Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards launches subsidiary, adds café, wine-tasting room

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LAFAYETTE — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, Inc., a destination for apple-picking Central New Yorkers for more than a century, is opening its 2013 season with a new look and a newly branded product. Beak & Skiff, with offices located at 4472 Cherry Valley Turnpike (U.S. Route 20) in the town of LaFayette, has […]

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LAFAYETTE — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, Inc., a destination for apple-picking Central New Yorkers for more than a century, is opening its 2013 season with a new look and a newly branded product.

Beak & Skiff, with offices located at 4472 Cherry Valley Turnpike (U.S. Route 20) in the town of LaFayette, has added a new small-craft distillery, a wholly owned subsidiary that it’s now branding as “1911 Spirits.”

Beak & Skiff also expanded its nearby Apple Hill campus along Lords Hill Road (County Route 80) to include a café, a wine-tasting room, and a larger apple barn, says Danielle Fleckenstein, spokesperson for Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards.

Fleckenstein’s husband, Peter, is Beak & Skiff’s apple-orchard manager, she says.

The business also renovated its retail store on the Apple Hill campus.

The expansion project “was always part of the plan,” Fleckenstein says.

“The difficult year last year reinforced to us the need to diversify and have other sources of revenue [involved in] the business, so that when we do have a tough year in one aspect of the business, we can make up for it in other spots,” she adds.

Beak & Skiff dealt with one of its “toughest” years in 2012 as the spring frost “destroyed” much of the apple crop, according to Fleckenstein.

The difficult year was “part of the reason” Beak & Skiff expanded the Apple Hill campus and “put so much energy and effort” into its spirits business, figuring the added product line can “help us in tougher years … over the long term,” she says.

1911 Spirits

Beak & Skiff in 2009 started making apple wines, which Fleckenstein described as a “way to get our feet wet in the alcohol side of the business.”

The company produced apple wines and ciders, which were under the name Beak & Skiff.

A few years later, Steve Morse, the company’s master distiller, figured out a way to make vodka from the apples, she says. After refining the process, Beak & Skiff eventually launched a vodka product.

From “tree to bottle,” the process and ingredients are controlled in-house to produce handcrafted, small-batch spirits and artisanal-hard ciders, Fleckenstein says.

The company in February renamed its vodka and spirit products “1911 Spirits,” she adds.

Beak & Skiff had been introducing its vodka to customers prior to its official public announcement of the 1911 Spirits name on Aug. 5.

The name 1911 Spirits is taken from the year that Andrew Beak & George Skiff founded the apple orchards. The Beak and Skiff families remain the owners of the orchard to this day, says Fleckenstein.

In addition to its own wine-tasting room, 1911 Spirits is selling its small-batch vodka in the shops on board Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Norwegian Cruise Lines, Fleckenstein says.

Expanding Apple Hill campus

Beak & Skiff began working with Woodford Bros., Inc. of Apulia Station on design concepts for the tasting room and café last fall. Construction on the tasting room and café started in the spring and “moved pretty rapidly” to finish the work ahead of the opening on Aug. 23.

The new 7,500-square-foot addition bears the name “1911” on its roof.

“Although this is new construction, the entire interior is made out of reclaimed wood from several barns in Pennsylvania that are of the same vintage of our general-store building,” Fleckenstein says.

Just down the hill, D Featherstone Construction, LLC of Tully handled the “complete remodel” of the 3,000-square-foot general-store building on the Apple Hill campus, she says.

The work on the exterior included a new roof, siding, and a new coat of paint. The interior work opened the space for more product sales and easier customer movement.

The retail store sells apple-based products, including butter, salsa, jam, along with local cheeses, apple cider, honey, and fudge, Fleckenstein says.

Beak & Skiff also expanded its bakery area in the same store to offer more products, she adds.

In between the retail store and the 1911 barn with the tasting room and café, Beak & Skiff also “quadrupled” the size of the apple barn from about 500 square feet to about 2,000 square feet.

The expanded space allows for more cold-storage capacity for apples and a smaller apple-sorting line, she says.

Beak & Skiff declined to disclose the cost of the expansion or how the company financed the project, according to Fleckenstein.

About Beak & Skiff

Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards covers more than 700 acres of land off the Cherry Valley Turnpike (Route 20), including 400 farmable acres, Fleckenstein says.

