 Good evening, I'm Bob Baldacci and welcome to Baldacci on Business. This believe it or not is our final show for this season and I'm very, very pleased tonight to introduce two special guests, good friends of mine. On my immediate left is Steve Woods, a very successful businessman here in Falmouth and Portland area. And Steve is a company called Tide Smart Global. And Fred Forsley, you know Fred as the creator, the owner, president and CEO of Shipyard, one of the best beers, the best beer in the state of Maine if not the country. And guys, thank you very much for being here. And I think bringing two successful entrepreneurs on the show I think is going to be instructive and helpful to our viewing audience tonight to hear firsthand from you both how you got into business, why you got into business, some of the lessons you've learned along the way and some of the challenges you face in running a business here in the greater Portland area. So Fred, why don't we start with you just a little bit of your background. I know you're from Maine, you grew up in gray. My family had a business in gray. My dad was a World War II vet and he was a psychiatrist and when he got out of the war he started a home for veterans and my mother and he ran it and as a family we ran it together and that was probably the biggest entrepreneurial lesson I've ever learned in my life. Working for your parents. Yeah, 24-7. Yeah. If there was somebody that didn't show up for the 11-7 shift, somebody needs to cover that shift. So that was the first. And then from there I got into real estate through a friend of mine in gray, Mike Liberty which we all know but long story short, real estate led me into the beer business. So that happened, a good friend of mine, Gordon Hurchabees was involved in an investment in Kenabunkport and it was a failed real estate deal in which people had taken a lot of opportunity risk on in the 80s, late 80s and it just was a little premature the deal had was ended up failing and there needed to be something that could work and long story short my brother Richard lives in Pensacola, Florida and the brew pub business was just taking off and I came back with that idea trying to start a brew pub in Kenabunkport. So that was your idea, Federal Jazz. Well, yeah, it was actually my brothers and Gordon were all having a beer in Pensacola, Florida saying this could work in Kenabunkport so I'll give them some credit too. And from there you developed shipyard brewery. Because Kenabunkport was on the harbor, there was 12 shipyards in Kenabunkport in the early 1700s and Federal Jack was actually a ship that was built in that area and there were actually two of them built in the early 1700s and that's how we came up with the name and in 1992, June of 1992, we created the first shipyard export, I met Alan Pugsley who actually tried to get Richard and Eddie from Gritty McDuff's to go down there and do it as a real estate play and I was going to lease it to him and then they committed to it and decided they didn't want to do it and I had met Alan and so that's how we started. Well, and it was a huge risk on your part of the time and your partners but we'll get into that in just a second. Steve, you're from away, Boston. Unless you're born here at me, I know that it's impossible to claim being a manor but I grew up outside of Boston, need him and have been coming up here, my whole life been here with my wife and three kids for about 12 years and I wish my career started in the beer business. I'm a little jealous of Fred, but I started really from the early days as a paper route. I don't even know if we have paper routes and so I used to be an adjunct professor in teach business management and one of the lessons I try to impart to young people or people starting out is it's less important what the specific business function is than it is the discipline, the work, the effort and just being there. And so I started out as a paper boy, my father had a construction company, I cleaned swimming pools for years which was fun in July but in November and December outside of Boston it was a little cold, worked at McDonald's for a while and today you can't get a kid to work at McDonald's because the sense is oh that's not a fun place, McDonald's is fine, they teach you discipline, payroll, organization, you work two hours, you get a little cheeseburger, four hours, you get a free Big Mac, you decide well I better work another hour, I could get the quarter pounder. My wife worked at McDonald's when she started out. And there's something about it, so to me it's less about you know when I look at entrepreneurs that I've worked with or people I respect in business like Freddie, I believe that if Fred didn't get involved with restaurants or the brew pub and he got involved with transportation or something else he would be successful because it wasn't so much the issue of being in one industry, it was the skill set and the discipline that really drove and created the foundation for success. Yeah that's terrific, that's a great point Steve. To pick up on what you just said and a little bit more about your background, I mean you've been heavily engaged with Tidesmart Global in Falmouth, you're developing a significant facility there, $10 million worth at least in real estate eventually, doing work all over the United States, you've represented professional athletes, NFL, I was an NBA agent, I was a Major League Baseball, I ran sports events for years, I taught sports marketing, I was heavily involved with that. Yeah, so as making that commitment to Falmouth, making that commitment to the state of Maine, how have things worked out for you in that regard? Couldn't be better, originally I started my business in the old port here in Portland and like many entrepreneurs it was myself, a plastic table and a phone that we bought at Radio Shack and a phone worked half the time, added a person, another person the business grew, we moved into another office down in Portland and then two and a half years ago I had an opportunity to buy a property up in Falmouth, I live in Yarmouth so it was probably me being lazy more than anything else because I only have a two-mile commute now, not the traffic in southern Maine is anything to complain about, but I decided to invest in the area because in my business which is marketing and healthcare and health and wellness, most