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The Capital Region’s status as a “brain belt” in the country’s industrial and scientific innovation economy wouldn’t hold up without the connections the Tech Valley Center of Gravity (TVCOG) makerspace has been facilitating for the past decade.

How We Became a Brain Belt

In the 1800’s the region was a hub for manufacturing everything from paper to iron and clothing. 

Two hundred years took its toll on the industry however, and by the early 2000’s only a small fraction of those living in the region were employed in manufacturing. 

To offset the job losses, between 2004 and 2008 more than 4,000 jobs in high tech industries were created in the Capital Region. The growing technology sector was attracted to the area’s pool of skilled workers educated by a system of advanced universities. 

Every Belt Needs a Buckle

By 2013, the region had become known as the Tech Valley.  We were a brain belt without a buckle. 

To continue funneling in the skilled workforce that these companies were looking for, while also creating the next generation of entrepreneurs needed to rebuild a robust economy, it was vital people connect with each other. 

That’s when the Tech Valley Center of Gravity opened, expanding into their current location in 2015. The 15,000 sq. ft. building in Troy houses nine maker zones filled with $200,000 of fabrication equipment, meeting areas, and office space. The electronics equipment, 3D printers and CNC machines here are joined by a wood shop, metal shop, and fiber arts studio that give their more than 200 members the opportunity to mend the skills gap between education and real-world applications. 

“A lot of people at the time were talking about the ‘skills gap’ because the hands-on experience graduates needed was not there. We still need to improve that,” said Dan Falkenstrom, Facilities and Incubator Director, about the Center’s growth. 

Making Progress Practical

In an increasingly digital world, remembering that it is also a physical world is vital to solving today’s most pressing problems. 

“We still live in a world of physical things and need to know how to create physical things,” said Falkenstrom. “Someone who is studying engineering, for example, can still have no idea how to solder. They have the knowledge and the ideas but they need to connect with people who know how to physically bring things to life.”

Others, like Daryian Rhysing, had hands-on experience but needed business know-how. With assistance from TVCOG, Rhysing, a former aircraft mechanic who invented a new electrical Interconnecting Clamp, went on to open United Aircraft Technologies and was recently awarded $1.1 million from the US Army for his clamps’ usage in vertical lift aircraft. 

Innovation for All

The TVCOG incubator program provides targeted mentorship, coaching, and guidance (in the form of risk-mitigation strategies and referrals) so startup projects can get off the ground. 

“Going it alone, people may not realize they’re going down the wrong path,” said Falkenstrom.

Through initiatives like Innovate 518 , TVCOG also helps inventors find funding and tax incentives. 

Their “Maker-in-Residence” scholarship program gives those who might otherwise find the costs prohibitive, free access to equipment and resources, while also awarding them a financial stipend and free training. 

Hatching Next Gen Entrepreneurs 

In her newly appointed position, Executive Director Michele Madigan is planning to open access to TVCOG’s resources to even more in the community. 

Before taking the post, Madigan was Saratoga Spring’s Commissioner of Finance and the Financial Literacy Coordinator at the Saratoga Springs Public Library. 

A firm believer that the city was “ripe for an industry-led non-profit makerspace,” during her tenure, COVID threw a wrench in things.

At TVCOG, the increase in the use of virtual communications that has resulted however, has helped keep technological progress in the region moving forward.

This year, TVCOG was again awarded a $625,000 grant from the Empire State Development Division of Science, Technology, and Innovation (NYSTAR). With potential additional funds from the American Rescue Plan, they are looking to add another full-time employee and a mobile makerspace program for kids in K-12. 

Currently at TVCOG’s “THINQubater” kids’ zone, there are STEAM-powered activities for kids ages 4 to 12. 

For more information on membership, incubators, and programs go to www.tvcog.net.

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“It’s our business to improve your business.”

Google was founded as a search engine in 1998. Mannix Marketing – a regional giant in search engine optimization – was founded in 1996. Talk about being ahead of the curve! 

Sara Mannix was on to something enormous when she conceived of a marketing company that could help her clients connect with new customers in what was then a unique method: a keyword was entered into a search box and scads of options for further research jumped onto the screen. Mannix’s superpower is being able to predict which keywords will bring her clients’ specific sites to potential customers’ attention.

But even Mannix couldn’t have predicted the impact of a business venture that began in a small Lake George office as a part-time passion project and grew into its Glens Falls headquarters — with remote offices around the country and overseas — employing more than two dozen marketing, creative, and computer programming specialists.

“People told me that internet searches were a fad and that I was quitting a good job for a bad reason,” Mannix remembers. After studying at The University at Albany and abroad – assuming she’d become a teacher – Mannix veered from that course and instead took a position in marketing for Benetton in New York City, a privately held Italian fashion brand with 5,000 stores worldwide. Best known for its “United Colors of Benetton” campaigns, the iconic company was an early corporate proponent of promoting diversity awareness in advertising.

“I had taken Basic (a computer programming code language) in high school, but thought, ‘Who wants to be stuck with a black screen all day?’” Mannix says now. “But in college, I started to relate to the computer as an end-user and I could see its power to reach out. I was no longer just coding, I was using the computer to solve problems.”

It rocked her world.

