JAMIE ROSENKRANS - BABM.com
JAMIE ROSENKRANS - BABM.com
JAMIE ROSENKRANS - BABM.com
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inside this issue<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
2<br />
Jim’s Harley-Davidson<br />
A Tampa Bay Tradition<br />
C A R O L C O R T R I G H T 6<br />
thoroughly<br />
modern military<br />
nancy crews, ph.d.<br />
J AY WINCHESTER 14<br />
Celebrate Cake!<br />
A “Bonnie” Business<br />
GRETCHEN C A I N 18<br />
Cameos By Jay Winchester<br />
J AY WINCHESTER 24<br />
WOMEN IN BUSINESS<br />
Tampa Bay Area Networking Opportunities<br />
C A R O L C O R T R I G H T 30<br />
Lessons Learned<br />
Legal<br />
Protect Your Idea$ - Part VI (Brent Britton, Esq) 34<br />
Accounting<br />
WBE – A Woman’s Prerogative (Tatiana Gilbertson) 36<br />
Strategic Planning<br />
Retirement Concerns for Women (Cathy Norris) 38<br />
Networking<br />
Teeing Up for Business: How Golf Can Get You in the Game (Penny Hulbert) 40<br />
Strategic Planning<br />
The Latest on Women Owned Businesses (Rosemary DiDio Brehm) 42<br />
Sales Moves<br />
Is it the law of attraction, or the law of hard work? (Jeffrey Gitomer) 44<br />
Marketing<br />
Planning Your 2009 Online Advertising (Mark Regan) 46<br />
Technology<br />
Survive and Thrive: 6 Ways to… (Tony DiBenedetto) 48<br />
Corporate Social Responsibility<br />
Philanthropy vs. Sponsorship – What Gives? (Debra Kent Faulk) 50<br />
Marketing<br />
10 Surefire Ways To Greater Success (Dale Hutchings) 52<br />
Legal<br />
Department of Homeland Security and Social Security (Sheri D. McWhorter, JD, SPHR) 54<br />
Recharge<br />
Escape to Tranquility (Leslie Joy Ickowitz) 56<br />
Leadership<br />
Pragmatic Optimism (Doug Van Dyke) 58<br />
Marketing<br />
Marketing 2.0: Think like a Publisher (Bernie Borges) 60<br />
Entrepreneurship<br />
The Butterfly Effect (Brian Tracy) 62<br />
Suggested Reading 64<br />
Business Directory 69<br />
Values<br />
6 Keys to Be<strong>com</strong>ing a Person of Action (Andy Andrews) 72<br />
Departments<br />
Editor’s Note<br />
Business Directory<br />
Business Seen<br />
Suggested Reading<br />
woMEN owNEd BuSiNESSES<br />
Jamie<br />
roseNkraNs<br />
lEAdEr oF ThE p A C k<br />
NaNcy crews, Ph.D.<br />
Thoroughly ModErN MiliT A ry<br />
BoNNie<br />
yarBrough<br />
CoNFECTioN wiTh AFFECTioN<br />
cameos :<br />
hAll – hulBErT – SEAluNd –<br />
SpENCEr – TriCE<br />
Extra Articles Online<br />
<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong><br />
ACCouNTiNg – lEgAl – MArkETiNg – TEChNology<br />
JAN/FEB 2009<br />
Front Cover<br />
Cover Photo: Judy Trice<br />
JAN/FEB 2008, Volume 1, Number 16
the editor’s note<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
4<br />
Happy New Year<br />
Are you ready for 2009?<br />
Are you ready to shake off the<br />
negative energy that has permeated<br />
the business <strong>com</strong>munity?<br />
Are you ready to take control of your<br />
business and future?<br />
Are you ready to help make the<br />
Tampa Bay economy an example<br />
of good ol’ American ingenuity and<br />
tenacity?<br />
Are you ready to step out of the box?<br />
<strong>BABM</strong> launched in October 2006 and we have prided ourselves<br />
in not following the pack. We love rewriting the rules. Change<br />
is happening at lightening speed and the old business<br />
models in all industries are just that – OLD. With a passionate<br />
mission to educate, support, and inspire business owners and<br />
emerging entrepreneurs we are excited to help you take your<br />
businesses to the next level.<br />
<strong>BABM</strong> has be<strong>com</strong>e the trusted business resource for business<br />
building. We have an editorial team of some of the best<br />
industry experts. Our promise to you is that we will continue<br />
to deliver top information through multiple venues. As I write<br />
this editor’s note we are planning and producing our radio<br />
launch for December 15th. Be sure to tune into the syndicated<br />
Dave Ramsey Show on NewsTalk 820 every week day to receive<br />
additional business building tips on the <strong>BABM</strong>inute.<br />
<strong>BABM</strong>’s presence online is growing exponentially each month.<br />
Our online business directory is the 3rd highest clicked link<br />
on <strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>. Our visitors are choosing their products and<br />
services from a site they know and trust. They’re choosing their<br />
products and services from the same site that helps them grow<br />
their businesses. As we’ve watched these numbers grow, we<br />
decided we are in a position to bring consumer and supplier<br />
together on a different level that will more than get our Tampa<br />
Bay economy moving forward quickly. All the details are being<br />
work out and we will be rolling out an exciting program in the<br />
first quarter of 2009.<br />
The e<strong>BABM</strong> newsletter data base more than doubled between<br />
the months of October and November 2008, increasing from<br />
3,200 to 6,800. There are additional business building articles<br />
published in the newsletter and loaded on the website that<br />
do not appear in the print magazine. We understand that it’s<br />
important to have a strong presence in print and online for our<br />
readers and marketing partners. The <strong>BABM</strong> team is constantly<br />
brainstorming and looking for better ways to educate, support<br />
and inspire our readers and showcase our marketing partners.<br />
Your success is our goal.<br />
We are excited about 2009. Come ride with us!
JAN/FEB 2008, Volume 1, Number 16<br />
<strong>BABM</strong><br />
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Rosemary Brehm<br />
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Brent Britton, Esq.<br />
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Tony DiBenedetto<br />
Penny Hulbert<br />
Dale Hutchings<br />
Leslie Joy Ickowitz<br />
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JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong> cover story<br />
Carol Cortright<br />
6
Jim’s Harley-Davidson<br />
A Tampa Bay Tradition<br />
Walking into Jim’s Harley-Davidson in St. Petersburg<br />
for the first time, one gets a soaring sense of space<br />
as sunlight filters through the high windows around<br />
the vaulted ceiling. Then, the gaze settles upon a vast<br />
emporium of merchandise dedicated to this twowheeled<br />
American icon. Jim’s offers a little something<br />
for everyone, rider and wishful enthusiast alike.<br />
Friendly associates navigate the sales floor, assuring<br />
that personal assistance is readily available. No wonder<br />
Jim’s is ranked #1 nationally in customer service<br />
among Harley-Davidson dealers.
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong> cover story<br />
8<br />
let’s ride
The driving force behind this motorcycle megastore is Jamie<br />
Rosenkrans, who steered the business from the old 7,000 square ft.<br />
space to its current 39,900 square ft. gem on 54th Ave., conveniently<br />
located between U.S. 19 and I-275. In doing so, she broke barriers as<br />
Florida’s first woman Harley-Davidson dealer and built one of the<br />
largest operations of its kind in the state.<br />
With golden Harley charms dangling from her ears, catching the<br />
rumble of the machines revving through the walls of her office from<br />
the service department on the other side, Jamie reflects on the path<br />
that brought her here. Born and raised in Clearwater, Jamie <strong>com</strong>es from<br />
pioneer stock with Taylors, McMullens and Booths peppering her family<br />
tree. Her mother ran a dry cleaning and laundry service and Jamie used<br />
to help out after school, so developing a business sense came early<br />
for her.<br />
As for the motorcycle fixation, a tiny Jamie took her first ride at six<br />
months, tucked snugly inside her uncle’s leather jacket while he was<br />
babysitting her. Also, she had lots of friends who rode motorcycles, so<br />
for her it was a normal mode of transportation.<br />
Jamie graduated from FSU with a teaching degree, but events leading<br />
up to the 1968 teachers’ strike made it hard to find work in Florida. She<br />
headed north to Atlanta and spent two years teaching there before<br />
things settled down and she came home, continuing a career that<br />
spanned thirty years, retiring in 1997.<br />
Along the way, that motorcycle-loving uncle, a Shriner, introduced her<br />
to a fellow member of the Shriners’ motorcycle unit, Jim Rosenkrans.<br />
Jamie and Jim were married on Valentine’s Day 1975, between his shifts<br />
with the St. Petersburg Fire Department.<br />
In the late 1970s, Jim sold some apartments and was looking for<br />
another business investment. Coincidentally, around the same time,<br />
Jamie and Jim paid a visit to Francis Worth “Cannonball” Hockett’s shop,<br />
Harley-Davidson of St. Petersburg, to look at a new bike. Cannonball<br />
was a motorcycle racer who had opened the first Harley-Davidson<br />
dealership in Asheboro, N.C. in 1946.<br />
Details were ironed out and on September 1, 1979, the Rosenkranses<br />
took over Cannonball’s cycle shop, but kept him on the payroll until he<br />
was ready to retire, learning all they could from his wealth of experience.<br />
Jim worked in the shop on his days off and Jamie filled in when the<br />
school day ended and on Saturdays.<br />
And so it went over the next decade, with Jim and Jamie maintaining<br />
a solid repair business, while bike sales slowed and Harley-Davidson’s<br />
corporate image and very foundation underwent a major overhaul.<br />
Harley-Davidson faced major <strong>com</strong>petition during the 1970s from<br />
Japanese motorcycle manufacturers. In addition, the board of directors<br />
sold out to American Machine and Foundry (AMF) in an attempt to raise<br />
capital to boost production. Unfortunately, this led to a slip in the quality<br />
of the product and the brand suffered.<br />
Jamie credits Vaughn Beals, one of Harley-Davidson’s top executives,<br />
with masterminding a leveraged buyout in 1981 that effectively<br />
resurrected the <strong>com</strong>pany and paved the way for a major market<br />
resurgence. Meanwhile, Jamie tried to convince Jim to get merchandise<br />
out from behind the counter where customers could see it and “put<br />
their hands on it,” she said. “Once we did that, sales went crazy.”<br />
Early on, Jim’s was the only shop to sell leather pants and jackets and<br />
Jamie could only order from one <strong>com</strong>pany that had a limited deal with<br />
Harley for leather sets. Back then Harley-Davidson didn’t have the line of<br />
merchandise it has now, and it was difficult to get even t-shirts in stock.<br />
Once they started including the customer in the shopping experience,<br />
things really started moving. Second-hand display gondolas came from<br />
a hardware store that was remodeling. Existing windows were removed<br />
in favor of slat walls for getting parts and supplies out where people<br />
could see—and buy—them.<br />
In April 1988, tragedy struck the Rosenkrans family when Jim died from<br />
injuries sustained in a tractor accident. Suddenly, Jamie was left with a<br />
Harley-Davidson dealership during a time when motorcycle businesses<br />
were run by men and women had not yet <strong>com</strong>e into their own as a<br />
strong presence in the corporate world.<br />
Would she sell?<br />
She didn’t really want to, she says. “Besides, the economy wasn’t doing<br />
very well then and I thought, ‘Who’s going to buy a Harley-Davidson<br />
dealership anyway?’”<br />
She couldn’t afford to retire from teaching at the time and she knew<br />
it would be a lot of hard work. She received tremendous support<br />
from other dealers who helped her learn the ropes of ordering and<br />
maintaining the proper mix of inventory during the difficult period<br />
following Jim’s death.
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong> cover story<br />
10<br />
She makes a habit out of<br />
wandering the sales floor<br />
and staff areas, thanking her<br />
employees for the good jobs<br />
they do.<br />
All in all, she says, once she proved herself to Harley-Davidson<br />
and convinced them she was interested in moving forward, the<br />
corporation became a helpful ally as she transitioned into her role as<br />
the new leader of the dealership.<br />
Here Comes the “Taj MaHarley”<br />
By 1997, Jim’s Harley-Davidson had outgrown its original location.<br />
Jamie looked all over town for a new spot and passed the site on<br />
the northwest corner of 54th Ave. N. and 28th St. N. a number of<br />
times. Finally, she purchased the property, petitioned the county for<br />
rezoning, won after two tries, and opened up the new supersized<br />
store in March of 1999.<br />
Service kiosks dot the expansive sales floor and associates are<br />
ready and willing to help customers find what they need and<br />
what they don’t even know they need. An old-fashioned Harley-<br />
Davidson jukebox sits between the helmet displays and apparel<br />
racks, and vintage advertisements hang high on the walls above the<br />
merchandise. Set up like a department store, there are designated<br />
areas for men, women and even children, the latter sporting pintsized<br />
jackets, backpacks, teddy bears and other kid-friendly items<br />
emblazoned with the signature black and orange logo. Jim’s has<br />
plenty of gift items, too, from mugs and coffee packets to coasters,<br />
patches and more —and stylish H-D wrapping paper to boot.<br />
One section is decked out in chrome and other assorted motorcycle<br />
<strong>com</strong>ponents and necessities, adjacent to the parts counter. Toward<br />
the back, there’s a <strong>com</strong>fortable customer lounge for hanging out<br />
while bikes are serviced in the garage.<br />
With just over fifty employees filling department functions from<br />
sales and rentals to motor clothes, marketing and riders’ courses,<br />
plus a retail shop at John’s Pass on Madeira Beach, Jim’s Harley-<br />
Davidson has grown into a major presence with a diverse following<br />
of motorcycle riders and Harley buffs.<br />
But Jim’s is more than just a motorcycle shop; it’s linked into the<br />
Harley-Davidson corporate family which means there are standards<br />
to uphold, as well as professional tools available and development<br />
strategies to utilize.<br />
For assessing business direction, Jamie belongs to the H-D<br />
Performance Group, a peer review group representing seventeen<br />
dealerships nationwide that meets every three months and includes<br />
a mediator and three <strong>com</strong>pany reps. “We look at each other’s sales<br />
data and make suggestions based on our own experience,” she<br />
explains.<br />
On the sales floor, Jamie expects her associates to connect with the<br />
customers. “We not only sell motorcycles, we sell a way of life,” she<br />
says. “It’s the camaraderie between our customers and staff. We want<br />
them to feel that they’re part of the family.” To that end, they’ve<br />
implemented a number of ways to keep their customers engaged<br />
in that Harley-Davidson lifestyle, including the Motorcycle Value<br />
Program (MVP), an exclusive customer loyalty rewards program.<br />
There’s a place on the website for Women Rider’s Stories, photo<br />
galleries and more.<br />
Connect with customers.
Jamie encourages staff to send thank you notes to customers and<br />
give them personal alerts when items of special interest <strong>com</strong>e up on<br />
sale. “We try to develop that culture through training and using secret<br />
shoppers. We’ll go over what the secret shopper said, especially if they<br />
fall down on asking for the sale, for example, reminding them that they<br />
need to ask ‘Can I put this on the counter for you?’ or something else to<br />
help close the deal.”<br />
Sales are the lifeblood of the business at Jim’s and Jamie wants her<br />
staff to think outside the box in getting that to happen. She recently<br />
challenged her parts department: pick some small item that sells for a<br />
dollar or two, and offer every customer the opportunity to purchase it.<br />
It worked. Likewise, she reminds them to upsell—if someone buys a<br />
leather jacket, suggest the leather cleaner as well.<br />
Jamie admits that the economic downturn has hurt business a little,<br />
forcing her to make some tough decisions. She dreaded the thought<br />
of laying off employees, so she asked her team if they had any ideas.<br />
Someone suggested a cut in hours, so they’re trying it while managing<br />
to keep sales steady.<br />
She makes a habit out of wandering the sales floor and staff areas,<br />
thanking her employees for the good jobs they do. She cooks for them<br />
and holds drawings for perks like Rays baseball game tickets to keep<br />
it fun. If she sees potential in her employees, she might send them to<br />
school so they can improve their skills and take on new challenges<br />
when they’re ready.<br />
Workload processes are always subject to change in an effort to<br />
constantly improve, and Jamie realizes that change is still a stickler for<br />
some of those in her workplace. She enthusiastically re<strong>com</strong>mends Who<br />
Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson as “the perfect book that tells<br />
you how to handle change.”<br />
As for handling the stresses that <strong>com</strong>e with running a multimillion<br />
dollar motorcycle dealership, she lets out a hearty laugh when asked<br />
how she “turns off” the business side of her brain in order to relax.<br />
Jamie makes time for herself by exercising with a personal trainer<br />
several times a week and works out the tension with a weekly massage.<br />
She also enjoys taking bike trips on her RoadGlide and gardening at<br />
the new home she built five years ago.<br />
Giving back to the <strong>com</strong>munity is a big part of her personal and<br />
corporate philosophy. Not only does she sponsor the annual Jim<br />
Rosenkrans Memorial Toy Run in December, she’s donated motorcycles<br />
to the Abilities Foundation and other charities for auctions. Other<br />
organizations close to her heart include Florida Veterinary Specialists<br />
and the SPCA.<br />
Jamie Rosenkrans looks back on her ac<strong>com</strong>plishments and says, “My<br />
success is that I’ve taken this business and grown it into something<br />
that I and my staff are proud of. It’s also allowed me to give back and<br />
now I can help the <strong>com</strong>munity grow.”<br />
As for succession planning, she smiles: “Jim’s nephew works here now<br />
and he’s agreeable to the idea…one day.” But Jamie Rosenkrans isn’t<br />
going to be thundering off into the sunset on her Harley any time<br />
soon.
I nspired by her cousin, Norman, Ms. Rockwell’s<br />
extraordinary ability to capture the likenesses of her<br />
clients with loving understanding is widely acclaimed.<br />
Jessica Priscilla<br />
Rockwell<br />
Master Portrait artist<br />
"Bre"<br />
oil on canvas<br />
Revealing the very best of each individual she paints,<br />
Ms. Rockwell’s warm, human touch, oil portraits are<br />
masterpieces to be treasured . . . forever.<br />
Ms. Rockwell<br />
D istinctive O il P O rtraiture by c O mmissiO n<br />
For further information call us at: 727-442-5553. Please visit our web site at: www.rockwellportraits.<strong>com</strong><br />
and see a 5-minute Emmy award-winning video on how Jessica Rockwell paints her beautiful oil portraits.
