Hurry up and wait
The gift of the new year: 8,760 time dollars to spend

By Jo Hawkins Donovan, for SBT

As we tack up the new calendars we might stop for a minute to acknowledge that we have a gift in front of us, a gift of a year full of hours — I call them time dollars — to spend as we choose.

More than 8,000 hours, brand spanking new, that we all hope to spend in 2003.

Looking at time this way makes it sound like a commodity, and we talk about it as if it were a commodity. We say, "When I have more time," or "I’m out of time", or I’m short of time" or, my favorite, "I’m going to make some time."

Actually time is more like a river in which we move, gracefully or frantically. The Mayans revered time and created a means to track it. They developed a 5000-year calendar that expires in 2012. Before that, people tracked time by looking at the changes in their own images in a pond, by following the cycles of the moon, notches on a stick, things like that. What a different context from the one we move around in today! It’s hard to go to Best Buy and find an appliance without a clock. Most rooms in our homes or offices have multiple clocks in addition to the ones we wear on our wrists every waking hour.

It is easy to get our adrenalin flow attached to that constant tick-tick-ticking. It is easy to get caught up in the hurried pace around us, to believe all those words about having more time, being behind time, wishing to someday "make" time to do what we want to do.

Looking at the year ahead, those 8,000-plus hours, we might pause and consider exercising more control over how we spend our time dollars. There is a chunk we’ll want to spend on sleep. For those of us who relish eight hours per night, we’ll spend almost 3,000 hours snoozing. Most of us will spend two to three thousand of the remaining hours earning our livelihoods, in whatever form that takes. So we’ll have a little more than 3,000 time dollars left to spend as we see fit.

In coaching leaders who recognize they are caught up in the hurried, harried lifestyle so prevalent in our culture, one of the first steps is giving attention to their relationships with time. Do they feel they are squandering it? What is the perception of who’s running the time show? Is time measured in the stacks of stuff that didn’t get done while they were putting out the daily fires?

Those questions eventually reveal the client’s relationship with time: what she thinks, feels, does and believes about time. This is a significant revelation for those hurried/harried clients. If we’re squandering our time or relinquishing choice about how we spend our time dollars, aren’t we squandering our lives and giving up control there as well? It’s possible to spend our lives sweeping leaves that are always falling, and never actually setting off on the path that the leaves keep covering.

The answer to feeling starved for time is not more time. When you decide to spend some — maybe most of those 3,000 hours this year in ways that have meaning to you — you’ve made a huge step.

I think the experience of meaning is where the soul and ego meet. Some clients want more clarity on how to get to that place, and may embark on a values clarification process. They choose to spend some time doing inner work identifying their top values, stuff they would go to the wall for. Then they begin to notice if there is anything close to a match between how they spend most of their time, and those values. They want to know if they are living their real intentions on the planet.

Guess what? Sometimes they are doing exactly that without giving themselves credit or pleasure in it. Some clients discover that they do the hurried, stressed-out act because they thought it went with the territory. Hoohah! Those are nice breakthroughs.

Others, having chiseled out their real identities, feel they’re throwing time dollars helter-skelter, perhaps trying to meet everyone else’s needs. That doesn’t work for anyone. Bringing what they do with their time into closer alignment with who they truly are, well that does wonders. They begin truly living their own lives at their own pace.

This is important work and a fresh new year is as good a time to do it as any. One of the most delicious discoveries is that the deep self within is never in a hurry.

May you be true to yourself as you spend your new time dollars in 2003.

Jo Hawkins Donovan has a coaching and psychotherapy firm in Whitefish Bay, and can be reached at 414-332-0300, or jo@hawkinsdonovan.com. The firm’s Web site is www.hawkinsdonovan.com. Hawkins Donovan will respond to your questions in this column. Her column appears in every other issue of SBT.

Jan. 24, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Industry titan will ‘go to mat’ to foil Oak Creek coal plant
Why Sam Johnson is battling Wisconsin Energy

When construction of any major power generation plant is being proposed, a utility company expects that the project will be opposed by environmentalists, health advocates and local residents who simply don’t want such a behemoth in their back yards.

However, Wisconsin Energy Corp.’s Power the Future plan is being attacked by an 800-pound corporate guerilla.

That force is Sam Johnson, chairman emeritus of S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., Racine.

Not only is Johnson investing his personal devotion, time and energy to block Wisconsin Energy’s plan to expand its coal-burning electricity plant in Oak Creek, but he’s donated $150,000 to the Wisconsin Environmental Decade to rally opposition to the plan.

Wisconsin Energy and its We Energies subsidiary contend they need coal generation to add balance to their electricity portfolio. By building two pulverized coal plants and one gasified coal plant in Oak Creek, Wisconsin Energy says it can provide cheaper electricity to meet the region’s growing power needs.

Johnson acknowledges that coal-burning may be less expensive than natural gas generation of electricity, in terms of the simple costs to the utility. However, the flaws of coal-burning far outweigh the 5% to 10% cheaper electric rates that might be achieved in the region, Johnson says.

In a recent interview, Johnson was asked by Small Business Times why a large manufacturing company such as S.C. Johnson would oppose a cheaper source of electricity. Without hesitating, Johnson launched into an oratory against Wisconsin Energy’s plan that would make a lobbyist blush.

Johnson: "Our objection to it is basically on quality-of-life issues with our people. We want to make Racine as attractive as possible, not only for our new employees, but for those of us who have lived there all their lives, and my family and grandchildren live there in the shadow of the smokestacks of Oak Creek …. You can see them from my house. It’s only five miles away.

"This one is so close to home. Our company has been a leader in environmental practice as a company, and we want to continue that. It would be absolutely impossible for any of us in our company to agree to this plan, because of its adverse impact on our people and our company and our ability to grow and our ability to hire the best people from all over the world and have them live in this area.