“I said, ‘This is where it’s at,’” Mannix recalls. 

Although Benetton was a spectacular learning experience for Mannix, the Burnt Hills native yearned for upstate New York, so she migrated back, drawn to promote the region’s robust tourism industry, “and I was just thriving,” she says. “I loved it more than anything.” Indeed, today Mannix Marketing continues to serve the tourism industry as one of its key targeted areas of marketing expertise. The company’s other specialty areas are senior living and manufacturing, although its client roster spans many other businesses and her firm’s website (www.MannixMarketing.com) recounts diverse success stories to illustrate the achievements that search engine optimization (SEO) and social media presence can germinate and sustain. 

Ever-prescient, at the outset, once she understood the direction the web-based information explosion was headed, Mannix reserved and paid for website domains such as Saratoga.com, GlensFalls.com, Saratogawedding.com, LakeGeorge.com, and others, making her a formidable force and resource for clients whose livelihoods are anchored by her drive to creatively, masterfully aggregate and disseminate relevant information.

Sara Mannix has always been determined to work hard for what she wanted:

• At age 13, Mannix was named Parade Magazine’s New York State Paper Carrier of the Year for selling more than 300 subscriptions to the Times Union and delivering them all over Burnt Hills every Saturday and Sunday. Her prize was a trip to Spain with 50 other newspaper carrier winners from across the nation.
  
• At age 14, Mannix was the youngest exchange student in the history of highly selective, nonprofit AFS Intercultural Programs, receiving a full scholarship to spend the summer in Bogota, Colombia. 
  
• Throughout high school, Mannix picked blueberries, then made blueberry pies with her mom and sat at the end of the driveway, selling them to help fund college.
  
• At age 19, Mannix funded her studies abroad by working three summer jobs in Lake George, rising at 5 a.m. to waitress at a breakfast cafe, then walking across the street to work the ticket booth for Parasail Joe’s from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., and finally heading to Lucille’s to wait tables in the evening.

Sara Mannix’s Tips for New Entrepreneurs:

• Find mentors through your local chamber or join a CEO-specific group of peers in your industry through a coach or network.
  
• Attend seminars and conferences and listen to industry podcasts. Make sure you are learning every single day.
  
• Invest in marketing channels where your potential clients are most likely to look for your product or service. 
  
• Invest in an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant website and get the tax credit for it.
  
• Talk to multiple marketing professionals before hiring one. You will learn from each one, as everyone has a different approach and specialty.

Sara Mannix Explains Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

SEO is a multifaceted strategy focused on increasing your business’ organic visibility on the web. It involves a variety of tactics, including developing consumer- and search-engine-friendly website content, assigning accurate and thorough metadata, implementing concise, fast-loading code, and more to help your site outperform your competitors’.

Build your brand and profits with search engine optimization (SEO) and an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant website that grows your sales. Your website needs to stand out from the crowd and showcase what your business has to offer. You need a site that will turn browsers into buyers, encouraging and capturing leads from interested customers to fuel your sales and grow your profits.

Sara Mannix unpacks social media marketing strategy:

• Reach and engagement are the two main reasons that social media is important for your business. Traditional advertising like print, TV, and radio simply aren’t as effective as the permission-based marketing available on social media.
  
• Your customers want choice, and they don’t want to be interrupted.
  
• With Facebook marketing, Instagram ads, Pinterest ads, LinkedIn optimization, and other social media marketing, your engagements with customers are much more valuable, because customers chose to interact with your brand and are more likely to convert to buyers.

Mannix Marketing offers branding and website marketing services:

• Branding and logo design.
  
• Building ADA-compliant websites that are accessible to people of all abilities.
  
• All sites have built-in search engine optimization so that the sites rank better and drive more traffic and leads.
  
• Sites are built with the latest conversion rate optimization techniques, which increase the likelihood of leads and sales.
  
• Customers are trained to edit their own websites easily.

“I was fortunate to have a marketing background before starting my company,” says Mannix Marketing’s founding CEO. “I had a different perspective than a coder or a creative and was certain getting found in the search engine was the key to success. Figuring out how to do it was the fun part. It’s intuitive for me. I’ve lived and breathed it now for 25 years. I even get up Saturday mornings and work while it’s still quiet.”

(Of course, it doesn’t stay quiet, Mannix and her husband, Mark, have three children with plenty of their own energy and activities. Mark, who has a background in technology, now works alongside Sara for Mannix Marketing. Together, the duo juggles a dizzying mix of home and work demands.)

But it’s not all fun and games. Mannix Marketing and Mannix personally have faced and overcome hurdles as well. For example, Mannix cites having to convert all the websites the company creates to be ADA-compliant so that hearing and visually impaired individuals, as well as people with other disabilities, can use them.

“Tears were shed,” she admits. “But I became obsessed with it and now we’re a leader in ADA compliance. I have staff dedicated to making it happen.”

