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Schwartz Property Sales can be found on Requestmaster.com
- By HomeNews Info
- Published May 9, 2010
We would like to introduce everyone to Ginger King. Ginger just joined our Real Estate Center. She is now available to be contacted through Requestmaster.com Stop by and Say hello! :)http://www.requestmaster.com/Schwartz-Property-Sales,-Inc.269.KEY-WEST.Florida.html
Judges select finalists in business plan contest
- By HomeNews Info
- Published April 19, 2010
Great news about Requestmaster.com! We are continuing to develop and grow. We are always looking for great Real Estate agents, take advantage now and sign up free to our Real Estate Center! See you all there!
Judges select finalists in business plan contest
The 172 entries represented a diverse swath of South Florida's entrepreneurial spirit.
Related Content
BY NANCY DAHLBERG
NDAHLBERG@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Congratulations to the finalists of the 12th Annual Business Plan Challenge.
Judges in our three tracks had their work cut out for them selecting finalists from the 172 entries we received this year. Of those, 93 entries were for the Community Track, open to all South Floridians, 30 were for the FIU Track, open to students, alumni, faculty and staff, and 49 were from the Student Track for high school students.
Perhaps a sign of the times, there were plenty of plans for companies that seek to make your life easier or help you save money. There were also dozens of eco-companies, including several finalists, as well as Haiti-related construction plans. Social media companies were another big category, and as always there were lots of food-oriented ventures as well. Like last year, many of the plans did not require high startup costs and were self-financed.
It wasn't easy, but judges pared the entries down to 12 finalists in the community contest, and six each in the FIU and student tracks.
What's ahead? Next week, we plan to unveil the People's Pick competition where readers can vote on their favorite plan. We will unveil the top three winners in each contest, the People's Pick winners and an overall Challenge Winner on May 17.
If you are a contestant and would like to hear the feedback on your plan, e-mail ndahlberg@MiamiHerald.com after May 17. If you haven't yet launched your business, I hope you will revise and resubmit next year. And please keep me posted on your progress, whether or not you are a finalist.
In alphabetical order, the finalists are:
COMMUNITY TRACK
• Advanced Natural Construction Solutions, submitted by Gary Jacowitz and Sandy Segall. The company researched the requirements for housing in remote areas of the world and then designed and built machines that can build compressed earthen bricks and blocks for building homes at affordable costs.
• ForeverGreen, submitted by Bryan Zamora and Dian Bustamante. In order to transform the toxic practice of traditional funerals, ForeverGreen seeks to provide low-cost, eco-friendly funeral service alternatives such as biocremation, non-toxic embalming, biodegradable burial receptacles and natural burials.
• High School Sports Webcam, submitted by Toni and Rick Couvell. The company is building a network for streaming live high school sports action via webcast to friends and family, college recruiters, coaches, etc. A pilot test is underway.
• Kitchen Porter Tech, submitted by Robert Vasquez. This is a Web-based application that connects restaurateurs, franchisors, franchisees, management, staff, vendors and customers through a centralized location that's always open. This allows the restaurateur to begin controlling the back office of the restaurant operations from anywhere in the world and at any time.
• Magnetic Stringed Holiday Lights, submitted by Norman Newell, Ray Vandenberg and Steven Field. The goal of the product is to make the hanging of stringed lights as simple as possible. Just place the lights on a metal surface (such as a gutter or light pole). The magnets instantly attach to the surface and the lights will ``hang themselves'' and can be easily removed.
• Mindful Games, submitted by Gloria Roa Bodin, Eric Bodin and Miles Strebeck. The team developed a board game that would allow immigrants studying for their U.S. citizenship to practice for the test, as well as a chance for others, from all walks of life -- students to retirees -- to test their knowledge. The game is currently in the testing phase.
• Nativo Amazon Acai, submitted by Ronald J. Manto. This company aims to offer healthy, good tasting Acai by wild-harvesting the berries in the Amazon rain forest. The berries are processed into a fruit pulp and flash-frozen within 12 hours of harvest.
• Peerbackers.com, submitted by Sally Miller Outlaw and Andrew Rachmell. Addressing a need for innovative financing solutions, this is an online funding platform that allows business owners to raise capital in small increments from their ``peers'' in exchange for tangible rewards to those who contribute.
• Requestmaster.com , submitted by Jeffrey Herrera. Through the use of proprietary technology, Requestmaster.com seeks to ease real estate transactions by connecting consumers and Realtors with qualified home inspection and repair services.
• Saveso.com , submitted by Rita Borbon and Susan Linning. This online coupon site allows consumers to text coupons and special offers directly to their cellphones, making the cutting, clipping and remembering of coupons obsolete. It specializes in the local market.
