Business Observer 12-10-15

BUSINESS OBSERVER PALM COAST | ORMOND BEACH DECEMBER 2015

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE Find out who’s committed.

Which companies in Palm Coast and Ormond Beach are committed to business excellence?

Who makes them succeed, and where did those people come from?

Read this section, and we think you’ll agree they deserve a Standing ‘O’.

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

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PalmCoastObserver.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

Welcome to the 2015 Standing ‘O’Awards

SEVEN DISCIPLINES

Relations and General Business Performance.

The data is entered in a standardized performance matrix for scoring. Businesses that achieve the highest score in each of 10 different industries are the winners. The industries are as follows: Financial Services, Health Care, Home Based Business, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Nonprofit, Professional Services, Retail, Technical Services and Small Business (five or fewer employees) and the Overall Winner.

n Strategic Planning n Information and Data

IS THIS A POPULARITY CONTEST?

THE CORE OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE n Customer satisfaction n Efficient productivity n Sales growth n Team satisfaction n Profitability

JOHN WALSH PUBLISHER

We are pleased to present our fourth-annual Standing “O” Awards honoring business excellence in our community.

Our mission at the Observer is to inspire our community with extraordinary local content and help our partners prosper. Our Standing “O” Awards were designed to highlight that our community is not only an excellent place to live, but it is an excellent business community, as well.

HOW THE AWARDS WORK

It is the mission of every business to fulfill customers’ wants and needs efficiently and profitably. Successful businesses master common business disciplines that lead to business excellence. We found that to be true of our participants and winners.

Again, this year, participants scored high in common business practices in customer satisfaction, efficient productivity, sales growth, team satisfaction and profitability.

This year we had 27 businesses participate in the

management n Leadership n Customer Focus n Process Management n Community Relations n General business performance

Standing “O” Awards in Business Excellence campaign. By participating in our campaign, these businesses make a bold statement to our community.

They are telling their customers, other businesses and even competitors that they are committed to excellence.

To participate, businesses submit an application with supporting information in seven disciplines: Strategic Planning, Information and Data management, Leadership, Customer Focus, Process Management, Community

The scoring is completely objective and based solely on the business performance matrix score. On the following pages we are pleased to present our 2016 Standing “O” Award Business Excellence winners.

It is our intention that the success of our Standing “O” Award Business Excellence campaign will ignite more local businesses to commit to business excellence so that our community becomes recognized as an excellent place to do business. That will attract a quality work force, which in turn attracts even more quality businesses to our community.

The bottom line is this: Our community is an excellent place to live and do business.

WHO IS COMMITTED? Meet the people who run these award-winning businesses in your community.

Overall: Ameris Bank ............................................3B Small Business: A&G Bookkeeping ................................4B Health Care: Arrow Rehabilitation .........................5B Technical Services: Coastal Cloud ..........................................6B-7B Professional Services: David A. Alfin, PLLC .............................8B Nonprofit: Family Life Center ................................9B Retail: Gerling Travel .........................................10-11B Financial Services: Murray & Murray Insurance .............12B Hospitality: Oceanside Beach Bar & Grill ...........13B Manufacturing: U Name It .................................................14B

Coastal Cloud Nearly 3 Years in Business in Flagler County Employees: 85 www.CoastalCloud.us

When you have a loss...

Be

A- K

One Hammock Beach Pkwy, Suit 200, Palm Coast, FL 32137

Protecting your investment . . .

Call or visit us

The Windsor of Palm Coast 6 Years in Business in Flagler County Employees: 70 Providing the highest quality of standards in service, environment, and care for seniors and their families.

188256

We were there when you first decided to follow your passion. Today, we’re still here keeping all you have built Safe. Sound. Secure®.

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Coastal Cloud is re-inventing the technology consulting services model in the US. We creatively apply the latest cloud-based technologies to help our clients be more successful. We attract and retain some of the most skilled consultants in the country by offering our people an unmatched work-life balance. Our work - interesting, rewarding projects using the latest cloudbased solutions including Salesforce.com, Force.com, Google Apps and others. Our lifestyle - our people live in a beach side environment that offers exceptional quality of life at a fraction of the cost of major metro areas.

The best quality in environments available, compassionate staff with extensive training, delicious food prepared fresh daily by a professional chef. Our commitment to providing the highest standards of service, environment, and care set us apart in our industry.

with Auto-Owners Insurance

Ifie

Windsor of Palm Coast

3200 E. Moody Blvd. (Hwy 100) • Bunnell • (386) 437-7767 www.HaywardBrownFlagler.com

50 Town Center, Palm Coast, FL. 32164 386-586-3501

188253

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ASSISTED LIVING & MEMORY CARE

BUSINESS OBSERVER

OrmondBeachObserver.com

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

WINNER PROFILE n 181 Cypress Point Park-

way, Palm Coast

n 569-0643 n www.amerisbank.com n Prosperity Bank became

Ameris Bank in December 2013.

Senior Vice President: Garry Lubi. Lubi has three two daughters and a son, along with five grandkids.

He will have been married 35 years in 2016.

Vice President and Branch Manager: Maria Lavin-Sanhudo Lavin-Sanhudo has two daughters and three grandsons. She married her high school sweetheart.

Photo by Mike Cavaliere

Garry Lubi, senior vice president, and Maria Lavin-Sanhudo, vice president and branch manager

AMERIS BANK Garry Lubi and Maria Lavin-Sanhudo were teenagers when they got into banking. Nearly 40 years and a combined 20-plus company mergers later, they’ve finally found their place.

BY THE NUMBERS

17

Years in Palm Coast (formerly Prosperity Bank, 1998-2013)

1,058

Employees as of October 2014

1,363

Employees as of October 2015

27%

Increase in Revenues in the third quarter of 2015 vs. the third quarter of 2014

33%

Increase in Net Profits in the third quarter of 2015 vs. the third quarter of 2014

$29 million Loans to Flagler County municipalities in 2015

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Back when Ameris Bank Senior Vice President Garry Lubi was a kid, playing guitar in a garage band he and his buddies called The Cranberry Tick Tocks, he would have told you his future would take place on a basketball court.

“It’s the finesse aspect of it,” he says he liked so much about the sport. “And I was always a point guard, which is kind of like a manager of the team.”

Maria Lavin-Sanhudo, branch manager, didn’t see herself in banking, either. Maybe she’d be a teacher, she thought. Maybe something else.

But when she, like Lubi, got a part-time job as a teller in high school — Lubi in New York, Lavin-Sanhudo in New Jersey — something clicked.

That was nearly four decades of industry experience ago.

“It just evolved from there,” she said. “It’s not that I wanted to be a banker. It’s just what I got into, and I fell in love with it.”

Mirroring each other’s career trajectories further, both were promoted to manager at age 23.

They saw their share of bank mergers and acquisitions, too — about five for Lavin-Sanhudo over the years; closer to 20 for Lubi.

During that time, though, Lubi never lost his love of the game.

He played in three different basketball leagues simultaneously at

points in college. For a few years, he coached junior-high ball at a Catholic school.

“I always looked at my management job as coaching,” he said.

“The leadership aspect on multiple fronts is what motivated me.”

In earlier years of his banking career, he was almost like a star free agent, taking his talents wherever he thought they might be most useful. Tampa, Nashville, Charlotte, N.C. — those are just a few of the places he moved to join new teams.

After signing to a smallermarket community bank in Palm Coast in 2007, though (“I wanted to simplify my life,” he says) — and it being absorbed by Ameris at the end of 2012 — Lubi stayed put. “(Change) could be the best thing that ever happened to you, but you just don’t know it yet,” he said.

His branch is now the company’s top loan-producing office.

Since the shift, its numbers have nearly doubled.

