Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

So a friend of mind wrote me a text and said it's time to move on, that I've made my point (and do I want a kitten?) so I guess it's time to move on and continue doing what we do best - no, it's not being a loudmouth jerk, it's building great homes for folks and families to retreat to in order re-energize and recoup and refill that cup of ambition that keeps them on the top of their game in NYC.

I was supposed to be in Yosemite and Pacific coast but instead I'm on the east coast, down in Miami Beach for the start of the good weather season down here.  And just to kill some time and whittle away the time (and recover from the 24/7 general aggravation of running a business in retardo-land) I'm doing a lot of shopping.  Furniture shopping, linen shopping, home entertainment shopping.  And you know, it works - except when you get home and try to get your Mac to work off of your TV and your sound bar to actually produce sound and your sub-woofer to actually sub-woof something other than sounds only dogs can hear.  I did buy these two running shirts (the fancy 'keep dry' type, but they are a little tighter than I wanted, and I can't say I'm the fine physical specimen of a man I aspire to be, so I'm trying to decide if they cross the "I look ridiculous' line or not -I'm in Miami, so it's not like I'm alone looking ridiculous if I go that route).

I'm down here for a few days, and now that I've broken the seal on blogging again, I can get some great pictures up of  Farm 19, Farm 20, Cottage 39 that I took last week.  All those homes are moving right along.

100 homes, 10 years and still dealing with the same bullshit on a daily basis.  But the bullshit is actually the key to the whole gig - it's a tough row to hoe, the labor supply is super shallow, the weather is tough, the ground is rocky, the politics self-serving - if it was easier, there would definitely be more competition - but the hardest challenge of any well-run, good idea business up here is 'growth' - as soon as you try and grow, you run into a lack of help, and a lack of help means you can't grow because a lack of good help means unhappy customers which means no need to grow.  

We have put our team together - I run 3 businesses and employ 14 persons directly, and another 40 or more indirectly - we put our team together person by person, block by block, test by test.  And of all the things I am, my most innate characteristic is the inability to be satisfied with today's quality, today's process, today's achievement.  We can always get better, faster, more responsive, more accountable.  You keep your eye on the ball like that for 10 years you can really grow something - though it's super annoying for people who work around me.  As soon as you master one thing that seemed beyond your skill set 3 months ago, onto the next.  I've never seen a busier office than ours, anywhere.

I've been thinking on my rambling rant moments I could call this blog or the specific post "The Housewives of Sullivan County", with all the drama, and personalities and the like, (while no one admits they actually watching it).  And you know what's super interesting, they always tend to be the most widely read and circulated posts.

But no one admits they read them.

But whatever - we were way too busy this year and I think I pushed well past fatigue to keep it all rolling and growing and what have you.  So a little R & R and I should be back on the horse.  Although I did come away with a lesson I've learned many times but never had the luxury of paying attention to - I just need to care less.  It's always been a competitive advantage to have an owner of a business lay it on the line for the clients and employees like I do, but I think, at this point in our business  maturity, we will do just as well, and maybe even better, by toughening up, and expecting a little less from people, as well as myself.  And it's even possible by caring less you end up having more energy to do a better job.

(yes, they are Burberry sunglasses)

I got a lot of sympathetic emails from my clients and friends regarding my last post about Hennings Local.  And don't expect a lot of blog posts for awhile cause I'm just going to leave that one up there for awhile so it sinks in.

Like I often say, we have a lot of savvy clients so it was interesting to hear their feedback - most of it resolved around 'these guys are obviously clueless, amateurs and don't have the experience to really think this one through and see how it's going to play out'.   I agree totally, which doesn't less my frustration, it increases it, since not only have they harmed the thing I have going, it's another example of the pointless and dramatic errors business people make when they open a business up here.

So, let me dissect it, the way I would have, or would be, thinking about it.

Ok, let's just say Henning Nordanger of Henning's Local actually thought out how this might play out - this would have had to been considered.

1.) When I, Henning Nordanger of Henning's Local in Eldred entice Chuck's main guy to come and work for me at the height of the building season with 5 houses set to close in 2 months (and after labor day when my business will dry up) and without ensuring that this kid who is coming to work for me actually handles the exit situation well and after Chuck employed me in his business for more than a year and introduced me to everyone pivotal in this venture of mine, Chuck will just take it in stride and just move on with his life and business and continue to use his various and extensive methods of outreach to help my business grow.

2.)When I, Henning Nordanger of Hennings Restaurant entice Chuck's main guy to come and work for me at the height of the building season with 5 houses set to close in 2 months (and after labor day when my business will dry up) and without ensuring that this kid who is coming to work for me actually handles the exit situation well, and after Chuck employed me in his business for more than a year and introduced me to everyone pivotal in this venture of mine, Chuck will be pissed, probably won't eat at my restaurant, but will in time accept this.