Too, the pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to her tourism-industry clients, whose businesses were threatened by shutdowns and reduced traffic to their venues. She found herself working pro bono or at reduced rates to help the community. She knew Mannix Marketing could offer ways to reach audiences that needed information about what to do and where to stay safely, which benefited businesses and visitors alike. And she’s been rightfully hailed as a hero, with many awards to her name, including, among others, a Summit Creative Award for B2B Website Design, a Warren County Top Women Award, a coveted Ethics in Business Award, Women of Influence Award from SARATOGA TODAY, a U.S. Search Award for Best Use of Content Marketing – Real Estate Division Adirondack Mountain Land, and, for the past decade, many other top industry awards for SEO, creative, and digital marketing. But she doesn’t take all the credit. Mannix has high praise for her company’s staff and her own mentors: Mark Behan, CEO of prestigious Behan Communications in Glens Falls, and Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.

And she’s a collaborator. Mannix views former staffers as “alumni,” not “exes,” and they sometimes take on Mannix Marketing projects; she sees other marketers as potential partners, not competition; and she works closely with clients’ materials produced by other PR or design firms, without trying to eclipse their work.   

However entrenched in her business, Mannix is not a slave to work. She refuels by listening to podcasts on long walks, interacting with inspiring industry leaders, spending “amazing family time,” playing pickleball, and sharing laughter with girlfriends. It also “just makes me feel good,” she says, “to help others, however I can, especially the senior population.”

Current kudos notwithstanding, in retrospect Mannix remembers times when she had one problem to contend with, or seven, or even 20 at a time, but she came away from every one of those situations flourishing. 

“It’s okay to cry,” she advises, “But then you dig your heels in and meet every challenge.” 

Capitalism without a grassroots ethos of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is nihilistic and ultimately un-useful. There is a reason that “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” a book written by Max Weber in the early 1900’s, forms a foundational social/economics thesis among modern social scientists and scholars. Written strictly from an agnostic evaluation of American ingenuity and economy, Max Weber’s book reveals a dynamic functionality between successful Capitalism and a Christian ethos. Having now lost this balance, the simple truth is that modern Capitalism, standing without this counterweight, is worthy of the criticism it often receives. Capitalism has lost its “savor” by forgetting its roots in the Golden Rule.  

I stand with many others in taking exception to Hillary Clinton’s book “It Takes a Village” because it was, in my opinion, written from a “government is best” point of view. But the fact is that it does take a village to create an economy. In other words, The American Dream is not strictly individualistic. The Christian Ethic is no small or insignificant part of American history but the Christian Ethic, while empathizing individualistic responsibility, is not completely individualist as it also supports collaborative effort and the honoring of intersectional abilities. It takes honest work and all hands-on deck to make a village and entrepreneurial enterprise at a “village” level is the way to raise all boats. 

I don’t know when the idea of money accumulation became the dominant measure of value in America, but it surely has risen to a high place in our modern system of merit. The love of money certainly drives status seekers and grifters to exceptional levels of hubris, but the love of money in the general population also drives a stake into the heart of the true catalyst of Capitalism and that is profit, being misunderstood. While a profit motive alone or making money only for money’s sake is “chasing after the wind,” a proper understanding and use of profit is essential for the functional and sustainable existence of any economic society. 

What really counts is the Marginal Propensity calculus at the local level. A Marginal Propensity calculus is a metric used to evaluate the ways that “extra” income is used in a community. In other words, when an individual or family realizes that they have income over their basic needs, Marginal Propensity measures how that “profit” is used. There is an old story told many times at Scout meetings called Stone Soup. Basically, it is an economics story about the value of sharing what you have and thereby creating enough for everyone. When profit is used to either save (at a local bank who invests in the community) or spend for local goods, the effect is multiplied as many times as it is transferred. It is the banker, the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker on steroids that creates wealth for a broad spectrum of that “village.” This kind of wealth building is true Capitalism.

On July 30 2015, Vitalik Buterin launched a new entity onto the world: ETHEREUM. 

This is something unlike anything the world has ever seen; this new creation is, in essence, a decentralized global computer. Inspired by Bitcoin but with grander ambitions, Ethereum has opened up a world of new markets made of smart contracts, Web3 and NFTs. But how is Ethereum able to do this? And how can you participate in this exciting new financial world?

On April 14, 2009 a fateful event occurred in the online game World of Warcraft. There was a big upgrade planned for that day and Blizzard, the creators of the game, had decided to remove the damage effect from a spell on the Warlock class. Vitalik Buterin, an avid player of the game, was very distressed at the removal of his beloved character’s damage ability.  He has since said about the event:  “I cried myself to sleep, and on that day I realized what horrors centralized services can bring. I soon decided to quit.” He was 15 at the time and in a fit of teen angst took his first steps down the path of decentralization.

Bitcoin was released later that year in December of 2009 and showed the world a new asset class through which we can all transact in a trusted, decentralized, borderless, frictionless way over the internet. Bitcoin does one thing and it does it very well: allows the sending and receiving of tokens. While this is powerful, it’s also somewhat limited to just handling a transaction between two people and not much more.  But it also gave Vitalik the final piece of the puzzle he needed for his vision.

Vitalik took his dismay of centralized control and his knowledge of computer programming and in 2013 he set out to create something new: a decentralized global computer secured by a Proof of Work algorithm similar to Bitcoin’s. The owners and operators of the hardware used to secure the activity on Ethereum are rewarded in Eth, like Bitcoin miners are rewarded in Bitcoin. Eth is then used as the token that triggers all activity on the Ethereum network.

