Is your business prepared for a natural disaster? With brush fire season underway and hurricane season quickly approaching, the Small Business Development Center will be offering a consulting session on how to prepare your business for disasters. This seminar will offer preventable measures to help eliminate or reduce activities, should your business come to a screeching halt due to a disaster. The seminar will be offered on May 1, 2012 from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Neil Combee County Administration Building. For more information or to register call (863) 534-5915 or visit www.polksbdc.org.

Earlier this year, the Florida Chamber of Commerce conducted a survey of Florida’s small businesses, thank in part to many Lakeland Chamber members. The information that was provided will guide the Florida Chamber as they work to track the trends and issues affecting small businesses in Florida that may be addressed by the Florida Chamber’s Small Business Council.

The responses indicated:

The top issues facing Florida’s small businesses continue to include economic uncertainty, access to capital, government regulations, health care, taxes and workforce issues.  The majority of respondents – 68%– are somewhat worried or very worried that regulations, restrictions and taxes will negatively impact their ability to do business compared to 30% who are not very worried or not at all worried.

Positive highlights of the results include hiring expectations and overall business health:

• 37% of employers plan to hire employees during the next six months, up sharply from7% in July 2011, while only 3% plan to lay off employees, down from 8% in July 2011.
• 45% percent of respondents identified economic uncertainty as an obstacle preventing them from hiring new employees, while 30% say it is lack of sales keeping them from hiring.
• 34% of respondents believe their business is better off than it was six months ago, up from 27% in July 2011.  Comparatively, 12% believe their business is worse off today than it was six months ago, down from 20% in July.

Access to capital remains an issue that small business owners are facing.  Of the respondents that needed financing during the last six months, 29% were able to obtain it, up from 24% in July and 21% in February of 2011.  20% were not able to get the needed financing, down slightly from 22% in July and 25% in February 2011.  However, small businesses continue to expect it to be difficult to get financing, with 39% responding that it will be harder to obtain financing in the next six months, compared to 14% who believe it will be easier.

The survey was conducted March 5-March 23 and received 330 unique responses.

The Florida Chamber’s Small Business Council is comprised of small business members united to be the voice of small businesses in securing Florida’s future. Participants meet with legislators, contact media and come to Tallahassee to testify before the state House and Senate on issues important to small businesses.  If you are interested in adding your voice to the Florida Chamber’s Small Business Council, click here to join, or sign up for their distribution list to stay informed.

Dr. Raymond Morris and Dr. Carlos Otero of the University of South Florida Polytechnic’s College of Technology and Innovation will soon begin important industry-funded research projects.

Morris, a visiting assistant professor in the Division of Engineering, will work with Greenovative Homes of Lakeland.  He and USF Poly will provide research support and analysis in evaluating a new type of roofing insulation system using expanded polystyrene with a reflective tape barrier and an air convection channel.

Otero, an assistant professor of Information Technology, will collaborate with the Northrop Grumman Corporation, one of the top three U.S. Department of Defense contractors.  His research and development effort will be focus on analytics and software engineering.

“Industry relations is a key component of the polytechnic model with respect to not only faculty research but also community involvement and student internships for our experiential learning pedagogy,” says Dr. Sencer Yerelan, interim dean, College of Technology & Innovation.

This is your opportunity to learn more about the innovative workforce education programs happening in Polk County! Join the Polk County School District on March 19 or March 20 for an exclusive tour of the Polk Career Academies.

With more than 30 career academies in Polk County, the School District is nationally recognized as a resource for innovation and excellence. Business partners are a critical component of the success of the program, providing much needed experience and real-world curriculum development assistance.

For more information, or to RSVP for your spot on the tour, please contact Ashley Barnett vie email at ashley.barnett@polk-fl.net.

This Tuesday, businesses around the County will tune in to learn more about reaching a growing Hispanic Community. On February 21 from 7 – 8 p.m., “Comunidad Viva”, Polk County’s Spanish-language show, will begin a series of Webcasts designed to help business owners understand the differences and similarities of the Hispanic ethnic group.

According to Teresa Martinez, producer of “Comunidad Viva”, this emerging market “constitutes 16.3% of our population [and has] roots in 20 different countries.”

Tuesday night’s program will show participants how to improve Spanish vocabulary.

To participate in the interactive Webcast, visit our PGTV Webcasts Page.