Business Expo 2012

2012 Mount Pleasant Business Appreciation Week begins Sept. 13

A re you a Mount Pleasant busi-ness owner or entrepreneur interested in the local busi-

ness climate? The Town of Mount Pleasant invites you to participate in Business Appreciation Week.

•Breakfast with the MayorTake part in the third annual

Business Appreciation Week and participate in an open discussion with Mayor Billy Swails. Help strategize on how to keep Mount Pleasant attractive to new and existing businesses.

Your active participation is critical to improve the business climate and the mayor encourages your questions, ideas and po-tential solutions to current issues.

•Event InformationDate: Thursday, Sept. 13, Time: Breakfast and Networking begin at 7:30 a.m.Program begins at 8 a.m.Location: Alhambra Hall, 131 Middle Street, Mount Pleasant, SC

29464 Limited seating, please RSVP today.For more information, contact Ashley Richardson, Community

Development & Tourism Officer, [email protected], 843.884.8517

STAFF PHOTO BY VICKEY BOYD

Former Mount Pleasant Town Council member Paul Gawrych and Mount Pleasant Mayor Billy Swails attended last year’s Business Expo.

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What to expect at the 2012 Business ExpoSeminars:

(five seminars in total)

• Time Line: Seminars in Har-bor Breeze Side Room:

- 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: SCORE Presents: Business Basics – Thinking of Starting a New Business.

- 1 to 1:30 p.m.: Mayor, MPBA & Moultrie News Welcome An-nouncement

- 1:30 to 3 p.m.: John Carroll – Referrals and Word of Mouth Marketing: Planning for gener-ating leveraging the world’s best advertising.

- 3:30 to 5 p.m.: The Impor-tance of Planning and Reviewing Performance in a Small Business -Ray Schipani Business Devel-opment Solutions, LLC

• Seminar on stage behind screen:

- 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. – Lead Generation for your business - Presented by Joseph Klosik

- 1:30 to 3 p.m. – Town of Mount Pleasant Presents “The Town of Mount Pleasant Busi-ness Support Plan: How Can We Help You?” Presented by: Chris O’Neal, Mount Pleasant Council Member and Ashley Richard-son, Community Development and Tourism Officer

An overview• Referrals and Word of Mouth

Marketing: Planning for, gener-ating and leveraging the world’s best advertising – Presented by

!

John Earl CarrollYou’ve probably heard the

famous quote from John Wa-namaker, founder of the for-mer department store chain by the same last name: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” How would you like to spend far less on advertising and generate much more business, both new and repeat business? In this lively and interactive presentation,

John Carroll will provide practi-cal examples and proven tips on how you can increase sales and revenues through people who already know and love you, your product or service and your or-ganization. Don’t know exactly where to spend your advertising budget? Invest it in referral-gen-erating initiatives that get the phone ringing, the prospects coming in and sales skyrocket-ing. Why leave this year’s sales figures up to chance? Attend this session and come away with dozens of ideas to strengthen your customer/client relation-ships and have them become your dynamic and productive sales force.

John Carroll is a Mount Pleas-ant businessman, consultant, entrepreneur, coach, author, national award-winning colum-nist and president of Unlimited Performance.

He has been recognized inter-nationally for sales excellence. His book, “Sales Illustrated: 68 Sales Lessons from Everyday Life,” is available in three lan-guages and his approaches have attracted attention across the planet, including sales articles appearing in “Chief Executive China” magazine. In terms of re-ferrals and word-of-mouth mar-keting, Carroll knows of what he speaks.

His best referral ever: a long-time client recommended him to the owner/broker of a real estate firm with this: “Call John Carroll, tell him what you need and get out of the way.” John is married to Lori, has two grown

daughters, and lives in Mount Pleasant.

• Presentation Title: Starting a Business and Considerations for Success

- Presenter Joe ContiJoe Conti is the Current SCORE

Coastal Chairman. He was born and raised in New York City. He is a mechanical engineer and entrepreneur with a career that spans 35 years.

After he left the Air Force, he attended Mondel Institute and New York Institute of Technol-ogy before starting his career as an engineer and worked for a number of fortune 500 high technology companies. He was responsible for the invention of a revolutionary circuit board tes-ter and in 1985 founded a com-pany; Integri-Test Corporation and became its president, grow-ing it into a multi-million dollar international corporation.