“With any merger, just the technological side of it is a pain,” Lubi said. The joke is that every merger comes prepackaged with “90 days of hell, whether you like it or not. Strap on — because you’re going to go for a ride.”

But something in Lubi likes a good ride. At one point in his career, he had 400 associates reporting to him across 47 offices. At other points, he was the odd man out when his position was eliminated in the midst of another company rebranding.

“It’s a time of transition,” Lavin-Sanhudo said. “You do the best you can. There’s a lot of training. Things change. But overall, you just get so used to it.”

“You see people get their first checking account, first car loan, first mortgage. You’re a part of their lives. …

We end up inheriting so many families.”

MARIA LAVIN-SANHUDO, vice president and branch manager

Now, though, Lavin-Sanhudo and Lubi are settled — and their roots extend throughout the community.

She was recently re-elected to a second term as president of the Flagler County Kiwanis club, serves as vice president on the Flagler Humane Society Board of Directors and is an adviser to the Flagler Palm Coast High School Key Club.

He is the chair of the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Alliance Council, as well as president of the Flagler County Education Foundation and a member of the Daytona State College Board of Trustees.

“Have you made the world around you better, made a difference?” Lubi often asks himself.

Banking helps him answer with more certainty: For some clients, he says, a loan means fresh tortillas to stock a new taco shop. For others, it’s medical supplies.

“It’s a team concept,” he said.

“So much of what we do, it’s such a team effort.”

But a hoops team can’t win without a strong point guard calling shots. The Cranberry Tick Tocks can’t rock without a good guitar playing lead.

“You see people get their first checking account, first car loan, first mortgage,” Lavin-Sanhudo said. “You’re a part of their lives. … We end up inheriting so many families.”

3B

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

“Life is a puzzle. You just have to find where the pieces fit.”

S M AL L BUS IN ESS

OSCAR ALVARADO

Oscar Alvarado keeps a hand-carved, one-a-kind chess set from the Philippines in his lobby. It helps keep him sharp.

A&G BOOKKEEPING SERVICES A chess fanatic, Oscar Alvarado gets the same rush balancing accounts as he does calling check mate.

BY THE NUMBERS

6

Years in Palm Coast

50

Years of experience in the industry between company cofounders Oscar Alvarado and Juan Godoy

2

Employees as of October 2014

5

Employees as of October 2015

30%

Increase in revenues from January to October 2015

15%

Increase in net profits from January to October 2015

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

For Oscar Alvarado, life is like a puzzle. But it took time to make the pieces fit.

They didn’t quite fit as a kid in Ecuador, when his father moved to the United States for work and he didn’t see him for the next 11 years. They were wrong in New York, too, when he was a punky teenager and his cousin dared him to join the Navy. And so he did.

“I don’t like losing,” he says with a grin.

The Navy led to a degree at Stetson University, which led to banking, which led to night classes for his master’s, and then he started an accounting side-business.

Pieces started falling into place.

“It was two shifts a day,” Alvarado says. “We knew we were growing, but we were limited because of time.”

When his bank at the time closed, though, he had to make a choice: Find a new firm, or be your own boss?

“A ship is safe in the harbor, but that’s not what it is meant for,” he says. “You need to take risks.”

But Alvarado is also an avid chess player. He doesn’t take uncalculated risks. He won’t move a single pawn before assessing the “opportunity cost.” He won’t play with a timer. He’s the type who doesn’t like to rush; he’ll sit, stare at the pieces and watch them move in his mind.

“Chess is — it’s like meditation to me,” he says. “It’s like a puzzle. ... You have to think five, 10 moves ahead. … It’s not only adding, it’s investigating.”

And he gets a thrill from inves-

tigation. He’s a problem-solver.

He can’t bear to be 10 cents off when he’s accounting — “I’m to the penny!”

Crunching numbers, for him, is like strategizing the perfect time to attack with his queen. It’s a rush. And working with numbers, trying to achieve that perfect purity of zeros on a balance sheet, is special. It’s almost holy.

“An accountant is like a priest because you need to confide everything to that person,” he says. “It’s not only about the books … it’s about (people’s) lives.”

Growing up, Alvarado watched his mom run restaurants, then later work in factories after moving to the U.S. She was always working, but still the family seemed perpetually strapped for cash — even with his father sending money back home from overseas.

“I was motivated to not let that happen to my (wife and three) kids,” he says. “I wanted to be sure I was always with them and to provide.”

So after coming home from the bank, he’d go to night school.

He’d launch a business. He’d work after working and, soon, “it was one customer after another.”

Then he’d work harder.

Next, Alvarado might go for his Ph.D. He and his partner, Juan Godoy — another immigrant, from Guatemala — recently closed on a new unit in City Marketplace. They plan to open satellite offices in Ormond Beach, St. Augustine. They’d like to do business with companies internationally.

“It’s the family, man,” he says.

“That Latin blood.”

That’s what drives him. And he’s always sharpening his skills.

Photos by Mike Cavaliere

In Oscar Alvarado’s office hangs a framed family portrait built from hundreds of puzzle pieces.

Beside the door at A&G Bookkeeping in St. Joe Plaza — you can’t miss it — is an oversized, hand-carved chess board. It’s heavy, weathered, with etchings in the sideboards.

“It’s priceless,” Alvarado says, an heirloom from the Philippines.

“It’s been with me since 1988.”

The stools are shaved to look like knights. There’s dust gathered in the grooves and edges that Alvarado halfheartedly tries to wipe away.

“When customers come to us, it’s not just business,” he says.

“It’s more than that. … It’s personal. I think that’s what’s taken us all the way.”

He sits, moves his rook, dances fingers over his king. He can never get back all the hours he’s spent at that board — nearly three decades of sitting and staring and solving, always solving.

“Life is a puzzle,” he says. “You just have to find where the pieces fit.”

PROFILE n 233 St. Joe Plaza Drive, Palm Coast n 585-2020 n www.ag-bookkeeping. com President: Oscar Alvarado Origins: A&G Bookkeeping started as a homebased side-business for Oscar Alvarado and his partner Juan Godoy, before it grew into an office in Hargrove Lane then Alvarado came on full-time and relocated to St. Joe Plaza.

Community: Alvarado does the books for nonprofits from the synchronized swimming team in town to Home Again St. John’s and others.

BUSINESS OBSERVER

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

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“There was something drawing me (to the theater), an inner spiritual thing, and that’s a pretty big thing for me.”

JIM BOWE

ARROW REHABILITATION Jim Bowe doesn’t just practice therapy, he performs it.

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

BY THE NUMBERS

12

Years in Palm Coast

18

Years in Industry

6

Employees as of October 2014

10

Employees as of October 2015

12%

Decrease in Revenues from January to October, 2015

47%

Increase in Net Profits from January to October, 2015

Pat Leap reaches high for playing cards stuck to the wall with Velcro. Her arm shakes, more wobbly the higher she pushes it. Then she pushes it higher.

“Gravity is working against me,” she says, laughing. “Can you hear my shoulder clicking? I need some WD-40!”

Jim Bowe, owner of Arrow Rehabilitation, can hear the clicking, but he assures her that it’s normal. Expanding your range of motion is what occupational therapy is all about.

“I’m really concerned because I get fatigued easily,” she tells him.

“Just going to Publix … it wears me out.”

Leap broke her shoulder recently, but with Bowe’s help she’s getting stronger. They work on hand control, stretching — techniques that will help her open cereal boxes on her own again, make food, clean.

“I was a cleaning fanatic,” she says. “Things had to be done perfectly.”

After the injury, though, she wound up in a nursing home.

Now she’s reaching higher than she was last week. She’s gripping harder.

This is what progress looks like.

“It has been an amazing part of my life, helping all of these people,” Bowe says. “Therapy’s an art.”

And art is a field Bowe knows something about.

