January 14, 2019
VOLUSIA COUNTY QUARTERLY ECONOMIC BRIEFING – The next quarterly economic development briefing from the Volusia County Economic Development Division will be held at 7:45 a.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in the Dennis R. McGee Room at Daytona Beach International Airport. The featured speaker will be nationally recognized economist Sean Snaith, Ph.D., director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness. For more information, call 386-248-8048.
LIVE WEBINAR: THE POWER OF TINY MARKETING ACTIONS – SCORE presents the Power of Tiny Marketing Actions live webinar at 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24. Marketing is often planned in huge tidal waves: large launches, huge social media campaigns and big advertising spends. However, the most powerful marketing is consistent marketing, in tiny little actions every day. Author and business coach Pamela Slim will break down the marketing myths and teach you how to identify your best marketing channels; choose specific marketing tactics that work for your business and your audience; and define, plan and track a series of Tiny Marketing Actions (TMAs) that you can execute in 15 minutes or less each day. To register, go to https://tinyurl.com/y8mpm5ey.
AIRPORT TRAFFIC UP 11 PERCENT IN NOVEMBER – Passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB) increased 11.1 percent for November in comparison with the same month last year. During the month, 62,807 passengers flew in or out of the county-operated airport, compared to 56,512 last November. For the 12 months ending Nov. 30, total passenger traffic at DAB increased 5.3 percent, with 721,136 passengers traveling through DAB last year compared to 759,412 passengers this year.
BASICS OF BRANDING WORKSHOP – The Florida Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Daytona State College (DSC) will present a free workshop, The Basics of Branding, from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, on the DSC campus at 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd., Building 150, Room 305. Space is limited to 30 attendees. This workshop addresses what exactly branding is and why it is so important. It also provides exercises to help you understand what your brand currently is, what you want it to be, and how to get there. Call the Florida SBDC at Daytona State College at 386-506-4723 to register.
VOLUSIA COUNTY SCHOOLS CAREER ACADEMY APPLICATION AVAILABLE ONLINE – Following the Volusia County Schools High School Showcase on Dec. 13, the District Career Academy Program application for the 2019-2020 school year is available online. The form includes a list of all academy programs and clusters, as well as the contact information for each school. Each completed application must be returned to the academy school by Jan. 31. Priority is given to applications turned in by the deadline. Visit https://tinyurl.com/yaxh2cuq to access the application form.
2018 GLOBAL SPACE INDUSTRY INVESTMENT – There was a remarkable level of worldwide private investment in the space industry in 2018. This according to the recently released Space Investment Quarterly report for Q4 by the online investment platform, Space Angels. Nearly $3 billion of equity capital was invested in space companies globally, bringing the 2018 cumulative total to $18 billion invested into 412 space companies since 2009. This financial achievement for the year reflects more than twice the $1.35 billion in investment reported for the first two quarters of 2018.
STUDENT LOAN DEBT – As reported, Florida ranks No. 3 for the highest amount of student loan debt, according to a new analysis by Experian. Floridians had $89.4 billion in student loans for the third quarter of 2018, up 177 percent from the same quarter in 2008. California had the highest overall amount of student debt in 2018 at $132.8 billion, followed by Texas with $103 billion. New York City led all metro areas in student debt at $8.92 billion, followed by Los Angeles ($5.07 billion) and Chicago ($4.85 billion). Experian's new report is available at https://tinyurl.com/y9ovbzco.
TECHNOLOGY SHOWN TO IMPROVE ROI IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN INDUSTRY – As reported in MHI Solutions Magazine Q4.2018, today’s consumers have come to expect expedited processing and delivery services. In response, those companies that are early adopters of advanced technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced analytics (AA) and artificial intelligence (AI) can reap payoffs. In the supply chain industry, the return on investment benefits of digital supply chain technology are being realized in efficiency, cost reduction and competitive advantage, such as in product demand sensitive order taking and fulfillment. For additional information, visit the MHI blog at http://www.mhi.org/blog.
PAYROLL CHANGES FOR 2019 – Smallbiztrends.com recently made note of a number of small business payroll changes in 2019 that impact small businesses. Among others, those changes include possible state and local minimum wage rates, required postings of employment regulations, the increased Social Security wage base limit ($132,000), and changes in state unemployment tax rates. For details, go to https://tinyurl.com/yd284xpd.
NEWS ITEMS WANTED! – Please send your business news items to Joanne Magley, Volusia County Information Director, at jmagley@volusia.org.