agencies and most companies lease space and that's a fine business paradigm, it gives you flexibility, if you pick up a count, if you pick up business you increase your space, if you lose you close the office but I wanted to make a commitment to the area and more importantly I wanted to make a commitment to all the employees that work with me because in my business it's very people based and so we bought some property in Falmouth and you know for all the complaints about government that it seems like that's the current sport du jour, in my case government helped, you know SBA loan support, they didn't give me money but they basically guaranteed a low rate threshold, a pine tree program that create a benefit for me to hire people and then as you're aware two and a half years ago your brother when he was governor came out for the groundbreaking and the idea that a governor of a state would come out to, he didn't have to come out but he came out and he spent two or three hours, he said this is great for Maine, little things like that contribute, I think contribute in a very big way to a business climate that can be positive, doesn't have to be negative as long as you know because hope and imagination are some of the big drivers, there's always going to be obstacles, every government whether it's low, every municipality has their burdens, I wish there wasn't so much red tape but throughout the red tape there's also positive elements and in my case I'm very happy being in Falmouth, it's a great community to build the business, I live in the community next door, Yarmouth which is a great community to raise my family and in my case it's just worked out really well. I know it has and he's done it at a time when the economy was imploding, I mean he literally took, I mean people know that area where he bought down Route 1 north of, really north of the shopping mall, it was all a big rock pile, blasted it and put you know three years ago when the economy was imploding and I've been extremely impressed with what Steve and the other EMG-3 which is the other company, he's one of the only people when young people call wears an opportunity to work in Maine, he's provided that, so he only talks about it, it's very very impressive what he was able to do during these economic times the last three years. And Fred as a chevers graduate has helped me greatly because every two or three weeks I get an email saying Mr. Woods, I went to chevers and one of the alumni, Fred Forzley, said actually in the reality is we've hired a lot of people from chevers because of references and recommendations from Fred so that's been a byproduct. Yeah and he should add that he has represented some of the major companies in the world that he does work for them. Steve is a little low key with some of his accomplishments but you're absolutely right Fred. And now I think you know when you talk about business and business and this is what this shows about having people and mentors that can say hey you can do it from Maine which there are companies like obviously LL Bean and you know a good friend of mine, George Denny with Cole Hanchou, I mean there's a guy who created a global a major brand from Maine, Freeport Maine and and succeeded and obviously there are others long ago. Who was your mentor? George Denny was a mentor of mine and Gordon Erchbees and Mike Liberty and some older guys like Jimmy Vassal on the Sportsman's Grill and friends of my dad that Gus Barber was another one who I was and got lucky enough to meet at a young age and got to see his brand in Florida what they did with the you know his products the frozen chicken I was in Naples, Florida 15 16 years ago and you know makes you believe that you can do that from Maine. So I was with George Denny in Florida you know 18 years ago who walked into a clothing store and there was a shoe department he walked in there was a big display of colon shoes and he walked up with a smile on his face and started talking to the guy and the guy immediately knew who he was and I was blown away because we were in Tampa, Florida and it was you know it was an amazing to me you know at that time especially that you know we didn't have all the technology then you didn't have the today I think there's an advantage using social media and other things that instantly things can spread you know across the globe but then it was a little a little slower and so but it you know it made you believe that if you created a brand or a product that you could actually you know compete in Florida or California which is what you're doing now which is pretty exciting yeah it is we have some great success and Maine can play to your strength we recently have talked about that yeah I mean we had and I'd like you to talk I think the call the colleges that are in Maine when you look at the University of Maine system yeah but when you look at Bates, Bowdoin, Colby the kids that go to school they are the alumni from there we actually just recently did deal with Fess Parker Fess Parker's daughter went to Bates and Bruce Forzley my cousin met her husband and through that we actually have developed a strategic alliance where we're going to represent their wines in Maine and in Massachusetts and they're going to represent our beers in California we came up with a label called Chickadee Wines and they're going to actually source the grapes for us and so it happened from her being in in Maine at Bates and I think that our education system whether it's the is one of our biggest assets whether it's what University of New England's doing with their with their new schools and the existing school and I think the University System University of Maine system you know is obviously in a transition or under has been under attack recently locally the USM but I think University of Southern Maine has come a long way from what it was when I was in high school it wasn't as much of an option necessarily and today I think University of Southern Maine is is even with the challenges that the system's going under right now is a strong option and the schools Bates Bowden Colby and then and the other things are our biggest asset our people are our biggest asset unfortunately I think they're our biggest export right now so we're going to turn we're going to turn that around I was that's right and we also have an editorial note you mentioned Fess Parker yeah and for