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June 2005 Issue
Bart's Book: A Gift to Entrepreneurs
People keep telling me, in a phrase they love to use, there is no silver bullet for rebuilding Northeast Ohio's economy. What they mean, of course, is that there is no single thing that is going to make us a roaring success. Rather it will be a combination of things. I disagree. There is a silver bullet and it has a one-word name: entrepreneur. Show me a region's entrepreneurs and I will show you its future. It is entrepreneurs who create new businesses and make corporations dance. And it is entrepreneu... |
Gooooooooooooal!
Northeast Ohio isn’t traditionally known as a breeding ground for professional athletes. (NBA phenom LeBron James, a native of Akron, is a notable exception.) But Brad Friedel is working to change that. The international soccer star, one of the highest paid and most sought-after goalies in the sport, was raised in Bay Village. He’s coming back home to establish the Brad Friedel Premier Soccer Academy in Amherst, in Lorain County. “The academy could be anywhere, but he’s coming back to his roots,... Leading By Example
"Why can't every town just take care of itself?" the listener from Chagrin Falls asked. Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic gets questions like that a lot, more than he would like. During a radio interview in late March, Plusquellic, who is in the middle of his astounding fifth term as Akron's mayor, was discussing building a regional economy and what he's done in greater Akron to partner with surrounding townships. But after the hour-long interview, the Chagrin Falls listener still didn't get it. "We're all... Passing the Torch
Francis Girard always wanted his business to be the Kleenex of the meeting industry. "You don't say, 'Can I have a facial tissue?' You say, 'Can I have a Kleenex?'" says Girard, president of The Forum, a freestanding conference and meeting center in downtown Cleveland. Girard has spent the last 15 years ensuring The Forum is the meeting site everyone in town asks for, and he's done that through high customer service ideals. (Girard once gave a client his tie and the jacket off his back when the out-of-t... Sharp Solutions
In April, an 8-year-old girl took one of her mother's diabetes blood-testing needles to her north Philadelphia elementaryI school and pricked 19 fellow students. Parents were outraged and concerned about possible exposure to hepatitis, HIV and other diseases. Jason Roth empathized with them. Roth, CEO of Safeguard Medical Technologies, says needlestick accidents not only expose people to potentially fatal diseases, but also can cause cuts and puncture wounds that lead to ulcers and possible amputation. ... Tom Peters Wants to Make You Angry
Tom Peters would love for his tombstone epitaph to read, "He was a player." At least that's what it says in his book Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age (Dorling Kindersley, 2003). In Peters' world, it's not enough to become rich, famous or even "get things right," in terms of tombstone speak. Indeed, The New Yorker says of Tom, "In no small part, what American corporations have become is what Peters has encouraged them to be," and the Los Angeles Times: "Peters is ... the father of the ... |
Blog Heaven
No, Dorothy. We aren't in Kansas anymore, but we could be. Normal geographical constraints just don't matter in the e-world. Tools - some with strange names - can be employed anywhere and anytime to help your business. Everyone is familiar with blogs - the personalized Web logs that were so pervasive in last year's presidential election. Blogs are an inexpensive way for people without HTML (Web coding) skills to get their ideas across on the Internet. Many businesses have found blogs to not only be effe... |
Where There's a Will
If anything positive resulted from the Terri Schiavo case that dominated the news two months ago, Northeast Ohio attorneys say it is the heightened awareness about living wills. Lawyers agree having a living will in place leaves no doubt as to the wishes of someone in a similar condition as the Florida woman. "The primary purpose of a living will is to give your doctor and your family an advanced directive in the event you become permanently unconscious or terminally ill and you are unable to communicat... |
At Home With Rob Whittall
Rob Whittall fell in love with flying when he stepped onto a commercial plane for the first time in his native England. He was 21 years old. Today, the 33-year-old principal accountant at Cohen & Co. has his private pilot's license and flies two to three times a month out of the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights. Whittall grew up on a farm in Edgton, England, a small village about 25 miles southwest of Shrewsbury near the Welsh border. He came to Cleveland in 1997 to visit a friend from Englan... Driven
