ISSUE 1 VOLUME 2 JAN/FEB 2017
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL of Greater Keene, Brattleboro & Peterborough
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
What will 2017 bring for our region? A look at manufacturing, retail, workforce pipeline and more!
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Keene Airport Taking Off Stop Junk Mail in its Tracks Get Intentional in the New Year & More! Pictured, Jack Wozmak, airport manager, Dillant-Hopkins Airport.
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Editor’s Note “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.” — Peter Drucker (1909-2005), management consultant, educator and author
W
ith each new year we, as humans, have compelling need to take stock of the previous year and try to predict what the following 365 days will bring. We make predictions privately in conversations with our colleagues, friends and neighbors. We make assumptions about the future as business owners when we strategize for the upcoming year; when we write business plans, make sales projections, budget our marketing dollars. And as a nation, we hear those crystal ball predictions publicly (and seemingly endlessly), as pundits, reporters and politicians write, speak, tweet and post about what they believe will happen. Some predictions are dire. Some hopeful. And along the way, we decide what — and who — we want to believe. Our yearly Economic Outlook issue is an attempt for us, as a news organization, to gather opinions about what we, and those in the community, believe will happen in the upcoming year in our little corner of the universe. We try to put into perspective how global, national and local trends will ultimately impact our pocketbooks, our businesses, our families and our lives. But as Mr. Drucker wisely observed, if we care to admit it or not, our opinions — like all other predictions — are educated guesses. We are, after all, simply driving forward, in the dark, with only our past to guide us. But taking the driving in the dark analogy one step further, we need to remember that while it is impossible to see what is ahead of us, it is helpful to know that we are moving forward and we’re still safely on solid ground. While we can’t predict the future and what dangers (and opportunities) lie ahead, there are some tried-and-true approaches that may help us, as business owners, from tumbling off a precipice. And that is the goal of The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, and the goal of many other business organizations in our community. To keep us moving forward. To offer advice and insight from business owners and other community leaders that may help you, as a business owner, to succeed, despite dire (or even hopeful) predictions about our economy and future. And to help us steer clear of obvious pitfalls.
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The business columns printed in The Business Journal represent the opinions and views of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the advertisers. Likewise, the appearance of advertisements does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the product or service by the editors. © Keene Publishing Corporation.
Contributors Betty Andrews is a freelance business writer with a background in public relations. She is on a mission to help businesses and nonprofits of all sizes increase their visibility and credibility by writing and editing messages that are clear, concise, and accurate. She is a trained and experienced speechwriter. Betty Andrews Writing Services is based in Keene, New Hampshire.
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Nicole Colson worked as a staff writer for The Keene Sentinel for 12 years before becoming a freelance writer and editor in 2013. Her writing has appeared in ELF magazine, Business NH magazine, The New Hampshire Business Review, Monadnock Table magazine, Monadnock Living magazine and SO Vermont Arts & Living magazine. She lives in Swanzey with her husband, Dana, and corgi, Red.
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Meghan Foley is on staff with The Keene Sentinel; she began her reporting career eight years ago at the North Adams Transcript in western Massachusetts. She graduated from Keene State College in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in political science. She is an avid runner, and enjoys reading and taking photographs.
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Steve Gilbert has been a reporter, columnist and editor at The Keene Sentinel for 30 years. He lives in Keene with his wife, Sara, and their three cats. Callie Ginter is a reporter for The Keene Sentinel covering, among other things, homelessness, the opioid crisis and issues related to seniors. She’s a graduate of Castleton University in Vermont, where she edited the school newspaper, The Spartan, for a year. Ginter also interned at the Rutland Herald during her senior year at Castleton.
Helaine Iris is a local life and business coach who has been featured in many publications including “O” The Oprah Magazine. She’s helped many entrepreneurs make a difference in the world, accelerate their professional success and achieve more complete and fulfilling personal lives. www.pathofpurpose.com
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Xander Landen is a reporter at The Keene Sentinel who covers crime, courts and the opioid crisis. Over the years, his work has appeared in print and on the air for NPR member stations. He is also a recent graduate of Tufts University where he studied literature.
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John McGauley is retired; he is the former owner of Gehrung Associates University Relations Counselors of Keene, a public relations agency. He is a former reporter and editor at the Quincy (Illinois) Herald Whig and at the Associated Press in Chicago. He is also a former magazine writer and currently contributing writer and columnist for The Keene Sentinel. He lives in Keene with his wife Marianne, and is also the author of two novels, both published on Amazon, The River and Winfield County. Paul Miller manages the daily operations of The Keene Sentinel newsroom and sentinelsource.com, the paper’s online version, and is responsible for the direction, standards and policies of the news operation, as well as their implementation. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, but grew up in Keene and raised a family here. He has two adult children. He enjoys hiking, exercising, good times with good friends, the ocean and traveling.
Tony Paradiso spent 27 years in the high tech industry holding senior marketing and management positions. His Wilton, New Hampshire-based consulting company, Panoptic Strategies, has worked with companies ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 500. Paradiso also owns and operates his own small business, The Burger Mill, in Amherst, New Hampshire. www.panopticstrategies.com Mikel Steadman is a sales and solutions leader, public speaker and leadership consultant, deacon and family man who shares messages on faith, leadership and business workload challenges. www.monadnockcloud.com Isaac Stein is the business and education beat reporter for The Keene Sentinel. He is a recent graduate of The University of Chicago, where he studied history. When he’s not reporting, Isaac enjoys hiking and reading short stories; his favorite author is Franz Kafka.
C S Wurzberger, a.k.a., The Green up Girl, is a podcaster (Greener by Choice), green movement marketing advisor and sustainability consultant. She is also the founder of Zoocademy, a traveling education company that delivers fun, engaging conservation-based zoology programs and parties to children, teens and adults. She lives in Marlboro, Vermont. www.zooacademy.org, www.thegreenupgirl.com
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Contents
FEATURES ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
16-31
Dillant-Hopkins Airport Taking Off
32
Ecovation: What it Means to Our Community
Editor’s Note
36
4
Contributors
5
MAxT Makerspace: Making it Happen
42
Talk of the Town
7
Troy Powersports: Keeping Up with a Changing Industry
44 12
16
Business Directory
49
Advertiser Index
53
Business After Hours
54
Calendar
55
32
COLUMNS Minding Your Business: My Crystal Ball Says …
10
Young Entrepreneur: Megan Primrose
12
Hints From Helaine
13
The Business Next Door: Nancy W. Brooks
14
The Green Scene: Stop Junk Mail in its Tracks
41
ISSUE 1 VOLUME 2 JAN/FEB 2017
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL of Greater Keene, Brattleboro & Peterborough
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
What will 2017 bring for our region? A look at manufacturing, retail, workforce pipeline and more!
Expert Tips:
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Keene Airport Taking Off
Proofreading: Don’t Forget to Polish
46
Get Intentional in 2017
48
Stop Junk Mail in its Tracks Get Intentional in the New Year & More! Pictured, Jack Wozmak, airport manager, Dillant-Hopkins Airport.
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NEXT TIME IN THE BUSINESS JOURNAL: MEET OUR TRENDSETTERS! T BOOTSTRAP YOUR START-UP T AND MORE!
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THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
ON THE COVER Dillant-Hopkins Airport has been long underutilized. Is that about to change? See story on page 32. Photo by Michael Moore
Talk of the Town
Business News from Greater Keene, Brattleboro & Peterborough • Compiled by Marcia Passos Duffy
T CHILDREN’S MUSEUM MOVING TO NEW LOCATION KEENE, N.H. — Cheshire Children’s Museum is moving to a new location at 149 Emerald Street in Keene. It is the former One Stop Country Pet space located in The Center at Colony Mill. “We are sorry for the inconvenience of being closed and at the same time, excited about our new space,” says Deb Ganley, executive director. “It is on the first floor and families will have access to restrooms nearby.” Moving and construction have begun. The date for reopening is not yet scheduled. Updates will be added to their website and Facebook page. The museum is offering a two-month extension on memberships for those purchased during the month of December. The two-month extension also applies to existing memberships. To help with the unexpected expenses of moving, Cheshire Children’s Museum is looking to raise funds by offering the museum’s mascot, Fergus the Frog, in bean bag form for a minimum of a $25 donation. Donations can be made easily on the museum’s website. “The museum will be even better as we are adding a few new exhibits and updating current ones,” explains Ganley. “We take being the ‘#1 Fun Place for Kids’ seriously!” Learn more: cheshirechildrensmuseum.org.
T LOCAL DRAFT HORSE RESCUE WINS DORIS DAY FOUNDATION GRANT WINCHESTER, N.H. — Draft Gratitude, a nonprofit draft horse rescue in Winchester, New Hampshire, is a recipient of a grant from the Doris Day Animal Foundation, a national nonprofit charity founded by the legendary performer, Doris Day. The awarded grant money is will be used by Draft Gratitude to assist with caring for its senior draft horses and veterinary care. The Doris Day Animal Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, funds nonprofit organizations that need assistance with the work of caring for and protecting animals. This year, many of the foundation’s grants were focused on senior animal care. “When we learned about Draft Gratitude and its work rescuing equines, we knew we wanted to help,” Miss Day said from her home in Carmel, California. “DDAF funds 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organizations helping animals and the people who love them. The founder and volunteers at Draft Gratitude are doing good work, and we’re proud to be able to support their rescue efforts.” Draft Gratitude provides a second chance and a safe home for aged working farm horses. “Having the support of the Doris Day Animal Foundation means we can keep doing what we do, which is saving the lives of unwanted draft horses,” notes Rebecca Roy, founder of Draft Gratitude. She adds that there is an endless supply of aged draft horses that end up being slaughtered every day. Draft Gratitude, established in 2014, is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated Talk of the Town continued on next page.
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Talk of the Town
Business News from Greater Keene, Brattleboro & Peterborough • Compiled by Marcia Passos Duffy
to saving the lives of unwanted draft horses. Once rescued, the draft horses are rehabilitated and will either be available for adoption or stay in sanctuary at the 23-acre farm. Learn more about Draft Gratitude, its mission and ways you can help a rescued draft horse at www. draftgratitude.com or call 603-762-3266. T R.H. THACKSTON & COMPANY OWNER RECOGNIZED, NEW HIRE ANNOUNCED KEENE, N.H. — Dick Thackston, owner of R.H. Thackston & Company real estate agency, has been recognized by the Five Star Institute for his commitment to education and excellence as a property manager. Thackston received the real estate industry recognized Single Family Rental Certification from the Five Star Institutes president Ed Delgado as a reward for his dedication to professional development within the field of single family property management. Thackston is a member of the New Hampshire Commercial Investment Board of Realtors, the Monadnock Region Board of Realtors, New Hampshire Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors. He is a past president of the Monadnock Region Board of Realtors and Realtor of the Year. Thackston is a licensed real estate broker in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts and is a member of the Northern New England Real Estate Network and the Massachusetts Property Information Network. The Five Star Institute of Houston, Texas is the leading source for mortgage servicing education and training to support business needs. R.H. Thackston also recently hired Kimberly Matson as a sales associate (photo at right). Matson is long time resident of the Monadnock Region, and has an extensive background in business management and consulting in the restaurant/hospitality industry throughout central New England. Matson’s primary focus is on business and commercial sales throughout the region. Matson is a member of the New Hampshire Commercial Investment Board of Realtors, National Association of Realtors, New Hampshire Association of Realtors, as well as The Northern New England Real Estate Network which provides MLS data throughout the States of New Hampshire and Vermont. Learn more: www.dickthackston.com. T CHESHIRE SMILES CELEBRATES 20 YEARS KEENE, N.H. — Twenty years ago, the Council for a Healthier Community realized there was a desperate need in Cheshire County: Too many children were going without regular dental care and were living with cavities and misaligned teeth. In 1996 Cheshire Smiles was conceived and became one of the first school-based dental programs in New Hampshire to provide access to free dental care for children in public schools, kindergarten through third grade. Since then, Cheshire Smiles has become a model for some of the 20-plus public health school-based dental programs in the state. And it is making a difference. According to the 2015 New Hampshire Oral Health Data Report, there was a 50 percent reduction in untreated dental decay among third graders in Cheshire County, from 13 percent in 2008 to 7 percent in 2014. This data is even more remarkable when you consider that Cheshire County has the lowest per capita number of dentists in the state and the dental indicator for the percentage of adults seeing a dentist at least once 8
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
a year has not moved since 2008, notes Rudolph Fedrizzi, MD, director of clinical integration for the Center for Population Health Strategy and Practice at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene (CMC/DHK). Currently, Cheshire Smiles’ public health hygienists visit 23 schools throughout Cheshire County, says Fedrizzi. They provide screenings and classroom education to all students in preschool through third grade and screenings and sealants at several middle schools. “Children who do not receive routine dental care are offered in-school preventive care, which may include a dental cleaning, oral hygiene instruction, fluoride treatments and sealants,” says Fedrizzi. He added that over the years, the free program has provided dental screenings for more than 23,000 schoolchildren; of those, more than 5,000 children were seen for preventive visits and more than 9,000 teeth were sealed. Cheshire Smiles also provide referrals to local dental offices and the Family Resource Counselor at The Center for Population Health Strategy and Practice for assistance with NH Medicaid applications. Ann Mahoney, a hygienist with Cheshire Smiles (who works with hygienist Marcia Levesque), says that the team will visit 24 schools in 2017. “Having the support of school nurses, principals, and staff, and dental and community volunteers (including our supervising dentist Stephen Hoffman), goes a long way into helping make the program successful,” says Mahoney. “We have benefitted many children who have not been able to receive dental care because of family finances or barriers such as transportation or parents not being able to take time off from work. Our goal is then to refer the children to establish a dental home to continue with needed restorative and routine care.” Learn more about Cheshire Smiles at www.cheshire-med.com/health_wellness/cheshire_smiles. html. Cheshire Smiles is located at 69V Island Street in Keene, New Hampshire, 603-313-9988. T 4TH ANNUAL TRENDSETTERS AWARDS ANNOUNCED KEENE, N.H. — The Keene Young Professionals Network (KYPN), in partnership with The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough and The Keene Sentinel, will recognize 11 emerging business leaders from the Monadnock Region in March. The fourth annual Business Journal Trendsetters Awards seeks to bring attention to young professionals, under age 40, who are making a mark in this region, both within their companies and in their communities. There were 17 award winners last year. This year’s winners include: • Jennifer Alexander, Keene Community Education • Andrew Madison, Granite State Associations • Megan Straughen, Monadnock Food Co-op • Nikki Sauber, Monadnock United Way • Roy Schlieben, RAS Development/MAxT Makerspace • Robert Parisi, PoshHaus Bathroom Supply Store • Ryan Bell, Southwest Community Services • Hunter Kirschner, Keene State College • Yves P. Gakunde, City of Keene • Amanda Littleton, Cheshire County Conservation District • Natalie Neilson, Cheshire Medical Center An event, scheduled for March 9, 2017, at Keene State College, will be held to make presentations to those being recognized. “It is well understood how important young professionals are to the economic
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vitality of this region, and we have a need to promote that importance,” says Terrence Williams, president of The Keene Sentinel. “We continue to be so impressed with the talented young folks in this region, and this is the chance to shine more attention on that resource. It’s a true celebration.” Started by The Sentinel’s Business Monadnock magazine (now The Business Journal) in 2014, the awards have gone to some 60 young professionals. KYPN President Andrew Madison says his group is increasing its role in the awards this year and seeks to make this event an opportunity for more young people to network, socialize and make connections. “We’d like to make this our networking event of the year,” says Madison and adds he hopes it will help grow the organization and its impact locally. A portion of the proceeds go to KYPN, and the group is planning a separate fundraiser as part of the evening. Madison promises more developments and enhancements as the event draws closer. Winners will be featured and photographed in the special March issue of The Business Journal, which will go to all readers of The Keene Sentinel along with most businesses in the region. The magazine will also appear on sentinelsource.com, The Sentinel’s website. And videos are produced of each winner showcasing their contributions to the area. Tickets for the event can be purchased at www.sentinelsource.com/trendsetterstickets for $25 up to February 19; for $30 until March 8; and for $35 at the event. T MONADNOCK BUY LOCAL AWARDED GRANT KEENE, N.H — Monadnock Buy Local recently received a grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund to support the launch of the Complete Economy Project in Keene, New Hampshire. The Complete Economy Project will support the adoption of local policies that level the playing field for locally owned businesses in our region and spark business models that contribute to our local living economy. This project includes an innovative effort to reframe local economy policy work into a movement in our region and beyond. While the “buy local” trend gains momentum in the Monadnock Region, work at the policy level is needed to support a local economy that works for all. Such policies can cultivate a more resilient community and help the City of Keene reach some of its Comprehensive Master Plan goals. “What we really need to do is change the underlying policies that shape our economy,” states Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “We can’t do that through the sum of our individual behavior in the marketplace. We can only do it by exercising our collective power as citizens.” For more information, visit monadnocklocal.org/completeeconomy or contact Monadnock Buy Local at 603-499-7950 T ASHLEY GUION JOINS LYNN RUST FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRM SWANZEY, N.H. — Life-long Swanzey resident, Ashley Guion (nee Lefebvre), CPA, has joined its team of financial professionals at Lynn C. Rust, CPA, PC of Swanzey; Guion was most recently employed by Robert M. Mucha, CPA, PC. One of the many financial services that Guion provides her clients is tax planning and preparation. She says of her tax work, “It’s all about knowing
your options and taking advantage of the opportunities that the government provides its citizens.” She enjoys helping clients manage current and future tax burdens. Guion earned a Master of Science in accounting at the University of New Hampshire, where she also earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration, specializing in accounting and management. In addition to earning her Certified Public Accountant credential, she is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor for both online and desktop editions. Contact Guion at 603-358-6565, or aguion@lcrcpa.com, for a free initial consultation. Learn more: www.lcrcpa.com T TWO NEW EXHIBITS OPEN MID-JANUARY BRATTLEBORO, VT — Starting January 14, new exhibits will open at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center: Open Call NXNE 2017, and Change Your Mind: Carolyn Enz Hack. Open Call NXNE 2017 is BMAC’s latest juried exhibit. Approximately 150 photographers and video artists from New England and New York submitted work for consideration by juror Bernard Yenelouis of L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York City. Yenelouis selected 24 artists for inclusion in the exhibit. They hail from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. Their work encompasses inkjet and gelatin silver prints, cyanotypes, dye sublimation printing on fabric, video installation, digital animation, and Leporello books. In a statement accompanying the exhibit, Yeneoulis writes, “The intensely varied and thoughtful practices I saw are evidence that art practices are an important and challenging way to address the instability and flux of our current world. I hope that the generosity of what I saw is in evidence in my selection.” Open Call NXNE 2017 remains on view through March 5. Change Your Mind is an immersive installation designed for BMAC’s Mary Sommer Room by Thetford, Vermont-based artist Carolyn Enz Hack. It is made up of layers of mesh, screens, and reflective surfaces undulating above and around the viewer. “I like working with translucent media,” writes Hack, “especially when those materials can be layered to make areas of greater or lesser density. It relates to my earlier fascination with painting water, a medium that we can see into but that ultimately excludes us. Using varying sizes of wire mesh, I can create objects that have a mystery about them stemming from our perception of changing density and uncertain edges.” Change Your Mind remains on view through March 5. Carolyn Enz Hack will give a free talk at BMAC on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, founded in 1972, presents rotating exhibits of contemporary art, complemented by lectures, artist talks, film screenings, and other public programs. The museum’s exhibits and gift shop are open every day except Tuesday, 11-5. Regular admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $4 for students. Members and children 18 and under are admitted free of charge. Learn more: www.brattleboromuseum.org. (Image above, “Swimmer, Galata Bridge, Istanbul, Turkey by Joshua Farr, courtesy The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center.) T THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
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Minding Your Business by Tony Paradiso
Rising rates may also create a “buy now” mentality and spur demand. Combined with a stable economy and low unemployment, I expect 2017 will be a good year for housing.