“This spring, alone, we planted 15,000 new trees on some of that land. The rest of the acreage is made up of storage facilities, coolers, offices, packing lines, and other buildings that serve our business,” Fleckenstein says.

The trees planted in 2013 are part of a “big investment” in Beak & Skiff’s orchard. The business also intends to plant 10,000 new trees next year.

“Some of that is to increase the amount of farmable acres that we have. Some of it is to replace older trees that have … reached the end of their life cycle that we can put new, more productive trees in their place,” she says.

The 2013 apple crop is looking “great” following “limited” weather issues this past spring, according to Fleckenstein.

During its peak season in late summer and autumn, Beak & Skiff employs a mix of about 150 full- and part-time people across all areas of its business, including the Apple Hill campus, the packing line, cider mill, and orchard operations. It employs about 40 full-time workers the remainder of the year, according to Fleckenstein.

With the expansion of the 1911 Spirits business and the new tasting room and café, Beak & Skiff has increased the number of full-time, year-round positions.

“We’ve hired a full-time food manager / chef, a full-time tasting-room employee, and some sales representatives for 1911 Spirits,” she says.

Beak & Skiff has also added a junior distiller, who serves in a full-time capacity, she adds.

Beak & Skiff’s customer base includes the apple-picking general public, and area grocery-store chains through its wholesale business.

“Our customer base is expanding to those people that have really started to follow our spirits line and have an appreciation for premium vodka and gin, as well as hard cider,” she says.

Fleckenstein declined to specifically name the local customers of its wholesale business but they include “all the major local grocery chains, as well as some small, independent grocers carry our products throughout the Syracuse area,” she says.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Onondaga Commons expansion project includes two acquisitions

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Onondaga Commons, LLC, the owner of the blue-colored, “L”-shaped building along West Onondaga St., has plans to expand the facility and has acquired two adjacent properties as part of the effort. The overall project is referred to as the “Onondaga Commons Comprehensive Expansion,” says W. Michael Short, founder and CEO of Short

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The overall project is referred to as the “Onondaga Commons Comprehensive Expansion,” says W. Michael Short, founder and CEO of Short Enterprises of Syracuse and the project’s lead developer.

“The project is building on the existing footprint of Onondaga Commons and adding two additional properties,” Short says.

Altogether, the redevelopment and renovation project, which has been in the planning stages since 2011, could total in excess of $4 million, he adds.

Martin Yenawine, then president of Eastern Ambulance in Syracuse, originally developed Onondaga Commons in 1988 as a home for health and human-service organizations.

Yenawine is now a principal with Onondaga Commons, LLC.

Current tenants at Onondaga Commons include the local office of Scottsdale, Ariz.–based Rural/Metro Corp., an ambulance-service company, along with Family Planning Services, Lean On Me Day Care Center, the office of Onondaga Commons, LLC, and the Dr. William A. Harris Health Center.

The expansion project includes plans to develop two adjacent, vacant properties, including the former Triple-A building at 506 W. Onondaga St. and the GAR Building at 414-416 W. Onondaga St.

It also includes what Short called “the largest green-infrastructure project privately pursued” under Onondaga County’s “Save the Rain” program with $1 million in funding from the county.

GAR Building

Onondaga Commons, LLC acquired the 18,000-square-foot GAR Building at 414-416 W. Onondaga St. from the Second Olivet Missionary Baptist Church at the beginning of 2012, Short says. The church wasn’t able to financially maintain the building.

“The power was turned off and it became vacant,” Short says, noting that vandals had stripped it of copper and “trashed” the interior.

Short estimates the GAR Building needs about $250,000 in asbestos and environmental remediation and abatement work. That work is necessary to complete the next step in the thought process.

“How do we redevelop this property in an efficient way that allows us to keep leases low, so that we can provide opportunities for small businesses and nonprofits to locate here without having exorbitant rents?,” Short wonders.

AECC Environmental Consulting of DeWitt will handle the environmental remediation. Onondaga Commons is finalizing a schedule for the asbestos abatement and demolition work.

It concludes a year of efforts in developing plans for the building and pursuing a grant for up to $247,000 from National Grid’s Brownfield Redevelopment Program for the abatement project, Short says.

