Executive Suite: David Gussin

David Gussin, co-founder of 516ads.com and 631ads.com, is kind of a one-man band when it comes to marketing his advertising, networking and Web design company.

Yet, because free networking socials are part of what his business does, thousands of Long Islanders attend his parties.

With Web savvy, Gussin, 47, is managing to build his company, party by party, person by person. His money is made when businesses sponsor his events, hire his Web designers and pay to post on his websites.

The son of a dry cleaner, Gussin says he once tripled business from $3,000 to $9,000 a week by changing the shop's signage to feature cheap prices with a happy face.

He says he also popularized "the everything bagel" on Long Island while working at a bagel shop.

Now Gussin's goal is to help businesses "get their names out there," while publicizing information about the Long Island community and its charities.

What are the most important tools for getting a company publicity?
Make yourself easy to remember, and stand out from the crowd. Meetup.com is certainly a wonderful website to coordinate meetings or networking events. Placing a free classified ad on Backpage.com can also help your Web rankings; when people Google, the ad may pop up six months later.

Why are you sometimes using ".li" instead of ".com" for Long Islanders' websites?
It's actually the country code for Liechtenstein; ".li" is just a smart tool to get your name out there. There are over 100 Long Island companies that are using it, and we expect many more to use it in the future.

What's your passion?
To use my creative skills to make the world a better place. Also, to introduce society to my message -- LEARN (Let's End All Racism Now) -- and let them know there's an opposite to racism.

Do you have any networking tips?
Networking is like gardening. The best gardener in the world would like their tomatoes to grow right away. But they don't. Everyone would like to go to events and have everyone say, "Oh, I need you, you're the greatest thing in the world." But that's not real business.

Real business is getting out there and building relationships. And everyone who's involved better have a quality product to back it up. Networking is different for every company, but to paraphrase Dale Carnegie, "You can make more friends in two weeks by showing interest in others than you can in three years by trying to get others interested in you."

Selfish motives stick out like a sore thumb. And I encourage people to create your own networking party . . . then do me a favor and invite me.

COMPANY SNAPSHOT

Name. David Gussin, co-founder

Company. 516Ads.com and 631Ads.com of Merrick

What he does.  Advertising, networking and Web design; the main websites publicize businesses, community and charity information

Employees. 2

Revenue. $125,000