Gary Marx: Find MILLIONS in Hidden State $$ (Tax Breaks Your Business is MISSING!)

in working in in state government and working with locals, they very much want to help out particularly businesses that are, you know, saving jobs or creating jobs. If there's a particular issue that a company is facing, $1,000 in a facility or $50 million in a facility, you want predictability. And I think we're seeing that now with tariffs is creating uncertainty in the business community around the country. You know, I think governments are looking out of after by bringing a a large employer, whether it's office, manufacturing, warehouse, you're bringing more people into the community and they're now hopefully shopping locally to the local businesses that are in that community. The office market struggles. The retail market, retail shopping centers, retail malls continue to struggle as more and more people find the convenience of buying products over the internet. We're going to hire a 100red people. We need to provide documentation to all that in order for the company to receive the incentive for that year. If they don't meet those targets, they may not get the incentive. Welcome to the Let's Talk Business Podcast, a project of the PEX Group. Gain valuable, actionable ideas from the world's top business leaders to help you take the next step in your business journey. And now, here is your host, Manny Hoffman. Coming to you from the PEX headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. This is the podcast for nononsense advice to help you learn, grow, and lead. Today, I'm so excited to welcome our guest, Gary Marx. Gary's been doing economic development for over 35 years, helping companies big and small tap into local and state programs most people owners don't even know exist. Whether you're planning to expand, relocate, or just want to see what's available where you are, this conversation might open your eyes to what's possible. Without further ado, let's jump right into a conversation with Gary Marx. Gary, thank you so much for joining me on the Let's Talk Business podcast. My pleasure, Manny. Thank you for having me. So, um, we had a call. We got introduced by somebody that's a a very active listener on the show, which is always appreciated. Um, and what you're going to be covering today and the topic that you actually do as a profession is not a typical and I think it's the first time we're having somebody speaking on this topic. Um, so for our listeners, I give us give us your bird's eye view of of the topic, but before that, a little bit of of of your history, how you got into this, and then we'll get into a bunch of questions that I prepared. Sure. Um, you know, and and and some people that have heard this say, "Wow, you really planned that well." and it was just no planning. It just one one position led into another and it just built a base of experience. Um but uh I've been doing economic development work for over 35 years now. And uh I started out uh in economic development in the electric and gas utility industry uh for Orange and Rockland Utilities which covered northern New Jersey and Rockland and Orange counties in in New York State. uh they're now a part of Con Edison. Uh but I was responsible for attracting high energy users to the service area so the utility could sell them electricity and gas. And in doing that, I'd worked very closely with the um Department of Commerce in the state of New York and the state of New Jersey and uh worked with Rockland County and Orange County to try to bring jobs and capital investment to the region. Um, and my my contribution towards it was helping out with electric and gas industry costs. Um, helping companies uh determine if there was the right amount of power available for them or their gas lines, natural gas lines to the location and help bring the utilities to that site if it didn't exist. Um from there I went on to Jersey Central Power in in New Jersey doing the same type work. Uh then I moved to the state of New Jersey where I was in charge of attracting industry to the state. Uh so I worked very closely with all the counties around the state, the utilities, the various state departments of taxation, labor, transportation, um department of environmental protection and really addressed any concerns or issues that a company had coming into the state and um and and dealing with the various state agencies. And so I coordinated the project, worked closely with the state economic development authority on incentives to help attract the company and cover their initial capital investment and ongoing operating costs. Um, so I reached the point where I was either going to be a state employee for the balance of my career or I was going to go do something else. So I basically crossed over to the other side of the table and started representing the companies that were pursuing incentives and guidance and assistance uh with the various state departments and I helped coordinate their project made the introductions to the state and worked with them on um this determining where where they should locate. Uh so I did that for a number of years and um I formed Bluecap um a little over 10 years ago and uh I continue to do work with allsiz companies from all different industries all over the country. So, uh, as an example, I'm currently working a project where a distribution center client is considering locations in Cincinnati, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky to place a facility there. Oh, wow. Um, and then some I'm based in New Jersey in Flemington, New Jersey and and some of my projects are here in New Jersey and in New York and and the burrows and um so I I enjoy the work and and go around the country uh trying to help create jobs. It's very cool. And I I think um u we got to speak a little bit earlier um and where we you shared a little bit more details. But the interesting part of what you do is um you get to meet with a lot of a lot of entrepreneurs um you know you worked with um Fortune 1000 companies and advised them. Um, and a lot people will think that, you know, we got to move and and we're looking for a location, trying to buy a building or stuff like that, but there's so much you could look into based on economic development to