Bobby Ferris, the owner of Big Apple Music, remembers the first thing he ever sold when he opened his store in Watertown. It was a radar detector. That was in October 15, 1984 when he set up a small shop on Franklin Street in the back of one of the city’s first movie rental stores. A quarter century later, Ferris has a 5,000-square foot store off Arsenal Street. The store is filled with state-of-the-art televisions, audio systems, car alarms, remote starters and other electronics. His jovial employees tease Ferris as he proudly points to something on the wall―it’s the first dollar he earned from that radar detector sale.
“I look at that sometimes and a big smile comes on my face,” Ferris said, “It’s like when you look at your kids’ pictures when they were young and you look at how great they turned out. That’s what I think about when I see the dollar. It’s just kind of special.”
It’s amazing to think that dollar is still in existence. Ferris says he started the business by sinking $6,000, everything he had, into his inventory. That first year, he lost $12,000. So how did he turn things around? “My parents always said you can do whatever you want to, you just have to work for it,” he said. “No one’s going to give it to you and when things get tough, you can either close the doors or you can figure it out. I’m one of those stubborn guys that always tries to figure it out.”
Ferris began working with electronics when he was 14 and growing up in St. Johnsville, 30 miles east of Utica. “My brother would go to my cousins’ store in Utica and buy stereo equipment and he’d bring it back home and try to install it in the cars back then. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. I begged my brother to let me try and started to figure things out. Things always seemed to work out for me,” said Ferris.
His cousins own Big Apple Imports in Utica, where Ferris worked after graduating from SUNY Alfred. His cousin, John, made a suggestion that would change his life. “He said, ‘Hey, Camp Drum is going to be turning into Fort Drum and you can go up there and start your own business.’” said Ferris. “At the time we had a store in Rome, where Griffiss Air Force Base was, so we realized it was a good opportunity. I didn’t realize how long it took to build a base and bring the people in. Or how hard it was to start a new business.”
While building his business, Ferris took other part-time jobs. He worked as a bouncer at Tommy’s Nightclub, which was located where Massey’s Furniture Barn’s mattress store is now. A year later, Ferris married, took a job at a paper mill and moved from Franklin Street to Big Apple Music’s current location, the former site of Tommy’s Roast Beef.
Ferris explained, “Tommy Arvin owned the bar and the roast beef shop, and was kind enough to give me the restaurant location, so I could keep trying to grow my business. So, I had a 1,000-square foot store. I worked at Champion Paper Mill during the day for about a year and a half, and I ran the store. My brother, Billy, came up to help run the store during the day when I was working, and we keep the store open until 11:30-12 o’clock most nights. That’s when people would come to the bar behind us. We’d leave the store open and people would come in, and we’d just talk to them, show them stuff, relax and have fun and do what you had to do to develop clientele. They didn’t really have money to buy stereo systems at midnight, but hopefully, we’d build a bond and get them back in later. Many of them still come in to see me.”
Eventually, Ferris left the mill job to devote all his time to the store, “which meant 9 a.m. to 10-11 p.m.
every day,” he recalled. “In 1988 my wife Deb and I had our son, Zachary, and we decided that she would be a stay-at-home mom. This meant I had to figure out how to make it on just one income. Three years later, our daughter Kristina was born and our family was complete.”
Ferris continued, “I didn’t build this business or make it successful on my own. It starts with my wife and family who have always believed in me and supported me. It was never just about making money. It was about making a life for my family and making new friends along the way. Big Apple gave me both. The store has allowed me to really enjoy my family. So maybe the first ten or twelve years were really hard―I’m still a very blessed individual.”
Big Apple Music became one of the first stores in the area to sell car alarms and remote car starters. Finally, around 2000, the store started making money. Today, Ferris employs 12 full-time workers.
“We’ve been successful for the last probably ten years―showing a profit each of the last ten years. That’s mainly due to the staff that we have,” said Ferris. “Our staff acts as if every customer is the most important customer. It’s great because the salespeople and the installers we have all understand that we work for the customer. They know they don’t just work for me. If I work for the customers and I portray that attitude to my guys, my guys pick that up. Then they care about the customers’ needs and that’s what makes us successful. If your staff is well-trained and knowledgeable and they have the right equipment, you can serve your customers better. I’m really proud to say I have the best trained staff around.”
During the last five to six years, the company has expanded into wiring homes and businesses for telephone, internet, cable, satellite systems, and stereo systems throughout the house with touch panels. Flat panel TV installations and custom home theater systems have been a big part of the expansion, and Ferris said, “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Ferris purchased property on Route 11 near Fort Drum’s main gate in hopes of someday building a second store. “We could use more space, but it’s really important to be streamlined and efficient in this type of market. Getting bigger doesn’t mean you’re better,” he said. “It’s where we want to go for a second location just because I believe that, as Fort Drum continues its expansion, a second location will be viable. Right now the most important thing is to concentrate on the main store and serve our current customers.”
