RB Oppenheim Associates has an immediate opening for a sharp, creative, team-oriented professional for account manager.  Requires strong writing & editing skills; counseling & strategic thinking; social media & digital marketing savvy; organized & detail-oriented; a team-player (but able to work independently); self-starter & good juggler/multi-tasker; energetic & motivated; good sense & instincts; ability to read (and influence) minds.  Responsibilities include media relations, all types of writing (PR, ad, collateral), program planning, social media & digital marketing, event coordination, production management, client service and more.  Requires 1-3 years experience (agency or association preferred) and relevant degree, but would consider strong entry-level candidate. Send cover letter, resume and three writing samples ASAP to 2040 Delta Way, Tallahassee, FL 32303, or fax to 850-386-4396, or email roppenheim@rboa.com.

Scientific research shows that the rise of GHGs is causing climate change. Not only would natural disasters become more frequent and severe, but human health and welfare would be threatened by rising average temperatures. With 57 percent of total GHGs coming from developing countries, most of the climate changes would affect these countries first. If we continue to operate as business as usual, with not much regard to the environment, estimates project that average temperatures will rise 9 degrees in a little over 80 years. To add a dollar amount to that increase, Yale University’s William Nordhhaus’ Dynamic Integrated Model of Change and the Economy (DICE) suggests that a rise of 9 degrees would result in a reduction of gross world product by nearly 5 percent.

For more than a decade, solar, wind, and other renewable energy growth rates have more than tripled annually. In 2007, renewable energy supplied more than 18 percent of total final energy. Green technology is changing the business landscape and suggesting viable solutions for rising average temperatures. In 2011, clean-energy patents increased 24 percent from 2010, with solar energy more than doubling the number of its patents according to Green Biz’s State of the Union Report 2012. With total clean-energy patents increasing more than 250 percent from 2008 to 2011, green technologies will inevitably play a major role in the new business economy.

Brands like Ford Motor Company have taken additional steps to reduce their global carbon footprint and water consumption. Earlier this month, Ford announced the company’s plans to further reduce the amount of water it uses to build a car by another 30 percent by 2015. The reduction is in addition to the 49 percent they have already cut over the last 10 years, saving nearly 10.5 billion gallons of water. The Coca-Cola Company has also made strides in reducing their global greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing processes by 2 percent compared to figures in 2009. Similar companies are beginning to understand the importance of creating a more sustainable future, with a focus on the interconnectedness of their environmental, social, and economic impact.

A focus on just the environment has shifted to a three-legged approach of sustainability where decisions are based on the economic, social, and environmental impact. Gone are the days where companies report on economic performance and corporate responsibility only. Creating a more sustainable brand, with a focus on triple-bottom line reporting will help companies build stronger and more efficient business practices. How will your business build a more sustainable brand? Will it be by creating a more efficient and localized supply chain or starting an alternative transportation employee incentive program? Either way, you will be making strides to create a more sustainable brand, one decision at a time.

Veronique George

VP of Marketing

StudioLite

A common and admirable New Year’s resolution is to save more money.  Many of us go about our new savings by chipping away at our wasteful habits, but instead of sacrificing that one latte a week, I want to encourage our new savers to think big.

Instead of putting a few dollars here and there into a savings account and earning virtually no interest, why not take a step back and make an investment something bigger – like your retirement.  We hate to think about retirement, (we’re young, right?) and most of us get a sense of security because we are adding money to our 401(k) or 403(b) and hopefully getting some match from our employer, but the hard truth is that this is not likely going to be enough to get you through retirement.  Most retirement professionals will tell you that because of the decline in pension plans and the increase in job mobility our generation is going to be much more dependent on our personal savings than those that came before us.

What that likely means is opening up an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to supplement your retirement savings.    Opening an IRA can be confusing, with multiple varieties (traditional vs. Roth) to choose from, and it is only complicated by the vast array of institutions trying to lure in assets.  To make things worse, once your assets are in the door, many institutions shift their focus to selling their investment products, which may not be in your best interest.

So taking the feeling that you are being sold a product rather than provided a service, and coupling that with the a confusing-enough-already marketplace is enough to make most investors balk at opening an IRA, or at least postpone it until next year.  Don’t fall into that trap.  If you haven’t already opened an IRA, now is probably the best time to do so.  The tax advantages of an IRA simply compound over time, so the sooner you start the better.  If you are thinking about opening a traditional IRA to get a tax break, it’s not too late to have that break added onto your 2011 taxes.  As far as the IRS is concerned, 2011 lasts until you file your 2011 taxes.  That means most of us have until April to make our 2011 contribution.