Richard D. Castellano, M.D.<br />
The power of dreams might not be the main focus of attention at<br />
medical school, but one gifted doctor quickly realized that his particular<br />
skills were all about making dreams <strong>com</strong>e true.<br />
Dr. Richard Castellano is a Double Board Certified Facial Plastic<br />
Surgeon specializing in the areas of face and neck. Dr. Castellano<br />
has performed more than 2,700 cosmetic procedures, including<br />
over 2,000 lifting procedures, under local anesthesia - less stress, less<br />
risk and less recovery time than traditional lifting procedures. This<br />
Doctor has an amazing passion for his work, a passion which led to<br />
the formation of a big idea that Dr. Castellano is now putting into<br />
practice.<br />
The point about a big idea is that it has to be BIG!<br />
What about: “Change the way that cosmetic surgery is practiced<br />
throughout the world and make the benefits, of these life transforming<br />
procedures, accessible to everyone.”<br />
Enter, Signature Lift; although Signature Lift is the name of a specific<br />
procedure performed by Dr. Castellano; it is destined to be<strong>com</strong>e<br />
so much more; a brand synonymous with affordable, friendly and<br />
minimally intrusive cosmetic procedures, offering something to<br />
suit every need and every budget. It is gratifying to know that this<br />
promise of affordability <strong>com</strong>es with Dr. Castellano’s un<strong>com</strong>promising<br />
<strong>com</strong>mitment to quality; at Signature Lift, affordability is delivered with<br />
nothing less than world-class standards of medical attention and care.<br />
Dr. Castellano appears to be tireless; he regularly out-performs<br />
the benchmarks of his profession and sets new standards of<br />
excellence. He is involved in every aspect of Signature Lift’s<br />
development, from providing the best possible patient experience<br />
to personally working the Signature Lift booth at expos and<br />
seminars, where his enthusiasm for helping others is obviously real<br />
and impressively infectious.<br />
As with most talented people who are <strong>com</strong>mitted to a big idea, Dr.<br />
Castellano dismisses <strong>com</strong>ments about his boundless energy and his<br />
work ethic with surprise; he is having a great time and gaining a huge<br />
amount of satisfaction from helping people to positively transform their<br />
self image.<br />
The Practice of<br />
Empowering<br />
Dreams<br />
Signature Lift is dedicated to delivering the most effective solution for<br />
each individual patient; there is no place for a ‘one-size-fits-all’ cookie<br />
cutter mentality in this practice! From a patient’s perspective, this is<br />
the way it should be; however, we can sometimes derail what is in our<br />
best interests by insisting, right out of the box, on knowing exactly how<br />
much a procedure will cost. As Dr. Castellano and his team patiently<br />
point out, these solutions don’t <strong>com</strong>e in a box. “First it is essential to<br />
understand what is in our patient’s mind and what their individual<br />
dreams entail; only then can we evaluate the most effective approaches<br />
and techniques for that person and settle on a fee that fits their budget.”<br />
Treatment options include Dr Castellano’s own Signature Lift; a 90 minute<br />
procedure which is much less invasive than a traditional facelift, but offers more<br />
improvement than a standard mini lift. At the other end of the spectrum, Dr.<br />
Castellano is an experienced artist with facial fillers and facial rejuvenation;<br />
this is crucial to making a safe decision at a time when the availability of<br />
skilled practitioners has not kept pace with a rapid growth in the popularity<br />
of such products. Even for this relatively simple procedure, Dr. Castellano has<br />
developed specialized techniques to ensure the most effective results.<br />
While effective results can mean different things to different people,<br />
images of stretched and distorted celebrity faces are constant reminders<br />
of how not to challenge nature.<br />
Dr. Castellano’s guiding principle is to restore a natural appearance. A<br />
‘natural’ appearance is less likely to focus attention on facial or physical<br />
features, but on who you are as an individual. As we age, our faces drop;<br />
therefore the natural remedy is to lift up, not pull back!<br />
The culture of the Signature Lift team is influenced by the special gifts<br />
and skills which enable them to effectively change people’s lives - this is<br />
seen as a responsibility and a privilege.<br />
Today, concierge services are available for patients who live outside<br />
of Florida, smoothing the way with transportation, cars, care and<br />
ac<strong>com</strong>modation. Of course this is just the start; the big idea is to make it<br />
possible for anyone to improve their quality of life through access to the<br />
highest quality and most affordable facial rejuvenation services, so that<br />
more people can look more youthful – naturally.<br />
For further information, visit www.SignatureLiftNow.<strong>com</strong>, or simply call<br />
1-877-770-FACE (3223).
feature story<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong> Carol Cortright<br />
14
thoroughly<br />
modern military<br />
nancy crews, ph.d.<br />
Dr. Nancy Crews and Custom Manufacturing & Engineering provide power and security<br />
solutions for modern war fighters.<br />
There is an element to armed conflict between countries that tests<br />
the resolve of a nation. Many times, it also tests the resolve and the<br />
resources of its industry. It is one thing to go to war; it is quite another to<br />
go prepared to win the conflict. In terms of innovative technology and<br />
its applications to conflict, today’s United States Armed Forces are better<br />
equipped than any other force in our history and possibly the world.<br />
Maintaining that type of <strong>com</strong>bat advantage frequently depends on the<br />
ability of corporate America to research and manufacture advanced<br />
weapons and security systems capable of assisting the efforts of the war<br />
fighter in securing victory.<br />
While the current conflicts in which we find our country involved are<br />
taking place half a world away, there is a <strong>com</strong>pany in St. Petersburg<br />
that is hard at work ensuring that our servicemen and women are<br />
properly equipped with the latest in high-tech gear. That <strong>com</strong>pany<br />
is Custom Manufacturing & Engineering, Inc. (CME; www.custommfg-eng.<strong>com</strong>),<br />
and it carries out its mission of creating products<br />
enabling its customers to choose how and when to interact with their<br />
world under the steady leadership of Dr. Nancy Crews, Ph.D., CME’s<br />
president and owner. “We focus on the research and development<br />
tasks necessary to allow us to engineer and manufacture equipment<br />
with military and security applications,” says Crews. “Currently, our<br />
efforts are concentrated on two main areas: power supplies for field<br />
applications, and unattended sensor systems. Most of these efforts<br />
are centered on providing solutions to the Department of Defense<br />
(DoD), as well as the Army, Navy and Marines. We are also targeting<br />
the Department of Homeland Security. And we see other potential<br />
government and civilian applications of these products, especially in<br />
rugged environments.”<br />
In terms of the power supplies, CME’s niche is providing what it calls<br />
intelligent power, meaning providing power sources that are both<br />
manageable, distributable, efficient and transportable. Given the mobile<br />
nature of an army in the field or a navy at sea, one can readily understand<br />
the attraction of reliable and powerful power sources. This is essential<br />
when forces encamp and require power for a variety of applications<br />
involved in sheltering, feeding and protecting personnel.<br />
On the sensor side, CME’s efforts are focused on sensor systems that can be<br />
applied in the areas of force or perimeter protection and will function while<br />
unattended. One CME product is a laser tripwire. When placed around<br />
an encampment, any intruder who breaks the laser’s beam by passing<br />
through it sets off alarms that trigger a security and defensive response.<br />
A second product in CME’s arsenal of high-tech gear is a 360° imaging<br />
sensor. This device is capable of providing security personnel with a<br />
full omni-directional view of all activities within and without the secure<br />
perimeter of an installation. Images are transmitted to a central <strong>com</strong>mand<br />
post where image quality and alerts can be monitored.<br />
Since both products operate in an unattended mode, personnel are<br />
freed for other tasks. Think about World War II movies with typical scenes<br />
featuring sentries posted overnight for security purposes. The laser<br />
tripwire and 360° imaging system virtually eliminate such requirements,<br />
although the human factor still plays a part. As one might imagine, the<br />
ideal customer for CME’s products is the war fighter who appreciates<br />
quality tech and its effectiveness. CME’s veteran Engineering and<br />
Manufacturing staffs enable it to quickly move products from the initial<br />
idea phase all the way through the product phase.
feature story<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
16<br />
As for the <strong>com</strong>pany itself, CME traces its origins back to a spin-off<br />
effort of Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s leading developers<br />
of mil-spec tech. “I was tasked with assisting a downsizing and<br />
conversion effort of a nuclear defense plant in Largo,” says Crews.<br />
“I was chosen because of a background in both technology and<br />
marketing. The effort was focused on converting that facility to a<br />
civilian <strong>com</strong>pany and saving local jobs.” Today, CME is staffed with<br />
approximately 70 employees, half of whom are engineers. There is<br />
also a small office located in New Jersey.<br />
Dr. Crews started her career in chemistry, having earned both her<br />
doctorate and undergrad degrees in that subject at Virginia Tech and<br />
University of Florida, respectively. After school, she took a position<br />
at Eastman Kodak, working as a scientist. Although she was wellversed<br />
in her chosen scientific discipline, she found herself growing<br />
increasingly curious about marketing. Deciding to move her career<br />
in that direction, she ultimately became a program manager for a<br />
family of <strong>com</strong>pany products.<br />
While one might expect to find a woman running a marketing<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany, it’s a bit of a surprise to find one running a manufacturer<br />
of products with a military application, especially when one tends<br />
to think of the military as a predominately male organization. Crews,<br />
herself the product of a military family, doesn’t see it that way.<br />
“Today, there are more women in the sciences and in the military<br />
than ever before,” she says. “However, even though we can be<br />
considered a defense contractor, our business challenges are the<br />
same as any other business, and we face them every day.”<br />
Among those challenges is finding good customers. “I believe<br />
that the quality of your customer does as much to define your<br />
organization as your personnel and your products,” Nancy says.<br />
“In our business, we don’t always have a direct path with the end<br />
user, in this instance, the war fighter. However, we do have a better<br />
handle on the challenges of finding those good customers than we<br />
had early on.”<br />
“Early on” was nearly 11 years ago. “It has been a fast 11 years,” Crews<br />
admits, “but it certainly doesn’t seem like it. We feel good with where<br />
the <strong>com</strong>pany is today, but we are definitely future-focused.” When<br />
asked how the <strong>com</strong>pany was doing, she responded by saying it was<br />
“…doing well and on the verge of growth. We have refined both<br />
our marketplace and our customer base. We desire to continue<br />
manufacturing here in the United States and continue building tech<br />
for our war fighters in the field, wherever they may be.”<br />
The biggest challenge facing CME is, as one might guess in today’s<br />
business climate, the economy. “I am continually focused on the<br />
economic climate, and determining how it will affect our business<br />
and our industry,” Crews says. “However, our prospects look good at<br />
the DoD.”<br />
When not at work, Dr. Crews enjoys time well-spent with her<br />
husband and two sons. The Tampa resident is also an avid reader<br />
who is especially fond of the works penned by best-selling author<br />
Dean Koontz. “I am an avid learner who loves to read,” she says,<br />
finding it a pastime that not only fulfills the learner in her, but also<br />
provides a period of relaxation away from the concerns of running<br />
the business.<br />
This is not to suggest that Crews takes business lightly, merely that<br />
she is selective in where she chooses to focus her energies. This<br />
results from lessons learned from her former manager and mentor<br />
at Eastman Kodak, Lynn Hamb. “He used to always tell me, ‘You only<br />
have so many silver bullets at your disposal, so use them selectively’,”<br />
she recalls. “It’s a lesson I use every day.”<br />
Mentoring is a key activity at CME. The <strong>com</strong>pany works closely<br />
with John M. Sexton Elementary School, sponsoring fundraising<br />
breakfasts and participating in other fund drives. Additionally, the<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany pays each employee one hour’s worth of time spent<br />
mentoring and tutoring students. Crews herself participates in the<br />
Mayor’s Mentors & More program, started by incumbent St. Pete<br />
Mayor Rick Baker. The aim is to help bring corporations and the<br />
<strong>com</strong>munity together to make area schools be<strong>com</strong>e the very best<br />
learning institutions they can be.<br />
While that is vital work, CME’s efforts might be even more so.<br />
After all, securing the future for our children means securing the<br />
present as much as possible. It is a mission to which the <strong>com</strong>pany<br />
is totally <strong>com</strong>mitted. “As a <strong>com</strong>pany, we have the capability to<br />
produce quality products for a deserving customer base, the U.S.<br />
war fighter,” Crews says. “That is what we do. We take pride that our<br />
Armed Forces make good use of our products. We feel like we are<br />
contributing to their success.”<br />
While no civilized nation of people with good intent should ever<br />
choose war over any other option, it is just as important that that<br />
same nation of people realize that the young men and women<br />
chosen to go and fight are deserving of our love, prayers and<br />
respect. No resource should be spared in ensuring their safety,<br />
security, and ability to fulfill their mission and return safely home.<br />
That is CME’s <strong>com</strong>mitment, just as it should be all of ours.
The biggest<br />
challenge facing<br />
CME is, as one<br />
might guess in<br />
today’s business<br />
climate, the<br />
economy.
feature story<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong> Gretchen Cain<br />
18
Celebrate Cake!<br />
A “Bonnie” Business<br />
Recipe for Sweet Success:<br />
Identify your passion and make it your life’s work<br />
Stay focused on the task at hand, eliminating distractions wherever possible<br />
Details, details, details! Have a business plan and follow all the steps to <strong>com</strong>pletion<br />
Know your target market and cater to it with an innovative marketing plan<br />
Change your plan when necessary to fill the specific niche needed<br />
Set high standards for your product or services and adhere to them<br />
Utilize mentors and networking groups to provide advice, support and business leads<br />
When Bonnie Yarbrough of Celebration Cakes is working on one of her<br />
masterpieces, time is suspended. She is in her creative zone and the only<br />
moment is her beautiful cake; anything else that goes on in the outside<br />
world can wait. It is her affinity for mastering minute details, and the<br />
ability to stay on task, that has allowed Yarbrough to achieve what every<br />
entrepreneur ultimately wants: to identify one’s passion early in life and<br />
cultivate it into a successful business.<br />
Yarbrough said her experience didn’t <strong>com</strong>e from a professional cooking<br />
school, but from her mother, who trained her to bake as a child and<br />
young adult. Her mother was a great believer in adding little touches<br />
that make the difference between a baked good that is created and a<br />
mass-produced item. “For example, add almond flavoring to your cherry<br />
and apple pie fillings and when making a spice cake, such as pumpkin,<br />
carrot or apple, add maple flavoring to the batter,” shared Yarbrough.<br />
“I taught myself how to decorate,” said Yarbrough. “Decorating cakes<br />
became my passion, and because I enjoy the creativity so much, it has<br />
always been a great stress reliever for me. It is so very rewarding to<br />
see your cake in the center of a ballroom, beautifully adorned for the<br />
occasion and to know you have delivered the finale, the centerpiece.<br />
“It is like the Christmas Tree for the winter season. Nothing can take that<br />
feeling of ac<strong>com</strong>plishment away from you. It is my weekend high, every<br />
weekend,” Yarbrough said.<br />
Yarbrough recalls that she was ready to structure her own <strong>com</strong>pany in<br />
December 1999, a new business for a new millennium. “As a matter of<br />
fact, I was the last corporation formed in Florida in 1999,” she said. Her<br />
storefront on Walsingham Road in Largo opened at Sabala Plaza on<br />
Valentine’s Day, 2000. Serendipitously, it was the anniversary of the very<br />
first wedding cake she had ever made, Feb.14, 1996.<br />
Yarbrough’s target market continues to be the bride for wedding cakes,<br />
as well as local residents requiring a special occasion cake. Yarbrough’s<br />
husband and business partner, Ted, selected the name Celebration<br />
Cakes, pointing to the fact that “all cakes are for celebrations of one sort<br />
or another.”<br />
Although Yarbrough may have preferred to work out of her home or on<br />
a part-time basis, those options weren’t available. “Home-based food<br />
preparation is outlawed in Florida. One must have a separate entrance<br />
into the kitchen or food preparation area,” she said.
feature story<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
20<br />
In order to defray the expenses of the store, it was necessary<br />
for Yarbrough to be on-site fulltime. Additionally, the landlord<br />
required a certain number of hours each day for the storefront to<br />
remain open.<br />
Yarbrough’s longtime mentor for Celebration Cakes is Alice<br />
Gallace, owner of Gallace Italian Restaurant on Indian Rocks<br />
Beach. “Alice came into my storefront one day and had a vision of<br />
how my store should look,” said Yarbrough. “As I had money and<br />
time I implemented her visions. Alice still <strong>com</strong>es into my store<br />
today and is very pleased with my progress,” she said.<br />
Like most savvy business owners, Celebration Cakes has a<br />
website to capture the customer who prefers to shop online. Still,<br />
Yarbrough finds dealing with customers face-to-face preferable.<br />
“Online shopping is so impersonal and everything about a cake is<br />
personal: its flavor, its filling, its color of frosting or the adornment<br />
on it,” she said. “This information is nearly impossible to relay<br />
online. However, having the site (www.celebrationcakes.biz) for<br />
browsing and enticement is wonderful,” Yarbrough said.<br />
It is the personal contact with customers and members of<br />
networking groups that helps Celebration Cakes to keep its edge<br />
over local bakeries in the area and also the grocery stores.<br />
Yarbrough has belonged to local chapters of many business<br />
networking groups, such as BNI and PLN, Women in Business,<br />
Monthly Mingles, Florida Barter, and Bay Area Bridal Association.<br />
For the first four years of business, BNI met at Celebration Cakes<br />
each Thursday morning. When the group’s attendance became<br />
too large, they moved to other facilities.<br />
Yarbrough said Celebration Cakes has maintained a very stable<br />
in<strong>com</strong>e over the past eight years, neither expanding nor reducing<br />
its services. Yarbrough attributes this to being unable to hire<br />
another manager or locate someone who wants to share the<br />
storefront in order to grow their own portion of the business. Life<br />
circumstances have presented a recent challenge, the diagnosis<br />
of Ted Yarbrough with Stage 6 of Alzheimer’s disease. Taking care<br />
of her husband is a top priority, yet Yarbrough has no immediate<br />
plans to sell her lucrative business or retire.<br />
Yarbrough advocates having a business plan to keep on track.<br />
Scheduling is critical, since the cake business has two seasons:<br />
Feb. 15 to June 15, and Oct. 15 to Dec. 15. According to<br />
Yarbrough, it is during these two time periods that the largest<br />
number of brides are married in the Tampa Bay area.<br />
“Online shopping is<br />
so impersonal and<br />
everything about<br />
a cake is personal:<br />
its flavor, its filling, its<br />
color of frosting or<br />
the adornment on it.”
feature story<br />
David Liller<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
22<br />
Yarbrough advises entrepreneurs to set a standard for their products<br />
or services and to not deviate from it. “Find out what sells the best<br />
and perfect it,” she re<strong>com</strong>mends. Celebration Cakes’ signature<br />
product is the Seashell Wedding Cake, which can be adapted for any<br />
flavor, with any filling, for any color scheme.<br />
Additional advice to entrepreneurs from Yarbrough: “Offer samples<br />
of your products. Volunteer to be the guest speaker at any event.<br />
Watch your expenses, especially your advertising dollars. Be able to<br />
alter your marketing plan.”<br />
Yarbrough said she opened Celebration Cakes with the intention of<br />
selling bakery supplies and offering lessons in decorating, but then<br />
had to alter her plans when she found there wasn’t a need. “Instead,<br />
I produced the quality of work the public demanded. Everyday<br />
was a new beginning, something new to make, to decorate or<br />
design. My passion for pretty became the backbone of my business,”<br />
Yarbrough said.<br />
Practice has made for perfect over the years and Yarbrough’s work<br />
has been lauded in publications and showcased at events such as<br />
NASCAR. She has earned the referrals of fine restaurants and hotels<br />
alike. Because of her reputation for creating cakes that are tastefully<br />
elegant, Yarbrough was chosen to provide the wedding cake for<br />
a Martha Stewart Destination Wedding at the SandPearl Resort at<br />
Clearwater Beach on November 9, 2008. As she does with all her<br />
cakes, Yarbrough personally delivered her four-tiered chocolate and<br />
raspberry swirled creation, designed to feed 135 wedding guests,<br />
and adorned with Swarovski crystals, silver beading and flowers.<br />
Yarbrough’s reward was much more than publicity generated<br />
from Martha Stewart Living Productions; it was the overwhelming<br />
satisfaction of seeing the bride and groom’s delighted expressions<br />
and knowing she was part of an age-old tradition. “The wedding<br />
cake is the very first thing that is shared as a couple, and represents<br />
their <strong>com</strong>mitment to one another. It should be a celebration cake,”<br />
she said.
