Birds of a feather
Published:
Sunday, April 1, 2007
By Leslie Wright
Free Press Staff Writer
With his organic seed business growing at breakneck
speed, Tom Stearns sought hands-on advice and creative problem-solving that he
could use on the fly. He tried the Rotary Club, but that wasn't what he was
after.
He signed up for a business group at the
The Wolcott entrepreneur often sought advice from his
friend and counterpart in the organic vegetable growing business --
Why not broaden their horizons by gathering a group of
businesspeople like themselves for regular meetings? They put out feelers and
were surprised by the response.
"Everybody was craving it," Stearns said.
"
So, the group was born. While it may not have a formal
name or even a Web site, the group does have clear ideas about how to do
business and how to help each other grow. Some of those ideas are fairly novel;
such as lending money to one another, sharing employees and even building a
campus where they all can work together someday.
Sustainable CEOs
Loosely referred to as the sustainable business owners network, or shorthand as sustainable CEOs, the group
has been meeting on the first Tuesday evening of the month since summer. The
group has grown to about 20 members. Each meeting showcases one member's
business, focuses on a topic of the host's choosing and features dinner.
Member companies have several things in common, Stearns
said. They are young and growing at a double-digit or better pace yearly. The
companies are relatively small, with sales ranging from $250,000 to $2 million;
with five employees to 25. Many make organic products. They are concentrated in
and around the
"It's noncompeting,
like-minded businesses. We've got nothing to lose. We all need this. We are
paying consultants $100 an hour to tell us things and we end up scratching our
heads and wonder where the money went," Stearns said.
Lending a hand
What makes this group different from more formal networking
groups and business clubs seems to be the lengths to which the members are
willing to go to help each other.
At one meeting, Stearns asked if anyone had cash on
hand to lend him. His business has cash flow in the spring when customers order
seeds and then is stretched later in the year. The company's credit line
application was tied up at the bank longer than he anticipated. Two members
stepped forward with a total of $40,000 for 45 days.
"I see more of that happening. It's so easy. We know
each other. We trust each other. There's no closing costs.
There's no meeting," Stearns said."Most of
these people I've known for 10 years and we've known each other and we believe
in each other."
Stearns sees an opportunity for companies to borrow more
than just money. For example, many of the smaller companies don't have a human resource managers, but are growing to the size to
need one. If several companies pooled their resources, they could share a
manager.
"Let's say one of us has a financial wizard that
works for us and the others don't. I would be happy to, on my own time, ... lend them out," Stearns said.
Jim Rossiter, president of
Way Out Wax in Morrisville, said he's learned about
ways to take advantage of business grants, something with which others in the
group have had much more experience. The soy candle maker is gathering
information to apply for grants for his business.
Johnson, whose organic produce company grew 40 percent
last year, has appreciates the chance to learn from other companies in the
group. In considering an inventory system, Johnson was able to use feedback
from two members who had just installed systems.
"When we got together with each other we'd have
these conversations where we'd learn an awful lot about things, even though
we're in different businesses," Johnson said.
Amazing synergy
Monthly meetings have kindled larger plans for the CEO
group. Stearns envisions a campus for many of these businesses where they could
share facilities, such as a lunch room, and workers in an ecologically-friendly
building.
Admittedly, this idea is still in the "dream stage, " but there's a variation on Stearns' idea already in
the works in Hardwick. The Northeastern Vermont Development Association
received a $50,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to study the
possibility of an agricultural business incubator at the Hardwick industrial
park.
Andrew Meyer, co-owner of Vermont Soy and a member of
the CEO group, has been a key player in promoting the project, which would be in
the industrial park where his business would be located.
The idea for the industrial park predates the CEO
group, the group but they support the concept and have helped nurture it, said
Meyer, who is also president of Vermont Natural Coatings, a whey-based,
environmentally safe wood finish.
"This forum has enabled us to get good feedback to
get good responses to where this small group is nurturing those ideas and
helping move those ideas forward," Meyer said.
Stearns sees the two projects linked. One would give
new business a leg up and the other would give more mature businesses a place
to put down roots.
"What amazing synergy on all levels," Stearns
said of the campus concept.
Contact Leslie Wright at 802-660-1841 or lwright@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com