While reading the article, “Where’s the Bottom?” in the January edition of Florida Trend, I saw  a nice chart detailing vacancy rates across the state and thought I would share it with you.  No, I am not doing it to depress you, just to give you facts.  It is the wise business person that takes the information, changes the strategy and succeeds in a down market.

Another interesting chart, the supply of vacant developed lots based on the annual starts pace:

The data was provided to Florida Trend by MetroStudy.

There’s a lot of fear in the world today. Fear that the recession might be a Great Depression. Fear that you might lose your job or your business. Fear that your money’s not safe at the bank.

I recently finished reading Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Time Mangement for Entrepreneurs.  An yes, if you have not noticed - I am a BIG FAN of the No B.S. Books.  I really enjoy Dan’s very straightforward approach.

While reading the book, I realized that most of us waste A LOT of our day on unproductive activities - myself included.  How many times do you get to the end of the day and ask, “Where did the day go, I feel like I just started working?”  If you say that at least once, you need to rearrange how you work.

Step One:  One of the best and smartest things I did to increase productivity was to work from home.  For all you “I can’ts” out there - try it.  Maybe at first you work at a coffee shop for a couple of hours per day.  A little time away from the office.  I really push this concept because it accomplishes two things; 1. You have uninterrupted time to accomplish business building tasks (turn off your cell phone) and 2. It teaches your employees some independance.  They will start to solve problems on their own instead of asking you each and every question that pops into their head.  You know you get these questions….next time ask them how they would solve the problem and see what happens.  You want your employees to be able to work without asking you questions all day - otherwise how could you ever take a real vacation or attend a business seminar?

When you are working outside the office, work on your business NOT in it.  By this I mean don’t do the work the client is paying you for.  YES, I know that sounds crazy, but you must spend time thinking and planning how you will grow your business.  Then you must work on the action steps to get it accomplished.

My favorite quote from business owners is, “I just don’t have time for marketing.”  I want to reach across the table and just shake them. SILLY - that is your NUMBER ONE job!  As the Owner/CEO it is your responsibility to make sure you have continous interest in your products or services.  So spend your new time on building your business.

STEP TWO: Next, get rid of the “open door” management concept.  This is a plain and simple “come interrupt” me invitation.  I was never a fan of it and I am glad to see more and more entrepreneurs pushing it aside.  Again, I have found that if employees can’t run to you with every little question, they start to figure out A LOT of it without your help.  So, please quickly come to the realization that you are important to the business, but not as the “Question Answerer.”  For those of you who feel power or prestige because of this,  GET OVER IT.  This power trip is holding back your business. 

Try closing your door for periods of time, so you can accomplish more work in less time.  Also, make sure to turn off your cell phone and turn your office phone to do not disturb (or just take it off the hook).  Don’t worry, a great little invention called voice mail will capture everything.

STEP THREE:Finally, schedule your day from beginning to end.  When I started doing this, I accomplished 4-5 times as many things than before.  Why? Simple, I was able to put 100% of my focus into the task and not let anything interrupt me.  Believe me, it is much easier and less time consuming to return five phone calls in 20 minutes, all at once, than to accept each one as it comes thru. 

Also, I start work at least two hours before everyone else.  It is AMAZING how much work is accomplished in those two hours.  If you can’t start early, stay after everyone else is gone.  I can guarantee you your productivity will skyrocket.

After reading my three suggestions to making your day more productive, I hope you will take all three and implement right away.  If not, at least implement one.  Then, share your gains and successes with us, post your progress below

We have to start moving the inventory to be able to recover from the housing mess. This is a good first step in the right direction.  Sales are also up 14.66% year-to-date compared to the previous year.  Of course, the sales are up because of the exceptional prices.  I have heard people say that our lifetime will never see pricing levels as low as they are today, for our economy’s sake I hope so too. 

With the good, comes the bad.  The sales are up and absorption rates are down, but what that translates into is lower prices.  We are in a buyers’ market and if you are buying, GREAT!  If not, hold on to your property, if you can. 

The pricing also translates into more opportunities.  Future developments, conservation land, education and infrastructure all cost less today than 3 years ago.  In fact, the Port St Lucie News reported that Torrey Pines Institute in Port St Lucie, FL came in almost one million dollars less than anticipated.  The opportunities are endless.  So, instead of allowing the media to focus on all the bad news, let’s focus on the opportunities available and help move forward.

Even though the work title may not be appealing, the results of the work have great benefits since it will help the Department of Health to determine the environmental impacts of the septic systems throughout Florida.  The team will use Geographic Information Systems and modeling to identify the systems throughout Florida.