Ferris says his desire to serve led him to campaign for the Jefferson County Legislature this past fall. A Republican candidate, he won the District 11 seat, which includes the towns of Watertown and Rutland. “I wanted to serve the people because the area has given so much to me and my family,” he said. “I’m grateful and I just wanted to help out.” Ferris takes office in January. “This is a good time for it,” he said. “Now that my son is in the Air Force and my daughter is in college, I’m not running to lacrosse games, track meets and dance competitions. I have more time.”
Ferris is still as committed as ever to his store. “Technology changes all the time―almost on a daily basis. My guys become more and more trained, more and more specialized, whether it be custom car installations, basic car radio installations or custom home installations. Everything is more detail-oriented and more complicated,” he said. “We’ve always done well even when other stores would come into our market. The big box stores are a reality, but we can compete with their prices and definitely beat their service. We don’t have their overhead and we’re able to quickly modify our prices and services. If a person wants sales and service from knowledgeable people at the lowest prices, they come here.”
At age 46, Ferris is looking forward to the next quarter century for Big Apple. “I see the store growing and I see more than one location in the next 25 years. I have always loved working in electronics and being my own boss. It’s great to make a living doing something you love. It’s a happy time in my life. I’ve gotten to know a lot of good people, made a lot of great friends and have enjoyed working with my employees through the last 25 years. What more could a man ask for from a job? God has truly blessed me.”
Article written by Diane Rutherford
Chicken is sizzling on the grill. Pasta and sauce are simmering on the stove. Jay and Steven Baytos are darting about the kitchen preparing meals for the Tuesday evening dinner crowd. Young, ambitious and talented, the Baytos brothers have taken their love of cooking and turned it into a successful business. They are the co-owners of Savory Café & Catering at 1511 Washington Street in Watertown.
“Everybody would say working with family members is tough, but actually he and I work really well together,” said Steven, who is 33. “I do a lot more of the booking of the parties, the paperwork, the office end of it, and he (Jay) deals with the daily work as far as the food end of it.” Jay added, “He does all the situations that I don’t want to do. It works out great.”
Jay, 38, and Steven learned a lot about cooking when they were growing up. Their grandparents were partners in the old Morgia’s Restaurant in Watertown. Their dad loved cooking there and always wanted to open his own restaurant, but never did. The Baytos brothers worked in taverns together in their early 20s and realized they shared their dad’s love of cooking.
“After college, I just enjoyed it. I just started cooking and my father did a lot with me. He has taught me a lot,” said Jay. The lessons paid off. A friend, who was opening a business, asked the brothers to cater an event for him.
“We started in our home,” said Steven.“One thing just led to another. It just snowballed. Some people at that event wanted another event at their house, and another person wanted an event at their house. It was just word of mouth because obviously there was no advertising or anything like that. It was a little side business for us. Then we picked up a couple of big Christmas parties and bigger parties and bought more equipment. Then we bought an enclosed trailer and that’s when we started lugging equipment.”
In 2005, the brothers’ business started to outgrow their home and trailer. At the same time, Shelly Huber was getting ready to close Shelby’s Delicatessen, which she ran for eight years. “We weren’t even looking for a location,” said Steven. “We drove by here and I was going to buy more equipment, chaffing dishes, stuff like that. And then I walked in and I’m looking around and then I talked to her and that’s when I called Jay and said, ‘Hey, we just bought a restaurant.’”
The brothers actually rent the space. They opened Savory Café & Catering at the former Shelby’s location in October 2005. Joseph Baytos, the father who always wanted to open his own restaurant, initially had reservations about his sons going into business for themselves because he knew how risky it could be. However, Joseph and his wife, Tammy, threw their support behind their sons. “He was a teacher and my mom was a teacher. Now they’re both retired and live in Florida, but they come back and they help us out with catering,” said Steven. “When our father comes home, he just loves working here,” said Jay. “He loves helping us come up with new dishes.”
Steven, like his parents, is an educator. For the last 12 years, he has taught second grade in the Sackets Harbor Central School District. Steven works at Savory Café & Catering weekdays before classes begin. Jay works at the business from morning to night preparing food and serving the lunch crowd. “We do the normal sandwiches, ham, turkey, roast beef, but we try to make up our own type of thing. We do a lot of grilling and a lot of salads,” said Jay. Steven added, “I come back here every day after school until 5 or 6 o’clock to do paperwork and then, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I’m here with him cooking (dinner). We do as much as we can by ourselves. Everything here is made from scratch. We don’t buy anything that’s pre-made. So there’s a lot of prep time. With the catering, when it’s a big event, we come together and work together.