The total redevelopment of the GAR Building will cost more than $2 million, and once completed, the GAR Building will be part of Onondaga Commons, he adds.

Over the last year, Onondaga Commons has been in negotiations with a number of potential tenants.

“Considering the state of the building, it’s hard to have them come in to the building and be able to see a vision for it,” Short says.

Plans call for reconfiguring a portion of the existing Onondaga Commons building and “opening up” the campus to face a nearby school. The improvement work will also involve some improvements at the Lean on Me Day Care with a new playground outside, Short says.

Former Triple-A building

Onondaga Commons, LLC acquired the former Triple-A building at 506 W. Onondaga St., a 15,000 square-foot structure from the city of Syracuse, which had seized the building for the $50,000 back taxes it owed.

Onondaga Commons acquired the building earlier this summer, Short says.

Attorneys for Onondaga Commons worked to make certain the IRS liens and other liens were settled so the title for the property was clear of any issues, Short says.

The city of Syracuse is “not allowed to sell the property for any less than the assessed value at that time,” Short says. That value matched the amount of taxes that were owed on the structure, he added.

Plans call for developing the building for entrepreneurs-in-residence.

“We’ll have three or four of them,” Short says.

It’ll provide shared co-working incubator space on the first floor and basement.

Improvement work at the former Triple-A building will include AECC performing asbestos-remediation work, but the overall structure is in “good shape,” according to Short.

The redevelopment cost is about $250,000, he adds, which includes the site development and parking spaces.

The remediation work will begin once the project budget finalized in early September, he says. Onondaga Commons is hoping to have the building ready for occupancy by the spring or summer 2014.

Short would also like to include a business incubator in the former Triple-A building at 506 W. Onondaga St., which could also expand into the GAR Building, he says.

The improvement work could also impact the property’s most publicly visible tenant.

Even though Scottsdale, Ariz.–based Rural/Metro Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection, Onondaga Commons is planning on having the ambulance-service provider as a tenant for a while to come.

“There has been talk of some additional redevelopment of this structure to expand their square footage to 36,000 square feet here in Building 1 of Onondaga Commons,” Short says.

That would be a more than $1 million redevelopment project.

The green-infrastructure work at 422 through 428 W. Onondaga St. begins during the first week of September and includes a portion of Slocum Avenue lots on the perimeter of the property.

It’ll involve repaving with porous material, new plantings, and rain gardens, Short says. When completely installed, the improvements will result in the harvesting six to 10 million gallons of water annually.

The Onondaga County’s Save the Rain program is a “stormwater-management plan intended to reduce pollution to Onondaga Lake and its tributaries,” according to its website.

Financing, partners

Onondaga Commons is in discussions with Watertown Savings Bank to secure a loan for the expansion project.

“They are willing to come to the table on the GAR building, once it’s free and clear of any contamination,” Short says.

Aubertine and Currier Architects, Engineers & Land Surveyors, PLLC of Watertown is serving as the architect on the project. Manny Barbas, who spent 36 years organizing and administering capital projects for Onondaga County, is serving as an independent consultant on the project.

Short refers to Barbas as “an all star.”

He also credits the work of Kyle Thomas of Natural Systems Engineering, PLLC of Syracuse, calling him a “critical partner.”

Thomas worked with Short and Onondaga County to develop a plan to redirect six to 10 million gallons of water away from the combined sewer system.

Daly Co., Inc. of Sackets Harbor is helping with the green-infrastructure installations.

“They’re handling the construction of that,” Short says, noting they’ll be using local subcontractors for the project.

A contractor for the construction work beyond the green-infrastructure project has “yet to be identified,” Short says.

When asked why a bank and architecture firm from Watertown and a contractor from Sacketts Harbor are involved, Short noted that Martin Yenawine lives on Wellesley Island in the Thousand Islands region.

Lifelong friends

Short has known Yenawine since age 5, calling him a “mentor” and a close family friend.

“He helped me write my graduation speech for high school,” he says.

Short Enterprises is currently located in the Lincoln Building at 109 Otisco St. in Syracuse, but Short intends to move the business into Onondaga Commons at some point in the future.

Besides Short, the firm’s lone full-time employee, Short Enterprises also employs two part-time workers and two contract employees.

Founded in 2011, Short Enterprises is an economic strategy and development firm specializing in strategic planning, site selection, community assessments, and organization building.

