Julie Jones

Florida Trend Magazine reports that Florida has been ranked fourth in the country among the friendliest states for entrepreneurs. Here are the statistic explaining why:

•1. Thirty four small business development centers as well as the Disney Entrepreneur Center make Florida their home.

•2. In 2008, Florida ranked second on the Polina Corporate Real Estate list of "Top 10 Pro-Business States." (Taxes, energy costs and right-to-work legislation comprised the considerations.)

•3. The State of Florida conducts research and identifies small business concerns so that the governor and legislators can take action on the state level to improve small business success.

•4. Florida Universities offer investors, entrepreneurs and corporate partners opportunities to publicly fund technology and product research statewide. (Attracting more than $1.5 billion in R&D in 2007 resulted in the University of Central Florida to rank seventh in the country for powerful patents-outranking Princeton, Stanford and the University of North Carolina.

Ranked sixth among the country's fifteen best tax systems, Florida enjoys:

•a. No personal income tax.

•b. No corporate income tax on limited partnership or subchapter S-corporations.

•c. No corporate franchise tax on capital stock.

•d. No property tax on business inventories or goods in transit up to 180 days.

•e. Government incentives for working training, relocation and expansion in designated rural areas.

•f. Less costly, more predictable permitting processes without compromising the environment.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are considering relocating to South Florida. Bring your new business to the sunshine state!

I enjoy reading regional business magazines, such as Florida Trend because, for me, they re-ignite the excitement I hold for Florida's economic and cultural future-especially where I live, work and play in South Florida.

A two-page advertisement in June's Florida Trend promotes the "Roadmap to Florida's Future." Of course, I couldn't resist and visited their website and was rewarded with invitations to upcoming planning forums to be a voice in the economic development priorities for specific Florida regions such as my own southeast sector, and was offered the full 48 page 2007-20012 Strategic Plan for Florida's Economic Development. There is much, much more to view on the site, but today I want to outline the Strategic Plan for you. If you live in South Florida, or are planning to move here, this information is incentive enough to call Florida, home.

The plan begins with five Priority Recommendations for Florida:

•1. Build World Class Talent - beginning with a concentrated curriculum in K-12 grade schools, establishing industry driven, regionally focused workforce education and investing in university research.

•2. Ensure Business Climate Competitiveness - by addressing insurance issues, affordable workforce housing, and strengthen the competitive business climate with tax credits and incentives for innovation and productivity.

•3. Promote Sustainable Development to Ensure Florida's Superior Quality of Life - by promoting smart growth and land management, improve Florida's multimodal infrastructure to assess mass transit needs including seaports, airports, trucks and railroads, assess long-term growth needs to consider private means of support in place of government, and provide innovative transportation solutions for "speed to market" services for businesses.

•4. Invest in Florida's Innovation Economy - with world-class research institutes and facilities, innovative economy legislation from the governor and legislature, promote entrepreneurship and capitalize on emerging technology opportunities, and addressing the need for seed and venture capital in Florida.

•5. Establish Florida as a Pre-eminent Global Hub - by addressing Homeland Security restrictions on Florida port and trade cities, promote International branding from increased, positive perceptions received from international business executives, by capitalizing on free trade agreements, expanding non-traditional export markets, increasing foreign-direct investment in Florida and global marketing.

This just skims the details. For more detailed information, please visit www.eflorida.com/Roadmap, and see how clear Florida is on its future. Welcome to my back yard!

A wave of excitement carried the day for a decidedly younger, jet-setting crowd, when the recently opened W Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach launched its debut with an elite, by-invitation-only gala. The invitation was a frosted lavender envelope encasing a blue alligator which one had to submerge under warm water to read.

That clever, fun invitation reflected W's celebration in South Florida's tropical flare and joy de vivre. Guests were hand-picked for these sought-after invitations and over one thousand, beautiful people attended. Literally. Not only the amenities and the entertainment held one's eye. The guests, themselves, were spectacular.