Anyone can learn Ethereum’s coding language, called Solidity, and can upload executable code onto the network, these are called Smart Contracts. They execute when they receive payment for the task they are coded to perform, payments are made with Eth. A user of a smart contract can send the smart contract some Eth and it will execute its commands based on the amount sent.  

Initially this gave way to ICO’s in 2016 and 2017. Much like IPO’s, Initial Coin Offerings were smart contracts written to issue a new type of virtual token at a set exchange rate against Eth. Users would receive new tokens that could be stored in their Ethereum wallets and the issuing company would receive the Eth as funding for its projects.

There was an explosion of ICO’s in 2017 & 2018, the largest and most famous was Telegram, a widely used chat app. In March of 2018, they decided to launch a new token called TON (Telegram Open Network) and were able to raise a whopping $1.7 billion dollars in Eth. Unfortunately this wasn’t entirely legal and in 2020 the SEC fined Telegram $18.5 million in damages and forced them to refund all $1.7bn to investors as they were found guilty of securities fraud by not registering the token sale with the SEC.

There were also a large number of scam ICO’s launched during that time. These projects would write some code on Ethereum and publish a website and a white paper as a proposal. The general public would then fund the project and shortly after the offering closed the creators would take the eth, shut down the project and disappear. In fact these scams were roughly 78% of all ICO projects launched in 2018 worth approximately $1.3bn. In recent years ICO’s have dropped in popularity and scammers have moved onto other methods.

Not all ICO’s ended this way however and today there are approximately 5000 successful ICOs operating in the crypto market space. Some of these have gone on to achieve their goals of creating a new type of platform and building wealth for the initial investors. 

One such successful project is Decentraland (decentraland.org). Launched in 2017, they endeavored to create a virtual world; If you’ve ever seen the movie Ready Player One or read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash then you have an idea of the virtual world they are looking to build. Access to the world can be done through a simple web browser; however, users can become even more immersed in it by using virtual reality goggles. 

Parcels of virtual land were represented on the ethereum network as tokens, known as NFTs (Non-Fungible Token) and its virtual economy was funded with a coin called MANA. MANA is created using a smart  contract  on Ethereum and when the project launched they funded their goals with an ICO. This one was successful, however, because the token had utility and has gone on to create wealth for early investors. At launch the token was worth $0.02 and today it is worth $1.73. Similarly, the land sold initially was at a value of $20 per parcel, but today some parcels go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. This increase in value comes from the impressive 3,300% increase in users the platform has seen in the past year. Decentraland is an excellent example of Web3; the idea that online services can move away from the centralized nature of web 1.0 and 2.0 (i.e. Google, Facebook, Amazon) and into a decentralized structure where networks, instead of servers, underpin the services offered to users.

This idea is well represented when we look at Twitter as a bad actor in the world of free speech. The platform has centralized control over which accounts get cancelled and which are allowed to stay on. In a web3 environment, no single person or small group of people would have the ability to cancel anyone else’s account. Instead the network would vote collectively on a single set of rules that would apply to everyone equally. If anyone violates these rules, they would automatically be penalized in accordance with these collectively agreed upon rules. 

Many believe that Web3 will bring the promise of freedom that was originally envisioned when the internet first started to take hold in the 90’s. In fact we are starting to see examples of that appearing in different corners of the world. In 2021, an Australian engineer decided to use a smart contract-based lending platform to mortgage his own home using the eth he had as collateral. By going through the smart contract, he was able to bypass the banking and credit score system and was able to fund his house purchase at midnight on a Saturday without seeking approval from anyone. This is the type of freedom web3 is offering.

Another successful area that Ethereum has been able to shine is in the art world. There have been a number of successful digital artistic projects that have launched on Ethereum since 2020. These are commonly known as NFTs and they tie a piece of digital art to a token and send that token to the owners wallet. The holder of that token is granted copyright rights to that art connected to the token.

OpenSea (opensea.io) is the most successful online marketplace for these artistic NFTs and artists now have a decentralized platform on which to sell their artistic ability in the digital world. This platform has grown pretty big, in the last month their trading volume was 2.03 million NFTs valued at $2.9bn. 

Other projects are also starting to adopt artistic NFTs, such as Decentraland and Twitter where users can display their NFTs in a virtual house or virtual art gallery, or in their profile details.

Ethereum isn’t the only player in this space, it’s just the first. Since the success of the Ethereum platform there have been quite a few copycats that have emerged onto the internet. Some more successful than others, but my top picks beyond Ethereum would be Binance Smart Chain (BNB), Solana (SOL) and Lightning Network (BTC). The first two operate very similarly to Ethereum as their own independent networks, where coders can upload their own smart contracts and in fact a number of projects have already launched on these platforms. 