A regular performer in Flagler and Daytona Playhouse productions, Bowe didn’t act in his first play until he was 27 years old. He felt lured to the theater, he says, so he spoke to a counselor at what was then Daytona Beach Community College.

The counselor was blind, a seeing-eye dog by her side. But she saw something in him, he says.

Bowe got the first part he auditioned for. He got the second, too.

Then he was offered a two-year drama scholarship. Since then, he has performed in more than 40 plays; he wrapped production this summer on a local film; and he’s always on the lookout for juicy new roles.

“There was something drawing me (to the theater), an inner spiritual thing, and that’s a pretty big thing for me,” he says.

But expression, for Bowe, doesn’t end at the Playhouse doors.

“It’s a very creative field,” he says of occupational therapy. “It gives people purposeful activates to do.”

Some patients might paint to improve their motor skills, build tile mosaics or make leather crafts.

“You have a more creative, broad scope,” Bowe says. “You have more free range.”

And the approach seems to be working. About 60% of Arrow’s business comes from return customers. The company nearly doubled its employee base this year, saw profits spike and enjoyed its strongest revenue week in its 12 years of operation this November.

Physical therapy wasn’t always the dream for Bowe, however.

Entrepreneurship was. People would ask what he wanted to be when he grew up, and Bowe would say his uncle — the one who owned a gas station.

“By 10, I was pumping gas and had money in my pockets,” he says. By 16, he was working two jobs and helping with the family bills. By 18, he was running his uncle’s shop on weekends.

That was how it was in his family — a pack of eight brothers and sisters, dad working in a warehouse, mom putting in time at offices when she wasn’t taking care of the kids.

Jim Bowe tests Pat Leap’s grip strength during an occupational therapy session.

And the work ethic stuck.

Bowe was an industrial electrician before he found therapy.

During college, he ran a painting business.

“I would be in rehearsals, go to class, change clothes in my truck, go paint, go back to rehearsals or a show,” he says.

His first job, Bowe was tasked with opening a clinic in Ormond Beach. He later shifted to inpatient rehab at Florida Hospital Oceanside.

“There was a lot of anxiety in that first year,” he says. “But my skills shot through the roof. … It locked in my future as a professional.”

So much of his success over the years, though, he credits to the stage.

“My whole professional career now has been magnified by the theater,” he says.

Acting has erased his limitations. The scene in his office might be set a little differently, but the way patients give immediate feedback when they’re scared or hurting or elated — for Bowe, it’s just another kind of audience.

“You never know where you’ll end up,” he says. “Sometimes you just get guided.”

PROFILE

n 31 Lupi Court, Suite 150, Palm Coast n 447-0011 n www.arrowrehab.com

Owner/President: Jim Bowe What They Do: Arrow Rehabilitation is an outpatient rehab clinic and Medicare provider that provides physical, occupational, speech and massage therapy.

What’s Next: In January, the company will being conducting Functional Capacity Exams on area workers, determining whether injured employees are fit to return to duty.

Outreach: Jim Bowe is a member of the Flagler County Education Foundation Board of Directors and has run the Flagler County Stroke Support Group the past five years.

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

COASTAL CLOUD Working at the beach not only makes for nice views — it’s key to Tim and Sara Hale’s competitive advantage.

n 1 Hammock Beach Parkway, Suite 200, Palm Coast n (800) 237-9574 n www.coastalcloud.us Cofounders/Managing Partners: Tim and Sara Hale What they do: Coastal Cloud helps companies improve sales and service, store files, track orders, manage manufacturing — anything, really — through web-based software and mobile apps. They are now Saleforce’s largest consulting partner in Florida.

Awards: The company was the first Flagler County business to be named a Florida Company to Watch by GrowFL this year. It was also awarded the Florida Job Creators.

Award from Gov. Rick Scott.

Origins: Tim and Sara Hale moved to Flagler County in 2008 with their three children, after considering the area for a vacation home.

TECH N ICAL S E RV ICES

PROFILE

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Tim Hale’s flip flops smack his heels as he walks down Coastal Cloud’s hallways in Hammock Beach. They clap, almost loud enough to echo through the place — especially now that it’s empty inside, lights off in the lobby, black out the windows.

He and his wife, Sara, are working late again.

“We’re always here,” he jokes, Hawaiian shirt, booming voice.

But he’s only half-kidding.

The office keeps going: a welcome area, hallway, conference room in back. There’s a corridor that leads to more offices, more desks. It’s room enough for the

Sara and Tim Hale, Coastal Cloud cofounders

Daytona Bicycle Center 4 Years in Business in Volusia County Employees: 4 Enjoy Your Ride!

Gerling Travel

188252

15 Cypress Branch Way #203 Palm Coast, FL 32164 386-445-2100 188329

We offer a focused product line and staff that is passionate about cycling. We love all types of bicycles and their owners. Our owner has 30+ years of bicycle industry experience and his lifelong dream of owning his own bicycle shop has been realized through Daytona Bicycle Center. We have a well trained staff dedicated to providing the best products and customer service.

301 South Central Ave. Flagler Beach, FL 32136 (386) 439-6900 13 Years in Business in Flagler County Employees: 5

Recognized as “The Best Bike Shop” from 2012-2015 by Hometown News.

Best Travel Agency

Coconuts Car Wash 8 Years in Business in Flagler County Employees: 31 Customers should leave happier than when they arrived, no matter what it takes.

Coconuts Carwash is a bright, colorful, nautical Bahamas theme with music, fun, culture and exceptional customer service as its trademark. Staff members are identified by colorful and well marked attire.

Customers remain in the vehicle thru a 120 ft. ride-thru tunnel in a less than 5-minute Express Exterior wash. At the exit end of the wash tunnel customers either exit the complex, drive into one of nine “Free” self-serve vacuum parking spaces or into the six bay covered full service area.

6030 Old Kings Rd., Palm Coast, FL 32137 | (386) 517-6768

188243

362A W. Granada Blvd. / Ormond Beach, FL 32174 / (386) 676-1690

188389

Prices range from $7 for the Super Saver wash including free self-vacuums to $28 dependent on selected services. Coconuts Wacky Wednesday offers a $4 wash. Full service customers enjoy a waiting lounge and outside seating while staff provides hand cleaning. Detail services and discounted hand waxes are offered.

BUSINESS OBSERVER

OrmondBeachObserver.com

from scratch at Coastal Cloud; they customize, using portals like Microsoft, Salesforce and Amazon. Within that context, he says — using those Legos — you can build almost anything.

“It’s a democratization of software,” Hale says.

Projects that used to require a team of 100, most of them programmers, takes five to 10 today — and 80% of those workers are business analysts, not IT nerds.

With the kind of growth this company has seen — they meet weekly to review sales and consider additional hires — sometimes the Hales wonder if they’re growing too fast.

“Sara and I bootstrapped the company,” Tim says. “So we need to very carefully manage our growth at a pace we can afford.”

“You worry about everything – growing too slow, growing too fast … making sure the quality of the work stays up,” Sara adds.

But seeing their results soothes some of the stress. Plus, they know this business. They each were hired to the same IT consulting firm straight out of college, although they didn’t meet till years later on a job.

Before that, they were traveling full-time. For the first seven years of Sara Hale’s career, she was in the field every week, meeting clients all over the world.

They lived in cool cities, had fun. For a couple of years, they even worked from Hawaii.

“All of a sudden, we were working in paradise,” Tims says. “That sort of shifted our thinking. You really can work anywhere.”

But there were downsides. At one point, they lived in four states and five houses in less than three years.

“We didn’t want anyone telling us where to live next,” Sara says.

So they left the big cities. Discovered Flagler County. Then they started wondering, What if we just stayed here?

