTrail has 10 employees, operating the business from her home allows her to keep her overhead costs low for now, she says.
“One of my goals for the next three years is to lease or purchase a space that I call a wellness incubator where we can house seminars and do classes for my clients and also the community,” she says. “My goal is to be saving up so we can get that space and then expand into other territories.”
Make Mine a Million $ Business competition
LaPage’s growth aspirations are also being fueled by recent honors from a business competition in New York City.
The competition, called Make Mine a Million $ Business, is from the New York City 501(c)(3) Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence and American Express Open. It had entrants give two-minute pitches on their businesses in front of a panel of judges that included small-business experts and previous awardees.
Winners received six months of coaching from a business-accelerator program from Count Me In, among other awards. LaPage was one of 30 contestants selected from 72 entrants in the competition.
“The business-accelerator class is one of the best but one of the hardest things I have ever done,” she says. “I expected it was going to be a crash course like an MBA. What it has been is a lot of self discovery as an owner.”
Downtown Decorations to more than double space with move
SYRACUSE — Downtown Decorations, Inc. is relocating to a larger building it acquired in October. The company, which supplies holiday decorations for municipalities, shopping centers,
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