determine where you want to be from a a tax incentive from from um employment, you know, opportunities and so on and so forth. And there's so much to to look into. I I guess I want to start asking you um for companies that have not moving like are you also involved in the space where people could um you know tap into benefits being where they already are? Yes, I I think that's that that can be um can be an area where companies can look into, you know, um incentives are driven at at the state level. Um but also at at the uh county, city and municipal level as well. And it can it can drive right down to a specific business district that wants to improve themselves and um and help businesses that are located in that area, whether it's a law firm or a retail establishment or electronics company. um things like streetscapes, you know, for improving sidewalks and and curbs and um signage on buildings or improving the awnings hanging over the windows or the front door of the building. Um security cameras um can be an issue and and there some cities and communities have programs for that. Um, lighting is is another area. Um, and you know, a lot of times I think it's just making the city government aware of a potential issue. Um, a lot of small businesses in particular, I think sometimes feel they won't get the attention of the local government and and you know, that's where um, with some of my my bigger clients feel the same way. and and it's it's in working in in state government and working with locals, they very much want to help out particularly businesses that are, you know, saving jobs or creating jobs. So, if there's a particular issue that a company is facing. Um, yes, the time to ask is is when you're creating jobs and maybe relocating to a new building. Um but also for existing companies um you know if there's an issue with lighting in the area or security cameras I would bring that to attention of either the city government or the local chamber of commerce or there may be an economic development corporation at the city or municipal level and they're there to help business. Um yeah, I I think it I think it's such a important point and that's why you know we had you we having you on the show now. Um I remember like years ago when we started the let's talk business initiative and we started off with uh live events and the way we were able to um subsidize some of the you know the cost um is we got some sponsors and and I remember speaking to one of the you know corporate sponsor and he says like why don't you go to try to get some some funding through the through the municipality in the government like in terms of because they're always here to to support small business and I actually reached out I had somebody that was had a nice position in government and and I reached out through his his people and like a few weeks later I got a phone call and said and and he says, "Manny, I have good and bad news. Which one do you want first?" And I said, "Obviously, first first we go for the bad news." He says, "I don't have funding for your program." Um, but if you're looking to build a building that you're going to host events, we might have funding because the state still has funding for a educational center to be done, but not to not to cover the education programs itself. So I said, wait a minute, I'm not interested now building a building for education. I just wanted to know if there's there's programs for that. But the moral the moral of the story is that there's always um programs being built into budgets as far as all kinds of investments for small business owners. I think what sometimes you could see a small business owner is is is scrap you know is so scrappy with their margins and stuff like that and and and then there's taxes to be paid acral cash base and all these different things but then there then there is some sort of program there that could actually help them. Um just even recently I heard about a program again we don't do financial advice it's just just a matter of of a conversation purposes um somebody told me that his accountant was able to um there was a R&D program for companies that are moving from paper to technology or investing in in in building out software for their company. there was a program and and that company went through like a big expense and they were able to deduct that from taxes based on the tax write off based on a program that his accountant was actually aware of and there's similar problems like that. I know a startup that moved to New Jersey because the government was the the the you know this the state over there wanted and bring in tech tech companies. he was a technology company and they got in their investors 25% back of their investment right right year one just because the the government incentivized people investing in tech companies there so just that's why we're talking about this topic because I think it's very important for for small business owners even you're not this big company looking to invest speak to your accountants speak to your local officials go sometimes to those those those small events to see what's out there and maybe you could u benefit from those programs Before we dive into this week's episode, I wanted to share an opportunity that many business owners are already taking advantage of. Now, we're about to wrap up Q1. If you're feeling stuck or unsure about your next move in your business, there's still time to turn things around. That's where a clarity session comes in. This is a focused one-time strategy session with me personally where we'll break down your biggest challenges, identify opportunities, and map out your best next steps for your business. You walk away with a clear action plan to move forward with confidence. Now, I want to make this clear from the get- go. This is not an ongoing consulting offer. You know your business best. This session is simply about giving you the clarity and direction you need to take action and make the rest of the year a success. Many entrepreneurs have already gained incredible value from those sessions. So don't miss out. Reach out to me now by emailing podcastpexgroup.com. I look forward speaking to you and seeing how I could bring more clarity to your business. I want to go back to you um like