The last one is slightly different, however. Lightning has been built on top of the Bitcoin network to give it the ability to handle a larger number of transactions at a cheaper rate over its innate capabilities, while still taking advantage of the massive security provided by Bitcoin.  This initial capability of lightning has allowed for one of the largest use cases of Bitcoin to take off in the country of El Salvador. In 2020, the president of El Salvador declared that Bitcoin was now national tender and could be used to buy goods and services without any taxation. The country released a wallet app built on lightning to allow for a very large number of transactions to occur at very cheap rates (fractions of a penny per transaction) and the country has now fully embraced it as a medium of exchange. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) has decried the move and urged the President to cancel his Bitcoin plans but it has fallen on deaf ears. In a similar move, the Central African Republic, which is made up of Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, has recently adopted Bitcoin as a means of transacting within the group, in addition to its current CFA currency backed by France. 

Decentralization is starting to take hold in the world and as an interested investor there are a few ways you can get in on the action. 

The first thing you need is some Eth and an Ethereum wallet. To get some Eth you’ll need to use an onramp service where you can buy Eth for dollars. I recommend Coinbase (coinbase.com), once you connect your bank account to your newly created coinbase account, you’ll be able to purchase some Eth. From there you’ll need a browser-based wallet, I recommend metamask (metamask.io). This will install an extension onto your browser that will give you an eth address where you can send your newly acquired Eth from Coinbase into Metamask.

Now that you have some eth, go take a look at some of the services I have mentioned in this article. I would also recommend looking at sushiswap (sushi.com). Born from a previous service known as Uniswap, Sushiswap came about in 2020 and is a collection of smart contracts that allow users to earn yields on tokens they stake on the network. Lending, borrowing and trading services between the supported tokens are also offered through sushiswap and it is emerging as the most successful decentralized banking network on Ethereum. 

Born from teen angst, Ethereum seems to have disrupted the world financial system and its philosophy of decentralized finance (DeFi) is slowly taking hold from large countries all the way to individual investors; From Celebrities such as Justin Bieber who paid $1.3 million for an NFT to El Salvadorian merchants using it to trade daily goods. As with many innovations Defi will take hold of the financial world slowly at first and then all at once.

Over the past decades, Saratoga County has been transforming from an area of agriculture and vacation homes to a suburban region full of economic growth and technological innovation.  

With local divisions of companies, such GLOBALFOUNDRIES, General Electric, SunPower Inc. and Solar City, comes plenty of job opportunities. Saratoga County’s schools have been at the forefront of industry-academic partnerships. For example, Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) offers hands-on training for the workforce in their state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories at the TECH-SMART Campus in Malta. 

To further prepare students for college and the workforce at an early age, Ballston Spa High School students have the opportunity to participate in the International Baccalaureate® Programme. The International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) at the high school level is a rigorous two-year, internationally recognized program for juniors and seniors. Soon the Ballston Spa Central School District will have fully transitioned their 6-8th graders into the International Baccalaureate® Middle Years Programme. 

“The program is really preparing [high school] students and giving them the skills to be to be good college students,” said Mrs. Nicole Stehle, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Coordinator. “They work really closely with their teachers to develop the skills that are needed to be successful in college classes.” 

Juniors and seniors are given the option to pick and choose courses or enroll fully for an IB Diploma, in addition to the NYS Regents Diploma. IB has their own graduation requirements, and students who are fully enrolled have committed to continuing studies in a second language and upper-level coursework in all subject areas. 

“Classes are inquiry and discussion based. Students in these classes are explaining, through speaking or writing, what they know and how they know it,” said Mrs. Stehle. “These skills take them far, whether going into the workforce or college-level classes.” 

Mrs. Stehle sits down individually with each student interested in the program to learn about their goals and counsel them in the right direction, whether that is to pick and choose courses based on their interests or to work towards the IB Diploma. Each student in the IB Programme at Ballston Spa High School has their own personalized 2-year plan.

IB is a great opportunity for any high schooler, as 95% of students who participate in this open-enrollment program go on to a four-year institution. Students from Ballston Spa High School who have gone through the program to pursue a higher education attended well-known, top-ranked colleges and universities such as Cornell University, Brown University, The University of Chicago, The University of Florida, SUNY schools across the state, and many more. 

Introducing the Middle Years Programme

Ballston Spa applied for and was accepted into the Middle Years Programme (MYP) in June, which is school-wide for 6-8th graders. It could take up to three years for the school to transition fully, and the process is already underway. Teachers will be trained in IB classroom practices and unit plans, while the students will learn about the profile traits of an IB learner. 

Helping to bridge the gap into high school is the 8th grade service project, in which students work to identify community or international problems and come together to research a solution. Among other things, the problems can be related to charities or organizations in Ballston Spa and can be an educational presentation or community service. The intention is for students to learn what makes a good citizen and how they can insert themselves into their community, along with problem solving skills, critical thinking, and building character. 

“We are really excited for the community,” said Ballston Spa Middle School Principal Ann Laszewski, who came to Ballston Spa with a lot of experience overseeing the MYP in her prior school district. “There are not a lot of IB schools in upstate New York, and businesses in the community will be excited to hear about this.” 

Most importantly, the goal of the continuum from the MYP to the IB is for students to understand that school is a web of interconnected curriculum. Students, along with their parents, will see the culmination of the hard work they have put in over the years and be prepared for whatever their bright futures have in store for them. 

