Around the Chamber - February, 2023

AROUND THE CHAMBER

February, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE

TO ALL OF THE ORGANIZATIONS

THAT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO OUR VISITOR CENTER PROJECT THUS FAR SEE PAGE 20

Behind the Scenes with Sam Cutting IV

Each month, "Behind the Scenes" features an interview with a leader in our community designed to provide readers a glimpse into his/her interests and passions inside and outside of the workplace

This month, "Behind the Scenes" sat down with Sam Cutting IV of Dakin Farm

Where did you grow up?

I have lived in Ferrisburgh, Vermont for most of my life.

Where did you go to school?

I attended Vergennes High School and transferred to Rice Memorial High School for my senior year, graduating in 1976. I graduated with a BA from the University of Vermont in Business Marketing.

First ever job?

My first job was working construction in Vail, Colorado. After some time out West, I moved back to Ferrisburgh, Vermont to join my father, Sam Cutting III in running Dakin Farm. Mail order was new at the time but I was interested in expanding our company and learning how to ship Dakin Farm Products nationwide. I developed our mail order business, and then later on a website and eCommerce platform.

Who was your greatest inspiration growing up?

My father has always been my greatest inspiration. He was in the US Air Force and devoted to his family, business, and the community. He taught me the values of hard work, good friends, and love for the outdoors. My favorite vacation spot would be skiing with my family in Whistler, British Columbia. I also enjoy fishing down in Costa Rica and boating in the Florida Keys.

Favorite vacation spot?

Sam Cutting IV

Behind the Scenes with Sam Cutting IV

Who do you most admire?

Typical work week?

Will Rapp

Someone who I have always admired is Will Raap, founder of Gardner’s Supply. He was a visionary and cared more about doing well with business then just the bottom line. One of the projects he focused on before his passing was Earthkeep Farmcommon which was a project focused on sustainable Vermont agriculture. He taught me the value of helping others, the environment, and the overall good of society.

Favorite TV Show/Movie?

My favorite recent movie would have to be Top Gun. I enjoy this movie as it offers me a glimpse into my father’s career as a pilot in the US Air Force.

Favorite type of music?

I enjoy a broad selection of music but I would say my favorite music to listen to is Classic Rock.

We are a very seasonal business and conduct a large amount of our sales during the months of October through December. During the peak holiday period, I work 80-100 hours a week. During the off season as I have grown older, I am now able to work around 30 hours a week. I feel fortunate that I am able to step down a bit and enjoy the pleasures of exploring the United States in my camper.

Biggest career challenge?

One of the biggest career challenges I have taken on is shipping perishable food products. There are several extra expenses and systems that go into shipping perishable products successfully nationwide.

Greatest risk taken in your career?

One of the biggest risks I have taken in my career was borrowing a significant amount of money from SBA to start up our mail order facility. Fortunately, we have loyal customers and employees that have worked with us over the years that have helped build Dakin Farm’s success.

What's the one thing you would change about your industry/mission?

One thing I would change about the eCommerce industry is to bring further education about the costs and expenses that go into shipping charges, especially for perishable products. As a small family business, it’s difficult to compete against big brands who are able to offer free shipping.

Meet the Board

Every month "Around the Chamber" will introduce our readers to a member of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

In this issue, we introduce you to ACCOC Board Member Ned Horton, Owner of Otter Creek Bakery and Deli, Otter Creek Bakery East, coowner of Vergennes Wine and Spirits and the new Hare of the Dog in Middlebury

How long have you lived and/or worked in Addison County?

My parents were innkeepers, they started The Old Ark in Wilmington, VT. They sold the business when I was 9 and we moved to Middlebury in 1969. Early days my parents, Pete and Bette, were part of a tireless core group that helped start the Addison County Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber of Commerce grew out of an active downtown merchants association. My parents worked for the Chamber of Commerce for many years in the seventies. I went off to college in Maine and my work-life took me to Nashville, TN in the eighties. I bought a home in Middlebury five years ago and have been involved here since then, splitting my time between ongoing interests in Vermont, Maine and Tennessee.