what is the stage at which point does somebody reach out to you? What's in the stage of the process? and what is usually the information that you would want to get from that business to understand um to start the process of trying to make to make sure that you're advising them the right u places. Yeah, that's a that's a good question many and and I think um you know I the type of questions I would ask or the type of information I would need upfront is really just I'm in listening mode. I I want to hear what the company what they do. um you know where they've been the last couple years, what what are they trying to accomplish? Um what are their challenges or or issues, you know, whether it's a company in a current location and someone's reaching out for to me. Um you know, to assist with a particular issue they have, whether it's financing or hiring people. you know, there's there's a lot of uh local finance programs um that that help entrepreneurs um that might not, you know, have the full resources to get the funding they need, but there may be a program that that kind of helps out and funds a portion of it to take some of the the burden off the banks and helps helps people qualify for loans a little quicker. um hiring people. Sometimes um economic development organizations at the local level will keep a database of people looking for um looking for positions and you know sometimes it's through the local chamber of commerce. Um so there's um with bigger projects I I focus more on uh number of jobs involved, the average wages of those jobs, the amount of capital investment going into a project. So um and I say that that's for you know companies with 15 25 jobs or more um you know would be considered a little bigger project. Um and and retail is a little different than than other type you know life sciences um manufacturing um you know retail is choosing locations based on on location traffic count income levels. So, um, you know, I've seen companies, um, and businesses choose a location where right across the street there maybe was an enterprise zone that would give them, you know, uh, a purchasers a sales tax exemption on the sales tax for what they're buying or a tax credit for hiring uh, employees um, to work in in their their store. Um, so I always try to say, you know, before you choose a location, see if there's if there's some type of district where it gives you a benefit to locate in one area versus another. Um, and and I think that's that's also important. Um, but uh and and and just find out what's available. um you know there there is assistance in in buying equipment and machinery um with financing and and sometimes grants um from time to time states will offer grants to assist with certain type of equipment purchases. So, um, that's what I try to find out what the company's planning to do and what they want to do and their challenges and and then I look to see what programs might be available and and you ask questions and and when the questions are asked enough, the city or state says, "Hey, maybe maybe we need to create a program to help with this." Mhm. Um, what would you say, you know, dealing with with these uh leaders and and and usually obviously they're visionaries because they're looking to expand and grow their companies. What are some common traits you have seen um that in the thinking process some of those leaders have um as as they as they're looking on those locations? I'm sorry, could you maybe rephrase that question? Yeah. So in terms of I want to see if there's any any trades that you could pick up as leaders looking at expansion um you know what's their thought process? Obviously everybody wants to save money and grow a company. Is there any any other things leaders are looking when they're you know working with you and choosing those locations? The the the big thing is the labor market and I think that's for for businesses of all sizes. Um, you know, I I had a meeting in in Virginia with um the commerce department in in Virginia and a familyowned um farm um that they they grow vegetables and and um they have a number of farms spread throughout on the east coast. And uh when we met with with the state um the head of of the state office asked the CEO of the company was the oldest brother um what's keeping you awake at night and without a hesitation the CEO said labor. I I want to be sure we can get the people we need. Um so that's that's always top of mind I think. um and they want to be in an area, you know, that is businessfriendly. Um predictability is, I think, up there. You know, when when a company's making an investment, you know, whether it's $500,000 in a facility or um $50 million in a facility, you want predictability. Um, and I think we're seeing that now um with tariffs is creating a certain uncertainty in in the business community around the country. And a lot of people are just holding back and waiting because they want to be sure um that when they make a decision on a relocation or opening a new facility that um that you know it it meets their expectations of you know what they think they're acquiring. Yeah. So now let's let's flip it a second and speak about um um you know state and and federal agencies um you know um municipalities that are actually giving some of those incentives. Uh what would you say um outside of obviously everybody wants to create jobs in their in their in in their um state. Um what what other things have you seen as recent trends that why states are would want to incentivize companies to come? What type of companies or what type of uh of business are they looking to get into their state? Well, all states are are are really focused on three things is is jobs uh capital investment and technology. Right? when you attract a new technology to your community, employees are being trained on that technology and you you almost can establish a little um you know niche market of of companies within the same industry. Uh so I think that's um that that is an important thing. So just in general what other things come up um when like why they would you mentioned the three things you mentioned the jobs Um and then you mentioned the NMM technology and you me you me capital investment. Yes. Yes. So so you know when it comes to jobs there's a whole