"We are more determined than ever as we get more deeply into this that this is a very bad choice on the part of Wisconsin Energy, and we’re going to go down to the mat on it.

"We really are dead serious about this issue. We do need more energy as a company. We are growing. We don’t doubt that. We just think it’s a very bad choice to go backwards to coal as a raw material.

"The only rational, reasonable, short-term choice is gas for Wisconsin Energy. I just genuinely believe that coal is a bad choice for Wisconsin Energy, and it baffles me.

"This is right in our back yard, and I realize everybody says, ‘Not in my back yard.’ But this backyard doesn’t seem to me to be the ideal place. We don’t need the 10th-largest coal plant in the United States. Many of those coal plants are located out in the boonies all over the place.

"This is one of the most important industrial areas of potential growth and economic development in the country. And to put a coal plant right in the middle of that doesn’t make any sense to me at all. So, we’re going to work on this. I feel very strongly that we’ve got to see this one down and force them to make another choice."

SBT: Tell us how you really feel, Sam. With Sam’s money behind them, the organizers of Responsible Energy for Southeastern Wisconsin’s Tomorrow (RESET) are lining up their arguments against "turning Oak Creek into Coal Creek."

Skeptics might believe Johnson entered this fight because southeastern Wisconsin is in an air quality non-attainment zone, as designated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That means that any pollution created by a utility would minimize the amount of allowable EPA emissions credits for a manufacturer such as S.C. Johnson in the area.

Is that your primary motivation, Sam?

Johnson: "Our necessary credits for emissions is really a small part of our present expansion, which really is a headquarters expansion, more than it is a manufacturing emission.

"We are reducing our own emissions within the company, so we don’t have to go out. We probably keep better score of our emissions than any company in the Midwest. It’s not limiting our growth, and it’s not the reason we’re going after Wisconsin Energy at all.

"The health of our people, and our families and my family is the most important thing. And if we have to grow, we’ll figure out other ways to grow. Even if has to be outside of Racine, we have nothing against that."

SBT: So, Sam, have you spoken to Richard Abdoo, chairman and chief executive officer of Wisconsin Energy, about how you feel about his plan?

Johnson: "Yeah, we talked to him early on, when he discovered we weren’t as friendly on this subject as he thought we might be. We had a good discussion with Dick, and I’ve known him for a long time.

"We asked some questions of him, like, ‘Have you costed out the alternatives?’ And all of that …. We never got really a comprehensive answer to any of those questions. They just went charging out with their plan, and they were going to sell this plan to the community, and I felt a little bit brushed aside on this whole thing.

"I didn’t expect that. I thought that he would be more objective about this. I don’t know what his agenda is, except a higher investment in coal for an equivalent amount of energy — maybe that works better for the Public Service Commission because they get a certain rate of return on their investment.

"I knew Charlie McNeer, his predecessor, for years. He was on the board of the Johnson Foundation and a wonderful man. But Charlie was always kind of favorable to coal, too.

"I don’t know really where they’re coming from, because I think coal is a loser in this thing. It’s a loser for the people. I haven’t had any businessmen call me up or write me letters and say, ‘You’re on the wrong track, Sam, because we’re going to be costed out of existence because of the increased cost of electricity.’ No one has said that to me. So, there’s not exactly a groundswell of people that share (Wisconsin Energy’s) position on this thing."

Next on the RESET members’ agenda will be leaning on Wisconsin’s new Gov. Jim Doyle and state legislators. And they’ll have an 800-pound guerilla peeling the bananas.

– By Steve Jagler, of SBT

Jan. 24, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Federal Medicare shortfalls shackle Wisconsin’s competitiveness

Commentary, by Mark Cullen, for SBT

Because of Medicare formulas set long ago Wisconsin misses out on approximately $1 billion in Medicare, based on national averages. It seems the only groups that should care about this shortfall are the health-care providers.

But that’s far from the truth. Workers and employers who pay for health insurance and for direct costs of care make up the shortfalls. The costs are shifted to all of us.

Competitive Wisconsin, an organization of labor, business, education and agricultural leaders, facilitated the creation of the Medicare/Medicaid Equity Coalition to bring public attention to costs of the shortfall on our state’s residents and to engage our congressional delegation and other elected leaders in seeking methods to address the issue.

It is unfair that seniors in Louisiana receive Medicare benefits that are almost twice the level received by seniors in Wisconsin and Iowa. Wisconsin is at the bottom of the public payment program charts; inequitable formulas created long ago have created a large and growing payment gap that amounts to a "hidden tax" on Wisconsin employers in the form of higher health insurance premiums.

What can be done?

Our congressional delegation should be encouraged to actively champion proposals to fix historic Medicare payment equity issues. It isn’t easy, because the delegations from other states will be protecting what they’ve had for so long. But it’s a fight that Wisconsin needs. And we’re pleased to see the emergence of leaders within our delegation who are willing to take on this issue as a top priority.

In addition, since Medicare’s creation, there are special programs that were developed to handle specific and special situations. Our state needs to take better advantage of those programs as a means to access federal dollars that are available but currently have been "left on the table".

So why does a businessperson like me co-chair this effort?

JP Cullen & Sons is a fourth-generation family-owned business and a recognized leader in construction and renovation of some of Wisconsin’s greatest buildings. We are committed to a strong economic future in Wisconsin.

And once I saw the numbers that demonstrate that Wisconsin’s economy is $1 billion lighter because of a "broken" federal program, I was motivated to lend my voice to "fixing" a problem that affects every resident of the state.