He has traveled worldwide, holds 10 patents, has given and published more than 15 technical papers in the U.S. and overseas. Conti has raised three children who have successful careers in both the Air Force and corporate world and has mentored several young engineers who today are successful managers. In his lei-sure time he enjoys traveling, skiing, tennis, flying, working as a SCORE volunteer and Citadel mentor.

• PresentationParticipants will go through

the thinking process of starting a business. Then attendees will

look at the business plan steps and considerations for making your business a success.

Presentation Title: The Im-portance of Planning and Re-viewing Performance in a Small Business

- Presenter: Ray Schipani of Business Development Solu-tions.

Setting goals, establishing plans to reach your goals and reviewing performance against plans are critical for long term business success.

This process does not have to be time consuming or interfere with operating the business. It can be simple and quick or elab-orate as needed.

But…it should be done. You don’t get in your car and start driving without a destination. How can you manage your busi-ness without goals?

This session will cover good management practices for set-ting goals, establishing plans for accomplishing goals, and re-viewing performance to plan.

Participants will discuss long term and short term planning, business, strategic and operat-ing planning (budgets/revenue/cash flow); performance reviews and business exit planning.

Ray Schipani, the principal of BDS, has been a small busi-ness owner, involved in busi-ness start-ups, held various cor-porate management positions and mergers and acquisitions. BDS provides management ad-visory services and will function as an outsourced management resource.


Vendor booths such as this one set up by East Cooper Medical Center’s Shirley Nilsen will dot the confer-ence center with informa-tive, interactive displays.


Why do business in Mount Pleasant?M ount Pleasant, South

Carolina is home to stunning natural

beauty, low taxes, the best schools, a low crime rate, and an unbelievable array of recreational opportunities, shopping, dining and culture. What you might not know is how attuned and attentive to business Mount Pleasant is with incentives, support and hands-on, real-time help built for startups and smart growth. Yes, Mount Pleasant just may have it all - plus, an indescrib-able magic and warmth the town can only explain like this: “Come on over.”

• World Class Labor MarketThe labor market of the

Charleston Region and the Town of Mount Pleasant is diversified and strong. The supply, quality and cost of labor are very competitive in

comparison to surrounding metro areas. A significant pool of talent exists in the region despite what the relatively low unemployment numbers would indicate.

• Labor Market Overview The employment base of the

Town of Mount Pleasant is one of the fastest growing in the Charleston Region. Sub-stantial numbers of competi-tively priced employees, with a variety of skills, training and high educational attainment, are available to new, expand-ing or relocating business and industry. The town’s large out-bound commuting workforce provides fertile ground for new companies locating within the town to attract professional, managerial and technical per-sonnel. Many residents would readily accept positions in the town at competitive salary levels to end or minimize the

daily trek.

• Positioned for Profit The dynamic growth and

economic diversity of the Town of Mount Pleasant and the Charleston Region over the last two decades is due in part to its strategic location and transportation access to well over 60 percent of the nation’s population and industrial base. Centrally located within the major growth of the Southeast United States, the Town of Mount Pleasant offers an ideal location to reach major met-ropolitan and manufacturing centers in the South, Mid-At-lantic, Northeast and Midwest. With an integrated highway system, a growing interna-tional airport and the second busiest container port along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, businesses located in the town and the Charleston Region benefit from highly efficient

access the marketplaces – by land, by air and by sea.

• Distances to Major Cities In MilesAtlanta – 324Augusta – 188Boston - 988Charleston – 4Charlotte – 212Chicago – 915Columbia – 117Georgetown – 51Greenville – 217Hilton Head Island – 117Miami – 598Myrtle Beach – 85 New York City – 774Norfolk – 442Savannah – 116Washington DC - 539

• Population67,843 (2010)

• Land Area:42 square miles

• Economic Development Incentive Grant

Through a shared vision for future growth and a merger of planning, implementation and economic development, the Town of Mount Pleasant encourages selective business investment* as a key com-ponent of managed growth. The town works to create a sustainable local economy that encourages economic vitality, promotes fiscal integrity, and increases the local standard of living while preserving and enhancing the quality of life of the Town of Mount Pleasant.

* (Selective business invest-ment refers to companies that can essentially locate anywhere, and are not, or are minimally dependent (less than 30 percent of their sales or income) on the economy of Mount Pleasant or the Charles-ton Region. Visit http://www.townofmountpleasant.com/.


The Moultrie News - East Cooper’s community newspaperA t the Moultrie News, we take pride

in our staff of trained and dedicated professionals.

