Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.
Rising astronomer launches New Moon Telescopes
WEST MONROE — Celestial inspiration led Ryan Goodson to look into telescopes, and 10 years later he’s viewing them as a chance to run a business in a field he loves. “It started a little over a decade ago,” Goodson says. “I saw a fireball shoot across the sky when I was on my way […]
Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
WEST MONROE — Celestial inspiration led Ryan Goodson to look into telescopes, and 10 years later he’s viewing them as a chance to run a business in a field he loves.
“It started a little over a decade ago,” Goodson says. “I saw a fireball shoot across the sky when I was on my way to play golf one morning. I had no idea what it was.”
After some research, Goodson realized the fireball was a meteorite. But that research sparked a curiosity in astronomy, an interest that eventually compelled him to build his own telescope.
He assembled that telescope, which had a five-inch reflector, about six years ago. And he’s been building the instruments ever since, honing the craft to the point where he felt comfortable launching a business around it.
Goodson started New Moon Telescopes along with his wife, Heather, in June. He assembles the telescopes, while she handles the company’s underpinnings like its finances, taxes, and website. The Goodsons run the business from their home at 260 Tanner Drive in West Monroe, in Oswego County.
Ryan Goodson assembles the telescopes in a 1,100-square-foot workshop. It’s an ideal space for putting together the instruments, which can be quite tall, he says. For example, a telescope with a 12-inch reflector stands five-and-a-half feet tall, while one with a 30-inch reflector measures nearly 12 feet when assembled.
“You have to be able to have tall ceilings to test your very, very large telescopes,” Ryan Goodson says. “On our website, the smallest I have is a 12-inch reflector, and we have the capacity to go all the way up to 30 inches.”
New Moon Telescopes focuses on telescopes geared toward amateur astronomers, but the firm also wants to sell to universities and professionals, he says.
Aside from using the company’s website for marketing, Ryan Goodson plans to generate interest in his telescopes at “star parties.” Star parties are gatherings of amateur astronomers that draw people from multiple states.
“For a few days you basically throw a party for amateur astronomy that involves looking at the stars,” Goodson says. “They’ll come and bring telescopes. You have vendors set up.”
Eventually he would like to purchase land in Oswego County to host his own star parties twice a year. He’s not at that point yet, however.
The Goodsons want New Moon Telescopes to generate $18,000 in revenue by the end of this year. They would like to grow that to more than $100,000 next year, which would be their company’s first full year of operation.
New Moon’s telescopes are designed to be portable so that astronomers can move them. They feature a truss assembly that detaches and closes like an accordion — an improvement over standard trusses, which consist of several separate aluminum poles that can be difficult to assemble in the dark, according to Ryan Goodson.
Additionally, New Moon’s telescopes have some unique woodwork, he says. Goodson does not use screws to fasten together his instruments’ mirror boxes and rocker boxes, which he says is a typical construction method for telescope makers.
“We do all box joints,” he says. “The overall result has a mechanical advantage, and it’s prettier.”
New Moon’s telescope work can cost from $2,000 to more than $10,000, Ryan Goodson says. He can put together a “rebuilt” scope with a new enclosure around optics from a customer-supplied, mass-market telescope for about $2,000. But instruments featuring New Moon-supplied optics are more expensive.
Ryan Goodson does not make New Moon’s optics, although he says he has made his own for personal telescopes in the past. Instead, he purchases the optics, usually from Lightholder Optics, a California firm.
“The optic is about 50 percent of the cost on my end,” he says. “Buying that mirror, getting it here, and putting it safely in the telescope is a large part of the process. It’s very complex, and if you know the measurements involved in telescope making, there’s not much tolerance for error. If you have a 32nd or 64th of an inch error in your scope, you’re going to get bad views.”
Ryan Goodson is a board member of the Syracuse Astronomical Society. In addition to his business, he works in manufacturing at M.S. Kennedy Corp. in Clay.
Goodson was previously a manager for Raymour & Flanigan Furniture in Yorkville, and he’s moved around the country managing different furniture stores. He was in Kansas when he saw the meteorite a decade ago.
Binghamton Thrifty Shopper reaches new sales high
SYRACUSE — The Binghamton location of the Rescue Mission’s Thrifty Shopper chain has hit $1 million in sales for the first time in its history.
Smile-Therapy wants to beam emails to colleges, businesses
CAMILLUS — Have grouchy employees in the morning? A small firm in Camillus wants to help everyone grin so you don’t have to bear it. Smile-Therapy sends out an email at 8 a.m. every morning that’s designed to help people start their days on a positive note. The company started signing up individuals for its
Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
CAMILLUS — Have grouchy employees in the morning? A small firm in Camillus wants to help everyone grin so you don’t have to bear it.
Smile-Therapy sends out an email at 8 a.m. every morning that’s designed to help people start their days on a positive note. The company started signing up individuals for its service in April 2008 and has now added focuses on businesses and colleges to help it grow its subscription base.
