Welcome to the Year 2020. You might not recognize St. Louis much these days, but the region is thriving. Jobs and industries continue to pop up. 10 years ago many of our local leaders rallied together and focused on four primary initiatives. Our leaders and our region focused mainly on these initiatives. Here's how we did it:
1. Focused on Education: Back in 1999, only 24.5% of area high school students graduated from college, compared with 34.7% in Kansas City and 31.4% in Chicago. Our high school graduation rate was also horrendous. Our leaders realized that the region that produced the most educated, innovative workforce would gain the companies and jobs in the future. We were behind in a big way. Our corporate leaders decided to adopt students (just like the Big Brother program). The students received internships and help to attend college. Employees became mentors. They also gained experience and a belief they could actually make a difference. It worked.
2. Our City and County finally became one. When it came to being on the same page and building your region for the future, separate City and County governments just didn't work. Now, we're one and on the same page. Now, governments and municipalities don't work against each other. We all move as one toward a common goal: building our region. Even St. Charles County has agreed to help, paying its fair share for things like the Zoo.
3. Focused on our core: Downtown. The expansion Westward and the suburban sprawl might have been great for the many citizens looking for a change, but it damaged our city's core, downtown. Our leaders realized we couldn't build a serious future without a strong core. Back in 2009, our downtown office vacancy rate was 21.5% (compared to Chicago's 15.5% and Kansas City's 16.7%). Our leaders changed that. The city/county merger and incentives helped bring businesses back to the downtown area. A vibrant downtown area helped bring larger corporations into the region.
4. Global Expertise. Our leaders realized that only 5% of the world's population is from the U.S. Companies that can export open themselves up to huge markets. St. Louis decided to be the leaders in exporting. We set up several different incubators (just to help growing businesses learn the exporting trades). Experts soon moved here to lend a hand and within 5 years St. Louis became the mecca of international trade. If you had any business, from 400 employees to one, you wanted to be in St. Louis to help jump-start your international venture.
Turning this city around wasn't as hard as you'd think. After all, we already had a strong foundation in industries like health care and education. All we needed was a commitment and some hard work.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
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Saturday, December 12, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Say Goodbye To The Economic Decade From Hell
There is one more good reason to pop the champagne and ring in the New Year--saying goodbye to the Economic Decade From Hell.
This will be a decade to erase from memory. 9-11 and two recessions later, we're finally saying goodbye and hopefully good riddance.
Here are some low lights from the past decade:
-Unemployment in the St. Louis area went from 3% in 1999 to 9.8% today.
-Missouri building permits decreased 82% from peak to trough during the decade.
-St. Louis population growth continued to lag. Between 1990-2008, St. Louis resident population grew 9%, while Kansas City grew 22% and Chicago grew 17% (U.S. population grew 22%).
-Housing prices in St. Louis area have fallen 14% since 2007.
-St. Louis downtown office vacancy rate is now 21.5%, compared to Chicago's 15.5% and Kansas City's 16.7%.
Needless to say, I'll be hoisting my glass and hoping for a better decade ahead.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
This will be a decade to erase from memory. 9-11 and two recessions later, we're finally saying goodbye and hopefully good riddance.
Here are some low lights from the past decade:
-Unemployment in the St. Louis area went from 3% in 1999 to 9.8% today.
-Missouri building permits decreased 82% from peak to trough during the decade.
-St. Louis population growth continued to lag. Between 1990-2008, St. Louis resident population grew 9%, while Kansas City grew 22% and Chicago grew 17% (U.S. population grew 22%).
-Housing prices in St. Louis area have fallen 14% since 2007.
-St. Louis downtown office vacancy rate is now 21.5%, compared to Chicago's 15.5% and Kansas City's 16.7%.
Needless to say, I'll be hoisting my glass and hoping for a better decade ahead.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Your Company Is What You Do, Not Who You Are
An entrepreneur friend of mine surprisingly took his life last week, leaving behind a wife and children. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.
While I'm not sure of the exact reasons for his actions, I do know his business and industry were suffering through a major decline. He went from having a soaring business with many employees to just a few. I'm sure this business downfall weighed heavily on him the past few years.
As and entrepreneur, it's easy to forget that our companies and our work "are what we do, they are not who we are."
That's certainly easy to sit back and say. We work long hours and are driven by bottom line results. Our employees become like children. We end up worrying about their progress and futures just like our own kids.
Even though it's tough, we've got to make this distinction. Even during troubling times like the past few years, our lives go on despite what happens with our companies. From my friend, I'm going to remember this lesson.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
While I'm not sure of the exact reasons for his actions, I do know his business and industry were suffering through a major decline. He went from having a soaring business with many employees to just a few. I'm sure this business downfall weighed heavily on him the past few years.
As and entrepreneur, it's easy to forget that our companies and our work "are what we do, they are not who we are."
