In 1951, the late Nat King Cole had a song entitled “Too Young” in the number one position on the Billboard charts for five weeks in a row. Seventeen-year-old entrepreneur Matthew Turcotte of Clayton might never have heard that fine melody and those lyrics, but the first line surely fits his youthful business endeavors: “They try to tell us we’re too young.”
Some people might think that a senior in high school is far too young to be a successful business owner; but they’ve never met this high school senior. Five minutes in his presence and you quickly confirm the old saying, “You can’t tell a book by the cover.”
Matthew Turcotte is a consummate professional in spite of starting his North Shore Web Development enterprise a mere one year ago. And he offers stiff competition to others in similar businesses throughout this region. One has only to log onto his web site at www.northshorewebdevelopment.com to be duly impressed.
On his home page, Turcotte says, “Inthe world of business today, having an online presence is a must. At North Shore Web Development, it is our promise to create an affordable and functional website to meet your personal or business needs while protecting your integrity and privacy. At North Shore Web Development, we sit down with you to discuss your needs and want to build a site that meets your specifications. We also have proven marketing packages available to make your site and business rise to the top through both the Internet and print publications.”
That might sound like a tall order for such a youthful entrepreneur, but make no mistake; this young businessman is at the top of his game.
Not only does he not try to hide his age, he flaunts it and is not at all reticent about meeting with potential clients of all ages and professions.
The Turcotte family has been in the Thousand Islands region for many generations, emigrating first to Canada, then to Grindstone Island in the St. Lawrence River. From there, Turcotte’s grandfather moved to the mainland. Both of Turcotte’s parents are in the medical field and have fully supported their only child’s efforts since early childhood. He is a rarity among today’s teenagers in that he settled on a direction for his life before most people learn their multiplication tables.
He said, “A lot of people I know are just like tumbleweeds—whatever happens, happens. To me, it’s so much better to have a goal, to have a vision and purpose.”
Unbelievably, Turcotte developed an interest in starting his own business by the time he was in first grade. He saw his first computer when he was six and his parents brought one into their home. He was instantly attracted to it and spent countless hours as a youngster, testing and using it to its limits.
It was a love affair that grew almost exponentially through the years. The first website he developed was three years ago when he was just 14. He developed the site for his uncle who was running for county sheriff at the time. He created the site for free and the local populace was impressed. By word of mouth, Turcotte began to add new clients to the list. The Town of Clayton came on board. Then, it was the Clayton Fire Department and the Clayton Opera House. By this time, he was convinced that he had acquired enough expertise to branch out and compete with the big guys in the business.
Two years ago, he was able to get a newer and far more powerful computer, and one year ago, at the end of October 2008, he received his business license. Almost immediately, he was turning his extensive computer knowledge into cold, hard cash.
He opened a business checking account, purchased the professional software he needed, opened his own Roth IRA account and has never once looked back.
Soon after his junior year in school, Turcotte began a media blitz with press releases, newspaper articles, TV and radio interviews and public appearances wherever he could arrange them.
Everything began to fall into place during the summer of 2008 and he says he has to pinch himself to comprehend how far his business has progressed in one short year.
Turcotte says November is especially interesting for him. He is entered into a Jefferson Community College high school business competition and hopes to come away with the substantial first prize. He says he gains a lot of support from the JCC Small Business Development Center, which he visits often for help and advice.
Turcotte has also written his first book entitled From Main Street to Main Stream, the Essential Steps to Getting a Small Town Business on Line. It will be available for sale on amazon.com by December. All this while Turcotte juggles numerous web development projects. Those he has already developed need almost constant upgrading and maintenance. How can he handle all of this and keep his grades up in school? He shrugs and says, “I love being busy. If I were just sitting around all the time, I wouldn’t know what to do.”
He sub-contracts with others and doesn’t hesitate to delegate certain tasks along the way. He has a list of other experts for some of the intricate tasks of web development and uses them when necessary.
When asked if people ever try to take advantage of him because of his youth. Turcotte answered, “Not very much. They think I’m just a kid and try to put things over on me. But they don’t get far. I trust my instincts. I’ve been lucky not to be badly burned by any of them. I work very hard to show that I’m as good as or better than any of my area competition. It’s very satisfying to know that I’ve been able to accomplish this much in one year and I don’t intend to slow down now.” He added that many businesses come to him, not only for his expertise, but because he can offer professional web services for a lot less money.
In January of this year, Turcotte started what he called Host North Shore at www. hostnorthshore.com. Why? “Because web sites need to have web hosting,” he answered, and added, “They need to have a domain name to be on the Internet. During my first few months in business, I had just been buying those services with other companies. Then it dawned on me that I could offer those services. So I started Host North Shore and that’s done pretty well. Most of my customers get their domain through me or I host their web site for them. I have 65 domain names right now.”
As if that weren’t enough to tire any normal person, Turcotte is always looking for ways to expand. He said, “A lot of people have asked me to get into fixing their computer problems, so I’m getting into that as well. If I need assistance, I know a lot of kids my age who are already computer experts and I hire them to help. I’ve also been into marketing and making web advertisements for businesses. I’ve done online stores for clients and I’m currently working on several online business ventures.”
As word-of-mouth about his website development has swept through the region, a number of Watertown businesses have come to him for help. That has led to work not only in other parts of New York State, but as far away as California.
Turcotte can develop a website from beginning to end, but has also worked closely with other designers to do just a portion of the job.
The young businessman says he could never have done all this on his own and adds, “It’s great having so much support from my family, my school and the entire community.”
Will North Shore Web Development remain his main vocation? For the short term, his answer is “yes.” After college, he says, he’ll branch out and get into other things. “I find business really interesting and will almost surely get into more businesses in the future.”
When asked to name others whom he has emulated and who have acted as mentors along the way, Turcotte spoke withgreat affection for and appreciation of his neighbor Phil Randazzo. He said Randazzo is a very successful businessman who has taken Matthew under his wing and has used him for various projects including the development of a web site for his new “Coyote Moon Winery.”
Turcotte said, “He is so interesting to watch and learn from every day. It was so very motivating to see his tremendous energy and drive. He is already very successful, but is never satisfied with the status quo. Just being around him is a real inspiration for me. I’ve often said I want to be like him.” Turcotte also has high praise for a person named Shonika Proctor, whom he says, “has helped me tremendously. She has a web site dedicated to helping teen entrepreneurs and has written a book. Her web site is www.teenentrepreneurblog. com.”
Matthew Turcotte is a young, but successful CEO and a spokesperson for teen entrepreneurship. He has hosted an audio course called “From Inspiration to Implementation” where he walks listeners through the steps of how a business concept becomes a reality. It was part of what was termed the “Teen CEO Blueprint” course. The course is available for purchase on Turcotte’s website.
He has already applied to several colleges and plans to major in business.
Like so many other successful business owners of all ages, Matthew Turcotte loves his work and enjoys every minute of time he pours into it. “I absolutely love being able to set my own schedule and work for myself,” he said. And he added, “I am my own boss and I have passion for what I do. It’s a dream job.”
Have his high school grades suffered because of his commitment to the business? Hardly. He has always been an A student and, at age 15, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He is also in pursuit of climbing all 46 peaks in the Adirondacks and has already climbed reached the top of 30 of them. He sets high standards for himself and has been diligent about pursuing his personal goals.
Matthew Turcotte at North Shore Web Development has done a great deal of maturing in his 17 years of life. We can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in the next 17 years.
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