In economic terms, Wisconsin businesses and workers cannot afford the costs of losing out on so much federal money — and in the process paying health insurance premiums that are inflated by this "hidden tax."

We lose competitively to other states if their workers and businesses are not having to ante up to cover a $1 billion shortchange. The state’s health-care providers lose if they have to shift the costs to the rest of us because they’re not being adequately compensated for services to Medicare recipients.

And, of course, it’s not the Medicare recipient’s fault if the federal government doesn’t meet its obligation to pay its fair share.

The coalition is a diverse group of business, labor, health providers and local governments that understand how important addressing the shortfall is to our economic future. If you’d like to add your name to the coalition, please contact Competitive Wisconsin executive director Sharon Cook at 414-227-1237 or scook@cf-law.com.

Mark Cullen, is president of JP Cullen & Sons Inc., Janesville, which has an office in Brookfield. Cullen is co-chairman of the Medicare/Medicaid Equity Coalition and president-elect of Competitive Wisconsin.

The most common sales hiring mistakes and how to avoid them – Part II

Note: I believe that a Vendor salesperson is born, not made. On the other hand, a Business Resource is made. But in order to "make" a Business Resource, you must first hire sales candidates with Business Resource potential. Last month, Peter Gilbert, CEO of Growth Partners Ltd., a Stapleton Resources’ Certified Implementation Partner in Johannesburg, South Africa, wrote the first half of an outstanding piece on hiring sales talent for the Dec. 20 issue of Small Business Times. Here’s the second half.

— Jerry Stapleton

Are your sales hiring procedures getting you the best people? Or are your procedures among common mistakes that many companies practice in hiring sales professionals?

In this column, we’ll look at the final five of nine common sales hiring mistakes. The first four, described in my previous column, include having too many criteria and relying only on interviews to evaluate job candidates.

Mistake 5: Using yourself as an example

Your own sales success might lead you to believe you can spot candidates with potential, but don’t count on it. A famous lawyer once said, "The attorney who would represent himself has a fool for a client" — a saying that also applies to managers hiring new salespeople. Many managers who reached their positions by virtue of their sales success, believe they can instinctively recognize a good candidate, when they are unconsciously just using themselves as a template. When you use yourself as a model, your ego often gets in the way, and that "bias" can skew your objectivity in judging others – a fatal hiring flaw.

Mistake 6: Failing to use statistically validated testing to predict job skills most critical to success

In some companies, committees use deductive reasoning or brainstorming to identify criteria for candidate selection. That technique may encourage team building and a spirit of cooperation and participation, and may even focus the organization on the importance of hiring the right people. Unfortunately, two main flaws make it less effective at pinpointing why candidates fail or succeed. First, the committees tend to focus on theories instead of facts — theories that suggest, for example, that high self-confidence guarantees a better employee. Second, they focus on attitude and experience instead of ability and skills. Skills are a much more significant and consistent indicator of success potential. Incentives can motivate a skilled person, but motivation and good intentions won’t improve an unskilled candidate.

Gauging skill levels often requires carefully developed tests or on-the-job trials many managers are unwilling or unable to conduct.

Mistake 7: Not researching why people have failed in a job

Research consistently shows that people fail in a job due to factors different from the criteria used to select them. Though most managers can list the most common reasons people have failed, they seldom make the information part of the process of choosing selection criteria for new candidates. Managers who identify these "failure points" and build them into the selection process can reduce hiring mistakes by as much as 25%. In most competitive sales situation, for example, the average prospect buys from a new salesperson only after six contacts. The average unsuccessful salesperson gives up after three contacts. While some of that salesperson’s techniques may be adequate, the tendency to give up after three rejections was never uncovered or evaluated.

Mistake 8: Relying on general "good guy" criteria

Everyone may want to hire good people, but being a good person does not ensure success on the job. Sales success skills are now so specialized that you need specialized hiring criteria as well. A coach filling a spot on a cricket team, for example, bases qualifications on the team’s skill. At the prep-school level, the selection criteria for a player — dexterity, confidence with the ball, desire to play — are broad. As we reach the high school or university level, the criteria are more specialized, focusing on the four general skills required for success: bowling, batting, catching and fielding. At the international level, different fielding positions require such highly specialized skills (e.g. Fielding at slip or short leg,) that no coach would rely on four general cricketing skills to choose a test player. In sales, too, reserve broad, "good guy" criteria for entry level hiring. When you need a more experienced salesperson, use more specialized criteria.

Mistake 9: Bypassing the reference check

Various recruiting and placement agencies report a fairly high percentage of false information presented in resumes and job applications. As many as 20% of job applicants try to hide some dark chapter in their lives. For some positions, one out of three resumes submitted may contain false information. To find out who’s pulling the wool over your eyes, make the extra effort to verify the information your applicants provide. An individual who twists the facts to get a job will probably bend the rules on the job. Checking references may seem tedious, but it beats the frustration and cost of hiring someone you need to fire after two months.

With the discovery of hiring mistakes comes the opportunity to make positive change. Even if you are content with most of the people you have hired so far, remember that ongoing improvement is key to success. When you are willing to revamp your standard hiring procedures, you open the door to a stronger sales team that can lead your company in a new and more profitable direction.

Peter Gilbert is CEO of Growth Partners, Johannesburg, South Africa, a Stapleton Resources certified implementation partner.

The nine most-common sales hiring mistakes

1: Relying only on interviews to evaluate a candidate

2: Using successful people as models

3: Having too many criteria

4: Evaluating "personality" instead of job skills

5: Using yourself as an example

6: Failing to use statistically validated testing to predict job skills most critical to success

7: Not researching why people have failed in a job

8: Relying on general "good guy" criteria

9: Bypassing the reference check

Jan. 24, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

‘Ethics’ can have a variety of meaning in working with small business clients

By Sandy Swartzberg, for SBT

When we hear the term "ethics" today, it typically conjures up images of situations where there’s been a lack of ethics, for example, the fraud that’s brought down a number of large corporations in the past year.