2017: My Crystal Ball Says…
I
normally start my annual economic prognostication column by reviewing last year’s predictions. Except I didn’t make any for 2016. With the presidential primary looming, I devoted last year’s first column to making the case that Donald Trump is a fraud who has only a passing acquaintance with the truth. Although it didn’t constitute a prediction, for the country’s sake, let’s hope I’m wrong. The one thing I can say with a degree of certainty is that a Trump administration will be positive for business, in the short term. Long term, it’s even money that he’ll do something within the realm of foreign affairs that will wreak havoc on the global economy. TAX REFORM ON THE HORIZON The Republicans will pass a tax reform bill this year. It’s difficult to determine the impact on personal income taxes because the talk is about both lower rates and the elimination of deductions. Businesses — particularly corporations — will enjoy lower taxes. It’s “Trickle Down: The Sequel.” I don’t anticipate it working any better this time. Regardless, the U.S. has lagged the rest of the world in lowering corporate taxes. According to the Tax Foundation (a nonpartisan tax research group), the worldwide aver10
age corporate tax rate has declined from 30 percent to 22.5 percent since 2003. The U.S. corporate tax rate, at almost 39 percent, is the third highest in the world. It is true that the S&P 500 tax rate averages about 23 percent. But that’s an average and getting there requires many forms of accounting gymnastics. HIGHER INTEREST RATES We need to regain a competitive posture and Trump’s proposals could accomplish that. The changes won’t have a substantial economic impact this year and the direct benefits to Main Street may be marginal. Still, in the long term lowering corporate taxes and simplifying the tax code will be a net positive. Something that will have a direct impact on Main Street is higher interest rates. The Federal Reserve has indicated that it anticipates two rate hikes this year and it’s a safe bet that will be the case. A ballooning federal debt — which a Trump administration is likely to exacerbate — will apply further upward pressure on rates. Everything from cars loans to credit cards, to mortgages, will become more costly. That’s not necessarily all bad. For years I’ve thought that slightly higher interest rates would benefit housing. Higher rates increase bank margins, which should loosen credit.
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OIL PRICES WILL INCREASE Interest rates won’t be the only thing rising. Oil prices will continue their upward trend. OPEC seems more serious about curtailing supply and just about everyone in Trump’s proposed cabinet has some connection to the oil business. I understand that Mr. Trump is laser-focused on bettering the lives of average citizens, but I suspect the one percent will enjoy a trickle up effect, particularly if they have a financial interest in oil. With a massive supply of frackable oil waiting on the sidelines we shouldn’t see triple digit prices, but $60-plus a barrel isn’t out of the question. BULLISH MARKET Some believe the stock market has gotten pricey, but with a promise of reduced regulatory oversight of businesses in general, the financial markets will enjoy another good year. One stock, in particular, may have a banner year: Goldman Sachs. As if Goldman alumni needed to entangle their tentacles further within the global economy, if Trump has his way they will soon control America’s financial decision-making apparatus. Like an adult in a plane that’s losing cabin pressure, I predict that they will secure their own oxygen masks before worrying about Main Street’s. … THEN THERE’S TWITTER And then there’s the aforementioned wild card that puts every “it will be a good economic year” prediction in doubt: Trump’s penchant for Twitter-driven foreign policy proclamations. Things that could go very wrong include a trade war with China, a messy breakup of the bromance with Putin, and a bad situation in the Middle East getting worse. Any of these could spike oil prices. Heightened tensions with Russia could roil financial markets. And a trade war would further strain lower and middle-income folks. Maybe we should all Tweet the presidentelect and suggest that thoughtful foreign policy requires more than 140 characters. T Tony Paradiso runs a Wilton, New Hampshire-based consulting firm.
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Young Entrepreneur
Interview by Nicole Colson / Photo by Michael Moore
Name: Megan Primrose Age: 35 Business: Northern Lights All-Star Cheer Gym Facebook: www.facebook.com/pg/ northernlights.cheerleading
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egan Primrose wanted to be a competitive cheerleader in elementary school so her mother, Linda Lawton, started a team at her Swanzey elementary school and acted as coach, also taking over the same job at Monadnock Regional High School. The team went on to win several state championships — the first one was during Primrose’s senior year. In college in West Virginia, Primrose worked at a cheerleading gym and thought the Monadnock Region needed one — so she and her mother (who does all the bookkeeping) decided to open one 10 years ago on Marlboro Street in Keene. How did you develop the concept for Northern Lights All-Star Cheer Gym? When I worked as an instructor with a cheerleading company, Varsity Brands, traveling in the summers and teaching cheerleading, I was offered a job at the cheerleading gym. I didn’t know anything like that existed. It was treated as a sport, with more gymnastics and more aerials. They had a competitive team 12
that traveled and competed against other gyms. There was so much unity it was like a family. When my mother came to visit me at school, I said, “This is what I want to do.” Was it always located where it is now? No. I used to teach a tumbling class first at Monadnock (Regional High School) and then at Keene High School and also at the Swanzey Community House. We rented a small space at the Community House, and we had to pull out our mats to practice and put them away. Two years ago we moved into our own space at 250 Marlboro St. It has a full floor with mats, mirrors and a lobby area and a place to hang our banners. We’re more on a level playing field with the other cheer gyms. How old are the participants you coach? We have six teams with girls and boys ranging in age from two to 18. A small team has up to 20 participants and a large team has up to 36. We’re considered a small gym because we have 100 or fewer athletes. Can you tell us about your teaching/ training process? Athletes train for a two-minute, 30-second routine and are scored on several elements, such as technique and creativity. The season begins in May and runs through summer. In addition to learning their routines they learn skills including commitment, being a good teammate and being humble and giving back
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to the community. Their work ethic is awesome. We do two showcases a year at Keene High School and we travel to compete in cities all over New England as well as at the Summit at Walt Disney World — we went to the Summit the past three years in a row. The hosting organization (of the competitions) is Varsity Brands. I also work with high school teams in the region doing choreography. Do you have any help? Suzanne DuGray — we cheered in high school together — helps me. She has a daughter I’ve coached for 11 years. Alumni usually come by and lend a hand and the older kids are very hands-on, helping out the younger ones when needed. It’s a huge community effort. Do your children also cheer? Yes. Both my daughters — my six and threeyear-old — were raised in the gym and are each on a team. What is most rewarding about what you do? I do what I love in a town that I love. I’ve trained athletes who are now cheering in college. They learned to believe in themselves, work hard as a good team player and know the work they put in is what they get out of it. Knowing kids are getting something great out of it makes the tough days all worth it. T
Hints from Helaine
Answers to Your Vexing Business Problems • by Helaine Iris
“My New Year’s resolution is to start reading some good business books. What are the best business books you have read and why should I read them?” — Bibliophile Dear Bibliophile, My all-time favorite small business book is Michael E. Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited. One of the biggest take-away lessons Gerber offers is the notion that every successful business owner needs to distinguish between working “on” their business and working “in their business. Meaning, even though it may seem counterintuitive, you have to spend time on the things that don’t directly generate revenue, i.e., vision, strategy, marketing, infrastructure, and personal/ professional development, which is where taking the time to read comes in.
AJR Livery,
Here is a list of books I’ve gotten much value from: The Art of the Start, by Guy Kawasaki Love is the Killer App, by Tim Sanders The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, by Steven R. Covey Who Moved My Cheese?, by Spencer Johnson Getting Things Done, by David Allen Suggestion: Commit to reading one book per month. Find a colleague/business buddy to share this reading commitment. Read the same book and meet for coffee to kick around what you learned. T Helaine Iris is a life and business coach with Path of Purpose Coaching. Do you have a vexing business problem? Email Helaine at helaine@pathorpurpose.com. Your name will be kept confidential.
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The Business Next Door
A snapshot of a local home business • Interview by Marcia Passos Duffy
Nancy W. Brooks Alternative Career Coach West Chesterfield, N.H. 603-785-0425 nbrooks@esourcecoach.com nbrooks.esourcecoach.com
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efore her work as an alternative career coach with The Entrepreneur Source, Nancy Brooks worked as alumni director at Franklin Pierce Law Center (now UNH School of Law) in Concord, NH. Prior to that, she was director of government affairs and a lobbyist for a trade organization in Michigan, and a congressional aide on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. She says, “I’ve always been motivated by doing good and making the world a little bit better place. My strong desire to help others and work experience in advocating, education and communication have easily transferred to my coaching practice.” The Entrepreneur’s Source (TES) is the world’s largest franchise coaching organization and an industry leader in franchise education, coaching and knowledge of opportunities throughout the country. A network of TES coaches, including West Chesterfield’s Nancy Brooks, supports thousands of clients yearly by empowering potential entrepreneurs to achieve their personal and professional goals through self-employment. The Entrepreneur’s Source is itself a franchise business model. What are the advantages of working from home? When I started to consider returning to work after staying home to care for and raise our two sons, I knew that whatever I chose to do needed to be on my terms. Our children and family would always remain my top priority, and as any parent knows, effectively juggling work responsibilities and expectations with family needs, including caring for aging parents, is a huge challenge, to say the least. I quickly determined that self-employment — and in particular a home-based business with low overhead — was the best option for me. All I need is my laptop and phone and I’m good to go. This flexibility is exactly what I was looking for, and I have found it possible to balance the many demands of mother, wife, daughter, friend and business owner because of it. As far as a home office goes, while I do have a dedicated space in one of our spare bedrooms, I am not a creature of habit and regularly move around the house with my laptop and phone. Sometimes, I’ll conduct business in my car between errands and my sons’ activities. I’ve also been known to fire up my laptop during vacation too. Like I said, my business is very flexible. Why did you start this business? When I began to consider my options for re-entering the workforce, I had what I thought was a million dollar idea! I researched online and quickly learned that someone else had already taken the same idea, started a business, and was looking for a New England distributor. Armed with information, a contract and lots of questions, I reached out to our great community resource, the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship. The Center put me in contact local business coach, Ann Connor, for a complimentary coaching session. Ann was awesome and helped me determine what questions I needed to ask of the company, as well as some probing questions about what I hoped to achieve in this venture. It didn’t take long to realize that my milliondollar idea was, in fact, never going to make me a million dollars. Now 14
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Photo by Michael Moore
what? Ann referred me to her partner, Michelle Connor, a TES coach. While the thought of franchising was initially a big turn off to me, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and worked with Michelle to learn more. I felt that information was vital in making the best decision possible. After all, it wasn’t going to cost me anything to work with her. I went through the entire TES coaching and education process with Michelle and benchmarked three different franchise models as possible investments — bookkeeping, tutoring and a children’s art enrichment program. While they each had their merits, ultimately they did not resonate with me. However, the more I learned about TES, the more I was intrigued by it. Coincidentally, Michelle was looking to expand her practice and take on an associate coach and thought I would be a good fit. After researching and learning more about TES and the income and lifestyle possibilities it held, I was sold! Where are your clients based? My coaching practice is essentially virtual, so I am not limited to serving just the immediate Monadnock area. My clients live all over the country and thanks to technology they have access to me 24/7. I am happy to meet local clients in person, but even they often prefer the convenience of virtual coaching. For some, traveling to and from a one-on-one meeting takes valuable time from their day. I often schedule coaching calls around traditional work hours for those clients that currently have a full-time job. What kind of help are your clients looking for when they reach out to you? I work with a diverse, interesting and motivated clientele. US veterans, C-level executives, skilled workers, parents considering returning to work, baby boomers looking for an investment or a new
challenge, and recent college graduates who desire an alternative to traditional employment are all individuals with whom I work. Many of my clients are in active career transition, some by choice, others by circumstance. Still others are dissatisfied with their current income, job or lifestyle and are interested in exploring their options and making a positive change for themselves and their families. Regardless of their background or current career status, I meet my clients where they are at and help them clarify their personal and professional needs and goals, and determine if franchise or business ownership is the right path for them. I serve as my clients’ advocate during the franchise discovery process. What many do not realize is that an individual is offered a franchise agreement. Simply having ready financing does not guarantee the purchase of a franchise. Franchise organizations vet prospective candidates to make sure that they will be a good addition to the franchise. Having a franchise coach in your corner to advocate for you is a benefit during this process. What are some of the advantages of running a franchise, instead of starting a business from scratch? Being in business for yourself, but not by yourself, is the biggest draw to franchising for many. Franchising can be a great fit for those individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit who may lack a business education or direct experience within a particular industry or market. A proven business model and operation system, ongoing support and training from the corporate office, marketing, a potentially quicker
ramp up and ROI, economies of scale, and brand recognition are all strong benefits of following the franchise path. If your services are complimentary to clients, how do you get paid? That’s a great question, and one I get asked often! My coaching services, assessment tools, and educational resources are all complimentary to my clients, so how do I get paid? The Entrepreneur’s Source franchise referral network contains hundreds of business models, and I receive a commission if one of my clients is offered and accepts a franchise agreement from one of our referral partners. Because I don’t represent one particular franchise company, I can easily keep my clients’ best interests my top priority and introduce them to the franchise opportunities that promise to best meet their needs. The referral commission is based on a company’s franchise fee, the initial flat fee to join their system. The franchise industry is highly regulated and franchise fees cannot be negotiated. Therefore, working with a TES coach is a no-brainer — you don’t pay for our services and your franchise fee is the same whether or not your work with a coach. What do you do when you are not working? Family, friends, clients and growing my business — in that order — are my priorities at this point. But thankfully, my business provides a great deal of flexibility so I do find time to pursue hobbies and interests, including travel, golf, knitting, cooking and beach time in the summer months. I am so fortunate to have found a business that helps me strike the work/life balance that so many people desire. T
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A Full Pipeline of Jobs, But Just a Trickle of Prospects BY MEGHAN FOLEY / PHOTO BY MICHAEL MOORE
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: WORKFORCE 16
Riley Pratt, of Keene, and a senior at Keene High School's Cheshire Career Center, uses an electric planer to custom create a worn look to floor boards at Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring in Swanzey.