• TextoAd.com, submitted by Felix Garoz. With this service, someone driving by a real estate for-sale sign could get complete property information by texting TEXTOAD to the agent's cellphone number on the sign. Price, photos and agent's comments would be immediately available. The agent is also notified.
• Uassist.ME, submitted by Ernesto Arguello. To reduce costs for companies, Uassist.ME aims to provide fully bilingual English/Spanish executive and personal assistants working remotely from El Salvador. Assistants are handpicked from a reliable and trustworthy pool to meet a client's needs.
FIU TRACK
• Coaches in your Corner, submitted by Monique R. Catoggio. Catoggio and her mother, Ellie Kane, both certified professional coaches, aim to offer affordable, accessible and flexible self-improvement coaching, including e-coaching. Clients also will have access to a resource library and online community.
• Ecode, submitted by Jean Paul Ciaramella and Daniel Naim. Ecode is a green building resource site that provides efficient tools for both contractors and the general public. This includes a green building guide for information on green products and a green contractor directory.
• Health Solutions Abroad, submitted by Darius Ferdows. A medical tourism brokerage firm, HSA will act as a facilitator between patients and hospitals offering cheaper options for medical procedures, particularly elective surgeries. HSA will begin by offering its service to U.S. patients seeking world-class medical procedures in Latin America.
• Multilingual Home Health, submitted by Sarah Zadvinskis. With her husband, a registered nurse, Zadvinskis aims to provide safe, affordable home health care to the elderly in Miami-Dade County through a holistic nursing approach, with an emphasis on preventative care in the comfort of their homes.
• The Music Stock Market Project, submitted by Sherif Balogun and Adam Blaire. The Music Stock Market is a simulation game designed to educate individuals about stock market investing principles while providing entertainment. Those who register get a virtual trading portfolio and can earn points and invest in ``celebrity stocks, while monitoring music news.
• TruCycle, submitted by Irina Matyukhina, Erwin Tejos Jr., Fabianne Pompee and Keyla Castillo. TruCycle is an organic waste collection and composting company, as well as a consulting firm. Its central facility, mainly focused on organics recycling, will include an education center.
STUDENT TRACK
• Apple Spritz, submitted by David Pinsky of Cypress Bay High. Apple Spritz is an all-natural vitamin C and calcium spray that prevents browning and preserves fruit. The spray is sold in 8-ounce mist bottles and can be used on most fruits and vegetables.
• AutoMotionPhoto.com, submitted by Jasen Delgado of John A. Ferguson Sr. High. This business, already serving customers from Miami to West Palm Beach, is an automotive photography service for individuals who own exotic and high-end cars. It also provides photography for dealerships such as The Collection, custom wheel manufacturers and exotic car rental firms.
• Cuvup, submitted by Hakeem Muhammad of William H. Turner Tech High. The Cuvup keeps you warm in chilly weather, chilly in warm weather, has twice the absorbancy of a towel and has an anti-water layer so you can dry off with one side of the towel and wear it on the other side.
• Lo-Go Graphics, submitted by Emmanuel Lopez-Gonzal of Miami Lakes Educational Center. Lo-Go Graphics provides stylish and personal dog tags for pets -- and their humans. These tags are custom made and can even sport a photo image.
• Next Step Student Travel, submitted by Ryan Leibowitz of MAST Academy. This company specializes in planning personalized college trips and tours for high school students and their families. It works with college advisors to help students get a feel for the schools they wish to apply to.
• Trisport, submitted by Laura Simko and Annika Wreder of Ransom Everglades. This company aims to deliver an innovative group training program for triathletes, providing a team training environment to improve their productivity and performance and provide a strong support system.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/19/v-fullstory/1583532/judges-select-finalists-in-business.html#ixzz0lb7CPpoU
Is it wise to be Energy Efficient?
- By HomeNews Info
- Published November 5, 2009
There is a lot of buzz lately about improving the environment and making more choices that lean towards energy efficient products. In today's world, it might do everyone a bit of good to pay attention to some simple items that you can do to help themselves and the environment as well. But doing some basic things is great, but we all need to learn more about being more energy efficient to really make the greatest impact, not only on our own wallets but as a side effect of making changes, improving our environment.I found a few tips on the department of energy web site. They do have some great information there for those who are looking to learn a bit more about energy efficient, products, research new technology. It's a great resource and you could definitely spend hours there looking and reading all of what they publish online. These are a few tips from the department of energy web site:
Energy Auditing Tips
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Check the insulation levels in your attic, exterior and basement walls, ceilings, floors, and crawl spaces. Visit www.energysavers.gov for instructions on checking your insulation levels.
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Check for holes or cracks around your walls, ceilings, windows, doors, light and plumbing fixtures, switches, and electrical outlets that can leak air into or out of your home.
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Check for open fireplace dampers.