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Have you ever been curious about the Navy’s gated installation in Saratoga or its secluded, seemingly more secretive base in Ballston Spa? More importantly, have you ever wondered about the opportunity that these bases, hosts to some of the Navy’s best and brightest Sailors, present to your business? Saratoga Business Report sat down with senior Navy officials and the County Chamber of Commerce to learn about the bases, their relationship with our local business community, and the potential they hold to help your business thrive.

Bases are Economic Engines

Economists agree that military bases benefit the communities that host them. Stephen Fuller, an economist at George Mason University, explained in a 2019 interview with an NPR affiliate that while service members, veterans, and their families are exempt from sales tax while shopping on-base, their off-base spending “far outweighs tax-free incentives.” Daraius Irani, an economist at Towson University, added that bases “cushion” regions during economic downturns. In the face of rising inflation and the prospect of uncertain financial times ahead, the Navy will execute its mission undeterred; it will continue bringing Sailors and families into our county, who inject money and talent into our local economy.  

Sailors in Saratoga

The Navy bases in our region operate under the leadership of commanding officer Commander Raymond Gamicchia and executive officer Lieutenant Tucker Bonow. Gamicchia and Bonow explained that the Navy’s presence in our region extends beyond the recognizable bases in Saratoga and Ballston Spa. The Navy also operates a health clinic in the Spa city (1 West Ave, where West Ave meets Church St), and an Operations Support Center in Schenectady. Between the bases, Gamicchia and Bonow oversee operations that support over 93,000 service members and veterans across three states. Notably, local Sailors also provide Military Honors for veteran funerals at Saratoga National Cemetery.

The Navy’s largest facility in our area is the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa. Hosted on the Kesselring Site, one of two local installations operated by the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, the base boasts one nuclear reactor used to train Sailors to serve aboard aircraft carriers and submarines. The Navy’s smaller base on Washington St supports the Sailors and families assigned to Ballston Spa with administrative, recreational, and managerial functions.  Presently, the reactor is offline for refueling, so the bases are staffed by only 3,000 civilian employees, military members, and families. When the Navy places the reactor back in operation and students return to Ballston Spa in late 2023, Gamicchia estimates that their population in our community will balloon to 4,500. Due to the sensitive nature of their mission and the years of intensive nuclear schooling that students complete prior to reporting to Ballston Spa, Gamicchia explained that the Sailors stationed in Saratoga are top-notch. “Mature, vetted, and committed to service, they are among the brightest that our nation has to offer.”

Interactions with Local Businesses & Opportunities for Entrepreneurs 

Gamicchia and Bonow also detailed how local Sailors and their families interact with our local business community. Aside from the sales, rent, and tax revenue that Sailors generate within our community, Gamicchia highlighted the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation events that host utilize vendors. Bonow added that the Navy has signed a contract with local YMCAs to provide fitness programs and classes to Sailors and families.

When asked about how the local business community could evolve to better meet the needs of Sailors, Gamicchia and Bonow outlined the following areas as ripe with opportunity:

• Housing. Gamicchia stressed how difficult it can be for Sailors to find quality housing close to their places of duty, particularly during track season. For property managers willing to offer preferential pricing options to Sailors and their families, the population of these bases offer several advantages over average renters. While unable to meet peak rental pricing during track season (which prices most military members out of our community) Sailors offer stability unmatched in other renter populations. Sailors are assigned to our area on orders spanning between two and three years, they receive a monthly stipend for rent, and they network. When one Sailor moves out of a rental that suited their needs, they tell their comrades; if they recommend the unit, another Sailor will quickly move in. Offering preferential pricing options to Sailors seeking to rent in our region not only shows support for the military community, it also provides property managers with access to a continuous stream of stable, reliable renters.
  
• Childcare. The bases in our region unfortunately do not offer any childcare services, which presents a real challenge to our Sailors and their families. According to Gamicchia, the Navy’s Fleet and Family Support Center is working to build relationships with local daycares and family centers; if your business could fill this need, reach out to them at 518-886-0200, ext. 146.
  
• Talent. Another challenge impacting military families is spouse employment. As Sailors receive orders to move around the country to meet the needs of the Navy, military spouses are often left to abandon their career and begin anew every few years. This population presents a deep pool of diverse, experienced talent that the Navy has brought to our community. Like the pricing of rental units, local businesses willing to offer preferential hiring options to military spouses will not only show their tangible support to the military community, but also benefit from gaining access to this skilled talent.
  
• On-base Jobs. According to Bonow, the Navy is currently hiring for positions in their Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department, Commissary, and Exchange. When the student population returns in late 2023, Bonow also anticipates that the Navy will hire several family advocacy counselors from the local population. Interested individuals should visit www.usajobs.gov for more information.  

Saratoga is a Navy Town

The relationship between the Navy bases and our local community runs deep, according to Denise Romeo of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. Romeo, who repeatedly referred to Saratoga Springs as a “Navy Town” detailed the cooperation between the bases and our community.