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2015 report outlines the challenge: Having a prosperous regional economy involves building a skilled and educated workforce that can adapt to constantly changing labor markets and job requirements. And while this region has a well-educated and skilled workforce in many sectors, dramatic improvement is needed, says the report, titled “Monadnock Region Future: A Plan for Southwest New Hampshire.” It was compiled by the Southwest Region Planning Commission. To start, the region must emphasize coordination and partnerships between the business community and educational institutions, such as high schools, colleges and career training programs, according to the plan. There should also be encouragement for more apprenticeship programs that pay workers for on-the-job skill development, and there should be opportunities for people to learn job skills outside of vocational training, it states. “Without a diverse base of skilled and educated workers, the Region will have difficulty growing existing industries and will be less able to compete with other areas for attracting and retaining new business,” it concludes. Thomas J. Moses, president of the Williams Construction Group, knows of what the report addresses. ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: WORKFORCE
In his role as chairman of the regional advisory council for the Cheshire Career Center, based at Keene High School, he has seen first-hand the need for more young adults to be trained for a workforce in which the demand is heavy in areas that include health science, advanced manufacturing and engineering. LOCAL RESPONSE TO PROBLEM The Center has tried to respond through its programming and curriculum, which is overseen by local business and industry leaders, but the time has come for some freshening for the Center to be a strong asset in the region, he says. He plans to start that effort with a breakfast meeting at the Career Center in January to which all business and industry leaders in the region will be invited. He hopes it will be a starting point to strengthen the partnerships the center already has and to foster new ones, he says. In addition, there needs to be more collaboration between education and industry for there to be a strong workforce pipeline in the region, Moses says. “Our goal is to have a front seat at the table and participate where we can,” he says. “We have a goal of preparing students for the future, but we can’t do it alone.” While the Cheshire Career Center has well-established internship programs with local companies, there are times
when staff can’t place students fast enough in certain fields, Moses notes. The same can be said once students graduate, he says. Center director, Lisa Danley, says the school’s programming is designed for students to go directly into the workforce after graduation, enter a certificate program or attend a two- or four-year college. This school year enrollment is 805, which is 100 more students than the previous year, she says. Of the total, about 60 come from Monadnock Regional High School and about 20 come from Fall Mountain Regional High School, she says. Danley expects an increase in enrollment to continue, despite the numbers of school-age children in the Monadnock Region declining. One driver contributing to the increased participation is more awareness of the Center and its role, she says. A NATIONWIDE DILEMMA However, Danley is concerned that the workforce demand in some fields regionally outstrips the Center’s capacity. “That becomes the dilemma,” she says. Demand exceeding workforce supply isn’t isolated to this region or state, Moses says, noting the findings of a manufacturing employment report shared with the center by Victor Kissell, senior manufacturing supervisor at Maxcess International Tidland Corp. in Keene.
HOMEGROWN TALENT In recent years, Keene State College has been working to build partnerships with businesses and industries across the region. There are many employers looking for homegrown talent, and it’s the college’s hope that it can provide that. The college has a strong partnership with ou
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Hitchiner Manufacturing in Milford, where students have opportunities to participate in internships and later, jobs. The college is also working with other companies in the region to forge similar programs and would eventually like to have Hitchiner-like programs at Markem-Imaje, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Corning, Smiths Medical and Whelen Engineering among others. However, like the Cheshire Career Center, Keene State faces the problem of not having enough students ready to meet the workforce pipeline demands in fields such as advanced manufacturing and health science. The college has many resources, but one thing it can do better is making sure students are aware of those, Henderson says. The college also needs to continue its partnerships to help strengthen the workforce pipelines. “If we continue doing the things we’re doing, they’ll continue to grow,” he says. T Meghan Foley is a staff writer with The Keene Sentinel.
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STEM: A SOLUTION? A possible local solution is to get more students to think early on about careers in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM, Moses says. Danley and Daniel Henderson, corporate relations officer at Keene State College, agree with that approach. “I think there has to be a refocus on career
paths and getting students into career paths earlier,” notes Danley. “If we know a student in 8th grade is strong in math and science skills, rather than putting that student through a generic high-level curriculum, let’s have them get exposed to a health science field to give them a taste of where they want to be.” Another piece, Henderson says, is engaging college students earlier than their senior year about life after college. “It’s a different world today. It’s much more competitive,” he says. “There is certainly plenty of demand and interesting opportunities.” The challenge is getting students exposed to those opportunities, and, at the same time, getting them to think about what they want to do, he says.
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According to the report, 3.5 million manufacturing jobs are predicted to become available nationwide, and without skilled workers, about two million of those positions could go unfilled. In New Hampshire, there were 66,600 manufacturing jobs as of August 2016, the report said. People age 55 and older fill 30 percent of those positions, meaning more than 20,000 of those positions will open during the next 10 years as those employees retire, according to the report. To meet that demand, not including possible growth in the sector, 2,024 people need to be hired each year to replace those retiring, the report noted.
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A Mixed Bag, an Uncertain Future BY STEVE GILBERT
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: MANUFACTURING 18
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ike thousands of firms across the country — and the globe — a handful of area manufacturers say they are in a wait-and-see mode as the new administration settles into the White House. Last year some local manufacturers flourished, and others struggled, in the typical ebb and flow of market forces. ABTech Inc., a machine shop in Swanzey, has been like an eagle riding a thermal, with 50 percent growth. Graphicast of Jaffrey has been dogged by a sluggish global economy, particularly in Europe and China. Most companies are likely wondering what effects incoming President Donald Trump’s policies, be they regulatory or political, will have in the global marketplace. That’s because while manufacturers would love for their profit margins to be strictly dependent on themselves, most in the Monadnock Region make specialized products for others. “All those companies in Keene are dependent on somebody else. Machine shops make stuff for other people,” says Val Zanchuk, president of Graphicast, which makes mold castings. “If other people don’t want a product, nothing we can do. It’s not a business for those with a weak constitution or for those who have trouble sleeping at night,” he says.
ing to help us. … Any sort of tariff or trade war that reduces an ability to ship overseas is going to have an impact on us,” notes Zanchuk. At ABTech, pent-up demand for new planes and jet engines in the burgeoning aerospace industry has resulted in a crazy amount of growth, even a dangerous amount of growth, according to Ken Abbott, company founder and president. Commercial airline corporations have been reaping record profits, and are rapidly replacing their older aircraft with newer fleets. The need for the precision air bearings ABTech makes for those new jet engines is expansive, resulting in the boom. Abbott expects his company’s growth to taper to 15 percent this year, but he’s not complaining. As for the Trump effect, he says it’s common that many are uncertain how his policies will play out, but talk of reducing taxes and making a friendlier manufacturing climate is encouraging.
FOR SOME: A GOOD YEAR Filtrine Manufacturing president, Peter Hansel, says his business had another good year, expanding its workforce by a little more than 10 percent, to about 90 workers. Filtrine was recently named “Business of the Year” by the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, and Hansel is general chairman of this year’s annual Monadnock United Way campaign. “With my role at the United Way, I’m fairly pleased with what I’m hearing from others,” says Hansel, referring to his interactions with many area local business leaders. He added that local business officials he talks to are somewhat cautious about the Trump administration, and what policy changes could mean. He equates the feeling to the period before the Affordable Care Act was implemented in 2010 when businesses were unsure what effects the changes in the health insurance industry would have on them. “It’s not so much as what we think, but what customers think that’s the most important thing,” Hansel notes. “We’ll see how that shakes out.” Trump’s campaign platform was staunchly pro-business, and a Legislature controlled by the Republican party figures to ensure many of his polices are enacted. That doesn’t mean one size fits all — Zanchuk says rhetoric over a trade war with China rattles him because of the possible repercussions. “You hear regulatory reform, tax reform, but at the same time he’s talking about tariffs and if you start getting into a trade war with China, that protectionism is not go-
Last year some local manufacturers flourished and others struggled, in the typical ebb and flow of market forces.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: MANUFACTURING
WORKFORCE ISSUES PLAGUE INDUSTRY Finding qualified workers in high-tech manufacturing in this area remains a challenge for many. Abbott says they are very careful in screening candidates, yet still make hires that don’t work out. ABTech even has its own mentoring program. It has also hired Keene State College graduates from its sustainable design and computer science programs. “It’s always an issue, the lack of young people wanting to go into manufacturing,” says Hansel. “We and other manufacturers, are try-
ing to figure out how to counteract that problem.” Hansel says the base is growing, albeit slowly, thanks in part to the Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing (RCAM), a collaborative between Keene State College, River Valley Community College, the Keene School District’s Community Education program and the Keene Chamber of Commerce. Abbott used to be on its advisory board. Despite its struggles this year, Zanchuk says Graphicast’s engineers had to work overtime and many weekends because of the lack of qualified workers. “It’s very difficult to find anybody, let alone people with certain skill sets,” he says. “There are thousands of jobs in the state that are unfilled, and it’s not just the high-tech guy who can read a computer code.” T
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ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: TRAVEL 20
Sean Ryan, executive director of Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, with Grove Street as his backdrop.
THE REGION’S CHEERLEADER
Peterborough Chamber reaching far and wide to bring closer attention to Peterborough, the region BY CALLIE GINTER / PHOTO BY MICHAEL MOORE
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t the confluence of the Contoocook and Nubanusit rivers and in the shadow Mount Monadnock lies a small town with a vision to make a big splash in tour-
ism. Cozy eateries and eclectic retail establishments accompany 19th-century brick buildings. Here, you can visit a hat box store and an oil and vinegar shop. It isn’t hard to see that Peterborough’s a picture-perfect, quintessential New England townscape from the moment you round the corner of Grove Street and catch a glimpse of downtown. But the sequestered glen of 6,500 people had been discreetly limping along, surviving primarily off local dollars that fed local business. Sean Ryan knows new money needs to be injected into the Greater Peterborough area to keep the town and the region a desirable destination. Ryan, 50, the executive director of the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, has been trying to get his constituency on travelers’ radars since arriving here two years ago. It appears to be working, gaining attention locally, regionally and nationally. ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: TRAVEL
Ryan has worked closely with the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development, state senators, the New Hampshire Division of Culture Resources and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. Since he’s made more contact with the outside, the outside has taken more of an interest in the Monadnock Region. NATIONAL INK Peterborough appeared in USA Today as the most picturesque and idyllic town in the state in 2015. Peterborough, Harrisville and Keene were deemed as three of the top 10 most beautiful towns in New Hampshire this year, according to theculturetrip.com. And in September, the Boston Globe highlighted the Monadnock Region for the Do It Yourself art tour — thanks to Ryan’s efforts.For 2017, AAA Northern New England Journey is listing Peterborough as a destination prize for its photo contest. Within the past year, 19 tour buses have visited Peterborough. The late Van McLeod, former commissioner of New Hampshire Department of Cultural Resources, was a guest speaker at the first gala/awards ceremony in 2015. McLeod traveled the world to promote the state as a great place for the arts and a great place to do business. Peterborough is home to scores of artists. “To the art community, he was like God,” says Ryan. The director of the United States Small Business Administration came to Peterborough in 2015, as Ryan hosted a women’s only roundtable. Sixty-five women entrepreneurs attended and afterward took a tour of the downtown, where they visited other women-owned stores such as Ava Marie Handmade Chocolate’s, Tribal Rugs by Hand and Sarah’s Hat Boxes. In fact, one row on Depot Square in downtown is completely occupied by women-owned businesses.
TIRELESSLY PROMOTING Ryan estimates he’s done 15 promotions for the state and his town, across a variety of locales, including Canada, New York City and Chicago. He’s even made the New Hampshire Visitor’s Monadnock Region guidebooks intriguing, splashing color on the pages, replacing bland statistics with fun facts about the region and including informational categories such as play, stay and eat. “We’re trying to showcase everything we are,” says Ryan. Ryan explains that when he first started, the Monadnock Region was considered an overlooked corner of New Hampshire — or “grandma’s attic” — meaning there are many neat finds that people have forgotten. “Exposure is everything,” he says. “Our job is to stomp our feet and scream the loudest. We want to be the bratty kid no one can ignore. We need to brag about ourselves. If we don’t, no one else will.” Apparently, he’s been loud enough. Ryan recalls having vacationers from Brazil and Russia. Through the Travel and Tourism Research Association, one of many associations to which Ryan has reached out, world travelers hear about the Monadnock Region. “Their travel directors said this was a must-stop,” says Ryan. MORE VISITORS Rob Fox, the owner of the popular Little River Bed and Breakfast in Peterborough, says he’s not only witnessed more visitors since
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Ryan’s been in his position, but has also seen a more diverse group of visitors as well. Guests have recently traveled from Australia, the Netherlands, England, Israel and Egypt, according to Fox. He also says there’s been a surprising number of “state-cationers,” people from in state, staying at his bed and breakfast. “Sean has been an amazing cheerleader for the Monadnock region,” says Fox. “He’s incredibly enthusiastic about his position and his opportunity to represent and enhance the Monadnock Region’s reputation. We appreciate what he does because it is not an easy job, and he has tackled it with a passion.” Ryan says he, too, has seen a noticeable change in the town in terms of visitors. Licenses plates from New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida and Vermont are frequently parked along the roads of downtown. He thinks one of the main attractions in the area is the uniqueness of each surrounding community. “We’re in a quirky corner of New Hampshire where you can go five miles in any direction and end up in any different type of environment and be exposed to something different,” says Ryan. In the fall, one of Ryan’s four sons hiked Mount Monadnock with his freshmen class. When his son reached the top, he heard mostly French speakers. When he got home, he told his father what he had heard. “Now I know I’m doing my job,” Ryan said in response. T Callie Ginter is a staff writer with The Keene Sentinel. #PERFECTFITGUARANTEE
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Good News: Stable Market Bad News: No Growth BY STEVE GILBERT
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: REAL ESTATE 22
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stable environment has settled over the Cheshire County real estate market, a trend that’s now three years old and chugging toward a fourth. Good thing or bad thing? Most likely, both, with a nod toward the former, say a handful of Realtors in the Monadnock Region. “It is good news-bad news,” says Christopher J. Masiello, president and CEO of Better Homes and Garden/The Masiello Group in Keene. “It shows not a lot of growth, but stable conditions. Pick one of three — appreciation, neutral, depreciation — and it’s second best. We’re in very, very stable market conditions.” The numbers seem to bear that out, with $263 million of sales volume conducted in 2016 compared to $270 million in 2015, according to the Multiple Listings Service, which compiles real estate data in New Hampshire and nationwide. FLAT GROWTH IN CHESHIRE The median price for a single-family home in Cheshire County has hardly budged in the last three years, hovering at $165,000. In comparison, statewide it’s ticking toward $250,000, driven by strong economic markets in the southcentral part of the state and the Seacoast. Data consistently shows Cheshire County’s overall growth is flat compared to the Nashua-Manchester corridor and the Portsmouth area. Yet the Monadnock Region has rebounded in the years following the 2008 housing market collapse, and that stability is projected to continue this year and into 2018. Ranger Curran, owner of Re/Max Town and Country in Keene, says his company had its best year ever regarding brokerage. Curran says the market remains favorable for buyers in the Keene area, even as it tilts toward sellers in other parts of the nation. “You don’t see huge ups and downs in Keene,” says Curran. “The strong markets are in major metro areas and the forecast is for them to stay stable. I’m ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: REAL ESTATE
cautiously optimistic that things will continue, and I’m hoping Keene will attract more industry and jobs that would help the local market.” Masiello agrees, saying the Cheshire County market hasn’t percolated like some others in the state because it hasn’t matched their economic growth rates. Still, improvement over the last few years is appreciable. Five years ago, first-time home buyers represented 50 percent of the Cheshire County market. Battered by the 2008
Realtors do warn of potential, unforeseen pitfalls. Rising property taxes, for instance, are a continual drag on the market. And, like all businesses, Realtors are keeping a close eye on effects the new administration could have, especially if dramatic changes occur. housing market collapse and ensuing recession, those who owned homes hunkered down rather than upgrade. Now, those homeowners are on the move, with data showing only 30 percent of the market consists of first-time buyers. REAL ESTATE LAST TO REBOUND It’s the culmination of a slowly improving economy, Masiello says. First, people need to be employed, then they must accumulate personal wealth and pay debts down, then they venture into the housing market. Real estate is essentially at the rear of the economic train, dependent on other drivers to provide the thrust. With interest rates still low and pentup demand on the high side, Andrew Peterson, vice president and co-owner
of The Petersons Inc. in Peterborough, thinks a surge is here, especially on the eastern flank of the Monadnock Region. Last March he predicted strong sales for 2016, and hasn’t been disappointed. “I believe I was saying things like this is the year of opportunity. (Homeowners) could sell the one they didn’t want and get the one they did want, and that’s what we really saw,” says Peterson. Peterson is bullish about the shortterm, particularly as businesses continue to fill up Peterborough’s downtown proper, calling it “like a mini Portsmouth.” He’s seeing a trend of people wanting to live closer to downtown, while an influx of younger families buys up starter homes that become available. Although the market isn’t flooded with houses, he says a lot of inventory that had been lagging has moved. BETTER PROJECTIONS FOR SPRING? He says his brokers were busy throughout the usually slow holiday season, even the week between Christmas and New Year’s. He hopes it’s a sign of what’s to come and expects a significant number of new properties to hit the market in the spring. Realtors do warn of potential, unforeseen pitfalls. Rising property taxes, for instance, are a continual drag on the market. And, like all businesses, Realtors are keeping a close eye on effects the new administration could have, especially if dramatic changes occur. “Crystal balls shatter too easily,” Peterson says, but he likes the track the region is on. While Masiello doesn’t see any robust projections from the National Association of Realtors or banking bellwethers that suggest a boom, he also likes the current climate. “I tend to look at things in terms of sustainability regardless of what it is,” says Masiello. “We could do far worse; we should be grateful for the environment we’ve got.” T
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ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: RETAIL 24
Retail Outlook Mixed in the Region BY PAUL MILLER / PHOTO BY MICHAEL MOORE
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s if local retail trade didn’t have it challenging enough, the web is showing signs of going brick and mortar. Online titan Amazon recently announced that it plans to open its first physical grocery store. The concept is centered on having no checkout lines and is seen as an important test of not only in-store shoppers’ desire for speed versus service but workforce needs. Starbucks is pinning hopes on its Roasteries and its Starbucks Reserve cafes as ways to make creative use of store space and offer unique coffee drinking settings. Shaping consumer experiences is, in a nutshell, the new retail game. Amazon is playing it, Starbucks is playing it … and small local independent retail stores, to the best of their abilities, are too. ON THE LOCAL FRONT Retail trade is New Hampshire’s largest category of employment, with more than 95,000 workers, and is a key driver of this region’s economy. As a sector, retail draws strength from its sales-tax-free environment and its local themes and connections with the community. Still, retail does not have it easy. The appeal of online shopping is only getting stronger, bolstered by free shipping; ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: RETAIL
its margins are inherently thin, in a lot of cases three percent or less, according to the New Hampshire Retail Association; it’s susceptible to seasonality and weather; and it’s not immune to national economic turbulence. The Keene Sentinel spoke with a handful of retailers in the region for this article. Reports and sentiments varied, from decent to better-than-expected revenues in 2016, to down years, to expectations of continued modest growth, to concerns about the growing encroachment of discounters and young-skewing specialty merchants. Local retailers say the changing landscape has forced them, more than anything else, to be more discerning about inventory and more knowledgeable about what they sell. Comparison shopping online, says Bob Trebilcock, a Keene store owner, is diminishing the intimacy of the retail experience and putting downward pressure on store prices. Much has been made of downtown Keene retail, and the loss of several stores in the past years. Those closings, however, are not necessarily predictive; the circumstances that brought about the closings are as varied as the number of them. In the state’s Upper Valley region, at
John Plotkin of Plotkin's Furniture in Keene.