the thousands of people watching that may be a little younger than three of us it was Daniel Boone maybe Crockett David Crockett there was because thousands of people going to Fess Parker that sounds interesting yeah thanks for that I love Fess Parker yeah I did he was one of Disney's first stars and yeah he had made a lot of money in the 50s and 60s and bought a lot of property in the Santa Barbara area and other areas and he's turned great they've turned some of the wineries great great venue and to add to add to Fred's point over the last 35 years of my business career I've been fortunate enough to work in all 50 states that in itself is a little unusual and and certainly Alaska and and Hawaii and some of the non you know we're is a little more usual non contiguous but my business is taking me literally and figuratively to all 50 states also 20 countries and so when I tell people that Maine is a special place it's not coming from a perspective where I'm just being loyal to where my kids have grown up or where I live or where my business is in my in my mind Maine is the best state and I just love living in Maine and part of it is what Fred said is we we've got you know some natural resources that are very very unique but a lot of it is the combination of the history the legacy of Maine which there's there's a heritage and a legacy that I think goes into the DNA of Mainers one of the first colonies there's a work ethic there's to live in Maine 240 years ago was hard yeah people forget about in terms of you know the settlement because now we've got iPhones and TVs and there's modern technology but when the country was founded and when Maine was first settled in Yarmouth you drive down the street and you see houses with historic plates saying 1820 1780 back then there was no computer electricity there weren't cars there were horses they used water mills for generating so it was it was a hard life but it was a good life and there's something about that spirit from 240 years back then that impacts our way of life now and so when I travel around I meet with other companies and I meet with people I'm either recruiting as employees or clients everyone said it is something a little bit mythical about Maine which I just don't without any criticism of New Jersey I don't know if anyone from New Jersey is watching I just don't know if other states have that same sense because in Maine there is something special when I you know I grew up in Boston which I don't admit very much but when I drive up 95 in 128 is getting a little shabby and obviously they have a bigger economy and with that there's many other issues with terms of their infrastructure but then I go through New Hampshire things feel a little bit better yeah and you know people you know but then as soon as you get over from New Hampshire whether it's the clean air act without the billboards whether it's how we treat our highways whether it's how the rest stops are and Kenny Bungport or you know it feels different and that reflects on the spirit of Maine and it reflects on the business environment so I never talk about or even even uh acknowledge or tolerate when people say oh boy living in Maine or working in Maine isn't that tough it's not tough you have the business I mean the main gets attacked because of the high taxes the regulations and I want to be because for those of you out there watching aspiring to be in business you're going to have to deal with government you're going to have to deal with government at the local state and federal level now you can either close your eyes bury ahead in the sand uh or do like these gentlemen have done and that's to get involved and to and to be proactive in your community and I want to talk a little bit about that because you've been a real model here in Portland Steve and in the state and Steve Fred uh in terms of your commitment your commitment to the community your commitment to the to the state and a variety of endeavors yeah I agree with Steve and a lot of ways that Maine is a great place I feel though that to a degree our government has to see who they're competing against a little bit I feel like especially at the state level from a tax standpoint yeah and that we've got to get competitive with New Hampshire we've got to get competitive in the sense of what we're charging for state income taxes I think we we have great people the process needs to be simplified to a degree if we're going to grow business I personally have seen a lot of my friends take their businesses and leave or not grow businesses in Maine I think Steve is a great great model of a guy who's figured out how to make it work to his advantage in Maine and I think it's a great great thing and we need more businesses like Steve's and like you and like and like Shipyard but I feel it's challenging and I I think that I hope that government in Maine because we are small enough could figure out how to partner more in the future and I think some communities are really seeing that and taking advantage of that I in my lifetime I've seen Portland is one of the best cities in the world in my opinion I only there's no question the problem is I think that most of Portland they're there when you look at retail a great amount of it's gone to South Portland which is which is great in my lifetime congress street was where you came to shop I grew up in gray and we always came to congress street now you know towns like Falmouth, Yarmouth, Scarborough have become retail centers as well as South Portland and Portland's lost a big chunk of that Portland's lost a number of the downtown businesses for a variety of reasons that that we've gone to Westbrook whether you look at the idexes and right express and some of these consequently but in the meantime you've had this explosion of the foodie community in Portland and the beer community and I relate that to the people that say Portland's a great place to live I've experienced other places I want to come back to Maine because I grew up here I want to come here because my wife was from here and I'm going to create something special and there there's a list of people that are doing that and it's a great thing I think it could even be better if there was a degree of saying listen we're going to work closer with figuring out how you can be more competitive by making the playing field more level when you're competing