entrepreneur Archives

Passion pushes Allentown company’s growth

Kate Beers in Smooth Gear – Photo courtesy of Smooth Gear –

Allentown native Nick Beers found a niche and turned it into a growing business.

Smooth Gear, a lifestyle clothing company in Slatedale, Washington Township, Lehigh County, not only designs and prints a line of clothing and sneakers but provides printing services for others looking for custom jobs.

Smooth Gear weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and is growing revenue year over year. Beers, who still works a fulltime job, said he hopes to go fulltime into this venture in the next two to three years.

Last year, the company grossed $35,000 which was up from $25,000 in 2021 and $15,000 in 2020, he said.

“Most of the revenue comes from the custom printing side. That allows us to continue to grow our line of clothing and sneakers,” Beers said.

In fact, Beers said he started with printing jobs for 10 shirts with a one-color design. Now, he takes orders for 500-600 shirts with multi-color designs.

“A week ago, I got an order for an 11-color design which proved to be a challenge, but because of the design, we were successful,” he said.

Chad Holschwander, wearing a Smooth Gear jacket, is the design creator – Photo courtesy of Smooth Gear –

The idea for a line of clothing came from a project in a high school graphic design course where Beers designed and screen printed a T-shirt with his nickname “Smooth” on it. “I really liked having my own brand,” he said.

Admitting he is not the graphic designer; he enlisted the help of his cousin Chad Holschwander to do the design work. The two went to Drexel University together where they continued to design, print and sell clothing heavily influenced by hip hop, sports, sneaker and streetwear cultures.

After graduating, Beers moved to Mechanicsburg where he continued to grow the business in his basement with a one-color screen printer. He said after a short time, he was out of space.

He and his wife, Kate, bought a house in Slatedale from Holschwander, who refurnishes properties. “I bought the property because the warehouse was there,” he said.

The warehouse, which Smooth Gear refers to as Smooth Gear Creative Lab, is three stories with room for Beers’ new six-color screen printer and sewing equipment. He said it also has room for photo shoots to market his clothing line.

The business, since 2014, has grown through word of mouth. Beers said he made a move at the end of last year to grow the business through direct sales by attending trade shows and pop-up shops.

“We did a pop-up at Corporate which is a sneaker boutique in Cincinnati, Ohio,” he said. “It was a marketing effort really, but we were also hoping for sales.”

Beers said his wife is pushing the marketing aspect of the business in hopes of getting the Smooth Gear name out.

“Our target audience for the clothing brand and sneakers is the 16-35 age demographic. A subset being people who are also interested in fashion, athletics and the sneaker culture,” he said.

“We created our own silhouette, so it’s exclusively a Smooth Gear brand sneaker,” Beers said that he puts his designs on.

Looking forward, Beers said the company is looking to get into retail stores to increase exposure to the brand.

“This is our passion,” he said. “Sometimes I look back and see what time and money I’ve put into this and wonder if it’s worth it. But when I travel and see people wearing our stuff, it definitely is.”

Bethlehem architect brings new philosophy to home design

The interior of House on 5th touts an open floor plan with vaulted ceilings and a spiral staircase to maximize use of space – Photo by Matt Wargo

Joseph Biondo is quietly challenging the traditional philosophy, process and delivery of architecture.

After traversing the traditional architectural path working with two large firms and a short stint on his own, Bethlehem native Biondo decided to follow his passion of creating spaces that are environmentally friendly and serve a purpose.

He started Biondo+ Projects, a firm he calls an architect-led development company in 2020 to “tackle the next evolution in architecture,” which he has been contemplating over the past decade.

“Conventionally, architecture is a service industry where architects solve client problems while making a building,” Biondo said. “I differ in that I want to solve societal problems and challenge the norm.”

He’s doing that by financing, building and planning projects one at a time. “I hope to find solutions for aging in place and multi-generational and multi-family housing,” he said.