GlobalMind provides information to support land and real estate decisions.  Its clients include land developers, real estate investors and government.  GlobalMind operates from offices in Palm Beach Gardens, Tallahassee and Port St Lucie, Florida.  More about the firm can be found on its website: www.1globalmind.com

EarthSTEPS, LLC  is dedicated to helping companies and homeowners that want to reduce their use of the planet’s natural resources and thus reduce the operating expenses.  EarthSteps is focused on reducing energy and water consumption, as well as promoting the use of green technologies.  More about the firm can be found on its website www.earthsteps.org.

Sounds great if you own conservation land, right?  Yes, but it can be used for other owners as well.  Take for instance the agricultural or greenbelt land classifications.  I know quite a few people who have used cows to save on taxes and it is within the law’s requirements.  Some opponents are claiming the same type of “abuse” could happen with the new exemption.  So, legislatures will have to determine what time frame will qualify for the tax exemptions (i.e. how long it is to remain conservation land).

Why is this important to me?  I think you may be interested to know that St. Joe’s Lobbyist was instrumental in getting the Amendment on the ballot.  Remember, St. Joe is the largest private landowner in Florida.  I am sure there is a substantial tax benefit to St Joe, since a large part of their land in undeveloped.

While I am not advocating abuse of the law, I do think it is worth a read to see how the tax advantages can help your company.   

One curtailing side effect will be the decrease in local government revenues, in times where they have already seen drastic revenue shortfalls.  The most heavily affected areas will be rural areas with large open spaces.

For a full version of the Amendment, please go to http://election.dos.state.fl.us/initiatives/fulltext/pdf/12-5.pdf.

WE ARE. We’ve started to receive direct inquiries about our services AND referrals from people we know through Facebook. It’s not huge by any means, but my sense is that we’re at the beginning of an important change.

It started over the summer. I’d been on Facebook for about six months. I’m embarrassed to say that I only had three “Facebook Friends” and they were all employees who, no doubt, “friended” me because I’m the boss. I’m just a few years too old to be in the early adopter group for Facebook and most of the other social network sites. In fact, Al Gore was just putting the finishing touches on his new invention “The Internet” when I graduated college.

So I had a severe Facebook inferiority complex. Then something astonishing happened. All of a sudden I started talking to, let’s call them mature, business contacts. They were joining Facebook. And not just a few…nearly every lunch appointment or networking event I went to, Facebook was the new fad. I started getting and sending friend requests to people I knew (that’s how you add someone to your network on Facebook). I also noticed more businesses and business groups represented on Facebook.

A trend is forming, and I think it’s here to stay. So I thought I’d share with you my top 5 reasons for incorporating Facebook into your business marketing:

#5. It’s the best way to reach millenials and Gen-Xer’s.

#4. You can quickly (in minutes) create a company or development specific page with video, events and a blog (called the ‘wall’).

#3. Prospects can identify themselves to you by becoming “fans” of your company or development. Now you can focus your message on people who want to hear it.

#2. You can learn about your customers through their Facebook pages. You’ll better understand what motivates them to buy.

#1. You can bring YOUR personality into your marketing. Your customers crave this connection with you. Facebook is a VERY easy way to “pull back the curtain” and let them see your human side.

If you’re not on Facebook, follow my easy 8 step process to get started today.

1. Go to www.facebook.com and sign-up (I know it’s obvious…but do it).

2. Fill-in some details about yourself in your personal profile. In my profile, you’ll see that I live in Tallahassee, FL, my birthday is June 12th, I’m married, I went to the University of Florida (GO GATORS!) and I went to Episcopal High School in Jacksonville. You’ll also see some of the groups I belong to. This serves two purposes. It makes it easy for people I’ve known to find me. In fact, “the girl next door” from my old neighborhood found me by searching for people who went to our high school. The second purpose, is that it tells my Facebook “Friends” about my background…stuff that they may not have known. That makes me more accessible and authentic to them.

3. Search for people you know by name or email address. You can even upload your contact list and Facebook will do the searching for you. Once you’ve found some familiar faces, send them a “Friend Request”. They’ll be notified of your request and asked to confirm you as a friend (this helps keep away bogus friends). When they confirm you, you’ll be able to see their Facebook page and they will see yours.

4. Setup a “Group” for your company. You can make your group open to anyone or by invitation only. You can post videos on your group page…a great way to add a personal touch to your marketing. You can also have a group discussion board on your page. This will allow you to have a conversation with your customers.

5. Create an “Event” for your next development launch of sales promotion. Invite your Facebook friends and your company’s fans. This is a great, free way to get to people that are likely to be interested in your offering.