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Cameos By Jay Winchester<br />
Penny Hulbert<br />
Links Financial LLC<br />
In the mid-1950’s, there was a fictional television program, entitled<br />
The Millionaire, that followed this basic premise: every week, the<br />
incredibly wealthy industrialist John Beresford Tipton- never seen,<br />
but heard- would hand over a million dollar cashier’s check to his<br />
personal secretary, Michael Anthony (played by veteran character<br />
actor Marvin Miller). Anthony’s instructions were simple: deliver the<br />
check to specified people without revealing where it came from, and<br />
then step out of their lives, leaving them to decide how the money<br />
could best be used. As one might guess, some used it to great effect;<br />
others, less so. Over the course of the show’s six-year run, Tipton gave<br />
away $188,000,000, in addition to paying the requisite taxes.<br />
Penny Hulbert, Founder and President of Tampa-based Links<br />
Financial LLC, can actually top Tipton’s total. She has given over<br />
$1,000,000,000. Lest readers mistake her for either a rampant<br />
philanthropist or an eccentric billionaire and bombard her with calls,<br />
realize that Hulbert’s giving <strong>com</strong>es with its own twist: She has directly<br />
loaned that amount to various businesses and real estate entities<br />
over the course of her financial services career.<br />
In fact, her <strong>com</strong>pany, Links Financial, assists business owners,<br />
real estate developers and investors in finding and securing the<br />
appropriate financing program to meet their needs. “Having worked<br />
for several different banks gives me inside knowledge that is useful<br />
for my clients, and an appreciation for the lenders since I used to<br />
be one,” says Hulbert, a 20-year veteran of the banking industry<br />
with tenures at Bank of America, Northern Trust and Royal Bank<br />
of Canada’s U.S. subsidiary. “I have always been in the business of<br />
helping <strong>com</strong>panies obtain financing.”<br />
The bug to build a career in banking was one that bit Hulbert early<br />
in life. “As a high school student, I read the Arthur Hailey book,<br />
The Moneychangers, deciding then and there that I wanted to be<br />
a banker,” recalls the aptly named Penny. So after graduating from<br />
Wake Forest University, it was off to the world of high finance. Then,<br />
two-and-a-half years ago, another bug bit, and she came down with<br />
a permanent case of the entrepreneurial flu, saying, “I finally gave in<br />
to the entrepreneurial bug and started my own business. I decided it<br />
was time to make money for myself instead of someone else.”<br />
Links Financial specializes in helping business owners safely steer<br />
their way through the sometimes confusing and turbulent waters<br />
of <strong>com</strong>mercial and investment lending. “As a business owner, how<br />
would you know if your lending institution is a good fit for your<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany?” she asks. “How would you know if your bank likes your<br />
industry, or even your business model? You wouldn’t. My ideal client<br />
is a business owner who needs help navigating through the credit<br />
markets.”<br />
It is a mission and a business that excites her, although she has seen<br />
her own share of the pitfalls and successes of the entrepreneurial<br />
lifestyle. “There is never a ‘best time’ to start a new business,” she says<br />
matter-of-factly. “If every entrepreneur waited for the best time to<br />
start one, they never would.” Aside from the desire to be one’s own<br />
boss, that life-on-the-highwire feeling is another factor driving many<br />
e-spirited people, including Hulbert. “When I first got started, I had<br />
an opportunity to visit with a business-of-the-year award winner,” she<br />
says. “He was very supportive of me and my new business. I told him<br />
that starting my business was both frightening and exhilarating all<br />
at the same time. He replied that he had owned his business for 15<br />
years, and it was still that way for him.”<br />
Many entrepreneurs owning businesses realize quickly that there<br />
are certain things you have to do to be successful. But it can also<br />
seem that entrepreneurial success is really the by-product of artful<br />
alchemy, at least when you’re starting out. “One of my first clients told<br />
me that sometimes it’s just smoke and mirrors,” she says. “When you<br />
get started, you just do what you need to do to be successful. You<br />
make those phone calls, you contact the people that you need to and<br />
you keep your word.”<br />
These current fiscally crazy times in which we live and work have<br />
their share of frustrations and challenges for every business owner,<br />
Hulbert included. “Proceeding with major growth plans for my<br />
business when everyone else is sitting on the sidelines – that’s my<br />
biggest challenge,” she says. Penny over<strong>com</strong>es this frustration with<br />
an unyielding passion for helping people turn their dreams into<br />
achievable goals. It’s the quality that drives her <strong>com</strong>pany’s success<br />
and keeps her motor running in overdrive. “I can’t wait to get up in<br />
the morning and get started each day,” says Hulbert. “I am passionate<br />
about helping people. I get excited about seeing businesses grow<br />
and thrive and serving as a catalyst for making that happen. I really<br />
wish that I had started my business sooner!”<br />
You may now proceed to bombard her with calls.<br />
To find out more about how the lending solutions offered by Penny<br />
Hulbert and Links Financial LLC can help your business grow, visit them<br />
on the Web at www.links-financial.<strong>com</strong>, or call 813.341.1250.
Terri L. Hall,<br />
Doubletake Studios, Inc.<br />
Doubletake Studios, Inc. is an advertising, branding and<br />
marketing boutique specializing in custom designed<br />
collateral, 3D direct mail and website design for a national<br />
clientele. As if the <strong>com</strong>pany didn’t already have enough<br />
to offer valued clients, owner Terri L. Hall recently added high-end<br />
custom corporate jewelry to the firm’s slate of quality services. It’s<br />
a good fit because, at Doubletake, everything revolves around a<br />
creative and collaborative synergy - and that’s by design.<br />
“Whenever we work with a new client, we must have a synergy that<br />
enables us to succeed,” says Hall, an Ohio native. “Whenever we have<br />
open <strong>com</strong>munication, it’s amazing the fun and inventive things you<br />
can do to promote a product or service.”<br />
Specifically, the firm looks for clients needing to promote their<br />
business or service, improve sales, and introduce new products and<br />
services in a unique and timely fashion. Once on board, the client<br />
is exposed to Doubletake’s high energy creative vibe. “We have the<br />
unique ability to translate a client’s vision and produce something<br />
that is a collaboration of their idea <strong>com</strong>bined with our expertise to<br />
generate a product that is simultaneously infused with our special<br />
brand of creativity while remaining highly effective,” she says.<br />
“Because our talented personnel have experience in both fine arts as<br />
well as graphic arts, we are able to offer our clients unique products<br />
that can enhance their branding while maintaining continuity<br />
between print, electronic media and specialty products such as<br />
custom awards and high-end corporate jewelry.”<br />
It’s no accident that Hall ended up owning a creative business.<br />
After all, her education provided an excellent framework for<br />
<strong>com</strong>bining her passion for the arts with her drive to succeed in<br />
business. She is a prime example of a woman following this sage<br />
advice: “Make a business out of your passion, and you will be<br />
passionate about that business.”<br />
By Jay Winchester<br />
It’s a thought that rang true with Hall.<br />
“Originally I was studying fine arts in college<br />
and got well into my junior year when I<br />
started thinking about what I would do when<br />
I got my degree,” the University of South<br />
Florida grad recalls. “I realized I wanted to do<br />
something that integrated art with business,<br />
and graphic arts and advertising seemed to<br />
be a natural fit. I could still be creative while<br />
creating a career and a business around that<br />
passion.”<br />
Although the firm is successful today, Terri is quick to recall the early<br />
struggles while growing her business over the last ten years. She<br />
explains, “In the early days, we had a lot of peaks and valleys in terms<br />
of sales and production. We controlled growth so that we didn’t<br />
get too big too fast and not be able to maintain our focus on our<br />
customer base. We wanted to make sure that we had both the time<br />
and the appropriate personnel to ensure that each and every client<br />
remained our number one priority.”<br />
Looking for a solution, Hall found it by going back to her<br />
collaborative roots, a move that also infused Doubletake with a<br />
unique house style. “We added very <strong>com</strong>petent, qualified people<br />
with work experience from other major metropolitan markets,” she<br />
says. “Now we were able to integrate graphic styles from New York,<br />
Atlanta and Miami, enabling us to offer high-end work in the Tampa<br />
Bay area. We take a personal interest in the success of our projects.<br />
Additionally, we are constantly reinventing ourselves to maintain an<br />
edge in the marketplace.”<br />
It’s a <strong>com</strong>pany that is also enjoying its fair share of honors, having<br />
recently been named as an Official Emerging Business Vendor for the<br />
up<strong>com</strong>ing Super Bowl XLIII, here in Tampa Bay in 2009. The <strong>com</strong>pany<br />
is offering a collectible Super Bowl Belt Buckle that it designed and<br />
produced. “We plan to have the buckle available during the holidays<br />
and up to the Super Bowl,” Hall says. “We’re very excited to participate<br />
in the NFL Emerging Business Program.”<br />
While it’s an honor, it’s not really a surprise. Doubletake’s blending of<br />
creative innovation within a collaborative environment is enough to<br />
make any potential client do a double take - even one as big as the NFL.<br />
To find out more about how Doubletake Studios can help your<br />
business, visit them on the Web at www.doubletakestudios.<strong>com</strong>, or call<br />
813.251.6308.
Cameos By Jay Winchester<br />
Judy Trice<br />
Bay Area Photography, Inc.<br />
When encountering the camera for the first time, some<br />
primitive tribes were frightened by a device they didn’t<br />
understand and feared that its “magic” would somehow<br />
capture their souls. As it turns out, they weren’t too far<br />
from the truth. Photography - really good photography, defined as<br />
high quality images captured by the potent <strong>com</strong>bination of excellent<br />
equipment and someone with an eye for the details the camera<br />
reveals - does capture people’s souls.<br />
It’s that power to capture people’s souls that continues to drive Judy<br />
Trice’s passion for photography. Trice, owner of Brandon-based Bay Area<br />
Photography, Inc. and a veteran photographer with over 25 years in her<br />
craft, specializes in capturing magic moments. “We do infant portraits<br />
usually on location at the family’s home - these are my favorite shoots -<br />
as well as children and family portraits on location. We also have a studio<br />
for those who prefer that setting,” she says. “A family who values quality<br />
service and a lifelong portrait of their most valued treasure, their family,<br />
or a bride and groom who want great photography and are willing to<br />
go the extra mile - these all make great clients for us!”<br />
Bay Area Photography serves the greater Tampa Bay area, including St.<br />
Petersburg, Sarasota, Ocala, Tampa, Orlando and Clearwater. Together<br />
with partner Francine Vitale, the <strong>com</strong>pany also shoots approximately 25<br />
weddings a year, as well as corporate and business portraits, shot either<br />
on location or in the studio. Long-time readers of Bay Area Business<br />
Magazine are already familiar with the <strong>com</strong>pany’s excellent work, which<br />
ac<strong>com</strong>panies every story in every issue.<br />
Two things set Trice, a Pennsylvania native whose family has lived there<br />
for over 150 years, apart from most other photographers working in<br />
this market. The first is her seven-year stint as a photojournalist working<br />
for newspapers. “In 1983 I started working for the Tribune Review in<br />
Greensburg, PA,” she recalls. “In my first year on the job, I was introduced<br />
to John Beal, an award-winning photojournalist. He was kind enough<br />
to take me to a photo contest where I met with the famous Pulitzer<br />
Prize winning photojournalist, Eddie Adams. I was inspired by these<br />
men and still am to this day!” She counts photographers David Peters<br />
of San Francisco and the late, legendary Monte Zucker of Maryland as<br />
other inspirational artists and mentors under whom she studied. It was<br />
an educational and professional experience that has paid continual<br />
dividends, not only in terms of her business, but also her experiences.<br />
“I have not looked back and am very privileged to do what I love for a<br />
living,” says Trice. “I’ve been fortunate to photograph high profile people<br />
such as Jane Pauley, Hugh Downs, Ivana Trump, Governor Crist, Jack<br />
Eckerd and Pat Robertson, among others. I have walked through a<br />
forest fire and been hoisted above a 747 aircraft in a cherry picker. It’s an<br />
incredibly diverse palette. In one day, I photographed a plane crash in<br />
Alabama and three hours later, I was shooting the New Year baby. By the<br />
time I was 27, I had seen a lot!”<br />
Today, those experiences pay off in her business. Bay Area Photography<br />
doesn’t chase clients. Rather, clients chase them, since all their business<br />
<strong>com</strong>es either by referral or appointment only. “What sets us apart is<br />
summed up by our tagline: ‘When quality and experience count,’” says<br />
Trice. “I have several long term clients who seem to be more like good<br />
friends. As an example, we are photographing a wedding in St. Maarten<br />
that has a family connection. I photographed the bride’s brother and his<br />
wife at their wedding 10 years ago. That connection enabled the bride<br />
to find us. I will go to a far away place with a familiar face!” That shoot<br />
will take Trice and Vitale on a 3,000 mile trek, but it’s all in a day’s work<br />
for her.<br />
So is an urge to ensure that customers are treated well and that their<br />
photographic experience is uniquely suited to them. “We try to be<br />
personable and creative,” she says. “We are not a cookie cutter, pick-yourbackground<br />
studio. In fact, we prefer to do location sessions.”<br />
Bay Area Photography is a unique studio producing work of the highest<br />
quality, and Trice believes she is blessed to be doing what she does.<br />
“God has given me the ability to see light and to work with people,” Trice<br />
says. “I am a professional observer!”<br />
For Judy Trice and Bay Area Photography, that’s an interesting - and<br />
profitable - development.<br />
For information on capturing the precious memories of your up<strong>com</strong>ing<br />
wedding or other special event, visit Bay Area Photography, Inc., on the<br />
web at www.bayareaphotography.<strong>com</strong>, or call 813.689.1993.
“thanks to innisbrook, my<br />
return on investment is this big.”<br />
Stephen Hand<br />
President, CEO, USA Tax & Insurance Services, Inc.<br />
Stephen Hand knows that in these challenging economic<br />
times, it’s critically important to stay close to your best<br />
clients and even closer to your top producers.<br />
“Our meetings and events at Innisbrook Resort and Golf<br />
Club have always produced a return on our investment.”<br />
Call Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club today and see<br />
how your organization can capitalize on:<br />
• 900-acre retreat providing seclusion and solitude<br />
• 65,000 sq. ft. of totally renovated meeting space<br />
• Largest meeting/event space in Pinellas County<br />
• Flexible space to ac<strong>com</strong>modate 10 to 1,000<br />
• Exquisite cuisine created by their renowned chefs<br />
• Four Championship Golf Courses with 72 holes<br />
• 28 lodges featuring 620 deluxe suites<br />
Book now and start measuring your return—just ask<br />
Stephen.<br />
Call 800.456.2000 or visit<br />
www.InnisbrookMeetings.<strong>com</strong><br />
Conveniently located in Palm Harbor, FL<br />
—minutes from Tampa Intl. Airport and<br />
America’s Best Beach.
Cameos By Jay Winchester<br />
Barbara Sealund<br />
Sealund & Associates<br />
Computer games are all the rage. The storylines and vivid<br />
graphic representations capture the imaginations of players,<br />
engaging them in new and different ways. Plus, they<br />
make great tools for learning, especially in the corporate<br />
environment. That’s the strategy promoted by Barbara Sealund and<br />
her <strong>com</strong>pany, Sealund & Associates, a St. Petersburg-based Christian<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany and global leader in providing innovative, customerfocused<br />
custom training, eLearning solutions and Serious Games.<br />
“Employees need to be motivated to learn,” says the <strong>com</strong>pany’s founder<br />
and president, Barbara Sealund. “Our proven methodologies, <strong>com</strong>bined<br />
with <strong>com</strong>puter gaming and 2D and 3D graphical elements, help make<br />
the learning exciting and fun. Once client C-Level executives see how<br />
successful the training is, they want more.”<br />
In business since 1985, the <strong>com</strong>pany enjoys relationships with both<br />
domestic and foreign <strong>com</strong>panies in a wide array of markets, including<br />
financial services, health services, manufacturing, government,<br />
education, insurance, retail and utilities, among others. Fortune 1000<br />
members and household names appear regularly among the <strong>com</strong>pany’s<br />
200-plus clients, which include Bank of America, Blue Cross/Blue Shield,<br />
Computer Associates, IBM, Northwest Airlines, UPS, AT&T, and Kodak.<br />
There are three reasons why such familiar corporate entities take<br />
advantage of the <strong>com</strong>puter-based training and virtual reality learning<br />
modules Sealund develops. First, these <strong>com</strong>panies have a tremendous<br />
need to train large numbers of employees effectively and efficiently.<br />
Second, Sealund’s use of proven training methods and innovative<br />
software provide a mechanism for learning that increases employee<br />
participation and retention of the subject matter. Third, Sealund’s<br />
sterling reputation as a <strong>com</strong>pany focused on “Trust, Service and Quality”<br />
make them an excellent corporate partner.<br />
An example of the latter is a Virtual Learning Environment Sealund<br />
developed for a local physicians’ group that teaches doctors the<br />
procedures they should use in treating the human body. Through<br />
extensive use of avatars, animated graphical representations of human<br />
beings (some of which closely resemble real-world doubles), the doctors<br />
practice life-saving surgical procedures in the safety of the virtual<br />
operating room, with the clear understanding that the results they<br />
produce in the virtual world can be reproduced in the real world, with<br />
the attendant good - or bad - consequences. Demos of the <strong>com</strong>pany’s<br />
games, simulations and virtual learning environments are available<br />
online at www.sealund.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
As for Barbara, what she does with her <strong>com</strong>pany today is really a<br />
sophisticated extension of the teaching career she once enjoyed. After<br />
receiving her BA and Master’s in Education, she embarked on a 12 year<br />
tenure as a teacher. “I loved teaching,” she says. In fact, a handful of her<br />
former students now work at her <strong>com</strong>pany. “It is a blessing to be able<br />
to watch individuals and professionals grow over time and realize you<br />
played a part in that,” says Sealund.<br />
The entry into Computer-Based Training (CBT) came in 1982, when<br />
Barbara was working at a leading financial services firm. Knowing<br />
her background and her growing interest in technology, she was<br />
approached to work with a software firm to develop learning programs<br />
for 1,000 COBOL trainees. The goal was to help employees learn a new<br />
application through an emulated system hosted on the <strong>com</strong>pany’s<br />
mainframe <strong>com</strong>puter.<br />
After successfully <strong>com</strong>pleting that project, the software <strong>com</strong>pany asked<br />
Barbara to start her own business. “They wanted me to help promote<br />
CBT worldwide,” she says. “I ended up helping 25 to 30 <strong>com</strong>panies in<br />
Germany, Belgium, England and The Netherlands implement CBT into<br />
their training environments.”<br />
The rest, as they say, is history. Like much of history, the <strong>com</strong>pany has<br />
had its share of ups and downs. Through it all, though, Barbara’s faith<br />
has helped her maintain a proactive and grateful attitude. “Although<br />
our work involves developing these innovative learning tools, we are<br />
working to glorify God through our <strong>com</strong>mitment to integrity, service<br />
and quality,” she says resolvedly.<br />
Her membership in the local chapter of The C12 Group, a peer-topeer<br />
executive consultancy for Christian business owners and CEO’s,<br />
is key in helping her <strong>com</strong>pany grow. As with most things involving<br />
Barbara, C12 is all about learning. “C12 teaches us effective strategies<br />
for implementing our faith, values and principles into our <strong>com</strong>pany<br />
cultures, for the express purpose of honoring God and impacting lives,”<br />
she says. “It’s a great opportunity for learning a different approach<br />
to business. Here, we make our <strong>com</strong>pany decisions on the basis of<br />
thorough analysis, good business sense and prayer.”<br />
It sounds like Barbara Sealund has learned the true secret to success.<br />
To find out more about the innovative Virtual Learning Environments<br />
and custom eLearning solutions offered by Sealund & Associates, visit<br />
them on the Web at www.sealund.<strong>com</strong>, or call 727.572.1800.
