Opening doors in the US marketplace to ambitious SMEs

If Mary Rodgers can be described as a Wild Goose then she is a migratory one. Born to Irish parents and with an extensive family network in the United States (the children were born in the US, grew up in Ireland and all but one now lives in the States), Rodgers has one wing in Galway and the other in New York with homes and offices in both.

Being a native of both New York and Ireland gives Rodgers a unique perspective and an in-depth knowledge which is the key to the success of her business Stateside Solutions.

Stateside is a US consultancy which helps SMEs accelerate their entry into the US marketplace. It works with companies from Ireland but also from the UK, Estonia, Singapore and elsewhere. The company works cross-sectorally and has three associates in Ireland and two full-time staff in the US.

Rodgers went to the US in 1994 and worked as a paralegal for entertainment law firm Gold Farrell and Marks “learning about corporate America and doing 24-hour days”.

She then went on to work for Credit Suisse where she was promoted several times in an eight-year period, becoming vice-president, before establishing Stateside Solutions.

“I saw the potential for Stateside Solutions: I saw companies going to the States without much preparation and spending a lot of money and then not being able to scale,” says Rodgers. “I’ve seen people spend $100,000 and being left with nothing. People sending over cousins and friends who didn’t even know how to get to Boston, never mind getting to a quality meeting and achieving sales.”

She says that she is totally at home both in Galway and in New York, where she considers herself a native. “I was recently in a restaurant in New York and someone asked me was I enjoying my vacation and I was disgusted! I consider New York very much my home but it’s a confused situation – in Ireland people say ‘Here comes the Yank’ when they see me.”

Rodgers says that Enterprise Ireland was very supportive to her idea as one which could benefit its clients. Stateside was established in January 2008 in the US and rolled out in Ireland.

“I came back to Ireland so my children could go to school here,” she says of her two daughters. “They are both US citizens so they are grateful for that. I am a classic Irish-American – my parents met in Gaelic Park. They had 10 kids, my father passed away when I was a baby and my mother returned home. Myself and my husband knew that Ireland was great for raising kids but they now have the luxury of having an Irish childhood and a New York childhood.”

Living in both countries, Rodgers says that she can “cut out a lot of the hassle” and that it builds trust because “at the end of the day, people want to see you”. “People get nervous dealing with consultants based somewhere else – they feel they don’t understand them or they’re going to rip them off. But when you are here and there, it cuts the cost for people who may otherwise be hoodwinked into paying more for packages and lawyers.”

Sharp networker

Rodgers is a keen networker both in Ireland and the States. She is a member of Going for Growth and a mentor for her local enterprise office in Galway as well as the International Irish Business Network, NY Digital Irish and global professional women’s network Ellevate.

“When I am in the States I give about three hours a week where the graduates come in and pound me with questions,” she says.

There is less flexibility in the US market since the crash, she believes, and says her clients have to make an impression.

“They have to be ready for the opportunity – there is only one chance now. The US is really four different countries for doing business and you need to know how to manage the culture in each area. It’s a case of saying to clients ‘don’t take it on unless you can deliver it’.”

There are advantages to being Irish in the US. “There is an expected credibility there and the reputation is yours to lose, so to speak. People assume that you are smart, that you are ethical – you’ll get the first meeting based on being Irish – but the close of the sale will be based on your product or service.”

She has received the accolade of being voted one of the Irish Voice's Most Influential Women in Business two years running and has also received a similar award in Irish Tatler.

The key to Rodgers’s transatlantic success seems to be her optimism, enthusiasm and ability to get excited about a huge range of products and services.

“It’s essential to be able to motivate my clients about travelling to the States,” she says. Spending half your life in New York means you think like a local: “Where, in the past, you might have taken a taxi into the city now you take the subway because it’s faster and more efficient. As soon as I arrive there, I have meetings so I don’t want any lull. I don’t treat New York like a vacation – often I’m meeting people at 7.30am and going on till 10.30pm.” statesidesolutions.com