The greatest opportunity for Clarenville is that thousands of cars drive by every single day.
The biggest challenge for Clarenville is that thousands of cars drive by every single day.
Noel O'Dea (Target Marketing) (Speaking to the Clarenville Chamber of Commerce about tourism development)
One of the things that I often tell my students is that hope is not a strategy. Business and community success depends on their ability to recognize and capitalize on opportunities as they arise.
If you ask someone like successful Clarenville businessman, Philip Mercer, who has guided and grown Mercer's Marine for decades through some of the most difficult times in the inshore fishery, the key to success is working hard to follow the market while providing a product offering that customers want while at the same time providing outstanding customer service. (Be sure to listen to Jane Adey's excellent interview with Mr. Mercer )
These key ingredients to success apply to Clarenville (and other towns) as much as the businesses that operate here - our growth has been spurred on by our strategic location, our skilled workforce and our broad range of service offerings.
This past week, we hosted NTV's Sharon Snow and worked with her and her team to help identify and line up shooting locations, and interviews with people and their businesses. That exercise was enlightening in several respects. First, there were a lot of options for their town-focused and tourism-focused themes. Second, they were just somewhat familiar with the things that are going on here and the range of opportunities that greater Clarenville has to offer - once they did their shoots they were so impressed with what they found and were so glad to be able to share it with the rest of the province and beyond. And third, the people that they spoke to tended to be a new generation of entrepreneurs that had each recognized an opportunity here and were working hard to pursue it - in a spirit of cooperation with other organizations and businesses in the region.
Cabin 6's Darrin Reid
The Sole Sisters
The Town's New Town Hall with Mayor Pickett and Councillor Strowbridge
On the DTSA Trail
Bare Mountain Coffee House with Manager Traci Carberry
With Momma Made That with owner Stacey Matthews
Newfoundland Cider Company with co-owner Chris Adams
As Mayor John Pickett pointed out when he was interviewed, Clarenville has grown a lot in the last two decades - its mix of small-town feel and big-city services. That makes us fertile ground for a new generation of entrepreneurs and organizations offering world-class products and services, following in the footsteps of people like Phillip Mercer. (I hold up examples of companies like Sub-C Imaging, Solar-Winds Energy, Arrow Addiction, Gypsy Sea Adventures and organizations like Eastern NL Dragon Boat Club, Sole Sisters, Shoal Harbour Cooperative, The Clarenville Nordic Club and the Discovery Trail Snowmobile Association).
Our collective challenge as a business community and as a community remains to actively and purposely communicate that Clarenville is so much more than a "tea and pee" spot on the highway - we have a lot of great things to offer our residents and our visitors. As they drive by they need to be convinced to drop in, see what we have to offer, and stay, for a while, or for a lifetime. Either way, I know that they will be pleasantly surprised.
Watch the NTV News segments from Clarenville:
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