Attitude Counts: Developer Buell on Path to Success

Developer Jeff Buell once gave away $100 a day for a whole year to complete strangers. He is a prominent developer who believes in doing good and also making sure the numbers work.

"I was a 30-year-old with no self esteem," he said. He now understands a positive attitude can really make a difference and laments that area people "are so negative" about this region. We have incredible assets and the "weather has always been the same" here.

Buell, who grew up in Troy and announced at the forum his firm is buying 22 historic buildings in downtown Schenectady, believes this area is too parochial. "Pitting communities against each other is ridiculous," he said. "We are going to die" if we don't work together.

Buell is refreshingly outspoken and says since he's had some success he's gone from being "crazy to eccentric."

About his secrets to success --- get people to believe in you and always keep your word. "Failures teach lessons," he says. You find out who will stand by you and you can ask yourself, "what did you learn" from it.

When Transfinder CEO Antonio Civitella asked what was his favorite tool in his profession, Buell said, "the human mind."