Savory Café & Catering operates a deli counter and restaurant which is open weekdays for lunch and two evenings for dinner. “Tuesdays and Wednesdays we’re open until 8 p.m. and that’s just starting to pick up,” said Jay.
The brothers say the real money lies in their catering business. “We do a highend stir fried rice with vegetables,” said Jay, explaining their menus. “We make ginger pork with a special sauce, grilled chicken, and beef tenderloins. Then we go into our homemade stuff.”
Savory Catering is known for its original sauce, meatballs, sausage, gnocchi and manicotti. “We don’t order it from any distribution area or anything. I love it,” said Jay.
The brothers say they get some of their recipes from books and add their own personal touch. The rest of the dishes come from their dad. “He’s the type of person that can go into a restaurant, taste a dish and know what’s in it, then come home and re-create it. He points us in different directions with a lot of his recipes. My dad has been inspiring for both of us,” said Steven. “We make homemade sausage here. That’s something he has always done. He gives it away for Christmas gifts–his homemade sausage. A lot of the recipes have come from him, and Jay has done his own spinoff on a lot of those recipes.”
The business has acquired additional trailers, which allow the brothers to simultaneously cater a number of events at several different locations on any given day. The Baytos brothers currently employ five full-time workers and hire part-time help as needed. They’re able to cater parties for as many as 2,000 people. The brothers pride themselves on being able to cook on site, as well as tailoring menus around a special theme or certain budget. They cater events ranging from family picnics and office luncheons to baby showers and wedding receptions.
“Our goal is to move into our own place within the next three years. We want a place where we can have a room that can hold maybe 100 people for all our showers, small weddings and special events off to the side, and still have room for 50-60 people to come eat lunch and dinner,” saidSteven. “Our problem with our current space is that we can only hold so many in our side room.”
Each of the brothers has his own family. Steven is getting married next summer and has a young son. Jay has a wife and three children. The long hours can be difficult, but the brothers love being their own boss. “That’s the nice part of being partners. If he’s got to go do something, I’m here. If I have to go do something, he’s here. It’s really nice not to have to put the business in someone else’s hands,” said Steven. “We’ve worked together for years,” said Jay. “It’s a lot easier when he’s here. I don’t need as much staff because he knows what he’s doing, I know what I’m doing and we know what we want to do. We don’t have to explain to other people.”
The brothers agree that a business owner has to love what he’s doing in order to be a success. They say it takes dedication, perseverance and hard work. “We are young and you’ve got to do it when you’re young,” said Steven. “It’s very satisfying. One of us is on the premises all the time to walk a meal out (to the customer) and then have the person say, ‘Wow, that was absolutely excellent. We will be back.’ That is enough to make you keep working harder. I feel we’ve been very successful.”
Savory Café & Catering is open Monday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it’s open from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. The business also delivers meals. Savory Café & Catering can be reached by calling (315) 785- 6464. Customers can check out the lunch, dinner and catering menus on its website www.savorycafe.org.
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.
By Rick Leibowitz
Plutarch once wrote, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” As a business counselor for the North Country Small Business Development Center (SBDC), I find this provides an important piece of advice when it comes to educating entrepreneurs.
‘Entrepreneur’ is defined in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary as “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprises.” It is these people who start new businesses and bring innovation to the marketplace. The risk of starting a business venture shouldn’t be taken lightly, as there is no denying the statistics that business success is difficult to achieve.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, less than one-third of businesses survive five years of operations. Business is based on a simple concept— you need to have more income than expenses. With such a simple concept, why is there such a high failure rate? Listing all the challenges small business owners typically face would take me well beyond my space allotment by the editors of this magazine. One of the biggest challenges in educating entrepreneurs is that there is a vast expanse of information on business theory and best practices.
In his book, Ripples from the Zambezi: Passion, Entrepreneurship, and the Rebirth of Local Economies, Dr. Ernesto Sirolli succinctly identifies three areas of management expertise that are critical to success for all small businesses:
• financial management;
• marketing management; and
• operational management.
He argues that most entrepreneurs may have strengths in one or two areas of management, but few are strong in all three areas. He claims, “The death of the entrepreneur is solitude.” Most entrepreneurs need some support to compensate for the areas where they may not be as knowledgeable. That is why communities have embraced the SBDC program and/ or various other business technical assistance programs.
Yet as business educators, we need to recognize that any comprehensive lesson on business management can easily create information overload. While our intent may be to provide a thorough education, we need to be cognizant that key lessons may end up buried, like the needle in the proverbial haystack, if we provide too much extraneous information.
Even if we focus on providing assistance in the areas where our clients need it most, we are sometimes faced with another challenge. Many of our clients have no interest in certain aspects of business management. It is difficult to teach financial management to someone who dislikes working with numbers, marketing to someone who does not like sales, and operational management to someone who does not like to pay attention to detail.