6. Post tasteful, personal comments on your wall. Give status updates when you’re doing something interesting. Recently, I was in San Francisco on a business trip. One evening I had a dinner cruise in San Francisco Bay and posted a status update saying I was cruising past Alcatraz. When I got back home, four people asked about my trip at the next networking event I attended. It was a great conversation starter.

7. Send me a friend request (search for sgordon@1globalmind.com) and I’ll introduce you around.

8. Join the GlobalMind group.

People want to do business with people, not stuffy corporations. Facebook gives you a simple way to show some of your unique personality to your prospects and customers. Go ahead, give them what they want.

• The land development code for a city three hours away from my office.
• The wetlands and soils for a large acreage property.
• The public meeting dates for a city zoning board.
• The permit application for county we had not worked in before.

These four simple requests burned up SIX HOURS of my time. The truth is I hate doing this kind of research. It’s both BORING and TIME CONSUMING.

I’ve got two young daughters who think I’m the King and they’re my princesses…I’d rather be ruling my kingdom than doing the jester’s task…research.

And I know I’m not the only one in this business that feels that way. So last month we decided to do something about it.

We put all of the information that we go looking for (and you probably do too) into one easy to access place. In fact, we decided to do it for all of Florida. AND, we decided to put it on the web for you to use.

The Land Development Resource Center is Born!

On our website you can now find…

Links to city and county land development agencies.

Land development regulations.

Permit and development applications.

Local council and board meeting schedules.

Articles on land development topics.

Free reports to help you understand more complex issues.

Maps showing aerials, wetlands, soils, flood zones and contours for every property in Florida.

Audio interviews with leaders in the industry.

Monthly webinars on important land development topics

And much more to come…

We began the Land Development Resource Center as a resource for ourselves; We hope that by sharing it with you, that you’ll save time and frustration…

…AND spend more time in your kingdom!

To use the Land Development Resource Center go to:

1globalmind.com/resource-center/

If you can pinpoint potential customers and market to them more efficiently, you will see better returns on your marketing investment. A tool that can help business owners better utilize their marketing dollars is GIS (Geographic Information Systems). In fact, you may have used Google Earth - a basic version of GIS technology.

GIS tools, such as Google Earth, use location information to help users make decisions. So, how could Google Earth help you understand your customer better and make more money?

First, map all your current customers to see where they are located. Next, use demographic data to find what households have roots in the North East. Data can be obtained from moving stats, relocation stats from State or County, or internaly collected data. Using color coding, the more intense red has a higher concentration of the target market, it is easy to identify high concentrations of the target market. So based on the high concentration of red and existing cutomers east of I-95, you can target a direct mail campaign to the area you identify.

Why would using Google Earth help direct mail? Couldn’t I just guess the area and send postards to those homes, sorta like trial and error? You could, but what if you guess wrong, how much would the mailings cost? A friend of mine decided to send postcard mailers to all the households within a 10 mile radius of her store.

The cost was an astounding $5,800 for the postcard and postage. I am not sure about you, but as a manager in a small business, $5,800 is quite a bit of money for one direct mail compaign. The large dollar amount also increases the break-even point, meaning more sales to cover the cost of the direct mail.

Instead, I offered to map her existing customer’s versus the county population. Then we tied in the female population under 30 years old. The ending result was the above illustration (blue and red). The darker red areas identify areas with higher concentrations of females under 30. Once we download the information and saw the total households, the total households were roughly 2,000. Instead of her direct mail costs totaling $5,800, the costs dropped to $1,160.

Now to turn on my marketing hat for a minute, direct mail typically has a return of less than 1%, which means of the 10,000 mailed, only 100 will respond. On the other hand, more targeted direct mail can have up to a 6% return or even higher. With a 6% return, on 2,000 households you could expect to see 120 people at the store. So, with 8,000 fewer households receiving the mailer we still managed to get a higher response! Also, since the mailer is targeted to the store’s target market, the customers tend to have a higher average sale per transaction.

You are probably thinking, that is all well and good for a store but my business is not based on a store front, how would GIS benefit me? GIS has been used by many different businesses for over 20 years. Companies such as McDonald’s and Wal-mart have been using the technology to count customer cars and determine new store locations. Insurance companies use GIS to measure their risk and market to areas with lower risk. A land developer uses the information to find their next project site. Land conservation groups use GIS to rank the land they want to buy. Shipping companies use GIS to route where their vehicles will travel each day. The possibilities are endless. If you have a question on location, GIS can help you answer it.

Taking information off a spreadsheet and putting it in a picture gives business owners the ability to make decisions within minutes instead of hours.

Checkout how you can implement Google Earth in your business: http://1globalmind.com/2008/02/13/google_earth_for_business/ 

Once you try it, post your results here. Have fun!