If you are a bit intimidated, don’t be.  Talk to people you know about where they put their money, and when you meet with a banker or broker to open your IRA, know that since you have the assets, you have the power.  If you feel like you are being sold something, you likely are.  Do not be afraid to shop around until you sit down with someone you have confidence in.  There is also something to be said for going it alone.  Low cost online brokerages make it very simple to open an IRA, and most are very friendly about guiding you through the process.  Once your account is open, remember, you have complete control over your investments, and with a little education, this can be very empowering.

At some point you likely want to sit down with a financial professional to make sure you are on the right track, but just because you are not ready for that meeting today does not mean you can’t take matters into your own hands and get started saving for your retirement.

Guest Blogger:
Robert B. Drach
Drach Market Research Advisors, LLC
rbdrach@gmail.com
(850) 270-6289

Thomas Ott

Thomas Ott, owner of Ott Consulting, is looking forward to big things in 2012 as he is launching a partnership with a long-time colleague Tony Esolen to practice as tax and business advisers together as Ott & Esolen, LLP.

The move is Ott’s latest effort to deliver the best possible service to his clients. After graduating from the University of Mississippi with degrees in accounting and finance, he earned his CPA license and moved to Tallahassee, where he has worked for two large public accounting firms as well as Citizen’s Property Insurance.

He opened his own business in 2009 for a chance to use what he had learned and apply it in new ways. “I wanted to give the best value and service I could possibly give,” Ott said. “I am grateful for my time at the big firms. Everything I know, I learned from them.”

In addition to signing his own paychecks, a big difference was the need to get out of the office more often, Ott said. “To be successful in public accounting, you have to be out in the community,” he said. “Access is an important place to meet people and be engaged in the community. You have to put yourself and your business out there.”

Ott is involved in both Access and regular Chamber activities – a combination he says is very effective. “By being in both, I get a great mix of the two age groups,” he says. “The economic reality of the baby boomers is that they have all the money and all the experience, but they don’t know as much about technology. We are up and coming, but we know more about technology and how to use it to do innovative things. The two make a powerful set of knowledge.”

Away from work, Ott enjoys fishing, mountain biking and disc golf. But all that has taken a back seat to his new role as dad, as he and his wife, Brooke, welcomed daughter Sara Elise last November.

Historically, stocks have made for great long term investments.  After the financial collapse of 2008, however, many market analysts stopped to reflect on traditional investment approaches.  Stocks had seen two dramatic crashes in under 10 years.  Even today, stocks values are about 20% below their peak in March of 2000.  In Fact, the tech heavy NASDAQ composite is nearly 50% below its all time high.

It is rare to find stocks cheaper than they were 10 years ago, but here we are, looking back on what many have dubbed a “Lost Decade.”

But was the decade really lost to investors?  If you took all your money and put it into the market at its peak, there is no doubt that you have lost out, but that’s not how investors typically invest.

The average investor invests via “Dollar Cost Averaging.”  Dollar cost averaging is a fancy way of saying you put a little money aside periodically, whether it be each month, paycheck, etc.  The draw of dollar cost averaging is that it is simple, intuitive and doesn’t require much thought or worry.  Even better, over time, an investor that simply follows this strategy tends to do just as well as the average professional investor.

So how has that strategy worked out during the “lost decade?”  Let’s assume that you started investing back in 2000, and continued to invest some fixed sum each month.  You didn’t invest in anything fancy – just put your money in a diversified index fund that tracks the market.  You didn’t get overly optimistic in good times, and you didn’t panic in bad times.  Just steady, boring investing.

Such an account would currently be up over 20%.  That’s right, by following the most laid back, plain vanilla investment approach, the average investor could have grown their investments by 20%.  Certainly, this is not impressive in terms of historical market returns, but it far outpaces the dire picture painted by most headlines over the past three years.  Most importantly, despite the market being down 20%, this common sense investment approach has investors ahead, meaning for many investors, the decade was not lost after all.

The message? Even in the worst of times, well informed, common sense investment approaches can still help investors grow their assets.  It can be done without “hot” investments like gold or other commodities or paying high management fees for expert advice.  Being armed with a level head can even help individual investors outperform many professionals over time.