Short previously served as deputy director of the Near Westside Initiative at Syracuse University.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Utica Comets hockey club gets ready for inaugural season

Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

UTICA — A few of the Upstate opponents of the Utica Comets will get to know minor-league hockey’s newest team early in the upcoming season. The Utica Comets, the American Hockey League (AHL) minor-league affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, will begin their inaugural season visiting the Rochester Americans on Oct. 11

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UTICA — A few of the Upstate opponents of the Utica Comets will get to know minor-league hockey’s newest team early in the upcoming season.

The Utica Comets, the American Hockey League (AHL) minor-league affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, will begin their inaugural season visiting the Rochester Americans on Oct. 11 and visiting the Albany Devils the following night on Oct. 12, according to the team’s website.

The Comets will host the Devils for their home opener in the Utica Memorial Auditorium, locally known as the “Aud,” on Oct. 23. Utica will then host the Syracuse Crunch two days later on Oct. 25, the website says.

With Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, and Albany already as AHL markets, the Comets have ready-made rivalries without even “dropping the puck,” says Robert (Rob) Esche, president of Mohawk Valley Gardens, Inc. and the Utica Comets.

“We have a lot of areas around that are within a couple hours that … without even playing a game, you already have a rivalry,” says Esche, an area native and former professional hockey player.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced June 14 that Comets would relocate from Peoria, Ill. and play their games in the Utica Memorial Auditorium, which construction crews are renovating ahead of the upcoming season.

Mohawk Valley Gardens, Inc. operates the AHL franchise for the Vancouver Canucks, which own the affiliation. The operator is located inside the arena at 400 Oriskany St. West. in Utica.

Esche is among eight people who are partners in Mohawk Valley Gardens, he says. The partners also include Frank DuRoss, a long time entrepreneur and AHL hockey owner, according to Esche.

The partners established Mohawk Valley Gardens to handle day-to-day operations for the Utica Comets.

It has three subsidiary branches, including the Utica Comets, Orb Food and Beverage, LLC, and Garden Entertainment, LLC, Esche says.

The Utica Comets has 15 employees; Orb Food and Beverage employs four full-time workers and will hire hourly employees for more than 85 events; and Garden Entertainment, which is in charge of operations at the Utica Memorial Auditorium, has between eight and 10 employees, according to Esche.

The team has already started selling season tickets but won’t offer individual game tickets for sale until Oct. 1.

“We’re very enthused with our [season]-ticket sales,” Esche says.

He declined to offer a revenue projection for the Utica Comets, saying the team’s performance will dictate how much revenue it raises in sales of tickets, merchandise, and concessions.

Players will arrive in Utica on Sept. 23, he says.

The state’s investment in renovating and “modernizing” the 4,000-seat Utica Memorial Auditorium, was “critical” to the team management’s decision to move to Utica, according to the governor’s office.

The state announced $5 million in renovation work to enhance the Aud to meet professional-hockey standards and to improve the facility for use by the Utica College hockey program and its fans, the governor’s office said.

The bid process for renovations at the Utica Memorial Auditorium started following the official announcement on June 14. Construction kicked off in mid-July.

“That’s still going on now under a very aggressive schedule,” Esche says.

Poncell Construction, Inc. of Utica handled the demolition work on walls and partitions. National Building & Restoration Corp. of Utica serves as the general contractor on the project.

H.J. Brandeles Corp. of Utica is handling the mechanical aspects of the project.

With the renovation work, the facility will also be “more competitive” for other non-hockey events such as concerts, trade shows, and other athletic events, which will help spur economic activity in downtown Utica, the governor contended in his June 14 announcement.

Esche started his push to bring a minor-league hockey franchise to Utica in the middle of 2012, with the understanding he’d need to secure state funding to renovate the Aud and approval from the authority that oversees the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

“They [authority members] became willing and able partners and everything kind of meshed together seamlessly at the right time,” he says.

A native of Marcy, Esche attended Whitesboro High School but graduated from a school in the Detroit area before the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes drafted him in 1996, he says.