Estimating the economic impact of the bases to be $5 million in annual spending at local shops, restaurants, and businesses, Romeo explained that the Chamber takes an active role welcoming Sailors into our community. Each of the last four base commanders has joined the Chamber as an ex officio board member and has been welcomed to address Chamber membership. These addresses present commanders with the opportunity to voice the evolving needs of the bases and steer the relationship in a way that best suits them. The Chamber also works to improve everyday life for Sailors in Saratoga County. From 2016 to 2019, the Saratoga Veterans Business Council, a subsidiary of the Chamber of Commerce, worked with the Navy, New York state government, and Saratoga Springs City Hall to secure a $450,000 grant to fund construction of a new field house on the Saratoga base. Built in 2019 by Munter Enterprises of Middle Grove, the field house serves as a stalwart example of how the Chamber and base command can work together to meet the needs of Sailors and generate opportunities for local businesses. The facility, according to former base commanding officer Commander Phillip Boice, “is a great reminder of how much the community of Saratoga Springs, and the state of New York, appreciates the military.”

Romeo added that the Chamber, in conjunction with the VA and the base, has scheduled a job fair at the Saratoga Springs base on March 25, 2022; businesses looking to hire separating Sailors, veterans, and their family members are encouraged to attend. If you or your business would like to be represented at the job fair, contact Denise Romeo at dromeo@saratoga.org.

When asked if she had any parting comments for local business owners or Sailors housed in these bases, Romeo responded robustly. To business owners, “you need to understand what we owe these bases.” To Sailors, “we are grateful that you are here, we are proud to have you here, and we want to welcome you all in the best way we can.” For their part, Sailors and families seem to be responding well. Commander Gamicchia himself paid the ultimate compliment to our community; after 30 years of Navy service that took him across the globe, his family made the decision to permanently settle in Saratoga “within six months” of arriving here.

The Importance of Estate Planning for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

Having a valid, legally enforceable, and well-thought-out estate plan in place is important for every adult person to make a priority.  Different individuals at varying stages of life, facing different situations, will each have unique goals and needs, both personally and professionally. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all estate plan. In addition, the documents that make up an estate plan can often be quite complex when properly drafted, and it is much wiser to seek the assistance of an experienced estate planning attorney rather than turning to “do-it-yourself” forms or online resources.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs share a number of common concerns that should be addressed in their estate plans.  “Who will manage my business and affairs if I get sick, die, or become otherwise incapacitated?” “How do I protect my personal assets if my business gets sued?”  “How do I prevent my children from squandering my assets if they are still young when I die?”  “What will happen with my business if I die?”  With the proper legal documents in place, these questions can all be answered, and your wishes expressed in a legally enforceable manner.

Before taking a look at some of these concerns and how to address them, let us first define what we mean when we refer to an “estate plan.”  Your estate plan is a collection of legal documents that lay a framework for what should happen should certain, generally negative, events occur such as death or incapacity. These documents describe what you want to happen in such situations and give legal authority to specified trusted individuals to carry out such wishes and otherwise handle your affairs, both personal and financial, should you not be able to do so yourself. Some of the more common documents found in an estate plan that are particularly relevant to small business owners and entrepreneurs are a Last Will and Testament and a Power of Attorney.

 A Last Will and Testament is essentially a set of instructions describing what happens to your assets and affairs when you die.  The person you nominate as your Executor is the individual you want to be in charge and carry out these instructions. As a small business owner, if the person you select as your Executor is not the person you would want to continue to run or to wind down your business after you die, you can designate someone else specifically for just that role. For example, if you name your spouse as your Executor but feel he or she would not be able to competently manage your business, you can appoint someone else like a trusted employee to manage the business for the benefit of your estate beneficiaries. If you feel it would be more advantageous to your beneficiaries for your business to be sold rather than continue to operate, you can direct that it be sold and even specify conditions regarding such sale should you choose.

Your Will can also set forth conditions for distributions to beneficiaries. For instance, you can specify that if a beneficiary is under a certain age at the time of your death, such beneficiary’s share of your estate assets shall be held in trust for his or her benefit until he or she reaches the specified age. You can nominate someone to act as trustee to manage the assets of such trust account until the beneficiary reaches the set age. For some people, there may be reasons to create an inter-vivos trust in addition to a Will, but we will leave that discussion for another article.

A power of attorney is a document that gives legal authorization to a specified individual or multiple individuals to handle any non-medical matters for you while you are still alive, should you be unable to do so yourself.  This document can be drafted in a way to give a very broad scope of authority to the agent(s) you designate, or you could limit the authority to act in only certain matters.  An enforceable and well drafted power of attorney can be an invaluable document for a small business owner because it will allow someone to continue to manage the business in the event of an incident making you as the business owner unable to do so yourself.

Amid the increased amount of uncertainty that has been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the questions prompting the need for an estate plan have come to the forefront of more people’s minds than ever before.  The above is just a small sample of potential issues that small business owners may face and the legal documents they should consider having in their estate plan.  Do not wait until it is too late. Contact an experienced estate planning attorney and get the proper documents in place to protect your business, assets, and family and ensure your affairs will be handled as you intend in case of incapacity or death.

Phillip Vacchio, Esq. is a partner at the Shivers Law Group and of Counsel to Ianniello Anderson, P.C.

PHOTOS BY SUPER SOURCE MEDIA

Helping You Build A Financially Healthier Business

It’s 11 a.m. on a cold Wednesday morning and Sabrina Houser is at home in Saratoga Springs with her beloved dog, Pearl. Looked at another way, it’s 11 a.m. on a cold Wednesday morning and Houser is fully immersed in her job as CEO of CapitalCFO LLC, albeit with all the comforts of home in the company of her canine muse. That’s because Houser – who works from home – founded CapitalCFO to help companies and organizations that need remote or on-site professionals to fulfill vacant – but critical – roles in their workplaces.   