Still, our goal as educators is to help kindle that entrepreneurial fire and often we can motivate our students by showing how a lesson can practically contribute to success. It takes some effort to flex to the different needs, learning styles and personalities of our clients to provide effective education, but it is a worthwhile investment of effort. Every company has a genesis and, most likely, the great companies of the future will evolve from the small businesses we support through the challenges of today.
Each day I am personally motivated by the successes of our clients, but I also recognize that there will always be new challenges. I’ve learned that it is not what I know, but what assistance our clients need that is of ultimate importance.
Growing up, my family had a magnet on our refrigerator with a saying from the Talmud that speaks volumes about the heart of education: “Much I have learned from my teachers, but most I have learned from my students.”
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocates approximately $800 billion to stimulate the US economy by helping to prevent continued job loss through investment and tax cuts. The bill is estimated to create or save 3.5 million jobs nationally and 215,000 jobs in New York State. Read more
One local entrepreneur learned the hard way that sometimes business acumen isn’t enough to run a successful operation - and those lessons even led to lifestyle changes.
Otis Technology is the world leader in gun cleaning technology. And the pioneer of a small, portable gun cleaning kit is now the CEO and pioneer of a successful local company working to please the community and the employees surrounding her. Read more
Many area small businesses have greatly enhanced their business practices by becoming part of the Fort Drum subcontracting community. Dust-Busterz Cleaning Service, a commercial and residential cleaning company in Watertown, has become one of those flourishing on-post subcontractors.
“We specialize in residential, commercial, military and now, post-construction cleaning services,” reported Beverly R. Welch, president of Dust-Busterz. “There is a lot of construction going on, and, upon completion of a given project, building contractors need someone to come in and clean before residents or businesses move in and take over.”
Welch became involved as an on-post subcontractor by using continued persistence. She explained, “At the same time I was starting my business, Actus Lend Lease was eginning work on Ft. Drum. They were conducting a number of different seminars and searching the local area for sub-contractors of all kinds. I attended several seminars and bid on this particular project. I got the bid after being in business for just one year.”
Her contract on post required a rapid expansion of both employees and hardware. “We make the military residences ready for families to move in, so I had to hire several people and learn all about the ways of working on Ft. Drum,” Welch said. “It was extremely challenging, but very rewarding at the same time.”
Welch is a Watertown native. Prior to starting her own business, she worked in banking and North Country broadcast media, including 790 AM WTNY and T-93 FM Radio, as well as Time Warner Cable in Watertown. “What really helped me get started in my own business was my 20 years in sales, marketing and advertising,” Welch said. “In that capacity, I was able to learn from a lot of different business people. When I started my own business, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But I was ready.”
When asked about advice for other entrepreneurs who might be interested in starting a new business, or becoming a subcontractor on Ft. Drum, Welch said, “Pay a visit to the Small Business Development Center at Jefferson Community College. It is truly the center for all information and provides valuable insight into getting a strong business off the ground. They’ll send you off in the right direction. Young entrepreneurs can even get internships with small businesses they are interested in through JCC. It’s a great way to get started.”
Welch identified one initial challenge as being an important one. “It was important for me to find good people for employees,” she said. “Hard working, dedicated, loyal and honest people are the backbone of any business.”
Welch continued, “Today’s economy is the biggest challenge for all businesses, but I think we’re very lucky to have Ft. Drum here in the North Country. I think the rest of the country is in a bad way, but northern New York is insulated against some of that. Ft. Drum is booming, and it’s keeping a lot of small businesses alive.”
“The whole idea of going into business for yourself is to do what you love for a living. Entrepreneurs have that opportunity…”
Vicki B. Quigley, dean
JCC Business Division
Earlier this year, Jefferson Community College, Watertown, announced the implementation of a new concept for students, alumni and faculty. Housed in the heart of the new John Foster Dulles Building, known also as the Dulles Business Division Building, the Entrepreneurship Center is a user-friendly “think tank” for small business concept development, reported Business Division Dean Vicki B. Quigley. Instructional staff located within the E Center includes Brian H. Murray, assistant business professor, Cheryl R. Ditch, associate business professor, and Janet Wells, entrepreneurship coordinator, adjunct business instructor, and Jefferson’s Table visiting chef. Read more
Even though the tag line on much of the Clayton Marina advertising is “Live the Dream,” co-owner and president, Jeral “Jerry” Forger, insists he never could have dreamed that his purchase in the Thousand Islands marina a few years ago would turn out to be so successful. But, then again, he’s always been one to seize opportunities and work hard. It’s an ethic he learned from his dad and one that he carried with him into adulthood. Read more
