Month: March 2017

Cleveland Indians Ticket Sales Double Over Past 5 Seasons

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Cleveland Indians

As Opening Day approaches, Cleveland fans are optimistic that the Indians will bring home the World Series pennant this season. They are having a pretty good run in Spring Training clinching the top spot in the American League and this is fueling the excitement. The tribe recently confirmed that they will play their home opener before a sellout crowd after selling out all tickets in just 40 minutes. In fact, the Cleveland Indians have been selling out home game tickets for the past 25 years. And according to the Indians, “The Tribe’s 2017 one-day on-sale total is double that of any on-sale date in the past five seasons.”

“Apparently, losing the MLB World Series to the Cubs has not hurt ticket sales. The tribe’s fans are an intensely loyal crowd,” mentioned Victor Bierman III, Ohio lawyer and business expert. To show their support of the team, fans are making sure that they will be present in the club’s home games. Most vowing to attend all home games like they have done in the past five seasons.

In the 2016 season, for instance, the Indians sold out all remaining World Series tickets in only 15 minutes. Average resale prices for those tickets rose past $24,000 within hours of the Indians winning the AL pennant, based on sales figures from TicketIQ. All are clear indications that single ticket sales for the tribe have significantly improved.

With the off-season signings of Edwin Encarnacion and Boone Logan, it’s clear that club manager Terry Francona has his sights on winning the World Series pennant in the upcoming season. Also, the Indians announced today that it has signed a 5-year contract with INF Jose Ramirez. The contract includes options that could extend his run through the 2023 season. The 24-year old Dominican Republic native has an impressive record scoring 84 runs, 46 doubles, 3 triples, 11 home runs and 76 RBI while stealing 22 bases in his first MLB season in 2016.

The tribe will play the first game of the major league season in Texas against the Rangers on April 3rd. The Cleveland Indians will host the White Sox in its 2017 home opener on Tuesday, April 11th at Progressive Field.

Image Credit: Keith Allison

Ohio Aims to Shore up Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

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Lake Erie

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Project (GLRI) is the largest Federal investment in the basin for the past 20 years. GLRI is a federal program that was enacted to support efforts of restoring and protecting the Great Lakes and its ecosystems. “The GLRI meets its objectives by investing in a variety of restoration projects that clean up toxic pollutions, restore habitat and wetlands, and combat invasive species like Asian carp,” noted Victor Bierman, Ohio lawyer and business expert. Currently, there are approximately 3 million Ohioans who depend on Lake Erie for their drinking water. Rob Portman, U.S. Senator, mentioned in an op-ed that “hundreds of thousands of Ohioans depend on Lake Erie for jobs.”

In addition, the bordering U.S. states and Canadian provinces formed a compact agreement in 2008, known as the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. The compact outlines the shared roles and responsibilities of the parties. The compact also required states and provinces to enact legislation to protect the basin.

Therefore, Lake Erie is vital to the state of Ohio and so is the GLRI whose main objective is to restore the Great Lakes basin including Lake Erie. Ohio has released grants as well as taken part in a number of projects and initiatives to help shore up the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. In 2016, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown announced a $175,000 grant from GLRI to install bioretention cells at Wildwood Park in Cleveland for preventing untreated storm water runoff from finding its way into Lake Erie.

“ A great deal of progress has been made in recent years to improve the lake’s condition and bold reforms Ohio has championed under the leadership of Governor Kasich have contributed to that progress. Ohio has spent more than $2.5 billion in the Lake Erie watershed since 2011,” mentioned Emmalee Kalmbach, Press Secretary for Governor John Kasich in a statement to Great Lakes Now.

Also, the U.S. government has provided more than $1.7B in Federal funding through the GLRI for 3,455 projects. The EPA alone was responsible for nearly half the funding of nearly 1,000 projects. And with the EPA’s roles, budget and responsibilities being redefined, some of its funding in the future will likely come from some of the other 13 Federal agencies that have been funding the GLRI and the Great Lakes states and provinces, including Ohio, that are signatories to the compact agreement.

Image Credit: Tom Whitten

Tips To Help You Grow A Healthy Business

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business meeting

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com.  Read original article here.

How are things going with your business?

Really?

Does your business look the same as it did last year? Without some fresh perspective, 2017 won’t be any different.

The year’s first quarter is already coming to a close. It’s past time not only to take a closer look at what your business is doing, but also to remind yourself why you’re in business and who you’re serving.

Here are three questions every business owner should ask themselves today:

1) How much do you focus on your people? It all comes down to people. Are you really in tune with the needs of every person your business touches? 

2) What’s the why of your business? What’s the why for you? What’s the why for your customers? Do you know the why of your business from the perspective of your customers, your employees and yourself?

3) Do you know what you really want from your business? Lots of money? More time with your family? Is all your hard work getting you nearer the goals you have for your business?

Businesses of all shapes and sizes wrestle with hard questions about work-life balance, about making enough money, and about the direction they’re going. Many of them don’t come up with good answers.

One out of every eight businesses in North America discontinued operations in 2016, according to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Will you become part of that statistic in 2017?

What are you doing to answer the tough questions about your business? Do you even know what to do? Are you praying for miracles and just hoping to get healthy?

“The magic answer is to be realistic with yourself,” said Victor Bierman, a lawyer and partner in Inveriti, a business assessment, strategy and coaching firm in Cleveland. “Let’s look around. Let’s peek under the covers and acknowledge what’s going on.”

It might not make business owners comfortable, but they should solicit blatantly honest perspectives on the health of their business from all of their stakeholders. Looking at a business through the eyes of others can offer valuable insight to help change the way an entrepreneur sees and thinks about the business.

