Newark, Ohio Links

Archive for the ‘Local Business News’ Category

Newark, Ohio has huge problems, and they’re going to get worse. Some of you are going to want to slap me for stating the obvious, others would say I’m being to negative. I think I’m being a realist. We all have been hit by the economy or at least know someone that has, yet the current survivors want to think that they’ve made it through the worst and everything will be ok. Look around you. 125 laid off at Longaberger yesterday right after a friend told me things were looking up . My point is not that we are screwed(although we are), but that that we need to get past that and move onto solutions. I’m going to point out an obvious solution that we’re overlooking. Technological resourcefulness.

Longaberger laid off 125 people because Exel Logistics can do the shipping functions at a fraction of the cost. Sure, Longaberger’s sales have nose-dived to add to the problem. Longaberger probably kept the employees far past the true date of hopeless despair. In effort to save their company, they had to resort to creative solutions and Exel had them. Exel understands how to ship for the absolute lowest cost no matter who gets their feelings hurt in the process.

Exel takes in a small group of employees and pays decent wages to keep things going. In seasonal shifts, they pull in the temp-workers to make things happen. They are well-versed in taking advantage of truckers and applying huge wait times so that the truckers are available and their trailers are temporary storage, while the driver sits with little to know pay. Smart trucking companies have found ways to solve the problem by working with Exel. Usually the trucking company gets the detention pay, but doesn’t pass it along to the driver. A win-win for everyone, that is everyone who knows how to be resourceful.

So what should the temp-worker and the trucker do in their down time to escape their situation? Get educated! I’m not talking about traditional education either. I’m talking real education. Talk to the businesses in the area that need your expertise. Find out what they need and see if there is a way for you to help them cut their costs.

This depression has something that we’ve never had before, technology. You can communicate. You can e-mail 100 businesses in a day to find out if they have any problems that someone with your expertise could solve for them. If you don’t have usable expertise, you can find out what is needed and get trained. If you want to submit a resume to 20 websites and hope you have a keyword in there that will impress someone, you’re not going to make progress.

If you are working at a shipping facility and you know that there outside sources that can do the job for 1/2 the cost, don’t sit waiting for the news. Get to work finding something else. Don’t fool yourself. The worst is going to happen.

As for the business leaders that are reading this, you need to think about your survival as well. Are truly looking for solutions to your problems or are you paying some consultant to give you over-priced solutions that are killing your business. How innovative are you really being in every aspect of your business? Keep listening to the same people that are coming up with the same tired solutions from the same vendors and you’re on your way out.  Are you still looking for that magical worker that will have all of the exact experience that you dream of and work for 1/2 of what he’s worth. That guy has already started his own business because he gave up on your type of offering.

I highly suggest that you read this post about The Great Inflection. For almost any profession, you are soon going to be hit by this in some way. Start thinking of ways to get on the good end of this.

I read in the Advocate that Dagwood’s Restaurant was closing. Who would have guessed? The business had been in the family since the 50’s and it was a Newark, Ohio legend. What could go wrong?

Apparently, a son that didn’t care about it is all that it takes. The Advocate’s story showed a picture of the disheveled chef on the front page. Hair a mess and a shirt unbuttoned at least half-way. The article went on for Mr. Cochran to moan about everything that went wrong of about the past 15 years of the restaurants steady decline. Not one mention of what he could do to turn things around. I couldn’t believe that the Advocate bothered to run the story as anything other than one of those humanitarian articles.

I’m sure Dagwoods seen some tough times. Some of his tales would be setbacks, but nothing overrides the fact that he got handed a once booming business that was bought and paid for. So much so that it took him 15 years to run it down to nothing. Who among us would not love to have been handed an opportunity like that?

Maybe it was bad reporting, but the owner sounds like many that I have heard lately. They add up all of the bad things that have happened and make a decision that things are what they seem, and figure, “What’s the use?”. Dagwood’s owner explained in detail how he had given up. Not so many failed businesses are so revealing. He took no notice that he was sitting on a restaurant that was a Newark legend that had a name. It may now be a bad name, but everybody knows about it and they wish for it’s return to success.

It makes me think about how blinded all of us can be to our current situation. Most of the time, things are not nearly as bad as they seem. A few steps in a positive direction can reverse everything. Dagwood’s owner could have reversed everything today with that one article, but he was to telling his tale of woe. Lesson learned.

On a final note, this is one more failed Newark, Ohio business that did NOT have a website. Since I have started Newark, Ohio Links, I have yet to see a failed business that had a respectable website. I’m not claiming that is why they failed, I’m saying it’s a symptom of failure.