Stacey Spencer<br />
Teen Tyme Productions, Inc.<br />
Members of the boomer generation may recall their<br />
adolescent years as a time of social awkwardness and<br />
raging hormones. However, today’s younger generation<br />
faces a whole host of problems beyond shyness and<br />
understanding the opposite sex. Issues involving drugs, sexual<br />
orientation, recreational sex, peer pressure, gang violence, teen<br />
suicides, toxic parents, poor role models, latchkey kids, homelessness,<br />
and anxiety about their future and place in the world run rampant<br />
through the teenage sub-culture.<br />
Stacey Spencer thinks it’s important to understand that not every<br />
teen is a bad kid. What is true is that this current generation of young<br />
adults is looking for people who care enough to give them some love,<br />
guidance and time. Stacey is working to make that happen. Spencer<br />
is a motivational speaker who also serves as the producer and host of<br />
Teen Tyme Productions, Inc., a non-profit 501C-3 corporation based<br />
in Clearwater and serving young adults throughout Tampa Bay. It’s a<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany that seeks to make a positive impact on teens in hopes of<br />
producing fundamental change. “Teen Tyme’s mission and vision is to<br />
help youth gain access to information, resources, and opportunities<br />
that help them develop into contributing and responsible members<br />
of society,” says Spencer. “Our goal is to facilitate, promote and provide<br />
alternative, innovative, and creative programs and solutions for youth.”<br />
One way the <strong>com</strong>pany seeks to do this is with a television show called<br />
Just Teens. “The television show was introduced, approved and funded<br />
to <strong>com</strong>plement our classroom-based program,” Stacey says. “This<br />
multi-faceted show was produced for, about, and with the involvement<br />
of teens. Its format included interviews, demonstrations, discussions,<br />
talent showcases, and informational or educational segments. The show<br />
provided a way to vividly portray to our <strong>com</strong>munity what teens were<br />
doing and what was on their minds.”<br />
Although the show is currently in search of a home, Spencer and her<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany continue their mission. “No matter where we are, the camera<br />
is always rolling,” says the Kentucky native and UK graduate. “We are<br />
always looking to produce motivational vignettes for enhancing a<br />
young person’s life.” Currently, Teen Tyme provides a variety of services<br />
and support to and for youths between 12 and 19 years old. Its<br />
programs and services are sought by schools, parochial, private and<br />
public; <strong>com</strong>munity and youth service agencies; faith-based and religious<br />
institutions; and civic and social groups.<br />
Teen Tyme’s services include: mentoring programs; leadership training;<br />
conflict resolution for individuals and groups; discussion and focus<br />
groups; retreats, symposiums and workshops; inspirational and<br />
motivational sessions; and faith-based and religious-centered group<br />
dialogues.<br />
Spencer’s interest in using media stems from her 10-year tenure<br />
working in radio. “During my career in broadcasting, I served in various<br />
other capacities in addition to the role of on-air announcer,” she says.<br />
“However, I always had an interest in <strong>com</strong>munity relations and youth<br />
development. Therefore, my career expanded to include roles in the<br />
promotions and marketing department. By serving in these capacities,<br />
I was able to influence the types of events I participated with in the<br />
<strong>com</strong>munity. Somehow, I always ended up on teen duty. It was then that<br />
I realized there was not enough good ‘positive programming’ for teens<br />
on the local and national levels.”<br />
A woman of faith, Spencer seeks inspiration in many circles. She found<br />
it in a program being produced under the guidance of respected<br />
General Colin Powell. “In 1997, America’s Promise was developed under<br />
the direction of General Colin Powell,” she recalls. “This initiative served<br />
as a call to action and it prompted me to get further involved in youth<br />
initiatives in my <strong>com</strong>munity. This was the direct answer to my heart’s<br />
desire to create the Teen Tyme Productions concept. My heartbeat<br />
involves helping others achieve their lifelong goals by mastering the<br />
3-D’s For Success Method: Dedication, Determination, & Discipline!”<br />
Funding remains a challenge, but not an impossible task. “We started<br />
as a small non-profit organization with so many desires and needs to<br />
help make the business grow, so it was up to me to convince business<br />
people to buy into the vision and support us,” she says. “In the initial<br />
board meeting, I omitted my desire to even ask for funds. When I<br />
spoke at the second meeting, I found that my words made a lasting<br />
impression. For us, the key to successful fundraising lies in first building<br />
successful relationships.”<br />
Successful relationships. That’s the end product Stacey Spencer and Teen<br />
Tyme deliver to America’s young adults.<br />
To find out how your <strong>com</strong>pany can<br />
assist Teen Tyme Productions in<br />
its vital mission, or for booking<br />
information for your school<br />
or organization, visit www.<br />
staceyspencer.<strong>com</strong>, or call<br />
502.339.1653.<br />
By Jay Winchester
WOMEN IN BUSINESS<br />
Tampa Bay Area Networking Opportunities<br />
Business & Professional Women of<br />
St. Petersburg-Pinellas (BPW)<br />
“A local organization of BPW/USA, a national alliance of individuals<br />
dedicated to improving the professional, personal, economic and<br />
educational outlook for working women. Its network includes…<br />
members of diverse ages, races, occupations and politics.” For more<br />
information, contact Carolyn Wiggins, (727) 525-9723; or visit www.<br />
bpwstpetepinellas.org.<br />
eWomenNetwork<br />
“The #1 resource for connecting and promoting women and their<br />
businesses.” For more information, contact Karen Krymski, Regional<br />
Executive Director, (727) 322-9596; KarenKrymski@eWomenNetwork.<br />
<strong>com</strong>; or visit www.eWomenNetwork.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
Executive Women’s Golf<br />
Association (EWGA)<br />
“Provides opportunities for women to learn, play and enjoy the game of<br />
golf for business and for life!” For more information, call (813) 854-8174;<br />
e-mail tampa@ewgachapter.<strong>com</strong>; or visit www.ewgatampabay.org.<br />
Network of Executive Women<br />
“Dedicated to improving the lives of working women. Our overall goal<br />
is to be the ‘Network of Choice’ for Executive Women in the Tampa Bay<br />
Region.” For more information, visit www.networkexecwomen.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
Tampa Bay Technology Forum’s<br />
Professional Women’s Network<br />
“A peer organization of professional women that provides a forum for<br />
information sharing, resources, and contacts. To be<strong>com</strong>e a member<br />
of the Professional Women’s Network, you must meet the following<br />
qualifications: Organization must be a member of TBTF; Companies<br />
must have 5 or more employees; Must be a female professional such as<br />
C-Level, Director, VP or Manager; Must have managerial responsibility<br />
and direct oversight of staff.” For more information, visit www.tbtf.org<br />
and click on Get Involved, then Networks.<br />
Women in Business Council<br />
Open to members of the Largo Mid-Pinellas Chamber of Commerce.<br />
The Council presents the 2nd Annual Women in Business Forum &<br />
Expo - A Balancing Act, February 4, 4-7 p.m. at the Largo Cultural Center.<br />
Call the chamber for more information, (727) 584-2321 or visit www.<br />
largochamber.org.<br />
Women on Course<br />
“Women on Course opens the door and invites you to enjoy all the benefits<br />
the golf lifestyle has to offer. You don’t have to spend five hours on the<br />
course to take advantage of the networking and social benefits. Meet likeminded<br />
women at our events, which <strong>com</strong>e in a variety of fun and creative<br />
formats.” For more information, visit www.womenoncourse.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
Women’s Business Enterprise<br />
National Council (WBENC)<br />
“Provides National Certification, opening doors to the nation’s largest<br />
and most successful corporations: these corporations want to do<br />
business with women business enterprises and we help connect<br />
you to them.” For more information, contact Darlene Hester, (813)<br />
482-7505; darlenehester@womenbusiness.info; or visit www.<br />
womensbusiness.info.<br />
Women Presidents’<br />
Organization (WPO)<br />
“A global, nonprofit, membership peer advisory<br />
organization for women who own and run multi-million<br />
dollar businesses.” For more information, contact<br />
Rosemary Brehm, (727) 443-0319; rosemary@<br />
turningpoints2results.<strong>com</strong>; or visit the local chapter’s<br />
website at www.TampaBayWPO.<strong>com</strong> or the<br />
national website at www.womenpresidentsorg.<br />
<strong>com</strong>
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Real Estate | Litigation | Trial | Land Use and Zoning | Environmental | Business Transactions | Health Care<br />
Eminent Domain and Condemnation | Sports and Entertainment | Family | Labor and Employment | Insurance Coverage
legal<br />
Brent C.J. Britton<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
34<br />
Protect<br />
Your Idea$<br />
Turning Ideas Into<br />
Value – Part VI<br />
Intellectual Property<br />
Agreements<br />
There is no truer maxim in the law than “get it in writing.”<br />
Intellectual Property (IP) lawyers provide numerous services<br />
intended to reduce legal and business risks. Among them, the<br />
thoughtful structuring, negotiating, and drafting of effective<br />
contracts. With very few exceptions, every transaction in which<br />
a <strong>com</strong>pany engages should be governed by a written contract.<br />
Without the correct agreement in hand, you should never<br />
take money from investors, hire employees or independent<br />
contractors, purchase intellectual property, or let anyone see<br />
your confidential information, to name just a few.<br />
IDEA<br />
MARKET<br />
OUTLINE<br />
Why get it in Writing?<br />
During negotiations, a written contract helps reconcile<br />
assumptions. People naturally, often subconsciously, make<br />
self-interested assumptions, but rarely give voice to them.<br />
“Handshake deals” almost always blow up at the point when<br />
inharmonious or unrealistic assumptions eventually <strong>com</strong>e<br />
to light, as they always do. A contract requires a meeting of<br />
the minds. There is no better way to confirm that minds have<br />
met than to put the deal terms on paper and get everyone to<br />
sign off.<br />
Further, a written contract is the best evidence of a deal’s<br />
terms. Without a written contract, the understanding of a deal<br />
resides only in the respective heads of the people negotiating<br />
it. What happens if they’re not around? If you get sued over an<br />
oral agreement, since you won’t be able to produce a written<br />
contract, you’ll have to convince the court that your recollection<br />
of the deal terms is the correct one. Good luck with that.<br />
And perhaps most importantly, the law dictates that some<br />
agreements must be in writing. Certain deals, such as work-forhire<br />
agreements with outside contractors, for example, must be<br />
in writing to be enforced. No writing, no deal.<br />
STRATEGY<br />
BUYER<br />
LEGAL<br />
CONTRACT<br />
SELLER
Size Matters<br />
Why are contracts so long and<br />
boring? A written agreement<br />
must be <strong>com</strong>petent to<br />
govern the deal for which it is<br />
used. In a transaction of any<br />
<strong>com</strong>plexity, the agreement<br />
serves as a recipe for the deal,<br />
a <strong>com</strong>plete instruction set for<br />
the parties to follow to carry<br />
It is also an error trap, a set of contingencies for what happens when<br />
a party does not carry out his obligations or when assumptions<br />
underlying the deal change.<br />
Written agreements tend to grow in size in proportion to the value<br />
of the deal. A $200 purchase of, say, an office chair can be governed<br />
by a single page of contract language, primarily because no one is<br />
going to sue on it; if the other side breaches, it may be painful to<br />
lose $200, but that pain is rarely worth the expense of litigation.<br />
On the other hand, a $2 million agreement may very well demand<br />
as much as 30 or 40 pages of language to be <strong>com</strong>petent. That kind<br />
of loss is worth suing over, so the agreement requires language to<br />
make it crystal clear for the judge, jury and opposing counsel to<br />
determine when a breach has occurred and who is owed what.<br />
Sometimes a legal relationship can get so <strong>com</strong>plex that counsel will<br />
draft and circulate another document – a term sheet that outlines<br />
the deal terms – before drafting or reviewing an actual contract.<br />
A term sheet is a very effective negotiating tool that helps ensure<br />
you’re reasonably close to a mutual agreement on the major terms<br />
before getting bogged down in the minutiae of the language of the<br />
written contract.<br />
Contracts, Simplified<br />
Most contracts have two parties, a buyer and a seller. When you<br />
boil an agreement, no matter how <strong>com</strong>plex, down to its bare<br />
essentials, that’s what you get: a buyer who’s willing to pay to get<br />
something the seller has and is willing to give up for that money.<br />
Nearly every business relationship can be reduced to a buyer-seller<br />
relationship and nearly every contract ultimately describes one.<br />
The most important provisions of any contract, therefore, consist of<br />
the terms that describe what the buyer gets for the money, how the<br />
buyer and seller will be able to know whether the buyer has gotten<br />
what was promised, and the terms that describe what happens if the<br />
buyer does not get what was promised. Provisions not obviously in<br />
support of these goals may be excessive or unnecessary.<br />
Remember that if the promises made in a contract need to be<br />
enforced in court, the judge and jury will be the ones reading and<br />
interpreting your written agreement as the last word on what<br />
promises have been made, kept, and broken. Read your written<br />
agreements carefully prior to signing them to ensure that they<br />
conform to your intentions.<br />
______________________________________________________<br />
Brent C.J. Britton is an intellectual property lawyer in Tampa. Learn more at<br />
www.brentbritton.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
out their obligations. Do not tolerate typographical<br />
errors or misused terminology.<br />
Demand consistency, uniformity<br />
and, above all, simplicity. Make<br />
it easy for the jury to agree<br />
with you.<br />
More legal information at<br />
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testimonial<br />
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accounting<br />
Tatiana Gilbertson<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
36<br />
WBE<br />
A Woman’s Prerogative<br />
Over the past few decades,<br />
the amount of women-owned<br />
businesses has increased at a<br />
rate of more than four times<br />
the national average. It is<br />
mostly because of the changes in<br />
women’s educational and career<br />
achievements. This change<br />
started in the 1960’s when women<br />
began to prepare themselves for<br />
a career rather than a job. The<br />
trend continues today as many<br />
more women are surpassing men<br />
in educational achievements.<br />
Through education and experience,<br />
women have gained the confidence<br />
to bring their visions to fruition<br />
and open their own businesses.<br />
More accounting<br />
information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/accounting.htm<br />
Here are a few key statistics<br />
that, as of 2008, related to<br />
women-owned businesses:<br />
7.2 million businesses are majority-owned<br />
by women (51% or more)<br />
They employ more than 7.3 million people<br />
and generate $1.1 trillion in sales<br />
One in five businesses with revenues of<br />
$1 million or more is women-owned<br />
Now that we have established that women-owned businesses<br />
are a large and growing part of our economy, let’s talk about<br />
one of the advantages of being a woman entrepreneur. In 1988,<br />
the Women’s Business Ownership Act was enacted to initiate<br />
efforts to assist the development of small businesses owned<br />
and controlled by women. This means that if you are a woman<br />
and want to own a business, you are at an advantage. The<br />
government has recognized the need for diversity and wants to<br />
help you succeed! The act states that, “All Federal departments<br />
and agencies are required to take appropriate action to facilitate,<br />
preserve and strengthen women’s business enterprise and to<br />
ensure full participation by women in the free enterprise system.”<br />
In order to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity, you<br />
need to have a Woman Business Enterprise (WBE) certification.<br />
The WBE certification is like a seal of approval which states that<br />
your business is, in fact, owned by a woman. Most government<br />
agencies will recognize the WBE certification. If you wish to do<br />
business with your state or local government, it is re<strong>com</strong>mended<br />
that you educate yourself about the specific types of certifications<br />
they may require. First, they want to make sure that people<br />
are not cheating the system by, for example, having businesses<br />
portray that the owner’s wife is the owner in title when, in fact,<br />
she really has no interest or control over the <strong>com</strong>pany. Some<br />
private sector businesses also recognize the WBE certification<br />
for various reasons, including their business dealings with<br />
government agencies. Therefore, it is re<strong>com</strong>mended that you<br />
get a certification through a third party organization such as the<br />
National Women Business Owners Corporation. Then you need<br />
to get your business name on the list of vendors from which
these <strong>com</strong>panies are hiring. Purchasing<br />
agents will look to see if you have that<br />
certification before doing business with you,<br />
as many of these programs are set up to<br />
track the amount of certified women-owned<br />
businesses they use.<br />
Any <strong>com</strong>pany owned at least 51% by<br />
a woman or women can apply for the<br />
certification. Another condition that needs<br />
to be met is control. A woman has control of<br />
the business if she is the ultimate decisionmaker<br />
of the <strong>com</strong>pany when it <strong>com</strong>es to<br />
all aspects of the business, or if she has<br />
delegated (or has the authority to delegate)<br />
all of those responsibilities to another partial<br />
owner or manager of the <strong>com</strong>pany. If you<br />
meet those requirements, you are eligible to<br />
apply for your WBE certification. When you<br />
obtain your certification it adds credibility to<br />
your <strong>com</strong>pany.<br />
Obtaining your certification is as<br />
simple as applying if you meet<br />
all the criteria. If you do meet all<br />
criteria, there is no reason not to<br />
partake of all these preferential<br />
treats. The application requires<br />
<strong>com</strong>prehensive information<br />
to be provided by the owner,<br />
as well as copies of important<br />
business documents such as<br />
articles of incorporation, minutes,<br />
financials, etc. After the application<br />
has been <strong>com</strong>pleted and all<br />
attachments are in place, it is reviewed<br />
by the agency and an interview is<br />
scheduled. An agent will visit<br />
your place of business to<br />
confirm that all is as<br />
stated.<br />
It should not be assumed that any job you<br />
desire will be yours just because you meet<br />
all the requirements. Different jobs have<br />
further specifications, such as number<br />
of employees, years in the industry, and<br />
residency. And even then, just having the<br />
certification is not a guarantee you will<br />
get the jobs. It does, though, put you on<br />
a database from which government and<br />
private agencies will select businesses<br />
to whom to offer jobs. And, just as with<br />
everyday marketing, you will need to<br />
market to these agencies in order to<br />
increase your chances and get your name<br />
recognized.<br />
___________________________________<br />
Tatiana Gilbertson is a member of the tax team at Kingery &<br />
Crouse. A graduate of the University of South Florida with an<br />
MBA degree, she has previously worked on the audit team.<br />
Tatiana speaks English, Spanish & German fluently. Kingery &<br />
Crouse, P.A. is a full service public accounting firm<br />
with a staff of dedicated professionals<br />
providing tax and accounting services,<br />
including audits of SEC <strong>com</strong>panies.<br />
You may contact Tatiana at (813)<br />
874-1280 ext #228. Find us on the<br />
web @ www.tampacpa.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
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strategic planning<br />
Cathy A. Norris<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
38<br />
Retirement<br />
Concerns<br />
Generally Weigh<br />
Heavy for Women<br />
American women are not typically looking forward to<br />
retirement. Instead of envisioning the opportunity to step back<br />
from work and spend more time with the grandkids or pursue<br />
hobbies, a large number of older women are dreading the<br />
thought of retirement. Why? In part, the realities of a challenging<br />
economy, longer life spans and fewer guaranteed retirement<br />
plans have added a layer of financial stress to the retirement<br />
horizon for everyone. And women, who by virtue of their gender<br />
roles are more likely to have interrupted work histories, are<br />
feeling the pressure.<br />
Survey says — women have<br />
more to worry about<br />
According to a recent survey of Americans, women are more<br />
worried than men about their prospects for a <strong>com</strong>fortable<br />
retirement.† While men scored high in concern about having<br />
enough to do when they retire, women were more likely to<br />
express concern about the financial ramifications of this phase<br />
of their lives. Specifically, more women than men said they are<br />
very concerned or somewhat concerned about the following<br />
retirement issues:<br />
The rising cost of health care<br />
Eighty-seven percent of women responding to the survey<br />
believe their health care costs in retirement will grow faster than<br />
their retirement in<strong>com</strong>e.<br />
The cost of living in general<br />
Eighty-three percent of women believe the overall cost of living<br />
will grow faster than their retirement in<strong>com</strong>e.<br />
More strategic planning<br />
information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/strategicplanning.htm<br />
Declining health<br />
Seventy-five percent of surveyed women worry about their<br />
health in retirement, wondering if they will require costly health<br />
care and have a poor quality of life.<br />
Outliving their money<br />
Sixty-four percent of women are concerned they may run out of<br />
money before they take their last breath.<br />
The reality behind the worry<br />
The women surveyed are not more anxious or fearful than men.<br />
Rather, they may simply be more realistic about their finances<br />
— and retirement will be more difficult for women than men.<br />
The Hartford survey reveals some reasons why women more<br />
frequently report feeling vulnerable about financing their<br />
twilight years.<br />
Being single<br />
contributes to worry<br />
As it turns out, marital status makes a difference. A much<br />
higher percentage of single women age 65 and above are not<br />
financially secure <strong>com</strong>pared to their married counterparts.<br />
These single, lower-in<strong>com</strong>e women have good cause to
wonder how they will make ends meet in<br />
retirement if they are struggling now, while<br />
they are earning an in<strong>com</strong>e. And it’s not just<br />
single women who are more likely to be<br />
economically disadvantaged. On average,<br />
married women who be<strong>com</strong>e widowed<br />
experience a significant reduction in their<br />
earnings, which is not true for men who lose<br />
their spouses.<br />
Women feel less<br />
prepared because<br />
they are<br />
While American women are entering and<br />
staying in the workforce in unprecedented<br />
numbers, there remain gender differences<br />
in retirement preparedness, especially when<br />
you consider women age 45 and above who<br />
left the workforce to raise a family. Taking<br />
time off to stay home means fewer years in<br />
the workforce. Less time in the workforce<br />
translates to lower overall earnings, which<br />
affects your ability to save as well as your<br />
social security payout levels in retirement.<br />
Plus, not only do women tend to earn less,<br />
they also live longer, which can put them<br />
in a precarious financial position going into<br />
retirement.<br />
Do what you can with what you have<br />
Awareness and preparation can go a long<br />
way toward <strong>com</strong>bating retirement anxiety.<br />
There are steps women can take to improve<br />
their retirement outlook. Here are some<br />
suggestions:<br />
Start saving now<br />
Whether your retirement is almost here<br />
or decades away, saving is fundamental.<br />
Contribute to your employer-sponsored<br />
retirement plan and take advantage of the<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany match if it’s available.<br />
Keep working<br />
Women who remain on the job stay<br />
active and connected to others. They also<br />
continue to receive a paycheck. Opting to<br />
retire early can significantly reduce your<br />
annual social security payments, whereas<br />
continuing to work beyond 65 means you<br />
will get a larger check from the government<br />
when you do retire.<br />
Mind your health<br />
It pays to take care of yourself and prevent<br />
serious illness to the extent that you can.<br />
Exercise, get adequate rest and eat right. Good<br />
health at any age makes life more enjoyable<br />
and keeps health care costs down.<br />
Have a plan<br />
It’s important to have realistic expectations<br />
about your in<strong>com</strong>e needs in retirement. A<br />
financial advisor can help you estimate how<br />
much in<strong>com</strong>e you will need and how to reach<br />
your goals.<br />
†Why Women WorrySM, The Hartford Advance 50<br />
Team and MIT AgeLab, 2008.<br />
____________________________________________<br />
Cathy A. Norris is a Certified Financial Planner in Oldsmar, FL<br />
Contact: 813-814-2935 or cathy.a.norris@ampf.<strong>com</strong><br />
The information may not be suitable for every situation and<br />
should not be relied on without the advice of your tax, legal<br />
and/or financial advisors. Neither Ameriprise Financial nor<br />
its financial advisors provide tax or legal advice. Consult with<br />
qualified tax and legal advisors about your tax and legal<br />
situation. This column was prepared by Ameriprise Financial.<br />
Financial planning services and i investments offered through<br />
Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., Member FINRA & SIPC. © 2008<br />
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.<br />
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networking<br />
Penny Hulbert<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
40<br />
Teeing<br />
Up for<br />
Business:<br />
How Golf Can Get<br />
You in the Game<br />
It’s a myth: deals are seldom finalized on the golf course.<br />
However, don’t be confused, that is where many deal-closing<br />
relationships are made. Business golf is not a meeting moved<br />
outdoors. The fine points of a contract probably will be covered<br />
at another time. But what transpires during a round of golf<br />
can be the foundation for a lasting business relationship. Golf<br />
provides the opportunity to spend as much as 4 to 6 hours<br />
of quality time with a business client or colleague. Few other<br />
venues offer such an extended period to interact and develop<br />
mutual respect.<br />
In 2003, Catalyst, a nonprofit organization for women in<br />
business, surveyed 705 women in Fortune 1000 <strong>com</strong>panies<br />
about the factors they felt were holding them back at work.<br />
More than 40% cited the “exclusion from informal networks”<br />
as a barrier to their advancement. One of the most mentioned<br />
informal networks? GOLF.<br />
It has been said that golf brings out the best and<br />
worst in people which is why so many business leaders<br />
play golf with important clients, suppliers and<br />
potential hires. Many of the rules of golf apply to<br />
the business world – being prepared, paying<br />
attention, assessing situations quickly and<br />
maintaining one’s <strong>com</strong>posure. The game allows a player to know<br />
your other playing partners’ personalities. Situations created<br />
on the golf course reveal how the player responds to success or<br />
failure, performance under pressure, and how well he abides by<br />
the rules and ethics of the game.<br />
These characteristics are all key aspects of business relationships.<br />
That’s why business golf isn’t as much about closing the deal as it<br />
is about developing the relationships that give you the ability to<br />
close the deals.<br />
To take advantage of golf for business here are some things to<br />
keep in mind:<br />
Know Your Purpose:<br />
Going into a business golf opportunity without identifying a<br />
purpose is like going into a business meeting without an agenda<br />
– it isn’t likely to produce the results you want! Identify what<br />
you want to get out of the time together and what your playing<br />
partners get as well.<br />
Plan Your Outing:<br />
Based on your business purpose, you should plan your outing<br />
the same way you plan a business meeting, a lunch meeting or<br />
presentation. Choices and details should be made and arranged<br />
in advanced to ensure they align with your business purpose. Set<br />
expectations up front for all participants, so there are no surprises.<br />
Interaction with Others:<br />
Focus on your business purpose. You aren’t there to shoot<br />
your best round of golf ever (even though it would be nice);<br />
check yourself on every hole – are you focused on your<br />
business purpose?