multiplier effect where if a manufacturer moves into a a community and creates 35 new jobs. those people in those jobs now are maybe going out to restaurants a little more often which is more business for restaurants who now are hiring more people. So there's a whole ripple effect on a community. So 35 jobs there may be another additional 5 to 10 jobs that are created in the community to support those people. They're buying cars, they're buying real estate. Um so that's that's a big driver in in economic development. Um capital investment is important. It's it's you know when a new building is built there are construction jobs that that go into that. Um materials are being sold. Um office equipment. Um retail shelving. Um racking systems for warehouses. um all of that factors in um and including that new technology and and bringing new skills to the community. Um so that's what you know I think governments are looking out of after. Um, by bringing uh a a large employer, whether it's office, manufacturing, warehouse, you're bringing more people into the community and they're now hopefully shopping locally to the local businesses that are in that community. And I think you see it a lot more when you go out into a small city, like if you go out into central Pennsylvania somewhere, you see a new employer come in. And it really the impact of that employer and those jobs show a lot more than if you come to a more metropolitan area like the the greater New York City area um where a company creating 50 jobs comes in and it's not as visible the contribution they're making to that community. Got it. with everything happening across real estate, energy, infrastructure, like what shifts are you seeing in the economic development right now and what should the business leaders uh keeping an eye on? Well, I think there there continues to be a drive towards targeted industries. Um I see that a lot in in in programs where where companies are looking for um clean technology um high technology uh electronics um data centers. There's a lot of lot of programs that have been created specific towards attracting data centers um and other clean types type of energy. Um aerospace uh uh pharmaceutical life sciences is still a big industry. Um and uh you know there continues to be a movement um away from the northeast and midwest um towards the southern states. Um they've been much more aggressive in working to attract industry and and made themselves very businessfriendly. Um whereas to get an approval on a project to build a building in New Jersey may take two years plus. In South Florida, they say, "We we'll get you the approvals in six months." Wow. So, for a a business that wants to get up and running in a location quicker, they may choose a location that accommodates them to that point with uh you know, the the permitting and approval and the support they may need uh from the community and from the government. Hey listeners, are you struggling to create beautiful looking proposals? Is it a hassle every time you need to prepare a quote or proposal for your clients? Is collecting signatures still a manual process? Well, it's time to upgrade to Panda. At PEX, we use Panda for all our proposals, employee documentation, and so much more. It saves us time, keeps everything organized, and our documents look incredibly professional. With customizable templates, real-time collaboration, and e signatures, Panaduct turns creating documents into quick and easy steps. Plus, it integrates with so many other tools, streamlining your workflow and boosting productivity. Try Pandock today by visiting pex.co/pandadoc and start your free trial. Trust me, it's going to be a gamecher for your business. That's ptex.co/pan doc. So any other thing any other trends you're seeing like people um pausing growth locally or actually now because of tariffs and stuff are people looking more for manufacturing now in the US and have you seen some of those projects come through your desk? Yeah, so we we are getting more interested in manufacturing. Um I've I've gotten numerous calls over the past year or so of companies with manufacturing conducted in in China. um distribution, you know, beginning in China where they want to maybe not move all of it back to the US, but at least a portion of it. Um we also have seen since the pandemic a great shift out of office buildings. I think some of that has been coming back, but not nearly to the degree of, you know, preandemic um times. Uh so the office market struggles, the retail market, retail shopping centers, retail malls continue to struggle as more and more people find the convenience of um buying products over the internet. Um even groceries, I I we see the an uptick in groceries being purchased over the internet. Um, and that created, you know, where I am in New Jersey, um, the distribution market has skyrocketed over the last five years or 5 to 10 years. Um, and it reached the point where you just couldn't find a building at any cost um, to occupy. That has since died down some and there's becoming more buildings available. Uh so that that's opening up some but I I think um yeah the office market you know downsized to work from home um manufacturing is definitely some of it's coming back to the US um and and there has been growth in the manufacturing sector and uh and distribution continues to be strong not quite what it was a few years ago though. Got it. So let me ask you because we we spoke we mentioned before about tariffs. Um do you see any so obviously the current president wants to bring back manufacturing. This was a motto that he's been speaking for years. Question is have you seen it um you know certain states um incentivizing bringing back manufacturing as a part of that plan or is it just cutting off with the or just adding the tariffs but there's no real incentives for bringing back manufacturing? Well, I think you know companies coming from overseas to the uh US are eligible for the same programs as companies that are already here. Um there there was some talk and and I don't know if it's it's happened or not. Um but the the federal research and development tax credit um there was some talk about adding a layer to that if companies are are are bringing their manufacturing back to the