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S E L F - S TA R T E R S Cleveland needs more people like Pat Manfroni ’99! In addition to founding US Wind Supply, LLC, Manfroni and a friend launched and operate the Cleveland Recruiting Company as their night and weekend project while working full-time jobs. Manfroni connects talented Clevelanders with great companies and realized he could create a business doing this. The key to the company’s development is forging relationships with other employer associations that mass market jobs on a weekly or monthly basis. The Cleveland Recruiting Company uses social media, specifically LinkedIn, to broadcast these job opportunities to their subscribers. Currently, the company does not charge companies a fee to post a job, but collects a success fee if one of their candidates is hired. Closing in on 1,000 LinkedIn members, Manfroni and his partner hope their firm will continue to grow with a large enough pool of candidates for employers to pay to post their job openings. Manfroni is thankful for the company’s large Gilmour following and enjoys making new connections with older and younger Gilmour alumni. As a part-time startup company, it relies on organic growth. To learn more about The Cleveland Recruiting Company, visit cle-jobs.com. To see posted jobs or to post a job yourself, join their group, Cleveland Recruiting Company, on LinkedIn.
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could go into business for herself as a bookkeeper. Porter is now in Atlanta and her company, Truth Financial Consulting, Inc., which incorporated in March 2010, is a national bookkeeping firm for independent companies that outsource their work and currently has three employees. Last year, Smart Circle International named Porter “Administrator of the Year.” Her goal is to continue to grow to about 100 active clients. Jonas Pattie ’95 and his brother have watched their parents’ work ethic and dedication propel their company, The Pattie Group, Inc., to extraordinary success. A nationally-renowned, award-winning landscape designer, the company has been in business for nearly 50 years, creating, building and maintaining landscapes. Most of their business has been in the residential space with only about 10 percent devoted to the commercial sector. The commercial work typically involved rare projects in the design and reconstruction of exceptional gardens as opposed to most commercial projects that are more maintenance-based. The brothers saw an opportunity in the commercial landscape maintenance market. While the Pattie Group’s success in the residential market centers on providing artistic and creative professionals who offer turnkey services, commercial landscape maintenance is price driven. The two began LandsKeepers to cater to this market. They developed an entirely new structure and separate pricing and service designed for the commercial segment, making the company competitively priced. The entrepreneurs believe their experience with the Pattie Group and access to its offices, facilities and professionals provide customers with a higher level of