But in working with today’s small business client, "ethics" can have a variety of meanings. And for those professionals who work with small businesses on a regular basis, it’s important to identify just what ethics can mean for small business owners.

There are five main areas to review and consider when working with small businesses: scope of representation, diligence, communication, conflict of interest and expertise.

When working with small businesses, a number of issues need to be addressed, such as: Who really is the client? What is the scope of representation and work? Do the client’s problems and demands exceed the ability to pay for services? Can these "problems and demands" be responded to in a prompt and diligent manner? What’s the most effective way to communicate with this client? Is there any potential for a conflict of interest that precludes working with this client? Do you have the expertise to handle the client’s problem?

Examine each of the following areas when considering working with small businesses:

When working with small businesses and their various service providers, it’s important to keep in mind that owners need to be regularly informed of all methods being used on their behalf as well as to abide by their decisions. It is after all, their business – literally.

The course and scope of the work can change during the working relationship based on the direction a small business takes, so services can change as well during the course of business. And as a result, service providers may wish to limit the scope of representation based on those changes. For example, while you have been retained to counsel a client regarding an employment issue, the client may be sued by another company on an unrelated matter, such as that your client’s name infringes on that company’s trademark. The client delivers the summons and complaint to your office. It is imperative that you define, or redefine, the scope of your representation, so both you and your client know whose responsibility it is to answer the complaint.

While service providers, including attorneys, should not engage in any activity in working with small businesses that is known to be criminal or fraudulent, attorneys can discuss legal consequence of a proposed course of conduct with a client and can counsel to make a good faith effort to determine the validity, scope, meaning or application of the law. Although a client’s communications with an attorney are generally considered confidential, there are exceptions. Additionally, an attorney cannot knowingly allow a client to commit perjury or any other unlawful act.

Diligence can have multiple meanings, such as "careful, thorough, conscientious, attentive." And when working with small businesses, being diligent in all aspects of the working relationship creates a win-win situation for both the small business and the service provider.

Keeping diligence in mind, communication is the foundation to creating and sustaining healthy working relationships. What’s key to communication is acting in a timely manner and that ensures helping the small business owner make informed decisions regarding the direction of their business. Both the client’s expectations of the manner and frequency of communication and the attorney’s expectations must be congruent.

Conflict of interest is one of the greatest challenges facing attorneys, and other service providers in working with small business clients. There are times when conflict of interest is apparent, such as the opportunity to represent an existing client’s competitor.

Conflicts of interest are likely to arise when representing small businesses, especially when there are multiple owners, or when the attorney is also engaged to represent employees in personal matters (such as a divorce).

Some of the issues that do arise with conflicts of interest can involve determining who exactly is the client at hand when there are organizational agreements, operating agreements, shareholder or buy-sell agreements. All parties involved are being represented collectively in the business arrangement, not individually. In addition, if the attorney, or service provider, has previously worked with one of the parties involved, it’s a good idea to get a waiver of the potential conflict in writing.

Typically with small businesses, all the parties involved can’t afford multiple representation and also fail to anticipate any problems that could lie ahead given the new opportunities for a fresh start with a new business arrangement. It’s up to the attorneys and other service providers to anticipate such problems and if nothing else, protect all parties involved.

Sandy Swartzberg is managing partner of the Swartzberg & Duggan law firm in Greenfield.

Jan. 24, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Business leaders speak out on Doyle

Southeastern Wisconsin business executives seem to have a prevailing sense of "we’ll wait and see" as they ponder the notion of Democrat Jim Doyle as governor.

Reactions among a handful of members of the Council of Small Business Executives (COSBE) at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) range from outright pessimism to exuberant optimism about a Doyle administration.

"I just hope he keeps his campaign promise of no news taxes, but I just get the impression he’s going to just shift it around. I get the feeling we’re just going to shift the burden to the wealthy suburbs, instead of the city.

"We’re overtaxed as it is. It’s hard enough to do business in the state. I think he’s just going to shift the burden to somebody else. I just got a 47% property tax increase on my building here. I’m not optimistic."

– Steven Balistreri, president and owner, Sun Cleaning Systems, Milwaukee and Madison

"I think the big focus for the Milwaukee area is economic development, and that has so many manifestations, from creating jobs to getting monies to the municipalities from the state, and we need to look at the entire picture of development.

"Just because our economy is in a slump at the moment doesn’t mean we can’t be thinking of the future, because it isn’t going to be in a slump forever. The convention center, the hotels downtown …. We’ve got to worry as a community about the Marquette Interchange and what that is going to do to the immediate future of Milwaukee when they close the ramps down. So, I think those are huge issues.

"I think he’s in a very tough spot. I think if he’s a visionary leader, he’s going to see beyond the immediate problems and form some development task forces to look at these issues. I’m an architect, and I’m always optimistic, by nature. This recession can’t last too much longer. They never do, and the work of the world must go on."

– Charles Engberg, partner & president, Engberg Anderson Design Partnership, Milwaukee

"For me, so far in everything I’ve heard, I’m very optimistic. The issue of holding the line on taxes to make us competitive sounds very good. I don’t envy him in trying to keep that promise, because I’ve had to balance my own budget, and sometimes that means rethinking your model, and that’s something government’s not used to doing.

"God bless him. Talk about a cultural change, he’s got his hands full. That’s the first time I’ve heard those words from a Democrat, and being a strong Republican, I’ve got to support him. I think he resonates very well in the business community. With those cabinet appointments, he’s open. He’s put people around him to give him the full view."