Know Golf Course<br />
Etiquette:<br />
Your golf skill is secondary. If you know golf<br />
course etiquette, everyone will enjoy joining<br />
you for a game of golf. You should know<br />
when to talk and when not to talk, where to<br />
stand when others are making a shot, how<br />
to take care of the course, where to drive the<br />
cart, pace of play, cell phone etiquette, how<br />
to tip and how to dress.<br />
Have Basic Golf Skills:<br />
Remember you have a day job and the goal<br />
here is business. However, a basic game is<br />
necessary. Here are some benchmarks: can<br />
you hit the ball at least a 100 yards; do you<br />
know the basic techniques for chipping,<br />
putting, pitching and sand; are you 100%<br />
confident that you know how to get around<br />
a golf course in a courteous manner?<br />
As more and more women add golf to their<br />
repertoire for business success, there are<br />
some additional things to consider when<br />
men and women tee it up together.<br />
Select a Course for All<br />
Players’ Abilities:<br />
Don’t assume that a woman golfer will<br />
always play from the forward tees or that<br />
men should automatically play the longest<br />
yardage possible. Especially for business<br />
golf, choose a course with multiple tee boxes<br />
(rated for both men and women) and the<br />
yardage that makes the game enjoyable for<br />
all who are playing.<br />
Viva La Difference:<br />
In general, men do not talk much business<br />
on the golf course. However, women do.<br />
They are more prone to multitasking and<br />
therefore tend to talk more business while<br />
they play. Keep these differences in mind<br />
during your on-course conversations.<br />
Break at the<br />
Forward Tee:<br />
Men that are accustomed to all male<br />
foursomes, occasionally forget to stop at the<br />
forward tees for a female player’s turn. To<br />
avoid this faux pas, try to keep the cart with<br />
women players in the front position while at<br />
the tee box.<br />
To acquire and hone your golf skills, seek<br />
out a golf professional. One resource for golf<br />
programs is the PGA of America’s website at<br />
www.playgolfamerica.<strong>com</strong>. For females, the<br />
Executive Women’s Golf Association (EWGA)<br />
has more than125 chapters throughout the<br />
United States offering new golfer clinics<br />
and numerous other player development<br />
programs, as well as numerous golf,<br />
networking and social activities.<br />
See www.ewga.<strong>com</strong><br />
Using golf for business can enhance your<br />
career and it is a sport you can enjoy<br />
throughout your life. Don’t be left in the<br />
office and out of the action when you can be<br />
teeing up for business.<br />
_____________________________________________<br />
Penny Hulbert is the Past President of the Executive Women’s<br />
Golf Association, headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens and<br />
President of Links Financial, LLC, in Tampa/FL, assisting clients<br />
in identifying the most appropriate financing program. Since<br />
the EWGA started in 1991, more than 100,000 women have<br />
benefited from membership in the organization which is<br />
dedicated to providing opportunities to learn, play, and enjoy<br />
the game of golf for business and for life. See www.ewga.<strong>com</strong>
strategic planning<br />
Rosemary DiDio Brehm<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
42<br />
The Latest<br />
on Women<br />
Owned<br />
Businesses<br />
Just the Facts, Ma’am<br />
“40% of all privately held firms in the US are owned by women<br />
(where 50% of ownership or more is by a woman).”<br />
That means that there are “10.1 million businesses, employing 13<br />
million men and women, generating $1.9 trillion in sales which<br />
have at least 50% of its ownership women-based.”<br />
“And three quarter of those businesses have majority womenownership<br />
(51% or more) which breaks down to 7.2 million firms<br />
employing 7.3 million men and women in the US generating $1.1<br />
trillion in sales! “<br />
These numbers <strong>com</strong>e from The Center for Women’s Business<br />
Research. Every two years they update their findings; their most<br />
recent statistics came out in October of 2008. Here are some<br />
more numbers to think about from this report:<br />
“1.9 million businesses are majority-owned (51% or more) by<br />
women of color in the US and they employ 1.2 million people and<br />
generate $165 billion in sales. This category grew faster than all<br />
privately held firms.”<br />
“One in five women-owned businesses have revenues of $1 million<br />
or more.”<br />
“Between 2002 and 2008, the five fastest growing states for<br />
women-owned firms are: Nevada and Arizona<br />
(tied), Florida, Texas, Maryland and Georgia.<br />
The five fastest growing metro areas for<br />
women-owned firms are: Orlando, FL;<br />
Raleigh, NC; Atlanta, GA and Riverside,<br />
CA (tied for third); Charlotte, NC; and<br />
Phoenix, AZ.”
Interestingly, the Center’s 2006 report ranked<br />
Florida the number one fastest growing state<br />
and Tampa Bay the third fastest growing<br />
metro area in the US, so there have been<br />
some changes in the last two years.<br />
So there you have some NUMBERS about<br />
women-owned businesses. I am one of those<br />
10.1 million women business owners and I<br />
want to know how the latest research can<br />
help me grow my business. So I went beyond<br />
the numbers and found some “actionable”<br />
FACTS about women-owned businesses.<br />
Key Fact - Banking<br />
and Finance<br />
“Women business owners who obtained<br />
capital persevered, making an average of four<br />
attempts to obtain bank loans or lines of credit<br />
and 22 attempts to obtain equity capital.”<br />
Perseverance is the key, but given our<br />
economic challenges, what can our bankers<br />
and financial institutions do to help us? We<br />
must have good relationships with them,<br />
understand our financials, and have clear<br />
business plans. It is also essential to know<br />
what our financial needs are and make our<br />
case clearly.<br />
Key Fact - Exit Strategies<br />
Women’s “concern about (selling) price is<br />
equal to men who are selling their businesses;<br />
however, women differ from men when they<br />
think about the potential buyer:<br />
Issue Women Men<br />
Concern about buyer’s identity,<br />
personality, and background<br />
72% 39%<br />
Concern about buyer’s plan<br />
for business<br />
79% 52%<br />
Concern about current employees 86% 61%<br />
Intent to pass the business on to a<br />
daughter or daughters<br />
37% 19%”<br />
This is valuable information I use when I assist<br />
male and female clients with their exit strategies.<br />
Key Fact - Technology<br />
“Women business owners value technology as<br />
a means to create workplace flexibility:<br />
61% use technology to integrate the<br />
responsibilities of work and home.<br />
44% use technology to enable employees to<br />
work offsite and have flexible work schedules.”<br />
What this says to me is that we want<br />
technology to help us juggle our priorities.<br />
I will surely look for technology <strong>com</strong>panies<br />
who can make my business more flexible.<br />
Key Fact – Management Style<br />
No surprise here, male and female business<br />
owners manage differently. “Women<br />
emphasize relationship building as well as fact<br />
gathering and are more likely to consult with<br />
experts, employees, and fellow business owners.”<br />
In both my own consulting business and<br />
my experience facilitating a Tampa Bay<br />
women’s business organization, the women<br />
I work with want safe environments in which<br />
to collaborate with peers; they want nononsense<br />
fact gathering sessions; and they<br />
want connections to those who can support<br />
them and whom they can support.<br />
“<br />
It’s known as the<br />
premier program<br />
for working<br />
professionals in the<br />
Tampa Bay area.<br />
I agree.<br />
Theresa Lynn Collins<br />
Area President, M/I Homes<br />
USF MBA,’07<br />
Fast-track options<br />
Flexible schedules<br />
Two convenient<br />
Tampa locations<br />
Info session:<br />
January 19, 2009<br />
at 6 p.m.<br />
USF Downtown Center<br />
Channelside<br />
www.mba.usf.edu<br />
813.974.3335<br />
I know what I am going to do differently<br />
tomorrow because of these facts. Find out<br />
what you can do differently by going to The<br />
Center for Women’s Business Research: www.<br />
womensbusinessresearch.org/facts/index.php<br />
NOTE: all italicized quotes are directly from<br />
The Center for Women’s Business Research<br />
____________________________________<br />
Rosemary DiDio Brehm, President of turningpoints2results and<br />
Facilitator of the Tampa Bay Women Presidents’ Organization,<br />
is an organizational strategist who helps businesses align their<br />
leaders, teams, and customers. Contact Rosemary at 727-443-<br />
0319 or rosemary@turningpoin<br />
More strategic planning<br />
information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/strategicplanning.htm<br />
”
sales moves<br />
Jeffrey Gitomer<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
44<br />
Is it the<br />
law of<br />
attraction,<br />
or the law of<br />
hard work?<br />
You decide.<br />
I’m a bit sick of all the bogus information I read about “the law<br />
of attraction.”<br />
I have seen everything from “just sit there,” to “meditate and<br />
focus on your dreams, and everything will <strong>com</strong>e to you.” If you<br />
believe this, I have some land in Florida I want you to buy. Well,<br />
it’s under water, but if you just picture dry land in your mind,<br />
and concentrate really, really hard, you can just lay on your<br />
couch, eat a few donuts, all the water will evaporate, and the<br />
Garden of Eden will appear. Hello!<br />
That’s not the law of attraction. That’s the law of inaction.<br />
Most books, blogs, websites, CDs, and DVDs on the subject tell<br />
you everything BUT the 2.5 big “secrets” - the real strategies for<br />
creating attraction.<br />
They are:<br />
1. Position yourself .<br />
2. Build a platform.<br />
2.5 Work hard.<br />
I received this email yesterday:<br />
Jeffrey, I enjoy your newsletter. It has been a lot of help to me. The<br />
idea of the “Law of Attraction” is an interesting one, and I have<br />
always been fascinated by this concept. I recently read about a<br />
book in Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living<br />
titled As A Man Thinketh by James Allen. This book was written<br />
around the turn of the 20th century and is a precursor to the Law<br />
of Attraction. The book is about 50 pages long, and what James<br />
Allen says in this book is a very simple and profound idea that<br />
has stuck with me ever since I read it. It brought me a whole new<br />
understanding of the Law of Attraction.<br />
James Allen states, “You attract not what you think about, pray<br />
for or desire, but you attract to yourself that which you are.” The<br />
Law of Attraction states, “You attract that which you think about<br />
or want,” and it is really only half of the truth. James Allen goes<br />
on to talk about the Law of Reciprocity, a law that states you<br />
get from the world and life exactly what you put into it, or more<br />
<strong>com</strong>monly, you reap what you sow. I find his statement brings<br />
new light to the Law of Attraction, more truth and more power<br />
to it. A lot of people misunderstand what the Law of Attraction<br />
is. Essentially, you gain what you give. Just a slight change of<br />
words can make a huge difference. Give more in value and you<br />
can only receive more. It is a fundamental law of nature.
First you think about it, then you pray about it, then you be<strong>com</strong>e an<br />
example of it, and then you DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Give value<br />
first, without any expectation of return, and the law of reciprocity<br />
(the law of attraction) sets in.<br />
Not from the person you gave something to. If you give without<br />
expectation, then the world pays you back, and that payment is not<br />
one-for-one; it’s ten-for-one. Or more. It’s the true law of attraction.<br />
Sound too good to be true? Well, there is a catch. Most people have<br />
no concept of “give to get.” They give, and EXPECT to get.<br />
Or they try to give and get at the same time. They feel that someone<br />
OWES them for giving. Not true. Not even close to true. If you give<br />
one and expect to get one, then one is the maximum you’ll get.<br />
Let me define my personal rules to create attraction. And pay<br />
attention, these are not rules I made up, these are rules I put into<br />
action every day to create my law of attraction, and it works. I may<br />
not be pretty, but I’m sure as heck attractive.<br />
1. Position yourself as attractive with<br />
your valuable information that others can<br />
use and benefit from. My weekly column<br />
in papers. My book in bookstores. And<br />
my weekly email magazine in your inbox<br />
positions me as a person of value that<br />
offers valuable information about sales,<br />
service, loyalty, leadership, and personal<br />
development that people resonate with and<br />
can use the minute they read it.<br />
2. Build a platform where people can<br />
easily find you and get the information or<br />
message you’re trying to convey. Website,<br />
blog, ezine, speeches, books, white papers,<br />
creative ideas posted, and philosophies<br />
offered in writing creates major attraction.<br />
2.5 Work your ass off. Reality<br />
bites – especially when times are bad or<br />
volatile. If you are serious about creating<br />
the law of attraction, you’ve got to<br />
resolve, create a game plan, and work at<br />
it daily. Harder than you can imagine.<br />
Position-Build-Work<br />
You can resolve or resign. You can attract or repel. You can<br />
bemoan or be<strong>com</strong>e. And the best part is, you have a choice.<br />
I have stumbled on a metaphor that works for attraction. It’s<br />
the difference between curious or create. Are you just curious,<br />
or are you willing to work to create attraction? If you want the<br />
metaphor, and the ideas attached to it, go to www.gitomer.<strong>com</strong>,<br />
register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter the word CURIOUS<br />
in the GitBit box.<br />
_____________________________________________________<br />
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling. President of<br />
Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts<br />
Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.gitomer.<strong>com</strong> and www.<br />
trainone.<strong>com</strong>. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or e-mail to salesman@gitomer.<strong>com</strong><br />
© 2008 All Rights Reserved - Don’t even think about reproducing this document without<br />
written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer, Inc. • 704/333-1112<br />
More sales moves information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/salesmoves.htm<br />
testimonial<br />
“Regions Bank has been advertising in <strong>BABM</strong> since July 2007 and has been extremely<br />
happy with the exposure and feedback we have received from customers. <strong>BABM</strong> is<br />
the perfect business magazine for our business customers and we are pleased that<br />
our ad is highly visible in a content rich business resource publication.”<br />
Cindy McGarrigle, Vice President, Area Marketing Manager, Regions Bank
marketing<br />
Mark Regan<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
46<br />
Planning<br />
Your 2009<br />
Online<br />
Advertising<br />
Online advertising is here to stay,<br />
especially with industry experts<br />
reporting that some 70 percent of<br />
Americans are online, that many<br />
start their searches for products<br />
online, and that they often make<br />
their purchases right from the<br />
Internet.<br />
While you may realize that you should be doing some online<br />
advertising, you may not be sure about the form in which it<br />
should be done. Before allocating where your online advertising<br />
dollars and attention will be focused this year, start by<br />
considering all your options. Online advertising is big business.<br />
In fact, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB),<br />
online advertising revenues for 2007 totaled over $21 billion,<br />
which was a 26 percent increase over the prior year. Even with a<br />
sluggish economy, online advertising is seeing strong numbers.<br />
Making Wise Choices<br />
The fact that so much money has been spent in online<br />
advertising does not necessarily mean that it has been effective.<br />
Without doing some research and really evaluating where the<br />
best possible place is for a <strong>com</strong>pany to advertise online, your<br />
expenditure could be money out the window. With so many<br />
options for where advertising dollars can be allocated online, it<br />
is important to keep in mind that not all forms are created equal,<br />
and what works for one <strong>com</strong>pany may not work for another.<br />
One of the most popular forms of online advertising is the<br />
growing sector of videos, such as those on YouTube.<strong>com</strong>. Online<br />
videos have be<strong>com</strong>e so popular that ComScore, an online<br />
research <strong>com</strong>pany, reports that over 10 billion online videos<br />
were watched during the month of February 2008 alone, which<br />
was a 66 percent increase over the same month in 2007. People<br />
like watching videos; if a <strong>com</strong>pany can tie in its site, product<br />
or service with an interesting online video, it can see a lot of<br />
success from this cost-effective method of reaching consumers.<br />
Other popular online advertising routes include Google ads and<br />
other search engine and pay-per-click (PPC) options. However,<br />
these routes, as popular as they are, require a tightly focused<br />
campaign in order to see a decent return on investment. In<br />
addition, search engine ads are often the subject of click fraud,<br />
which has received a lot of attention lately, as <strong>com</strong>panies like<br />
Google (which has a $6-billion-per-year advertising network) try<br />
to find solutions to stop the problem.<br />
2009 ONLINE<br />
ADVERTISING?