The Coyotes traded Esche to Philadelphia, where he helped lead the Flyers to the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, only to lose to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

He later played with SKA St. Petersburg and Dynamo-Minsk in Russia and the SCL Tigers in Switzerland.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

TMD expands, unites Syracuse headquarters office

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Insurance & Financial Services, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Three years of splitting employees between two nearby locations will end soon when accounting firm Testone, Marshall & Discenza, LLP (TMD) finishes an expansion project at its 432 N. Franklin St. headquarters. “We ran out of space three years ago,” says Frank Discenza, managing partner. To ease things, the firm leased about

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“We ran out of space three years ago,” says Frank Discenza, managing partner. To ease things, the firm leased about 3,000 square feet of office space on Solar Street and housed about 16 employees there. While that set up worked, it was by no means an ideal or permanent solution, Discenza says.

TMD (www.tmdcpas.com) recently came across the opportunity to remedy that situation when fellow Foundry tenant Mass Mutual declined to renew its lease, opening up 11,000 square feet of space adjacent to TMD’s offices. TMD, which co-owns the building as part of 432 N Franklin Property LLC, decided to take the space and add it to its current 16,400-square-foot office.

The accounting firm gained access to the space Aug. 1 and began work immediately to retrofit it to its needs, Discenza says. Work includes removing carpet and wallpaper, painting, installing new carpets, creating an opening to connect the two offices, and reconfiguring the west side building entrance. TMD hired MCK Building Associates, Inc. of Syracuse to handle the project.

The new space will add numerous offices as well as two new conference rooms, Discenza says. Along with renovating the space, TMD is adding new technology to the conference rooms and updating both its network and telephone systems. Work was expected to be completed by Labor Day.

The $325,000 project will leave TMD with a nearly 27,000-square-foot office that not only serves the company’s current needs, but also provides room for future growth, Discenza says. “That’s going to enable us to have some growth,” he says.

Recently, the firm landed several medical practices as clients as well as a number of U.S. subsidiary locations for foreign-owned companies, Discenza says. TMD plans to continue its growth by expanding its footprint outside of the greater Syracuse area. Adding staff will allow the firm to do that by ensuring it has enough people to service existing clients while others meet with potential new clients, Discenza says.

TMD has already begun hiring and will add two new entry-level employees this fall, he says, bringing the firm’s total employment to 85 people. “We’re actively looking for a couple more experienced people,” Discenza adds. TMD is currently advertising an opening for a tax manager as well as internships on its website.

TMD, founded in 1976, provides audit and accounting services including bankruptcy consultation, budgeting, forecasting, forensic accounting, business start-up planning, expansion planning, debt restructuring, employee-benefit consulting, succession planning, and merger and acquisition services.

Along with offering that extensive array of services, TMD also provides quality service, often with the same person serving the same client for many years, Discenza contends. The firm is able to offer that continuity of service because it has a very low turnover rate, he says. “The people, the partners, the principals, the managers are the same people” they’ve been for years, he notes.

TMD also better serves its clients through its membership in CPAmerica International, a national association of independent CPA firms that share best practices, networking opportunities, and expertise to help each other. That network of resources helps put TMD’s technical knowledge at the same level of a national firm such as PricewaterhouseCooper’s without losing the personal touch a hometown firm provides, Discenza contends. TMD joined CPAmerica in 1998, and “it’s been a great experience for us.”

Discenza says he expects TMD to make a smooth transition into its new office space and hopes to hold an open house later in the fall.

Contact The Business Journal at news@cnybj.com

Technology boosts ease of buying a home

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only, Technology

SYRACUSE — House hunting has come a long way from circling ads in the Sunday paper, spending a day looking at houses, finding the right house, and then applying for a mortgage and waiting anxiously for approval. With smartphones in hand, both buyers and realtors are using technology to streamline the process, but not without

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The Chase My New Home app, from JPMorgan Chase & Co., launched last fall for smartphones and in April for the iPad. The app is just one example of how technology is changing the way people house hunt.

About 90 percent of buyers look online for homes these days, says Lisa Foradori, chief marketing officer for home lending at JPMorgan Chase. On top of that, “people want information on their time,” she says, whether that’s 5 a.m. on a Monday or midnight on a Saturday. These days, people are plugged in all the time and want information at their fingertips. That is what motivated JPMorgan Chase to develop the My New Home app.

The app helps guide homebuyers through the whole process of buying a home from establishing a budget to getting a mortgage. And, of course, buyers can review local listings right on their phone. The app also has features that allow buyers to take notes on properties, snap photos, and even connect with a mortgage banker.