– Peter Gottsacker, president, Wixon Fontarome, St. Francis

"Clearly, he’s walked into a difficult fiscal situation, and I hope he maintains his promises of not raising taxes, and therefore I think this only alternative is to cut spending. I’m encouraged by some of his cabinet appointments. I think there’s integrity and intelligence there, kind of outsiders, if you will, from business and the public sector. It’s the ability to make changes, to make recommendations and have those recommendations truly enacted that is the test. I remain guardedly optimistic. We’ll have to wait and see."

– Mike Mahoney, chairman & president, Park Bank, Milwaukee

"The school situation is exacerbated, you might say, by the bargaining units’ unwillingness to give up or modify more health benefits, and consequently, the non-represented employees are the ones who get their direct or indirect compensation reduced. How does he solve that problem?

"What we need to do is get the unions to agree, like everyone else, to cut their health care benefits. The fact of the matter is, the WEAC (Wisconsin Education Association Council) is supportive of him, and they have no plans to make any serious modifications, so consequently the non-bargaining units are paying the price.

"I am pessimistic. There are four heart hospitals under construction in Milwaukee as we speak. Not only do we not need new heart hospitals, we don’t need a new program. We don’t need them. I mean, think about it. Where are they going to get the nurses? I would like the state to establish an updated certificate of needs program."

– Arvid "Dick" Tilmar, chairman & CEO, T.E. Brennan Co., Milwaukee & Madison

"I don’t know if he has the courage to stay within his convictions. It seems to me, he’s talking about some significant tax cuts and not raising taxes. Then I heard right off the bat he gave his own cabinet guys a raise. I think, in order for him to be successful, he’s going to have to be real unpopular, and then he’ll be a one-term governor.

"With me, the jury’s still out. I’m being optimistic as I can, as a Republican. I guess I’m cautiously optimistic. If we as business people ran our businesses like the government does, we’d be broke in no time.

"It’s hard to fathom how that (budget deficit) happened. He has to either raise taxes or cut government spending in the budget. He has a deficit that leaves him only one thing to do if he’s going to have the courage to do what he promised."

– Gary Zimmerman, president, Creative Business Interiors, West Allis

By Steve Jagler, of SBT

Jan. 24, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Attorney J.D. Thorne has relocated his J.D. Thorne Employment Law Managers practice to 225 E. Mason St., Suite 502, in Milwaukee. Thorne has been practicing law in the Milwaukee area since 1977.

ACE World Wide Group of Companies of Milwaukee has purchased the intermodal transportation company Seaway Cartage, also in Milwaukee, to strengthen its global transportation and distribution services, according to Alan S. Mileski, president and CEO. The acquisition gives ACE a five-acre Port of Milwaukee location for loading, unloading and storing steamship containers. The firm also gets an inventory of heavy-duty chassis for heavy-load shippers. Kenneth Filo, former president and owner of Seaway, has joined ACE World Wide Group of Companies as general manager-marketing.
Cream City Communications, a custom Web-based application business, has been acquired by private owners in Phoenix. The newly created company, Integral Productions (Integral Pro), will continue to offer e-business services in both states. "The Milwaukee market has treated us well over the last six years, but in order to continue our growth we need to reach out to new markets," said Jonathan Brewer, one of the three partners in Cream City Communications. Other partners are Nathan D. Bowen and Nathan A. Ferch. All three will remain part-owners in the new operation. Integral Pro will retain the Cream City staff and plans to add positions. The new company will add an online ordering and document-management platform, Meta Ordernet, to its offerings. Meta Ordernet was developed in 2000 for Metgraphix, a commercial printing and digital document services provider with locations in Phoenix and New Berlin.
The Stevens Law Office of Cedarburg and Mallery & Zimmerman have merged their firms. The Cedarburg office of Mallery & Zimmerman will be maintained at 708 Keup Rd. under the name Mallery, Zimmerman & Stevens. Shareholder John Stevens will continue to practice in the areas of trusts and estates in Cedarburg, Milwaukee and Carefree, Az. Besides the Milwaukee area and Arizona, offices are located in Wausau and Stevens Point.
Layton State Bank has re-opened its facility in Greendale’s historic village center after a major renovation project. The bank’s office is at 5850 Broad St.
Southeastern Wisconsin companies among 48 nominated for the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Manufacturer of the Year award include Accurate Pattern, Brookfield; Alto-Shaam, Menomonee Falls; American Orthodontics, Sheboygan; Bemis Manufacturing, Sheboygan Falls; DaimlerChrysler-Daimler Engine, Kenosha; InPro Corp., Muskego; K&B Innovations, North Lake; MGS Mfg. Group, Germantown; Open First, Milwaukee; Orbis Corp., Oconomowoc; Plymouth Foam, Plymouth; Quad/Graphics, Pewaukee; Saddlebrook BarnCams, Oconomowoc; Sharp Packaging Systems, Sussex; Specialty Tapes, Franksville; Visual Systems, Milwaukee; WennSoft, New Berlin; Wigwam Mills, Sheboygan; and Wiscraft, Milwaukee. Winners will be announced at a Feb. 27 banquet at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee.
Zoe Engineering has become a tenant of the Professional Dimensions Women’s Business Incubator in Milwaukee, according to the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. (WWBIC). The company has been started by Daphne Wilson, who recently received her Wisconsin Professional Engineer license. The incubator is located within the YWCAWomen’s Enterprise Center at 1915 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. WWBIC has also announced that Fanny Dunlap has started Kids You Choose, a poster and tee-shirt-design business. Dunlap is a 65-year-old legally blind African American woman who designed the posters about 15 years ago, before she began to lose her vision, she said. She went through WWBIC courses. WWBIC and the West Allis Small Business Development Program have helped Michael Smith and his fiancée Jennifer Lahmann finance their new company, Cleveland Avenue Automotive, at 8440 W. Cleveland Ave. in West Allis. WWBIC and West Allis have also helped finance Doc’s Stitches, a custom quilter for Wisconsin truckers. The company makes personalized denim quilts, primarily for truckers.