least nine longtime independent retail stores closed in 2016, according to the Valley News newspaper. Since 2012, more than 25 small retail shops have vanished in that region, many in Hanover and Lebanon. The trends can’t be ignored. Here is what some area retailers had to say: JOHN PLOTKIN: Plotkin, who owns and operates Plotkin’s Furniture in West Keene, saw sales increase for a seventh straight year, or since his business, like others, began to emerge with some vigor from the Recession. This year’s double-digit increase, he says, included two “all-time record” revenue months for his store, which has operated in the city since 1955. “Two in the same year, that’s big,” says Plotkin. He says his store’s strong performance in 2016 came in the face of increased online shopping for furniture and mattresses. Industry figures say 15 percent of those goods are now purchased via the web, he notes. Plotkin credits strong local promotion and says he believes the success is also due partly to more customers wanting
to do more business with companies selling American-made goods. “In this area, too,” he notes, “shoppers are a little more in tune to supporting local businesses than in cities, and we greatly appreciate that sentiment.” Plotkin says he aims to assure that his store has a higher percentage of what it displays as being American-made. “For years, a huge percentage of what we had was coming from China,” he says. He says he thinks the new Republican administration and its “pro-business attitude” will benefit small retailers. “Less regulation, lower taxes for businesses and maybe getting more money into people’s pockets, in some manner, are things that can happen, whether you support other parts of what they like, or not.” MARTIN CLARK: Clark and his wife, Kathleen, purchased Fireside True Value in Brattleboro in 2014, the third in their Vermont stable. They also operate True Value stores in Middlebury and Bristol, their home base.
Clark pulls no punches, calling 2016 “a little bit flat,” with business at his newest location down about 12 percent. The down year was easy to explain, he says. “There was not much of a winter last January, February and March. We couldn’t sell winter goods, that put us behind, and we never really recovered.” Growing online shopping options also played a role, he says, calling it “no secret” that the average customer is spending less money in retail and more in the online market. “Almost all the major players are doing it, and throwing in free shipping,” says Clark. “It has really hurt us, and I don’t know how we can compete with that. We have an online presence, but it’s not the same.” Clark says he reviews product lines all the time and plans to “tighten the ship” and eliminate items that are not selling well. “But there is no particular industry we’re going after; we’re just going to continue to try to market our business as one-stop shopping for all of our customers,” he says. Clark takes comfort in that fact the Ver-
mont’s economy is more stable than most in the nation. However, locally, Vermont Yankee’s closing can’t be dismissed as having a negative impact on his businesses, and for most all businesses in the area, he says. That said, he believes his Brattleboro store is still a good, viable business, and that “we can bring it back to where we need it. Had it been a 30 percent drop, we might be out of business.” Clark believes a new White House administration always affects any business, one way or another. “Typically, Republicans bring more capitalism into the market, and so you’d hope it would be good for businesses,” he says. “I don’t think you can be a small business and think it won’t be better, given how it’s been.” MATT WASSERLOOS: Wasserloos, store manager for Achille Agway in Keene, says he’s buoyed by improved consumer confidence, and a “pretty good” 2016, calling sales for the store about even from the previous year. Continued on next page.
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Retail does not have it easy. The appeal of online shopping is only getting stronger, bolstered by free shipping; its margins are inherently thin, in a lot of cases three percent or less, according to the New Hampshire Retail Association; it’s susceptible to seasonality and weather; and it’s not immune to national economic turbulence. He says this summer’s drought was pivotal, as it hurt plant sales in a considerable way. The Keene store is one of five in New Hampshire; another store is in Brattleboro. Wasserloos has been with the Keene store for 11 years, the past three as manager. One way the Keene store has adapted and kept sales on an even keel is the focus on local plants and growers, he says. “In the nursery, for example, we have several different local growers, plants coming from a couple of towns over versus someplace down south,” says Wasserloos. “We’re developing that niche, compared to, say, Home Depot. We work with High Meadow Farms in Westminster, Vermont, one of the first certified organic farms. All our herbs and vegetable starts come from there. I feel people have more knowledge now of organic gardening, so that helps us.” He notes his greatest challenge is from the store’s other offerings, such as pet food, which comes under stiff competition from online pricing. In other store offerings, a snowy winter — like the one we’ve had so far — means healthy sales in ice melt and sand. “We try to price match, that’s one thing we can do,” says Wasserloos. “The other thing is customer service knowledge — you don’t get that online. BOB AND MARGARET “DILLY” TREBILCOCK: Bob and his wife, Margaret “Dilly” Trebilcock, recently announced they will close their longtime Keene retail store, Dilly’s for Kids, at 417 West St., adjacent to JC Penney. They first opened the store in 1984, at the Colony Mill Marketplace. Margaret (“Dilly”) says the store will close when its lease expires Feb. 28, but the closure isn’t related to the store’s rent or the economy. Rather, she says, the store is doing well, and she “wanted to end on a high note” before retirement. A women’s clothing, baby and toy store, Dilly’s had a “status quo” year in 2016, adds Bob Trebilcock. “We were always very consistent up until 26
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: RETAIL
2008, and like everyone we got whacked. We dropped about 30 percent during the Recession,” notes Bob. “The difference in retail after the Recession is how you got to that end number was no longer predictable.” The last four to five years, he says, the business “hasn’t been great, but is hasn’t been bad either.” He says the biggest effect of online competition is that they’ve had to carry considerably more inventory to get the same number of sales. “And Dilly’s ability to keep remaking the store,” was big, he says. “We brought in women’s clothing; we brought in dance (attire); a stuffed toy line that Toy City didn’t have … those kinds of things.” Bob was reflective about local retail. “Keene is a tough market,” he says. “Frankly, I look around, and there’s not a lot of retailers left. When Dilly and I started, I was 28, she was 30; it was the golden age for retail. Opening a store was the thing to do. But it’s not something young people aspire to today. The forces today are different. Health insurance, steep rents, the challenge of getting loans,” he says. “I don’t know the answer; I just know that it’s hard and for me, losing these businesses, it’s very sad.” Bob says other innovations that propped up Dilly’s were instituting a coupon program and a “three percent solution,” which involved the business giving back three percent of its sales to the community at the end of each quarter. The funds went to area nonprofits that worked with women, families and children. “We wanted to make people aware that, in return for shopping with us, they were helping to support important community organizations too,” he says. He estimates that, since putting the program in place, he and his wife have given about $13,000 toward those causes from that initiative. CARMELINA TONKINSON: Six years ago, Tonkinson bought Miranda’s Verandah on Main Street in Keene and re-
branded it as Miranda’s on Main, a clothing and accessories boutique. She then purchased Morgan’s Way on Main Street in Peterborough and set up a second Miranda’s on Main store, in that nearby town. Her stores, she says, have shown growth — albeit modest single-digit growth — in each of those years, including 2016. “I’m proud of what we’ve become,” says Tonkinson, who has decades of background in retail fashion, and employs eight people. “We’ve worked hard for everything we’ve gotten.” She credits personalized buying, price points that appeal to a range of all shoppers, and head-to-toe offerings. “Those are nice things to give people in a small community,” she says. “It’s a lot of hard work, finding out who customers are, and then the communication our staff has with our customers. That’s what makes it what it is. “I do all the buying for both stores, every piece. Sometimes I take our store manager or a sales associate … my daughter. We travel all over the U.S. Sometimes we’re buying for a particular customer. We try to make it as personal as possible, and treat customers like family.” Tonkinson views the internet as its separate entity, and not competition. Very few of her stores’ customers, she says, will go to the mall, or online, to buy. “Most of what we (carry) is sold just to retailers; that’s to our advantage.” Keeping inventory levels high, is a new retail norm, Tonkinson says, in her business because it’s constantly changing. “We’re always looking for what the trends are,” she says. “Buying is a difficult task; there is so much out there; so many vendors.” Tonkinson says she and her staff also cater to brides, the mothers of brides, and even prom-goers, “even though we’re not a brides store. It’s become a good part of our business,” she says. “For prom season, the designers we stock do not sell online. If someone else has a dress we sell, it’s a knock-off,” she says. “We keep a spreadsheet; no girl can have another girl’s dress. We want each girl to have one style, one color, a dress that is hers. It may sound harsh at first, but it’s not; they want to stand out; this is their night. We will spend hours with each girl; that’s how customized this process gets.” T
Auto Sales Exhausting? Nope! Another Record Year Projected in 2017
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he U.S. auto industry is on a run, 2016 having marked a record year for most cars and trucks sold. About 17.5 million light vehicles were sold nationwide; that’s slightly up from the previous year. The strong year is no fluke; the industry has now recorded overall sales growth for seven straight years. Whether the positive momentum holds, plateaus or weakens is certain fodder for speculation. The cyclical nature of things and the uncertainty of a new president and administration can’t be ignored. Neither can the fickle history of interest rates. But as trends go, there is much to build on. For this article, The Keene Sentinel sat down with two lions of the region’s auto industry, Joe Walier and Bob Rountree, respective owners of Chevrolet and Ford dealerships in Keene. Both are buoyed by the overall economic picture, saying consumer confidence is an overarching reason for their optimism and why they are forecasting ambitious projections for their businesses. UPBEAT ATTITUDE “Confidence is a strong force right now,” says Walier. “People look at the stock market, and I don’t know if that is going to help me sell more Chevrolets, but it makes people feel better about things if it’s up, I know that. If things are good, it gives people a little more assurance to say, ‘hey, let’s go buy a new vehicle or a good used vehicle.’” Ford says it had its best sales year in a decade; Rountree says his dealership saw a 15 percent uptick in business in new car sales and 10 percent growth in used cars and service in 2016 from the previous year. Walier and Rountree are alike in that they spoke in tones of enthusiasm for 2017. Walier has run his dealership for four decades. There is excitement in his voice, not trepidation, when he says he set an 18 percent growth goal for the new year. “It’s a big, strong one, we know,” he
says. “I don’t know if we can hit it, but that’s our target.” Rountree is semi-retired, but says “I’m still a car guy; my mind is very much involved in the dealership.” He says when he took over the Ford market in Keene, penetration was about three percent; today, he says, “we’re running between 10 and 11 percent. It’s not all Rountree; a lot of people were impressed that Ford never took the (government) bailout.” When Walier and Rountree talk about growth, they say, they are talking market share. “In our part of the state there’s no big growth factor,” Walier says, “so we’re all vying for that sacred customer. We’re lucky; we’ve been here so long we have a great following of loyal customers.” Rountree, too, says his business relies on that same customer loyalty, and stressed new initiatives and programs aimed at customer retention that he believes has strengthened the local brand of his dealership. He believes that his business has pivoted smartly to meet the online effect. “It used to be, with the online thing, that people tried to buy cars over the internet,” he says. “That never proved to be successful. But customers are now more informed than ever because they can review the car and your dealership online. It takes a different kind of person selling the cars today. We respond by doing more product training.” NEW WAYS OF DOING BUSINESS In 2016, Rountree says, his business took sales staff off commission plans; they now work for principally a salary. “That has changed the nature of the way customers are approached, for us,” he says. “Customers aren’t getting any pressure for the purchase of the car. We see that as the way of the future in the auto industry.” Both businessmen say new times have meant carrying greater inventory, and that carries costs, but it’s the price of doing business in a technology-driven world.
Walier says leasing remains a strong piece of his business, mostly because the price of new cars has risen considerably. Leasing offers consumers another way to get into a new vehicle, and that, combined with stable interest rates and more forgiving credit terms, have been business-drivers, too, he says. Increased incentives and promotions from the major automakers helped close out strong years, both men say. “Interesting factors” that benefitted Rountree Ford, its owner says, was a big spike in inservice business and its commitment to Ford’s Quick Lane program and a continued willingness to be a part of Ford’s program car plan. Quick Lane, begun seven years ago, is designed to allow Ford dealers to compete more effectively against tire, muffler and department stores that do service work on vehicles. “It’s not as profitable, but it gave us about 1,000 retail customers a year in service,” says Rountree. Program cars are cars bought from the factory, primarily former lease vehicles. From 2008 to 2010, as the economy took a nosedive, leases dipped, and these cars became more and more scarce, notes Rountree. “What we did in 2016 is took a very simple practice and prices every one of these vehicles at $300 under invoice,” he says. “On a per-unit basis you don’t make much, but we’re not unsatisfied. It helps get the Ford brand in the marketplace.” Rountree and Walier say they feel good about the political atmosphere as it relates to their business. “I think, at the risk of being political, that whoever our leader is, if he exhibits good leadership qualities and makes people feel better, that helps us,” says Walier. Says Rountree: “I think (Trump) favors less regulation, which will lead to lower costs for factories, keeping prices of new vehicles down. My expectation is that new-car sales (nationally) will be flat, and we’re shooting for another 10 percent increase.” T ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: AUTO SALES
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: AUTO SALES
BY PAUL MILLER
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ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: THE ARTS 30
The Region is Alive with the Arts
(So, What Does That Mean for Our Local Economy?)
