You've gotta feel for Tom Beal's neighbors. As a kid, he was a fierce door-to-door fundraiser, sometimes unloading more candy and magazine subscriptions than the rest of his class or team combined.
Now, as a 32-year-old personal and business development specialist, he shares his strategies to help others increase their sales and profits.
In June 2004 he initiated RevitalizeRochester.com and NYGoodNews.com, Web sites geared toward bringing a sense of community to local business owners and professionals.
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So what exactly is a personal and business development specialist?
I help people put together and follow through with action plans that help them get from where they are to where they want to be, personally and professionally, by exposing them to things that they may have never been exposed to before.
Things like what?
From mindsets to specific action strategies or life-building strategies.
So you're kind of like Tony Robbins?
(Laughs ) Yeah. … His strategy is similar to mine but different. Mine's more personal.
And this led to the creation of RevitalizeRochester and NYGoodNews?
Definitely. I moved back from Charlotte, N.C., in Sept. 2003. And … (I saw) a huge difference between the people there and here as far as thinking that there's no opportunity here. … There are good things happening here, and I wanted people to talk about them.
What is the goal of Revitalize Rochester?
I'm looking to (offer) a resource for people who don't have a referral source. If you don't know a plumber, you could go to the site and find a quality plumber you can trust. I'd like to have a resource of the top professionals in each industry — people you could trust because they've been background-approved … . There are no guarantees about anyone, but it's better than picking someone out of the Yellow Pages.
How does NYGoodNews differ from that?
It allows for business owners, professionals and anybody in a trade to become a guest contributor. … If you're an insurance person, you can write the five steps people need to know to get insurance.
Are the sites working to plan so far?
They're working out pretty nicely. NYGoodNews is doing real well. I'm looking to see if others can run the sites full time because my energies are all over the place. But I'd like to get someone to take them and run.
Any big plans in the works?
I've got a couple meetings with large advertising firms. They may see the sites as a fit for their company to grow. … To make a change, people just have to start getting involved, and this is definitely a great way.