Jan. 24, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Building owners say Milwaukee ordinance is a facade
Revisions may be needed for city’s new law

By Charles Rathmann, of SBT

Owners of multi-story buildings in Milwaukee say a facade ordinance due to take effect in July is imposing thousands of dollars in inspection costs and should be revised.

The ordinance was created by the Milwaukee Common Council in response to two incidents in August 2000, when chunks of building facade crashed to city sidewalks.

As it is written, the ordinance, which was approved Aug. 18, 2001, eventually would require owners of every building more than five stories in height to pay for a hands-on inspection by a structural engineer every five years.

The cost for such an inspection on an even modest five-story building can be daunting, building owners say.

For the six-story, 100-unit Third Ward condominium building at 234 N. Broadway, inspection cost estimates range from $22,000 to $64,800, according to condominium association president and Historic Third Ward Association board member Doug Stonnman.

"We are expected to spend that money every five years," Stonnman said. "Now you are asking the owners of the property to just start dumping in the money to prove to the city you are maintaining your building. I think it’s kind of like the Napoleanic Code, where you are guilty until proven innocent. The two buildings they did have problems with — it was obvious that that those buildings needed to be repaired. The city has the rules right now to require that."

Stonnman and other building owners are critical of the fact the ordinance treats brick facades, which are less likely to fail, the same as those made of terra cotta or masonry.

The brick office condo building at East Buffalo Street and Broadway occupied in part by Historic Third Ward Association board member Marty Katz’s Wellston Properties would be treated just like a building with flaking, crumbling stucco.

"Thank goodness that none of the properties we manage are over five stories in height," Katz said. "Most of them are residential properties on the east side. On the other hand, I find it horrifically problematic. I have a general disdain for greater government involvement in my professional life. The good guys will do what needs to be done to get their buildings in shape. The guys who don’t care … don’t care about ordinances."

Katz worries that the ordinance could have a chilling effect on market prices for multi-story buildings.

"My concerns are not only whether I would consider purchasing the building in the first place," Katz said. "I am wondering about the long-term effects for insurance coverage. If the ordinance is in force, will insurance companies be forced to recognize this and lower premiums because there is no chance of negligence? Or will they walk away from facade-oriented claims because it is the responsibility of the business owner?"

Tom Bernacchi, vice president of Towne Realty’s commercial division, doubts that the ordinance would have an adverse affect on insurance claims, because normal wear and tear, which can eventually lead to some facade failures, is not typically covered by insurance.

Only facade failures attributable to a cause such as tornados, high winds or seismic activity would be covered, according to Bernacchi.

"However, if you do have your inspection, if you have a cause, certainly this should assist you in showing the problem did not exist two weeks ago; but then you had those high winds and now the problem does exist," Bernacchi said.

Bernacchi, who said he agreed philosophically with the intent of the ordinance, said he was primarily concerned with the difficulty of having the inspections completed in the time allotted.

"In the first round, which includes buildings built prior to 1920, we are going to have at least two or three buildings, depending on how they score one of the buildings, that had a facade replacement back in the 1960s," Bernacchi said. "As far as the ability to get it done, it is going to be difficult …. There are only so many engineers, so many restoration companies that have the expertise to go up and down these buildings with the engineers. And a lot of those companies are booked with work. Building owners in Chicago have fallen into the same problem — so much to be done and not enough professionals to get it done."

Members of the state chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and a representative of the City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) met Jan. 13 at BOMA headquarters to hash out their differences over the ordinance, which was based on a similar rule in Chicago.

"City building inspectors can only do so much," DNS chief operations officer Tracy Williams said. "All we are asking them is take care of their properties in a more extensive way."

Williams stressed that despite claims to the contrary, the ordinance was not drafted to get the city off the hook for paying for the inspections. He said the ordinance already includes a provision to exempt buildings with recently reconstructed facades.

"I don’t think we are trying to not do inspections," Williams said. "Having a building this size, you have to take care of it. An owner can only see so much visually from the ground. Once you get above five stories, you need to be up there, hands-on …. If the entirety of a facade has been reconstructed like the (Marcus Center for the Performing Arts) just was, with all the stone replaced, and it was done under permit, we would show that, and the owner would get credit for it. But if someone just went up, checked the facade and did some tuck pointing, we don’t know about that."

According to Williams, a thorough inspection up close is crucial for terra cotta buildings.

"The biggest problem is buildings where the facade is fastened by metal ties," Williams said. "You get water behind the wall, and those metal ties can corrode. You have to look at that especially close. The next most dangerous is masonry-type construction where you have terra cotta as a decorative piece."

According to BOMA government relations director John Periard, the city is receptive to pursuing adjustments to the ordinance, which would affect between 100 and 120 buildings this year.

"The facade ordinance is based on the Chicago ordinance, but unlike in Chicago, if there is one small area of a facade that is a problem, the entire building must be reinspected the next year," Periard said. "The city has been reasonable in listening to our concerns. And the ordinance is less strict in some ways than the Chicago ordinance."

However, implementation of the Chicago ordinance was delayed for a year to allow building owners adequate time to comply. Also, provisions were added that required less frequent inspections for brick and other more durable facades than those constructed of masonry and terra cotta.

