They grow up, move away, and make us proud. Here’s an update from 2003 alumni, Tray Abney, who is Managing Partner at The Abney Tauchen Group.
After ten years of working in-house for the Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce in Reno, Nevada, it was time to jump off the cliff and strike out on my own. While I still enjoyed the issues I worked on every day, I was ready for a new challenge.
Reno is still a relatively small city in a relatively small state, so my network of business and political leaders here didn’t take long to build and is varied and vast. Maybe I could parlay those connections into a lucrative practice?
Hesitant to take the leap alone, serious conversations started to be had in early 2017 during Nevada’s biennial legislative session. My long-time friend and colleague Lea Tauchen was working for the Retail Association of Nevada and had been for 13 years. We landed on the same life-decision point at the same time and decided to do something about it. We had been advocating for the same issues for the last decade. We both represented employers and have been effective in ensuring that their public policy goals were accomplished. Why not continue to lobby for people and issues that we believe in, but do it on our own terms?
For whatever reason, I neglected to enroll in “How to Start a Small Business” classes in between Dr. Paddock’s class on campaigns and political parties and whatever it was that Dr. Connor taught. To be blunt, the move from the non-profit sector to the no-profit sector has not been without its challenges. The paperwork and hoop-jumping and fee-paying leave much to be desired. I am not a numbers guy. At all. Luckily, my partner actually has marketable skills and she has been a godsend in getting us set up.
We still represent The Chamber and we have picked up a few other clients. We want to continue to represent business owners at the local, state, and federal levels. While we work from our homes, this effort has utilized a lot of coffee shops, lunch tables, and bar stools. We have reached out to every contact under every rock. It has been fun and stressful and rewarding and terrifying all at once.
What does our firm do? In short, we educate and connect. Nationwide companies need boots on the ground in various states to monitor city councils and the state legislature. We do that. Companies need to expand their physical footprint and have to get approval from the various bureaucracies and planning commissions. We introduce them to the right people and walk them through that process. A local executive needs to know which politicians to contribute to in 2018. They want to know who is likely to win, who will be a committee chair in Carson City next year. We look into our foggy crystal ball and help them work through those questions. Politics is about who you know. Public policy is a people business. We connect our clients to the people who can help them succeed.
We pride ourselves on having great relationships with leaders on both sides of the aisle from both ends of the state. Our clients aren’t interested in ideology. They are interested in results. There is plenty of room for politics and ideology during the campaign season. When it comes time for governing and creating good public policy, it’s time to put away the talking points and turn up your hearing aids. We listen and then we work toward an agreed-upon solution. It is possible to like politics and get something done at the same time.
On to the next chapter…