Not many people give much thought to where the check is going when paying those monthly bills. A post office box in some city, somewhere USA, is going to receive your payment.
Your next bill will show you made the payment. For those wondering where the money goes, wonder no more. Jonathan Gustave can give you the answer: “Klik!”
Gustave got the idea for a financial service business ”“ which entails collecting monies for several entities and making sure it goes into clients”™ accounts ”“ from watching his father, Michael Gustave, who owns Graphic Service Bureau in Orangeburg.
“Dad”™s company prepares bills for thousands of rental agencies in the metropolitan area. He sends out nearly 2 million rental notices each month. His job is to make sure they are accurate, in the mail and out on time. I always wondered what happened to those bills once the recipient put their check in the envelope and mailed it back. That”™s how Klik ”˜clicked”™ with me and got me started.”
These days, says Gustave, Klik”™s clientele is growing, simply because it has become easier for many municipalities, public agencies and private businesses to outsource this type of work rather than hiring a employee to do it. Klik can service a client with as few as 10 or as many as 250,000 pieces of mail a day. “For example, we send tax bills out for several towns, villages and school districts. We collect the funds through our ”˜lock box”™ system, and then it is deposited into the clients”™ accounts. We are both internally and externally audited to make sure every nickel is accounted for. Then we also have a third independent auditor monitoring us. Our clients know we are reputable and dependable. We”™ve been able to provide a valuable service, and now that the economy has gotten soft, more people are looking to outsource this type of business. It saves them a lot of money, and needless to say, it provides us with the ability to expand and grow.”
That growth has prompted Gustave to look for new quarters, and he”™s found the perfect solution in Valley Cottage. Security, data rooms, technology and an additional 7,000 square feet of space in a soon-to-be-new office park home prompted Jon Gustave, CEO of Klik, to sign with the landlord and move from his current Spring Valley location this summer.
And while it may not be a “klik” away from happening ”“ the company”™s move is scheduled for the end of July ”“ Gustave says he and the 100+ plus employees are looking forward to their new digs. “We”™ll have more space and be able to provide more perks, including a workout room,” he said. “Some of the staff have been with me since I started out ”“ we”™ve seen some up times and down times ”“ and several are doing the reverse commute from Westchester. Our new location, off Exit 12 near the Palisades Center, is going to make travel easier for everyone. It will also make our company more attractive to future employees who want an easy on-off the Thruway and accessibility to northern New Jersey and Westchester.”
Gustave said he needed no broker to find him a suitable site in Rockland. “There are plenty of signs out there ”“ there is no denying the market is very slow and everyone”™s advertising space. Basically, I drove around until I saw something I liked, and then talked to the management about leasing.”
While Gustave may not have made commercial brokers happy by being his own agent, he says his knowledge of his native Rockland and his company”™s needs also came into play. “I knew where I wanted to be, and what my employees needed ”¦ I also knew I wanted to be in a place that would be convenient to Westchester, and there was no question I wanted to stay in Rockland ”¦ I was born here, have my business here and want to remain here.”
Another attraction to Gustave”™s new space is that lies within Rockland”™s Empire Zone. “We did make an application, and we plan on adding 30 new positions to our existing 120 employees ”¦ we are certainly in a growth mode, and we don”™t see that changing anywhere in the near future.”
While other industries are faltering, Gustave says he is fortunate ”“ business is booming. “We expanded nationally into several markets with seven processing sites in Florida, Arizona and Texas. We buy the equipment and find partners that can put it into their locations. We”™ve patented that concept to work out of these remote sites, so when I say we are growing, it is not just on a local but national basis.”
And for those who do not want to use KlikRemit â„¢ and prefer the paperless route, Gustave”™s company offers KliknPay â„¢ so payments can be withdrawn directly from customers”™ accounts and deposited into clients”™ accounts.
“Somehow, I can”™t envision that we or any other industry will be totally paperless, but nearly 20 percent of our users are going paperless, and we expect that number to climb.”
The financial services company founded by Gustave has been on both sides of the market ”“ up and down. “The most important lesson I”™ve learned from all of it is how important good employees are. We”™ve seen some down time and are now experiencing record growth, and our new space is going to provide our employees with the very best. You can have a great business, but without great employees, you aren”™t going to get far. We”™re designing a space that is designed not only to streamline our business, give us more space but also let Klik employees know how valuable they are to our company and its continued growth.”