Periard is optimistic that the ordinance could be changed to account for the performance of the different facade materials, but he is less certain that building owners with regular maintenance and inspection programs could be exempted.

"If the build owner already has a maintenance plan in place, the owner should be exempted from the ordinance, the owner should be exempted from the mandated inspections," Periard said. "But I suspect the city would still like to see a structural engineer up there very five years. What we might be able to get at the outset here is a phased approach, where they have to do one side of a building per year so building managers could budget over a longer period of time. They would start with the side with the most exposure to pedestrian walkways."

Jan. 24, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Organists make pitch for Miller Park job

The Milwaukee Brewers will soon hold auditions for a new organist at Miller Park. The baseball team received applications for the job through Jan. 17 and will soon begin interviews and auditions, spokesman Jon Greenberg said.

The resumes were collected by Mike Jakubowski, the Brewers’ director of electronic services. The applicants ranged from church organists to people with professional performance experience, Greenberg said. “We’ve got double-digit applications. He tells me he’s got several really good candidates,” he said.

To attract the organist applicants, the Brewers posted a job description on the team’s Web site. The job will be a “part-time, seasonal” position, according to Greenberg, who declined to disclose the organist’s salary.

The team is seeking someone who can play traditional Milwaukee baseball fare, such as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” “Go, Brewers Go!” and “Roll Out the Barrel,” Greenberg said. However, the successful candidate also must be able to play popular music, he said. The team will pipe in recorded music to supplement the live organist.

When the Brewers open up with a pre-season game against the Minnesota Twins at Miller Park on March 28, the organ will return to baseball in Milwaukee for the first time since 1986, when Frank Charles tickled the ivories.

“We’re trying create that special feeling, that when you hear an organ, you think of baseball,” Greenberg said.

The idea of returning an organist to the ballpark came from a fan who made the request to Ulice Payne, the Brewers’ new president and chief executive officer, during a fan forum at Miller Park in October.

– Steve Jagler

Telaric changes name, bolsters growth consultancy

Telaric, a Mequon business advisory firm formed in 2000, has changed its name to Telaric Alliance and now operates as a new type of consulting firm that helps business owners and CEOs grow their companies, according to the firm’s founder.

"The members of Telaric Alliance, as senior executives for more than 20 years, were frustrated by the type of outside growth assistance available in the market, so we have been working for more than a year to put together the expertise and structure that would provide real value to business owners and CEOs," said Allen Oelschlaeger, a founder of Telaric Alliance (www.telaric.com).

Telaric started a technology business incubator in 2001 and had also focused on launching businesses with proprietary technology. The focus is now beyond start-ups and early-stage support.

Telaric Alliance’s focus is on business growth. Oelschlaeger noted that studies have shown that the key to a strong regional economy is the presence of a large number of rapidly growing companies. "Telaric Alliance is dedicated to working with business owners and CEOs in the region to make them part of this statistic," he said.

Oelschlaeger said Telaric Alliance "is the only consulting firm in the US that addresses all four ingredients of growth: the sources of growth (innovation and marketing) and the inputs to growth (money and people) through a tight integration of the following four practice areas:"

Strong training can make winners of low-skilled workers
Question:
We are a small manufacturing firm and operate in a “job shop” environment. Our problem has been that the folks we bring in at the entry level are less and less skilled than what we normally would find to be acceptable. We’ve lowered our standards to the point where I’m not sure we can go any lower. Many of these employees have poor basic skills, low self-esteem, poor work ethic, etc. and bring their personal problems into work. With unemployment so low, we can’t afford to be choosy and turn people away. I guess what I’m wondering is how to go about addressing their low-level skills as they come on board.
Answer:
I’m sure this is a question with which many of our readers can resonate. This is an interesting question and one that does not have a lot of easy answers. But we’ll give it a try.
First, let’s step back for a second and talk about the general context in which people work here in the late 20th century.
Clearly, the nature of work has changed. Jobs have become more technical and demand higher skill sets, even at the entry level. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Education, approximately 90% of the jobs which have been created in the last eight years have demanded college-level math and reading skills.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, 21st century jobs will be increasingly even more demanding; 65% of all jobs in the new millennium will require more than a high school education. Twenty percent of jobs will require a bachelor’s degree and/or postgraduate education. Only 15% of jobs will be unskilled.
What you are seeing in your organization represents local evidence of the gap which exists between employees’ skill sets and the demands of the job. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that only about half of the students entering the workforce have the skills they need to do the jobs they are filling. Studies by other government agencies as well as private industry have concluded the same thing: US students graduate with poor academic skills, dysfunctional work habits, and inadequate occupational training. The widening gap between what is expected in the workplace and what prospective employees bring to the table is of concern to a variety of shareholders including educators, employers, and government officials.
Yet despite all of the negative commentary about the quality of education our students are receiving, it is also clear that one of the best things that a future worker can do is to stay in school. While it may be the case that staying in school does not guarantee the acquisition of skills which generalize to the job, leaving before graduation almost certainly portends a bleak future. In this regard, the U.S. Bureau of Labor tells us that the unemployment rate for high school graduates who do not enter college approximates 20%. Those who do not possess a high school diploma fare even worse.
So what then can be done to address this problem? One approach which is gaining momentum in some parts of the country is what is known as a school-to-work program. In essence, these are partnerships between business, labor, government, education, and community organizations that focus on preparing students for today’s high-tech business organizations. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the goals of such a program include:

