Archive for December, 2011

Got a Great Idea! Attend Start Up Weekend in Jax January 20th

Posted on: December 22nd, 2011 by Beau Falgout No Comments

Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event during which developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts will come together to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch startups. More than 2,450 new companies resulted from about 295 events worldwide.

How does it work? See what happened at the New Zealand Startup Weekend here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HiMUix-eT4

We are now looking for the best new startup ideas in Northeast Florida. The JAX Chamber, Indo-US Chamber and iStart Jax partnered to host the first 54-hour Jacksonville Startup Weekend Friday, Jan. 20 through Sunday, Jan. 22 at the University of North Florida (UNF) Student Union Center.

For more information, go to www.jacksonville.startupweekend.org

Portland Mayor Focuses on Existing Business

Posted on: December 16th, 2011 by Joe Roy No Comments

Portland mayor says he’ll focus on existing businesses over attracting new ones

By Seth Koenig, BDN Staff

Posted Dec. 07, 2011, at 11:34 a.m.

New Portland Mayor Michael Brennan adjusts the microphone Wednesday morning before speaking at the Portland Community Chamber’s monthly Eggs & Issues Breakfast event.

PORTLAND, Maine — Less than two days into his historic four-year mayoral term, Michael Brennan told Portland business leaders he will be attentive to their needs, saying that helping them hire more workers is a better use of city resources than seeking out-of-town companies to relocate here.

Brennan, who was sworn in Monday as Portland’s first publicly elected mayor in 88 years, was the keynote speaker Wednesday at the Portland Community Chamber’s monthly Eggs & Issues Breakfast event.

The new mayor, who campaigned with a focus on education and was not one of the four candidates to receive either an endorsement or honorable mention by the Chamber, told organization members he plans to implement a “robust business visitor program,” in which Brennan or other city officials check in with individual business operators regularly to talk about growth opportunities or regulation concerns.

In his remarks, Brennan said he learned a lot about economic development strategies and trends at a new mayor’s conference held last week at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where he attended talks by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, among others.

Brennan said municipal leaders at the conference from around the country agreed that “it is far less expensive to retain a job you have than attract a new job.”

He said tax breaks and other financial incentives often used in an effort to attract out-of-town companies to move are less important factors to those companies than things like public safety, health care availability, a quality education system for the children of business employees and executives, a thriving downtown and overall quality of life.

Brennan added that businesses prefer to stay where they are, and addressing the concerns and needs of companies already in the city — to help them grow and add jobs — will be a greater focus in the early days of his mayorship than widely campaigning to sell the city to companies elsewhere.

Changing Buying Habits Can Make a Big Difference in the Local Economy

Posted on: December 16th, 2011 by Joe Roy No Comments

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF LOCAL BUSINESSES VS. CHAINS
The following studies have found that locally owned stores generate much greater benefits for the local economy than national chains.

Thinking Outside the Box: A Report on Independent Merchants and the Local Economy - by Civic Economics, September 2009

This study examined financial data from 15 locally owned businesses in New Orleans and compared their impact on the local economy to that of an average SuperTarget store. The study found that only 16% of the money spent at a SuperTarget stays in the local economy. In contrast, the local retailers returned more than 32% of their revenue to the local economy. The primary difference was that the local stores purchase many goods and services from other local businesses, while Target does not. The study concludes that even modest shifts in spending patterns can make a big difference to the local economy. If residents and visitors were to shift 10% of their spending from chains to local businesses, it would generate an additional $235 million a year in local economic activity, creating many new opportunities and jobs. Likewise, a 10% shift in the opposite direction – less spending at local stores and more at chains – would lead to an economic contraction of the same magnitude. Another noteworthy finding of the study is that locally owned businesses require far less land to produce an equivalent amount of economic activity. The study found that a four-block stretch of Magazine Street, a traditional business district, provides 179,000 square feet of retail space, hosts about 100 individual businesses, and generates $105 million in sales, with $34 million remaining in the local economy. In contrast, a 179,000-square-foot SuperTarget generates $50 million in annual sales, with just $8 million remaining in the local economy, and requires an additional 300,000 square feet of space for its parking lot. See our New Rules article for more background on this study.

Baxtek Announces Release of the Revolutionary Quikstand

Posted on: December 6th, 2011 by Beau Falgout No Comments

Written by Chris / Posted on TransWorld Motocross

New Off-Road Stand Designed to Meet the Real Needs of Off-road Riders

October 3, 2011 (Palm Coast, Florida) – Baxtek (www.baxtekmoto.com) announces the release of its first product, the revolutionary off-road bike stand called the Quikstand. The patent pending design of the Quikstand takes a completely new approach to supporting an off-road motorcycle in a functional way that makes it easy to park or work on your bike. Riders can now simply lean their motorcycle on the Quikstand when they are taking a break from riding or need to work on their bike. The stand can also quickly convert to a normal bike stand if the rider wants to raise the bike off the ground.

An America company, Baxtek invented a totally new way to hold your motorcycle that is fully adjustable and works the way you want it to work, when you want it to work. The stand is easy to use and simple to adjust to your specific needs. The new design means you only need one stand to handle a number of different situations and bikes.

The Quikstand is perfectly designed for working on dirt bikes, it makes changing the oil a breeze and leaning the bike to remove clutch plates is just as easy. Fully adjustable, the stand works with 50cc bikes up to full-size dirt bikes.

The product is made in the United States by Americans and is manufactured with the highest quality standards. The Quikstand is available in white and urban camo and retails for $129.99, a competitive price for an item that is completely made in the USA. Custom graphics are also available for the stand.

The Quikstand can be purchased at select dealers and directly from the company. Baxtek is looking for dealers to carry this innovative product as well as established independent sales representatives in select markets to work with local dealers. All interested dealers and independent representatives can go to the Baxtek web site and contact management to begin selling the stand or they can call Ed Kuhlenkamp at (336) 293-9103.

The company sponsors a number of top riders and teams involved in motocross and off-road racing. Current teams and riders include the TiLUBE Supercross team (www.tilube.com), the Foremost Insurance Spinechillers Arenacross team (www.spinechillersracing.com), the AmPro Yamaha GNCC team (www.amproyamaha.com), XC2 rider and point’s leader Steward Baylor, and motocross riders Colten and Carson Tickle.

About Baxtek

Awesome Products Through Innovation is what BAXTEK is all about. The company was started in order to innovate and manufacture functional, problem-solving products for a variety of industries. Baxtek was founded on the question “Wouldn’t be cool if that product could …?” At Baxtek we look at the potential of a given product and what it could do with some creative engineering. We then take those ideas and make them real. In 2010, Baxtek was born as the founders took their combined experience in fabrication, welding, design, business and marketing and applied them to a couple of new concepts for the off-road motorcycle industry. Baxtek is an American company committed to manufacturing our products here in the USA. We believe in our country and in the ability of Americans to manufacture quality products. Americans are producers and innovators and Baxtek is proud to be doing our part to bring manufacturing jobs back to America.

www.baxtekmoto.com

For Original Story, please see http://motocross.transworld.net/1000116372/news/baxtek-announces-release-of-the-revolutionary-quikstand/