Currently there are only 3 pizza shops that I can find who take online orders;

• Donatos
• Pizza Hut
• Papa Johns

I don’t think I could find anyone who would say they are the best pizza shops in Newark, Ohio. I would order from them before my favorites just because they have online ordering. I may not be the normal customer, but I hate talking on the phone and I really hate ordering pizza. The simplest order is always complicated by them cutting me off half-way to take care of a more pressing matter, a bubble-gum chewing person on the phone, or any number of other problems. It’s 2010, why can’t I just point and click and have pizza on it’s way?

As it turns out, the biggest reason is that local shops run on tight budgets. The competition for your pizza dollar is tight. The only systems that would really work right are expensive and they do not feel that the investment would be enough. The system a pizza shop needs is not just basic e-commerce. They need systems that can connect addresses to their delivery areas and calculations on time for the delivery. Just taking payment is no problem, it’s all of the other services that a customer would expect  e-commerce to meet or exceedl.

There really is no excuse for the lack of websites for many of the pizza shops. Just a website with a menu is a great help. The technology to create a menu and even a bill calculation is very easy. My guess would be that the pizza shops are content with just making great pizza and will not make the change until customers request it.

If you want easy pizza ordering, all of the technology is there, just keep letting your favorite pizza shop know that you would enjoy and prefer the service. If enough people ask, the pizza ordering will get easier.

Here is a Joe McClain website that is a great example of a scam artist at work. Heath, Ohio’s Joe McClain is currently going to prison for 5 years for real estate scams, but he also wanted to get in on the ever-popular web scams.

Here, he is trying to use http://globalvacationexpert.com/ to sell you a front page spot in Google. Apparently, whoever is taking care of his web endeavors while he’s in prison is putting the wrong website on the wrong domain. To sign up, he wants to know if you have $4,000 – $6,000 to get started! Google’s services are free, no need to pay this crook.

His real estate scams were illegal, but numerous other scams are not, just unethical. Do some searches and find what this guy is pushing. Look at the websites and get the jist of what a scam website looks like.

I won’t spend to much time explaining Google, but you can’t do any tricks to “get on the first page”. The first question would be, get on the first page for what term? Sure, I could get to the first page for a term that nobody searches for, there isn’t any competition. People do get on the first page for popular terms, so there must be a trick right? No, no trick at all. You can find out manually how they did it or purchase low cost software that speeds up the process. They do it by providing quality content and getting that content referred many times. In other words, they work for it or they spend money to get it done for them. Even then, no reputable service would ever claim that they could get them to the top for a certain keyword, nor would they claim to have a magic secret that they could teach them. Even if they did get them to the top of a Google search, there’s no guarantee that it would stay there.

The point of the Joe McClain Google scam is that he is using a fancy landing page and website to entice a buyer into false hopes. The Internet is just a tool and it will not work magic for you. First of all, these Google gurus forget to tell you that you need a product or service that people want to purchase! I could advertise rats for sale, get them to the top of Google’s searches, and have my ads for them appear all over the place, but nobody is going to buy rats of course.

If you’re trying to use the Internet as an advertising tool, be cautious and take the prudent steps to be sure that you’re not wasting money on a scam. If you’re Web Developer is making wild claims of untold fortunes with very little work, RUN.

A few interesting websites caught my eye this week. These finds caught my because of the photos, how else right?

Newark, Ohio Photos Of Note

My first find was at Arnold Sheehan’s Law Office website. I have walked through the interior of the Licking County Courthouse out of curiosity before, but thankfully, I’ve never had to go into any of the court rooms. It turns out that staying out of the courtroom does mean your missing something! Look at these beautiful photos of artwork and craftsmanship in the courtrooms. I hear that the view from the top of it is nice, but I have no photos of the view.

Newark, Ohio also has a fine young Photographer name Rachel Lauren. She has developed quite a style of her own and a very nice website showcasing her photography. It’s well worth a look.

Newark, Ohio Specialty Woodworking Tools

Beall Tool Company is a maker of fine specialty woodworking tools. Some tools, like their pen wizard, just can’t be found anywhere else. Keeping in line with some of the most unique and useful tools in woodworking, their website is useful as well. It includes many links to good woodworking websites.

Websites similar to these websites can be done for your website with free software and the costs to hire a developer to build and promote them are reasonable. The interesting ideas that make them stand out, that’s up to you.

Enjoy the links!

Remember this guy,  David Ball? He had 10 counts connecting him to home invasions on the elderly. I think I would fair to classify the guy as a nasty and dangerous criminal. His 10 counts earned him 17 years in prison. Nobody came to his defense. He was known for leaving the scene on a bicycle.

Today I read that Joseph C. McClain, selected as one of Licking County’s 20 Most Successful People Under The Age Of 40, of Heath, Ohio took $475,000 from 40 people and he was found guilty on 25 counts of grand theft. Was this the success that they were referring to? His penalty, 5 years in prison. Some of the people he stole from were elderly. He was a businessman with investment schemes. He would steal entire houses in his schemes. His victims were many times elderly with money to invest and those wishing to buy houses that had no financial means to do so through normal financing.