Cheaper living meant less overhead, which meant they could undersell the big firms in San

“Honestly, we just made up numbers three years ago. Uh, 100 employees in three years! But that’s how life is, right? You set a goal, and you manage to the goal.”

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

Francisco and New York. Living by the beach would lure talent.

They could set up satellite offices, work through video conference, offer what overseas firms never could.

A business plan was forming.

“Honestly, we just made up numbers three years ago,” Tim says. “Uh, 100 employees in three years!”

To Sara, that sounded scary.

“But that’s how life is, right?” he says. “You set a goal, and you manage to the goal.”

Now their goals are even loftier.

“I hope that we are the start of a technology move to Flagler County,” Tim says. “We need a thriving economy, to me, to protect the natural beauty of the area.

And the key is diversifying it.”

But first — get to 100 employees by early next year. That’s the plan.

Achieving it will mean more late nights at the office. And the Hales are OK with that. Working just comes easier in flip flops.

TIM HALE

Arrow Rehabilitation

BY THE NUMBERS

3

Years in Palm Coast

28

Years in industry

52

Employees as of October 2014

85

Employees as of October 2015

33%

Increase in revenues from January to October 2015

74%

Increase in net profits from January to October 2015

125

Clients served since launch (including Warner Bros, Intracoastal Bank, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Supreme Court of Florida, Hammock Beach Resort and more)

330

Projects completed since launch

OCEANSIDE BEACH BAR & GRILL

31 Lupi Ct #150 Palm Coast, FL 32137 (386) 447-0011

12 Years in Business in Flagler County Employees: 10

26 Years In Business In Flagler County Employees: Started out with 12 now have 60+ 188260

Create health for those who seek it and pass through our doors. Inspire motion by using therapeutic techniques that get results. Live Life by seeing our clients thrive in the community and in their daily lives.

7B

Family Life Center

Quality Food. Excellent Service. Come on in and Join the Oceanside Family.

Our number 1 focus is on our customers. We listen to our staff intently who work directly with our customers but also, the owners have one on one interactions with 95% of the customers (guests) who walk through the door.

5400 E. Highway 100, Palm Coast, FL (386) 437-7747

Our Business has been rated by multiple top performing websites that specialize in customer reviews for total dining experience. We have constantly been rated as a number 1 candidate for years in Customer Service, Food, Atmosphere and Cleanliness.

The mission of the Family Life Center is to end the perpetration of domestic violence and sexual assault in Flagler county.

Our numbers don’t lie! Since 2011 we have seen an increase of 33% of gross revenue every year!

188240

28 Years in Business in Flagler County 8 Years in Current Location Employees: 14

188237

Our long term focus is on banquets, catering, and private events on our new top deck along with even more live entertainment and middle to high end lounge atmosphere.

1848 S. Oceanshore Blvd., Flagler Beach | (386) 439-6345

188258

40-plus employees who now work for the Hales. Another 40 work out of state.

Coastal Cloud is three years old.

It pulled in nearly $10 million in revenue this year.

“There’s just no downtime — which is a blessing and a curse,” Hale says. “That we can operate how we are, at the scale that we are, is kinda crazy.”

But the Hales don’t have an easy elevator pitch. Coastal Cloud is a computer company — well, sort of.

“We have no servers, no phones,” Hale says. “But we’re a next-generation Internet company. What we do have is a big, fat Internet tube.”

If a client wants to migrate files onto virtual servers and rebuild its intranet — Coastal Cloud can do that. If it wants to organize customers, sales or leads by smart phone — they do that, too.

Hale likes to think of himself as a glorified Lego builder.

“We’re like architects,” he says, “not masons.”

They don’t build anything

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PalmCoastObserver.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

P ROF ESS IONAL S ERVIC ES

BUSINESS OBSERVER

“The nature of this business invites you into a personal part of people’s lives, for a short time, and you need to be careful of that responsibility.”

DAVID ALFIN

David Alfin’s horses, Dancer and Lotte, are stabled at the Florida Agricultural Museum.

DAVID I. ALFIN, PLLC A horse-riding accident taught David Alfin how to listen, an invaluable skill in his real estate business.

BY THE NUMBERS

7

Years in business

1

Employee as of October 2014

2

Employees as of October 2015

50%

Increase in Revenues from January to October 2015

35%

Increase in Net Profits from January to October 2015

96

Total transactions in 2015

75%

Conversion total for listings and buyers

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The pit in his stomach formed almost immediately.

There he was, a 20something David Alfin, the boss’s son, stammering in front of cameras, questions, hot lights. He was supposed to be unveiling the company’s latest perfume — something blue and tropical. This was supposed to be big, the kind of launch that puts pricey new products on the map.

But this was back when he was still “long-haired and rebellious,” a couple decades before he’d become president of his father’s company. This was before he would sell it, too; run a Boar’s Head distributor; sell that; have five kids; get his Realtor’s license; and move to Palm Coast.

This was the beginning. And it was a disaster.

“I’ve got an anxiety about failure,” Alfin says, in a board room at Watson Realty Corp on Palm Coast Parkway.

His office walls are crammed with plaques and awards and frames with the words “Honor” and “Volunteer” displayed inside.

There’s a cork board overflowing, education certificates fanning out over the sides. He hands over a menu for Island Grille, of which he’s part-owner. He teases about possibly running for local office.

“But I try my best to learn from them.”

Cowering behind the reporters and their cameras that day, though, after calling up his dad to take the mic and save him, Alfin knew he blew the press confer-

ence. But worse, he let his dad down.

“There was an expectation that the kids would exceed (our parents’) achievements,” Alfin said, “which was a lot, because this was not a blue-collar family looking to put their first kid through school.”

Alfin’s mom was a fashion model. His dad won a Bronze Star in Korea, ran Chanel then started Alfin Fragrances Inc. He traveled the world. He was “demanding.”

They both were. But Alfin likes to think of it more as “idealistic.”

“I certainly know today that the reason I am the way I am is because of that,” he says. “Tell me No and I’ll find a way to do it. … I can’t quit. Once I’m in, I’m all in.”

That’s clear when reviewing the list of nonprofits in which he’s active: the Palm Coast Citizens Academy, the Flagler County Education Foundation Board of Directors, Volunteer Emergency Services, NOAA’s Advanced Storm Spotters, the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce and several real estate groups.

“If you’re a part of the community, you have dedicate yourself to that community,” he says.

He’s the same way professionally.

Starting in the warehouse at Alfin Fragrances, he worked every position in the company before running distribution to 62 countries. When he got into the meat business, he owned the Catskill Mountains territory in New York before selling.

And although he got into real estate in 2008 — he needed a job with flexible hours at the time, since he was also his mother’s caregiver in her final years — the down market only served as motivation.

This time, though, success meant something more interpersonal.

“The nature of this business invites you into a personal part of people’s lives, for a short time, and you need to be careful of that responsibility,” he says.

Instead of managing the sale of perfume or bologna today, Alfin manages clients’ anxieties. Most of his buyers are on the cusp of the biggest investment of their lives, and navigating the stress surrounding that makes for intimate working relationships.

Not every sale works out, but for him, success starts with getting back on the horse. Literally.

“A loving rider” and owner of two horses, Dancer and Lotte, Alfin sees many parallels between his work and favorite hobby.

“Owning horses is a two-way commitment,” he says. “You spend a lot of time grooming the horse before the riding ever starts, and there’s a reason for that. It’s a physical sign of commitment and trust.”

Even after 10 years of riding, though, mistakes can still happen.

Alfin was out with his wife, Tammy, a few months back when Dancer went left and he went right.

“I found myself still on the saddle, underneath the horse,” he says Dancer was scared. Alfin was scrambling, his foot stuck in the stirrup. After some wrestling, he freed it and landed safely. But it taught him to listen, watch for nonverbal cues.

