(This was published as a Letter to the Editor in the Greenwich Time on August 22, 2010)

By Claude Johnson

We need more taxpayers, not more taxes – and our town needs fresh, imaginative legislative leadership to achieve this in Greenwich and throughout Connecticut.

There are vastly more knowledge workers starting businesses than there are high-tech startups.

When I was laid off as a corporate exec in October 2001, I transformed my hobbyist pursuits into a full-time profession. Previously, all my available non-work hours went into researching the pre-NBA history of African American basketball teams. I was trademarking the names and logos of each new team I discovered and creating a portfolio of intellectual property.

With my wife’s encouragement, I formed a business, designed merchandise, contracted a sales team, and soon booked my first factory order – for over $600,000 – which shipped to 250 stores nationwide, all managed from my garage.

As times and trends changed, I evolved the business by partnering with firms like Nike, and by embracing the power of online commerce and social networking in the so-called “knowledge worker” industry – firms offering information, digital content, visitor engagement, online publishing, licensing, etc. This is a huge emerging category because, with low overhead, almost anyone can do it with a little help.

I began with my library card, and passion. But it wasn’t easy. Most resources – like the Small Business Administration or Connecticut Innovations – were for established firms, or high-tech concerns, where “seed investment” could be in the millions. Yet, there are vastly more knowledge workers than high-tech startups. They shun costly office space in favor of books like “Blogging For Dummies.” My office remains at home, enabling quality family time.

Today, knowledge workers are still largely neglected. What if we had an incubator system, with statewide branches, partnered with our world-class colleges, with Hartford’s collaboration, benefiting entrepreneurs, professors, college students, and local high school interns alike? Funding could come from portions of early profits, or from re-directed online sales taxes, if implemented.

This would create jobs in Greenwich while uplifting economically challenged areas throughout Connecticut. It would decrease the burden on Greenwich through more efficient use of our taxes, without considering statewide incentives for large corporations. If I am elected, I will introduce legislation that assists new job-growth industries like knowledge workers.