BY XANDER LANDEN / PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL MOORE Pam Dexter at the Ash Hill Art Institute in Swanzey.
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rt and artists are deeply embedded in the cultural and economic vitality of the Monadnock Region, say those who have come to recognize the financial impact the arts can have. Natural beauty and an abundance of conserved lands are some of the reasons artists are drawn to this area, says Jessica Gelter, executive director for ArtsAlive!, a Keene-based arts services nonprofit. The MacDowell Colony, which has brought creators from around the world to the region for more than 100 years, has helped brand the region as a “retreat,” “escape” and “haven” for artists, she says. Today, the Monadnock Region’s continued commitment to arts and culture is on full display. Friends of Public Art a local nonprofit, has installed several pieces of art, including murals, in Keene, Winchester and elsewhere since it was founded in 2014. MoCo Arts, a nonprofit organization that provides dance education to children, begins construction on a new Roxbury Street facility, which is proposed to include a 200-seat black box theater, this spring. And three local organizations — the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in Nelson, Electric Earth Concerts in JafECONOMIC OUTLOOK: THE ARTS
frey and the MacDowell Colony of Peterborough — were recipients of National Endowment for the Arts grants in 2016. THE REGION: AN ARTS ENCLAVE? Amid these accolades and developments, many local artists and leaders of art organizations are proposing plans that will further connect artists with the community and grow the region’s brand as an arts enclave. The financial benefits of the arts can be seen more broadly, statewide, says Ginnie Lupi, the director of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. A November report released by the Commission to Study the Economic Impact of the Arts and Culture in New Hampshire found that according to 2014 data from the IRS, for-profit arts and culture-related businesses make about $113 million annually before taxes. The report also cited that state nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences spent a total of $115 million in 2012, according to data from Americans for the Arts, a national nonprofit organization. Lupi says the Monadnock Region is an important driver of the New Hampshire’s creative economy and has one of the highest “density” of artists — particularly visual artists — in the state. “I think that the Monadnock Region is
actually ahead of other parts of the state in certain things,” she notes. For instance, the region is leading the state in its effort to market itself as an arts and culture destination, Lupi says. She pointed to the region’s Discover Monadnock committee, which has created a website that promotes local businesses, natural resources as well as arts and culture activities and organizations in the area. Lupi also hailed ArtsAlive!, whose leaders are involved with Discover Monadnock, as an important galvanizer of arts and culture events and the creative economy in the region. ART CAN DRAW PEOPLE TO REGION Arts Alive!’s Gelter says the organization is dedicated to drawing people to the Monadnock Region for its vibrant artistic community. “We’re trying to communicate that this is a wonderful place for the arts ... is well connected, and you can get inspired and hang out with like-minded folks,” says Gelter. In 2008, ArtsAlive! worked with Americans for the Arts to collect and analyze data about the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations in the Monadnock Region. The final product, the Arts and Economic Prosperity
Danya Landis and Rebecca Hamilton of Machina Arts and Jake Nonweiler, of the Hannah Grimes Center at Connect 2016.
Study, found that these nonprofit organizations spent $13.1 million annually on items such as salaries and supplies to put on events and that these organizations leverage about $3.5 million from audiences each year, pushing the total estimated economic impact of these organizations in the region to $16.4 million. Eight years later, ArtsAlive! is conducting the study once again and is currently collecting data from 31 nonprofit organizations in the region. Gelter says she doesn’t expect the estimated economic impact will be much larger than when it is released in the spring of 2017. This isn’t because nonprofit arts and culture organizations are less active, she says. The reasons are mostly economy base and logistical. The organizations that participate in the study do so voluntarily, and in 2008, the 24 that took part were larger and had bigger audiences. A recession took hold post-2008, and that has led to less funding of these groups. While the study will provide vital information about the region’s nonprofit arts organizations, it won’t accurately portray the growth that the region’s creative economy has seen in the last few years, says Gelter. “Big picture, it doesn’t even capture close to what’s happening,” she says. Gelter points out the region has two large arts developments in the works: MoCo’s as well as Jaffrey’s Park Theater, which is slated to be rebuilt after it was demolished in 2013. Further, there are “massive plans” for programming and after-school activities, she notes. NEW VENUES FOR ART TO BLOSSOM The Monadnock Region has also seen many
new arts organizations crop up and efforts from community members to provide what many artists in the region have long wanted: a physical hub, space or center for arts and culture. Pam Dexter, a watercolorist in Swanzey, is trying to open a nonprofit art institute in a house her family owns on Ash Hill Road. She shares the belief that there’s no “central” location in the region for artists to congregate and work on their art. When it opens, Dexter said the Ash Hill Art Institute will offer space for artists, a location for artists to teach classes and hold workshops and special weekend events. She hopes the institute will become an “umbrella” organization to bridge the community and its artists — many of whom she says are isolated throughout the region. “In some ways, it’s difficult to find artists in the area because they’re all in the bushes, they’re all in their homes ... working quietly,” she says. Dexter says she has just begun the process, the “formative stages,” of developing the institute, and that in the spring, she will be constructing a stage and outdoor theater behind its proposed location. Machina Arts, a Keene-based organization that has been staging pop-up art installations, events and concerts since 2013, also hopes to establish a central location for art and culture in the next few years. Danya Landis, a co-founder of the organization, says Machina Arts hopes to find and create a space in the Monadnock Region that will offer an art gallery, education programs, studios, a performance venue and social gathering place.
Landis says that having more spaces for arts and culture in the community could be a boon for the Monadnock Region’s economy. She notes that young people often leave the area after high school or after graduating college, and she believes this in part is due to a lack of cultural offerings. The lack of such, she says, “is a downfall on our economy because we’re losing all those young professionals that would be having families, taking jobs, creating jobs … and that’s a huge impact.” Many organizations are doing fine work to promote the arts, Landis adds, but she believes the area would retain more young people if there were more outlets where artists and musicians could perform and show their work. “The people are here, the artists are here, the musicians are here, they just don’t have a place, so we’re trying to give them that place,” says Landis. Machina has already succeeded doing that on a small scale. The company organized rock concerts and DJ shows throughout the region in unlikely spaces, including an unoccupied storefront on West Street that was the home of Bulldog Design. Machina turned the Marlborough House, an events center and former church in Marlborough, into a space filled with art installations, performance art, sculptures and music. The company will be using the space again to host a surrealist dinner party and concert in February. Lupi agrees with Landis’ claim that there’s no shortage of artists in New Hampshire. She says people don’t realize the footprint of the creative economy throughout the state. It doesn’t just include artists working independently, but also the people who are hired to work at nonprofits. If people grasped the economic impact the creative economy already has in New Hampshire, its communities would invest in it more intently, she notes. “I think if we can better articulate that impact, then we can use it to help make a case for public support for arts education and public support for arts and culture activities in our communities,” says Lupi. T Xander Landen is a staff writer with The Keene Sentinel. ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2017
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Dillant-Hopkins Airport Poised to Take Off BY JOHN MCGAULEY / PHOTO BY MICHAEL MOORE
“Until you sit here watching out on the runway, you don’t really know just how busy Keene (airport) is already. I’ve seen five private jets lined up waiting to take off, $100 million worth of aircraft out there.” — JACK WOZMAK, AIRPORT MANAGER, DILLANT-HOPKINS AIRPORT. Jack Wozmak, director of the Dillant-Hopkins Airport in North Swanzey on runway 02-20, the third longest runway in the state at 6200 feet.
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THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
L
ong underutilized and often forgotten by regional residents and public officials, Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Swanzey is finally receiving much-needed attention from those who believe it will become a busy transportation hub and spark a much-needed and significant economic revival in the region. “The future for us is corporate aviation, along with the businesses coming into the area that would use aviation,” says Clark Dexter, chairman of the City of Keene’s Airport Advisory Committee, a group made up of local business leaders and elected officials from both Keene and Swanzey, and which is charged with guiding the city in its efforts to revitalize and market the facility.* “We need to be corporate jet friendly, to have facilities that welcome corporate aviation and provide the things they expect to be here,” says Dexter. Although much remains in the planning stages, the airport is already showing signs of life. Foot traffic in and out of its doors has increased, primarily due to a new restaurant at the terminal, and there is a 15 percent increase in corporate or charter jet air traffic since 2015. The terminal building is undergoing renovation and shedding its tired-looking 1960s appearance. Money has already been allocated by the City of Keene to enhance one of its runways and hire a consultant to update an old master plan for the airport. That’s all according to Jack Wozmak, the former long-time Cheshire County administrator who was hired by the City of Keene early last year as the airport’s manager. LOTS OF POTENTIAL “There is a tremendous potential for this airport,” says Wozmak. “We have the third largest airport runway in the state,” behind Portsmouth International Airport at Pease (a former U.S. Air Force base), and Manchester/Boston Regional Airport. Wozmak says one of his goals is to double the number of annual landings and take-offs from Dillant-Hopkins from its current number of about 28,000. The City of Keene owns the 900-acre airport, but it is located within the boundaries of the Town of Swanzey. The lion’s share of Wozmak’s responsibilities is to improve the airport’s look and facilities, and market it to prospective companies as a business and transportation center. Wozmak’s plan boils down to a two-prong campaign of retro-fitting the airport to make it more appealing to corporate executives and the pilots of both corporate and charter jets and to aggressively marketing the airport to prospective businesses that utilize jets to move executives and/or cargo. “In a perfect world, it should be a regional airport,” says Dexter. “Keene should get together with the surrounding communities” to devise a comprehensive development plan. When Dexter mentions “surrounding” communities, he means towns in Cheshire County, of course, but also towns and cities in *Other members of the Airport Advisory Committee besides Dexter and Hutwelker are Robert Sutherland, Rodney Thompson, Bob Bergevin, Peter Delaney, Joseph Bendzinski, Mitch Greenwald, Richard Kasper and Joseph Briggs. Continued on next page.
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Southeastern Vermont and the northern tier of Massachusetts that abut Southwestern New Hampshire. “This airport can serve companies up to within a 50-mile radius of Keene,” he says. A FORGOTTEN ASSET? Dexter says that generating regional interest in such an initiative has its challenges, one of the reasons being is that people in the area don’t pay much attention to the airport since it hasn’t had commercial airline service in many years. Also, Dexter says there has never been a coordinated or sustained effort by both public officials and business leaders to enhance or market Dillant-Hopkins. That is changing, says Bill Hutwelker, who serves both as chair of the Swanzey Board of Selectmen, and as a member of the airport advisory committee. “There’s a good deal of optimism (about the airport),” says Hutwelker. “The city (of Keene) is now open for business. We’re all believers, but we have to get other believers interested in the airport.” Hutwelker credits both Keene City Manager Medard Kopczynski and Wozmak with much of what is happening at Dillant-Hopkins. “There is a new energy there, and he (Wozmak) has brought a lot to the airport,” says Hutwelker. Wozmak believes that the airport is well positioned to take off, so to speak, and cites three reasons: • There is land available right at the airport grounds where companies can build their facilities with immediate access to runways, or can build on the 200 acres around the airport that are part of Swanzey’s industrial development area. Wozmak has already met with a representative of the Norwood Group, a national commercial real estate development company, to talk about ways to bring companies to those sites. • The large air cargo hubs such as JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and Boston, are so choked with traffic that corporations are looking to outlying airports in the Northeast to avoid the wasteful waits and congested conditions in those metropolitan airports. Keene, with its large runways, is an ideal alternative. “We are a perfect fit for such companies” that want to avoid those crowded airports, says Wozmak. • Keene would be an excellent site for a large 34
hangar for what’s called “transient jets” in aviation parlance. Transient jets are corporate or charter jets that land, unload either their cargo, or executives, and then fly off to a large metropolitan airport with hangar space, to spend the night. Owners of these very expensive jets do not want them to sit out unprotected in the weather, especially in snow and ice, and for them it’s more cost effective to leave Keene and
DILLANT-HOPKINS: A SHORT HISTORY The airport, opened in 1942, is named for two local servicemen killed in World War II, Thomas David Dillant and Edwin Chester Hopkins. (Incidentally, Hopkins was killed in the attack at Pearl Harbor, and his remains finally returned home to Keene in November of last year, an event that garnered much national publicity.) The fact that the airport runways are so long is somewhat an accident of history, as it was initially used as part of the war effort as a training field. For decades, up until 2008, Dillant-Hopkins offered commercial airline service, from a variety of national carriers.
return to pick up the executives or cargo later. If such a facility were built at DillantHopkins, the airport would be that much more appealing to companies that own or lease such jets. FINDING THE RIGHT DEVELOPER Wozmak, Dexter and Hutwelker agree on, and emphasize, the key importance of finding a developer to build such a hangar, which is not a small investment. For just a modest 20,000-square-foot hangar the costs can run more than $2.5 million, according to RSMeans Data, which bills itself as the world’s leading provider of construction cost data. Dillant-Hopkins already has such a hangar facility. C&S Wholesale Grocers maintains two sizeable corporate jets in its own facility at the airport. Its jets represent about 40
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
percent of the current corporate jet traffic at the airport, says Wozmak. “C&S, which employs a thousand people, wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have that airport,” says Dexter. “Many companies, when looking for new sites to locate, don’t even look at places that don’t have an airport,” adds Wozmak. “Until you sit here watching out on the runway, you don’t really know just how busy Keene (airport) is already. I’ve seen five private jets lined up waiting to take off, $100 million worth of aircraft out there.” According to the National Business Aviation Association, there are 5,300 “public-use” airports in the United States, but the commercial airlines serve only one tenth of those. “Most operators of business aircraft do not use the busiest commercial airports, preferring instead to fly in and out of ‘reliever’ airports, which are not served by commercial airlines. The ability to use these smaller, less-congested facilities is key to the value and flexibility of business aviation aircraft,” the NBAA says on its website. To give a comparison of size, Pease International Airport in Portsmouth has a runway length of about 11,000 feet, while Keene’s one runway is 6,201 feet and its other 4,001. Virtually any size aircraft can land and take off from Keene, the only limitation at Dillant-Hopkins is the weather and its location in a valley surrounded by small mountains, which makes it more vulnerable to snow, fog and ice, according to Dexter, who is a private plane pilot. MAKING THE CASE FOR A REGIONAL AIRPORT Wozmak makes the following case for a corporation to use Dillant-Hopkins: “Assume an executive makes 55 sales trips a year, each trip ‘wastes’ two out of three days by using commercial airlines. Then there are the costs of meals, hotels and parking. But for many corporations, it’s not so much that expense, but the executive’s time that’s really valuable. Buying a ‘piece’ of a jet through places such as Netjet, you can make a business trip in one day.” Another aspect of Wozmak’s plan is to establish the airport as a regional transportation hub for bus and livery traffic, and he is in discussions with Thomas Transportation of Keene and Greyhound to possibly locate facilities at the airport.
All of this development, of course, requires investment capital and close cooperation among many of the communities in the Monadnock Region, Southeastern Vermont and Northwestern Massachusetts, both Wozmak and Dexter agree. Keene and Swanzey are both on the same page … both want to develop industry, but they need to form a committee that works together, Dexter recommends. “We need to let people know we’re here, we need to learn how to compete,” Wozmak says, and emphasizes that there has never before been the level of cooperation about the airport as he sees now among Keene city management, Keene City Council, and the Town of Swanzey. The City of Keene earns revenues generated by aviation-related activities, including lease agreements with those who house private aircraft there, and from landing fees and other concessions. From that, though, it must pay taxes to the Town of Swanzey, and
“There is a tremendous potential for this airport. We have the third largest airport runway in the state,” behind Portsmouth International Airport at Pease (a former U.S. Air Force base), and Manchester/Boston Regional Airport. — JACK WOZMAK, AIRPORT MANAGER, DILLANT-HOPKINS AIRPORT.
has other overheads, such a paying for four full-time and one part-time city employees. Currently on site is a flight operations service, car rental agencies, Monadnock Aviation that provides flight training and sightseeing rides, and a restaurant, The Flight Deck. The Federal Aviation Administration designates the airport as a “non-controlled” airport, which means it does not have its own air traffic controllers. Wozmak also hopes that Dillant-Hopkins becomes the airport favored by wealthy individuals with private jets who visit the re-
gion to ski, or whose children attend private secondary schools in the area, or even local colleges. Wozmak says it is his hope that Cape Air, which already offers commercial service to smaller cities around the country, will consider Dillant-Hopkins as a location for its commercial service. Cape Air already services airports in Rutland, Lebanon and Boston. T John McGauley writes from Keene, New Hampshire.
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Alex Wilson, founder of BuildingGreen, Inc., and President of Resilient Design Institute, near his barn in West Dummerston, VT. The large array of solar panels on the barn’s roof provide all the eletricity for his home.