We work tirelessly to provide the East Cooper area with quality informative report-ing on local events with knowledge, per-spective and compassion. We also value our advertising customers. That’s why for the second year in a row, the Moultrie News has partnered with the Mount Pleasant Business Association as an example of our unwavering support for East Cooper’s wavering busi-nesses.

The Moultrie News was started in 1964 as a tabloid shopper by Carl Meynardie, who was the publisher of the Hanahan News.

He ran the little paper for eight years. In 1972 the Moultrie News was bought by Charles Diggle and J.C. Long.

At the time Diggle was publisher of several small papers.

When Long died in 1987, Charles Diggle bought the Beach Company’s interest in the Moultrie News, and the Diggle family ran the paper for 11 years before selling it to the Evening Post Community Publications Group. Vickey Boyd was named publisher in April 2002.

At The Moultrie News, we believe media

marketing should not be difficult.So we have created easy ways to understand

it, buy it and, most importantly, be able to monitor your success. Our sales and advertis-ing portfolio of services provided includes:

• Client website development• Client mobile site development• Search engine marketing, also known as

SEM or Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising• Social media marketing• Business reputation management• Text message marketing• E-mail marketing• Search Engine Optimization, also known

as SEO, audits and consulting• Deals, discounts and coupons platformsFor information on how to obtain a custom-

ized marketing plan call Moultrie News pub-lisher Vickey Boyd at 958-7480.

Today, the Moultrie News boasts a news staff of three professionals, including copy editor and reporter Penny Parker, news and sports reporter Tyler Heffernan and editor Sully Witte. To reach the newsroom, call 958-7482 or e-mail [email protected]. To reach a member of the sales team or to inquire about rates for print or online advertising, call 958-7480 or e-mail [email protected].

IMAGE PROVIDED

Take a look at what The Moultrie News looked like in the early days with this tear sheet from 1967.


Supporting local business is what we doAs a leader in the promotion and en-

hancement of the Mount Pleasant busi-ness community, the Mount Pleasant Business Association provides members with information, advocacy, education and networking based on a foundation of integrity, social responsibility and ex-cellence.

Mount Pleasant Business Association is a non-profit organization established in 1992. It celebrate success in bring-ing together businesses in the commu-nity for mutually valuable purposes. The membership is a mix of professions from various industries, including advertising and publishing, financial services, health care, retail, insurance, legal and service businesses of every description.

The association meets the third Thurs-day of the month from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, Mount Pleasant. (RSVP required). The agenda includes a full buffet lunch, featured speaker and opportunities for networking and busi-ness promotion. Since its inception, the Mount Pleasant Business Association has partnered with various local chari-ties, providing financial assistance as

well as bringing attention to their indi-vidual missions. Some of the charities include East Cooper Meals on Wheels, East Cooper Community Outreach, Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center, the American Red Cross and Windwood Farm Home for Children. For informa-tion about the association, visit http://mympba.com.

• Joe Brinson ScholarshipThe MPBA scholarship program hon-

ors the memory of Mount Pleasant resi-dent, Joe Brinson. Throughout Brinson’s 30 plus year career in the electrical in-dustry, he played a vital role in numerous educational organizations throughout the Carolinas, including the Construc-tion Education Foundation. This schol-arship program is intended to encourage and support students aspiring to a career in business.

The next meeting will be held Sept. 20 at noon at the Holiday Inn - Mount Pleas-ant. Department of Natural Resources’ Stephen Czwartacki will speak about the South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement Program.


Mount Pleasant Business Association vice president Jason Biggs remi-nisces about what it must have been like to be an old timey newspaper delivery boy. This photo was taken last year at the Business Expo.

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Business folks you know will come in droves

STAFF PHOTOS BY VICKEY

Stop by The Moultrie News booth to have your picture taken for our Hall of Fame like Will Haynie did last year. He is a senior writer at Mind Over Mes-sage.

Reese McFaddin is an employee benefits consultant at Workplace Ben-efits. Her colorful booth attracted many visitors last year.

Michele Lewis came to the Mount Pleasant Business Expo last year out of curiosity. Less than a year later, she is the proud owner of Sweet Bottom Cookies. Read her story in the Moultrie News August 22 online.

Mount Pleasant Business Expo 2012 will host more than 50 vendors with seminars lasting well into the day. The Moultrie News will be tak-ing pictures for the Hall of Fame. Stop by and say cheese. You can also

register to win one of three gifts:• A gift basket from Boone Hall Farms

• A gift basket of books from Evening Post Publishing Company• Pig Swig Beer, Grace Chardonay and two T-shirts from

Piggly Wiggly.