As an architect, Biondo said he has no clients because he is the client. “Our profession, in my view, has gotten passive and risk adverse,” he said. “I assume all the risk” on projects.

His first project, a 1,300-square-foot home on 5th Street in Bethlehem is geared toward Millennials and Gen Zer’s to build equity. “It’s the right price point for a startup but could also be for Baby Boomers looking to downsize,” he said.

The project not only earned him an Award of Merit at the AIA Pennsylvania Architectural Excellence Design Awards this year but was only on the market for a few days before selling above the asking price. And it received a lot of social media buzz because it looks different, he said.

“This shows there is a need for this,” he said. “It is efficient. When the footprint is smaller, you can afford to have higher quality with better materials.”

The House on 5th as it is known has an open floor plan that Biondo said creates more space than the footprint. The use of an open floor plan with vaulted ceilings creates more usable areas.

The two-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home features two main materials – brick and shingle, each of which he used in unconventional ways, Biondo said. He used the asphalt shingles, traditionally used as a roofing material, for the roof and sides of the exterior.

“The brick features weeping joints to create texture and shadow along the exterior,” he said, creating a unique look.

In the interior, the home has a contemporary design with open-concept main living space, and spiral staircase to an overlooking multi-purpose loft. Biondo said he used only the highest-quality materials in partnership with local contractors, suppliers, and artists.

“With a smaller footprint, I can increase the quality, like better windows and insulation, and still build an affordable property.”

So why the change?

“I harken back to my childhood in an Italian immigrant family,” he said. “My father was not formally trained in anything but could do anything. He was a tailor and worked in real estate and construction.”

His father, he said, brought him to where he is today. “When Dad and I hung out it was related to work. He was always in the process of making and I watched him negotiate and learned a lot.”

Because of his father’s influence, Biondo said he wants to take a proactive role in shaping the environment. “I ask myself ‘is bigger better’”

Biondo is referring to the several decade trend of building bigger houses with lots of amenities. He said he would rather see efficiency in the footprint of the structure.

“During the course of the House on 5th project, BIONDO + Projects challenged the idea that an architect designing a home is a luxury reserved for the elite,” Biondo said. “The working class is equally deserving of high-quality design. Unfortunately, housing has been reduced to profit-driven exercises that prioritize ease and speed of construction over things like sustainability, thoughtfulness, and timelessness.”

With that in mind, he abandoned traditional printed plans, replacing them with improvised Sharpie drawings on wood framing, all to ensure nothing was overlooked, nothing was extra, and everything was of the highest quality.

“We leveraged a compact footprint, simple framing scheme, and locally sourced materials to create a home that was financially accessible, contextually relevant, and enduring,” he said.

“For nearly a century, the average family size has been decreasing. Conversely, our average new home is becoming out of reach and square footages are dramatically increasing. The House on 5th is a curious response to those facts,” Biondo said.

“I want to deliver buildings that work for the community,” he said. “I love sharing my talents with the community and will create projects where I think they will work. I have no profit goals or specific number of buildings planned.”

He does, however, want to continue to quietly create properties in everyday neighborhoods. And he likes that people are talking about it and debating what they see. “To me, this is a more effective than writing a book or lecturing about it.”

Biondo said he is looking for property that is “under the radar” mainly in cities rather than the suburbs so people can become part of the neighborhood. He said he feels living in a walkable community is important to quality of life.

“This is not unlike what people used to do,” he said. “It’s interesting in today’s market, but it works well.”

Allentown entrepreneur commands space flight for Space X

Jared Isaacman learned that today’s problems must be addressed to make progress for tomorrow while soaring through space aboard the historic Space X flight.

The 38-year-old entrepreneur and CEO of Shift4Payment in Allentown, also believes there should be a purpose for what he does and contribute to society.

Isaacman was the commander of the Space X Inspiration 4 mission that orbited the earth for three days in mid-September. He and three other civilians proved that you don’t have to be an astronaut to go into space.