How long have you volunteered with the Chamber’s Board?

I was asked to get involved in 2021.

Tell us about your career?

My first career was in radio, I started in advertising sales with a goal to become a radio station owner. As a kid we lived just down the street from WFAD. I can recall Ken Gilbert, KG, allowing me to operate the control board when I was about 10, queueing up the local ads airing during the Red Sox broadcasts. I’d also like to give a shout out to Mr. Lou Megyesi who was the Director of the Learning Center at MUHS. Mr. Megyesi allowed us to sign out tape recorders, microphones and editing equipment, so we started recording a weekly newsmagazine style show called Straight from the Tiger’s Mouth. We’d call that a podcast these days! I was fortunate to turn my passion for music and an interest in marketing into a career.

I have always been an entrepreneur at heart and have also invested in real estate for many years. There’s always something to learn and to improve and I am enjoying the ride.

Ned Horton

Every

Meet the Board

month "Around the Chamber" will introduce our readers to a member of the Addison County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

Board Member Ned Horton (continued)

In 2023, what do you see as the most challenging issue(s) facing business in Addison County?

Available and affordable housing is still a huge concern for Addison County. We are not alone facing that challenge, but the lack of housing is a painful constraint for sure. The 250-unit housing project that Middlebury College and Summit properties have planned seems like a homerun, but we need to hit a lot more singles throughout the county as well.

A growing number of people want to live and work here and a burgeoning group love to visit here. The Chamber should foster the development of the infrastructure to catch up to the demonstrated needs of the community. We need more options for both long-term and short-term stays and there simply are not enough affordable options for home ownership. We have been through several challenging years, but we have come through it stronger and we have so much to be thankful for. Addison County will continue to be one of the best places in the USA to live and to do business.

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

My biggest source of pride would be our three terrific kids, raised in partnership with my brilliant wife Juli, who is an Infectious Disease physician. (Yes, she has been very busy the past few years!)

Our oldest, Eli, is currently a graduate student at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in their respected Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies program. Jillian is a junior at Bowdoin College working towards her degree, a multi-major path that includes Environmental Studies. Eden is a freshman at Middlebury College and perhaps the most likely of the three to pursue the path of an entrepreneur.

The Horton Family at the Old Ark Inn 1960's

New Member Closeup

A Journey from Zen Monk to Web Design

by John Godfrey

Kneeling on the floor across from my Roshi, the teaching monk at my monastery, in Kyoto Japan, it is just starting to get light out. We’ve already been up for several hours. Long enough to convince myself I’m awake. I repeat my koan to him in classical Japanese. The koan is the focus of our meditation. An unanswerable question, it is the primary teaching tool of Rinzai Zen monasteries. “Where will you go?” I pause for a beat, “I don’t care what anyone says, I’m going back to America”, I tell him.

He grunts his ascent and gives me my next koan. I passed.

The dialogue in the koan isn’t real. He wasn’t really asking me where I was going, and I wasn’t really saying I was going back to America. If I was going to loosely paraphrase that conversation, I would say something like, “what is your true nature when all is said and done?” “My true nature is what it has always been and only I can know it.” Something like that.

But just this one time I thought, what if I really did go back to America?

By then I had been in Japan for nearly ten years. Becoming a Zen monk had been my dream. I didn’t have a plan B. But things were changing. My training was changing. I was getting less and less time to focus on meditation and more and more time was spent teaching me to be a Japanese gentleman, writing Chinese poetry with a brush and so on.

I figured, if I learn to be an adult anywhere, I should learn in America. I spoke Japanese like a man in his 30’s, but I still spoke English like a kid just out of college, which was what I was when I first arrived at the monastery gates.

After ten years of being cold all the time, eating whatever was offered, sitting up to 20 hours a day, and sleeping rarely more than four hours at a stretch, my health was suffering. Add to that the stress of living in a foreign culture, speaking a second language, I was accumulating chronic conditions the doctors were telling me would never get better. Something was telling me that if I carried on like this much longer, I would get seriously ill.