US. Um, and there there have been a number of states uh that do regular trade missions overseas and and talk with with governments and and business organizations, you know, representing certain industries around the world to try to bring uh, you know, industry to their state. Very cool. Um we spoke about your company called Blue Cap and this is what you do advising companies um when they're going through this process. Um how do you see your company growing? Like is it is it um you you actually being involved in the whole process or do you have other people that work alongside you in terms of accommodating those clients? Yes, I I stay involved in all projects and I have a couple um contract employees that will work with me on on projects. Uh independent consultants who um uh two of them have retired from from state government, want to continue working, but not necessarily the point of building a business. Um just handle a couple clients and and work projects. Um but I stay involved through the initial site selection to the incentive negotiation and then every every incentive program has an administration phase. So a job creation tax credit might be for a 5, seven, 10 year period of time. The company has to report back to the state each year that they've met their commitments to the program of paying at least minimum wage of offering employees health benefits um of of you know the the wage being at a level that the company um you know said if that they were going to pay you know $40,000 per employee average we're going to hire a hundred people. We need to provide documentation to all that in order for the company to receive the incentive for that year. So if they don't meet those targets, they may not get the incentive. Got it. Um do you ever advise companies that are not looking to relocate um just on even in their in their current position, current location of of looking into incentives of operating um incentives? Uh operating incentives, they're usually that's going to be tied to um some type of expansion or increase. Um, I'm thinking maybe maybe some utility discounts, um, electric gas, uh, an expansion may lead to a property tax abatement, um, something like that. Got it. Got it. Um, where could people find out more about what you do and and if they want to reach out to you? Well, the, um, I have a LinkedIn profile. Quick search on Gary Marx. There aren't many of us out there. Um, Bluecap has a website um www.blcapeconomicadvisors.com. Beautiful. Uh, we will link u to the resources mentioned this episode. Check out the show notes at www.pexgroup.com/mpodcast. We will link to find Gary on LinkedIn. We'll make it easy for our listeners and ultimately um a link to the website. Let's close with the four rapid fire questions. Are you ready? Let's go. Number one, a book that changed your life. A book that changed my life. The The one that comes to mind is Think and Grow Rich. Beautiful book. Yeah. Not the first time it's mentioned on the show. Number two, a piece of advice you got that you'll never forget. Um well I'm big in sports and so um a hard thing for me to learn was was take losing the same way you take winning. Try to be even keel and that came from my father. Very nice. Number three. Anything you wish you could go back and do differently. Oh I think we all would would like to have studied harder in school. And last and final question. What's still on your bucket list to achieve? I still want to grow my business bigger, better, stronger. Um, I'm about to become a grandfather and family is very important to me. So, watching that little girl grow up is is uh going to be a important phase of my life. Very cool. Very cool. That's as as we say, Masletov, you know, that's a that's a great achievement. Yeah. Thank you. I I know I have a grandchild of my own. Um, and it's the the the nicest fulfilling uh uh time when he comes to visit. You know, he comes to visit, you you hold him, you enjoy him, and then then you give him back to mama. Give him back to Yeah. Gary, thank you so much for joining us. I know your time is valuable. That is why in the name of our listeners, we'll forever be grateful for sharing some of your time with us today. It's my pleasure, Manny. Thank you for having me. My pleasure. That's my conversation with Gary Marks. My takeaway from this one, number one, you can negotiate way more than you think. Most people think incentives means tag breaks, but Gary explains how local cities will help with things like better lighting, signage, sidewalks, even speeding up the permit process if they believe your business brings value to the area. Number two, hiring is the number one deal breakaker. Every serious business leaders Gary works with asks one thing first. Can we find the right people here? If the labor isn't there, nothing else matters. So, if you're considering a move, always start by looking at the local workforce. Number three, government help is real. You just need to ask the right way. States and cities actually want to help. They're not always shouting it from the rooftops. Gary shows how to find the right contacts, ask the right questions, and unlock the support that's already sitting there. Number four, American manufacturing is quietly coming back. Between tariffs and supply chain issues, more companies are moving parts of the business back to us. And guess what? Local governments are ready to help, especially if you're creating skilled jobs. Number five, small towns care more than big cities. In big cities, hiring 20 or 30 people doesn't make headlines, but in smaller towns, that's the kind of growth that matters. And they're often roll out the red carpet just for you. That's where Gary helps companies find opportunities other don't even notice. And that's a wrap for today's episode of the Let's Look Business podcast. I hope you enjoyed the practical nononsense advice that our guest shared. If you found value in listening, I would be so grateful if you could share the episode with your friends and if you could give the show a fivestar rating on Apple Podcast or wherever platform you listen. Subscribe to the show and get notified every time we publish a new episode. The Let's Talk Business podcast is a PEX Group original production. Until next time, make it a great day. [Music]