The flight was a research mission and a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

“Training was intense,” he said. “I underestimated just how intense.” The pilot of experimental and many other types of aircraft, said he was given 100–page manuals when he was learning to fly, but the manual for this mission? More than 3,000 pages, and that was just for the classroom portion.

The crew also trained in flight simulators, zero-gravity environments, altitude, and medical testing. After six months in Hawthorne, California, the crew was ready to travel to space. The crew, named for the four pillars of the mission, were Isaacman, leadership; Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, the pilot, prosperity; Hayley Arceneaux, St. Jude’s physician assistant, medical officer, hope; and mission specialist, Chris Sembroski, data engineer, generosity.

“The research we did (in space) was designed to advance human health on earth and during future long-duration spaceflights.”

When the space program was run solely by the government, astronauts had to be in perfect health, he said. “If you had a prosthetic or a heart condition you couldn’t go. We (people) had both. Everyday people exploring among the stars.”

In addition to research, the crew also raised money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. To date, they have raised more than $250 million. “That,” he said, “was the best part of the trip.”

The launch wasn’t too scary, he said. There were a lot of safeguards in place that could halt the mission. As commander, Isaacman was attuned to the control panel and on calls with the Space X team.

Strapped into their seats, the crew experienced the lift off, then at the first stage of separation, “the flight just stops, throwing you forward hard.” It seemed like minutes, but only seconds later the second booster ignited, and they were off.

“It was incredible, Isaacman said. “We went higher than the space station, a sight only about 30 people have ever seen. We could see the entirety of the earth with black all around it – so incredible.”

The earth, he said, was radiating a lot of energy. “Then we saw the moon and stars.” In fact, Isaacman said, every 90 minutes the crew could see the sunrise and sunset.

During the trip they conducted experiments on the impact of radiation at higher altitudes and fluid shifts in the body. This wasn’t a tourist trip, he said. “The mission had to have a meaning for me to go.”

Re-entry, he said, was not scary, but a little nerve-racking. The only thing between the crew and burning up in the atmosphere was the heat shield. Isaacman said since the mission took them above the space station there was a chance that the heat shield could have been hit by space debris. “There was nothing we could do about that,” he said. “We knew it was out of our hands.”

Isaacman became part of the team after speaking to Space X about the possibility of becoming an investor. He mentioned that he would like to go on a mission when they were ready. They were gearing up and Isaacman became part of the team within a week.

The zero-gravity practice allowed them to get used to moving around. “We had no sense of vertical, horizontal, left or right,” he said.

“This is a steppingstone” to the future,” he said. “We always felt we needed to get it right so others can follow us. We had to start somewhere.”

“There is a degree of frustration that we know so little about the universe,” he said. “We need to get going and get out there. There is so much to learn, we haven’t even come close to learning it.”

Addressing what he called a misconception about “billionaires” going to space, Isaacman said it is expensive. “We know this because only the superpowers have done it.

“There is a lot of fair criticism about the cost, but I would argue that computers in the 60s were very expensive and as big as a building sometimes. Money had to be put into it to make them work. Now look at it.”

He said he doesn’t know when, but space will open. “The key performing indicator is the number of people that can orbit. We’ve had 14 at once; soon it could be 50. A year from now it could be 500.”

Isaacman believes the process will be expediential, but not as fast as computer growth. And it won’t be done for sightseeing. “It’s dangerous and a lot of work, so you need a reason to go.”

There will be human colonies, but research must be done, he said. With the private sector doing the research, more companies will get involved and the competition will drive the cost down. “This is the basis of our economy – capitalism,” he said.

Space X is currently building starships, larger craft that will one day land on the moon, he said. “The room in the starship is more than on the space station. So, with several of them on the moon or Mars, they can build an infrastructure. It could possibly be in the next 30 years.”

Isaacman, who is now back at Shift4Payment, said he learned a lot at Space X. “We are a public company, and we need to be more (prepared) to have exposure around the world.”