Now he holds the reins not tighter, he says, but with more direction. He takes control. She’s more comfortable, and so is he.

And just like that, the anxiety vanishes.

Photos by Mike Cavaliere

David Alfin and his wife, Tammy (who works on his real estate team), got married on Valentine’s Day 2013, in St. Augustine.

PROFILE n 1410 Palm Coast Parkway, Palm Coast n 585-0903 n www.exceptional performancerealestate. com

Owner: David Alfin Alfin was Watson Realty Corp’s top listing/selling agent in October 2015 and June 2014.

He is also a Million Dollar Producer at Watson and earned the company’s Most Outbound Referrals this year.

Tune in to WNZF 1550 AM/106.3 FM at 10 a.m. every Sunday to listen to Alfin and Toby Tobin of GoToby.com on “Real Estate Matters.”

BUSINESS OBSERVER

OrmondBeachObserver.com

|

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

9B

N ON P ROF IT

“I needed to do better, be better — because I had this little person.

For me, that’s the weight of the world.”

TRISH GIACCONE

Photos by Mike Cavaliere

Trish Giaccone plays Candy Land with two of her four kids, Rayliana, 11, and Aidan, 10.

FAMILY LIFE CENTER Trish Giaccone is a “lovey, dovey, touchy, feely” public servant. She’s also a domestic abuse survivor.

PROFILE

MIKE CAVALIERE

n Mailing: P.O. Box 2058, Bunnell n Shelter: Confidential location in Flagler County n (386) 437-7747 n www.familylifecenterflagler.org Executive Director: Trish Giaccone (5 years in current position, 8 years in industry) What they do: The Family Life Center provides emergency shelter with provision of food, clothing, toiletries, etc.; a 24-hour crisis hotline (437-3505); support groups; legal advocacy; youth services; Sexual Assault Victim Empowerment program; life skills training; and more.

Donate: A list of needed items, including lawn mower, canned food, towels and more are listed online. Call extension 404.

On paper, Trish Giaccone never should have been here — not in Florida, not a counselor at the Family Life Center and certainly never its executive director.

That’s what she will tell you.

She was “a Brooklyn girl,” a “big-city girl.” This was before the baby, before the attack. That was before her father handed her a one-way ticket out of town.

It was before her 20th birthday.

“I fled the state of New York,” she says. “I fled because my boyfriend pulled a knife on me. And he put it to my neck. And he was going to kill me.”

This was before she was so familiar with domestic violence that she started calling it “DV” to save time.

She was broke, carless. She slept on her cousin’s floor and walked Nova Road looking for job openings.

Career requirements: The schedule had to be flexible; the place had to be nearby.

Back then, she was miserable — “confused and overwhelmed and emotional.” She sold beauty supplies and waited at Denny’s, worked with car parts, manned the desk at a timeshare firm, a travel agency, anywhere. It didn’t matter.

“I wasn’t sure where I fit,” she recalls.

Muffled laughter from her kids Aidan and Rayliana springs from a back room. This is today at the Family Life Center in Bunnell,

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

where Giaccone’s cluttered desk is bordered with inspirational quotes on the wall and memories of women she’s helped stashed away in the cabinets. Then the gratitude flows over.

“God planted me at the right time, in the right season and the right place,” she says. “I really found who I am, and I’m comfortable with that.”

Eventually after the move, Giacconne got into real estate just in time to watch the market crash. She got married and, for a steady paycheck, applied to what sounded like an easy clerical gig at this place she’d never heard of called the Family Life Center.

The job challenged her, pushed her into public speaking. She started loving it. She even went back to school and, over nearly a decade, earned her bachelor’s.

(She’s now in her second year of a Stetson University master’s program.)

“I didn’t know I could do this professionally,” she says. “I found my spot. I thought: ‘This is it.’ If I die today, I’m a happy camper.”

Then in 2011 the state dismantled her organization. Misappropriation of funds. Arrests.

Talk of moving the center out of Flagler County.

“I couldn’t help but consider the families,” Giaccone says. “If they closed us, we’d never get another (shelter) here. I didn’t want to go backwards.”

So she applied to run the place.

She was inexperienced and angry at her former bosses, had no grant-management skills.

Given the chance today, no way she would have hired herself, she says. But then one day an officer handed her a ring of keys, told her the passwords.

“It’s all you, kid,” he said. That

was the job offer. “It’s all you.”

The transition was tough. She was a rookie again, no mentors, making up a ministry as she went along.

“We would cry together and really try to figure out what in the heck we were going to do,” she says. “It was great, and it was horrible.”

The shelter would flood and she would call her church for help, her husband, her counterparts in other cities.

But this is a woman who hears the theme from “Rocky” play in her head when times get tough.

“I will persevere!” she laughs.

This is a woman who didn’t see her life flash before her eyes when a knife got pressed to her throat all those years ago — she saw the life of her daughter, and what it would have been like for her growing up without a mother.

“That’s why I think the good Lord himself said, ‘This is where you need to be,’” Giaccone says.

“Because I could’ve been a lot of places.”

Back on July 8, 1996, when she stepped off that plane into Florida with her baby, “failure wasn’t an option.”

“I needed to do better, be better — because I had this little person,” she says. “For me, that’s the weight of the world.”

Today, this “big-city” girl gets flustered in big cities. She prefers the pace and charm of Palm Coast. Her husband’s here. Her kids are here. Her life is here.

“I’m where I’m supposed to be,” she says. “It’s just crazy. It’s crazy how we evolve.”

BY THE NUMBERS

13

Employees as of October 2014

14

Employees as of October 2015

15.2%

Total administrative cost

28

Years the Family Life Center has been established in Flagler County

179

Women and children sheltered from January to October 2015

398

Individuals served on the 24-hour crisis hotline from January to October 2015

139

Individuals received crisis intervention and counseling from January to October, 2015

32

Beds in the shelter

15 Average number of families sheltered monthly

10B

BUSINESS OBSERVER

|

PalmCoastObserver.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

GERLING TRAVEL 11

Years in Palm Coast

5

Employees as of October 2014

5

R E TAIL

BY THE NUMBERS

Employees as of October 2015

7%

Increase in revenues from January to October 2015

12%

Increase in net profits from January to October 2015

Photo provided by Mark Gerling

At Ameris Bank, our customers and the community are always at the center of everything we do. From big-ticket decisions to every-day services, we’re committed to serving our neighbors in Flagler and Volusia Counties.

Palm Coast Location 181 Cypress Point Pkwy 386.477.0404

Ormond Beach Location 1259 West Granada Blvd 800.347.9680

amerisbank.com 188245

5 Years in Business in Daytona Beach & Port Orange

Committed to Community

Employees: 28 Emergency Room doctors without the Emergency Room costs.

We treat patients with stomach and digestive conditions, skin conditions, orthopedic, asthma and allergies, common infections and many other conditions and ailments.

David I.Alfin PLLC, REALTOR , SRES ®

®

386-585-0903

ExceptionalPerformanceRealEstate.com

V O T E D F L A G L E R C O U N T Y ’ S B E S T R E A LT O R

188246

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188387

The Gerlings traveled to the Pyramids of Egypt. Their eldest son has already seen Africa, Europe and the Caribbean Islands.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

188251

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10 Hargrove GradePalm Coast, FL 32137 | (386) 446-9100

BUSINESS OBSERVER

OrmondBeachObserver.com

Mark Gerling feels blessed to live in America.

But leaving the country makes him feel alive.

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Mark Gerling is not in Kansas anymore.

After growing up there, dreaming of one day becoming a competitive bass fisherman, he moved to Florida in 1995 to work on a fishing boat in Key Largo.

“Growing up the son of a pilot, travel was always a part of my life,” he says.

But he never dreamed of flying planes himself. He wanted to be the traveler.

