Sarasota, FL small business and consulting news from one of the most experienced teams of business professionals on the gulf coast of Florida.
Our mission is to be at the heart of our customers and communities, delivering business services that allow people to achieve their ambitions and realize their full potential.
We do this through upholding our values of Trust, Commitment, Integrity, Customer Service, Communication and Success.
This motivating video for success is great to watch every once in a while to get you in the right state of mind needed to run your business all the way to the top..!
Warning -- expletives are used infrequently to accentuate the motivational power of the message.
Job growth will dip in the next few months before accelerating into next year despite a lackluster economy, according to a USA TODAY survey of economists.
Monthly job gains that have averaged about 200,000 so far this year will slip to a still-solid 178,000 in the July-September quarter, according to the median estimate of 42 top economists. January’s hike in payroll taxes and federal spending cuts are crimping economic growth.
Hiring has been strong in light of the soft economy, and most economists expect that to continue.
Average monthly job gains are forecast to end the year weaker than they started, before returning to close to 200,000 by the January-March quarter. The unemployment rate, now 7.6 percent, is expected to hit 7.0 percent by mid-2014.
According to their latest estimates, many economists now believe the U.S. economy weakened last quarter more than they had expected, slowing to an annual growth rate of 1.4 percent compared with 1.8 percent in the first quarter.
They predict growth will pick up gradually later this year and in early 2014.
By then, the effects of federal deficit cutting will fade, and private sector spending will be surging.
“It’s a recovery that’s gradually picking up steam but during 2013 is being held back” by federal spending cuts and tax increases, says IHS Global Insight Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh.
Typically, economic growth of at least 3 percent is needed to generate 200,000 jobs a month.
Vincent Reinhart, chief economist of Morgan Stanley, partly attributes the labor market’s surprising performance to employers who are making up for laying off too many workers in the recession and hiring too slowly earlier in the recovery. Also, he says, companies are preparing for better sales later this year.
Some economists are less encouraged by the payroll gains. Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, notes that much of the recent hiring is for part-time jobs in low-wage industries such as restaurants and retail.
“That’s not a sign of confidence,” she says.
Behravesh predicts monthly employment increases will slow to 100,000 in the third-quarter before rebounding to 200,000 in the fourth quarter. “I would expect (weaker economic growth) to take a toll” on hiring, he says.
The good news: The recovering housing market, rising household wealth, historically low household debt and growing business confidence should begin to unleash a stronger recovery by late this year, Reinhart and Behravesh say.
As a result, this week’s meeting of the Fed’s policymaking committee is not expected to produce any changes in the $85 billion a month in bond purchases to support the economic recovery.
But nearly six in 10 of the economists surveyed expect the Federal Reserve to start pulling back its stimulus by September or October.
The Mall at University Town Center near Sarasota is starting to take shape, as construction ramps up and becomes visible to passers-by. Excitement is growing with locals at what is projected to be a huge direct and indirect investment in this area of the Gulf Coast of Florida. The new mall is going to be the next big retail development in western Florida. Taubman, in conjunction with Benderson Development is developing the 880,000 square foot, two-level enclosed regional shopping center, opening in October, 2014. With Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s and Dillard’s committed to the mall, it is located at I-75 and University Parkway near Lakewood Ranch, which is the most densely traveled interchange in the area.
Robert Taubman, chairman, president and CEO of Taubman Centers says it "will be one of the premier shopping destinations on the west coast of Florida, and it will be the preferred shopping destination in the Sarasota region for locals and visitors alike."
Randy Benderson, president of Benderson Development thinks that “...this extraordinary investment in Southwest Florida’s future will exceed anyone’s expectations.”
Major-metro regions in Florida – including Jacksonville; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach; Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford; Tallahassee; and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater – saw a 39.8 percent increase in construction projects actively bidding, according to the BidClerk Construction Index (BCI).
Most bidding projects were public, which rose 66.7 percent. Private construction activity increased 5.4 percent. The total value of all the Florida Major-Metro projects reported on BidClerk that bid in the 2nd quarter of 2013 was $4,178,988,643.
