CNY Artists owner starts to build ‘eclectic’ gallery at ShoppingTown Mall

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DeWITT — When Peter Svoboda opened an art gallery in ShoppingTown Mall, he only expected to be around for a few weeks. “I went a month, and then I went another month,” says Svoboda, the director and owner of CNY Artists in the mall. “And then I made a commitment.” Svoboda actually made his commitment […]

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DeWITT — When Peter Svoboda opened an art gallery in ShoppingTown Mall, he only expected to be around for a few weeks.

“I went a month, and then I went another month,” says Svoboda, the director and owner of CNY Artists in the mall. “And then I made a commitment.”

Svoboda actually made his commitment in December, eight months after first opening the gallery in its 2,700-square-foot storefront. He now plans to keep CNY Artists open indefinitely.

The gallery is an extension of an online art community Svoboda founded in 2010. That community — known as CNY Artists, Crafters, and Creators — was made up of 98 people by the end of that year, and in April 2011 Svoboda set up a show of its artists’ work at the Fayetteville Free Library.

The show went well, leading Svoboda to look for a location where it could be extended. And he landed in leased space at ShoppingTown Mall.

“I realized I had a great audience going by my door,” Svoboda says. “It’s convenient for people. It’s easily accessible. And parking is easy.”

Svoboda wants to use the gallery to get new buyers interested in art. And he plans to talk inexperienced shoppers through the process of making a purchase.

He also aims to make the gallery a hub for local artists. At least 95 percent of its contents are from local artists, he estimates.

The gallery includes a variety of framed art such as paintings and drawings, and also jewelry, antiques, and collectibles. About 100 artists’ works are showing at any one time, Svoboda says. Pieces typically range from $200 to $800, although a few cost more.

“It’s very eclectic,” he says. “I let it grow organically.”

To have works considered for the gallery, an artist must join the CNY Artists, Crafters, and Creators online community for $35 per year — higher than the community’s non-gallery membership rate of $20 per year. If the gallery sells an artist’s work, that artist takes home 60 percent of the sales proceeds. The gallery collects the rest.

Svoboda is the gallery’s only employee, but artists volunteer their time to set up displays and keep the storefront running. About 30 volunteers regularly pitch in, Svoboda says.

The gallery can be more to artists than simply a place to sell paintings, according to Svoboda.

“This is kind of a gallery, but it’s also kind of an incubator,” he says. “People are really getting energized because, instead of sitting at home facing four walls, they get energy from being down here.”

Svoboda says he’s been an art collector for years, but he also has experience in the business field. He taught at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management from 1998 to 2008, and before that he was assistant director at the Small Business Development Center at Onondaga Community College.

Currently, he is trying to run CNY Artists based on a cooperative model, he says.

“I try to do sideways management,” he says. “We all listen to each other. I have to make the final decisions because I have to pay the rent.”

He wants to expand the gallery’s offerings in the future with themed shows and reach out to coordinate educational programs with area high schools and colleges. And he is considering branching out to sell gallery artwork online.

CNY Artists has already been commissioned to create several works, Svoboda says. Artists in the gallery have been working on about four different commissions at a time for the last month, he says. Commissions have ranged from portraits of individuals to a painting of a company’s headquarters.

Svoboda could not provide revenue totals, but estimates growth of 20 percent in 2012.

“The only slightly hard part we face is to get more people to know about us,” he says.

Webucator ready to build on SEO-driven success

Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

DeWITT — A technical and business training company based in DeWitt plans to expand in the new year by searching for major clients. Webucator, Inc. offers online, in-person, and self-paced training for businesses across the country. Subjects range from technical training covering Microsoft programs to business courses in accounting. Much of the company’s business comes

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DeWITT — A technical and business training company based in DeWitt plans to expand in the new year by searching for major clients.

Webucator, Inc. offers online, in-person, and self-paced training for businesses across the country. Subjects range from technical training covering Microsoft programs to business courses in accounting.

Much of the company’s business comes from Internet searches. That’s because owner Nathaniel Dunn focused on search-engine optimization (SEO) when he founded Webucator in 2003.

Search-engine optimization makes a website more visible in Internet searches — meaning search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo list a site high in their results.

“We’ve kind of been in this beautiful place in that our business comes to us through Google,” says Webucator COO David Dunn, who is Nathaniel Dunn’s brother. “We haven’t done a good job of turning those companies into really big customers, despite the fact that their employees have loved their classes.”

Many clients use Webucator to provide intermittent training or training that will only be needed once, David Dunn says. For example, a business may ask an employee to take a class in Adobe Photoshop. That employee will turn to Webucator after finding the training company through an Internet search.

Webucator wants to keep that side of its business, but it also aims to expand its work as a preferred training provider running regular courses for companies. It plans to invest in growth strategies such as marketing to increase its business from major clients, according to Dunn.

