Pop-up business opportunities at SunRail stations?

Imagine getting a nice shoe shine in the morning before boarding a SunRail commuter train, or picking-up dinner from a food truck in the evening when you step off the train.

Those are just a couple of ways that pop-up businesses could cash in on SunRail when the Central Florida commuter train begins operations in May.

During a briefing recently at the South Orange Chamber of Commerce, a SunRail representative was asked about pop-up business opportunities. See the video for his response.

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For more information that can help small businesses in Central Florida make more money, be sure to visit www.B2BFlorida.com

 

Ready for Earth Hour?

 

Earth Hour will be observed this coming Saturday, March 29.

Earth Hour was launched in 2007 by the World Wide Fund for Nature as a global event to focus on the environment and conservation issues.

Sounds like a tree-hugger thing? Really, though, it’s a money thing that’s critically important to all businesses – both large and small.

Saturday is a great time to spend time focusing on conservation! When businesses conserve they save money and that improves the bottom line.

Here are some conservation ideas to consider:

Go paperless.  Every business uses computers, but do you really have to print out everything you type? The fewer things you print, the less money you’re spending on paper. And when you print, use recycled paper.

Plan you errands. When you drive to handle errands, plan your route so you can accomplish several tasks during one car trip. With a little planning you can save lots of time and gasoline. Through efficient route planning United Parcel Service saved 10 million gallons of gas.

Change your light bulbs. Replace some of your old-school incandescent light bulbs (patented by Edison in 1878) with those new spiral CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs. The CFL bulbs cost three times more than the traditional bulbs, but they last years and can save you more than $500 over the 5-year life of the bulb.

So how will your business observe Earth Hour?

This post was written by David D. Porter, owner and principal at www.DavidPorterCommunications.com, which produces the www.B2BFlorida.com website. David Porter Communications provides video production and marketing services for small business in Orlando, and throughout Central Florida.

Free publicity for your small business?

Get a free listing for your business in the B2B Florida business directory. The listing is seen by other business owners and consumers throughout Florida. Whether you own a civil engineering firm, or a landscaping service, there’s a place for your business in the directory on the www.B2BFlorida.com website.

To get your free listing, call us at 407-965-0800, or send your information to info@DavidPorterCommunications.com.

We need your name and e-mail address, the company’s name and a description of the business, the phone number and the address.

http://www.b2bflorida.com/business-directory.html

Pass the "cheese sticks"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U0B53YxcAU

Small businesses that want to make a big splash in the marketplace can learn a major lesson from the “cheese sticks” lady in the TV commercial promoting Central Florida’s new SunRail commuter train system.

In the ad, the young lady riding SunRail sits listening to her music while repeatedly singing “like cheese sticks.” Many viewers complain that her off-key singing is weird and irritating.

However, the “cheese sticks” lady commercial has successfully disrupted the marketplace of media messages and made people curious about the SunRail commuter train.

During an Orlando transportation forum last week, a SunRail consultant said interest in SunRail has been soaring, thanks to the “cheese sticks” ad.

Mark Calvert, CEO of Evolve Design Group, said before the ad debuted earlier this month, the SunRail website was getting 900 new visitors per week. Since the ad launched, the site has been getting 2,700 new visitors EVERY day. Before the ad, the new visitors looked at one or two pages. Now they’re looking at 4 or 5 pages.

The big take away for businesses: If you want more customers don’t waste time whispering. You need to shout!

Please pass the cheese sticks!

This post was written by David D. Porter, owner and principal at www.DavidPorterCommunications.com, an Orlando-based consulting firm that helps small businesses get more customers. The company also produces www.B2BFlorida.com, a website that provides information to help small businesses overcome challenges and meet their goals.

SunRail "cheese sticks" commercial

All aboard for SunRail!

OK small business owners and entrepreneurs, are you ready for SunRail?

In case you’ve been living under a rock, SunRail is Central Florida’s first commuter train service and it begins operations on May 1^st.

I guarantee that SunRail will improve life in ways that none of us can imagine. Today someone who lives in the Deltona area might not consider applying for a job in downtown Orlando because it’s too far to drive. After May 1^st that Deltona resident can take a stress-free train ride to downtown Orlando.

That convenience will work both ways. I’ve never been to DeBary, but I live about a mile from the South Orange County SunRail station. I plan to ride SunRail to DeBary to check it out. I encourage all fellow small business owners to make plans to capitalize on SunRail.

Here are some ideas:

 

• Choose a location near to SunRail: If you’re planning to open a new store, find a location very close to a SunRail station. SunRail is projected to carry 4,300 a day when it opens.