In a quarter-over-quarter analysis for construction projects actively bidding, the major-metro regions in Florida experienced a modest increase of 3.9 percent.
In a year-over-year analysis for the Miami region, combined public and private construction projects actively bidding increased 30.5 percent. A BCI quarter-over-quarter analysis finds that private and public construction projects actively bidding in Miami increased 4.8 percent compared to data reported in the first quarter of 2013.
In a year-over-year analysis for the Orlando region, public and private construction projects actively bidding increased 46.6 percent. Quarter-over-quarter, the private and public construction projects actively bidding increased 21.7 percent.
In a year-over-year analysis for the Tampa-St. Pete region, public and private construction projects actively bidding increased 40.3 percent. Quarter-over-quarter, private and public construction projects actively bidding increased 1 percent.
BidClerk provides construction project data and marketing tools for building product manufacturers, contractors and distributors.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that the central bank is committed to keeping its easy-money policies going and will put off a tentative plan to dial back the stimulus this fall if the economy falters.
Bernanke’s semi-annual testimony capped a whirlwind two months in which stocks and bonds initially sank on his suggestion that the Fed’s extraordinary bond-buying initiative likely would be pared back later this year and ended in mid-2014 if the job market continues to improve. Markets have rallied recently as Bernanke and other Fed policymakers have stressed that the Fed plans to keep its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero for “a considerable time” after the bond-buying ends.
“I think markets are beginning to understand our message,” Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee. “We need accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future.”
The Fed is buying $85 billion a month in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities to hold down long-term interest rates and spur economic activity. Many economists expect the Fed to reduce the purchases to about $70 billion as early as September. But that prospect has caused interest rates to rise recently. And if economic growth weakens as a result, the current pace of bond buying “could be maintained for longer,” Bernanke said. “They are by no means on a preset course.”
He noted that annual inflation is below the Fed’s 2 percent target, a trend that, if it persists, also could prompt the Fed to keep its bond-buying at full throttle. Very low inflation could lead to falling prices and recession.
The Fed has said it plans to keep its short-term rate near zero at least until the 7.6 percent unemployment rate declines to 6.5 percent, likely in 2015, as long as inflation is stable. But Bernanke said Wednesday it could maintain the historically low rate longer, if, for example, the drop in unemployment is due to fewer people working or looking for work.
He bristled at criticism from Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., that Fed policies are helping Wall Street at the expense of Main Street Americans struggling with lower interest rates in their savings accounts.
“We’re very focused on Main Street,” Bernanke replied. “We’re trying to create jobs, and we’re trying to make housing affordable.”
He also reiterated a warning to Congress that $85 billion in budget cuts are expected to shave economic growth in 2013 by 1.5 percentage points and result in 750,000 fewer jobs. “It’s making a very big difference,” he said. “It’s very substantial.”
Bernanke urged Congress to temper the cuts while the economy is wobbly. “Fiscal policy is focusing a bit too much on the short run and not enough” on a long-term plan.
After commercial vacancy rates across Southwest Florida dipped to post-recession lows in June, landlords gained the confidence to raise rents and invest new capital in their properties.
The strengthening economy has resulted in companies starting to expand their workspaces and merchants to fill storefronts across the Gulf Coast of Florida.
Recent progress in the region's commercial real estate sector comes as a thriving housing market and improved confidence among consumers have combined to help bolster businesses throughout Southwest Florida.
There is now signs that a steady absorption of distressed commercial space vacated during the economic downturn is happening. While the sector's rise has failed to match the buoyant housing recovery, many industry observers believe it could reach the same pace in 2014.
The vacancy rate in combined Sarasota and Manatee counties was 19.4 percent in June, representing a slight dip from the 19.6 percent rate at the start of the year. The June occupancy rate was also higher than that of the same time in 2012 (by 1.8 percent), though the available space is still higher than what is considered a healthy market.
That influx of tenants has translated into increased profits for landlords for the first time in years, while also making investments in commercial deals more attractive and prompting new development.