Milwaukee’s Lincoln Avenue redevelopment on target
by Heather Stur, SBT Reporter
It all began with the purchase, renovation and sale of a residential duplex. In 1989, the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corporation embarked on its mission to spur revitalization efforts of an area of Milwaukee’s south side stretching east-west from Lake Michigan to 21st Street and north-south from National Avenue to Oklahoma Avenue, with a main focus on the development of Lincoln Avenue.
Today, almost 10 years and $2 million later, the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp. lends its services – and its funds – to small businesses in its community.
“The businesses we lend to often are ones that might not be able to get a loan from a bank,” says Hilde Dewulf, project manager for the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp. “But that doesn’t mean anyone can come in here and expect to get a loan. If someone needs a loan to start a new business, he or she must show a grasp of what it really means to be an entrepreneur, and that doesn’t come just by going to a seminar on how to start your own business.”
In addition to business loans, the redevelopment group provides neighborhood businesses with technical assistance, especially in accounting, the area Dewulf says small and start-up businesses seem to need the most help in.
A restaurateur on Lincoln Avenue spent several years in business paying his employees and his bills in cash straight out of his restaurant cash register. The redevelopment corporation not only taught the restaurateur accounting and bookkeeping skills, it also bought the building that housed his restaurant and rented it to him until he could buy it back.
This year, the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp. received from the City of Milwaukee a $10,000 Community Block Grant to finance accountant services at the redevelopment corporation. The grant was renewed for an additional $10,000 for 1999. Thanks to the grant, businesses that receive loans from the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp. can get free accounting services for three months, including training to use the QuickBooks accounting program, and then pay $125 each month after that for continued accounting and tax-return servicing.
Although currently it owns no property, the redevelopment corporation has involved itself in renovation projects in the area. And through a partnership with Bay View High School from 1993 to 1997, students in a Bay View High construction class rehabilitated seven structures purchased by the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp. with the help of $60,000 in grants from the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County, and $100,000 in donations from various sources.
“We don’t want to own any property; we just want to fix up buildings so that private organizations will buy them,” says Michael Gapinski, executive director of the redevelopment corporation. “We want to get more people involved in the responsibility of redeveloping the area.”
The organization also participated in a project, known as “Basilica Square,” to enhance the physical quality of the street scene on Lincoln Avenue. The city approved a $750,000 capital improvement project, and Wisconsin Electric Power Co. invested more than $250,000 to bury overhead wiring around the Basilica of St. Josephat, while Landmark Lighting installed a system to illuminate the basilica at night. Harp lighting, newly planted greenery and a park were added to complete the project.
Initial project: renovation
In 1989, Merchants & Manufacturers Bancorporation was chartered and founded a community development corporation, the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp., led by Lincoln State Bank, which sought to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act via a community development corporation. Its initial action involved the renovation of a neighborhood duplex, but the holding company soon realized more was needed to help the area thrive. Thus, the Lincoln Fund was established.
In the same year that Merchants & Manufacturers Bancorporation was formed, Wisconsin Community Capital Corp. (WCC) approached Lincoln State Bank with a plan to create a pool of funds to be used for urban economic revitalization.
That plan evolved into the Lincoln Fund, a revolving loan fund of $550,000 for use by new or existing businesses located on Lincoln Avenue. Lincoln State Bank, Franklin State Bank and Lincoln Community Bank each contribute $150,000, along with WCC’s $100,000 contribution. In 1994, Warner Cable Communications, Inc., contributed $35,000 to the fund with the instructions that the money be used to start woman- and minority-owned businesses, and in 1996 M&I Marshall and Ilsley Bank joined the board of the community development corporation with a $150,000 contribution to the Lincoln Fund. To date, 60 loans – each ranging from $5,000 to $150,000 – have been given out for a total of $2 million loaned to businesses on and near Lincoln Avenue.
Historical precedence
Lincoln State Bank was founded in 1919 as a community bank to serve the local, widely Polish community that was underserved by downtown Milwaukee’s banks at the time, says Dewulf. The demographics of this south side neighborhood have changed over time – a largely Hispanic population has taken residence in the area – but the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp. functions much to the same end that Lincoln State Bank did almost 80 years ago.
When Jose Lopez decided two years ago to expand his National Avenue bakery by opening a second establishment at 1601 W. Lincoln Ave., the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce referred him to the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp., which aided him in all aspects of business expansion – from approving him for a loan to helping him get the proper licensing to set up a business in his chosen location.
“I saw a need in the neighborhood for the kind of product I offer,” says Lopez. “People in the neighborhood were tired of second-hand bakery and second-hand service. I have what they want. Also, the building on Lincoln Avenue was right for my business and was in a good location. I went to (the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp.) for financial assistance, and they helped me throughout the entire process.”
And the expansion of Lopez’s bakery isn’t stopping with the Lincoln Avenue store. In about two months, he plans to open a coffee shop and bakery at a third location at Mitchell and 11th Streets.
El Toro Bravo, a specialty meat market and deli located at 1518 W. Lincoln Ave., is scheduled to open in February or March due to the help of the Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp., according to owner Raymundo Vazquez.
“[The Lincoln Neighborhood Redevelopment Corp.] has been holding my hand through the whole process of getting the business set up,” says Vazquez, whose family runs a similar business in Guadalajara, Mexico. “Lincoln Avenue was the right place for me to open the business.”
A model organization
In addition to continuing to act as a lending organization for businesses in the Lincoln Avenue area, the organization hopes other community development corporations will model themselves after the Lincoln Avenue one, says Dewulf. Such already is happening in the Midtown neighborhood around 27th and Galena Streets. According to Dewulf, M&I Marshall and Ilsley, Park and TCF banks put together a loan consortium to duplicate the Lincoln Fund in the Midtown neighborhood.
“Banks in other neighborhoods can look at Lincoln Avenue and see that neighborhoods that might have been neglected have great potential,” says Gapinski. “There are good businesses out there, and we’re hoping that more banks get involved to give these businesses a chance to revitalize the neighborhoods they’re in.”