“We want to be the recommended solution,” he says. “And we are with a couple of clients.”

About 10 percent of the company’s classes are currently for major recurring clients, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE: PNC), the San Francisco Housing Authority, and the state of Alaska, David Dunn says.

Webucator generated $4.5 million in revenue in 2011, according to Dunn. He does not have firm estimates for 2012, but expects that revenue total to grow by a double-digit percentage.

“I would be surprised if we grow less than 10 percent per year over the next five years,” he says. “I think we could grow more than that.”

About 60 percent of Webucator’s revenue comes from online classes, according to Dunn. Another 30 percent results from onsite classes, while 10 percent comes from self-paced classes where Webucator provides a student with materials required for self-study.

Webucator’s prices vary depending on subject, and Dunn did not share how much money the company makes on each class. The firm quotes its average price for a 5-day Microsoft course at $2,375 per person.

One reason Webucator’s classes are appealing is that the company will run online training sessions with just one student, Dunn contends. It promises to never cancel a class due to low enrollment.

“At a standard training company, you spend half of your time calling the student back and cancelling,” Dunn says. “We can make money with one student. Not much money, but we can do it.”

Webucator can turn a profit on such classes because it pays most of its trainers using a formula based on the number of students in each class. Online trainers can work from home, so they consider it convenient and accept that formula, Dunn says.

“Most of the contractors who work for us could make more money elsewhere,” he says. “The trainers have accepted this model for the chance to work at home and not travel.”

In fact, the company has no central office or campus where employees report to work every day. All of its employees work primarily from their homes, although some instructors fly to companies around the country to teach larger onsite training sessions.

Webucator operates five to seven onsite classes across the country each week, Dunn says. Those classes average between five students and 20 students.

They are typically larger than the company’s online classes, which average between two and three students each. Webucator runs 20 to 25 online classes per week.

Most of the company’s trainers are independent contractors who work for various training companies, according to Dunn. Webucator uses about 70 contractors spread across the country, and it works with 30 to 50 of those contractors regularly, he says.

The company also has 22 full-time employees and two part-time workers. Sixteen of those employees live in Central New York, while the rest are spread across the United States, Dunn says.

Of Webucator’s full-time employees, eight are full-time instructors, Dunn says. Four full-time instructors live in Central New York, he adds. He did not have any projections for adding employees as the company grows.

Webucator currently does negligible business with companies in the Syracuse area but would be happy to expand in any market, Dunn says. He did not name any local customers.

“We’re a national company,” he says. “We’d love to do business locally.”

Forensics expert bases business on bloodstain analysis

Small Business, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Anita Zannin wanted a different kind of job, so she started her business in blood three years ago. “I did not want to do the traditional lab all day,” says Zannin, the owner and founder of AZ Forensic Associates, LLC. “I was looking for something else I could do.” AZ Forensic Associates specializes

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SYRACUSE — Anita Zannin wanted a different kind of job, so she started her business in blood three years ago.

“I did not want to do the traditional lab all day,” says Zannin, the owner and founder of AZ Forensic Associates, LLC. “I was looking for something else I could do.”

AZ Forensic Associates specializes in bloodstain-pattern analysis. The company analyzes bloodstains scientifically, which can lead to the stains being used as evidence in trials.

The firm’s evaluations have been used in criminal and civil cases, and Zannin is often called to testify as an expert witness when a case goes to trial. She says she works on cases around the country and has also been a part of cases in Canada and Europe.

The number of cases AZ Forensic Associates handles at one time varies based on their complexity. Zannin, who is the company’s only employee, sometimes works on one or two cases at a time but has juggled as many as 12 at once.

Clients typically find AZ Forensic Associates through word of mouth. The business’s reputation is buoyed by the fact that Zannin studied under Herbert Leon MacDonell and became his associate. MacDonell is known as a father of bloodstain-pattern analysis, she says.

Zannin founded AZ Forensic Associates in 2009 and operates the company from a 200-square-foot office in her home. She believes the business will grow strongly in the next eight to 10 months, but declined to share any revenue totals or estimates.

“Being that it’s a new business, it’s still in the startup phase,” she says. “There are a lot of opportunities that seem to be coming in.”

Just 20 percent of AZ Forensic Associates’ cases go to trial, Zannin estimates. The rest are resolved before they go to court through plea bargains or other settlements.

AZ Forensic Associates will work for a range of parties in the legal system, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, and private citizens. Cases do not have to be new for the company to take them on, Zannin says.

“I can get involved at any point in a case,” she says. “It can be a new case that hasn’t gone to the prosecution yet. Or it can be a case that’s old.”

Zannin says she’s worked on cases that are as many as 30 years old. In some situations, she has to examine evidence from photographs and documents. In others, she can visit a crime site to perform evaluations.