Today, he and his wife, Shayla, do transport clients around the world, though — only they do it through luxury vacations they organize based off of their own experiences to faraway lands.

“It’s nothing short of a knocking-on-heaven’s-door type place,” Mark says of Africa, he and his wife’s favorite destination.

“We’ve invested our lives and our hearts in that area. … It’s a gamechanging experience.”

Next year, the Gerlings will finalize the adoption of an African child — a fifth addition to their family. “(Africa) is just not what people think,” he says. “People think it’s full of disease and crime and famine — which it is in many places. … But trust me that I’m putting you in safe environments.”

Gerling considers himself a

“doctor of travel.” Exotic locations can be rough, he says, but finding quality lodging, safe water, areas free from civil war — it’s been his life the past seven years.

The Gerling brand started earlier, though, by Shayla in 2004, as a sports-marketing side business.

Today, about 60% of the couple’s total revenue still comes from booking stays for sports organizations.

“We started from cold-turkey scratch, with nothing,” Mark says.

“Just a marketing background and a dream.”

Those first few years weren’t easy, either, going from a guaranteed paycheck to zero in the heat of the recession. But for the Gerlings, the timing felt just right.

“It was probably the best time to start,” he says. “(The economy) gave us a breathing-room window. It was just, Let’s learn what we can.”

So he started traveling, exploring, looking for his niche. His confidence was growing, but sales were slow.

“We were able to hang on for dear life, and it slowly grew,” he says. “I guess I was very confident that I could bring clients to us through marketing strategies I learned over the years.”

Before Gerling Travel, Mark worked for the Ginn Co. He’s been involved in travel and hospitality since his 20s.

He’s crouched in the African bush and watched a multigenerational family — nervous grandfather down to juice box-slurping grandson — react to a herd of nearly 20 elephants advancing toward them. He’s been on foot

|

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

11B

PROFILE

n 301 S Central Ave., Flagler Beach n 439-6900 n www.gerlingtravel. com

Mark and Shayla Gerling in Colorado

near rhinos, lions, buffalo. He’s felt that adrenaline rush.

“That’s what you come for, just to be a part of it for five minutes,” he says. “You feel alive.”

Gerling has traveled to more than 15 countries so far. Still on his bucket list: Peru, the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, Kilimanjaro. The list goes on.

“The world is there for us to see,” he adds. “I feel sorry for (those) that have no desire to ever leave Flagler County.”

That’s one reason he, in October, held the inaugural meeting of a new quarterly travel club. About 115 people showed.

“It’s about opening people’s minds,” he says. “There’s so much out there, and travel is just one

way to see things a different way and try to make the world a better place.”

The goal is to cater mostly to elderly and single travelers for group trips, organize shared experiences to last a lifetime.

“The world is a beautiful place,” Gerling says. “It’s really hard to explain what (seeing more of it) does to your soul until you explore. And then you get that thud. … It really gives you a new perspective.””

But first — get to 100 employees by early next year. That’s the plan.

Achieving it will mean more late nights at the office. And the Hales are OK with that. Working just comes easier in flip flops.

Co-Owners: Mark and Shayla Gerling Origins: Gerling Travel started in 2002 as Gerling Sports Marketing Inc., a company that booked hotel rooms for NASCAR race teams.

Today: Gerling Travel specializes in photographic African Safaris, European river and ocean cruises and adventures to all seven continents.

Awards: Gerling Travel won Standing O Awards in 2013 and 2014.

Family: The Gerlings have two children and will finalize the adoption of a child from Africa next year.

Outreach: Mark Gerling is involved with the Rotary Club of Flagler Beach, the Flagler Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Hospital Foundation and Parkview Baptist Church.

“I believe in the value of travel. It changes the way we are, maybe even who we are.”

MARK GERLING

Craig Flagler Palms Funeral Home

188255

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12B

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PalmCoastObserver.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

F IN AN CIAL S E RV ICES

BUSINESS OBSERVER

Technology changed the way the Murrays do business. Whereas writing life insurance policies used to take three to four months, today, through web meetings, they get one processed in a day.

MURRAY & MURRAY INSURANCE Success wasn’t just a goal for Tom and Donna Murray. It was a salve, a need — it’s what brought them together.

BY THE NUMBERS

10

Years in Palm Coast

3

Employees as of October 2014

6

Employees as of October 2015

5

Additional employees to be hired in 2016

60%

Increase in revenues from January to October 2015

12%

Increase in net profits from January to October 2015

$6 million Total projected sales for 2015

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Around the time Tom Murray got drafted and sent to Vietnam, Donna Murray was only just discovering she was a tomboy.

“Being a woman wasn’t a good thing in my family,” she says.

That’s why she wanted to be a sportswriter — that was sure to show her father and brothers she wasn’t tough. But her passion wasn’t sports, she realized; it was competition.

“I drank it,” she says. “I breathed it.”

Tom was different. Getting sent to war woke him up. He calls it “the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“There was nobody successful in my family,” he says. “I looked at them and didn’t want to be them.”

Instead, he became an air traffic controller in New York. And after being fired by President Ronald Reagan during a union strike, he got into the car business. That’s where, in 1985, he met Donna.

When they finally teamed up in 1993, their business thrived. They partnered with 240 dealerships

“Insurance is never in the dumps. I ended up loving it. I had no idea. It was, like, God-sent.”

DONNA MURRAY

across the country. She would travel. He would work at the shop.

That was until 9/11.

After the attacks, the industry collapsed and a stipulation of Donna’s divorce made her move to Florida in order to maintain custody of the kids.

This meant Tom was moving, too. But neither of them were happy about it. Especially Tom. “Coming down here to retire is one thing, but— ” “Tom and I gave up everything to move here,” Donna interjects.

“When you want to be with your children and you have to move, you do what you have to do. I was just grateful that Tom gave up everything to move down here.

He gave up an unbelievable job.

So did I.” “OK, get to the good stuff!” he jokingly prods her along. “We’re not getting paid by the hour here.”

Donna rolls her eyes. He laughs and shakes his head. She keeps going, unfazed.

“Insurance is never in the dumps,” she says. “I ended up loving it. I had no idea. It was, like, God-sent.”

Donna’s still competitive, but she’s not a tomboy. She laughs loudly and makes herself cry talking about clients who died recently. She’s the type that stops herself mid-story to put a hand on your arm for a beat when she remembers a really good nugget you just have to hear.

“My father always wanted people to like him,” she says. “For my father, to a fault.”

“You too,” Tom chimes in.

“Yeah, me too,” she concedes.

Tom got licensed soon after, in 2002, and eventually their home office in Palm Coast was crowded with stacks of insurance paperwork. They didn’t know a soul in Florida. But neither can sit still for long. They started buying leads, cold-calling, racking up

Photos by Mike Cavaliere

Tom and Donna Murray in their home. They run their business here also.

40,000-50,000 miles a year on their cars to meet clients across the state.

Her first year, Donna earned more than $1 million in revenue.

Today, Murray & Murray is diversified in eight states. They use webcams and conference calls as their primary meeting tools.

And no more stacks of paper.

They’ve gone all digital.

This year, Donna earned more than $1 million in revenue in just a 21-day span.

“When you do the right thing, the right things follow,” Donna says. “That’s how we got our business.”

“It made everything good.”

Tom agrees. “Owning our own business was a really challenging, rewarding situation that I never— ” “Oh, one more story!” Donna cuts in. But then she needs to go.

She needs to call a client.

Tom laughs that knowing laugh.

Grins and lifts his eyebrows.

He know it’s never just one more story.

PROFILE n 15 Jasmine Drive,

Palm Coast

n 4869 Palm Coast

Parkway, Suite 3, Palm Coast n 446-6620 n www.usabg.net/ dmurray

President: Thomas Murray Vice-President: Donna Murray Murray & Murray also won a 2013 Standing O for Best Homebased Business and another in 2014 for Technical Services.