• Offer a service that compliments the SunRail: Do you have a taxi service? Maybe you could offer shuttle services from subdivisions to the closest SunRail service.
• Make sure your website is configured for mobile devices: The trains will offer free Wi-Fi so riders will have time to peruse the Internet while riding to and from work.
• Give SunRail riders a discount: Offer discounts to customers who present their SunCard (the fare card for SunRail) at the register.

 

Time to get busy and jump on this business opportunity!

This post was written by David D. Porter, owner and principal at www.DavidPorterCommunications.com, which produces the www.B2BFlorida.com website. David Porter Communications provides video production and marketing services for small business in Orlando, and throughout Central Florida.

Name dropping

All savvy entrepreneurs know that networking is crucial to grow your business.

You’ve got to know the right people who can help you make the hook up to the next big deal.

So with that in mind, I’m going to drop a few names from time to time that are good to know because they're in positions that can help you take your business to the next level.

The name I’m starting with is Jacob (“Jake” to his friends) Stuart.

Jake is president of the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce. Yet that official title is not the main reason I think it’s important to know him. The guy is a visionary – a description I use with great care.

Jake and I have had many differences during the past 20 years, but I have to give him his due.

My favorite story about Jake involvesTri-County Transit.

If you arrived in Orlando after 1994 you probably never even heard of Tri-County Transit. Under Jake’s leadership Tri-County Transit was renamed Lynx, metropolitan Orlando’s public bus system, and they started painting the buses pastel colors.

We – me included – thought Jake was crazy. But what Jake achieved as chairman of the Lynx board, was much more than a name change and a paint job. He elevated the importance of public transportation and made it one of the pistons in the region’s economic engine.

And Jake also deserves credit for expanding Lynx service. Until Jake’s Lynx leadership the public bus system only served Orange and Seminole counties – even though it was chartered to serve Orange, Seminole and Osceola (remember it used to be named Tri-County Transit).

Jake took me up on a challenge I made in an Orlando Sentinel editorial to start providing bus service in Osceola. That development made life enormously easier for Osceola County workers who can’t afford cars. It also helped to accelerate public discussions of transportation that led to the SunRail commuter train system that is scheduled to debut this spring.

But Jake’s contribution to this region is much bigger than buses. He’s the first guy I heard talking about bringing together business, government, education and community leaders from Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia counties to collaborate and plan for the growth of this region that we call Central Florida.

Again, it sounded like more Jake pie-in-the-sky, but that collaboration broadened this region’s economic base from hospitality and vacations into high-tech arenas such as medical research and modeling and simulation.

If you own a business – any kind of business -- in Central Florida, you need to know Jacob Stuart!

Now let me drop a couple more names:

Robert Cabana, NASA’s director of the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Though the space shuttle program ended two years ago, there are 8,000 people – both NASA employees and contractors working at the space center to support upcoming NASA and private-enterprise launches. Cabana, a Naval Academy graduate and a former astronaut, is KSC’s 10^th director.

Joe Lewis is the British billionaire who founded the Tavistock Group. One of that group’s subsidiaries is Lake Nona Property Holdings, which owns the land where the Medical City has been built east of Orlando International Airport. Lewis donated both land and cash that helped make that sprawling medical campus a reality.

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This post was written by David Porter, a former journalist who owns www.david.portercommunications.com, a communications consulting firm that works with small businesses throughout Central Florida, and produces www.B2BFlorida.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Titusville blasting off!

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time in the Brevard County city of Titusville.

All I can say is: Wow! There’s a lot going on in Titusville!

With the end of NASA’s Space Shuttle program many people assumed that Titusville would dry up into a ghost town.

Far from it. In early January I attended a Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce lunch in the middle of the day. There were at least 50 owners and others in attendance and nobody was frowning. Nearly everyone shared news about initiatives to expand their businesses.

The end of the Spaced Shuttle program was certainly painful and costs lots of jobs.

But Titusville, capital of the Space Coast, certainly isn’t out of the space business. Far from it!

United Launch Alliance, SpaceX and other commercial space entrepreneurs are still very busy along the Space Coast. And it’s not as though NASA and the Defense Department have closed up shop. There have already been two launches at the Cape this year. Another dozen private and government space shots are scheduled for 2014 at Kennedy Space Center.

Yet there’s a lot more than space going on in Titusville.

The historic downtown area is starting to bloom again with the likes of City Glitter boutique (my wife could have a ball in there).

The same is true on A1A. The Ace Hardware store is expanding its business to business operations, a new owner recently purchased and performed major renovations to the movie theater at the Searstown Mall. Plans are underway to raze the old Miracle City Mall and redevelop the site. And they’re still serving up tasty breakfasts, lunches and dinners at Mr. Submarine & Salads.

Three cheers for Titusville!