“If you’re not happy where you’re at, absenteeism goes up, turnover is huge,” says Tim Smith, founder and owner of Smile-Therapy. “Customer service suffers, and that rolls into productivity and profitability.”
For businesses, Smith believes his daily emails improve employees’ moods and inspire them to be more productive over time. Each email is built to be read in 30 seconds to a minute so that they do not take up too much time, he says.
Every day’s email follows a different theme. Monday is a giggler, or a joke. Tuesday is a shot of encouragement. Wednesdays and Thursdays bring motivational or inspirational stories. And Friday emails are based on fun — they can contain anything from a brain teaser to a money-saving tip.
Smile-Therapy also sends out an extra email on Saturday. It’s called the “Smooth Jazz Café” email and features a link to a single song.
Smith writes the emails, drawing information and ideas from his own research. For example, books he reads often contain quotes that make it into his emails, he says.
Some companies can’t or don’t want to pay for another employee benefit, Smith says. So, he suggests they pay for Smile-Therapy through their existing tuition-reimbursement training programs. As professional development, he contends his emails are better at reinforcing good working habits than going to a seminar once or twice a year.
“The reason this is so good is the frequency of it,” he says. “A little bit every day. Drip, drip, drip, drip.”
Smith started pitching Smile-Therapy to colleges about two-and-a-half years ago. He’s had some success, signing up workers at companies such as Cam’s Pizzeria and the Times Union in Albany.
Six months ago he decided to start trying to attract college students and employees at colleges. Those efforts, which are still just beginning, evolved out of conversations he had with parents who said their children weren’t getting any positive information from social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter, Smith says.
Smile-Therapy isn’t pursuing college students solely through their parents, however. The company is looking to strike a deal with a college that will have it send its daily email to all freshmen.
“When you go from high school to college, you don’t know anybody,” Smith says. “The pressure’s on. It’s a pretty stressful time. So I can go to a college and say, ‘If I can do anything to make your first-year student experience more positive, less stressful, isn’t that a good thing?’ ”
Smile-Therapy has hired two part-time employees to help Smith reach out to businesses and colleges, bringing its employee total to three, including Smith. It hired the employee focusing on business a year-and-a-half ago and the employee specializing in colleges six months ago.
The company is headquartered in 200 square feet of leased space in suite 3 at 25 Main St. in Camillus. It leases the space from the Camillus–based leasing, management, and development company Olympus, Smith says.
However, Smile-Therapy doesn’t limit its distribution to one geographic area, according to Smith. It has individuals receiving its emails as far away as Australia and Brazil.
Smith declined to share Smile-Therapy’s revenue total, but says he expects to increase revenue by 20 percent to 25 percent in the upcoming year.
The company charges $5 per month per person for its emails.
“We land one big college, it’s going to go nuts,” he says. “We’re in talks with probably 60 companies. We’re going to all the SUNY schools to start off.”
———————————————————————————————————————
Today at Smile-Therapy: Important lesson to learn from the intelligent Socrates
(Again thanks to the worthwhile-to-visit site Fropki.com)
In ancient Greece (469 – 399 B.C.), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom.
One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?”
“Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me, I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”
“Triple filter?”
“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my student, let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say.
“The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“No,” the man said. “Actually, I just heard about it and …”
“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.
“Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?”
“No, on the contrary …”
“So,” Socrates continued. “You want to tell me something bad about him, even though you’re not certain it’s true?”
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued. “You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter — the filter of Usefulness.
“Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”
“No, not really …”
“Well,” concluded Socrates. “If what you want to tell me is neither true nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”
The man was defeated and ashamed.
Might be one to print off for the kids, the refrigerator, or even the next sales meeting.
Governor: NY property tax average stayed within cap last year
Property taxes in New York grew by an average of 2 percent in the first year since a law capping them passed, according to a
Anaren captures new satellite work
DeWITT — Anaren, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANEN) said today it received an order worth more than $7 million for antenna assemblies to be used in a
Galaxy programming VP to retire
SYRACUSE — Mimi Griswold, vice president of programming at Galaxy Communications, will retire at the end of this year. Griswold has been with Galaxy since
UC accelerated nursing program approved
UTICA — Utica College’s newly established accelerated second-degree nursing program received approval from the New York State Department of Education. Designed for individuals who have
Community Memorial Hospital recognized for quality measures
HAMILTON — The Joint Commission has named Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton to its list of the country’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures. The
Pyramid Brokerage changing signs after 45 years
Pyramid Brokerage Co. will phase out the 4,000 yellow sale and lease signs it uses throughout the state over the next 12 to 18 months.
CCMR names latest JumpStart companies
ITHACA — Three companies will participate in the latest round of the JumpStart program from the Cornell Center for Materials Research. Empire State Development’s Division
Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.