Central Jersey gives small businesses the chance to shine
By: Gwen McNamara and George Spohr
Hugh Miller, CEO and founder of Hollyrock/ Miller Marketing Communications, doesn’t claim to be an expert on small businesses but he may as well be one.
In addition to his client portfolio boasting some Central Jersey small businesses, Miller himself owns one. He employs 11 at his Princeton-based marketing firm, which he started alone in 1995. He’s seen firsthand how small businesses can thrive here, and he now counts himself among one of the economy’s most vital contingencies: the small-business owner.
"I find it to be a great place, and I think we’re at a great time right now," Mr. Miller says. "There are a lot of support services out there for small businesses, and I think the Princeton area, in general, supports small businesses."
A cursory look at eight sectors of the region’s economy seems to support Mr. Miller’s assertions.
When it comes to travel and tourism, local travel agents and state officials report the industry is on the mend.
Fears related to catastrophic events like the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks and SARS outbreak in 2003 had previously discouraged travelers, but that’s no longer the case.
"People are no longer afraid to travel," said Rekha Arapurakal, manager and owner of Personal Travel on Nassau Street in Princeton. "Travelers today are well read and know exactly what they want."
Travel to the greater-Princeton area is on the rise as well as evidenced by the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce’s new Convention & Visitors Bureau Web site and the creation of the Capital Region Convention and Visitors Bureau.
In the banking and financial sectors, loans to small businesses are on the rise.
"The banking community recognizes that small business isn’t small anymore," said James Kocsi, New Jersey Small Business Administration director.
Small business represents a large portion of the state’s economy, he said, so if banks neglect small business, they lose customers to the competition. Banks also recognize the "value" of small business is more than just about revenue.
"Small business is of the greatest value, because it brings in other types of business," said Timothy Doherty, vice president and director of communications for the New Jersey Bankers Association.
With the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, small R&D firms are thriving by partnering with "big pharma" and biotech startups abound with the region’s rich academic connections.
"In this day and age most pharmaceutical companies partner with small firms in one way or another," said Craig Stoltz, manager of corporate affairs for Bristol-Myers Squibb, in Lawrence.
Companies, like Covance in West Windsor, are making it big taking on projects outsourced from larger pharmaceutical companies.
At the same time, research opportunities at places like Princeton University have created a number of spin-off biotech companies everything from solar power, clean energy and alternate light sources are being explored.
On the health and lifestyle front, gyms are opting for "niche marketing" to stay ahead.
By specializing in one area such as personal training or children’s fitness places like Kokopelli Private Fitness in Princeton and The Little Gym in West Windsor are able to compete with the larger gyms like New York Sports Club in Princeton, which is undertaking major renovations to offer more services.
Niche marketing "enables us to offer a level of service that you won’t find other places," said Josh Littlefield, Kokopelli manager.
Like many parts of the country, Central Jersey is pouring resources into incubators of small higher technology businesses all in the hopes that one of them may be the next Google.
As a whole, Central Jersey has "terrific" resources for high-tech startups to utilize, including a tech-savvy workforce and development centers and incubators, said Michael A. Miller, chairman of the Technology Committee of the Greater Mercer County Chamber of Commerce.
Another hopping sector of the region’s economy is in both commercial and residential real estate. With New York City’s other suburbs Westchester County, Long Island and Connecticut almost completely congested, Central Jersey is considered one of the last suburbs with buildable land, but it’s drying up quickly.
"On the home price side, it’s gone up everywhere," said Chris Locatell, vice president of investment management company Berwind Property Group. "Land is a commodity right now, there’s not much left of it. I don’t see any end in sight for the prices."
But the more houses that are built means more of a strain on the region’s education systems and that’s good news for small business owners in design/build and architectural circles. Subcontractors are benefiting from the state’s generous reimbursements of school expansion programs.
And the region’s legal and accounting sectors turned bad news into good news. Accounting scandals at the nation’s larger firms have shed light on accounting loopholes in small businesses. Now, many small businesses are in better shape to protect against fraudulent bookkeeping.
"Basically what today’s accounting is, if you look at the marketplace, a lot more testing has to be done, regulations are stricter and stronger, a lot more regulatory bodies are looking at what small businesses are doing," said Michael Mattia, director of marketing at Amper Politziner & Mattia, a regional accounting and business consulting firm with an office in West Windsor. "I think a positive sign of all these scandals, corruption and bad things have been things that should have been going on the whole time get brought to the forefront."