August 2017 Southwest Florida Business Today

Page 1

Celebrating 10 Years

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA’S B2B MARKETPLACE • 239-573-9732 Vol. 10 No. 10 / AUGUST 2017 www.swfloridabusinesstoday.com

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Distributed in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Bonita Springs and Naples

A monthly pullout section exploring the Southwest Florida commercial real estate marketplace. Pages 5-8

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Selling real property from virtual office By Jacob Ogles SWFBT Print Editor

Commercial Real Estate

TAKE ONE

Thanks to changes in how consumers scout real estate purchases, the real estate office no longer draws the same level of foot traffic and workplace interaction as it once did. But through the creation of a virtual office space, eXp Realty seeks to

preserve water cooler banter in an industry where listings gravitated to cyberspace. Jason Gesing, CEO of eXp Realty, may not be able to visit with most of the company’s 3,100-plus agents and brokers each day in the break room, but might run into any one of them on the company’s cloud office, a digital workplace that looks

like a World of Warcraft expansion but works like an office and professional development center. “Now we can learn from, share information with, get to know and develop referral relationships with people who aren’t just in the cubicle next to us or in the same market area but may be thousands of miles away,” he says. VIRTUAL See page 11

Focus on Business Services

Our Trade Show in Print provides information to make your business more successful.

IN THE NEWS

Collier tourism shows visitor spending increase

Visitors to Collier County in May increased slightly over May 2016 with 137,200 staying in paid lodging. At the same time, the occupancy rate for the month was slightly down. That’s attributed to a softening in the group meetings market and more families and groups of friends visiting with higher numbers of people per room. May visitors also spent more this year than last, bringing a total economic impact of over $166 million, nearly 7 percent above May 2016. TOURISM See page 4

Area ranked among top for young entrepreneurs

Florida is sunshine and retirees, theme parks and vacationing families. And perhaps surprisingly, it is home to the hottest, most dynamic cities ripe for young entrepreneurs and their new business start-ups. A new study by MoneyRates.com shows both the Fort Myers-Cape area and Punta Gorda among America’s Top Cities for Young Entrepreneurs. The study shows six of the top 10 are cities in Florida and labeled them “potential boom towns.” “Sometimes reputation hasn’t caught up with reality, and looking STUDY See page 4

Bonita Chamber members watched as Chamber staff revealed an award at the 2017 Member Appreciation Lunch.

Bonita chamber salutes members at luncheon The Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce held its 2017 Member Appreciation Lunch, hosted on June 20 at Artichoke & Company, and thanked members with fun awards and door prizes. Members voted for winners in five categories. DaVinci Cabinetry was voted the Most PawFriendly Office, Sally Ricciardelli of Encore Bank won the Network-

ing Wizard award, YMCA of Bonita Springs won the Social Media Superhero award, FineMark National Bank & Trust was voted Customer Service Rockstar and The Print Shop won the Best Workplace Vibes award. The Five-Star Nationally Accredited Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce strives to serve members, promote a region where business can

grow and prosper, and enhance the quality of life of the Bonita Springs area. With the support of annual partners including Lee Health, Naples Daily News / The Banner, NCH Healthcare System, Physicians Regional Healthcare System and The News-Press Media Group, the Chamber is able to focus on its mission of community development.

Pyure Brands opens its headquarters in Naples

Pyure Brands, the fastest-growing independent organic stevia company in the United States, recently celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters location in Naples. Members of the local business community along with members of the Collier County Commissioners office were also in attendance. Since Pyure was founded in 2008, the brand has continuously experienced success with its innovative, betterfor-you line of organic stevia products. Along with success has come growth, which led to the need for Pyure to expand to larger offices. PYURE See page 9

Photo by Bob Szanto Michael Dalby, Garrett Richter, Benjamin Fleischer and Andy Solis at the grand opening of Pyure Brands’ new headquarters location in Naples.

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