On average, U.S. employees saw a 2.5 percent rise in their wages in the past year. But in some places of the country, workers are seeing even larger increases to their pay. These are the five cities seeing the largest pay hikes:
San Francisco: a 4.3 percent pay increase in one year
San Francisco is known for its high-salary tech jobs. And those high salaries are needed: The city is among one of the most expensive in the nation in terms of cost of living—about 70 percent higher than a city such as Indianapolis, according to PayScale.
Baltimore: +3.5%
The area has added 1,600 financial services jobs in the last year and it’s known as a hub for health care jobs—being the home to Johns Hopkins and other research hotspots.
Chicago: +3.1%
Chicago offers lots of jobs centered around the financial markets, since it’s the home to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
Phoenix: +3.1%
The pick-up in the housing market has led to a big increase in construction jobs in Phoenix—more pronounced here than in other parts of the country. Phoenix is attracting more residents from California; the cost of housing there is nearly 70 percent lower than in San Francisco and 56 percent lower than in Los Angeles.
Atlanta: +3%
Atlanta serves as the headquarters for many major companies, such as Coca-Cola and Home Depot, but it also has a bustling healthcare information industry that has helped salaries grow.
BizBuySell, the internet's largest business-for-sale marketplace, reported today that small business transactions jumped 61.8% in the second quarter of 2013 as compared to the same period of 2012. In total, 1,827 closed transactions were reported in Q2 2013, a significant spike over the 1,129 transactions recorded in Q2 of 2012.
The significant boost occurring now appears driven by a recovering economy, strong supply/demand fundamentals (i.e., an aging business owner demographic and an increase in the number of qualified business buyers) and continued small business performance improvement.
"Since the recession hit in 2008, a large supply of sellers and buyers has been waiting for the right time to transact," Curtis Kroeker, Group General Manager of BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com, said. "With the economy improving, small business performance rising and acquisition funding becoming more available, the stars are aligning for these buyers and sellers to finally achieve their business transaction goals in 2013."
Martin Smith helps companies develop strategic Internet marketing plans. But his small-business clients avoid creating plans because they think starting a business itself is hard enough.
“The problem is now, (small businesses) feel left out and behind. They think some special rules apply to Internet marketing and don’t apply to (their) business,” he said.
Rather than being intimidated by the ever-growing online world, owners of these ventures should embrace the Internet and use it as a means to further communicate their message, said Smith, who directs the marketing division at Atlantic Business Technologies, a Raleigh, N.C., Web development company. The most technologically successful small businesses know who they are, where they fit into their market and how to keep their online message consistent with their in-store one, Smith said.
Here are some of Smith’s edited ideas for smart and successful Internet marketing.
Keep your branding consistent: Making sure your brick-and-mortar and online presences align is essential. If you’re confused about who you are and what you bring to the table, customers will be, too. “Confused customers do a lot of things. Buying isn’t one of them,” Smith said.
Refrain from the use of jargon: You won’t be doing your customers – or yourself – any favors by using your company’s jargon online. Instead, research what the needs of your area are and what other similar businesses are doing, and use similar language on your site to generate interest. Smith and his colleagues use a process called “branding keywords,” which helps identify words associated with viral marketing campaigns in certain areas and markets.
Watch for feedback: Online messages can be changed within seconds. If a particular blog post or advertisement goes up at 10 a.m. and isn’t doing well by noon, you can take it down and tweak it until it works.
It can take a while to build up a Web presence. Have patience, and realize that once you do get there, the reward will be great.
Here are six principles around building a business of all sizes.
Building businesses takes a unique combination of strategy, execution and competitive advantages in attractive markets.
Ideas are not worth much if not supported by effective execution that creates customer value.
The best strategic insights come from a test-and-learn approach: receiving real-time customer feedback and response and measuring the return on incremental investment.
Larger companies generally have the best building blocks to create and grow advantaged businesses, but they often lack the management talent, incentives, and organizational skills to create entrepreneurial growth. Coupling strategic advantages with an entrepreneurial team and culture can create more lasting economic value.
The best strategies come from a deep understanding of the facts around customers and markets. Most leadership teams can align on a clear strategy if they can align on the facts.
Advantage is created by investing in areas that create customer value. Identifying these high-value areas is core to any growth strategy.