The trip taught him some lessons and changed his philosophy, he said.

“Even during the pandemic, we saw double-digit growth. We need to offer better service at lower cost. We need to think bigger and aim higher,” he said.

Mom’s the word as new entrepreneurial group focuses on mothers in business

Murtaza and Sukaina Jaffer started Mompreneurs of Lehigh Valley Business Group at EBC, their family’s business services office in Trexlertown. PHOTO/STACY WESCOE –

The fact that the idea to form a group to support mom entrepreneurs came from a man is not lost on Murtaza Jaffer, who runs Express Business Center and EBC Printing in Trexlertown with his brother Mustafa.

But he said when he met the right group of women at the right time, he knew that bringing these “mompreneurs” together was something he wanted to do.

Providing business services for many small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Lehigh Valley, Jaffer got to know a number of young mothers who had eschewed the corporate world and started their own small businesses so they could spend more time with their families.

While many had strong business backgrounds, many were running their own business for the first time and he saw their struggles.

“Having started a small business myself, I found myself often giving them brotherly advice,” Jaffer said.

After talking to a few of his mom and entrepreneur clients, as well as his own wife, Sukaina, he thought he could help even more if he gave these women a place to meet, share ideas and network.

And that was how Mompreneurs of Lehigh Valley Business Group got started.

On the third Thursday of each month, the group meets at the new EBC offices at 6034 Hamilton Street in Trexlertown. A guest speaker is brought in for each meeting and every woman has a chance to speak before the group or during networking.

Amanda Ruth, one of the original members and founders of the group, said the mompreneurs group Jaffer proposed filled a perfect niche for her. She had quit her job at the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and started her own marketing firm, Ruthless Media and Marketing, so she could have more time with her two young children.

She now works just a few hours a day and a few hours a week, as needed, to fulfill her clients’ needs and those of her sons’.

“I have always been in business, but I never owned my own business,” Ruth said. “It helps me get an outside view and a little of their knowledge.”

Mompreneurs of Lehigh Valley Business Group meets monthly at the EBC Printing, Express Business Center offices in Trexlertown. PHOTO/SUBMITTED –

And meeting once a month for an hour and a half is the right balance of getting the help and information they need while not adding another big time burden to their already busy schedules.

She said they find a lot of camaraderie within the group. Each woman gets her turn to speak, whether she wants to talk about successes or areas where she needs help or about business or family issues.

“A lot of people’s stories are the same. ‘I just couldn’t do the corporate lifestyle anymore,’” she said.

Aside from that, Ruth said, there is a diverse group of women in the crowd.

She noted that there are marketing women, such as herself, bookkeepers, notaries, graphic designers and even some women that work at selling products like Arbonne skin care.

She said many of the mothers with older children have more established and full-time endeavors, while some of the newer mothers are just getting started. Each has their own experience that they can bring to the group to help others deal with their own issues. Ruth said they have become each other’s friends and clients.

“We always say our group is for support, not selling, but I do like buying local and buying from other moms,” she said.

Helping each other

And so, in addition to being each other’s support group, the roughly 70 women who now make up the mompreneurs group, also provide services to each other.

“Lauren Phillips, for example, is now my bookkeeper. I don’t have that much business, but math isn’t my strength, so I have her help,” Ruth said.

Sukaina Jaffer, who has been a core member of the group since the start, said she’s impressed with how quickly the group took off and how it continues to grow, as well as how much the mothers in the group say it means to them.

“It’s about how supported they feel. The fact that they felt so isolated and now they have the group to fall back on,” she said.

She noted their only marketing has been a group on Facebook and that the group has grown from 10 women to almost 70 in just a few months because of word of mouth and women who discover the group introducing it to other mompreneurs that they know.

And as the group grows and thrives, Murtaza Jaffer said he’s proud of the role he played in getting it off the ground. He said by helping mothers build their businesses he feels he’s paying tribute to his own mother.