That's certainly easy to sit back and say. We work long hours and are driven by bottom line results. Our employees become like children. We end up worrying about their progress and futures just like our own kids.
Even though it's tough, we've got to make this distinction. Even during troubling times like the past few years, our lives go on despite what happens with our companies. From my friend, I'm going to remember this lesson.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
Carrying A Man Purse And Running A Business
I met an entrepreneur friend of mine recently for lunch and he showed up wearing a Man Purse. Yes, that's right. He showed up with a purse, carrying such items as tissues, camera, keys, cell phone.
I gave him the obligatory 30 seconds of ribbing and then let him explain himself. "It's not a man purse," he said. "It's a European Shoulder Bag."
Oh, excuse me...Whatever.
Later, I starting thinking more about his man purse...ahem, European Shoulder Bag. You know, the same characteristics that make him wear his bag in public are the same characteristics that make him a great entrepreneur.
He's innovative, doesn't care what others think and isn't afraid to take a chance. He never waits to see how others feel about his decisions. He makes decisions based on what is best for his company and future (no one else), and he doesn't follow everyone's path--he creates his own.
Do you showcase these characteristics in your business?
Maybe I shouldn't have made fun of him after all.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
I gave him the obligatory 30 seconds of ribbing and then let him explain himself. "It's not a man purse," he said. "It's a European Shoulder Bag."
Oh, excuse me...Whatever.
Later, I starting thinking more about his man purse...ahem, European Shoulder Bag. You know, the same characteristics that make him wear his bag in public are the same characteristics that make him a great entrepreneur.
He's innovative, doesn't care what others think and isn't afraid to take a chance. He never waits to see how others feel about his decisions. He makes decisions based on what is best for his company and future (no one else), and he doesn't follow everyone's path--he creates his own.
Do you showcase these characteristics in your business?
Maybe I shouldn't have made fun of him after all.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
Saturday, November 28, 2009
A Take No Prisoners Business Book
So you want to succeed in business, huh! We'll, according to George Cloutier, it's time to put business first.
In Cloutier's latest book, "Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing," he states that many business owners are not fully committed to the success of their businesses.
"When I do seminars around the country about building profits, it always stuns me when more than half the people in the room admit to not working on weekends, yet these are the same people who complain about failing to make big money," Cloutier writes in the book. "I meet a lot of resistance to this from clients at first. Of course you have every right to a life--if you don't care about making money."
If you are looking for some tough love when it comes to growing your business, this might be the book for you.
Here are some of the advice he offers small- and medium-sized business owners:
-Fire every family member but yourself.
-Weekends are for working, not seeing your children.
-Never pay your vendors on time.
-Wear your control freak badge with pride.
-Quit your denial: if your business fails during the recession, it's still your fault.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
In Cloutier's latest book, "Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing," he states that many business owners are not fully committed to the success of their businesses.
"When I do seminars around the country about building profits, it always stuns me when more than half the people in the room admit to not working on weekends, yet these are the same people who complain about failing to make big money," Cloutier writes in the book. "I meet a lot of resistance to this from clients at first. Of course you have every right to a life--if you don't care about making money."
If you are looking for some tough love when it comes to growing your business, this might be the book for you.
Here are some of the advice he offers small- and medium-sized business owners:
-Fire every family member but yourself.
-Weekends are for working, not seeing your children.
-Never pay your vendors on time.
-Wear your control freak badge with pride.
-Quit your denial: if your business fails during the recession, it's still your fault.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
5 Worst Movies, Part 2
A few months back I shared with everyone the worst movies I had ever seen. I decided to add a few more. This time, however, I went to the expert (I consider any male under 30 an expert because they've seen EVERY movie ever produced). My expert is Eric Joellenbeck. Here's Eric's worst pics:
1. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
Kevin James (who I'm a big fan of) plays dopey mall security guard, Paul Blart. When the mall he works for is taken over by burglars, it's somehow all up to him to save everyone inside. This movie makes ample use of "fat equals funny," which is not true. It might work once or twice, but you can't fill a whole movie of Kevin James not being able to run far or dance for a long time or eating lots of pie.
2. The Happening (2008)
Something terrible is happening to people of Earth. When the wind blows by them, they kill themselves. Did you hear that? That's the actual plot of this movie. And the way people kill themselves in this movie is completely preposterous, such as people feeding themselves to lions or stabbing their own throats with devices keeping their hair in place. This is M. Night Shyamalan's latest bomb in a recent string of terrible movies. And by the way, I don't think anybody is buying The Funky Bunch's Marky Mark as a science teacher. Not even Marky Mark himself.
3. The Good Shepherd (2006)
I'm surprised here; Robert DeNiro is directing. Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie are starring. And it's a spy movie. Well, it's probably the most boring spy movie I've ever witnessed. Matt Damon gives the worst performance of his career, it can be likened to a robot. And Angelina does a good job of just being a bitch for a solid 167 minutes! That's right. 2 hours and 47 minutes of boredom. So much more could have been done other than Damon brooding around the world and Angelina crying because she's having his baby.
4. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Noah Baumbach's 2005 movie is about two intellectuals who divorce in the late 80's. Their two kids are deeply affected and change in great ways during the separation. What i hated about this movie was how I felt talked down to. This movie is full people who all think their smarter than everyone and will tell you so. It's never happened to me before this movie where I watched a movie where I literally thought, "Wow, I hate everyone in this movie." If you skip this movie and just have a college level student tell you that you're an idiot and don't read good books, you'll get the gist of this movie.
5. Suspiria (1977)
Considered a horror classic, Dario Argento's Suspiria is a completely idiotic tale of disgust. Yeah, that may be harsh and I know people love this movie. I don't know if the version I saw was, indeed, the original but I know I hated it. The music in it was highly distracting, in a bad way.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
1. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
Kevin James (who I'm a big fan of) plays dopey mall security guard, Paul Blart. When the mall he works for is taken over by burglars, it's somehow all up to him to save everyone inside. This movie makes ample use of "fat equals funny," which is not true. It might work once or twice, but you can't fill a whole movie of Kevin James not being able to run far or dance for a long time or eating lots of pie.
2. The Happening (2008)
Something terrible is happening to people of Earth. When the wind blows by them, they kill themselves. Did you hear that? That's the actual plot of this movie. And the way people kill themselves in this movie is completely preposterous, such as people feeding themselves to lions or stabbing their own throats with devices keeping their hair in place. This is M. Night Shyamalan's latest bomb in a recent string of terrible movies. And by the way, I don't think anybody is buying The Funky Bunch's Marky Mark as a science teacher. Not even Marky Mark himself.
3. The Good Shepherd (2006)
I'm surprised here; Robert DeNiro is directing. Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie are starring. And it's a spy movie. Well, it's probably the most boring spy movie I've ever witnessed. Matt Damon gives the worst performance of his career, it can be likened to a robot. And Angelina does a good job of just being a bitch for a solid 167 minutes! That's right. 2 hours and 47 minutes of boredom. So much more could have been done other than Damon brooding around the world and Angelina crying because she's having his baby.
4. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Noah Baumbach's 2005 movie is about two intellectuals who divorce in the late 80's. Their two kids are deeply affected and change in great ways during the separation. What i hated about this movie was how I felt talked down to. This movie is full people who all think their smarter than everyone and will tell you so. It's never happened to me before this movie where I watched a movie where I literally thought, "Wow, I hate everyone in this movie." If you skip this movie and just have a college level student tell you that you're an idiot and don't read good books, you'll get the gist of this movie.
5. Suspiria (1977)
Considered a horror classic, Dario Argento's Suspiria is a completely idiotic tale of disgust. Yeah, that may be harsh and I know people love this movie. I don't know if the version I saw was, indeed, the original but I know I hated it. The music in it was highly distracting, in a bad way.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
Saturday, November 21, 2009
New Businesses Are Important To Recovery
Entrepreneur David Miller is our future, and it's time we start supporting him.
Miller, along with three other partners, are set to open their own sandwich shop, Sammy Scott's Sandwiches & More, in Creve Coeur this month.
Why is he our future? Because businesses like Miller's will be the ones pulling us out of the recession and employing some of the 10% seeking work. Miller expects $1 million in revenue his first year and then to increase the original store to 5-8 more in the area.
Layoffs and restructurings are continuing at blue-chip companies: Time, Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft recently announced workforce reductions. We shouldn't expect job growth to come from the Fortune 500.
According to a new study from Kauffman Foundation, companies less than five years old created nearly two thirds of the net new jobs in 2007. Growth will come from entrepreneurs like Miller and his partners.
It's time we, as a society, start embracing these entrepreneurs. Politicians, both state and local, and lenders need to start looking at folks like Miller a little differently. If the area's economy is to recover, it will be because of people like Miller and his partners.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
Miller, along with three other partners, are set to open their own sandwich shop, Sammy Scott's Sandwiches & More, in Creve Coeur this month.
Why is he our future? Because businesses like Miller's will be the ones pulling us out of the recession and employing some of the 10% seeking work. Miller expects $1 million in revenue his first year and then to increase the original store to 5-8 more in the area.
Layoffs and restructurings are continuing at blue-chip companies: Time, Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft recently announced workforce reductions. We shouldn't expect job growth to come from the Fortune 500.
According to a new study from Kauffman Foundation, companies less than five years old created nearly two thirds of the net new jobs in 2007. Growth will come from entrepreneurs like Miller and his partners.
It's time we, as a society, start embracing these entrepreneurs. Politicians, both state and local, and lenders need to start looking at folks like Miller a little differently. If the area's economy is to recover, it will be because of people like Miller and his partners.
--Ron Ameln, SBM
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