Keeping it in the family: Many north country business owners passing the torch to their offspring

April 5, 2013 By

Scott and Kelly Skinner and their daughter, Katie Skinner Youngs, in an aisle at their store. Photo by Amanda Morrison/NNY Business.

Operating a family business can be challenging and rewarding, yet at times, stressful and frustrating.

In many cases, families have to develop some type of “system” that allows them to work together during the day and still be talking to each other at night.

Several north country family businesses have not only made it work, but have been pretty successful at it. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Entrepreneurs, Feature Story, Jefferson County, Lewis County, Region, Small Biz, St. Lawrence County Tagged With: , , , , ,

Earning the view from the top

March 6, 2013 By

For four north country women who work in traditionally male-dominated fields, success means hard work and striking the right balance.

Pamela Beyor is chairwoman of the board of directors at Bernier, Carr and Associates. Photo by Justin Sorensen/NNY Business.

North country women have made significant strides in traditionally male-dominated fields over the years, but there continues to be mixed opinions about equality in the workplace.

Some female business professionals agreed that traits more common in women, such as being compassionate, a good listener and a fair mediator, can often put them at an advantage in the workplace.

But the issue that often holds women back from “reaching the top” of their profession, such as becoming a partner in a firm, isn’t their male colleagues.

It’s not the clients or customers, either. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Feature Story Tagged With: ,

Hot jobs for the future

February 4, 2013 By

Despite recruiting challenges, health care and manufacturing poised for growth

Jefferson-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services trains both high school students and adults in technical fields such as nursing and with skills such as welding for careers in the manufacturing field. Photo by Norm Johnston/NNY Business.

As the country heads into 2013 with high expectations for continued economic recovery, the focus in Northern New York and across the United States remains solidly on jobs and job growth. As unemployment rates in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties waver from month to month, no tried and true trend lines have emerged. But business leaders across the north country are optimistic that job growth is in the immediate future. Developing a strategy for growing jobs and identifying potential markets for industries that bring jobs with them has been at the forefront of dozens of discussions in the past several months.

While economists are leery to express too much joy over a growing jobs market, the New York State Department of Labor released a statement in late December outlining how the state added 83,500 private sector jobs last year and the statewide unemployment rate fell from 8.7 percent to 8.3 percent. Industries with the highest rate of growth statewide included professional and business services, educational and health services and trade, transportation and utilities, adding a collective 98,100 jobs in the state. [Read more...]

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Outlook 2013: Searching for some silver linings

January 7, 2013 By

Northern New York economy likely to see steady, calculated gains as uncertainty looms over policies that impact jobs

Uncertainty in Washington over what will become of the nation’s fiscal house has cast a pall over economic optimism like a wet blanket. Add a myriad of unknowns on how federal health care reform will impact job creation and a Congress content with inaction on a farm bill and many are left to wonder how optimism is even possible. And, as if that’s not enough, Albany is abuzz with talk about increasing New York’s minimum wage while also trying to market the Empire State as a business-friendly oasis for innovation and entrepreneurship. If this all sounds like a bad political thriller, welcome to 2013. Still, no matter the action — or lack thereof — in either capital city, Northern New York is poised to see some bright spots in the year ahead. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agri Business, Business, Feature Story, Region, Small Biz Tagged With: , ,

The push for business innovation

November 12, 2012 By

How Northern New York is learning from Silicon Valley to become a test market for the next generation of great ideas

Mark Cornett, NexID Biometrics general manager, left, and owner Michael Schuckers hold fingerprint scanners with co-owner Stephanie Schuckers in a biometrics lab at Clarkson University last month. NexID Biometrics develops and licenses detection software that enables fingerprint-scanning technologies to function with greater accuracy by avoiding spoof-related risks. Photo by Jason Hunter.

Few would argue that Northern New York is a far cry from Central California. What with below-zero degree days the norm during a New York January, but a 50-degree day being considered a California cold snap.