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Make sure your appliances and heating and cooling systems are properly maintained. Check your owner's manuals for the recommended maintenance.
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Study your family's lighting needs and use patterns, paying special attention to high-use areas such as the living room, kitchen, and outside lighting. Look for ways to use lighting controls—like occupancy sensors, dimmers, or timers—to reduce lighting energy use, and replace standard (incandescent) light bulbs and fixtures with compact or standard fluorescent lamps.
But as I said, many of us need to go a little beyond some of the simple items and take a more in depth look at our homes in order so that we can put together a more comprehensive and thorough plan of attack that gives us a bigger bang for our buck. This often requires the help of someone like an energy auditor to come and make a review of our homes and make some recommendations. Often your local power utility companies do have programs where they do come out to make recommendations, however i would also check to see if there are some local Home Energy Auditors who also provide this service.
You can find these in your local phone book or you can try making a request for a quote for a Home Energy Audit using a service.
How does your customer service shore up?
- By HomeNews Info
- Published October 27, 2009
We recently just conducted a survey of 41 Home Inspection Companies and gained a little insight on a potential problem area. We all know how frustrating it is sometimes to try and call a company when you are looking to have something done only to come across having to leave voice-mail, or feel like you have to contact three or four businesses and in the end you are left wondering why you feel like you have to pull teeth in order to give some business your money? It's actually a very interesting fact, and it does leave you wondering if it's just you or you are just becoming too sensitive or impatient. So, before you go off thinking that this must be all you and you are just being impatient, let me throw some figures at you. Of the 41 companies we called only 46% answered their phone, 12% of the calls went to voice-mail, and the remaining businesses 42% we could not get through to the Home Inspection company at all after three tries. Out of all the Home Inspection companies we left voice messages for only one returned our call.
In a slowed economy where the pace of home sales is not quite as fast as it used to be, most small businesses suffer the problem of not having sufficient cash flow to support bringing aboard and hiring extra help. Which makes this is often a not so easily resolved problem. But there are a few possibilities that perhaps may be worth considering.
1. One of the easiest answer is to make sure that as a business owner there is always someone to answer your phone. If it can't be you, then it HAS to be someone else. Often, this is single most important aspect of customer service that you can provide. And also, as can be seen, if you do answer your phone, then your chances of improving your level of business increases drastically. And believe me, if the percentages we came across is anywhere close to being representative of the larger group then some serious attention needs to be given here.
2. Return calls promptly. Based on our experience, half of the population didn't even care what the call was about. This makes for a lot of good business left on the table for those who do care. So even if you miss a call, try returning the call. Chances are that your customer is still looking for a Home Inspection company. You might catch them still and save the day.
3. Try an answering service. There are services out there that can help with this type of situation. At least, you can capture the customer's information so that you can have an organized return call back to the customer and at least they will know that they will get their message returned.
4. Hire an office person. Of course this is requires a good level of business to support, however it's critical to the business success.
But I'd like to hear from several others out there on this topic. What kinds of things do you do or have you done to improve this situation in your businesses? What do you do to improve your level of customer service?
Looking for Affiliates
- By HomeNews Info
- Published September 18, 2009
Are you looking for a great program that provides value to your web visitors?
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Requestmaster.com is one of the nation's leading and most trusted contractor referral services. When homeowners use Request Master, they are being connected to Quality Home Improvement service professionals that service their local areas.
Help homeowners benefit by obtaining valuable quotes for services such as:
- remodeling projects
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Receive a commission when a customer complete a request for a quote or service as well when home improvement businesses sign up as well!
It's free to Sign up as an affiliate. Simply complete the affiliate registration form and we will review your application for approval. You will be notified if you are approved.
Getting lower Insurance rates
- By HomeNews Info
- Published December 26, 2008
If you live in several of the Southern states such as Texas or Florida you may want to look into your windstorm policies to see if you are getting a windstorm mitigation discount. Often insurance companies will
provide lower rates for those homes which have wind mitigation features such as storm shutters, impact resistant glass, and other features based on roof design and roof construction.
Insurance companies often rely on Home Inspection companies which often offer these types of inspections. Typically these companies will look for these features and provide a report to you or your insurance company with the results. The amounts you can typically save vary, and it is recommended that you contact your insurance company to determine if you qualify for any discounts based on the mitigation features present in your home. Savings are often well worth the small amount that a typical inspection costs to have this done.
If you live in Florida you may want to look into resources such as http://www.mysafefloridahome.com as an additional source of information.
Looking for New Authors
- By HomeNews Info
- Published September 20, 2008
I just wanted to let everyone know that we are currently in the process of taking on new authors to contribute content on our site. If you have expertise in the areas of Real Estate, Homes, Construction or anything related to Houses and Homes feel free to sign up via the authors link. Look forward to hearing from you!