“It allows them to shop with confidence,” Foradori says.

To date, the app has more than 270,000 downloads, she says. Chase has also tweaked the app a few times in response to user reviews, adding features like a category on neighborhood trends, making the app even more useful, she adds.

Apps such as My New Home are very useful, says Lynnore Fetyko, CEO of the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors, but cautions that buying a home cannot be a totally remote process. Buyers still need a knowledgeable person to help walk them through the process, and that’s where a realtor becomes invaluable.

But technology does have its place in the industry, for both buyers and sellers, she says. “I think it’s made things a lot more efficient for all,” she says of the technological advancements the industry has seen.

Technology has made it so that realtors can essentially have a mobile office, keeping track of everything on their phone or laptop, Fetyko says. However, this can be a struggle for some realtors, she notes, especially if they are not tuned in to technology.

Advancements in technology have also made things easier for the buyer. Offerings such as online listings and virtual tours help buyers narrow down their options, but there is also danger that buyers will weed out possibilities without giving them a fair shake, Fetyko says. People can’t base a decision as important as buying a home solely on a bunch of pictures online. Realtors need to encourage buyers to visit homes, even ones the buyers aren’t so sure about.

Along with increasing use of technology, the industry, at least locally, is also seeing increasing activity, Fetyko notes.

“The market is looking good,” she says. Inventory is up, while the number of days a home remains on the market before sale is down.

“Many realtors are very, very busy,” she says. That includes showing, selling, and listing more properties than they were at this time a year ago. The market is gradually returning to pre-recession levels, Fetyko says.

“Consumer confidence in home ownership is coming back,” she says.

Contact The Business Journal at news@cnybj.com

Business truisms that aren’t true — and that cause trouble

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

Some business ideas seem to have a life of their own, particularly since they sound so reasonable. They’re so much a part of the culture and so obvious that they go unchallenged, requiring neither proof nor explanation. Since they’re “self-evident,” they gain truism status. But once unmasked, they’re revealed to be what they really are

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But that’s not all. Some truisms are not only false, but they also can also be downright dangerous. Here are seven popular business truisms that deserve a closer look.

1. “It takes money to make money.”

This one is so obvious that it has earned a permanent place in the pantheon of business lore. Yet, it has taken on a life of its own for a less than obvious reason. Strangely enough, it may survive because it offers unparalleled comfort.

“Comfort?” you say. How could not having money be consoling? Because if I believe that it takes money to make money and I don’t have money, then I’m off the hook — home free. Why work hard, be persistent, make sacrifices, put yourself at risk, or even try when the cards are stacked against you?

In other words, if it takes money to make money, why waste your time trying to climb the ladder of success when you lack what it takes to do it? We put limits on ourselves when we permit an idea such as this to guide us.

2. “I know, but it’s a tax-deductible expense.”

The worst money mistake I ever made was agreeing to make a presentation at a conference that was scheduled halfway across the country. The conference organizer held out the occasion as an opportunity to meet and present to possible clients. He described it as “a free pass to the hen house.” This was his justification for not paying a speaker’s fee or covering travel expenses.

I can still hear myself justifying spending the money since at least the expenses were tax deductible. One way or another, everyone in business is lured into footing the bill for things that may not be worthwhile. Just because something may be tax deductible doesn’t make it a smart move.

There are times when doing something for free makes sense; just don’t justify doing it because it’s tax deductible.

3. “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

How could anyone question this idea? It not only seems so obvious, but it’s also ingrained in our culture. All that’s needed is to hear it enough times and we become believers.

Not too long ago, insurance agents were lured into the business with a compelling enticement: “Work hard in the business for 20 years and then the business will work hard for you for the next 20 years.” Many professions offered similar lures. It sounds like a good deal: If you pay your dues, there will be a positive payoff.

Of course, the reality is quite different. There’s no guarantee to “get lucky” just by working hard. Today, such effort may not guarantee getting or keeping a job, having your business survive, or living comfortably in retirement.

Or, to put it another way, entitlement is a myth.

4. “Look at it from 30,000 feet.”

