1 – Q) Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/cities.
A) Diamond Mills Resort is a luxury Boutique Hotel, Banquet Hall, Restaurant “BLACKBARN Hudson Valley” and Spa “The Waterside Spa” nestled in the Hudson Valley, 90 miles north of New York City, in the charming village of Saugerties, New York. Each hotel room boasts a private balcony overlooking the Esopus Waterfall. The Banquet Hall and Restaurant overlook the waterfall as well. The Spa is housed in two 19th Century brick houses on a Hudson River inlet with views of the Saugerties Lighthouse. With recent upgrades and additions, Diamond Mills is poise to be the premier destination in the Hudson Valley for weddings, corporate events, weekend and romantic getaways, and all manner of sightseeing, hiking, antiqueing and ski excursions in upstate New York.
2 – Q) Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
A) I, Thomas “Tom” Struzzieri, am the Owner and Developer of Diamond Mills Resort and Spa. It is my latest business but not my first. My first business was training horses, and then I developed HITS Horse Shows, a nationwide equestrian event company that was, and still is the largest of its kind. We organized more than 50 horse shows annually in New York, Florida, California, Virginia and Illinois. I sold HITS in 2022 and now concentrate on Diamond Mills. I am also developing a new non-profit company to help solve the hunger crisis in our country, and hopefully beyond our borders someday. I also started a triathlon company, HITS Endurance, which my son now manages. My businesses are all based in Saugerties, New York, where I live.
3 – Q) What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
A) I opened Diamond Mills in 2012 to fulfill a need in the upper Hudson Valley for both high-end lodging and modern banquet and event space. There were not enough hotel rooms during the busy tourist season, and certainly nothing as luxurious as Diamond Mills. My company HITS Horse Shows hosted nine equestrian competitions each year in Saugerties and the equestrian demographic demanded an upscale experience in food and lodging. Diamond Mills delivered that, and it was a win-win I also felt that the few banquet and event spaces that existed in the area were small and showing their age. I knew there was demand for weddings and corporate events in the picturesque Hudson Valley, and I designed the Grand Ballroom with that in mind. Chandeliers, opulent décor, a huge veranda overlooking the Esopus waterfall, and seating for up to 400 guests is just what the Hudson Valley needed.
4 – Q) What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
A) I have four pieces of advice here – find a business you love, work hard at it, believe in it, and believe in yourself.
5 – Q) What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
A) You have to know your business inside and out. Numbers are key – if you don’t know if your business is making money, or don’t have a grasp of what is coming in and going out, and don’t know how to adjust on the fly, you can’t be successful in the long term. Your business can look shiny and bright on the outside, but if you’re not elbow-deep in the grit on the inside, true success will elude you.
6 – Q) How many hours do you work a day on average?
A) When I’m not sleeping. Even if I’m not at my desk or at the property or on the phone or answering email, I am constantly thinking about the business and mulling ideas and possibilities in my mind. That’s not to say I don’t make time for family – I have an amazing wife and 3 kids, and they are the most important thing in the world to me. I’m lucky that my success in business allows me to provide for them. I divide that time very clearly – when it’s time for family, it’s family; when it’s time for work, it’s work. I make sure that happens.
7 – Q) To what do you most attribute your success?
A) Patience, Persistence and Perseverance
8 – Q) How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
A) I’d say marketing is the most confounding question in business. It’s impossible to quantify and track. Even when you have the Email or Google Analytics, you can’t tell how much revenue those customers created. That said, I’ve embraced social media more and more. It’s not a platform I use, but my wife and kids do, and they are most similar to the customers I want to attract. I have started to follow their trends in how they consume. We use direct email marketing too. I know some say email is passé, but when you have lots of information to share, I think it’s the best method. Sadly, the days of running an ad in a fancy magazine is not the answer anymore.
9 – Q) Where did your organization’s funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
A) I am lucky to be able to say I developed all of my businesses (HITS Horse Shows, HITS Endurance and Diamond Mills) on my own. Through small steps, I made some money and put it back in the business to make more money. In the beginning, I did a lot of jobs myself until I could afford to hire people to do those jobs for me. That helped me get to know and understand my businesses from the bottom up, and it goes a long way toward my relationship with my employees now – they all know I have done their job before, and they appreciate that.
10 – Q) What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
A) You have to love what you do, and wake up every day wanting to do it again. Even when it’s hard, you have to love it. That’s probably when I’m at my best – when it seems like I can’t possibly get through a particular challenge, I muster everything I have to get past it, and it usually makes me stronger and hopefully, smarter.
11 – Q) Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
A) While I might be slowing down a bit (I’m 66 now), I don’t think I will ever fully walk away from business and the challenges and rewards that go along with it. I always want to grow my businesses and make them more successful. My goal with Diamond Mills is to make it the most beautiful and popular destination in the Hudson Valley. Adding the Waterside Spa was key to that end. We’ve also added additional rooms through some houses and buildings I owned in the Village of Saugerties that provide a private residence experience for our guests. I want to keep building on the all-inclusive resort idea at our property.
12 – Q) Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
A) Wal-Mart and Hilton. Those are two companies who chose their customer demographic and service that demographic to a “T”. Their founders built them from the ground up and never lost sight of their main goal. They are profitable and recognizable, and you know what you are going to get every time. I have done my fair share of business with both companies and I think they are the best at what they do.