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Coffee Talk
+ Get on the bus,
a new tour is in town
New York City has its Seinfeld and Sex and the City bus tours, where fans of those famous TV shows can see where Jerry bought soup and Carrie bought shoes. And North New Jersey has a Sopranos bus tour, where followers of the popular mafia show can check out Tony's favorite haunts.
And now, Sarasota-Bradenton has the ... Florida Foreclosure Team's bus tour of foreclosed and bank-owned homes. Fitting, given the housing boom and bust is what many people think of nowadays when it comes to the Sunshine State.
The foreclosure team is actually a group of five colleagues in the area's real estate industry who have joined together in an effort to generate sales in the growing foreclosure market. The team includes agents from the local firms of Blue Skye Lending, Keller Williams Realty, Lakewood Ranch Insurance and Cornerstone Title.
The bus tour is a top-tier event: Potential buyers will be chauffeured from listing to listing on an air-conditioned executive-style bus as they check out a selection of homes. Snacks will be provided, as will pens and paper for taking notes. The agents on the bus will serenade the bus-riders with the details on each home they pass, from bedrooms to insurance packages.
Alas, this tour isn't for the star-struck. There are no plans to pass by the homes of Sarasota celebrities such as Jerry Springer or Stephen King. Indeed, says Leslie Swart, one of the organizers of the bus tour and an agent with Blue Skye Lending, the tour is for serious buyers only. Says Swart, in a statement: "This is an opportunity for them to leisurely tour properties, share the enthusiasm of other buyers and receive immediate answers from the experts."
The first tour is scheduled for Saturday, May 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Go to www.floridaforeclosurehotlist.com for more information.
+ Silk pajamas
not included
Wanderlust, the annual tourism charity confab in Southwest Florida, will take on a new meaning this year.
Among the top live-auction prizes at this year's event April 10 is a private tour and lunch at the Playboy Mansion for two adults, including a peek inside the infamous grotto on the sprawling property in Beverly Hills.
If you stumble on a pool party you should know that video cameras are not allowed. Still cameras are permitted, however, so you can snap a quick shot of yourself with Hef and his bunnies.
Stephen Eisenberg of Florida Gulf Coast University arranged the exclusive visit through his cousin, SheriJo D'Amico, who is vice president of Playboy International. Eisenberg is a professor in the Resort and Hospitality Management Program at FGCU.
Speculation is mounting as to who will bid for the trip, which includes round-trip airfare and six nights at luxury hotels in Southern California (sorry, silk pajamas not included). "Are the wives going to be like, 'You're not bidding on that,'?" wonders Andrea Steffy, a spokesperson for the event.
The April 10 event is held every year in Southwest Florida and the proceeds benefit the resort and hospitality program at FGCU. Tickets to the event at Naples Grande Beach Resort cost $250 each.
+ Slumping economy
breeds opportunities
While the current economic climate doesn't necessarily scream opportunity for revenue growth, small business owners and entrepreneurs can still be productive in other ways in the downturn. As many things in business, it all comes down to having, and executing, a plan.
That's the message a trio of Sarasota-area executives delivered during a recent presentation hosted by the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce titled, Success Strategies for a New Economy: Weathering the Economic Storm.
Not surprisingly, the audience was bent toward executives from companies with some connection to the housing market, from the obvious, such as bankers and mortgage brokers, to the less obvious, such as a printing business owner whose business is down as much as 15% after relying on real estate brokers and others in the industry for a bulk of work during the boom.
And it was also no surprise that the attorney on the panel, Cheryl Gordon, with Sarasota firm Abel Band, kicked off her presentation with a legal warning to all entrepreneurs: No matter how bad things get, says Gordon, no one should ever consider neglecting the IRS, especially payroll taxes. "If you don't pay off the IRS on this," says Gordon, "they will come after you right away."
Other tips and suggestions were a mix of bluntness and subtlety. Many were reminders of what should be business basics, but aren't always adhered to. They include:
• Create an "if" plan. That is, what to do if the economy stumbles longer than you, or the experts, have projected. And that plan should be big-picture, starting with whom to lay off. Panelist Angela Massaro-Fain, president of Lakewood Ranch-based Grapevine Communications, says her firm recently came up with its "if" plan: The firm has already received approval from staff to cut everyone's salary instead of resorting to layoffs;
• Look to cut expenses on standard costs. Take a close look at your contracts for outside services such as IT, Web site hosting and insurance. When feasible, seek new bids;
• Use the time wisely: If the slump allows more time to get to a project list, than be proactive within that list. Kathy Collums, a vice president at Sabal Palm Bank, says the list should include basics such as reassessing your company's marketing plan, what the main competition is and the standard operating policies and procedures of doing business. Adds Gordon: "Take care of the things you've been putting off, like estate planning and an exit strategy."
• Don't skimp on quality. Massaro-Fain says quality is even more important in a slumping market, as customers can now afford to be picky. "If your price is low but your product is garbage," says Massaro-Fain, "it doesn't matter - the customer won't be back."