Donna Murray volunteers for the United Way and is a key player in the annual Chicks with Cans food drive.

BUSINESS OBSERVER

OrmondBeachObserver.com

|

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

13B

“It’s controlled chaos.

That’s why most people fail. They don’t understand the stress.”

H OS P ITAL ITY

JOHNNY LULGJURAJ, vice-president

The upstairs deck at Oceanside should be fully approved and open for business in January.

OCEANSIDE BEACH BAR & GRILL Buying into a restaurant at 25 years old, putting in 100-hour workweeks, watching revenues rise — it’s all in a day’s work for Johnny Lulgjuraj, ‘typical 29-year-old.’

BY THE NUMBERS

5

Years at current location

20

Years in business

40

Employees as of October 2014

62

Employees as of October 2015

38%

Increase in revenues from January to October 2015

22%

Increase in net profits from January to October 2015

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Johnny Lulgjuraj laughed when his dad told him to prepare for 100-hour workweeks before opening a restaurant.

After all, he was a smart kid — valedictorian of his class at Full Sail, the youngest manager ever at his last restaurant. Sure, his dad owned Manny’s. His family knew the business. But Lulgjuraj was cocky.

Then he had his first 120-hour week at Oceanside Beach Bar & Grill, back in 2011 when he and his brother, Tony, opened the place.

That’s when the joke stopped being so funny.

“Now I’m down to about 80 (hours a week),” he says, in between waitresses handing him bills and asking for paychecks, cooks sliding him plates of fish to try for the menu, computers acting up, emergency phone calls, guest greetings, inventory checks and more emergency phone calls.

“It’s controlled chaos,” he says of the restaurant business. “That’s why most people fail. They don’t understand the stress.”

Talk to Lulgjuraj today and something about him seems different than it did four years ago when this was all still a dream.

Since then, he’s turned 29 years old, hired about 50 employees, run for a seat on the Flagler Beach City Commission, fought to expand his building, gotten mar-

ried, seen his revenues rise annually and made a vow to put in his overtime now so that he wouldn’t have to miss soccer games, like his parents had to, if and when he has children of his own.

“There’s no easy way to make money — it’s just hard work,” he says. “And we’re working our (butts) off while we’re in our prime.”

He’s bearded now and bulkier, too. When he listens, he does so intently, aware that another interruption is coming. He seems confident, and exhausted, and in control.

“Every day there’s a new challenge,” he says. “I’ve learned to deal with (the stress). … Nothing’s ever going to run perfect.”

Lulgjuraj’s mother, Marina (staff calls her Mommy), is also at the restaurant almost every day, playing hostess. “She gives me feedback. I turn that feedback into a reality.”

Johnny’s like the company COO. Tony’s more the moneyman, the CEO behind the scenes.

“Every year we’re busier, but it’s because we’re putting more and more money into the building,” Lulgjuraj says. “The more we’re growing, the more we need to grow.”

He and his brother invested more than $250,000 before even opening Oceanside’s doors. Then there was the patio addition, the upstairs deck and the parking expansion. “We’re still dumping every penny we have back into the restaurant.”

In his mid-20s when all this started, Lulgjuraj also had college loans to contend with. But buying in made sense, he says. It was the only way he knew to control the way his life would go.

“It was a more secure approach to our future,” he says. “I had more to offer, more to invest in

Photos by Mike Cavaliere

Johnny Lulgjuraj’s passion is managing talent — musicians, racecar drivers. “When you learn about talented individuals, you learn tips and tricks about how to motivate.”

my future than making someone else rich.”

When Lulgjuraj was younger, he wanted to be a soccer star. Even now, he’s always looking for pickup games. It’s the aggressiveness, he feels, that fuels him.

“When I get out there, it’s like I’m playing World Cup,” he says.

“People hate me for it, but when I get this little bit of free time, I’m going for it.”

He’s also going for having Oceanside’s deck finished by January. And maybe he’ll go for a seat on the City Commission again, too. After that, who knows?

“I’m just the typical 29-yearold guy,” he says, smirking. “Love fast cars, traveling.”

He lets himself gaze out the window for a second, maybe two.

“Just the typical 29-year-old guy.” It’s a fun little fantasy.

PROFILE n 1848 S. Oceanshore Blvd., Flagler Beach n 439-6345 n www.oceansideflagler. com

Vice President: John Lulgjuraj President: Tony Lulgjuraj Origins: Before there was Oceanside, the Lulgjuraj’s parents, George and Marina, owned Manny’s Pizza, established in 1989 in Flagler County, in the same location.

Now: In an effort to breathe new life into their parents’ business, the Lulgjurajs bought the old Manny’s building, gutted it, remodeled and opened with just 12 employees.

Five years later, a secondstory deck with live music has been added, as well as 50 new jobs to the city.

14B

M AN U FACTU R IN G

BUSINESS OBSERVER

|

PalmCoastObserver.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

“I saw how much my parents put into the business. I wanted to perpetrate that. … I wanted to show them that all their hard work really was worth it.”

JOE ROSSHEIM

Joe and Shelley Rossheim have worked in the family business since before they were teenagers.

U NAME IT APPAREL & GRAPHICS In nearly four decades of operation, the Rossheim family business has relocated, rebranded and been rejuvenated.

BY THE NUMBERS

9

Years in Palm Coast

39

Years in Industry

7

Employees as of October 2014

11

Employees as of October 2015

20%

Increase in revenues from January to October 2015

10%

Increase in net profits from January to October 2015

MIKE CAVALIERE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Rossheims are not afraid of change.

The family got its start in the jelly business, making preserves to distribute around the world.

That was before opening a Styrofoam plant, transitioning into marine supplies and settling into printing.

“My father is a Type A personality,” Joe Rossheim said.

“Triple-A,” his sister, Shelley, chimed in.

For their parents, Ralph and Joan, being in business wasn’t just about a paycheck — you can get one of those anywhere, their father used to tell them. It was about evolving. So when the kids joined the company full-time, 18 years ago for Shelley and 15 for Joe, they were encouraged to rethink the model.

“I saw how much my parents put into the business,” Joe said. “I wanted to perpetrate that, and I wanted to build on it. … I wanted to show them that all their hard work really was worth it.”

For the company’s first 30 years, its revenue came 100% from customized marine products. Ross Marine Ideas was based in Fort Lauderdale and was “exploding at the seams,” but so was its home city. Competition was rising as quickly as rent prices were, so Joe and Shelley moved operations to Palm Coast, where rent was lower but so was demand.

That’s when they expanded into smaller-scale customizations — clothing, glasses, pens, what-

ever. They rebranded as U Name It and, today, their revenues are split: 50% marine, 50% everything else.

Next year, the family business turns 40.

“I think a lot of second-generation business owners don’t think they need to work as hard,” Joe said. “The first generation started it from scratch … but the fail rate is high.”

He and Shelley grew up in this business, though. Two hours a day after school, they would come in to file, print, help out. In a way, they felt like the company was theirs already.

“We’ve seen the ebbs and the flows,” Shelley said. “But neither of us wanted to see it go away.”

So instead, they made it thrive.

Sales have increased every year since the Rossheims relocated to Palm Coast. They added a record four new employees this year, built air-conditioning onto the warehouse and, since 2014, bought a new automatic screenprinting press and multihued embroidery machine to ramp up production.

“My parents made it very possible to get us through the past eight years,” Joe said. “We weren’t afraid to try new things because we had their support.”

Even through the recession, sales grew. But until this year, Joe and Shelley held off on hiring — even though they needed extra help.