Seeing the big picture is certainly helpful when it comes to keeping things in perspective. At the same time, it can ignore the reality of coming face-to-face with problems. Looking at wildfire fires or a flood from the window of airplane is quite different from what someone sees when fleeing a home engulfed in flames, waits to be rescued from the rising waters of a raging river, or is a first responder to a threatening situation.

Some in business can take too much pride in being “big picture” people and do a disservice to those who don’t fly quite so high. Because they fight the frontline battles, put out endless fires, correct the mistakes, satisfy customers, make things happen, or all of the above, they may the best resource for solving and identifying problems.

5. “You have to believe in yourself.”

It’s a given that it takes a certain amount of self-confidence to do well in business. But quite often, as we’ve all seen, self-confidence races out of control, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

There are those who know all the answers, believe they do everything right, make brilliant decisions, possess the formula for success, fabricate facts –– and focus attention on themselves rather than the company or their customers.

This can be a dangerous game today, particularly when it’s so easy to be tripped up by increased transparency. Once again, the emperor has no clothes.

6. “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

Wow, that’s not only tough talk, but it’s also nonsense. We all face enough challenges without adding ideas that only make our task even more difficult and demanding –– and this is one of them. For some people, there are only two teams, two views, two answers, two ways of doing things, and two attitudes: one is right and the other is wrong. That’s it.

With a duality mindset, we create the enormous problem of cutting ourselves off from the many “shades of grey” and reducing complicated problems to simple solutions.

7. “You can BS others but you can’t BS yourself.”

And, finally, here’s the granddaddy of them all. If only it were true –– but it isn’t. While self-deception is complicated, most of us are masters at the everyday garden variety: convincing ourselves –– and then others –– something we want to be true is, in fact, true. And it’s a useful tool for shaping the way others see us.

Here’s just one example of how we BS ourselves in business: résumés and business bios (see LinkedIn): facts are fudged, twisted, exaggerated, and ignored. And, claims are made that stretch credibility beyond the breaking point, and achievements are piled as high as an elephant’s eye (and every week, the pile grows higher). Many are little more than exercises in creative writing.

All of which suggests that it’s far easier to BS ourselves than it is others. And there may be nothing worse than self-deception.

There you have it: seven business truisms that aren’t just untrue, they’re dangerous because they limit success, undermine credibility, create distrust, and inhibit achievement.

John R. Graham of GrahamComm is a marketing and sales consultant and business writer. He publishes a monthly eBulletin, “No Nonsense Marketing & Sales.” Contact him at johnrg31@me.com, or visit johnrgraham.com

Welfare to work: Why bother!

Opinion, Subscriber Only

Back in 1995, the Cato Institute published a study entitled, “The Work vs. Welfare Trade-Off,” which analyzed welfare benefits in all 50 states, and concluded they were a disincentive to work. A year later, the Congress enacted, and President Clinton signed, welfare-reform legislation that ended Aid to Families with Dependent Children, replacing it with the

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This year, the Cato Institute reviewed the work-to-welfare trade-off and found that our welfare policy is still a disincentive for people to move from welfare to work. Here’s what the study found.

Nationwide, less than 42 percent of adult welfare recipients work. Caveat: the 42 percent figure is probably high because “work activities” such as job training and job search are included as work. Cato concludes that less than 20 percent of welfare recipients have unsubsidized, private-sector jobs.

Tracking welfare requires following 126 different federal programs in the form of cash, food, housing, medical care, utility assistance, etc., of which 72 either provide cash or in-kind benefits to recipients.

The remaining programs are either targeted to communities or are categorical, such as belonging to a disadvantaged group. To this number, add a multitude of state, county, and municipal programs. Federal and state welfare programs combined now cost taxpayers nearly $1 trillion annually.

I focused just on New York state to measure the disincentive to move from welfare to work. In inflation-adjusted terms, for a mother with two dependent children, New York has increased its welfare-benefits package between 1995 and 2013 from $33,430 to $38,004, a 13.7 percent increase. Keep in mind that the above numbers are after-tax dollars. A working person in New York must earn $43,700 in gross wages to net the $38,004. Based on a work-year of 2,080 hours, that’s the equivalent of just over $21 per hour or 110.5 percent of the state’s median salary.

Clearly, not all welfare recipients utilize all of the programs available, but those on welfare for long periods are likely to receive multiple benefits. Despite help from the earned-income tax credit, the child-tax credit, and other aid to transition from work to welfare, those who opt out of welfare must be prepared to pay for items such as transportation, childcare, and clothing.