E-mail marketing is another popular route<br />
to keep your <strong>com</strong>pany fresh in the minds<br />
of people. But if it is not done correctly,<br />
people will see it as merely spam and<br />
will unsubscribe from the list quickly and<br />
without hesitation. It can be a very effective<br />
tool for those who use it correctly and to<br />
their advantage.<br />
Budgets and Bang<br />
The first thing a <strong>com</strong>pany needs to do<br />
this time of year is look at what its budget<br />
is, keeping it realistic, to see what it can<br />
allocate to online advertising. In order<br />
to get the most bang for the buck, it is<br />
important to continue what works and<br />
to ditch what does not. Accountability is<br />
everything in advertising. If a <strong>com</strong>pany is<br />
spending money on a marketing effort and<br />
not seeing a definitive result, it is time to try<br />
something else.<br />
All businesses should do some online<br />
advertising in 2009. But where and how<br />
they should do it will vary for each <strong>com</strong>pany.<br />
The best thing to do is to take some time to<br />
research the various methods, test a few out<br />
to see what works, or consult with an online<br />
advertising expert to get things set up and<br />
evaluated. Taking these steps will help create<br />
a prosperous new year, with plenty of leads<br />
being generated through online advertising<br />
efforts.<br />
Sources:<br />
NewTeeVee. <strong>com</strong>Score: Video Views up 66% YoY<br />
http://newteevee.<strong>com</strong>/2008/04/16/<strong>com</strong>score-videoviews-up-66-yoy/<br />
Technorati. Online advertising reaches new high.<br />
May 2008.
technology<br />
Tony DiBenedetto<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
48<br />
Survive<br />
and Thrive<br />
Six Ways<br />
Technology<br />
Can Help Your<br />
Organization<br />
Over<strong>com</strong>e a Slow<br />
Economy<br />
During these slower economic<br />
times, many <strong>com</strong>panies are taking<br />
a closer look at technology to help<br />
them further improve operational<br />
efficiency, retain their best<br />
customers and meet revenue goals.<br />
Here are six ways to make the<br />
most of your IT investments in a<br />
challenging market:<br />
Make Tough Decisions<br />
Now is the time to evaluate your customer and vendor<br />
relationships to see if they are driving or depleting your bottom<br />
line. This can be ac<strong>com</strong>plished through a reporting system, or<br />
KPIs (key performance indicators), that allows you to perform an<br />
in-depth analysis on the value of non-profitable customers and<br />
focus on the ones that drive profitability. Accurate reporting and<br />
KPIs also enable you to assess vendor performance, whether it’s<br />
service, timing or cost, and take appropriate actions.<br />
Know Your Cash Flow<br />
Many businesses suffer when they don’t have a clear picture<br />
of accounts receivable and payable. Consider implementing<br />
an automated accounting system to manage financials and<br />
streamline functions, and you will gain a better insight into cash<br />
flow. Accurate and timely information will give you a “live” view<br />
of business trends, overdue accounts and any other potential<br />
issues, enabling you to proactively manage your business and<br />
make better decisions.<br />
More technology<br />
information at<br />
http://www.babm.<strong>com</strong>/technology/index.htm
Improve What You<br />
Already Have<br />
Save time and money by automating<br />
processes currently <strong>com</strong>pleted manually.<br />
Most organizations don’t fully maximize<br />
the functions and features included in their<br />
business software Job applications. No.: If you’re<br />
not ready for a major Engagement change, upgrades City:<br />
or updates to your existing accounting or<br />
reporting systems Media: can help you leverage<br />
new functionalities Insertion and give you Date(s): the edge<br />
you need to stay <strong>com</strong>petitive in trying times.<br />
Empower Your People<br />
Get everyone on the same page by<br />
providing a single, integrated portal where<br />
employees can efficiently work together,<br />
manage content and share business-critical<br />
information. Facilitating collaboration across<br />
your <strong>com</strong>pany will help you automate and<br />
streamline organizational processes, improve<br />
business intelligence and productivity and<br />
boost your bottom line.<br />
Consider Managed<br />
Services<br />
The daily management and maintenance<br />
of critical business applications, like IT<br />
infrastructure and accounting systems, can<br />
be a drain on already limited resources.<br />
Look to managed services as a cost-effective<br />
option for deriving more value out of your<br />
investments. Managed services is best<br />
suited for <strong>com</strong>panies in between needing a<br />
part-time and full-time position focused on<br />
day-to-day IT and application maintenance.<br />
So, before you hire another staff member,<br />
evaluate the benefits of outsourcing those<br />
functions to a trusted partner.<br />
Save Green by<br />
Going Green<br />
Virtualization is the ability to run multiple<br />
operating systems and applications, either<br />
locally or remotely, on a single piece of<br />
hardware. A virtual environment enables you<br />
to optimize your system, reducing the need<br />
for more physical servers, which in turn saves<br />
power and floor space. Most existing systems<br />
rarely utilize more than 10-20% of their<br />
processing capabilities, resulting in wasted<br />
capacity. With lowered electrical costs for<br />
cooling and server power consumption, your<br />
business will be one step closer to saving<br />
green and “going green.”<br />
Whether you implement new business<br />
software applications, upgrade the<br />
systems you already have, outsource daily<br />
management functions or go green through<br />
virtualization, there are many ways you can<br />
tighten the belt without losing value and<br />
functionality. Knowing how to leverage your<br />
investments for maximum return will not<br />
only help your business survive, but thrive, in<br />
a sluggish economy.<br />
RD0805137B<br />
TAMPA, FL<br />
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________________________________<br />
Tony DiBenedetto is Chairman and CEO of Tribridge, a Gold<br />
Certified Microsoft consulting firm recently named the 2008<br />
WORLDWIDE Microsoft Dynamics Partner of the Year. Tony cofounded<br />
The Tampa Bay Technology Forum (TBTF) and is the<br />
executive director of the TBTF Foundation, which helps at-risk<br />
kids pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and<br />
math (STEM). He regularly speaks to groups on topics ranging<br />
from corporate growth to the importance of leadership. For<br />
more information, please visit: www.tribridge.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
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corporate social responsibility<br />
Debra Kent Faulk<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
50<br />
Philanthropy vs.<br />
Sponsorship<br />
What Gives?<br />
An always interesting debate is<br />
the difference between corporate<br />
philanthropy and corporate<br />
sponsorship. Bring up this topic in<br />
marketing circles and you will play<br />
witness to the confusion that exists<br />
between the two.<br />
Historically, philanthropy was managed by the <strong>com</strong>munity<br />
investment department or corporate foundation and was<br />
altruistic in nature. A philanthropic activity — such as the act<br />
of donating money, goods, services, time, and/or effort — was<br />
intended to support a socially beneficial cause without financial<br />
or material reward to the donor.<br />
In contrast, sponsorship was the responsibility of the marketing<br />
department and the objectives directly linked to marketing<br />
goals, such as brand awareness and product sales. The basic<br />
purpose of <strong>com</strong>pany sponsorship, as distinct from philanthropy,<br />
is that the <strong>com</strong>pany expects some kind of marketing opportunity<br />
as a result of their support; generally in the form of advertising or<br />
publicity in connection to the sponsored event.<br />
The line between philanthropy and sponsorship has begun to<br />
blur. As it exists today, corporate philanthropy has be<strong>com</strong>e, in<br />
many ways, a <strong>com</strong>promise or a hybrid of the two. During the<br />
past decade, the majority of corporate dollars going to nonprofit<br />
groups have <strong>com</strong>e from the marketing rather than philanthropic<br />
budgets. The relationship is moving from “grantor-grantee” to<br />
one in which projects are set up to benefit both the <strong>com</strong>pany<br />
and the partnering nonprofit organization.<br />
No matter what you call it or how you structure it, corporate<br />
partnerships with nonprofit organizations must be bi-directional.<br />
That is, both sides need to be very clear and honest about what<br />
they are looking for in a relationship and to help each other<br />
achieve those explicit goals.<br />
Before these goals can be reached, it’s important to take a step<br />
back and understand the differences between philanthropy and<br />
sponsorship at a very basic level. It is important to understand<br />
the basic tenets of each application, because only then can<br />
you develop sound and effective philanthropic and sponsor<br />
programs for your own business.<br />
The following chart, from The Sponsorship Report, is a good<br />
starting point to address the distinct aspects of philanthropy<br />
versus marketing:
More corporate responsibility<br />
information at<br />
http://www.babm.<strong>com</strong>/corporate/index.htm<br />
Sponsorship Philanthropy<br />
Objective To sell more products/services; to increase<br />
positive awareness in markets and among distant<br />
stakeholders.<br />
Partner/recipient Events; teams; arts or cultural organizations,<br />
projects, programs.<br />
Funding Source Typically from marketing, advertising, or<br />
<strong>com</strong>munications budgets.<br />
Accounting A full business expense, like promotional printing<br />
or media placement expenses.<br />
To be a good corporate citizen; to enhance the<br />
corporate image with closest stakeholders.<br />
Typically cause-related, but can also be cultural,<br />
artistic, or sports- related. Funding may be designated<br />
for a project, program or operating budgets.<br />
From charitable donations or philanthropy budgets.<br />
As a result of write-offs, limited to 75% of net in<strong>com</strong>e.<br />
Accounting/tax considerations less likely to influence<br />
the way a <strong>com</strong>pany designates funding.<br />
Publicity Highly public. Generally, little widespread fanfare.<br />
Where the money goes … Sports get the lion’s share of the sponsorship<br />
dollars, likely more than 50%.<br />
testimonial<br />
“I truly LOVE this magazine! It’s my favorite one that I receive and I always read it cover-to-cover. I have<br />
saved all of the issues that I have ever received and I often refer back to them. The Self Development and<br />
Suggested Reading are two sections I always look forward to, but the Cover Story and Feature Stories are<br />
truly my focus areas because they always depict business people in our area that I do not know, and am so<br />
excited to have learned about through <strong>BABM</strong>, my #1 periodical!<br />
Deborah M. Palombo, Elder Advocate<br />
Education, social services, and health sectors get 75%<br />
of charitable donations.<br />
Debra Kent Faulk is principal of DKF Connects, a socially conscious<br />
marketing services firm specializing in public relations,<br />
social marketing, and strategic partnerships. For more information,<br />
call (813) 258-2599 or visit www.DKFconnects.<strong>com</strong>.
marketing<br />
Dale W. Hutchings<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
52<br />
10<br />
Surefire<br />
Ways<br />
To Greater Success<br />
In Direct Mail<br />
Marketing<br />
Despite the many forms of new<br />
advertising media that have<br />
emerged in recent years, from<br />
mobile billboards to Internet<br />
marketing, many traditional ways<br />
of promoting a business that<br />
have been around for decades are<br />
still tried and true for success, if<br />
implemented correctly. One of the<br />
most popular of these continues to<br />
be direct mail.<br />
Sure, direct mail has its drawbacks. In order for this medium<br />
to be effective you can’t just do one mailing. You need to do<br />
several (three minimum) to get your message across. The<br />
success of your mailing campaign will also be based heavily on<br />
the quality of your mailing list. Therefore, your mailing list will<br />
need to be continuously updated. And, of course, depending<br />
on the size of your mailing, the cost of doing direct mail can be<br />
expensive.<br />
However, there are numerous steps you can take to make<br />
your direct mail campaign more effective, and hence, more<br />
successful.<br />
1. Be Sure You Are Targeting the Right Market Audience.<br />
Pinpointing your target market is of utmost importance, as sales<br />
are directly tied to how accurately you can identify your most<br />
likely customers.<br />
2. Emphasize Benefits. The copy should be written in such a<br />
way that clearly tells the reader how your product or service is<br />
going to benefit the recipient of your direct mail piece. Convey<br />
in your message not just one benefit, but strive for at least three.<br />
In your text there is nothing stronger that will help make a sale<br />
than the benefits you offer.<br />
Be Sure You Are<br />
Targeting the Right<br />
Market Audience.
3. Make Your Contact Information Easy<br />
to Find. When someone reads your direct<br />
mail piece, your business’s telephone<br />
number, e-mail address and/or website<br />
address should be easy to find. In fact, in a<br />
letter, even if it is printed on your <strong>com</strong>pany’s<br />
stationery, you might want to put it right in<br />
the body of the text so the reader cannot<br />
miss finding it.<br />
4. Use Testimonials Whenever Possible.<br />
No matter what you may say about your<br />
product or service, nothing beats a thirdparty<br />
endorsement. Quotes from satisfied<br />
customers will speak volumes about what<br />
your <strong>com</strong>pany stands for in the mind of the<br />
reader.<br />
5. Think Free. “If it’s free, it’s for me.”<br />
Yeah, I know it’s an old cliché, but it’s true.<br />
Everybody is interested in getting something<br />
of value for free. Therefore, try to develop<br />
some kind of “free gift” as part of your direct<br />
mail campaign to entice potential customers<br />
to contact you. Maybe it’s a buy one, get<br />
one free offer. Maybe it’s a chance to win<br />
free tickets to some kind of event. Maybe<br />
it’s a free e-book on a subject related to your<br />
profession or industry. You get the idea.<br />
6. Stress Urgency, Have a Deadline. Like<br />
any other form of advertising, you want<br />
to be able to measure the response to<br />
your mailings. Therefore, whatever you<br />
are selling, give the recipient a deadline to<br />
respond to the offer. This will help you to<br />
determine the results of your mailings.<br />
7. Letters Should Be Signed by the Top<br />
Dog. People prefer to deal with the person<br />
in charge of a business. Therefore, always<br />
use the signature of a <strong>com</strong>pany head in your<br />
sales letters. After all, who would you rather<br />
get a letter from – the <strong>com</strong>pany president or<br />
its regional sales manager?<br />
8. Consider Postcards Rather Than Letters.<br />
Postcards are less expensive to mail and are<br />
almost always read because they require<br />
only seconds to read, <strong>com</strong>pared to a direct<br />
mail piece presented in an envelope. If you<br />
decide to go with postcard mailings, don’t<br />
be stingy; go for printing your message on a<br />
slightly oversized postcard. A slightly more<br />
largely formatted card will give you more<br />
room for your message, is less likely to be<br />
lost in a stack of mail, and stands a greater<br />
chance of being read, rather than simply<br />
being trashed.<br />
9. When Sending Letters, Make Envelopes<br />
Special. How? For one thing, consider not<br />
using the traditional white envelope. Think<br />
about using a color. Also put a message on<br />
the outside to entice the recipient to open<br />
it. Something like: “Open For Your Chance To<br />
Win,” or “Inside: Important Information For<br />
Consumers.”<br />
10. Make It Easy to Respond. Use a<br />
business reply card, enclose a self-addressed<br />
stamped envelope, or use a toll free number<br />
and print it larger than the rest of the letter’s<br />
text. The easier it is to respond, the greater<br />
your response.<br />
Direct Mail can be a challenging advertising<br />
medium. But if you follow even some of<br />
these steps, it doesn’t have to be. The results<br />
should speak for themselves.<br />
___________________________________<br />
Dale W. Hutchings, APR, specializes in “out-of-the-box”<br />
marketing and has more than 30 years of Public Relations,<br />
Marketing and Advertising experience. Since 2001 he has had<br />
his own practice with a heavy focus on marketing consultation<br />
and copywriting for a wide variety of advertising mediums. For<br />
more information on his services visit www.dalewhutchings.<br />
<strong>com</strong> or contact him via e-mail at: hutch7@verizon.net.<br />
Make It Easy<br />
to Respond.<br />
More marketing<br />
information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/marketing.htm
legal<br />
Sheri D. McWhorter, J.D., SPHR<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
54<br />
Department<br />
of Homeland<br />
Security<br />
and Social<br />
Security<br />
The Match Game<br />
“No match”<br />
“No match”<br />
“No match”<br />
On October 23, 2008, in yet<br />
another attempt by the U.S.<br />
Department of Homeland Security<br />
(DHS) to “get it right,” the DHS<br />
released a final supplemental<br />
set of regulations for procedures<br />
employers must follow when they<br />
receive “no match” letters from<br />
the Social Security Administration<br />
(SSA). “No match” letters are the<br />
much maligned method used by<br />
government to notify employers<br />
that an employee’s name or social<br />
security number may not match<br />
the records in the SSA database,<br />
or may be otherwise false or<br />
misleading.<br />
“No match”<br />
match”
The DHS regulations reversed the federal government’s<br />
longstanding position that SSA “no match” letters cannot, by<br />
themselves, be construed to place employers on notice that<br />
employees are not legally authorized to work in the U.S. Released<br />
by DHS in August 2007, the original regulations were set to take<br />
effect in September 2007, but were blocked by a preliminary<br />
injunction issued by Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District<br />
Court for Northern California, which also delayed SSA’s planned<br />
mass mailing of 140,000 “no match” letters. The court’s decision<br />
presented DHS with two options – either go back to the drawing<br />
board and revise the regulations to correct the deficiencies that<br />
led to the injunction, or fight the district court’s decision. The DHS<br />
ultimately chose to go back to the drawing board, and the newly<br />
released final set of supplemental regulations are the result.<br />
“No match” letters are sent by SSA to employers with employees<br />
whose Social Security numbers do not match other government<br />
records. According to DHS, a “no match” letter from SSA is a sign<br />
to the employer that something is wrong with an employee’s<br />
documentation. The problem may be something as simple as the<br />
fact that the employee has married and failed to update his last<br />
name with SSA. On the other hand, the problem may be more<br />
serious, such as where an employer has hired a worker who is<br />
using a fake social security number or a fake name, and is likely<br />
not legally authorized to work in the U.S. The DHS regulations<br />
put the burden on employers to take required steps to correct<br />
the mismatch. DHS has taken the position that employers will<br />
be in violation of federal immigration law and face civil and<br />
criminal sanctions if they ignore the “no match” letters and fail<br />
to take corrective steps within 90 days. If businesses follow the<br />
safe harbor procedures prescribed by the rules, says DHS, the U.S.<br />
Immigration and Customs Enforcement will not use receipt of SSA<br />
“no match” letters as evidence that employers have violated federal<br />
immigration law, and employers supposedly cannot be sued under<br />
the Immigration Reform Control Act (IRCA) for national origin<br />
discrimination.<br />
Now that DHS has issued its final supplemental set of revised<br />
regulations on the “no match” letters, which will be published in<br />
the Federal Register in the near future, the agency also plans to<br />
notify the court of the changes to the rule, and ask the court to lift<br />
the injunction and allow DHS to immediately implement the new<br />
rules. According to DHS, once the rules are in effect, businesses<br />
will have a clear roadmap to follow when they receive SSA “no<br />
match” letters. Employers will be provided a period of time to<br />
address the “no match” discrepancy with the affected employee.<br />
If there is an innocent explanation, such as where the employee<br />
recently married and needs to submit a name change to SSA, then<br />
that should be done. If there is not such an innocent explanation,<br />
such as where a worker is using a fake social security number or<br />
fake documentation and is not legally authorized to work in the<br />
U.S., then the employer will be required to follow certain prescribed<br />
steps which will ultimately lead to the termination of employment<br />
for that worker.<br />
Employers should familiarize themselves once again with the<br />
required SSA “no match” action steps required by the DHS<br />
regulations and have procedures in place to resolve the “no match”<br />
letters consistently and expeditiously. Otherwise, employers who<br />
receive and fail to resolve “no match” letters may be targeted for an<br />
investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,<br />
and <strong>com</strong>pany officials may be subject to criminal penalties<br />
including, not just fines, but also possible prison time. Employers<br />
may take proactive steps to avoid “no match” letters for newly<br />
hired workers only by calling the SSA at (800) 772-1213 for each<br />
new employee and verifying the worker’s SSN. It is important that<br />
<strong>com</strong>panies not take any adverse action based upon an unresolved<br />
“no match” letter without first consulting employment counsel.<br />
_____________________________________________________<br />
Sheri D. McWhorter, JD, SPHR is a Florida Bar Certified Specialist in Labor & Employment Law,<br />
and is the President and Managing Shareholder of WorkplaceLegal SolutionsSM, Law Offices<br />
of Sheri D. McWhorter, P.A. With offices in St. Petersburg and Tampa, WorkplaceLegalSolutions<br />
provides employee relations counseling and proactive employment law solutions to businesses<br />
and non-profits throughout Florida and the greater Tampa Bay area.<br />
More legal information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/legal.htm<br />
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echarge<br />
Leslie Joy Ickowitz<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
56<br />
Escape to<br />
Tranquility<br />
It’s only an hour<br />
away<br />
In one hour, which is how long<br />
it takes to get to Anna Maria<br />
Island by car from Tampa,<br />
we cross water eight times.<br />
Eight times! And one of those<br />
times is a breezy excursion<br />
over the soaring Sunshine<br />
Skyway. Flanked by a squadron<br />
of pelicans and with a stellar<br />
display of islands spread out<br />
before us, we inch closer to our<br />
destination.<br />
Photo Caption: Rod & Reel Pier on Anna Maria Island.<br />
Photo Credit: Bradenton Area Convention & Visitors Bureau<br />
At once it seems you have arrived in a different place in time. The<br />
slow pace beckons you to slip into serenity and leave your cares<br />
behind. What’s missing is high-rise hotels, car horns, traffic jams,<br />
billboards and other ugly distractions reminding us of the grind.<br />
Instead you’ll find warm, island hospitality and a charming choice of<br />
sleepy retreats from cozy cottages to stilt homes. Sensory overload is<br />
replaced by sensory seduction. The sights, the sounds, the flavor and<br />
fragrance surround you. Suddenly, you get the feeling you can stay<br />
here forever. But no matter how long you visit, this trip is packed with<br />
the stuff inspiration is made of, and you can get here whenever you<br />
want—in one hour.<br />
Pull up a front row seat to your definition of bliss. Get in on the action<br />
with water sports. Or not. Play beach volleyball. Or not. Rock out<br />
to your iPod. Shop ‘til you drop. Curl up with a good book. Catch a<br />
sunset. Dangle a fishing line in the water. Watch the world go by.<br />
Strike up a conversation with the person next to you—the one you<br />
swear you recognize from home. Could that be your spouse? And<br />
who are those kids splashing about in the water? They look familiar.<br />
After a sunset stroll, a long day of pure island indulgence <strong>com</strong>es to a<br />
close. Consumed with the <strong>com</strong>plicated question of which flip-flops<br />
to wear, you head out for a night on the town. Anna Maria Island’s<br />
dining scene is abundant with choices. A foodie-festival of casual<br />
beach fare and gourmet cuisine is served with a side of scenery.<br />
Homemade Amish ice cream and some of the best pizza south of<br />
New York at Oma’s are among the island’s rather unexpected treats.<br />
The slow drive south on Gulf Drive leads to Longboat Key before<br />
continuing to Sarasota’s St. Armand’s Circle, delivering a generous<br />
dollop of delicious dining choices and the only dose of nightlife you’ll<br />
find in the area.