+ Collman & Karsky
fine tune culture
Collman & Karsky, an architecture and interior design firm in Tampa, has recently seen more billable hours than ever with more focus.
The firm also completed one of the first LEED-certified green buildings in Tampa and it came in under budget.
The key strategy that made this happen? Fine-tuning the corporate culture.
The hierarchical structure of the firm worked for Baby Boomers (firm founders) and even Generation X, but was meeting resistance from the newer wave of Gen Y professionals.
The young staff was pushing back against one-way communication and buttoned-up corporate policies. In short, those who worked at the firm were debating what really mattered to them and the company from work hours to corporate philosophy.
So COO Bryan Karsky and President Ron Collman hired Tampa-based Six Disciplines accountability and execution coach, Sean Burke, to walk the firm's leadership through a process to understand the problems perceived at the top. The staff completed a survey to give Burke a broader understanding of what issues looked like firm-wide.
From perceived lack of leadership and direction to anger from the newer staff at the lack of work-life balance, Burke helped the principals create an action plan for the company - not just the leadership. The goals are delivered and monitored daily though a software-based system that department leads can check on periodically to amass progress and pending issues.
The process was far from easy to implement and is still a long way from being complete. But Karsky says it has paid dividends for the firm's 35 employees.
"We are now focused more on the expectations for projects and we're communicating better with all the staff," Karsky says.
Junk haulers relocate to Tampa
Two high school friends from Washington, Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman, came up with a business idea: A company with clean-cut, young employees that hauls junk from homes and businesses.
They started it in 2005 in Washington, about a year after college. Recently, they moved the business, College Hunks Hauling Junk Inc., to Tampa, where they opened a national call center.
"The main driver was our need to open a central call center," Friedman, 26, the president, told Coffee Talk. "It was expensive in D.C. There is more abundant labor and better infrastructure in Tampa."
Friedman and Soliman, 25, the CEO, started selling College Hunks franchises a year ago. It now has franchises in Tampa; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Denver; Raleigh, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Va.; and Baltimore.
The company, which has 50 employees, had revenues of $300,000 in 2005, more than $1 million in 2006, $1.75 million in 2007 and projects it will take in $3 million this year.
Did the founders think it would get this big, this fast?
"Yes, we always had the vision it would be a national brand," Friedman says. "Anyone with a pickup truck can be a junk hauler, but there's a lot of intricacies to run a branded operation. We tell our guys we're not in the junk hauling business. We're in the customer service business."
The company's vision is to be in the top 50 U.S. markets by end of its third year. By end of calendar 2009, it wants to be a $10 million company.
The name "hunks" is meant to be humorous, especially since some of the employees are women. It refers to the clean-cut look of the employees. Still the primary demographic is female household decision makers, "who may be battling a pack rat husband," Friedman says.
"They are collegiate, friendly, clean-cut and customer-focused," he says. "We joke about the 'hunk' term. We don't have Mr. Americas out there on the truck. It's a playful brand, no longer a "Sanford and Son" image."
College Hunks charges for the space it uses in a truck. It's minimum charge is $99. If it fills the truck, the charge is $500 for full truckload. The company gets about three to four leads a day for new franchise locations. It is currently looking at Tucson, Ariz.; Louisville, Ken.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Monmouth County, N.J.
Friedman and Soliman have financed the company internally and do not plan to go public.
"We're the sole shareholders," Friedman says. "We want to keep it that way. It's our baby. We want to see it grow. We grew it organically."
GULF COAST TOURISM
What the data shows: Taxable sales in the categories of tourism and recreation include those from hotels, motels, bars, restaurants, liquor stores, photo and art stores, gift shops, admissions, sporting goods, rentals and jewelry stores.
What it means: Tourism and recreation sales were lackluster in January compared with the same month a year ago in every area except Naples, where sales jumped 8.1%. No major attractions opened in Naples in January, so it's likely the jump came as a result of the area's continuing preeminence as a luxury destination.
Forecast: Flat passenger traffic through the Tampa and Fort Myers airports in February suggest tourism-related sales will remain flat in those areas through the season even though Naples may be an exception. However, a 13% jump in passenger traffic in February in Sarasota bodes well for that area.
January tourism sales ($ in millions)
Area Tourism taxable sales Jan. 2008 Annual % Change
Fort Myers $202.3 ‑2.6%
Naples $170.7 8.1%
Punta Gorda $33.3 ‑0.04%
Sarasota $189 ‑1.1%
Tampa $631.8 ‑1.3%
Florida $5,506 3.2%
Source: Florida Legislature Office of Economic & Demographic Research
Cape Coral-Fort Myers top national foreclosure rate
The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation in February, with one in every 84 households receiving a foreclosure-filing notice. That was 6.7 times the national average, according to data compiled by RealtyTrac. Every area of the Gulf Coast showed rising numbers of foreclosures.
Annual per # of National
Metro area Feb. 2007 Feb. 2008 change households rank
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 582 3,739 542% 84 1
Naples-Marco Island 84 586 598% 309 30
Sarasota-Bradenton 713 1,439 102% 257 22
Tampa-St. Petersburg 3,704 4,265 15% 296 28
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