Can Our Region Become the Center of the Ecovation Movement? BY JOHN MCGAULEY / PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL MOORE
I
magine this, 10 years from now, or possibly even five, the tristate region is the national nexus of what’s called the “green building” industry, generating thousands of jobs and adding millions of dollars to the regional economies of southeastern Vermont, southwestern New Hampshire and northwestern Massachusetts. It could provide a renaissance to the region, somewhat akin to what the woolen and paper mills did a century and a half ago. “Green building” is the term used to describe the research, design and construction of homes, factories and offices, even cities and towns, in ways that are energy efficient, environmentally friendly, comfort36
ably adapted to the landscape, and provide a pleasant blend of work and living space. ECOVATION UNDERWAY Actually, the effort to make this region a national center for this industry is already well underway, and has been in various planning stages for the past decade. The campaign has now coalesced into what’s called Ecovation Hub, an ambitious initiative that is loosely designed on the model that made Silicon Valley what it is today — a beehive of research, businesses and industries gathered around a specific new industry. Ecovation Hub is an orchestrated effort by business owners, regional economic development agencies, state agencies and educational institutions in southeastern Vermont,
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southwestern New Hampshire and northwestern Massachusetts. “Our primary goal is to create new jobs and new economic activity in the so-called ‘green economy’ to replace the jobs that have been lost through the closure of Vermont Yankee (nuclear power plant),” says Alex Wilson, chair of the Ecovation Hub leadership team, and founder of BuildingGreen, Inc., of Brattleboro, a national advocate, promoter, publication and website dedicated to sustainable design and architecture in the “green” construction industry. “We have specific targets, including generating $389 million in new economic value a year in our region within five years,” says Wilson. AN URGENCY TO CREATE A GREEN ECONOMY Vermont Yankee employed 600 in relatively high-paying jobs and generated an estimated $100 million a year to the tristate region. Its closing, while anticipated to come eventually, arrived much more abruptly than expected, leaving a big hole in the area’s economy and lending new urgency to the initiative to develop the regional green building economy.
The initial phase of the project has been completed, which was to conduct studies of what resources are available in the region, assessing needs, and presenting findings to the public and special groups, according to Laura Sibilia, director of economic development at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, a private, nonprofit economic development organization that serves as a catalyst for industrial and commercial growth throughout Southeastern Vermont. BDCC has been a prime mover in the initiation of Ecovation Hub, and has provided money for its first phase. The next step in the Ecovation Hub process is to start a formal nonprofit organization that combines and harnesses the many parties now loosely involved in the initiative, a challenging detail-heavy task because there are so many participants at this stage — businesses, regional development agencies from three states, nonprofits, academic institutions and others, says Sibilia.
“To my knowledge, there isn’t an area of the country with the same focus on green building and resilience that we are seeking to achieve here.” — ALEX WILSON, CHAIR OF THE ECOVATION HUB LEADERSHIP TEAM, AND FOUNDER OF BUILDINGGREEN, INC., OF BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT.
MORE THAN SOLAR PANELS Wilson emphasizes that the “green” building field is much more complex and sophisticated than just solar panels and better insulation, but includes the design, manufacturing and construction of homes, office buildings, factories in ways that minimize energy use, maximize the use of safer, people-friendly materials, the construction of structures in environmentally appropriate land, and building communities that allow people to live, work, and play in pleasant, healthy and sustainable environments. It involves research to develop new technologies in such
areas as building materials, water use, waste disposal and construction techniques. “To my knowledge, there isn’t an area of the country with the same focus on green building and resilience that we are seeking to achieve here,” says Wilson. “There are areas of the country where there are green building centers — Seattle, Portland (Oregon), Austin, Raleigh — but nobody has really taken it on as we have, making it a focal point of economic development,” says Wilson, who is also the founder of the nonprofit Resilient Design Institute of Dummerston. “Resilience” as used in the green building Continued on next page.
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By 2018, the study found, green construction will account for more than 3.3 million U.S. jobs — more than a third of the entire national construction sector — and generate $190 billion in labor earnings.
Alex Wilson, founder of BuildingGreen, Inc., and President of Resilient Design Institute, looks out the second story window of his barn in West Dummerston, VT. The large array of solar panels on the barn's roof provide all the eletricity for his home.
application means the capability of a structure to quickly adapt to changing environmental conditions such as hurricanes, droughts, floods and other climate disruptions. The primary reason for selecting the green building industry as a focus for economic development is that the tristate region already is home to numerous operations serving that market, Sibilia says, including companies and nonprofits. “There is much expertise in green building that exists in our region,” says Wilson, citing such companies as his own; Bensonwood and 38
Unity Homes in Walpole, Northeast Solar (Hatfield, Mass.), PV Squared (Greenfield, Mass.) and Integrated Solar Applications (Brattleboro). There is also the Sustainable Energy Outreach Network (SEON) located in Brattleboro that focuses on green building science education; and educational institutions such as Keene State College, Antioch New England, Greenfield Community College and the School for International Training that all provide training in green building and related fields, says Wilson.
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A GROWING DEMAND FOR GREEN “What excited me is that the entire Ecovation Hub movement got started by people who were already in the business, some of them nationally known … there are things we can learn from each other, and the collaboration is a powerful force with a regional impact,” says Edie Fifield, a real estate agent at Masiello Group in Keene with a specialty in environmentally designed homes and a participant in the Ecovation Hub efforts. She says that there is ever-growing demand from prospective home buyers to live in sustainable and environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient homes. Also assisting Ecovation Hub, besides the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, is the Southwest Region Planning Commission in Keene, the Windham Regional Commission in Brattleboro and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The Keene Chamber of Commerce and Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship in Keene are also involved. The green building sector is outpacing overall construction growth in the United States and accounted for more than 2.3 million jobs in 2015, according to a report by the United States Green Building Council. By 2018, the study found, green construction will account for more than 3.3 million U.S. jobs — more than a third of the entire national construction sector — and generate $190 billion in labor earnings. Ecovation Hub garnered three grants totaling almost half a million dollars to complete its initial planning stages, and it is seeking funding now to support the hiring of a part-time executive director, notes Wilson. Also set in place is what’s called EcoFIRE, which will, over the long-term, generate sustainable revenue to the initiative by creating financing that can be based in the region but serve a national market, Wilson said. “FIRE” stands for finance, insurance and real estate. The three grants that have already been secured have come from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, a part of the Department of Commerce; the State of Vermont; and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation. T John McGauley writes from Keene, New Hampshire.
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39
The Business Journal & The Keene Young Professionals Network Present:
THE FOURTH ANNUAL BUSINESS JOURNAL THE BUSINESS JOURNAL
TRENDSETTERS AWARDS
Join us as we honor 11 young professionals under age 40 who are making a difference in their place of work and in their communities in the Monadnock Region. Thursday, March 9th, 2017 • 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM Centennial Hall, Alumni Center, Keene State College 232 Main St. Keene, NH 03431 Public Welcome • Food & Cash Bar Tickets are $25 until Feb. 17th • $30 thereafter • $35 at the door To purchase tickets, go to www.sentinelsource.com/trendsetterstickets Portion of proceeds going to Keene Young Professionals Network THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:
With appreciation to:
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL of Greater Keene, Brattleboro & Peterborough
40
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
The Green Scene
Tips to Green Up Your Business • by C S Wurzberger
STOP JUNK MAIL IN ITS TRACKS!
A
re you tired of receiving piles and of junk mail each day? You are not alone. The average adult in the U.S. receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year. That averages out to 16 pieces of junk mail per week, compared to only 1.5 personal letters. What’s even worse is 44 percent goes to the landfill unopened. These piles are having an adverse effect on our communities’ landfill, plus we’re wasting precious resources. According to the website 41Pounds.org, more than more than 100 million trees are cut down each year to produce this junk mail junk mail. What a waste! Here are five simple ways to stop junk mail from cluttering up your office and home: 1. Stop it at the source: To stop the flow of junk mail, you need to get your name removed from the mail lists. Here are three simple ways to do that: • Monitor your mail. As you pick up your mail take notice of what you want to receive and what you don’t. • Email, call or send a letter to the source and demand to be taken off their mailing list. Let them know you don’t want to keep wasting the earth’s natural resources. • If you are still receiving too much junk mail? Go to DMA Choice:www.dmachoice.org. This online tool was developed by the Direct Marketing Association to help you manage your mail.
ter and mail it out to each of the addresses below. (Make sure you clearly write, “Please remove my name and address from your mailing lists and do not rent, sell or trade my name or address.”) Send to: • Valpak, 1 Valpak Ave., N St. Petersburg, FL 33716. • Epsilon Data Services, Abacus Cooperative Databases Email: abacusoptout@epsilon.com Send them an email with “remove” in the subject line. In the body of the email include your full name and mailing address. If you have moved in the last six months be sure to include your previous address as well. You should start to see results in as little as three months. Repeat the above process as needed. Some companies are slow and stubborn about removing live bodies from their mailing list. They are still hoping to you’ll buy their product or service. Help your friends, family, and co-workers reduce their junk mail also. Simply share this article with them. Stay tuned: Next month we’ll cover eight fun ways to give back to your community. T C S Wurzberger, a.ka., The Green Up Girl, lives in Marlboro, Vermont.
2. Stop credit card solicitations: It’s easy to eliminate credit card promotional mailings by calling your credit card company directly. You can also ask to be placed on the company’s “in-house” list that is not sold or traded to other companies. 3. Stop the number of charity mailings: If you are devoted to giving back beyond making a donation to your favorite charities, you can request that they reduce their operational costs by only mailing you one donation request per year. 4. Stop receiving junk promotional products: When you receive promotional items in the mail look to see if any of these phrases “return service requested,” “forwarding service requested,” “address service requested” or “change service requested” is printed on the package or envelope. If so, you can send it back with the messages “refused, returned to sender” on the unopened envelope. Plus, if you receive mail sent to “resident,” “current resident” or “current occupant” it can be refused, just write “return to sender” on it and put it back in the mail. This goes for first class mail as well. 5. Stop receiving direct mail: There are many direct mail marketing firms in the U.S. Call, email, or mail them with the request to be removed from their mailing lists. Review the mailing label very carefully and take notice of each variation of your name and address. No matter how small each variation is, it is another listing within the databases. One option is to cut and paste the actual mailing label on a piece of paper, make copies, sign the removal request letTHE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
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Roy Schlieben, exective director of Monadnock ArtXTech in Peterborough, displays laser cut logos that will be used as tags on welcome baskets given to new residents of Peterborough.
MAxT Makerspace: Making it Happen BY NICOLE COLSON / PHOTO BY MICHAEL MOORE
F
irst, Nashua set the pace. Then came several other New Hampshire cities, including Keene in Cheshire County. The town of Peterborough followed suit in 2015 by opening MAxT Makerspace. A makerspace is designed to foster collaboration and innovation in art and manufacturing — a collective resource center that serves as a central hub for projects, mentoring, tools and expertise. Also referred to as hackerspaces and fablabs, they have been cropping up in the Northeast and throughout the country over the past few years. The do-it-yourself trend has grown out of a cultural shift to local communities creating their own economic opportunities. Each makerspace is tailored to the community it serves, taking on a life of its own. New Hampshire’s first makerspace, MakeItLabs, opened three years ago in Nashua in a 6,000-square-foot workshop in a former foundry building. Classes at MakeItLabs range from 3D replicator printing to quadcopter creation. Portsmouth followed in 2012 with Port City Makerspace. It offers a woodworking shop and bike shop as well as metalworking, electronics and crafting spaces. Make It So: The Monadnock Makerspace in Keene opened in 2014. In addition to a common workspace, Make it So houses a digital design 42
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
lab, classroom and gallery space and a tool and technology lending library. TREND ARRIVES IN PETERBOROUGH MAxT Makerspace (the name was shortened from Monadnock Art X Tech Makerspace to mean the intersection of art and technology) is Peterborough’s answer to this trend. A 1,600-square-footspace located in the Monadnock Plaza on Jaffrey Road, it contains two rooms: one a computer lab and artists’ workshop and the other a shop area for wood and metalworking. Roy Schlieben, MAxT Makerspace’s executive director, was on the committee that formed it nearly three years ago. The idea came from a community conversation at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture (which backs the makerspace allowing it to accept donations under a nonprofit designation) that drew a crowd of 100 people. Schlieben, nonprofit consultant and Peterborough Rotary Club member who grew up in Peterborough, was intrigued by the concept. “As a Rotarian, I’m always looking for ways to promote economic development in Peterborough and attracting a younger population to move to Peterborough who will potentially start businesses here,” he says. He spends half his work time in his volunteer position with the makerspace, working closely with board members and volunteers who help operate it. From its first year open in 2015, the makerspace has grown from four to 34 members. The makerspace includes a sewing/arts section with sewing and screen printing machines and a laser and vinyl cutter, all which are used by artists in the area to do their work. Schlieben, an amateur
woodworker, says his position at the makerspace has introduced him to new technologies such as 3D design and printing as well as laser cutting. “I’ve learned these amazing, powerful techniques through the makerspace and I’ve incorporated them in my work,” he says. A PLACE TO CREATE Without access to the makerspace, he and many other artists wouldn’t have the opportunity to use these technologies and this equipment. “I can’t afford a $5,000 piece of software or a $15,000 laser cutter,” he notes. Another arm of the makerspace is workshops run by members — anyone can pitch an idea for a workshop. Several are related to business development for artists, “We did a series of talks at the space for artists interested in taking what they do and creating a business plan,” says Schlieben. “We brought in business coaches, successful artists, experts in product development and a copyright lawyer.” The makerspace will host a series of business development workshops for artists this fall in conjunction with Arts Alive! and The Hannah Grimes Center, both in Keene. Other workshops are technology-based, including one focusing on 3D modeling and another on basic woodworking. MAxT Makerspace also serves as a community gathering place for hosting meetups, each focusing on a different skill. The list has included programming and electronics, robotics, building machinery for the makerspace, acting and a holiday ornament making event using 3D printing and/or sewing machines that brought in 30 people. This month, the makerspace will start a “fix-it” club. “It might involve things like refurbishing appliances or mending clothes,” says Schlieben. AFFORDABLE MEMBERSHIP Membership gets you (almost) all of that — classes cost extra. The makerspace is supported through fees — an individual membership is $30 a month and there are different price levels beyond that for businesses and nonprofits. Beyond membership and class fees, a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and private donations provide the rest of the makerspace’s funding. “We also advertise events and meetups,” says Schlieben. “Once people come into the space and see what we have it helps generate membership.” Future plans for the makerspace include adding full-time business coaching services and studio or office space. Schlieben urges anyone to visit the makerspace. “Stop in for a meetup, see these things at work and what you might accomplish here,” he says. First, visit the website (monadnockartxtech.org) to check the schedule of events. “We add about two or three members a month and each member brings a whole new level of excitement because they know something and want to share it,” says Schlieben. “It’s astounding to see what kind of talent we have in this region.” Learn more: www.monadnockartxtech.org T Nicole Colson is a freelance writer based in Swanzey, New Hampshire.
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Joe Sabloevski, right, and his son, Joey Jr., of Troy Powersports. Joe is on a Polaris RZREPS 900 ATV and Joey is on an Artic Cat Thunder Cat 205hp turbo-charged snowmobile.