Upscale barbershop to open in Whitehall Township

An upscale barbershop is opening in Whitehall Township. (Submitted) –

Vintage Barbershop, which will offer an upscale environment for men’s hair and grooming services, will open its first location in the Lehigh Valley in Whitehall Township.

NAI Summit’s Jay Haines recently represented the owner of MacArthur Convenience Center and the new tenant, Aziz Atiyeh, in the multi-year lease transaction at 3690 Lehigh St.

Atiyeh said he is completing the inspection of the space and should be ready to open next week.

“I’ve been a Whitehall resident for about 20 years now, that location is very excellent, there’s a lot of foot traffic,” Atiyeh said.

Becoming a barber was originally not in Atiyeh’s plans but after gaining compliments from friends on his barber skills, he began working with a relative in the barber business about six years ago.

“I enjoy making people feel better about themselves,” he said. “I decided to go out on my own and see what I can do.”

Down the road, he would like to teach barbering, but for now he plans to focus on operating his new shop.

“I’m going for more of an upscale vintage theme, the 1950s,” Atiyeh said. “I’m trying to bring class back to the Whitehall area.”

Adapting to change in the kitchen-remodel space

The home improvement industry continues to be strong, a development that has helped one local, family-owned business to mark its 40^th year.

Kitchen Magic, a family-owned business based in Lower Nazareth Township, marked its 40th year of operation this year. From left are company officers Lotte Bacho, vice president; Chad Bacho, management information systems director; Cindy Purcell, vice president of customer experience; Brett Bacho, president; and Renate Sprung, vice president of marketing. (Submitted) –

For Kitchen Magic, the past four decades has bought both challenges and opportunities for a tailored kitchen remodel business that began with just one employee in a small basement office in Allentown in 1979.

Today, the company employs 225 people in eight states across the northeast, with 75 at its Lower Nazareth Township site, where it offers a showroom, kitchen, offices and manufacturing space.

“We are the manufacturer that sells directly to the customer,” said Brett Bacho, president. “The home improvement industry is very strong. Kitchens are one of the top projects that people want to do. A lot of people are downsizing, aging in place, remodeling.”

The company focuses on kitchens, and offers specialty cabinet refacing, new cabinetry, countertops, tile flooring, storage solutions and accessories. The sales and marketing staff who work for Kitchen Magic go directly to customers’ homes to sell them the remodeling project.

“We bring the showroom to them, measure everything, give them a free estimate of costs,” said Linda Fennessy, marketing manager for Kitchen Magic. In addition to cabinetry, the company can add islands, accessories and other new components, she said.

Now, with second and third generation members of the family working in the company, Kitchen Magic is planning for what comes next, said Renate Sprung, vice president of marketing.

Both members of the first generation have passed away, Sprung said. Jost Fleck, the founder of the company, and his wife, Reine, were the parents of Renate, Cindy Purcell and Lotte Bacho, who is married to Brett. Purcell is the vice president of customer experience and Lotte Bacho is vice president of the company. Brett’s brother, Chad, also serves as a company officer, working as the management information systems director.

Over the years, the company has seen its share of challenges, largely stemming from the Great Recession, which prompted many homeowners to put off any home improvement projects.

When people couldn’t get home equity loans, that caused a big drop in sales, said Brett Bacho.

“We survived that,” he said. “I would put that up with one of our major accomplishments. We had processes in place. We had a just-in-time manufacturing process that protected us from putting out a lot of cash.”

Today, the just-in-time manufacturing process remains and helps the company avoid having to store products in a warehouse. The company mainly uses its manufacturing site only for production.

The company didn’t want to store millions of dollars in inventory, Sprung said.

“We know what those lead times are,” Bacho said. “While it sounds very risky, we ship right to the customer’s home.”

The only time the company stores products in its warehouse is if a customer cancels an order, he added.

However, 2008-2009 was a tough period for the company, as it was for businesses in many industries.