against other areas I don't want to go to move to New Jersey and I don't feel that you know you look at Boston it's an hour and a half away and there's got to be a way for us to take the positive out of that economic you know you look at the the the the colleges that are there and what they've done and how they've spurred business off of that leveraging that in a greater way I was talking we were talking earlier about President Rippage of University of New England there's a great example of somebody who came to an academic the University of New England and has really grown that dramatically to the benefit of the great of Portland area and that is going to pay dividends for a long time I think the more we enhance those opportunities for people that come in and and or that are here and support the businesses that are here and it's great you know I get real concern when I see certain businesses downsizing in Portland when we can't really afford for that to happen Steve respond to some of the things that Fred talked about in terms of government and tax issues and things like that and then but I do want to interject this gentleman on my left is going to be a candidate for the United States Senate as an independent and I'm excited about it I've known Steve for a while and and I'm excited to have to have him involved in this race so we're going to talk a little bit about that so go ahead but Fred's point about government policy I am currently chairman of the arm of town council so on a very micro level and really government is basically components of of different enterprise whether it's Yarmouth or the county being Cumberland County or the state and every enterprise has its own infrastructure one of the challenges the main has is we have basically a weak economic engine powering a huge infrastructure you could take almost the other four states in New England fit them into the landmass of of Maine so part of this is policy I do think we need to be more competitive I do think that we need to attract more advanced industries we need to look forward over the next 20 30 40 years and if you look back over the last 40 years there's all kinds of shifts going from an industrial complex to technology to cloud-based to web-based we need to have the vision and we need to have the government that provides the resources to let businesses and small businesses grow I think 95% of the economy in Maine is driven by small businesses and so you know whether it's but part of it is up to the individual too I've known Fred now for five years and and it was funny before before we came on the air the producer said make sure you shut off all your phones I'm going to exaggerate but to make a point Fred carries like six phones and so it was like well too but he's the only person and I get emails from Fred at 4 a.m. and it's not because he's out it's not because he's out the night before it's because he's working you have to work hard you know I go out to Peaks Island and there's a restaurant there and says you know Fred this is Fred's restaurant I told last weekend I was in Nantucket with Katie and the kids and there was a sea dog and I sent a text to Fred Fred is this yours you have by license it to a friend the people that really succeed you know the government should do a better job of taking away the hurdles for businesses to succeed but for for me I'd rather see we get away from some of the excuses and say it's there we have a good labor force we have loyal people if you're in Maine generally you're here for a reason you're born here your family's here you love lobster skiing and so we don't have a transient population other than an outflow of of of college level students so for my company we're all about people if I hire somebody they're not going to wake up one day and go I may go live in Vermont or I may go live in New Jersey whereas in other communities Boston has New York LA has Las Vegas and Oakland so I love I know that comes through and we only have believe it or not guys we only have like two or three minutes left you're running for the U.S. Senate in a very crisp concise statement why well when Olympia Snow announced that she wanted to to get out of politics effectively by not running for a fourth term it resonated with me her reason was that she felt as though politics and government was being paralyzed by and I'm paraphrasing here by the negativity and bipartisan politics I've been an independent literally figuratively emotionally I've just independent and so I'm running as an independent because I believe that what's happening in Washington and what's happening in the state and what's happening all across the country is we've lost sight of what the issues are we've lost sight of the business issues the political issues the government issues in truthfully I think the government's only part of the answer I think everyone watching tonight is the bigger part of the answer we have 1.3 million approximately people in in Maine we have about 917 registered voters in the last presidential national election in 2008 about 750,000 people voted my challenge to every single voter is to get involved vote for me vote for Angus vote for one of the Republican or Democratic candidates but don't just vote out of a knee-jerk reaction because that there there's a D letter an R letter an I letter or don't just vote because Angus seems like a nice guy I have great respect for what Governor King did in his his time in office but that was 10 years ago I really want everyone to be engaged in this election looking at the issues and I'm excited about participating in my daughter Kami who's 12 is my manager she's my campaign manager and it's about the future and it's not just a hokey thing I think you know for us and for many people watching that are in their 40s or 50s we'll get through the tough economy and eight dollar gas prices are four dollars but for kids who are 12 and four and eight the future is theirs and that's what I want to fight for we were done awesome we're done and I uh this has been a great show thank you it's been a great show I wanted you to try to get the last word that's good I'm glad Steve excellent Steve thank you very much well really that was great yeah I wish we could I wish we next time next season I wish we had an hour I wish we had an hour we should come back because well next season but I but there's a lot to I mean we just