Where Business Growth Meets Local Life in the Hudson Valley

Last week I asked: why is our Hudson Valley work ethic so strong, but our professional networking feels broken? This week, the answer came through real conversations. Amy in Dover Plains revolutionizing healthcare with her direct primary care model, Sandy in Staatsburg struggling to find authentic business connections after moving from California, and Cat in Saugerties helping entrepreneurs breakthrough limiting beliefs that kill deals.

The pattern is clear: we have incredible talent here, but we're operating in silos.

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Amy Bryson just opened her direct primary care practice in May - no insurance, no rushing patients out in 15 minutes. For $80ish/month, her patients get same-day appointments, prescription benefits, and a provider who actually listens. The kicker? She's already looking to hire another nurse practitioner because demand is exploding.

"My patients love it," Amy told me. "Word of mouth is the best marketing because people are like, 'You got to go see Amy.'"

This is exactly what Hudson Valley businesses need, models that prioritize relationships over transactions. Amy's DPC approach works for the same reason authentic networking does: when you remove the artificial barriers and focus on real value, people respond.

Sandy, a travel advisor who's lived everywhere from Germany to California, nailed the core issue: "Everything I see around here is so stuffy. It's about real human connections and helping each other, not the stuffiness of 'I'm better than you.'"

She found better networking energy in California because the mindset was collaborative, not competitive. Here's the thing. We have the same caliber of entrepreneurs, we just need to shift how we connect.

Early morning walks on the Walkway Over the Hudson hit different in September. The crisp air clears your head before diving into the week's relationship building. Looking forward to my walk tomorrow morning with Johnny, a subscriber to HV Vibes and local entrepreneur!

"The Hudson Valley has this hangover from the IBM generation... there's still some disease of IBM that limits people's mindset." - Ed Weeks (from a recent conversation about why local businesses default to outside consultants instead of supporting homegrown talent).

Grateful for business owners like Amy, Sandy, and Cat who are building something real here. Each conversation reminds me why this work matters. We're not just fixing networking, we're rebuilding how business gets done in the Hudson Valley. Our recent conversations are fueling the September launch of the podcast that will spotlight the many great entrepreneurs in the HV!

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Building authentic connections, one conversation at a time.

Ed Weeks, Jr., MBA is the publisher of HV Vibes and other business intelligence newsletters including AI Jumpstart Lab, Revenue Stack, The Fractional Fix and The Press On Report. Based in the Hudson Valley, Ed helps growth-stage entrepreneurs and Gen X business operators identify profit accelerating opportunities through strategic automation and AI implementation.