They should ask their most trusted employees whether they really like coming to work and if they don’t then why not? They should ask how comfortable their financial advisors really are with making them a loan. They should take a close look at their customer base to better understand who they’re serving and what opportunities they’re missing.

They should talk with a professional advisor for a realistic, unbiased, educated perspective on the health of their business. Profits alone don’t measure the health of a business.

“One of the things we harp on constantly is perspective,” Bierman said. “Everything’s about perspective. Are you really looking at your business with the right perspective?”

There’s still time to make 2018 Q1 feel different for your business than 2017 Q1.

Off the Beaten Path: 5 Unusual Ohio Tourist Attractions

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cincinnati-subway

Cincinnati Subway

“Although all states have something to offer as far as tourism is concerned, the state of Ohio is arguably one of the highest ranked tourist destinations in the country,” noted Victor Bierman III, Ohio lawyer and business expert. From hidden sights to weird attractions and unusual places, Ohio has something for everyone.

One of the most interesting sites in Ohio is the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, which came to fruition between 1000 BCE and 200 BCE. Built by the “mound builders”, this stunning prehistoric effigy mound is 1,330 feet in length and 3 feet in height. A number of earliest records believe that the Great Serpent Mound is a representation of a snake trying to swallow the phases of the moon. However, London West, a local German Baptist minister, proposed in 1909 that the mound represents the woes of the Biblical snake from the Garden of Eden.

Another hidden spot is Helltown, an abandoned village in Summit County, believed to be haunted. According to original folklore, Helltown is teeming with spooked buses, a mutant python, and crybaby bridges, among others. However, many of these myths have been refuted, as reliable sources insist that the “haunted” bus was actually the temporary home of a family waiting to have their permanent home repaired. All in all, Helltown is a great place to explore and let your imagination run wild.

Built by Harry Andrews, an eccentric medieval enthusiast, the Harry Andrews’ Chateau Laroche in Loveland gets its share of tourists every year. Harry used 2,600 sacks of cement and 32,000-quart milk cartons to build the entire castle himself. Although Harry died a couple of weeks after a fire accident, the castle is still run by the youth organization (the “Knights of the Golden Trail”) established by him. Like, Helltown, Harry Andrews’ Chateau Laroche, is worth a visit. Be sure to pack a sleeping bag and spend the night in the castle. You might even spot a ghost while you’re there.

Also, Crystal Cave in Put-In-Bay near Cleveland is the largest geode in the world. It was discovered in 1887 but what’s really unusual about this tourist attraction is the fact that the cave is in a large cavity within a single rock. It features 3-foot long crystals that protrude from the walls. Crystal Cave is estimated to be around 15,000 years old.

The Cincinnati Subway is another off the beaten path that is worth visiting while you are in Ohio, if you can find it. This abandoned project in Ohio came into existence on January 28, 1920, despite the idea originating in 1884. However, the Cincinnati Subway was never completed, as everything came to a halt in 1948. While the old tunnels still exist, the city has blocked the graffiti laden entrances for liability reasons. However, the stunning art-deco Union Terminal should not be missed.

Ohio is filled with numerous unusual tourist attractions making it an attractive destination for both visitors from around the country and international tourists keen on exploring the many sites and attractions. These are fascinating places to visit with a number of them (such as The Great Serpent Mound) boasting a rich and storied history. Whether you are on a vacation, family trip or honeymoon, be sure to experience the thrill of Ohio.

Image Credit: Aaron Bauer

Recruiting and Retaining Qualified Workers a Top Business Challenge for Cleveland Companies

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downtown Cleveland

Talent is a top priority at any workplace. And in order for companies to compete in today’s very competitive global marketplace, they need to not only recruit top talent, but retain them as well. But According to polls released in 2016 by the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) , around two-thirds of employers interviewed agreed that recruiting and retaining qualified workers is a top business challenge here.

And retaining employees is often more challenging than recruitment. Workers are not staying in their jobs as long as they used to. The average millennial changes jobs approximately every 4.4 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Job changes are not always related to pay. If an employee becomes bored or doesn’t feel there are career advancement opportunities, they may begin to transition elsewhere. Between networking, social media and online job boards, changing jobs is just one click away.

But the local job market is also a reflection of Cleveland’s growing pains in an economy that is on the move. For instance, Crain’s Cleveland Business notes that a new restaurant pops up in or around downtown Cleveland just about every week. There is just not enough talent to fill local demand for these positions. “It’s an employees’ market right now,” said Chris Hodgson, co-owner Driftwood Restaurant Group. “We’ve started to expand our new hire search outside the city, like Columbus.”

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported that the state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9% in December, 2016, with an increase of 10,300 jobs. The industries with the largest gains were service providers, leisure and hospitality, and educational and health services fields adding 41,000, 13,300, and 11,200 jobs, respectively.

Also, Cleveland businesses that find recruiting and retaining qualified workers difficult can rely on a number of strategies to help them turn things around. First, they can consider upgrading their employees’ skills through advanced education or job-related training. And this can be achieved through a financial assistance program. Companies can also offer a mentoring program as a way of retaining employees they have recruited. According to Lauren Rudman, president of the Cleveland Society for Human Resource Management, learning opportunities can help in recruiting and retaining employees as well. And this can be done through coaching, a cross functional project, and participation in a leadership development program, among others.

“Additionally, the State of Ohio offers a number of programs that can help Cleveland employers attract and retain qualified talent. Through its website, OhioMeansJobs, employers can search through a database of over two million resumes to find available workers with specific skill sets. There are also a number of tools and other resources available for human resource professionals,” noted Victor Bierman, Ohio lawyer and business expert.

Image Credit: Tim