Why the great divide in severity of punishment? The first obvious notion would be that David Ball wasn’t nice about it at all. Mr. Ball would go right into a home and risk injury to himself and others as he took his loot. Joseph McClain was not even willing to risk injury as the coward would just use the financial system and the trust of the honest to take the entire house! However, Mr. McClain would have his employees pose as victims and they would console their victims.

Mr. Ball had no supporters and nobody came to his defense. It was reported that Mr. McClain had more supporters than victims in the courtroom. How does someone like McClain find supporters? People from his own profession and his own circle of friends, who should have been ashamed to know him at all, were more than willing to give support. The supporters assure us that Mr. Mclain is a very nice person and that he just made some bad choices. McClain also stated that he was just following what he had been taught to do! The large number of supporters that do not dispute McClain’s actions are a red flag to anybody that the real estate and financial investment business is tainted and corrupt. If you’re in these professions, don’t be surprised when people are suspicious of you. You may not deserve the accusations, but after a trial like this, all of you are suspect.

Licking County, Ohio’s Judge Spahr sympathized as well by saying that McClain’s problems stemmed from “bad choices”. Apparently, when considering sentences, judges make some bad choices also. I’m sure Mr. Ball is wishing that he had caught the judge on a “bad choice” day too! In my opinion, Judge Spahr’s bad choice to only give 5 years for 25 counts is a worse choice that than the criminal made.

The argument is made that McClain should not have received any jail time because he cannot earn money to make restitution if he is setting in jail. Can you imagine that argument for Mr. Ball? McClain deceived people out of huge amounts of money 25 times. He is a pattern criminal. How do you think that a pattern criminal will approach earning $475,000? He’ll commit more crimes! He is not a businessman, he’s a criminal. McClain even has an army of supporters who are probably willing to assist in his next misdeed as he did 25 times before.

We see white collar criminals getting a free ride and  maintaining their respect, dignity, and support of their peers. We see the other side of “entitlement” with the wealthy professionals. I would be certain that Mr. Ball knew he was stealing and he fit the stereotype of a thief. McClain’s plight is somehow different. As our economy nosedives, many wealthy feel that they are still entitled to their ill-gotten riches. McClain wanted to continue his style of living even though his chosen profession would no longer support it. It was reported that his methods were the only methods he understood. Do you see the climate of entitlement?

Neither Ball or McClain ever had the thought that there lack of skills may require them to work for a living. It was far easier to victimize an unsuspecting. There is no difference between the two other than McClain was more deceptive. Far be it from our justice system, to not understand McClain’s claim to entitlement. The lawyers and the judges are well known for similar sentiments of entitlement in their profession.

For those of us who understand that there is no real entitlement in America, it’s time to stop giving trust freely. Most of us understand that we must produce goods or services in order to maintain our standard of living. You have the right to withhold trust on professionals you rely on. Don’t let the suit or the smile deceive you. Real Estate Agents, Lawyers, Insurance Agents, Politicians, Bankers, and Investment Professionals are proving to be a bigger threat than street punks and they have no law to fear.

Remember These? Heath, Ohio doesn't sell them there anymore.

According to this Columbus Dispatch post and many others, Waldenbooks may be closing in many malls. The once busy Heath, Ohio mall has been losing businesses and declining in popularity for a few years and the Waldenbooks closing is one more blow to the mall.

When I think about the possible causes, they’re obvious. Walking into Waldenbooks, you get a cramped atmosphere with books from one political side in your face, the other political views are few and buried. The technical and computer sections is all but non-existent. Many aged books are still at full price. Magazines costs over $7.00 for information that I can obtain online for free or less money. Why would I drive through a town known to be a speed trap only to find few books at a higher price than Amazon or other online retailers? Waldenbooks never had competitive pricing or a “ship-to-store” option that I would have considered an edge. There was always the annoying question, “Do you have your reader card? Would you like to giver out personal information to get one?”.

I enjoyed having the Heath Waldenbooks, because I could get in a little walk, check out a few other stores, and talk to a live person, but given the previously mentioned downsides, I understand. If I understand, their corporate managment surely understood. If their management understood, there must to have been financial limitations.

The lesson for every business is simple. You must react to today’s technology providing alternative options to your current model or you are going to have to close some doors. For small business, you should strive to obtain an edge with technology or prepare for the inevitable. Many options for utilizing technology are available and the costs are skyrocketing downwards.

The most basic questions to ask, do I have an online presence and is it active. You don’t need the best graphics or the the most functions, you need to communicate and make every possible service easily available. Do you Twitter new products, services, and interesting updates. Do your employees use Facebook wisely to help promote your business?

Feel free to check your computer section and contact businesses with any questions you have about upgrading your businesses technology options.

Author – Mark Spearman