Ed Barbee is the construction information officer with the Town of Mount Pleasant. Her serves as the liaison between the public and the town and helps coordinate ongoing traffic improvements to Highway 17.


The Coastal Chapter of SCORE has been serving the Tri-County area for nearly forty years.

With a diverse and expe-rienced stable of mentors, SCORE Coastal serves the entire business communi-ty and the local economy. Whether you are just get-ting started, looking for sustainable growth, or need help staying afloat, SCORE is willing and able to assist.

The Town of Mount

Pleasant is pleased to an-nounce the opening of the new SCORE Coastal satellite office, and the continued commitment to providing support for business and the economy in Mount Pleasant!

The Town of Mount Pleasant Community and Development Office has partnered with SCORE Coastal 285 to offer free counseling service to en-trepreneurs and business owners beginning Nov. 1

at Town Hall Municipal Complex, 100 Ann Ed-wards Lane.

“We are very excited by this new partnership,” announced Business De-velopment Coordinator Quin Stinchfield. “SCORE Coastal 285’s new satellite

office will provide a con-venient location for east of the Cooper businesses. This new satellite office will be located in our new incubator.”

The SCORE Office will be managed by David Cole, who has been a SCORE

Counselor for more than five years and is active in the Mount Pleasant busi-ness community. Cole is also an ambassador to the Charleston Metro Cham-ber of Commerce.

This new office will be open from 10 a.m. to 2

p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month. Additional hours may be scheduled if needed.

For more information about SCORE Coastal 285, visit them online at their website at coastal.score.org.

When Mark Zuckerberg cre-ated Facebook at age 21, he proved to the world that one can never be too young to start his or her own successful business. S.C. Economics, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping students learn financial skills for life, is seeking nominations for the 2013 Young Entrepreneur Award. The nominees must be elementary, middle or high school students who are cur-rently and actively involved in their business enterprise.

The South Carolina Young En-trepreneur award is sponsored by S.C. Research Authority, S.C. Launch and Tomlin & Compa-ny. It was established in 2004 by S.C. Economics as a way to recognize students who dem-onstrate a keen entrepreneurial spirit.

According to S.C. Economics president, Helen Meyers, en-trepreneurialism is a vital part of every state’s economy. “En-trepreneurialism promotes in-novation, spurs job growth, and

encourages competition in our economy,” says Meyers. “The winners serve as role models for other students, giving them ideas to start and operate their own business. Past winners in-clude entrepreneurs who sell fresh eggs from their backyard, manufacture biodiesel fuel in their barn, and bake cakes in their kitchen.”

Nomination forms can be found at www.sceconomics.org and by clicking on Young En-trepreneur Award at the bottom

of the homepage. Nominations must include the student’s busi-ness name and description of business operations to be con-sidered.

The five award winners will be featured on the ETV Stock Mar-ket Program that is broadcast to schools during fall and spring semesters in conjunction with the S.C. Stock Market Game. Winners will also receive a $200 cash prize and recognition at SC Economics’ awards luncheon held in the spring.

S.C. Economics hopes this competition will encourage stu-dents to continue these extraor-dinary business-savvy talents as they grow into the next genera-tion of successful businessmen and women.

For more information on how to nominate a young entrepre-neur, visit www.sceconomics.org and click on “Young Entre-preneur Award” at the bottom of the home page. Nominations must be submitted by Sept. 15 to be considered.

SC Economics calls for Young Entrepreneur nominations

SCORE offers free business counseling services

Local First: A public business investment

A Charleston-based 501 c3 non-profit, Lowcountry Local First is an alliance committed to educat-ing and encouraging the public to invest in their local economy with their dollars, their voices, their votes and their hearts. As lovers of the Lowcountry, locals understand that people have a choice in what they buy and from whom they buy it. People have a choice in what they eat – and from where and by whom it’s grown. Col-lectively, choices have great power - to build or break a life, a business,

an economy, a city, a cul-ture. The people of Low-country Local First offer a simple solution: choose the Lowcountry. It’s an understanding that if people choose to neglect the Lowcountry, some-thing beautiful, meaning-ful and unique fades away. Lowcountry Local First is a way of life that celebrates and supports what locals love most: the local, inde-pendent businesses and farmers who reflect the unique character, flavor, and culture of the place we call home.

You have a choice.