Whether you rise with the sun or prefer to<br />
sleep in, the Big French Breakfast is by far<br />
the most decadent way to start the day. Five<br />
dollars buys you the equivalent of heavenon-a-plate<br />
at Island Creperie on Bridge<br />
Street. Two luscious raspberry-filled crepes,<br />
a freshly-baked, buttery croissant and one<br />
divine chunk of French Baguette French<br />
Toast, ALL covered in powdered sugar is<br />
undeniably swoon worthy.<br />
In one hour you can find yourself hanging<br />
out amidst coconut palms. Coconuts, you<br />
may notice, are absent from the palms lining<br />
our local streets and neighborhoods. No<br />
wonder it feels like a million miles away.<br />
Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton<br />
Beach <strong>com</strong>prise Anna Maria Island, which is<br />
easily traversed via the free trolley. Linger on<br />
island time at beachfront bars and eateries<br />
or poised above the clear turquoise water on<br />
your choice of piers. Leave the driving up to<br />
someone with a care in the world.<br />
Bean Point, on the island’s northern tip is<br />
one of those spots where you feel like you<br />
can slip off the end of the earth and float<br />
carelessly on a breeze to Neverland, or at<br />
least to the next land mass. In Bradenton<br />
Beach, at one of Anna Maria Island’s<br />
narrowest points, Sarasota Bay and the<br />
glittering Gulf of Mexico are mere steps<br />
apart. Ospreys and great blue herons fish<br />
along the bay’s shorelines while seagulls,<br />
sandpipers and terns patrol the foamy coast.<br />
Gentle sea turtles nest in the soft sand from<br />
May to October and without regard for<br />
season, dolphins frolic parallel to beautiful<br />
blue horizon.<br />
In one hour, you can transport mind, body<br />
and soul. Getting there is easy as 1-2-3. Step<br />
1: Hop in the car. Step 2: Set the GPS. Step<br />
3: Accelerate. When you emerge from Anna<br />
Maria Island’s cocoon of tranquility, you will<br />
once again be ready to take on the world.<br />
_____________________________________________<br />
Leslie Joy Ickowitz is president of Empire Public Relations and<br />
a personal travel concierge with 12 years experience creating<br />
custom vacations for couples, singles and families. Call<br />
813.382.4387 or email: Leslie@EmpirePublicRelations.<strong>com</strong> for<br />
more information and white-glove service.<br />
More recharge<br />
information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/recharge.htm
leadership<br />
Doug Van Dyke<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
58<br />
Pragmatic<br />
Optimism<br />
Recently I had a client engage my services to facilitate a<br />
strategic planning session for their leadership team. They<br />
forwarded a list of their most pressing issues. Also, they<br />
voiced their concerns about changes going on in their<br />
industry. Their list of issues contained eight nicely arranged<br />
items, each followed by a brief supporting <strong>com</strong>ment. As I<br />
scanned the list I read six items over which my client had no<br />
control. Items such as the state of the economy and high<br />
fuel prices peppered their list. Contrarily, the list contained<br />
only two “real” items – things they could control. In addition,<br />
what surfaced during the planning session were a host of<br />
opportunities that were being overlooked because their team<br />
members were so stressed out about a bunch of things they<br />
could not control. Perhaps we could all use a little review of<br />
five items that I believe are particularly important these days.<br />
If this gets a little preachy, I apologize unreservedly. Indulge<br />
me, please.<br />
assess<br />
1. Honestly assess the business environment.<br />
When Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, was<br />
at the peak of his career a journalist asked a<br />
GE executive what made Jack so good. The<br />
executive stated, “Jack possesses the ability<br />
to see things the way they are.” In other<br />
words, Jack Welch was not swayed by pie-inthe-sky<br />
projections, nor was his enthusiasm<br />
dampened by negative media <strong>com</strong>ments or<br />
uncontrollable events. Seek to emulate Jack<br />
and see things the way they are, not the way<br />
they are painted by the media or pundits.<br />
stop worrying<br />
2. Stop worrying about things you cannot<br />
control. Gas prices are high. Segments of the<br />
economy are hurting. International tension<br />
seemingly abounds. Can you control any of<br />
these things? If you can, call me. Now.<br />
focus<br />
3. Focus on what we can control. We can<br />
control our work ethic, our ethics in general,<br />
effective <strong>com</strong>munication with our team and,<br />
hopefully, our behavior. We need to focus our<br />
energies squarely on items that will impact<br />
productivity, efficiency, and morale.
opportunities<br />
4. Look for opportunities. In Mandarin, the<br />
literal translation of the word crisis is “danger/<br />
opportunity.” From a standpoint of thoroughness,<br />
do we need to examine the danger related<br />
to situations and the business environment?<br />
Of course we do; it is good strategic planning<br />
to ponder as many angles as possible. What I<br />
frequently observe, though, is that many leaders<br />
fail to think creatively about what opportunities<br />
may be lurking. In addition, by focusing on danger<br />
and hazards that are out of our control, business<br />
people are losing their sense of optimism.<br />
practice<br />
5. Practice pragmatic optimism. A note to all of<br />
my fellow entrepreneurs: it is our great sense of<br />
optimism that allows us to flourish. Let’s face it.<br />
If you are not a bold-faced optimist you would<br />
have never started your own business. What I<br />
mean by pragmatic optimism (and this is not<br />
from Webster’s) is this:<br />
Pragmatic Optimism: Maintaining a positive<br />
state of mind and acknowledging that the world<br />
offers an amazing amount of opportunities, while<br />
embracing the relevant realities of your business<br />
situation.<br />
More leadership information at<br />
http://www.babm.<strong>com</strong>/leadership/index.htm<br />
So what happened to the leadership team that engaged in the<br />
strategic planning session referenced in the beginning of this<br />
narrative? Well, after a little soul-searching, they jettisoned their head<br />
trash surrounding events and situations which they could not control.<br />
In addition, they created an action plan – a segment of which is shown<br />
below.<br />
1. Consistently embrace pragmatic optimism.<br />
2. Help our team members fully understand<br />
that all is not gloom and doom.<br />
3. Be coaches and educators in order to<br />
provide visionary leadership that showcases<br />
individual strengths and team opportunities.<br />
4. Acknowledge that hurdles to our success<br />
will arise.<br />
5. Acknowledge that we will ultimately<br />
succeed – we always do.<br />
In closing, I quote Henry Ford, who many years ago said, “One of the<br />
greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his greatest surprises, is<br />
to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t.” Be well, and think<br />
positively!<br />
_____________________________________________________<br />
Doug Van Dyke is an executive coach, speaker, training expert, and pragmatic optimist. His recently<br />
released book is entitled Leadership Simplified. To have Doug energize your leadership team, call<br />
941-776-1121 or visit www.dvdconsulting.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
© 2008 DVD Consulting, all rights reserved.<br />
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marketing<br />
Bernie Borges<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
60<br />
Marketing<br />
2.0:<br />
Think like a Publisher<br />
A successful online marketing<br />
strategy requires a strong content<br />
strategy. It’s not enough to have<br />
a good search engine marketing<br />
plan and a good website. A<br />
content strategy on the web is<br />
all about getting intimate with<br />
your customers, long before they<br />
be<strong>com</strong>e your customers.<br />
Let’s examine the types of content we can produce to capture<br />
our customers’ intimacy before they even talk with us. Enter a<br />
marketing 2.0 mentality.<br />
Build your content strategy by impersonating your prospective<br />
customers. Discover the content they find when searching<br />
popular keywords in your industry. This research will enable you<br />
to learn what content they will and won’t find. Consider some of<br />
these content strategies.<br />
Blogging<br />
Build your own blog around a focused topic and staff it with a<br />
subject matter expert(s) who is <strong>com</strong>mitted to keeping it chock<br />
full of good content. Also track other blogs in your industry<br />
which cover your topic. Regularly leave <strong>com</strong>ments on other<br />
blogs to develop links back to your website on these topics.<br />
Forum<br />
People sometimes confuse blogs and forums. In a forum, the<br />
<strong>com</strong>munity can create their own “threads” around any relevant<br />
topic. Others who join the forum can join the threads and<br />
contribute to the conversation. The main value of a forum is<br />
providing a platform for the <strong>com</strong>munity to engage with each<br />
other around relevant content.<br />
FAQ<br />
A frequently asked question section on a website is not a<br />
new idea. Keeping your FAQ section up-to-date is important.<br />
Another aspect of FAQ is using it as feeder content into a blog.<br />
More sales moves information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/salesmoves.htm
Newsletter<br />
A newsletter using a marketing 2.0 strategy<br />
provides a platform to link to your other<br />
content platforms. It can link to the blog,<br />
the forum, the website, news releases, etc. If<br />
the newsletter is hosted on the website it’s<br />
a great way for it to contribute to your SEO<br />
strategy when it shows up in search engine<br />
rankings.<br />
News Releases<br />
News releases should be distributed online<br />
about anything that is of interest to your<br />
prospective customers. You don’t need to<br />
wait until you ink a big deal to send a news<br />
release. Create news releases about the<br />
value of your services to your market.<br />
Website<br />
Your <strong>com</strong>pany website should have great<br />
content that informs your <strong>com</strong>munity. Focus<br />
your content around the most popular<br />
topics in your domain of expertise. Consider<br />
building a dedicated website on a popular<br />
topic that <strong>com</strong>plements your <strong>com</strong>pany<br />
website. Co-brand this website, but focus<br />
the main theme of the website around<br />
the topic. For example, Tampa-based GCA<br />
Technology Services has a dedicated website<br />
focusing on identity management called<br />
www.actionidentity.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
Video<br />
My favorite form of marketing 2.0 content is<br />
video because it allows us to get creative and<br />
craft our message in a <strong>com</strong>pletely different<br />
way that is not possible in the written word.<br />
The most effective videos entertain us. Some<br />
of the most entertaining videos cover topics<br />
that would not otherwise be considered<br />
humorous topics. By adding some creative<br />
thinking, videos can <strong>com</strong>municate a<br />
message very effectively.<br />
Podcasts<br />
Podcasting is a very effective way to either<br />
create new content or re-purpose content<br />
into an audio (or video/audio) format.<br />
Photos<br />
Posting photos to your website or social<br />
media sites such as Flickr can ac<strong>com</strong>plish<br />
several purposes. While it’s not traditional<br />
content, it can provide a strong sense<br />
of culture and a human element to your<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany.<br />
White Papers<br />
You can use white papers on the social<br />
web by saving them to PDF format and<br />
optimizing them. Additionally, discussing<br />
the content of white papers in a blog or<br />
forum with links to them also help promote<br />
the content.<br />
PowerPoint<br />
Presentations<br />
Many organizations have a library of<br />
PowerPoint (PPT) presentations developed<br />
over the years. Many PPT files have content<br />
which can be shared with your online<br />
<strong>com</strong>munity. Slideshare.net is a popular and<br />
free social media platform for PPT content.<br />
Simply upload your PPT files and Slideshare<br />
converts it to a URL which you can share with<br />
your <strong>com</strong>munity.<br />
An effective marketing 2.0 strategy requires<br />
a strong content strategy. However, there<br />
are two factors needed to be successful.<br />
First, the CEO must buy into the “think like<br />
a publisher” way of thinking. Secondly, the<br />
team to execute this strategy must embrace<br />
it enthusiastically. Content marketing<br />
strategies require some out-of-the-box<br />
thinking and creativity. Those who do it<br />
well seem to have a lot of fun doing it and<br />
enjoy their success. They set themselves<br />
apart from their <strong>com</strong>petitors and develop<br />
trust and credibility with their <strong>com</strong>munities<br />
on the social web. They embrace the social<br />
web for its best attribute – the ability to<br />
deliver relevant content and build intimate<br />
relationships with customers before they<br />
even contact them, and long after they buy.<br />
_____________________________________<br />
Bernie Borges is the founder and president of Find and Convert,<br />
an Internet Marketing firm specializing in search engine<br />
optimization and social media marketing strategies. Bernie is<br />
a frequent speaker, blogger and podcaster on these topics and<br />
is currently writing a book on social media marketing business<br />
strategies. Bernie can be reached at 727-234-0952 and bernie@<br />
findandconvert.<strong>com</strong>. Follow Bernie on Twitter: http://twitter.<br />
<strong>com</strong>/berniebay
Entrepreneurship<br />
Brian Tracy<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
62<br />
The<br />
Butterfly<br />
Effect<br />
It has been said that, “A Butterfly<br />
flapping its wings in Peru can start<br />
a change in the weather that leads<br />
to a typhoon in China.”<br />
At every turn in the road of your life, there will be a person<br />
standing there helping you or hurting you, guiding you or<br />
blocking you, giving you good or bad direction.<br />
There seems to be a direct relationship between the number<br />
of people that you know, meet, bump into and interact with<br />
and the quality of your life. People who network on a regular<br />
basis with others, seem to be far more active and successful<br />
than people who go to work at the last minute, chat idly with<br />
coworkers, read the newspaper, make a couple sales calls and<br />
then go home and watch television.<br />
Warren Buffett applied to Columbia University and was turned<br />
down. He turned to Princeton University and most of the courses<br />
that he wanted to take were already full. Finally, he settled on<br />
one course taught by a Professor Fisher on Value Investing.<br />
Because he was young and impressionable, Warren Buffett<br />
absorbed Fisher’s ideas on how to choose stocks for the long<br />
term, went back to Omaha, and began investing for himself<br />
and others. The rest is history. Warren Buffett is now one of the<br />
richest men in the history of the world, still applying Fisher’s<br />
ideas to buying and holding good quality stocks.<br />
How many times in your life has your direction changed<br />
because of your meeting and interacting with another person?<br />
Sometimes a single observation or bit of advice from someone<br />
with more experience in a particular area than you can change<br />
the course of your destiny.<br />
When I was in my thirties, I was urged to run for political office.<br />
I put together a campaign <strong>com</strong>mittee of about twelve people,<br />
all of whom were enthusiastic supporters of my bid for office.<br />
I started to get carried away with the idea of being an elected<br />
politician and making a difference in the politics of my state.<br />
Then I called an elected politician on whose campaign I had<br />
worked a couple of years before. I told him of my plans and<br />
asked him if he had any advice. I still remember his words: “Are<br />
you financially independent at this time?”<br />
There seems to be<br />
a direct relationship<br />
between the number of<br />
people that you know,<br />
meet, bump into and<br />
interact with and the<br />
quality of your life
When I told him that I was a long way from financial independence,<br />
he told me that if I ran for office in my thirties, and was successful, I<br />
would never be financially independent. I would have a much lower<br />
in<strong>com</strong>e than I could earn in the private sector, and I would probably<br />
worry about money all my life.<br />
That simple observation, “Are you already financially independent?”<br />
slammed the brakes on my political ambitions. I folded up my early<br />
campaign and went back to work as a business consultant, real estate<br />
developer and eventually, as a professional speaker.<br />
The book, “The Secret” has been a best seller for the last couple<br />
of years. This book says that, “If you visualize and think positive<br />
thoughts, you will attract all good things into your life.”<br />
Unfortunately, this idea is misleading. Of course, it is important that<br />
you think positive thoughts about yourself and your possibilities, but<br />
it is simply not enough. In addition, you must take continuous action<br />
in the direction of your goals, over<strong>com</strong>ing resistance, adversity,<br />
difficulties and temporary failures until you win through.<br />
In reality, success is not based on the Law of Attraction, but rather<br />
the Law of Probabilities. This law says that there is a probability<br />
that everything can happen, and that you can influence these<br />
probabilities by doing more of the things that are more likely to lead<br />
to your success.<br />
In sales, the sales person who makes more appointments and sees<br />
more prospects is going to make more sales than the sales person<br />
who stays in the office and shuffles their business cards. In life,<br />
the professional who networks regularly with other professionals,<br />
especially in sales, is going to dramatically increase the probability<br />
that he or she will meet with the right person, at the right time, with<br />
the right insight or guidance that will lead to a sale that might not<br />
have taken place.<br />
The challenge is that you never know which person you meet is<br />
going to be the one that helps you the most. Therefore, by using<br />
the Law of Probabilities, you organize your life so that you network<br />
and meet with as many people as possible. This greatly increases the<br />
likelihood that you will meet the right person.<br />
At every stage of your life, there will be someone standing there<br />
giving you insights and guidance that can set you off in a different<br />
direction. At the same time, you can be the person who gives the<br />
insights and guidance that helps others to do more of the right<br />
things that help them achieve their goals and improve their lives.<br />
________________________________________________________<br />
Brian Tracy is legendary in the fields of management, leadership, and sales. He is the CEO of Brian<br />
Tracy International, and the President of Brian Tracy University of Sales and Entrepreneurship, a<br />
private on-line university. Brian can be reached at (858) 481-2977, 462 Stevens Avenue, Suite 202,<br />
Solana Beach, CA 92075. Brian can also be contacted through his website www.briantracy.<strong>com</strong>, or<br />
www.briantracyu.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
More entrepreneurship<br />
information at<br />
http://www.babm.<strong>com</strong>/entrepreneurship/index.htm
suggested reading<br />
Dr. Brian Beirl<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
64<br />
Leadership<br />
Simplified<br />
The Field Guide for<br />
Savvy Leaders<br />
By Doug Van Dyke, MBA<br />
So often in the crowded world of<br />
business books, one chapter captures<br />
the author’s message and the rest of<br />
the book is a repetition of his message.<br />
In Doug van Dyke’s new book, every<br />
chapter presents a crisp, valuable,<br />
stand alone message that has the<br />
reader wanting more. In a pithy mix<br />
of stories, quotes and research, we are<br />
given what we need to know for each<br />
subject addressed.<br />
The book has five<br />
parts, and here are<br />
some highlights from<br />
each section:<br />
Part I<br />
Analysis, Agility, and Visioning<br />
Here is a concise and excellent plan for analyzing your business<br />
and how to organize a productive brainstorming session to<br />
develop your <strong>com</strong>pany’s vision.<br />
Part II<br />
Communication<br />
This is one of the most clearly written chapters that I have<br />
experienced on how to create a persuasive presentation for<br />
groups or one on one.<br />
Part III<br />
Setting the Course and Creating Buy-in<br />
Here is presented a refreshing synopsis of how to develop<br />
collaborative relationships within and outside of your <strong>com</strong>pany.<br />
Part IV<br />
Measure, Metrics and Structure<br />
Here the author discusses the importance of having processes<br />
that are measurable and creates opportunities for improvement.<br />
Part V<br />
Executing, Coaching and Celebration<br />
Knowing what to do and how to do it are empty traits when the<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany’s leader cannot bring the plan to fruition. This may<br />
require the help of others. And never forget to celebrate your<br />
successes.<br />
Doug van Dyke has titled his book well. It is indeed a handbook,<br />
not a shelf book. This is one that you will reread and refer to<br />
often. In my position I read numerous business books and<br />
finding time to read them is a challenge. I found the time to read<br />
Leadership Simplified, twice! So far.<br />
_____________________________________________________<br />
Dr. Brian Beirl has a general dental practice in Seminole. In addition, he is an educator,<br />
author, presenter, consultant and business coach. Dr. Beirl is passionate in helping his clients<br />
live the life of their dreams. He may be reached through his web site, www.brianbeirl.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/suggested-reading.htm
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Let’s get connected.<br />
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Connecting and promoting women and their businesses<br />
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usiness seen<br />
Andy Andrews<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
66<br />
Thomas A. James, Chairman and CEO of Raymond James Financial, Inc. was named Ernst &<br />
Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2008 winner in the Financial Services category.<br />
Boston WPO Chapter member Suzanne Bates, President/CEO of Bates Communication, Wellesley,<br />
MA. and Rosemary Brehm, Tampa Bay WPO Chapter Facilitator and President of turningpoints2results,<br />
spoke at the September 10th Women Presidents’ Organization Meet and Greet<br />
Reception in Tampa<br />
Finalists in the national Stevies Awards for Women in Business; Debra Curtiss ,VP and GM of Peak<br />
10 and the new TBTF leader, Suzanne Kelley, VP of Proggex, Inc. and Charlotte Baker.<br />
Florida Staffing Association president Adam Mainzer, TSC, CSP (TechStaff, Tampa, FL)<br />
accepted the awards from ASA chairman Linda Carchidi, CSP. Linda Carchidi, JFC<br />
Staffing -Camp Hill, PA,Adam Mainzer, CSP, TSC,TechStaff -Tampa, FL Richard Wahlquist,<br />
President & CEO, ASA - Alexandria, VA<br />
Charlotte Baker accepts the highly sought after SSPA award in Las Vegas.<br />
Mark Geary, VP of Digital Hands is on charlotte’s left.