For all of the hoopla associated with welfare reform back in 1996, not much has changed, except that the level of benefits for New York state recipients is more generous. While welfare recipients are required to work or participate in a job search, the definition of work activity is so broad as to exempt the majority on welfare and the benefits so generous that a recipient can earn more on welfare than in the workplace. The result is a huge financial burden to taxpayers and a trap for many recipients who choose leisure over work.

Any idea that the nation has a public policy to encourage work over welfare is belied by the figures. Until we reduce the current benefit level and tighten the eligibility standards, nothing will change.

Under these circumstances, deciding to draw welfare and not work is a purely rational choice.

Norman Poltenson is publisher of The Central New York Business Journal. Contact him at npoltenson@cnybj.com

New Lake-Level Plan Leaves Questions Unanswered

Opinion, Subscriber Only

There is a new water-level plan proposed for Lake Ontario that will threaten shoreline property, recreational activity, and damage public infrastructure. Plan 2014 has been proposed by the International Joint Commission (IJC). The IJC is comprised of six members from Canada and the U.S. It was created to help handle issues in shared waters, such

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Proponents of the plan say Plan 2014 will return the lake levels to a more natural state, and therefore, create higher highs and lower lows, depending on the time of year. I fear these new highs and lows will have a significant and detrimental impact on all property and business owners along Lake Ontario, and communities have not been given enough consideration with this new study.

Lake Ontario water levels are adjusted by the Moses-Saunders dam at Cornwall, Ont., and Massena, N.Y., which was built in the 1950s in order to produce hydropower and permit larger ships to navigate between Montreal and Lake Ontario. The current lake plan system has been in place since 1958 and generally keeps levels within an expected range. It has worked for 60 years, keeps water more contained, and property along the shore generally protected from storms, high waves, and flooding.

I agree that we need to create policies and management plans that will better our environment. In this case, however, the environmental benefits to implementing such a plan are not being made clear. Some have said muskrats will multiply with this new plan. Muskrats are already prolific. Another advantage that has been mentioned is Northern Pike will flourish; however, they too exist in healthy numbers.

I also understand Plan 2014 may increase our ability to harness more hydropower, but the property, community, and infrastructure damage it will cause surely outweighs the expected increase in hydropower. The increased volume of the lake may not allow water to freeze. Without the ice and snow build-up, this inhibits natural storm shore protection during the winter.

Another aspect missing from Plan 2014 is it does not make provisions for homeowners along the shore, for when their property floods and erodes, and property value likely decreases and flood insurance increases. While the study contains detailed data outlining how wildlife will be impacted with charts, it does not include estimates of private or public property loss, job losses, loss of tourism revenue, or cost to prevent floods, all of which are important to the many communities and residents that will be affected by any lake plan.

Homeowners along the shore, however, estimate that along a six-county region, there are 10,025 private and public parcels with a total assessed value of $3.7 billion. This property has a few effects on the economy and local tax bases:

§ At an average 4 percent property and school tax rate, there is $148 million annually, which supports local economies.

§ At an average of 1 percent (data found on cost of annual maintenance of property) the annual cost to maintain the properties equals $37 million into local economies. Since property maintenance involves most likely taxable products, this equals a loss of $2.96 million per year to state and local governments.

§ If just 10 percent of properties are damaged due to Plan 2014, this will equal damages amounting to $370 million.

The public had until Aug. 30 to submit comments. Many local municipalities, counties, and landowners have already voiced opposition to the plan. Some municipalities have put forth resolutions calling for further study on the impact this will have on communities. Many others, however, have unfortunately voiced support for the proposed plan, including some federal representatives.

Both the Canadian and U.S. Federal governments will decide whether or not to implement the plan. There is more information available to the public at http://ijc.org/en_/losl.

William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us.

New York’s initial unemployment claims edge up in latest week

Employee Benefits & Human Resources

The number of people applying for new unemployment-insurance benefits in New York state in the week ending Aug. 17, rose by 435, or more than

Grant to help Broome Community College offer scholarships for entrepreneurial program

Health Care

BINGHAMTON — SUNY Broome Community College (BCC) will use grant money to provide two scholarships for this fall’s Entrepreneurial Assistance Program. The school made

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