“Sometimes the visit is simply for me to get a feel for the physical layout that you don’t get from the photographs and diagrams,” she says. “Other times it’s to see the actual evidence.”

AZ Forensic Associates specializes in services beyond on-scene evaluations and bloodstain- pattern analysis. It also offers evidence collection, evidence examination, photography, case review, crime-scene reconstruction, and presumptive testing.

Parties who hire the company should be prepared for the possibility that its evaluation will not back their side in a case, Zannin says.

“After I evaluate it, it’s not necessarily a good result for the person that’s retained me,” she says. “The evidence is the evidence, regardless of who I’m retained by.”

AZ Forensic Associates is also involved in education, from lectures to seminars and workshops. For example, Zannin has helped teach 40-hour bloodstain pattern interpretation courses in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. and Parma, Italy. Courses draw a range of attendees, including crime-scene investigators, attorneys, pathologists, students, and teachers, she says.

Zannin, an adjunct forensics professor at Syracuse University, is used to teaching. She heads classes for both graduates and undergraduate students at the university, she says.

AZ Forensic Associates, LLC takes on some of her graduate students as interns. The number of interns at the company varies depending on its caseload, but it has had a maximum of three interns in the past, Zannin says. Interns often travel to different states as Zannin looks at crime scenes or testifies.

The Year in Review: How did we fare in 2011 and what lies ahead for 2012

New York News, Subscriber Only

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In the Jan. 28, 2011, issue of The Central New York Business Journal, Peter Koveos, professor and director of the Kiebach Center for International Business Studies at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and an advisory board member of the Central New York International Business Alliance (CNYIBA), wrote about what we could expect to transpire in the coming year from business, government, and the economy. Now that 2011 has drawn to a close, I wanted to take an opportunity to review some of Peter’s predictions and provide perspective on the year that wasn’t.

While some businesses fared a little better in 2011, the year, for many, was a repeat of 2010 and even 2009. Unemployment continues to hover near 9 percent nationally, the budget deficit continues to grow, and the legislative branch of government had to pass emergency provisions not once but twice last year to keep the doors of government open.
Bottom line, the domestic market is not looking much better. Globally, things have turned for the worse as well in light of the collapse of the Greek economy.

Peter touched on five issues that would be important to businesses and consumers in 2011. They were the global economy; government; China, India, and emerging markets; unemployment; and entitlements.

International markets and international opportunities continue to be an untapped area for local businesses. While the local economy has been hit hard, those companies that have engaged in international business to help grow their bottom line have continued to excel. At the CNYIBA, we recognize that many companies may feel challenged or intimidated about exploring international trade opportunities, which is why we formed the organization in the first place.

At the CNYIBA, we have seasoned, experienced professionals covering both industry and services (i.e., banks, insurance, logistics, etc.) who have a wealth of international experience and are here to help any business large or small engage in international trade.

We aren’t talking just about export opportunities for local companies but also strategic partnering with international firms who are looking to gain entry to the U.S. with their product line.

Government will continue to disappoint. Peter referenced some alarming statistics about New York State. Almost all of them had to do with taxes. That being said, the Cuomo Administration has made an effort to make New York State a more attractive place for companies to do business in, but it will take time before we see significant change that will have a positive effect on local businesses.

On the bright side, we have access to a local representative of the U.S. Department of Commerce and its international trade office (john.tracy@trade.gov.), which offers free advice and access to inexpensive resources for companies who want to explore international business opportunities.

China, India, and emerging markets will not only be around for a long time but they will also grow in importance. Newsflash: China will be the next economic and military super power. This should motivate local businesses to identify opportunities to sell their products in China. Perhaps, we can follow the example of a Georgia–based company who is producing 2 million chopsticks a day and exporting them to China. Now that’s what I call being innovative and creative. China is known for poor air quality, indoors and out. Central New York is home to so many HVAC companies and specialists. Maybe someone has an indoor air-quality solution that would do well in China.

Unfortunately, unemployment continues to be high nationally and globally. The situation in Greece has not helped matters, and from the looks of things, Italy, Spain (national unemployment at 22 percent), Ireland, and Portugal are not far behind. The good news in all of this is that locally, we have seen some change for the positive. The work of CenterState CEO with the Brookings Institute and the ensuing Metropolitan Export Initiative (MEI) look promising. At last, we will have benchmarks of where we stand locally on growth opportunities outside the area that can lead to more job creation.

Entitlement and the “Two Ds.” In Peter’s article he referenced how public-sector deficits and debt were not going away. He went on to write about how those who feel entitled will be seriously questioned. What Peter could not predict is the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, and also how protestors in Europe are taking to the streets to share their discontent about the top 1 percent.

As we prepare for a national election, the economy will continue to be front and center for everyone looking to be elected and re-elected. A lot of promises will be made, and it will be our responsibility to make sure those elected officials keep their promises this time.

