After three decades of depositions and cross-examinations, Islip-based Suzanne Hand & Associates remains one of New York’s most trusted court-reporting agencies. And through the teeth of the worst economic crisis since breadlines and Hoovervilles, President Suzanne Hand continues to parlay that strong reputation into successful spin-off ventures. Her latest is global videoconferencing hub Video Connect, with more on the way.
How many businesses do you own now?
Just two, the court reporting business and the videoconferencing business. But I’ve started four in my career and I’m about to launch my fifth: It’s another court-reporting business, tailored to a different clientele – this one will cater primarily to the insurance industry.
You’ve been in business for yourself since 1980?
I started my first court reporting service in 1980; that was Suzanne Hand & Associates Inc. Next I began a transcription company, Suzanne Hand Typing and Transcription Service Inc., around 1990. In the mid-1990s, I went into a tent-rental business with two of my brothers because I wanted to see if I could succeed at something other than legal work. Videoconferencing came next: I launched Long Island Video Conferencing Centers about five years ago, and retuned that into Video Connect over the last year. Now I’m working on my fifth, the new court reporting agency.
You do know there was this big recession, right?
Well, you have to be creative in trying times. One of the things I’m focused on now in my court-reporting businesses is creating more value-added services for my clients. For example, I’m about to launch an online repository – not a separate business, but a new service available to my clients, who will get a password and be able to access all of their transcripts online.
Court reporting lends itself to many parallel pursuits … how do you choose the new businesses you start?
I look for a new opportunity, or I stumble across one, and I evaluate whether it seems viable. I do this fairly regularly, and I regularly decide things are not viable. The process of figuring out whether something can work is very interesting to me. When something is viable, I pursue it. It keeps me fresh and interested in what I’m doing. You can’t do the same thing for 30 years and not get a little bored.
Does your core business benefit from your new ventures?
I always think it’s important to offer more to clients, so I look for opportunities to serve both new and existing clients. For instance, videoconferencing was originally offered as a service to attorneys, but when I launched an actual videoconferencing company, attorneys didn’t turn out to be my primary market. The real market is human resources – recruiting and job interviews, in all industries. So that was a case where I went into it thinking I was going to primarily service my attorney clients but tapped into an entirely different market.
Do you sink a lot into marketing your new ventures or rely more on reputation and word of mouth?
Until very recently, I relied primarily on word of mouth and reputation. But in this economy, things have changed, and I’m learning to be more aggressive in my marketing pursuits. I think what I’ve done so far is important. I don’t know yet if there’s a good return on it, but I think it’s always important to stay current. There’s a logical progression to the various enterprises you pursue – except tent rentals. That was originally my brother Tim’s business, and then me and my brother Tom went in with him. It was a second business for all of us. I wanted to see if I could apply what I’d learned in another business and succeed. I ran the business side of things, and it went really well. In the first year, we tripled sales. It was challenging and fun … but after a year I’d had enough. The phone never stopped ringing on weekends!
What have you learned from your numerous startup experiences?
Well, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning how to launch and grow businesses effectively. I’ve learned accounting and budgeting and human resources and creating systems and standards, and I’ve loved that, too. Today’s economy is a real challenge, and I’ve learned how to thrive in these economic conditions. But above all else, I’ve learned that it’s important to keep growing – or you go the other way.