Troy Powersports:
Keeping Up With the Ever-changing Industry BY NICOLE COLSON / PHOTO BY MICHAEL MOORE
T
roy Powersports has gone through many evolutions over the past 19 years, with one constant: It has grown and changed in response to industry demands. The family-owned and operated business on North Main Street in Troy is the vision of Joseph Sabolevski Sr., a Roxbury native who did a lot of snowmobile and ATV riding with his family and with friends when he was in high school. One of his favorite snowmobiling haunts is Pittsburg in northern New Hampshire, where he purchased a vacation home in 1998. While growing up on the family farm, Sabolevski also maintained farm equipment as well as snowmobiles and ATVs. While he has 44
done some racing, riding recreational vehicles continues to be a hobby for the 65-year-old. Sabolevski’s first business was Troy Auto Parts and Service Center, which he opened with a partner in 1979. In 1998 he entered the powersports business, opening Troy Arctic Cat in the same space — he purchased the franchise from a business in Swanzey. At that time, he was only able to purchase Arctic Cat because all the other powersports brands were unavailable. Fourteen years later, he purchased the Ski-Doo franchise from another Swanzey business that was closing. A few years later, he added Polaris. SNOWMOBILE UPS AND DOWNS In the shop’s early days, it was considered a good year if Troy Arctic Cat sold 20 snowmobiles — or sleds, as they are more com-
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
monly called in the industry. By the early 2000s, he more than doubled that number, and by 2005, he had sold nearly 300. Then the recession hit. “All the manufacturers regrouped and cut down on the product built,” says Sabolevski. At the same time, manufacturers were building more than the shop could sell. “An example is in 2006 it was a new chassis year for Arctic Cat,” says Sabolevski, “I had 285 sleds in boxes in the dooryard that were leftovers, and they wanted me to take another 150.” Today manufacturers continue to cut down on the numbers of products built as costs continue to rise. Sabolevski wasn’t sure his business could recover from the setbacks until 2011 when
he took on Ski-Doo and another brand of powersports products, Can-Am. “Once I got that third product my bottom line has soared dramatically,” he says. “It’s unbelievable.” To illustrate his point, the shop sold more than 600 sleds in 2016. SUMMER AND WINTER TOYS Because Troy Powersports (Sabolevski gave his business its new name last year) carries such a wide array of product brands — the shop has 200-plus sleds and up to 150 ATVs in stock at any given time making it the largest powersports inventory in southern New Hampshire — it’s become the go-to destination for powersports customers from all over New Hampshire and New England. That, coupled with the diversified types of products the shop offers, ensures its continued success despite the weather report. “Last winter service was spotty because there was little snow,” says Sabolevski. “But by March everyone was sick of winter and was looking toward dirt (vehicles).” Trends Sabolevski has seen in today’s
powersports industry are in side-by-side ATVs, which can hold at least one passenger and up to six. “They’re a lot more refined,” he says. “They’re like an automobile — that can cost as much as one. The side-by-side industry has taken over. You can buy one with a cab, a plow and heat.” Sled trends change every two to three years, he adds. “As far as power on sleds today, it’s ridiculous,” he says. “There are sleds that have 205 horsepower.” A FAMILY BUSINESS His staff is up for the challenge of selling and services these state-of-the-art machines. In addition to his son, Joseph Sabolevski Jr., — a master technician who has worked at the shop since childhood — there are four full-time technicians and three who provide help on the counter; one technician, Kenny St. Lawrence, services automobiles as well as snowmobiles and ATVs, has worked for him for 27 years. His wife, Sherrie, and daughter, Paula Caron, also work there. Every employee is also a salesperson.
His staff stay fresh by attending industry shows each year to learn the latest products and technology and are certified annually by the manufacturers. “They are taking three to six tests every three months,” he says. The business continues to grow, including its physical space. Last year Sabolevski added an 80-by-100-foot warehouse with a second-story workshop to the property and will build an addition to the showroom in the spring. Besides the large inventory, Sabolevski believes it’s his staff’s customer service that brings people back to Troy Powersports. “We built our business by trying to help every person,” he says. “We get across that when you come here, the only problem we cannot fix is the one we don’t know about. Everyone who comes through the door, even if we don’t sell to them we try to help them in one way or another or direct them to someone who can.” Learn more: www.troyarcticcat.com T
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Whether you’re hoping to: Keene State has • Finish a degree • Hundreds of online learning opportunities • Improve job skills • Occupational safety and health classes • Take classes just for fun • Day, evening, and weekend classes … there’s something for you close to home. • Credit and noncredit courses • Academic advising to guide you Visit keene.edu/conted or call 603-358-2290. Register Today!
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whether the writer wants editing, proofing or both. The goal is to point out errors and change as little as possible unless editorial feedback is invited. When you’re the writer, specify what level of scrutiny you want from reviewers, the format in which you would like to receive their suggestions and your deadline. Match the intensity of your proofreading to the importance of the writing project. There’s a difference between the degree of scrutiny you give internal messages, such as memos, and what you give written messages going outside your business, such as proposals for new business. When there is no margin for imperfection, it may be time to involve a team of colleagues or a freelance business writer. And that’s also when it’s particularly important to proof it one last time, no matter how many times you’ve already proofed it! On large, important projects, save all paper copies of changes until the project has been printed and has been pronounced flawless. USE THESE STRATEGIES • Spellcheck: Use it, but remember that there are many errors it won’t find. • Reading out loud: If it doesn’t sound right to you, it probably isn’t! • Source material: Double check to ensure that you have made no mistakes in key facts. • Double check names of people and businesses: Verify each one. Never make a mistake in names, titles and addresses. • Red flags: If anything you read leaves you with a question, circle it and verify it later. • Multiple errors: If you’ve caught one error, don’t overlook the possibility of another. • Numbers: Check the format,
and watch for transpositions and inaccurate totals. • Formatting: The goal is consistency. Watch for too many or too few spaces between words and irregular spacing between paragraphs. • Long documents: Make sure your pages are numbered, and break up the proofing to give each portion your focused attention. • A second pair of eyes: Have someone else review what you’ve written because we subconsciously fix our mistakes as we read. • Time lapse: After you’ve corrected all your mistakes, set it aside, give it some time and proof it again. GET SMART Within your organization, think of proofing as a shared responsibility. Develop a department style sheet, promote proofing awareness by sharing examples of errors you find in your daily life and work with others to improve proofing processes. If an error slips by, admit it, minimize the damage by fixing the mistake quickly, add it to your style sheet so you won’t make the same mistake again, and then get over it and on with the next project. If you find yourself regularly missing grammar errors, you may need Grammar Refresher, a professional development course offered by ed2go.com online at the cost of less than $150, found in its list of writing courses. It’s well worth the investment, and relearning what you once knew about grammar is a huge time-saver and makes you a smarter proofreader. T Betty Andrews is a freelance business writer with a background in public relations. She is based in Keene, New Hampshire.
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Expert Tips
Advice You Can Trust From the People You Know
Get Intentional in 2017!
Don’t Be Satisfied With Being “Consistently Average” BY MIKEL STEADMAN
“Don’t be habitually mediocre, be habitually resilient.”
O
ur environment is often the primary influence in shaping who and what we are. Over time, it conditions us to think that whatsoever we aspire to get out of life and whoever we want to be will just naturally happen for us — or maybe it won’t. If you let life happen to you, then it will. We are taught to accept that there are “limits” and “realities” to the potential of our lives. We are groomed to let life happen to us because we think we can’t fully control any real aspect of it — and from that perspective, we’re right. Because we agree with our limits and realities, we cheat ourselves — all of the time! We stop trying to exceed expectations, quit thinking critically and creatively, stop pushing our boundaries, become afraid of being afraid, and in that we become consistently average — or worse yet, we become satisfied with being a consistently average person. We tell ourselves things such as: “As long as I can keep my job, pay my rent or mortgage, put food in my mouth, keep my iPhone, go out on a date, afford my hobbies (video games, fishing trips, golf outings, enjoying a sixer or bottle of wine), and buy gifts from time to time, then I’ll be just fine. I’ll be content in these moments and accept that this is what life’s all about.” We become satisfied with who and what 48
we’ve become. Our risk-taking nature is disrupted because we are settling on the safe place we are in as our average and pacified selves. It doesn’t help that our society often tells us messages, such as: • This is as good as it gets. • That’s just the way it goes. • Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. • This is the hand you were dealt. In contrast, one of my Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania mentors, Paul Martinelli, would tell you not to ask for a new hand, but demand the entire deck so you can make your own hand. So, how about in 2017 you abolish the above phrases and replace them with: • What you fight for, you get. • Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. • As you do, is as you wish. • As you think, is as you are. Stop looking outside and start looking inside yourself for the answers. Your intention to invest in yourself to grow and maximize your God-given abilities will determine your level of effectiveness. If you want to reach your potential, you must do far more than just hope that you learn what you need along the way. John C. Maxwell says, “Many people don’t achieve their dream because it’s out of reach.
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
They don’t achieve their dream because they quit. The thing is, the moment you quit, everything is out of reach. The moment you stop moving, something before you can never be touched.” Find joy in the struggle. That’s where the most growth is! Don’t let yourself quit. Don’t focus on finding and believing excuses. Don’t be habitually mediocre, be habitually resilient. Resilience is a skill you must practice and hone. It will allow you to overcome the habit of quitting and finally reach your purpose. Be intentional and work hard at becoming the person you are created to be. Maximize your time on this earth and make your legacy a priority. Learn from your failures; drown your demons; laugh in the face of hardships; remove the naysayers from your life; connect with the folks that inspire you; find a mentor; study the people you want to be like; and most of all, don’t allow the majority of your downtime to be invested in tangents and hobbies that take you away from your purpose. The goal of intentional growth and reaching your purpose is to never stop growing. Because you don’t get what you want, you get who you are. T Mikel Steadman is a sales and solutions leader, public speaker and leadership consultant and deacon.
Business Directory
Please support the small businesses that support The Business Journal!
Peter Harris Creative Services
ACCOUNTING Hogancamp PC
Keene NH Accountants and Business Advisors 603-352-2233, www.hogancamp-pc.com
Keene NH Big ideas for small companies 603-903-0218 www.peterharriscreative.com
Lynn C. Rust, CPA PC
Salwen Graphic Design
Swanzey NH Helping You Solve Your Financial Puzzle 603-358-6565, www.lcrcpa.com info@lcrcpa.com
Keene NH Full Service Website & Graphic Design for Marketing & Communication 603-357-4693, www.salwen.net nancy@salwen.net
ADVERTISING/ APPLIANCES MARKETING/DESIGN/ Korvin Appliance Keene NH COMMUNICATIONS Halvorson New Media, LLC
Hancock NH Social Media Strategies, Training and Content Creation for Small Businesses 603-525-3391 www.halvorsonnewmedia.com chris@halvorsonnewmedia.com
Your Hometown Appliance Store Since 1976 603-352-3547 www.korvinappliance.com
ARCHITECTS/ HOME/BUILDING All Solar
Munsonville NH Solar & Alternative Energy 603-355-7337 www.allsolarinstallations.com steve@allsolarinstallations.com
Catlin + Petrovick Architects, PC Keene NH A Local Firm with a National Presence 603-352-2255 www.c-parchitects.com mpetrovick@c-parchitects.com
Crockett Log & Timber Homes Keene NH Green Living Since 1973 Working Locally With Buddy Champney Builder 603-209-1330 www.buddychampneybuilder.com bchampney@ BuddyChampneyBuilder.com
Jancewicz & Son
Bellows Falls VT Providing Stress Free, Time-Tested Solutions 800-281-3585 , www.roofsplus.com
K&J Builders
Swanzey NH Building is in Our Blood; The Customer’s Dream is Our Passion 603-252-9530 • 603-499-3561 www.kandjbuilders.com
Scully Architects
Keene NH Extraordinary Architecture and Planning for Our Community 603-357-4544 www.scullyarchitects.com dvs@scully-architects.com
SISR Architecture, LLC
Marlow NH Sustainable, Innovative & Socially Responsive Building Design 603-446-7024, www.sisr.us christina@sisr.us
DON’T TURN YOUR LIFE UPSIDE DOWN TO INSTALL COSTLY DUCTWORK.
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General Manager Jolene R. Belair Hamptonality is the extra care we put into everything that’s going to make your stay extra awesome. You’ll find it at our free hot breakfast. And you’ll see it in the personalities of our team members who use their individual styles of hospitality to make you feel extra special.
AMERICA’S #1 SELLING DUCTLESS BRAND
Keating Plumbing & Heating Inc. 241 Webb Depot Rd. Marlborough, NH 03455 603-876-4447 We offer financing
© 2015 Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc.
Hampton Inn Brattleboro
1378 Putney Road, Brattleboro, Vermont, 05301 802.254.5700 | brattleboro.hamptoninn.com
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Business Directory
Please support the small businesses that support The Business Journal!
Weller & Michal Architects Harrisville NH We Strive For Excellence Within Real-World Limitations ... Because Design Matters 603-827-3840, www.wapm.com info@wapm.com
ARTS & CULTURAL Arts Alive!
Keene NH Advancing Arts and Culture in the Monadnock Region 603-283-0944 www.monadnockartsalive.org info@monadnockartsalive.org
ASSISTED LIVING Bentley Commons
Keene NH A Premier Senior Living Community 603-352-1282, www.bentleyatkeene.com
Hillside Village
Keene NH Live Fully. And Thrive. 877-829-5349 www.hillsidevillagekeene.org
The Prospect-Woodward Home Keene NH Gracious Assisted Living 603-352-3235 www.woodwardhome.org
AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES City Tire
Keene NH The Best Place by Far for Your Car 603-357-1332, www.city-tire.com
U- Save Car and Truck Rental
Keene, NH Locally Owned and Operated 603-352-7919, www.usave.com keenenh@rentusave.com
BANKS/CREDIT UNIONS GFA Federal Credit Union Peterborough NH Better Value. Better Service. Better Banking. 603-924-9654, www.gfafcu.com
Savings Bank of Walpole
Keene and Walpole NH The Savings Bank of You 603-352-1822 or 603-756-4771 www.walpolebank.com 50
Service Credit Union
Keene NH No Dream is Too Big. No Idea is Too Small. 603-352-0475 or 800-936-7730 www.servicecu.org
CATERING/ RESTAURANTS Mayfair Farm
Harrisville NH A Small Scale, Diversified Family Farm 603-827-3925, www.mayfairfarmnh.com info@mayfairfarmnh.com
PeopleSense Consulting LLC Jaffrey NH Improve Hiring, Job-Fit, Performance and Leadership 603-532-5888 www.peoplesenseconsulting.com robin@PeopleSenseConsulting.com
SCORE
Keene NH For the Life of Your Business 603-352-0320, www.Monadnock.Score.org
COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSAS)
The Pub Restaurant & Caterers
Tracie’s Community Farm
The Works
DOG TRAINING/ RETAIL
Keene NH Keene’s Oldest Family-Owned Restaurant 603-352-3135 www.thepubrestaurant.com Keene NH/Brattleboro VT Delicious Sandwiches Made with Humanely-Raised, Hormone-Free Meats 603-357-7751 (Keene) 802-579-1851 (Brattleboro) www.worksbakerycafe.com
CLEANING SERVICES Cheshire Cleaning, Inc.
Fitzwilliam NH Growing Local Food and Community Since 1999 603-209-1851, www.traciesfarm.com
Everything Dog
Keene NH Got Dog? Get Solutions. 603-499-6207 www.everythingdognh.com denise@denisemazzola.com
Wicked Good Dog Training
Keene NH Commercial Cleaning Services in the Monadnock Region 603-209-9735, www.cheshirecleaning.com info@cheshirecleaning.com
Peterborough NH Positive Training with Positive Results 603-732-7214 www.wickedgooddogtraining.com wickedgooddogtraining@gmail.com
Service Master Commercial Building Services
ECOLOGICAL CONSULTING
Keene NH Exceeding Customer Expectations 603-352-6101, www.keenejanitorial.com
COACHING/ CONSULTING LaunchingU
Keene NH Career Coaching for College Students & New Graduates 603-357-6111, www.launchingu.com sue@launchingu.com
Path of Purpose Coaching
Spofford NH Inspiring Entrepreneurs to Success in Life and Business 603-363-4252, www.pathofpurpose.com helaine@pathofpurpose.com
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
Green Home Solutions
Peterborough NH Effective. Affordable. Responsible. Natural. Safe. 603-924-3744 www.greenhomesolutions.com/ western-nh mary.brown@greenhome solutions.com
Poole Ecological Consultancy
Hillsborough NH Helping Protect Natural Assets Since 1996 603-478-1178, www.eannpoole.com eann@gsinet.net
The Green Up Girl
Marlboro VT Reduce Waste, Reduce Cost, Rethink Events 802-258-8046, www.thegreenupgirl.com cs@thegreenupgirl.com
EDUCATION/ TRAINING Antioch University New England
Keene NH Because the World Needs You Now 877-595-9873, www.antiochne.edu
Keene State College Continuing Education
Keene NH Wisdom to Make a Difference 603-358-2290 www.keene.edu/conted
River Valley Community College
Keene/Claremont/Lebanon NH Envisioning the Future – Our Future by Design 603-542-774, www.rivervalley.edu
The Monadnock Waldorf School
Keene NH Enrolling Nursery Through High School 603-357-4442 www.MonadnockWaldorfSchool.org
WorkReadyNH
at River Valley Community College Strengthen Your Workforce With WorkReadyNH 603-542-7744, www.rivervalley.edu
Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) KSC
Keene NH Start as a Student, Graduate as a CEO! 918-430-5389 Jake.Nonweiler@keene.edu
ENGRAVABLE GIFTS & AWARDS Engrave-It/Awards of Keene
Keene NH Home to New England’s #1 Trophy Builder! 603-352-8559, www.awardsofkeene.com
FINANCIAL SERVICES Ameriprise Financial Keene NH Retire on Your Terms 603-499-4454 www.ameriprise.com
Baystate Financial
Brattleboro VT Guidance. Insight. Results. 802-254-7756, www.sdgmacey.com
Caserta Financial Solutions Keene NH Providing unique financial solutions that simplify a complex world 603-352-3715 www.financialsolutionsgroup.com
Edwards Jones
Keene/Peterborough/ Rindge/Walpole NH Making Sense of Investing 314-515-2000, www.edwardjones.com
SCH Financial Group
Peterborough NH Advice, Exceptional Service, Making a Financial Difference 239-687-3600, www.SCHFG.com tschnare@schfg.com
FITNESS Core Consciousness
Keene NH Specializing in Pre- and Post- Rehabilitation 603-358-5146 www.coreconsciousnesskeene.com pmaarons@gmail.com
FURNITURE Syd’s Carpet & Snooze Room
Keene NH Your Furniture, Flooring, Rug and Carpet Store 603-352-4315, www.sydsofkeene.com
David J. Houston Co.