After all, we the people hold the power to elect those officials we believe can implement change that will benefit the majority. If things don’t turn out the way we were hoping, then we can only blame ourselves.

We at the CNYIBA are committed to helping your business grow internationally and are here to let you know that you don’t have to take that leap of faith by yourself. In 2012, we will continue to provide international business forums educating local businesses on international topics that they might find valuable. We will also explore international trade missions to help stimulate new business. For more information on the CNYIBA, please visit us at www.cnyiba.net.

Mark Lesselroth is the founder and principal of Brenner Business Development, an international business-development consultancy. He is also the marketing chair and founding member of the CNYIBA.

Banana-Republic Budgeting

Opinion, Subscriber Only

Suppose you were required by law to do a certain thing. The law requiresyou to pay your taxes. And to insure your car. And to register that car. And to have a driver’s license to drive.Suppose you break the law.Now suppose your job is to write laws. And suppose you have taken a solemn oath

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Suppose you were required by law to do a certain thing. The law requires
you to pay your taxes. And to insure your car. And to register that car. And to have a driver’s license to drive.

Suppose you break the law.

Now suppose your job is to write laws. And suppose you have taken a solemn oath to uphold the laws of the land. In short, suppose you are a U.S. senator.

Finally, suppose you didn’t give a damn.

That sums up the attitude of a lot of the members of the U.S. Senate today. As well as yesterday. As well as 975 more days. This is how many days have passed since the U.S. Senate produced a budget plan. The law requires that it do so every year. The plan is
supposed to cover the next five years.

There is nothing to stop the majority party in the Senate from passing a budget plan — as required by law. The filibuster rules do not apply.

And so, for three years, a majority of the senators have thumbed their noses at the law.
This is a serious law. (I suppose all laws are serious.) It was written so that the people might know how their senators want to spend the tax dollars they cough up. It was written
so that folks would know what taxes to expect in years to come.

If you run a business, you have a right to know such things. So that you can plan. If you are likely to have a large estate, you deserve to know such things.

Because the Senate passes no budget (breaking the law) it must resort to short-term resolutions. Stopgap deals. This is budgeting by dribs and drabs, hit and miss. And it resembles a dog’s breakfast.

An editorial in a Washington paper called this banana-republic budgeting. It was right.

The leaders of the most economically powerful nation in history behave like the bunch of old ladies divvying up the lunch bill. “You had two scoops, so your share should be a dollar more.”

It is another example of how out of touch our political leaders are. As you know, most are
millionaires. Few have worked much — or at all — in the private sector. Fewer still have run their own businesses, or any businesses. Few, if any, prepare their own tax returns.

Few have had to cope with the laws they pass and regulations they allow.

If only they had to live like most of us. If only they had to obey the law, like most of us. If only.

If they did, they would make it their priority to pass budget plans every year. Just as so many of your local organizations do. The churches. The libraries. The schools. The local governments. The Scouts.

Oh, are you wondering why the majority of the senators have not passed a five-year budget? They are afraid to let you see it. Because it will have to detail how they will deal with massive deficits that lie ahead.

They can deal with them by cutting spending from programs. Or by increasing your taxes. Or both. The senators don’t want to show their hand. Because you and millions of other voters won’t like their cards.

So they will avoid writing a budget that will attract scorn from voters. They will continue breaking the law. Maybe we should get the Scouts to run the Senate for a while.

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Tom Morgan writes about financial and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and new TV show. For more information about him, visit his website at www.tomasinmorgan.com

Acquisition adds Brazilian firm to Cooper Crouse-Hinds

Insurance & Financial Services, Manufacturing & Engineering

SYRACUSE — Cooper Industries has added a newly acquired Brazilian manufacturer to its Syracuse–based Cooper Crouse-Hinds division. Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE), based in Dublin, Ireland,

CCC renews partnership with Excelsior College

Health Care, Insurance & Financial Services

AUBURN — Cayuga Community College has renewed its partnership agreement with Excelsior College, which allows Cayuga students to transfer credits to Excelsior easily. The agreement

Breakthrough! Consulting & Coaching owner takes business full time

Small Business

NORWICH — Jane Coddington honed her leadership skills for 16 years as executive director of a local nonprofit. Now she’s putting those skills to different

SRC wins contract for work on electronic weapon systems

Nonprofits, Technology

CICERO — SRC, Inc. won a contract from the U.S. Army’s National Ground Intelligence Center to research advanced electronic weapon technologies. SRC, a nonprofit research

Welch Allyn CEO to retire

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

SKANEATELES FALLS — Welch Allyn President and CEO Julie Shimer will retire at the end of 2012. “After a long and fulfilling career that has lasted more than 30 years and offered the opportunity to work for wonderful companies in a number of different capacities , I am looking forward to retirement and the opportunity

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