Six months later, I’m in Montreal, staying on a friend’s couch. I have $300 in cash, and no idea what I’m supposed to do when that is gone.

I didn’t have a phone, a car, an apartment, or a computer. I still wore my monastery work clothes and sandals. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, in the middle of the Montreal winter, I started trading work for classes in hot yoga studios. For one, the warmth was such an unimaginable luxury. For another thing, I knew that being active in the heat was helping me heal.

It’s been fourteen years since I arrived back in North America. In that time I’ve taught meditation and yoga to hundreds of people. I worked as a counselor, a third-wave coffee barista, and a bartender. I got a masters in education and taught literature. And I have a phone now.

I would never have predicted that teaching meditation and yoga would lead to teaching literature, would lead to copywriting, would lead to founding a web design agency. But life has a way of putting you where you need to be.

When we work with you, we start with a deep dive into your existing brand, your values, your audience. We look at your goals, and help you bridge the gap between here and there. Then we create the visual identity and brand voice that you want for the future of your company.

We pull all the parts together for you. Brand, web design, development and writing all in one place. That way you get one unified vision with all the parts working together in harmony, and you don’t need to hunt around and create your own team.

We find that Squarespace is the right platform for most small and mid sized organizations. Unless you have a web developer on staff, we always recommend going with Squarespace. It is easy to make beautiful looking sites, they are accessible and responsive, the backend is extremely intuitive, and their customer service is excellent.

Our clients get much more than a killer website, they get clarity about the value they bring to the world and how to communicate that to the audience that needs them.

DONATE HERE

THISAPRIL

Thank Thank Thank

you! you! you!

To the following organizations and individuals who have generously donated to our campaign to help fund the new Addison County Visitor Center as of February 21st.

The Addison County Regional Planning Commission

Birds of Vermont Museum

James H. Douglas

FLORA Cannabis

Gaines Insurance Company

Hall Communication Radio and Digital

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum

Linda's Apparel

Maple Landmark In

The National Bank of Middlebury

Olsen's Ice Cream

Otter Creek Used Books

Rack and Reel

Robert Frost Mountain Cabins

Sabai -Sabai Thai Cuisine

The Strong House Inn

Margaret G. Summers

The Vermont Book Shop

Want to be part of it? DONATE HERE Thank Thank Thank you! you! you!

Champlain Valley Grain Center, LLC

Age Well

Art on Main Bread Loaf Corporation

Dakin Farm

Goodro Lumber Company, Inc.

HomeSmith Services, LLC

Homeward Bound: Addison County's Humane Society

Masterson Excavation

Middlebury Frameshop & Gallery

Middlebury Inn

Murray & Masterson Environmental Services, LLC

Northlands Job Corps Center

Pike Industries

PP&D Brochure Distribution

RE/MAX North Professionals - The Gridley Group

Rotary Club of Middlebury

Sabai Sabai Thai Cuisine Restaurant

TaeKwon Do KICKS

Town of Middlebury

Vermont Cider Company

Vermont's Own Gifts & Goods

Waybury Inn

Officers

Robert Feuerstein, Kennedy Brothers (Chair)

Megan Mandigo, Marble Trail Financial (Treasurer)

Nancy Foster, Champlain Valley Properties (Secretary)

Adam Rainville, Maple Landmark (Past Chair)

Phil Summers, ACCOC (Executive Director)

Directors

Dickie Austin, Black Sheep Bistro

Amy Carlin: Middlebury College

Doug Dewitt, Bristol Financial Services

Meaghan McLaughlin, National Bank of Middlebury

Ned Horton, Otter Creek Bakery and Deli

Marty Kulczyk, Robert Frost Mountain Cabins

Bethany Dever, Dever Accounting Services

Article IV, Section D Designate Directors

Karen Duguay, Better Middlebury Partnership

Renny Perry, Addison County Economic Development Corp.

Renny Perry, Vergennes Partnership

Bill Sayre, Addison County Regional Planning Commission