While there was a huge drop in sales during that time, the company made many efforts to keep the business afloat.

“There was nothing we didn’t do,” Sprung said. “It probably took us three to four years to stabilize.”

The company instituted four-day workweeks to keep people employed, borrowed money from the bank, and the owners put their own money into the business, she added.

Though still recovering from the Great Recession, the company knew it needed to find a new location.

The company began in Allentown, moved to Milford, New Jersey; then Phillipsburg, New Jersey, Fennessy said.

“We were outgrowing our facility in Phillipsburg and we weren’t finding anything that met our needs on the New Jersey side,” Bacho said. “The infrastructure just wasn’t there. There was more opportunity [here] to purchase a building.”

After relocating to the Lower Nazareth site it purchased in 2010, the company has grown considerably, and plans to continue hiring more people and expanding its products and services.

“For us, we are looking at other parts of the house we can improve,” Bacho said.

These could include libraries, laundry rooms, entertainment centers, mudrooms, and baths.

Having lost her mother recently, Sprung said the company wants to plan for its future.

“We are trying to lay a foundation for the future and present that’s doing the right thing and that it’s [the business is] built to stay and innovate,” Sprung said.

Bacho described Jost Fleck, “Joe,” as he was known, as the ultimate risk-taker for forming the business.

“Not everyone can do it…you are risking it all,” Bacho said. “The closest I got to it was building this building.”

Bacho, who has an engineering background, designed the building for Kitchen Magic.

In one way, a negative economy can lead to great things, he added.

Today, he views the company as one poised to attract talented people.

“We want to leave Kitchen Magic better than we found it,” Bacho said.

The three daughters have worked closely together for a long time, in addition to Bacho. They all plan to continue doing what they enjoy most; helping people make their kitchen into the space they always wanted.

“Life happens in the kitchen,” Sprung said. “You are making a beautiful space and it changes their life for the better every day.”

NATIONWIDE HOME IMPROVEMENT GROWTH- SIDEBAR

The Home Improvement Research Institute based in Indianapolis, Indiana, projected total home improvement products sales in the professional market to increase 6 percent in 2019 over 2018 and the consumer market to see a sales increase of 5.3 percent.

Entrepreneur starts flower-printing business

A local entrepreneur has moved on from painting stars on ceilings to inscribing messages and images on flowers.

A local entrepreneur started a flower-printing business, with plans to expand the printing to other objects. (Submitted) –

Matt Barklage of South Whitehall Township said he started Chatty Treasures, a new business with his wife, Maria. It involves applying phrases and corporate logos to roses and other items where you wouldn’t necessarily find printed messages.

“This is just another way to express your feelings for people,” Barklage said.

Barklage had been operating a business called Starscapes F/X, where he would paint stars on the ceilings of rooms. However, six months ago, a fall broke his vertebrae and spelled the end of the business, which was founded in 2018.

He started looking for another venture and settled on Chatty Treasures. The company, which operates out of his house, is a licensee of Speaking Roses, a flower printer based in Utah.

Barklage said the printing process is proprietary but noted that it is designed so it won’t hurt flower petals.

He eventually wants to print on fruit, candy, hamburger buns, donuts and cookies, among other edibles. While he can create those products now, his initial focus is flowers.

“It’s a learning curve, especially for me,” Barklage said.

He charges clients a one-time $10 charge for the printing template and $50 for a dozen roses with messages printed on them.

He plans to use his own vehicle to provide free delivery of the roses to the Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton areas and surrounding communities, he said.

Eventually, he wants to grow the business out of his house and into a warehouse.

Select Region or Brand

Upcoming Event

Tag: entrepreneur

Mom’s the word as new entrepreneurial group focuses on mothers in business

Upscale barbershop to open in Whitehall Township

Adapting to change in the kitchen-remodel space

Entrepreneur starts flower-printing business

CONNECT

DIGITAL EDITIONS