How companies are thriving in these tough economic times

These are tough times for businesses and their owners. Suppliers are raising prices to compensate for their increased costs. Customers are reducing orders due to their fears about being able to offload on their end. Everyone is concerned about capital access. Employees are jittery due to fears for their jobs. With all this stress and uncertainty, there are still companies thriving in this market. How do they do it? They succeed via a combination of factors: good planning, aggressive marketing, and recognition that the hard times will pass-they just have to survive to see it. Believe it or not-one of the major factors in these companies' ability to survive and thrive is their recent decisions to acquire their own facilities! Yes, buying their own buildings helped them stabilize costs, secure a great location that fit within their long term marketing plan, create some tax deductions and built equity for their businesses and their families. These companies were recently saluted as, "Businesses of the Year" by the prestigious Long Island Business Development Council, one of Long Island's oldest business networking groups. The first thriving company is Robbie Wagner Tournament Training Inc., a tennis tournament training center which develops junior tennis talent for national rankings. The company also rents court space to adults with and without lessons. Owner Robert Wagner was a professional tennis player with top ranking who had a long time stint as head tennis pro at a prominent L.I. racquet club. Renowned nationally for his coaching skills, Wagner had been leasing 26,400 s/f in Glenwood Landing for his operation and recently recognized the benefits of owning the facility. The opportunity to buy the building affords Wagner the ability to solidify his location, make needed renovations/improvements, lower his cash flow costs, earn some needed tax deductions, and build equity for his business and family. Despite the current "credit crunch," financing for the project was obtained from Bank of Smithtown and LI Development Corp. (SBA 504 loan) for 90% of project cost at a blended low fixed rate and long term. The company has a long waiting list of potential clients and will be adding 16 new employees as a result of the project! The other thriving company is Souvenir Collection Inc., a minority woman-owned importer and distributor of souveniers and other collectible items. The company supplies over 350 retail stores in the New York City area with items ranging from towels, cups, bags, mugs, magnets, key chains and T -shirts to shorts and sleepwear, all with marketing slogans on them. Souvenir Collection has a license to produce material with the "I Love New York" slogan on it. Especially now with the value of the dollar versus the euro, tourism from within and outside the U.S. is at an all-time high and tourists and New Yorkers alike love anything with the "I Love New York" slogan. With the expansion of the business, principal Balbir Kandrha recognized the need to consolidate operations for efficiency. With two locations, one in New Jersey and one in Amityville, Long Island, the principal (who lives on Long Island) was wasting precious time traveling as well as having duplicate expenses for the two locations. Kandrha was quick to seize the opportunity to purchase the Amityville location in order to consolidate. Now, she has been able to eliminate duplicative costs, spend her time on business rather than traveling, and will be adding 15 new jobs and increasing exports as a result of this project. Financing for the 35,000 s/f building purchase was provided by Citibank along with a second mortgage from the LIDC under the SBA 504 program. Both companies expect to increase sales dramatically over the next year as they run efficient operations and build equity in their newly acquired locations-proof positive that it is possible to thrive in these tough economic times. For more information about the SBA 504 loan program and how you can help your customers acquire their facilities-see www.lidc.org. Roslyn Goldmacher is a licensed real estate broker in N.Y. as well as president/CEO and founder of the Long Island Development Corp. & The Greater N.Y. Development Co.