First Bank employees Vita Muklewicz (left), Adam French (left center), Mary Pereira (right center) and Kathryn Goethe (right)<br />
decorate the Angel Tree to benefit the Salvation Army at First Bank’s Bradenton location, 1301 6th Ave. West.<br />
Jim Young of Nickel City Funding Co, 2008 Carrollwood Professionals Member of the Year accepts award from Renate Armitage,<br />
Ali Lassens Regional Support Representative.<br />
Lydian Bank & Trust recently celebrated the opening of the newest regional<br />
office in Sarasota. Cary Putrino, Lydian’s regional president; James Meany,<br />
Lydian’s president and chief executive officer and Dan Vigne, Lydian’s<br />
managing director in Sarasota<br />
Juan Long of Bayport Appraisals after being congratulated by members<br />
of Carrollwood Professionals Chapter of Ali Lassens Leads Club after passing<br />
the state certification appraisal exam.<br />
Richard Gerrity, Lydian’s executive vice<br />
president and chief investment officer;<br />
Dorothy Ozburn and Robert Carr.
Micheal Savage<br />
Laura Ingraham Bill O’Reilly<br />
Your Your Newstalk Newstalk Hosts! Hosts!<br />
Dennis Miller<br />
Dave Ramsey<br />
AM<br />
Roger P. Schulman Dan Shayna York<br />
Lance Scott Farrell Mark Larsen
Accounting<br />
Kingery & Crouse<br />
2801 West Busch Blvd., Ste 200<br />
Tampa, FL 33618<br />
813-874-1280<br />
www.tampacpa.<strong>com</strong><br />
Artists<br />
Jessica Rockwell<br />
Master Portrait Artist<br />
313 Lotus Path<br />
Clearwater, FL 33756<br />
727-442-5553<br />
www.rockwellportraits.<strong>com</strong><br />
Attorneys<br />
Lauro Law Firm<br />
101 E. Kennedy Blvd. Ste 3000<br />
Tampa, FL 33602<br />
813-222-8990<br />
www.laurolawfirm.<strong>com</strong><br />
Auto Repair<br />
Courteous Car Care<br />
9485 Ulmerton Rd.<br />
Largo, FL 33771<br />
727-581-3600<br />
www.courteouscarcare.<strong>com</strong><br />
Barter<br />
Florida Barter<br />
1000 Belcher Rd. South #9<br />
Largo, FL 33771<br />
727-524-6800<br />
www.floridabarter.<strong>com</strong><br />
Banks<br />
Regions Bank<br />
The more things change,<br />
The more things get better.<br />
www.RegionsBank.<strong>com</strong><br />
American Momentum Bank<br />
One Urban Centre Suite 200<br />
4830 W. Kennedy Blvd.<br />
Tampa, FL 33609<br />
866-530-2265<br />
www.AmericanMomentumBank.<strong>com</strong><br />
Business Development<br />
LSG Consulting Services, llc<br />
“Coaching &Consulting Tailored to Your Needs”<br />
Linda S. Goldfarb, Managing Member<br />
(727)415-3016<br />
Linda@lsgconsulting.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.lsgconsulting.<strong>com</strong><br />
Chambers of Commerce<br />
Greater Tampa Chamber<br />
813-276-9438<br />
www.tampachamber.<strong>com</strong><br />
Brandon Chamber<br />
813-689-1221<br />
www.brandonchamber.<strong>com</strong><br />
Greater Seminole Chamber<br />
727-392-3245<br />
www.seminolechamber.net<br />
Coaching<br />
Transition Resource<br />
Tom Wolf, Executive Coach<br />
16627 Sedonade Avila<br />
Tampa, FL 33613<br />
813-960-1810<br />
tom@transitionresource.<strong>com</strong><br />
Bob Proctor’s Coaching<br />
www.bobproctor.<strong>com</strong>/ccp.asp<br />
Counseling<br />
Dr. Stacey Scheckner,<br />
Licensed Psychologist<br />
806 W. De Leon Ave. Ste 201<br />
813-362-3936<br />
www.happycounseling.<strong>com</strong><br />
Computer Consultants<br />
Bluelink Consulting<br />
7714 Venice Dr.<br />
Port Richey, FL 34668<br />
800-258-3908<br />
www.bluelinkconsulting.<strong>com</strong><br />
Copy Writers<br />
Gretchen Cain<br />
727-403-6726<br />
Carol Cortright<br />
727-793-8826<br />
carolcortright@msn.<strong>com</strong><br />
Kathy Ferguson<br />
727-541-7506<br />
David Liller<br />
813-960-7183<br />
dliller@lillerpublications.<strong>com</strong><br />
Donna Murray<br />
727-822-8141<br />
Chary Southmayd<br />
727-397-5563 x306<br />
Marie Stempinski<br />
727-526-2910<br />
Jay Winchester<br />
813-631-7708<br />
www.winchestergrouponline.<strong>com</strong><br />
Dental<br />
Dr. Brian Beirl<br />
7603 Seminole Blvd.<br />
Seminole, FL 33772<br />
727-391-0269<br />
www.brianbeirl.<strong>com</strong><br />
Straighten Up Orthodontics<br />
Clearwater – St. Pete<br />
727-446-8005<br />
Dr. Tom Brown<br />
7603 Seminole Blvd.<br />
Seminole, FL 33772<br />
727-391-0269<br />
Displays<br />
Affordable Displays<br />
(Business and Retail)<br />
727-443-3469<br />
Toll Free 888-993-4775<br />
BBrehm@Affordabledisplays.net<br />
www.affordabledisplays.net<br />
Education<br />
Eckerd College<br />
Leadership Development<br />
Institute<br />
St. Pete, FL<br />
800-753-0444<br />
www.eckerd.edu/ldi<br />
St. Pete College<br />
727-341-4772<br />
www.spcollege.edu<br />
Tampa Preparatory School<br />
727 Cass Street<br />
Tampa, FL 33606<br />
813-251-8481<br />
www.tampaprep.org<br />
<strong>BABM</strong> business directory
<strong>BABM</strong> business directory<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
70<br />
Trinity College<br />
2430 Welbilt Boulevard<br />
Trinity, FL 34655<br />
727-376-6911<br />
www.trinitycollege.edu<br />
Troy University<br />
813-835-6220<br />
www.troy.edu<br />
USF<br />
College of Business Administration<br />
4202 East Fowler Ave.<br />
Tampa, FL 33620<br />
813-974-3350<br />
www.coba.usf.edu<br />
Electric Supplies and Contractors<br />
Electric Supply, Inc.<br />
4407 North Manhattan Ave.<br />
Tampa, FL 33614<br />
813-872-1894<br />
www.electricsupplyinc.<strong>com</strong><br />
Energy Management<br />
Total Energy Concept, Inc.<br />
PO Box 157<br />
Lithia, FL 33547<br />
888-643-9207<br />
vincetecsales@aol.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.totalenergyconcepts.<strong>com</strong><br />
Financial Advisors<br />
JB Hanauer & Co.<br />
Jesse T. Hearn, Jr.<br />
4830 W. Kennedy Blvd. Ste 350<br />
Tampa, FL 33609<br />
813-289-0004<br />
800-282-0001<br />
jhearn@jbh.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.jbhanauer.<strong>com</strong><br />
The Financial Well<br />
Kimberly D. Overman, CFP®<br />
300 S. Hyde Park Ave. Ste 210<br />
Tampa, FL 33606<br />
813-229-2000<br />
www.thefinancialwell.<strong>com</strong><br />
Framing<br />
Crafty Framer<br />
9204 Ulmerton Rd.<br />
Largo, FL 33771<br />
727-518-1400<br />
www.craftyframer.<strong>com</strong><br />
Golf Resorts<br />
Innisbrook Golf Resort<br />
36750 US Hwy 19 N.<br />
Palm Harbor, FL 34684<br />
727-942-2000<br />
www.innisbrookgolfresort.<strong>com</strong><br />
Graphic Design<br />
TZ Design Firm<br />
321-632-1616<br />
www.tzdesignfirm.<strong>com</strong><br />
Ink<br />
ASAP Ink<br />
13723 Walsingham Rd.<br />
Largo, FL 33774<br />
727-596-4191<br />
www.asap-ink.<strong>com</strong><br />
Jewelry<br />
International Diamond Center<br />
3696 Ulmerton Rd.<br />
Clearwater, FL<br />
727-572-6323<br />
Limo Services<br />
1st Class Limo LLC<br />
813-234-1744<br />
info@1stclasslimollc.<strong>com</strong><br />
Local Web Site Portals<br />
www.GoLocalTampaBay.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.b2btampabay.<strong>com</strong><br />
Medical Doctors<br />
Vein Center of Tampa Bay & Stunning Looks Medi Spa<br />
3001 N. Rocky Point Dr. E.<br />
Suite 125<br />
Tampa, FL, 33607<br />
813-282-0223<br />
www.veincentertampa.<strong>com</strong><br />
Image International Institute<br />
Richard Castellano, MD<br />
4238 W. Kennedy Blvd.<br />
Tampa, FL 33609<br />
813-879-6040<br />
www.imageinin.<strong>com</strong><br />
Multi Media<br />
Barclay Productions, LLC<br />
A Video Production Company<br />
Bill Barclay, President<br />
727-639-7361<br />
bill@barclayproductions.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.barclayproductions.<strong>com</strong>
Genesis Communications Inc.<br />
NewsTalk 820<br />
4300 West Cypress St., Ste 1040<br />
Tampa, FL 33607<br />
813-281-1040<br />
www.1040wwba.<strong>com</strong><br />
Networking<br />
E-Women Network<br />
Karen Krymski, Reg. Exec. Director<br />
727-322-9596<br />
www.eWomenNetwork.<strong>com</strong><br />
Non Profits<br />
PACE Center for Girls<br />
Pinellas County<br />
727-456-1566<br />
Junior Achievement<br />
727-530-0884<br />
www.ja.org<br />
Wheels for Success<br />
www.wheelsofsuccess.org.<br />
Outreach Partners Network<br />
Kathryn Barber, CEO<br />
888-266-6001<br />
www.outreachpartners.org<br />
Photography<br />
Bay Area Photography<br />
813-689-1993<br />
www.bayareaphotography.<strong>com</strong><br />
Printer<br />
Colorgraphx<br />
4721 – 110th Ave. N.<br />
Clearwater, FL 33762<br />
727-572-6364<br />
www.colorgraphx.biz<br />
Sales<br />
Brian Tracy University<br />
462 Stevens Ave., Suite 202<br />
Solana Beach, CA 92075<br />
www.BrianTracy.<strong>com</strong><br />
Buy Gitomer<br />
704-333-1112<br />
www.gitomer.<strong>com</strong><br />
Search Engine Optimization<br />
KISS Marketing<br />
www.kissmarketing.<strong>com</strong><br />
Self Development<br />
Andy Andrews<br />
www.AndyAndrews.<strong>com</strong><br />
Technology and IT Services<br />
High Speed Network Services<br />
Scott Plumley<br />
10022 Oxford Chapel Dr.<br />
Tampa, FL 33647<br />
813-404-5498<br />
www.hsnsfl.<strong>com</strong><br />
Website Development<br />
KISS Marketing<br />
Deirdre Cavener, Pres.<br />
727-517-8450<br />
Deirdre@kissmarketing.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.kissmarketing.<strong>com</strong><br />
007 Computer Services<br />
Robert Fowler Jr.<br />
2408 - 53rd St. S.<br />
Unit 1-A<br />
Gulfport, FL 33707<br />
(727) 388-9442<br />
www.007<strong>com</strong>puter.<strong>com</strong>
values<br />
Andy Andrews<br />
JAN/FEB 2009 | BABm.<strong>com</strong><br />
72<br />
6 Keys to<br />
Be<strong>com</strong>ing<br />
a Person of<br />
Action<br />
My future is immediate. I will grasp it in both hands and carry<br />
it with running feet. When I am faced with the choice of doing<br />
nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act!<br />
— Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain<br />
When faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing<br />
something, always choose to act! Seize this moment. There are<br />
six keys to be<strong>com</strong>ing a person of action: over<strong>com</strong>ing your fears,<br />
being prepared to make quick decisions, having a life plan,<br />
embracing the power of action, be<strong>com</strong>ing an early riser, and<br />
capitalizing on your strengths.<br />
1. Over<strong>com</strong>ing Your Fears<br />
Fear debilitates action. Where has fear hindered your progress?<br />
Has fear kept you from pursuing a job promotion, diving<br />
into a new career, going after a big account, innovating, or<br />
reinventing your business? Fear of failure, humiliation or making<br />
mistakes hinders our creative impulses and our ability to create<br />
extraordinary changes in the world. Step 1: Identify your fear.<br />
Step 2: Take action.<br />
2. Being Prepared to Make<br />
Quick Decisions<br />
Calvin Coolidge stated, “We can’t do everything at once, but, by<br />
God, we can do something at once!” Changing the world begins<br />
with a single act. Sometimes the single act requires a quick<br />
reaction. One way to be a person of action is to think through<br />
some situations and decide beforehand how you will react when<br />
the time <strong>com</strong>es.<br />
So are you ready for your moment? Have you decided what<br />
you will do when your moment arrives? We’ve heard over and<br />
over again that success happens when preparation meets<br />
opportunity.<br />
3. Having a Life Plan<br />
Having a life plan is important in being a person of action. If you<br />
know where you want to go, making decisions will be easier.<br />
There are many ways to consider your life’s plan or what things<br />
you want to ac<strong>com</strong>plish before you die. One way is to think<br />
about your eulogy. Write a glowing, incredible eulogy you would<br />
like to have read aloud at your funeral. Ask three important<br />
people in your life for their feedback and suggestions on what<br />
needs to happen for you to be<strong>com</strong>e the person in the eulogy.<br />
4. Embracing the Power of Action<br />
Take a look at your life plan and recognize the person you need<br />
to be<strong>com</strong>e in order to realize your ultimate vision. Identify the<br />
steps to take today, tomorrow, and in the weeks, months and<br />
years to <strong>com</strong>e to help move you toward that self-actualized<br />
person. Then capture ten things you can do in the next twentyfour<br />
hours to move you in that direction. A simple action like<br />
picking up the phone and reconnecting with an old friend can<br />
help you build tremendous momentum toward your desired<br />
destination.<br />
5. Be<strong>com</strong>ing an Early Riser<br />
Thomas Jefferson woke up early every day. He said, “Whether I<br />
retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun.” There was a fiftyyear<br />
period in Jefferson’s life during which the sun never caught<br />
him in bed. Jefferson had an appetite for action. He said, “Do you<br />
want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act. Action will delineate<br />
and define you.” He also said, “Determine never to be idle. It<br />
is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”<br />
Another one of Jefferson’s great quotes: “I’m a great believer in<br />
luck; and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”<br />
Try getting up extra early for the next thirty days. When you<br />
wake up <strong>com</strong>e up with several new ideas that inspire and<br />
motivate you. Jot down the first twenty ideas that <strong>com</strong>e to mind.<br />
Circle the idea that is most important to you. To set that idea in<br />
motion, quickly brainstorm five specific actions you can take<br />
within twenty four hours and do them.<br />
6. Capitalizing on Your Strengths<br />
Everyone excels in certain areas. Some people are fast runners.<br />
Some people are sharp thinkers. Others might be better at<br />
managing finances. The trick is to not only identify areas you<br />
need to improve, but to capitalize on your God-given strengths!<br />
If you capitalize on your current strengths, you can create<br />
momentum and take on the challenges that await you.<br />
Andy Andrews has quietly be<strong>com</strong>e one of the most influential people in America.<br />
A professional noticer, a powerful <strong>com</strong>municator, a teacher, and a serious fisherman,<br />
Andrews is a best-selling author with millions of books in print. He is also an in-demand<br />
speaker for some of the world’s largest organizations. Andy has spoken at the request of four<br />
different United States presidents and toured military bases around the world at the request<br />
of the Department of Defense. Arguably, there is no single person on the planet better at<br />
weaving subtle, yet life-changing, lessons into riveting tales of adventure and intrigue—<br />
both on paper and on stage. For more information: www.AndyAndrews.<strong>com</strong><br />
More information at<br />
www.<strong>BABM</strong>.<strong>com</strong>/values.htm