This event began with valet parking on lavender carpets where you could not leave your vehicle without an invitation. After clearing three more checkpoints, guests were ushered into the W's signature living room for cocktails and music. Later, the glass enclosed stairway led guests through the pool where fabulous mermaids greeted them as they rose to the W's oceanfront pool deck. There, Cirque-de-Soleil-esque performers delighted the crowd. Celebrating continued to well after midnight, proving, once more, that the Renaissance of Fort Lauderdale Beach is alive and well at the W.

The W is now Fort Lauderdale's fourth largest hotel. This destination resort is an exciting attraction for the younger luxury crowd, be they local residents or national and international travelers. With its sailboat style architecture and contemporary, earth-element interior designs, The W offers the ultimate in elegance and indulgence on Fort Lauderdale's A1A.

Welcome to my playground. Come visit. Come stay. My pleasure is to open the door to a luxury residence for you, today!

i recently read Sheldon Neal's ActiveRain Blog commenting on social networking "bringing out the kid" in participants. I thought that this was an innovative, interesting and welcome perspective to this new form of media. Does sending out a blog make you feel like going out and jumping in puddles? Or is it jumping in the puddles by sending out a blog or a Twitter? Either way, we get to make a splash, and that is always fun.

I find a chance to relax when visiting Facebook, or more recently, the Luxury Lounge for national and international brokers at LuxuryRealEstate.com. Both sites offer a quick, fun and interesting way to reach out and make contact with others. It is an efficient and time effective way to maintain communications with folks important to me. I particularly like the Luxury Lounge because it is educating me on the different real estate markets, introducing new industry contacts, referrals and a great platform for new marketing ideas--making business fun.

Some of the more creative bloggers are providing wonderful photographs and graphics to their blogs. I so enjoy these entertaining moments. Just today I saw amazing photographs of Sydney, Australia, and as a contrast heard about top movie picks from some of my other social media contacts. The technical advice being posted is amazing and would take me hours of research to obtain, thanks to those who are generous enough to share. It is also fun to send a quick "Hello!" to my family in the UK.

If I detect a trend of showing buyers from a particular area or foreign investors from different countries, I can send out a message to them to generate referral business or exposure for a particular luxury offering. To achieve this by telephone or direct mail would be so much more labor intensive and possibly not as effective.

If one of my new social media contacts is looking for a property in Australia, The Bahamas, California or anywhere else for that matter I can assist by connecting them with top brokers in that countries. As for NJ, that has to be Sheldon Neal, because he is bringing a sense of youthful enthusiasm to social networking!

It's fun to play in the social media playground, even more enlightening to skip rope, make new friends, and enjoy the rewards of sending out a positive message and/or provide assistance to someone who needs a new perspective at any given time. I now look forward to my ten minutes to go out and play each day. It's a big social networking world out there full of opportunities!

I am proud to announce my recent certification as a Transnational Referral Broker registered with the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations. This is a newly introduced designation comprising only 1,500 delegates over 34 different countries worldwide. To date, only 134 members enjoy this title in the State of Florida.

The International Consortium of Real Estate Associations (ICREA) is a global alliance of leading national real estate brokers in the world's major markets. Working together ICREA members set standards for international real estate practice and transactions for the benefit of consumers, the industry overall and real estate professionals.

I consider this designation to be invaluable in promoting my luxury real estate inventory on the ocean and waterways of Fort Lauderdale. This is a very effective way to reach affluent international buyers and introduce the wonderful lifestyle that the city offers. I look forward to creating extra exposure for my sellers via www.worldproperties.com and my personal website www.luxuryrealestateftl.com which has recently been launched.

Despite the current market challenges this year, I have shown properties to buyers from Australia, France, Germany, Canada, Costa Rica and Brazil. A significant waterfront estate was sold to buyers from Europe. The growing popularity of the Internet social media is expanding the luxury home buyer's horizons almost daily. The United States remains a popular option with Fort Lauderdale becoming a world-class resort destination.

Real estate brokers internationally are becoming more aware of the opportunities to sell luxury residences overseas and look to connect with a broker who is a recognized industry leader and member of the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations. The broker has peace of mind for their customer's real estate investment that the connecting broker will follow the strict standards and procedures that are identified by the Associations.

To learn more about the Transnational Referral program either as a buyer, seller or co-operating real estate broker, please do not hesitate to contact me.