However, the two regions have more in common than one might think. Linked by a shared passion for innovative ideas and an overwhelming entrepreneurial spirit, the relationship between Silicon Valley and the north country is growing surprisingly closer. Will Northern New York ever be deemed the next Silicon Valley? Not likely anytime soon. Although, local entrepreneurs say that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The advantages that the business environment throughout the north country offer cannot be found in the high-pressure, high-turnover world of California’s tech universe.

[Read more...]

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Real estate and its steady climb to the top

October 13, 2012 By

On heels of national recession, north country home market sees stability, increased strength

Homes such as this one in high-demand areas like Watertown’s Paddock and Ten Eyck streets are selling more quickly than in recent years as the region continues to see sustainable recovery and growth in its real estate sector. Photo by Amanda Morrison/NNY Business

Renewed optimism is percolating in Northern New York’s real estate sector and Realtors are excited.

After more than five years of watching national home sales plummet and U.S. foreclosure rates rocket to historic highs, it has become evident that the north country’s real estate market has some top-notch insulation, especially in Jefferson County where an uptick in the single-family home market is most evident. Realtors throughout the county are noticing, and they’re singing the praises of a steady market with increasing demand for homes in the north country.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Feature Story, Features, Real Estate Tagged With:

Region’s hospitals pack economic punch, fuel 7,000 jobs in area

August 11, 2012 By

Above, from left, Dr. Troy R. Johnson, River Hospital emergency department and inpatient services director, and Chris Symenow, registered physician’s assistant, read patient charts at the Alexandria Bay hospital while staff tends to the phones. Photo by Justin Sorensen.

Even when the state and national economy takes a nose dive, the north country can count on local hospitals to help boost its economy. As some of the largest employers across the state, hospitals not only drive money into the economy but are a source for steady job creation as well.

Eight hospitals within Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties pumped $777,658,000 into the local economy, according to 2010 data, the most recent available, supplied by the Healthcare Association of New York State.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Feature Story, Jefferson County, Lewis County, Region, St. Lawrence County Tagged With: , ,

Building for a better tomorrow: North country poised for prosperity as developers address housing needs

July 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

An aerial view of Norstar Development USA’s Creek Wood apartments between Mill Street and Plaza Drive, Watertown. Photo by Justin Sorensen.

LeRay town Supervisor Ronald C. Taylor speaks the truth.

In the town of LeRay, and throughout much of Jefferson County, there’s no slowing down in terms of residential and commercial development. In the past 20 years, LeRay has gone from a small town outside of Fort Drum to an epicenter for living, shopping, dining and entertainment.

[Read more...]

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Finding success against the grain

June 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Handful of manufacturing firms beating big odds

Jason Butterfield puts decorative molding on a mahogany door at Vintage Doors, 66 S. Main St., Hammond. Photo by Melanie Kimbler-Lago.

Story by Norah Machia
NNY Business

Between 1960 and 2009, three of every four manufacturing jobs disappeared in the state, according to a study by the Manufacturing Research Institute of New York State. But while total manufacturing employment nationwide declined by about 32 percent in the decade ending in 2009, the year the study was completed, New York State still remained a national leader, ranking sixth in overall manufacturing employment, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Feature Story, Region, Small Biz

Embracing new technologies in agriculture

May 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

From GPS-enabled planting to mobile milk-monitoring, farmers on the cutting edge

Daniel J. Davis, Madrid, an employee at Maple View Farms in Madrid for the past 15 years, in a tractor with GPS and a precision planting monitor next to the steering wheel. The precision planting monitor controls the placement of seeds per acre. The tractor pulls a 16 row corn planter. Photo by Jason Hunter.

The role of the farmer changes from season to season. Like the fields they plant or the livestock they raise, no season, and no farm operation, is the same. Implementation of emerging technology is one thing setting several farming operations apart from their competition, whether crop farms, dairy farms or livestock farms. Much like other commercial industries, agriculture has been on the receiving end of new and evolving technologies that make life on the farm easier while increasing efficiency and decreasing costs.

[Read more...]

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