Joseph L. Garcia
President & CEO
New Era Portfolio

New Era Portfolio Makes INC. 500

Joe L. Garcia, president of New Era Publishing, Inc., does not shy away from a challenge.  An entrepreneur at heart, Joe has been passionate about creating companies that fill a need ever since he was a young boy. From running his very first paper route in Plymouth, Michigan to owning a popular bar on Sixth Street to managing a large staffing company that was purchased by Staffmark in 1998, Joe has been an innovator in the business arena.

In 2000, Mr. Garcia started New Era Publishing, an Austin-based fine art publisher, printmaker and artisan framer. Despite a rocky beginning thanks to the burst of the high tech bubble and 9/11, New Era endured and in 2002 the company began to prevail.  Over the years New Era has acquired many recognizable clients like Ethan Allen, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Crate and Barrel, Z Gallerie, Norwalk Furniture, Bloomingdales Home, Harrah’s and Hilton, not to mention the company commissions some of the top artists from around the nation.  New Era has received a variety of accolades like the Inner City 100 Award from ICIC Magazine and Inc. Magazine in 2007 and the company has been ranked in the prestigious Inc. 5000 list, from Inc. Magazine, for three years in a row, and this year moved up to 485 on the Inc. Magazine 500 list.

Mr. Garcia’s vision of removing the snobbery in fine art and making it accessible to everyone led to the company’s motto, “Fine Art For Everyone.”  Joe has implemented a variety of unique offerings at New Era to bring this mantra to life. Interior designers have the luxury of choosing customized artwork that can be created in 48 hours, large hotels and resorts can have proprietary artwork created especially for them and the general public can shop New Era’s vast cache of fine art online at Gallery Direct.

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By Richard Ryman • rryman@greenbaypressgazette.com • August 9, 2009

Jim Overly has an issue. He’s found a way to get more business into his Cyber Works computer repair shop, now he has to figure out how to get the work done.

He’s got an architect, an engineer, a blue print shop owner and a jeweler to help him. They and others are members with Overly of one of The Alternative Board’s local strategic boards, a gathering of noncompeting businessmen who share ideas, make critiques and generally act as a support group and sounding board. In essence, an alternative board of directors to companies not big enough to have a board.

“Ultimately, we make our own calls,” said Joe Pankratz, owner of Avenue Jewelers in Appleton. “It’s very, very beneficial to know multiple perspectives instead of one. You get the comfort factor that you are not out in left field because you react to something emotionally.”

Overly’s strategy is summed up by his advertising slogan, “48 hours or free.”

His computer sales and repair shop guarantees that any computer repair or upgrade will be done in 48 hours or the work is free. He has four computer techs and a limited physical space, but business has already increased and usually doubles in the months following Christmas, which is what he’s planning for now.

“We have to maintain the same niceness and ability to get things done even though we are doing it twice as fast,” he said. “I don’t want to keep adding techs. I don’t want to work twice as hard for the same amount of money.”

After quizzing Overly pretty thoroughly, suggestions flowed: use a triage system, use prices to control flow, think about what to do next when competitors begin matching 48 hours or free.

“I definitely got great advice from the other guys. One of the things we do in that meeting is throw out stuff we are doing, thinking about doing or doing and it’s not working,” Overly said. “I liked some of the ideas. I’ve already given them to my service manager to run by his guys.”

Alternative Boards are franchised to business consultants, who recruit members, lead meetings and provide one-on-one coaching sessions. The board to which Overly belongs is administered by Michael Audit, president of Benchmark Consultants Inc., Oshkosh. Audit and his partner, Jim Marshall, oversee three groups each.

Audi said the optimum size for a group is seven to nine members. In deciding to invite new members, he looks for a willingness on their part to be open to change and for chemistry, which is critical to a successful group.

“It’s really an appreciation that ‘there is more potential in this business and I need to get it,’” he said.

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