3.)When I, Henning Nordanger of Hennings Restaurant entice Chuck's main guy to come and work for me at the height of the building season with 5 houses set to close in 2 months (and after labor day when my business will dry up) and without ensuring that this kid who is coming to work for me actually handles the exit situation well, and after Chuck employed me in his business for more than a year and introduced me to everyone pivotal in this venture of mine, Chuck will actually be very pissed off and use his many skills, relationships and business acumen to negatively impact my fledging business, just as I negatively impacted his.

So, as a business person evaluating the cost/benefits of enticing a person out of Chuck's employment and into mine, what may that cost me, considering his companies are responsible for more diverse local spending than most all other local businesses combined?

Let's review quickly -

1.  Catskill Farm's Annual Christmas Party - $4500
2.  Chuck and his family's weekly business - conservatively $300/month ($3600/year)
3.  Catskill Farm's gift certificates that he sends to vendors, clients, and other assorted relationships - $5600 per year.
4.  General referrals from the the 200 people who come up and visit our homes and are looking for a bite to eat before blowing town - $4800 per year.
5.  Home concierge and catering businesses who understand exactly where I'm coming from and now won't utilize Henning's Local to prepare the food, instead using Early Bird Cookery and other great alternatives - $10,000 per year.
6.  The bad word of mouth coming from our position in the community and people deciding not to eat there, or not to eat there as much - $2000 per year (but I bet this is much higher).

So Henning made a business decision that cost him conservatively $30,000 in direct business, in year 1, without calculating the damage to his brand and reputation.

From what I know of how businesses struggle up here- to me - his relationship that he built over the 18 months of working for us was a competitive advantage, since he had a relationship with me that he could leverage into real, solid, consistent business at his restaurant.

Instead, what the general consensus seems to think, he didn't think it was important and instead played a high-handed amateur, shortsighted card.

Now the only question is - with brains like that, I'd like change the wager on my mailbox (btw Gary, you lost the bet, pay up) - will my gaudy red barn mailbox or Henning's Local last longer?

So instead of getting rave reviews from a blog that gets widely read, he gets panned - he gets less than 1 Star.  That may mean a lot in reality, or maybe it doesn't.  In my experience, with how hard it is to keep a business rolling up here, it's not the type of thing you want to leave to chance.

And the fact that my Steak Diane was literally swimming in some over-spiced sauce and people are already complaining about the service and the time it takes to get served - well, you gotta do better than that, regardless of how this whole Henning's Local Original Sin thing plays out.

I start businesses.  And I grow them.  In an area with a very shallow labor pool - be it professional or 'in the field'.   It's not easy.  And it takes a lot of work, a lot of patience, a lot of effort.  A lot of perseverance in the face of investments and risks in people who don't work out - but you gotta keep trying because there are diamonds in the rough out there, just waiting to be honed and polished and valued.

A few years ago, I realized part of any success in sticks is how much shit can you eat - you have your moments of success and failure, the general business existence depends on dealing with the nonsense of country ways and mannerisms (i.e. spite your nose off your face type of thing).

Okay, maybe this is a little overboard even by my standards, but I'm supposed to be on a first class flight to CA for a 16 day vacation with my right hand man, which I have now cancelled.  I'm supposed to be a plane right now, somewhere over the Rockies, heading for Sacramento, where Leo from college who now lives in Santa Rosa, was going to pick us up, and then we were going to hike Yosemite for the 8th time in 10 years and then hit the base camp town of Sonora on the way out of the hills, to where a convertible mustang was waiting for me and my wingman so we could travel west to the coast, grab Route 1 and head South to Venice Beach.  So, for those who hate my occasional confessionals, stop here.

Of course that was before I found out he quit, without notice, to work for Henning, who was offering him unsustainable wages, Henning - who I employed for over a year, who I introduced to many people as my friend, who I introduced to more or less everyone who helped him with this opportunity, who I wished the best for as he launched his quixotic reopening of the Eldred Preserve.

Now, you got to understand, Henning, of Henning's Local, is from the Netherlands, where a fair-minded capitalism-socialism is a time-tested success.  Moms get a ton of time off, vacation is a multi-month affair, health care and education is free.. . So to see Henning from the Fatherland pull out the hard-core capitalist employee poaching strategy, well, let's just say it is unexpected and to be explored fully in this missive.  I even respect it in way, but you have to expect some blowback.

It starts a few years ago, as we were building Cottage 24, Cottage 20, Ranch II, DIY's blog cabin ranch and Farm 12 (which I just did some swimming this wekend in their new pool this past summer).  I hired this guy - I can't even remember his name.  Which makes me reflect on how far we have come, just based on who we hire for what.  I hire this guy to do some siding and stuff and arrives with the most basic of tools - a crappy chop saw, a road un-worthy trailer, a broken down truck.  He also arrives with two helpers.  Anyways, it's winter, not unlike the Russian Winter where Nazi Germany launches Barbarosa, and they show up and somehow get it done.  They have small fires going with their scrap wood to warm their ill-clad extremities, they work when the sun is shining, they show up, they get it done, barely.

