GULF COAST
NOVEMBER 25 – DECEMBER 1, 2011
Business Review First up:
LOOK ALIVE
THREE DollarS
LEADERSHIP:
STORY ON PAGE 9
Fresh Divots
STAYING A STEP AHEAD
A company that SEE PAGE 12 makes synthetic bodies explores How to create a culture of constant a new market. Page 7
Carl Wakely bagged his pro career, but created a new golf tour to help others.
improvement.
Companies • Trends • Entrepreneurs • CEOs
The Weekly Newspaper for Gulf Coast Business Leaders
Ed Kobel’s dealmaking talents led him to the top of one of Tampa’s fastest-growing real estate firms— and to a family he never knew he had.
Family Matters PAGE 10
GULF COAST BUSINESS BUZZ
+ From rocket docket to rocket market
The Fort Myers area was one of the hardest-hit in the nation for real estate and gave birth to the foreclosure “rocket docket,” the court machine established to quickly clear the massive backlog
winter. The national Realtor group also posted a list of the top 10 turnaround markets and six Florida metro areas are among them: Miami, Orlando, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota-Bradenton and Lakeland-Winter Haven.
+ Holiday season could be cheery
Scrooge might take a vacation this year. That’s the message embedded in the 2011 American Express OPEN Small Business Holiday
Monitor. The survey reports small business owners’ average budget for client/customer gifts is up 82% since 2009, from $455 to $827 in 2011. The average gift budget was $740 last year. The survey also says 43% of small business owners will give their clients gifts this year. Not only are customers in line for pricier gifts, they could see more savings in products and services. On that front, the survey reports 24% of small business owners who responded to the poll plan discounts this holiday season. More than 60% of the respondents who say they will slash
prices plan deeper discounts than 2010, the survey shows. American Express, finally, projects some employees might feel the festive vibes, too: The survey reports 35% of the respondents will throw a holiday party in 2011, with an average budget of $1,029.
+ Tampa chamber revamps STYLE
The South Tampa Young Leaders & Executives, the networking organization for the
See coffee talk on page 3
57379
COFFEE TALK
of foreclosure cases. So it’s a pleasant surprise to hear from the National Association of Realtors that the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area is one of the top five turnaround markets in the country, along with Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles and Buffalo, N.Y. The association noted that prices for existing homes in the Fort Myers area remain 60% below their highs in 2006 and there’s plenty of inventory to choose from. Yet the news sent local Realtors atwitter and they blogged about it in anticipation of a stronger selling season this