First and foremost, Houser listens. She makes sure she understands the scope of a client’s “pain points,” the areas in which the lack of staff is slowing down or impeding the stability or growth of a company. It may be that nobody is there to answer the phone when potential clients call, it may be that payroll functions don’t fall into anybody’s job description, it may be that recruitment expertise is nobody’s bailiwick, but one thing is sure: Sabrina Houser has a solution.

Businesses often think about outsourcing purely in terms of cost savings, but outsourcing can do more than just lower expenses. As your business grows, outsourcing can be a way to promote innovation, disrupt your industry, and access new skill sets that reposition your company in the market.” 

“How to Think Strategically,” Working Knowledge, Harvard Business School 

“Some of the companies we serve need someone full time, some only need a professional for 20 or seven hours a month. We can fill those needs on all points on the spectrum,” Houser says. “Some companies need one person who can do a lot of things, some companies need a single person to do a single specific thing. We can help. If a company is running up against a brick wall trying to get something done without someone to do it, I encourage them to outsource the function to us.”

Prior to her current career, and brushing aside a brief flirtation with the idea of being a lawyer, Houser spent 20 years as the CEO/CFO of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, where she served in multiple roles, as many nonprofit leaders must for organizations with limited budgets and seemingly endless demands. So, the versatile Houser knows how to work with smaller companies that can’t afford to hire full-time staff, which incurs the costs of recruiting and onboarding, overhead, office space and equipment, and benefits. Instead, she finds the right person for the right fit for the right amount of time. Some of her professionals will come to an office site, others work from their homes. Houser tailors CapitalCFO contracts to fit the tasks and budgets of clients. It’s a win-win-win for Houser, the client company, and the contractor she places in the position.

“It allows everybody involved to be flexible,” points out the wife of a teacher and mother of two young kids, who can testify personally to the importance of being flexible when there are other people whose priorities require her attention. “Everyone’s needs can be met. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here.”

To pair the appropriate contract employee with the job, Houser and her company’s directors have created a roster of diverse professionals annotated with specifics like whether they’re willing to travel to a job site or prefer to do everything remotely, and whether they’re interested in a long-term assignment or a short-term gig. Houser peruses Indeed, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and other sources in search of both clients and professionals she might pair. (In addition to the Capital Region, because of her company’s flexibility, she has been able to serve clients in California, Florida, Chicago, and even London, England.)

“My commitment is to hire two new employees per month to keep our company competitive,” says Houser. “We have a phenomenal team.”

Outsourcing is as old as the corporation. One business arranges with another to make a widget or provide a certain service that it cannot do itself, or does not wish to do, so that it can focus on the parts of the business it does best. Outsourcing is not a tactical option that can help a firm save a few dollars here and there, but a strategic necessity. By outsourcing, firms can achieve more than cost-saving, but also access to better processes or efficiencies, or learning more effective management procedures. By outsourcing, you gain knowledge to superior knowledge and capacity.”

“It’s Time to Talk Sense About Outsourcing,” By Morris Cohen, professor of management and logistics, in Knowledge@Wharton, University of Pennsylvania

Outsourcing allows you to get more done and trust important tasks and processes to professionals without having to actually grow your team in a significant way, including for accounting, marketing, sales, information technology management, administrative tasks, customer service, manufacturing, shipping and logistics, research, and human resources.”

United States Small Business Association

Despite what Houser calls her “Chicken Little mentality” – always thinking the sky was about to fall – her company has taken off like a comet. “When the pandemic started, I felt validated, like ‘Yup, the world is going to end now’,” she recalls, laughing at herself. “Instead, I stayed inside and wrote my own success story.”

Part of what the company is doing is listening to the pain points and filling a need. Business owners and employees are looking for what model works best for them when a full-time person is not necessary. For example, who’s going to answer the phone and talk to clients when the business owner is out in the field doing the work? That’s where we come in as a phone concierge, to talk to customers and filter out spam.”

Saratogian Sabrina Houser, founder and president, CapitalCFO 

CapitalCFO LLC provides professional:

• Bookkeeping
• CFO services
• Nonprofit consulting
• Virtual phone concierge
• Recruitment 
• Personal finances consulting
• Payroll management

She adds that since the pandemic started, people have gotten used to working remotely and many now prefer it, which is a plus for her business, “because it allows for more flexibility. Yes, some of our contract employees do travel to an office, but many we meet over Zoom.” Her company even offers online professional development courses created in-house. 

“I help people find people. Instead of viewing us as a cost, we are ultimately a savings to a company that doesn’t have to waste time, energy, and resources on the wrong person in a job, or have to say ‘no’ to potential business. I do have – let’s be honest here, always have – some ideas for next steps, a vision of how to help companies outsource their C suites. It’s challenging to network remotely, but we have to develop strategies for that as well and see what other pain points we can help clients with. There’s a lot of juggling to make it all work, but the good news is: It works!” 

Reach Sabrina Houser at 518-350-4020.