Jaffrey NH Office Outfitters & Surplus Equipment 603-532-4237 www.davidjhoustonco.com
GIFT ITEMS
Of Moose & Mountain
Westmoreland NH Unique Designs from Nature & New England www.OfMooseAndMountain.com
Deep Roots Massage & Bodywork
HEALTH & PERSONAL CARE
Keene NH Professional and Affordable Massage for Every Body 603-352-0734 www.deeprootsmassagemb.com mark@deeprootsmb.com
Cheshire Medical Center Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene
Ruthellen Davison Deep Tissue Relaxation & Massage Therapy
Keene NH An integrated health system with a clear focus and coordinated approach to providing high quality health care services. 603-354-5400, www.cheshire-med.com
Cindy Knipe, RDN, LD
Keene NH Nutrition Counseling, Consulting and Workplace Wellness . . . What Nourishes You? 603-738-5791 www.whatnourishesyou-nh.com cynthiaknipe@gmail.com
West Swanzey NH Healing Touch Matters 603-313-8675, davisonpratt@gmail.com
HUMAN RESOURCES HR Compliance 101, LLC Fitzwilliam NH Creating Workplaces That Work for Everyone 603-585-3139 www.hrcompliance101.com paula@hrcompliance101.com
New England Everyday Goods Jaffrey NH Where shopping feels & tastes good! 603-532-8600 www.newenglandeverydaygoods.com
! Oil Change $19.95 (most cars up to 5 qts. - Synthetic Extra)
Office Furniture • Home Furnishings Restaurant Equipment • Industrial Equipment Material Handling Equipment And Much More! Monday – Friday: 9AM – 5PM • Saturday:9AM – 2PM davidjhoustonco.com • markcoll@davidjhoustonco.com 45 Hadley Road, Jaffrey, NH 03452
• Exhaust • Brakes • Alignments • Steering & Suspension
Voted #1 Best Place to buy Tires
124 Main Street, Keene, NH 603-357-1332 • www.city-tire.com MONDAY-FRIDAY 8AM-5PM • SATURDAY 8AM-12PM
Best Place by far for your car!
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
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Business Directory
Please support the small businesses that support The Business Journal!
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Acuity Cloud Solutions
Keene NH HCM cloud strategy, implementation and application support. 281-617-1400 www.acuitycloudsolutions.com
Spend Less Time
Finding The Perfect Candidate with the job posting that delivers it all on
www.KSCareerFinder.com
Hire Better, Faster, & For Less On www.KSCareerFinder.com » Reach qualified job seekers on our site— & across thousands of additional job sites on TheJobNetworkTM » Find passive job seekers instantly in our resume database » Save time with Real-Time Job Matching™ & applicant ranking
True North Networks
Keene NH Straight Answers. Bright Solutions. 603-624-6777 www.truenorthnetworks.com
INSURANCE Bellows-Nichols Insurance
Peterborough NH Personal Service for Over 175 Years! 603-924-7155 www.bellowsnichols.com
Clark Mortenson Insurance and Financial Services Keene NH Be Ready for Anything 603-357-221 www.clarkmortenson.com info@clark-mortenson.com
Insurance Planning Group
Keene NH Employee Benefits Specialists 888-474-3539, www.ipgbenefits.com
Masiello Insurance Agency, Inc. Keene NH Our Service Saves You Time and Our Choices Save You Money 603-352-1810 www.masielloinsurance.com donnac@masiello.com
The Insurance Source, Inc. Keene NH The Source for All of Your Insurance Needs 603-357-2219 www.insurancesource.com
INTERIOR DESIGN Contact Your Sales Representative or Lyn Falcone at 603-352-1234 x1211 Today to Earn More!
Ann Henderson Interiors
Keene NH Residential & Commercial Interior Design 603-357-7680, www.ahinteriors.com
New England Fabrics & Decorating Center A Member of
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THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
Keene NH In the fabric business for over 75 years! 603-352-8683 www.newenglandfabrics.com
Walpole Interiors
Walpole NH Furnishings & Design Studio 603-445-2600 New website coming
MEETING SPACES Chesterfield Inn
West Chesterfield NH Elegant Suites & Guest Rooms 603-256-3211, www.chesterfieldinn.com info@chesterfieldinn.com
Stonewall Farm
Keene NH Land Here. Grow Roots. Cultivate Community 603-357-7278, www.stonewallfarm.org
NONPROFIT Monadnock Buy Local
Keene NH Helping Our Local Economy Grow www.monadnocklocal.org
Monadnock United Way Keene NH There for All of Us 603-352-4209, www.muw.org kathy@muw.org
PLUMBING & HEATING Keating Plumbing & Heating Marlborough NH Whether you’re building a new home or renovating on old one, we’ve got you covered 603-876-4447 www.keatingplumbing-heating.com
Pinney Plumbing & Heating West Swanzey NH Replacements, Repairs, Installations 603-357-0944 www.pinneyplumbing.com
PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS & SERVICES
(Embroidery, Mailing, Printing, Screen Printing, Signs)
Beeze Tees Screen Printing
Keene NH The Best Way to Print Today! 603-357-1400, www.beezetees.com info@beezetees.com
Bulldog Design
Keene NH Get it Local. GetBullDog.com. 603-369-7171, www.getbulldog.com joe@bulldog-design.com
Advertiser Index Gem Graphics
Keene NH Your Image is Everything 603-352-7112 www.gem-graphics.com steve@gem-graphics.com
Great Brook Media
Tousley Property Management LLC
Keene NH Big or Small, Space for All! 603-352-9071 www.tousleyproperty.com info@tousleyproperty.com
Alstead, NH Helping homegrown and hand-made businesses find their voice online www.GreatBrookMedia.com Stacey@greatbrookmedia.com
Nancy Thompson
The Shipping Shack
RESOURCE CENTERS
Keene NH Packing, Shipping, Mailboxes & More! 603-352-4249 www.shippingshack.com
REAL ESTATE/ OFFICE SPACE Hannah Grimes Center
Keene NH Someone You’ll Remember 603-355-6819 www.nancythompson.masiello.com
The River Center
Peterborough NH A Family & Community Resource Center 603-924-6800, www.rivercenter.us
RETAIL Creative Encounters
Keene NH Weaving Together Business, Local Economy and Community. 603-352-5063 www.hannahgrimes.com
Keene NH Extraordinary Framing and Other Cool Stuff 603-352-3724, www.creative-encounters.com
HKS Associates
Keene NH/Brattleboro VT Fine Menswear 603-352-3039 • 802-254-2287 www.mbnmenswear.com
Keene, NH, 603-352-6030 Jaffrey, NH, 603-532-4486 www.hksassoc.com anna@hksassoc.com
New England Web and Tech Collective (NEWT) Keene NH Collaboration, Skill Development, Coworking & More 603-399-6400 www.webtechcollective.com
RE/MAX Town & Country
Keene NH Outstanding Agents, Outstanding Results 603-357-4100 www.mykeenehome.com info@remax-keene-nh.com
R.J. Finlay & Co.’s The Guernsey Building
Peterborough NH Now Leasing: Newly Renovated Office Spaces With Historic Charm in Downtown Peterborough 603-672-0300, x127 www.rjfinlay.com
Dick Thackston
Winchester NH Broker NH, VT & MA 603-313-1231 www.dickthackston.com rthackston@thackston.com
Miller Bros.-Newton
Ted’s Shoe & Sport
Keene NH Keene’s Only “Sit & Fit” Store! 603-357-TED’S (8337) www.tedsports.com
SCREEN PRINT & EMBROIDERY Gemini Screenprint, LLC
Keene NH Your Identity is Our Business 603-357-3847, www.geminiscreenprint.com stacey@geminiscreenprint.com
SEPTIC SITE WORK & EXCAVATION CSE Septic & Excavating
Division of Ed Csenge & Son LLC Sullivan NH Septic Site Work from Start to Finish General Construction Services 603-847-9150, www.cseseptic.com cseseptic@gmail.com
SIGNS/AWNINGS Metro Sign & Awnings
(formerly Custom Designs) Keene NH Design, Fabrication, Installation & Service www.metrosignandawning.com Matthew Morgenson 603-352-2530 Adam Brodeur 617-830-4555 adamb@metrosign.net
Signworx
AJR LIVERY ���������������������������������������������������������� 13 ANN HENDERSON INTERIORS �����������39 AMERIPRISE ������������������������������������������������������ 35 BAY STATE FINANCIAL �������������������������������39 BENTLEY COMMONS ���������������������������������� 43 CARPET CLEARANCE WAREHOUSE ��� 23 CHESHIRE MEDICAL CENTER ���������������19 CINDY KNIPE, RDN, LD ������������������������������46 CITY TIRE CO ������������������������������������������������������51
Swanzey NH Small Town Service World Class Results 603-358-1003, www.signworx.com info@signworx.com
DAVID J. HOUSTON COMPANY ������������51
TEAM BUILDING
EVERYTHING DOG ����������������������������������������55
Monadnock Art Parties Kristina Wentzell
GEMINI SCREENPRINT ������������������������������ 37
Keene NH Uncork Your Creativity 603-903-5902 www.monadnockart.com Kristina. wentzell@gmail.com
Music All Around/ MusicWorks
Keene NH Music and Percussion- Based Workshops for Team Building & Staff Development 603-357-4693 www.musicallaround.net nancy@salwen.net
CREATIVE ENCOUNTERS ������������������������� 13 EDWARD JONES ������������������������������������28-29 ENGRAVE IT ������������������������������������������������������� 35 GEM GRAPHICS ����������������������������������������������39 RYAN GOODELL ����������������������������������������������39 H & R BLOCK ������������������������������������������������������25 HAMBLET ELECTRIC �������������������������������������19 HAMPTON INN �������������������������������������������������49 HAMSHAW LUMBER �����������������������������������46 HILLSIDE VILLAGE ��������������������������������������������2 HKS ���������������������������������������������������������������������������55 HOGANCAMP ����������������������������������������������������51 INSURANCE PLANNING GROUP ���������15 INSURANCE SOURCE ��������������������������������� 23 K & J BUILDERS �����������������������������������������������45 KEATING PLUMBING & HEATING �������49 KEENE STATE COLLEGE ����������������������������45
WEB DESIGN/DEV. CONSULTING/HOSTING 4Web Inc.
Keene NH Joomla & WordPress Development 603-903-0793, heidi@4webinc.com www.4webinc.com
Monadnock Cloud
Troy NH Web Design & Managed Cloud Services 603-903-8168 mikel@steadmanmediagroup.com www.steadmanmediagroup.com
WRITING TWP Marketing & Technical Communications Peterborough NH Our Words Mean Business — On the Web and in Print 603-924-3846 sbailly1234@myfairpoint.net www.nhbusinessblog.com
KEENE SIGNWORX ���������������������������������������51 MASIELLO GROUP �������������������������������������������3 MILLER BROS-NEWTON ������������������������������7 MONADNOCK WALDORF SCHOOL ������ 23 MONADNOCK UNITED WAY �����������������46 NANCY THOMPSON ������������������������������������� 13 NATHAN WECHLER & CO., P.A. ����������������� 23 NEW ENGLAND FABRICS & DECORATING CENTER ��������������������������������5 PETER HARRIS CREATIVE ������������������������17 PINNEY PLUMBING & HEATING ����������55 THE PUB RESTAURANT �������������������������������4 PROSPECT-WOODWARD ������������������������ 23 R. H. THACKSTON & CO ����������������������������� 23 RIVER VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE �����������������������������25 SAINT JOSEPH REGIONAL SCHOOL ��������������������������������������33 SAVINGS BANK OF WALPOLE ���������������11 SYD’S CARPET & SNOOZE ROOM �����46 TED’S SHOE & SPORT ����������������������������������21 NANCY THOMPSON ������������������������������������� 13 VISIONARY COACHING LLC �������������������39 WAXY O’CONNORS ���������������������������������������19 WELLER & MICHAL ARCHITECTS �������21 WONDROUS ROOTS, INC. ������������������������17 ZEPHYR DESIGNS �����������������������������������������47
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Business After Hours Submit your photos to editor@thebusinessjournal.net
Keene Chamber of Commerce Gala 2017 Photos by Michael Moore
Zack and Dayna Derby of Great Eastern Radio.
From left, Jeff Rubin, Nancy Thompson and Allen Mendelson.
Chamber of Commerce Gala 2017 keynote speaker John T. Broderick, Jr., former Chief Justice of the NH Supreme Court and Co-chair of The Campaign to Change Direction, NH.
From left, Kate Hickey, Rick Grogan, Jay Smeltz, Melinda Treadwell and Julie Dickson. From left, Eric Weisenberger, Glenn Galloway and Roger Hansen.
Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours held in December 2016 at the Peterborough Public Library, hosted by the 1833 Society. At left, Director, Corinne Chronopoulous; Tina Kriebel. At right, Steve Kim; Peter Robinson. Photo credit: courtesy of the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce. 54
THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
At left, Sean Ryan, GPCOC & Nancy DuBosque, Small Business Development Center. At right, John Young, Crotched Mountain Ski & Ride. Photo credit: Christina Meinke
February Calendar of Events FEB. 1 (Wed., 7:30-9 a.m.)
FEB. 13 (Mon., 2-4 p.m.)
25 Roxbury St., Keene, N.H. programs@hannahgrimes.com
FEB. 15 (Wed., 5:30-7 p.m.)
Trying Family Law Issues in New Hampshire with Joseph Caulfield, Esq. J.A.Tarbell Library, 136 Forest Rd, Lyndeborough, N.H. 603-654-6790, www.jatarbelllibrary.org
FEB. 17 (Fri., 5:30 p.m.)
Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce After Hours February Hosted by: Reality Check, 21 Goodnow St., Jaffrey, N.H. RSVP: info@jaffreychamber.com
Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Reynold’s Hall (All Saints’ Church), 50 Concord St., Peterborough, N.H. RSVP: 603-924-7234
Coaching: Fundraising with Katie Gardella Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship 25 Roxbury St., Keene, N.H. programs@hannahgrimes.com
FEB. 2 (Thurs., noon-1:30 p.m.)
Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours Hosted by Fenton Family Dealerships at Honda of Keene 567 Monadnock Hwy., Rt. 12, Swanzey, N.H. RSVP: 603-352-1303
Power of the Inbox: Tips for Successful Email Marketing Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship 25 Roxbury St., Keene, N.H. $20. programs@hannahgrimes.com
FEB. 8 (Wed., 10 a.m.-noon)
Coaching: Social Media with Stacey Nachajski Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship 25 Roxbury St., Keene, N.H. programs@hannahgrimes.com
FEB. 10 (Fri., noon-1 p.m.)
Business to Business Brown Bag Lunch Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce 48 Central Sq., Keene, N.H. Reserve a seat: 603-352-1303
Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting & Member Appreciation Shattuck Golf Club, Jaffrey, N.H. RSVP: www.jaffreychamber.com or info@jaffreychamber.com
FEB. 27 (Mon. 9 a.m.-noon)
Coaching: Strategy & Growth with Wink Faulkner Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship
IS IT TIME FOR A CHANGE? Your house is an investment. You work hard and built equity. Now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
FEB. 20 (Mon., 7 p.m.)
FEB. 22 (Wed., 5:30-7:30 p.m.)
ONGOING: Thursdays, 7-8:30 p.m.
Arduino, Pi and Pizza Meetup MAxT Makerspace Peterborough, N.H. www.monadnockartxtech.org
choice 2016
readers’
awards
We could help with the transition – whether you are buying, selling or both! Keene 603-352-6030 Jaffrey 603-532-4486 www.hksassoc.com
Realtors • Consultants
ASSOCIATES, INC.
be your dog’s
HERO
Master License #1061
classes private lessons aggression
certified professional dog trainers Denise Mazzola, CPDT-KA 603-499-6207 info@everythingdognh.com
Amy Willey, CPDT-KA 603-499-6208 amy@everythingdognh.com
www.everythingdognh.com THE BUSINESS JOURNAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
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