Town boasts vibrant business communityDear residents, entrepreneurs and business part-

ners,

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 2012 Mount Pleasant Entrepreneur and Business Expo. Mount Pleasant is indeed a great place to incu-bate promising ideas, foster a new venture, or expand an existing business.

We, at the Town of Mount Pleasant, have taken great steps towards creating a healthy and vibrant business community and are proud to provide value-added pro-grams and first class customer service to our business owners.

This year’s Expo features several seminars dedicated to helping start or grow your business.

I encourage you to learn more about the town’s business strategy and how we can help you in your business by attending a seminar presented by Coun-cilmember Chris O’Neal, chair of Economic Develop-

ment Committee and Ashley Richardson, Community Development and Tourism Officer.

None of this could have been possible without the partnership and synergy existing between the Town of Mount Pleasant, the Mount Pleasant Business Asso-ciation and The Moultrie News.

I would like to acknowledge and congratulate those two entities for their long-standing commitment to our business community and the town of Mount Pleas-ant.

I invite you to take a closer look at our business projects.

Immerse yourself in our business culture and dis-cover why Mount Pleasant was named “One of the Best Cities for Start Ups” by Business Week.

Best regards,Mayor Billy Swails

Town of Mount Pleasant Mount Pleasant Mayor Billy Swails

Expo designed to promote and enhance businessesAs president of the Mount

Pleasant Business association, welcome to 2012 Mount Pleas-ant Entrepreneur & Business Expo.

The Mount Pleasant Business Association was established in 1992 to bring together busi-nesses in our locale for mutually valuable purpose. As leader in the promotion and enhance-ment of the Mount Pleasant Business community MPBA provides its members with in-

formation, advocacy, education and networking based on a foundation of integrity, social responsibility and excellence.

I would like to thank the Town of Mount Pleasant for supporting this event.

Our partnership has allowed us to join together in our common goal to seek opportunities to support our local business community that will help foster a sustainable local economy.

This event was designed to allow an existing or aspir-ing business to network with other businesses and service providers that can help start or grow business, thus creating jobs.

The Expo will bring recognition to the Town of

Mount Pleasant and the Mount Pleasant Business As-sociation while we position our collective efforts as the premier small business and networking event in the Charleston area.

I would also like to thank The Moultrie News for sponsoring the Expo for a second year.

Their dedication to helping the Mount Pleasant business community find new and innovative ways to reach their customers has helped to make this event a success.

Thank you for your participation in today’s events.

Shawna L. Garris, PresidentMount Pleasant Business Association

Shawna GarrisMPBA President

Get your business interactive or get left behindHow does your business compete in the

ever-evolving interactive media market-ing environment? Everyone should be asking themselves that since by 2013, a mobile device will be the number one tool used to search the internet.

There is explosive growth and competi-tion for consumers’ attention.

Today’s local businesses have a world of opportunities to reach consumers, yet the combination of the Internet, mobile devices, social media and traditional ad-vertising forms can feel overwhelming.

At The Moultrie News, we believe me-dia marketing should not be difficult.

So we have created easy ways to under-

stand it, buy it and, most importantly, be able to monitor your success.

The Moultrie News partnered with Jay Small, president of Informed Interactive, to help our clients navigate the interactive media universe. With more than 17 years of experience leading interactive media enterprises. Small and Moultrie News multi-media representatives can show clients how one can better position their business within the interactive world.

Working alongside Zach Payer, (Vice President of Sales for Informed Interac-tive) the Informed Interactive team will serve as a thought partner and broker of capabilities for Moultrie News and their

clients. The portfolio of services provided includes:

• Strategic consultation• Client website development• Client mobile site development• Search engine marketing, also known

as SEM or Pay Per Click (PPC) advertis-ing

• Social media marketing• Business reputation management• Text message marketing• E-mail marketing• Search Engine Optimization, also

known as SEO, audits and consulting• Deals, discounts and coupons plat-

forms

“The objective is all about using these new marketing tools in combination with the current printed and online editionsof The Moultrie News to drive lasting re-sults for local businesses. Now we are able to help in new ways and save businesses time by not having multiple providers, Payer said.”

Informed Interactive and The Moult-rie News are now offering one-on-one meetings with interactive specialists to help you dig deeper into your specific in-teractive marketing challenges. For more information on how to obtain a custom-ized marketing plan call Moultrie News publisher Vickey Boyd at 958-7480.

Business Expo 2012

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Transcript of Business Expo 2012