My dad was a Jeep man. When I was a kid he bought a 1943 Willys military model, and he babied that stripped-down, four-wheel-drive workhorse through more transmissions and engines than I can count. He plowed mountains of Ohio snow, hauled trailers of firewood, rolled through the nearby woods, and occasionally - when I was old enough - let me drive it. The allure of "off-roading" was not yet defined when I was a kid, but the idea we could go anywhere was a key element of the Jeep's charm. Jeep Grand Cher... |
Cool Idea
Looks like you need a refill," says inventor Adam Hunnell, spotting an IB editor's empty glass at the Research ShowCASE at Case Western Reserve University in late March. Luckily, Hunnell, 23, and co-inventor Nathan Slavin, 24, were showing off their creation, the Brewloo, a portable, motorized, insulated wrap for beer kegs. Upon filling the editor's glass with ice-cold Miller Lite from a keg wrapped in the Brewloo, Hunnell explained how small thermoelectric motors on the wrap help keep the keg cold for ... Trading Office Spaces
Bob Freed has been told his company's new downtown digs are reminiscent of a New York City studio space. On April 1, Brass Tacks, a brand marketing firm, relocated from Brecksville to the historic ArtCraft building on Superior Ave. in Cleveland's Quadrangle district, which is fast becoming home to a variety of entrepreneurs, artists and other creative types. The 4,500-square-foot space is a bit bigger than the old office, and allows room for expansion as the 40-year-old company grows. Alan Kliskey, chai... Wheels and Deals
Do you hate car shopping? Lucky for you, Parma's Phil Pasquale is a professional car shopper. Through his firm, The Next Auto LLC, Pasquale researches the best deal on any kind of vehicle the client chooses, negotiates a sales price, and closes the deal with the client's permission. His compensation is based on a small percentage of the vehicle's sales price. The business idea struck Pasquale last summer after he was able to talk a car salesman into slashing several thousand dollars from the selling pri... |
Tiny Revolution
A small Lorain County firm is making a miniscule medical device that promises to drive down the cost of orthopedic medicine. Clear Image Technology, a company that is housed at Lorain County Community College's GLIDE offices, developed the InnerVue Diagnostic Scope System. GLIDE, or Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise, is a business incubator that provides office space, support staff and sponsorship to acquire funding for startups. Clear Image Technology's device, already in use by several... Will Build to Suit
Northeast Ohio tech-based companies take advantage of CAMP's business incubator. |
Blog Heaven
No, Dorothy. We aren't in Kansas anymore, but we could be. Normal geographical constraints just don't matter in the e-world. Tools - some with strange names - can be employed anywhere and anytime to help your business. Everyone is familiar with blogs - the personalized Web logs that were so pervasive in last year's presidential election. Blogs are an inexpensive way for people without HTML (Web coding) skills to get their ideas across on the Internet. Many businesses have found blogs to not only be effe... The Golden Age
Jean Olecki rides the RTA to work five days a week. She's employed in the returns department at Bonne Bell Inc.'s Westlake plant. Dependable as the sunrise, she's never late and hardly ever misses a day. That certainly sets her apart from the average worker. Moreover, Olecki, who's been with Bonne Bell for 38 years, is extremely loyal to the company, visibly proud of what she does, and quick to announce that she loves her job. Her boss considers her an ideal employee. But what really makes her a standou... Where There's a Will
If anything positive resulted from the Terri Schiavo case that dominated the news two months ago, Northeast Ohio attorneys say it is the heightened awareness about living wills. Lawyers agree having a living will in place leaves no doubt as to the wishes of someone in a similar condition as the Florida woman. "The primary purpose of a living will is to give your doctor and your family an advanced directive in the event you become permanently unconscious or terminally ill and you are unable to communicat... |
The Golden Age
Jean Olecki rides the RTA to work five days a week. She's employed in the returns department at Bonne Bell Inc.'s Westlake plant. Dependable as the sunrise, she's never late and hardly ever misses a day. That certainly sets her apart from the average worker. Moreover, Olecki, who's been with Bonne Bell for 38 years, is extremely loyal to the company, visibly proud of what she does, and quick to announce that she loves her job. Her boss considers her an ideal employee. But what really makes her a standou... |
The More You No!
Say "no" -- to bad opportunities, to bad partnerships and, most importantly, to bad ideas. Yet how you say "no" is every bit as important as the decision itself, if you want to preserve the dignity, creativity and enthusiasm of the partners, clients and employees behind the occasional bad idea. Fortunately, there are a hundred ways to kill a bad idea, and only one involves saying "no." To wit: Ignore it: Especially effective during brainstorming meetings, since most smart people will interpret your fail... |
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