This meant tag-teaming certain bigger projects for 24 straight hours to meet deadline. It meant moving the company from Fort Lauderdale to Palm Coast over a three-month period, cramming as much as they could into trucks then transporting on weekends,

Photos by Mike Cavaliere

The Rossheims prep shirts for custom embroidery.

so that they never had to halt operations.

“Our biggest growth this year is because we’d needed it the past few years,” Joe says. “It’s just there was so much uncertainty in the economy, we couldn’t take this leap of faith. This year, we had to take this leap of faith.”

“In order to leap beyond a certain point, we had to,” Shelley adds.

Today, both siblings are married and have kids of their own — a 6-year-old for Joe and a 10- and 14-year-old for Shelley. The business that sustained their parents’ family is now sustaining theirs.

“I think (our dad) is proud of us and the changes we’ve made to keep the business going,” Joe says. “We would not have made it through the past eight years if we were still in Fort Lauderdale.

(Changing) made it possible for our family’s business to succeed.”

PROFILE n 10 Hargrove Grade, Palm Coast n 446-9100 n www.u-nameitapparel. com

Vice-President: Joe Rossheim (production and outside sales) Vice-President: Shelley Rossheim-Wheeler (office and operations) Origins: U Name It started in 1976 in Fort Lauderdale as Ross Marine Ideas, a manufacturer of personalized products for boat owners.

BUSINESS OBSERVER

OrmondBeachObserver.com

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

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BUSINESS OUTLOOK 2015 VS. 2016 Growth for Palm Coast and Ormond Beach?

To get a forecast, the Observer spoke with an economic development expert in each city.

WAYNE GRANT NEWS EDITOR

As recently as a year or two ago, the most divisive political issue on the local level was the tax rate.

The unemployment rate was a headline on a monthly basis.

Today, those issues are much less prominent, and it seems to be that the economy is in full recovery. What do the local business experts think about our prospects for a continued upward trend?

PALM COAST RECOVERING FROM HOUSING BUST

Palm Coast continues to show improving construction and business growth figures. Barring any interference from a national economic downturn, steady growth is expected for 2016.

In the heyday of 2004-2006, 400 to 500 permits were pulled each month for single-family homes.

“It was insane,” said Beau Falgout, senior economic development planner for Palm Coast.

In 2014, there were 339 permits for single family homes for the entire year. As of September, permits were trending a little higher for 2015.

“We expect to do a little better than 339 in 2015,” he said.

Falgout said the indicators

point to a better year in 2016. The housing inventory is down, and some people are starting to call it a seller’s market, which raises prices. When prices go up, people start to build houses.

“All the numbers indicate more construction next year,” Falgout said. “All the data shows acceleration. Will we go to 4,000 (permits) a year? Hopefully not.”

There is still plenty of room for housing growth. Recently, construction has involved subdivisions of 200 to 300 units. But there are five larger subdivisions in the city, called developments of regional ompact, which could be developed.

On the business side, Falgout points to the retention of Designs for Health, which has 50 employees, as a recent success for the city. The company previously rented and has purchased a facility to expand.

“We’re very happy that Designs for Health decided to stay here,” he said, adding that the company had explored relocating out of the area.

Also adding to the economy has been Sea Ray, which started a larger parking lot to accommodate more employees, which are currently in the 500 to 600 range.

But Falgout said most jobs are created by small businesses, and there has been an increase in the past year.

There were about 425 new business tax receipts for fiscal year 2014, about 100 more than fiscal year 2013. In fiscal year 2012, there were only 200. Fiscal year 2015 is showing a higher trend than in 2014.

“There has definitely been an increase,” he said. But that might

not be a clear indication of growth. He said new businesses are sometimes started when the economy is down, because unemployed workers start their own business.

In general, the outlook calls for continued growth for Palm Coast, but not near the level of the housing boom.

Falgout expects to see construction along State Road 100.

Already planned are a grocery store and a home improvement store.

Sports marketing continues to be important for the area. At one time there were only four fields at the sports complex, and now there are 10. The goal is to attract tournaments and visitors.

The unemployment rate was 15% in the third quarter of 2010 for Palm Coast and 6% in the third quarter of 2015. This shows a growing economy, but Falgout notes that unemployment surveys are taken by surveying people and not companies, meaning that those employed could be working in St. Johns or Volusia County.

ORMOND BEACH LOOKING FOR GOOD THINGS

Economic development planning will get a fresh start in 2016 as the city updates its Strategic Economic Development Plan with input from the community. The current plan is available on the city website, ormondbeach.org, by clicking on “departments” and then “economic development.” It was a three-year plan that began

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IS UNEMPLOYMENT A CONCERN ANYMORE? The Palm Coast unemployment rate was 15% in the third quarter of 2010 and 6% in the third quarter of 2015.

ORMOND BEACH BUSINESS GROWTH If you compare January to November in 2014 with the same period in 2015, the results are clear: New business licenses — 497; 41 more than 2014 Building permits — 4,297; 449 more than 2014 Value of construction — $74.3 million; $8.8 million more than 2014

in 2012 and is now due for update.

Joe Mannarino, city economic development director, said he currently has a request for proposals issued for a company to help develop the plan. He said there will be workshops where the community will be invited to provide their input, most likely in the first or second quarter.

They will be on Saturdays, and will last five or six hours.

“We have open discussion and then break into groups,” he said.

“Last time, we had a good turnout.”

The City Commission will approve the final plan.

Growth picked up last year over the previous year. Measured to November, there were 497 new business licenses (41 more than 2014) and 4,297 building permits (449 more than 2014).

The value of construction was $74.3 million ($8.8 million more than 2014.)

Mannarino plans to concentrate on getting the business park area of Ormond Crossings off the ground in the new year. This development, near the intersection of U.S. 1 and SEE DOGS JOBS 16B

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BUSINESS OBSERVER

|

PalmCoastObserver.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015

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The next corridor that’s going to see investment is North U.S. 1.”

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Interstate 95, is a large tract of land designated for a residential area and a business park.

“We’re going to work hard to get infrastructure in the east part, which is the commercial part,” he said. “It’s about 500 acres of land.

It has the potential to be twice the size of the Airport Business Park.”

The build-out of the Ormond Crossings would be likely over a 25-year period, but Mannarino said his goal is to get it started in 2016.

He said there are currently 1,500 employed in the airport park, and there is still a potential for growth there as buildings could be enlarged. He said there are two companies that may build in 2016.

There is also about 12 acres adjacent to the park that could be opened up in the future.

Another expected growth area is the North U.S. 1 corridor, and Mannarino gives credit to the U.S. 1 Task Force, a group of citizens and business owners, for spurring the medium landscaping that will be built in the next several months, mostly with FDOT dollars.

He expects a variety of development, industrial as well as retail.

Most of the space on Granada Boulevard has been developed, but Mannarino said there is still room for “infill.” There is one large space, near the Moose Lodge, that would allow another development similar in size to the

FROM PAGE 15B

one that was constructed in 2015 east of Lowe’s Home Improvement.

The Planning Department for the city has made changes to make things easier for developers. They have streamlined and computerized the permitting process.

There is also a periodic siteplan review committee meeting, where someone can sign up and get immediate answers from staff about their ideas for a development Mannarino said he is still working with the owner of the defunct Food Lion on East Granada Boulevard to find a buyer.

“I’m not giving up on getting a quality super market in that location,” he said. “I’m crossing my fingers it will happen in 2016.”

In 2014, the city offered financial initiatives, tied to job creations, for several companies.

SKYO Industries was lured from New York, and local companies were retained and helped to expand, including Ameritech Die and Mold, Valiant Equipment and Germfree Laboratories.

Combined, the efforts created or retained 179 jobs.

Mannarino expects this type of business growth to continue throughout out the year, and beyond, especially with the Ormond Crossings opening up.

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