Ken - that's right - his name was Ken.  He was overweight, talked too much, had limited skills.  But his wingman was a guy no more than 25.  So, because our labor pool is so shallow, and because this small company actually showed up and helped us in a busy busy time, we kept them on for a few houses - however imperfect they may be.  And I tell this to people, our clients- we insulate you from the drama, the toughness, the struggle to get it done.  We wage that battle - you can pick out the light fixtures and paint and door knobs.

So anyway, weirdly, in my boots on the ground way, I got to know this young kid - redneck, didn't say much, seemed to have some skills (with their broken down ladders and crappy equipment) - but the guy was polite, knew how to say thank you, knew how to use a computer (rarely do I get a computerized invoice).  So after a few houses of course his boss (actually his girlfriend's dad whose basement he was living in) started to underperform, cause us issues, etc...  it was to be expected but you milk it as long as you can because you have to.  There aren't 5 companies around the bend vying for your business.

As a sort of amateur talent scout who has built a business taking risks on people, pushing them, training them, elevating them, this kid was a great candidate, mostly because he had a fair amount of politeness and common sense, uncommon traits, believe it or not.  Got him out of the basement, into a house, into a job, into health insurance, into a leadership role, into a credit-worthy position - and wallah, one day he's gone - not even a phone call, he's no more.  And like Lisa said, it's because he knows he is doing something dastardly that he has forgotten the respect that attracted me to him in the first place.

Anyways, I could go on and on and on, which I planned to but know I'm not going to -

In the end, Henning - who I helped, assisted, was generous to - decided that this kid - who I helped, assisted, was generous to - could help him grow his business (which is not easy up here by any stretch of the imagination).  And they made a deal.  Or Henning, who claims he can't control what someone else wants to do, like as an employer he has no control over who he hires, offered him temporary money to fill in the holes of his growing tiny business.  I love the thought Henning Nordanger keeps throwing out in self-defense - "I can't control what he wanted to do" - like if his wife was coming on to me, I couldn't turn her down, according to his logic.

In the end, it's a simple story - a small business person was faced with a dilemma (fast growth) and did what he had to to keep the business rolling.  That may work better in a big city, but here in the middle of nowhere, smart businesspeople keep their hands off of their associates' employees - it's just the respectful thing to do, no matter how tempting that easy offer can seem, and believe me, it's tempting.  You don't hurt another business to help yourself.  Or if you do, you don't act like you didn't know the consequences of your actions - that's just insulting.  When approached by another's employee, you let that employer know - that's how it's done up here, even if in the end the employee leaves, at least it's handled respectfully between professionals.

So Henning - who I see at Pecks a lot more than I see at the local Farms his menu claims to be supplied from - gets to plug that hole in his dam by taking from someone who helped him (me)- and he actually may do just fine.  But if you commit such an error in judgement so early, it probably bodes poorly for when times get real tough, like the Winter months in the Catskills.

And it just makes me wonder what goes through their minds as they inconvenience all their fellow employees at Catskill Farms, and the multitude of homeowners who depend on us.  He's already rich, so what will it hurt?  His company is big enough, he can deal with it?  Everyone says he's a dickhead, so what's the harm?  I mean, my ex-employees tend to do well for themselves  - they come out of our company well-trained, hardworking, disciplined, - but my business associates who end up hiring them wait until they leave my company - they don't entice them while employed.  Sure, you can say 'that's the way it works', but it's actually not the way it works up here, for the most part.  It's what the amateurs do.

So the next time you wonder why we fall behind, or can't get your project, you will remember the example of Hennings Local - where you take what you need from whomever you need it from.  I loved it when I called Henning out on it and in his big goofy netherlandish way was like 'what, what did I do?  He hired himself.  I didn't do anything wrong.'

It's not like we here at Catskill Farms won't survive and prosper and reinvent ourselves.  But this is a real heartbreaker - neither of these friends thought it appropriate to take me out for a drink and break the news to me.  They played me like a fool, while it's all unfolding around me.

The Original Sin - where all success is derived from a dastardly no-good original deed.  Believe me, I get it.  I am faced with the same dilemmas daily.

Barn VI is moving right along up in Saugerties NY.  It sits on 3.5 quite lovely acres about 6 miles to Woodstock and Saugerties.  Good location for sure.

That's our new trailer to haul our stuff around.

And because we move so fast the picture below is already outdated.  The paint colors have been chosen and the painter is in the house, so to speak.

This 1600 sq ft 3 bedroom 2 bath home with a full basement goes for around $400k, depending on the features.

Paint, tile, fixtures, floor sanding and then another one wrapping up and another family getting to live large in one of our homes.

Hall from down the street who takes apart barns for a living sold us this red barn siding that we've been using on a few homes this fall.  Hot stuff for sure.

Lil' bit in the upstairs hall, an accent wall in the bedroom.

Open stair treads to keep the house open and the sight lines clear.

Starting 2 days ago I am officially on vacation for a few weeks (for whatever that is worth to a self-employed person).  4 days in Yosemite, and then 4 days in a convertible along California's Route 1.  See you on the side.