NYC: What Counts Here is the Not the Color of Your Skin but the Quality of Your Work

I recently made the acquaintance of a tutor, who is a native of Trinidad.  He told me that he had relocated to Atlanta some years ago, but found it hard to make a living there.  “The first thing people would ask me,” he said, “is where do you worship?” The answer to that question often determined whether or not he got the job he was seeking.  After struggling for a few years, he moved back to New York.  “Here people don’t care about the color of your skin, or what religion you practice,” he told me.  “They care about the quality of your work.”

The other day, I sought to help one of the tenants of the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows, who is Muslim, with a personal referral.  I am a yarmulke (skull cap) wearing orthodox Jew.  He told me of the work he had done for the late Rabbi Wolf of the Great Neck Synagogue, and of other Jewish organizations that had engaged his services.  He said to me, “It’s too bad that everybody can’t come to New York for a lesson in how to live and work with people of all faiths.” 

Mr. Singh, my telecommunications consultant for over twenty-five years is a Sikh.  He wears a turban.   Since arriving in the United States at the age of 17, he has always lived and worked in New York.  He doesn’t advertise and has never advertised because his reputation precedes him.   He also believes that New York offers a level playing field for all races, creeds and colors. “No one is out of place in New York,” he said.  Then, he added, with a laugh, “except possibly the descendents of the original colonists.”  The only time he ever felt threatened by prejudice was just after 9/11.  “People were scared.  They looked at me, and all they saw was my turban,” he said.  “It didn’t last long,” he added, “and it didn’t cost me any work.  People always judged me on the basis of my ability and expertise.” 

I, too, remember my days as the co-owner of First Choice Real Estate, Inc.  First Choice was a microcosm of the borough of Queens, which, with its population of 2.3 million people is the most culturally diverse county in the Untied States.  The agents included such disparate nationalities as Chinese, Koreans, Russians, Irish, Greeks, Indians, Israelis, and spoke a cumulative total of twenty-one different languages.   There was often bickering among the agents, but it was like the bickering of my children. What I remember most about them was not the differences between them, but the family they constituted.

The Value of Having a Branch Office

It has been more than thirty years since First Choice Real Estate was founded by Steven Blumner on Main St., in Flushing, New York.  I joined my brother in business in the fall of 1983, opening a small branch office on Utopia Parkway at the other end of Flushing.  By 2004, First Choice had become the top selling residential real estate company in the borough of Queens, and was sold in November of that year.  The buyer was NRT, Inc., a name unknown to most consumers, but at the time, the largest real estate company in the world.

I believe that one of the key steps that led to the success and growth of First Choice Real Estate was the establishment of that tiny branch office on Utopia Parkway.  That office, now the site of small nail salon, had room for only five desks, but the power that it gave us was a new identity as a multiple office operation.  In the mind of the consumer, a branch office signifies growth and ambition, and is perceived as a testament to the company’s success.  In a market crowded with competition, it singled us out as a company of distinction. 

I remember the delicious feeling of having two addresses on my business card and on our company stationary.  I published a monthly newsletter at the time, called the Flushing Homeowner, which listed the Main St. office as our “Headquarters,” and our little office on Utopia as the “Branch Office.”  Once a customer called our office, and apologized:  “I’m sorry,” he said.  “I meant to call your headquarters.”  I oozed with pleasure as I hung up the phone. 

Today the former First Choice Real Estate Building on 186^th Street in Fresh Meadows is now the home of the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows, an office building offering full service, furnished and equipped offices and virtual office solutions.

The Executive Office Center offers companies an opportunity to take the same strategic step we took in 1983 -- but at a comparatively insignificant cost.   You can open a “Queens branch office” at the Executive Office Center for a mere $39 per month.   A virtual office at the Executive Office Center gives customers the appearance of an actual office.

A number of well established attorneys have signed on at the Executive Office Center as virtual tenants.   Most have offices outside the borough, and are seeking local market penetration.  A virtual office at the Executive Office Center gives customers the appearance of an actual office, and their new Queens address broadcasts the same powerful message that conveyed with the opening of our branch office.  “We are an ambitious company.  We are confident and competent.  We are a company with whom you want to do business.