Guest Blogger:
Robert B. Drach
Drach Market Research Advisors, LLC
rbdrach@gmail.com
(850) 270-6289

Park Broome

If Park Broome didn’t realize that his career would somehow be related to Florida Commerce Credit Union, he should have. Park started working at FCCU in high school — 15 hours a week as a file clerk. The credit union paid for his college tuition, and he kept moving up the ladder. After time in the commercial, consumer and mortgage departments, Park now serves his clients as a business services executive.

“I like new challenges, and in this job every day is a new day,” Park said. “I really enjoy hearing everyone’s story. I get to hear their goals and challenges and then talk to them about what I may be able to do to help.”

It is exciting to see the economic tide begin to turn, Park said. “The biggest thing people are realizing is that they have to push forward and move on. They know that to get out of hole they are in, they have to accept the new norm. They have to borrow money to get the employees they need and to spend money on marketing so they can get closer to where they want to be.”

Another step people are taking is getting involved in programs such as Access Tallahassee. For Park, it has been a great way to meet new people and reconnect with old friends. “I have seen a lot of people I grew up with that I didn’t even know were still here,” he said. “People in Access want to make Tallahassee a better place. We are on the same page, and we talk about how we can fit in and help achieve our priorities. We are confident that we will make a difference.”

Let’s start with an anecdote from famed mutual fund manager Peter Lynch.   During his 23 year tenure managing Fidelity’s Magellan Fund, Lynch earned an annualized return of about 29%.  Despite the outstanding long term performance of his fund, Lynch estimated that most investors in the fund actually lost money.

So how did most investors in one of the most successful mutual funds in history end up losing money?  And if so many investors lost money, how come Lynch had such a strong reputation?

The answer is that poor performance was not Lynch’s fault, it was the investors’.

Lynch was an extremely successful manager, but like the rest of the market, he saw ups and downs.  The average investor in the Magellan fund came into the fund after its strongest periods (lured in by the hopes of getting rich quick) and left after its weakest periods (for fear of losing even more money).   Because they let their greed and fear get the best of them, investors have a strong tendency to buy high and sell low – the exact opposite of what they likely set out to do.

Just as we attributed risk aversion to psychological factors, this tendency to buy high and sell low may be somewhat hardwired into our brains.  Studies have shown that if we see a chart showing a stock on the rise, we have a tendency to assume that the trend will continue.  Conversely, if we see a stock taking a plunge, our intuition is that its value will continue to plummet.  Unfortunately, these tendencies do not play out in real life, and as every investment professional is required to tell you, past performance is no guarantee for future performance.

And it is not just lay investors that fall prey to their emotions.  Each week the American Association of Individual Investors polls the sentiment of its members (not professional investors, but individuals who are very in tune to the goings on of the market).  When markets reach extreme levels (the times our emotions are likely to run highest), these investors become extremely poor at forecasting what lies ahead.  Most recently, in the wake of the financial collapse and the subsequent market decline of 2008-9, AAII members became extremely pessimistic.  Their pessimism reached its highest level in history in the March 5, 2009 survey.  If their intuition was right, markets were in for some nasty times.  Instead, four days later markets bounced off their lows and never looked back.  The S&P 500 index finished this past month up 88% from its March 9, 2009 low.

Investors, however, are not doomed by their intuition.  Careful planning and an adherence to a disciplined investment approach can help even the most anxious investors succeed.  In next month’s blog we will discuss how even the most plain-vanilla investment approach could have earned you money in the recent “lost decade.”

Guest Blogger:
Robert B. Drach
Drach Market Research Advisors, LLC
rbdrach@gmail.com
(850) 270-6289

VISIT FLORIDA

Job Description VISIT FLORIDA, the state’s official tourism marketing corporation, has an opening for an Industry Relations Coordinator. The ideal candidate would possess a four-year degree in communications, marketing, hospitality or related field and one year of work experience in a professional environment (additional experience may substitute for degree).

This position provides customer service, marketing consultancy, account relations and administrative support for the Industry Relations department. Excellent organizational, communication and customer service skills are essential. Requires detail-orientated individual proficient with Microsoft Office, as well as a working knowledge of databases, social media marketing and CRM systems.

Position is located in Tallahassee, FL. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package. Deadline for application is December 2, 2011.

Qualified candidates will need to apply for position through VISIT FLORIDA’s web page at www.VISITFLORIDA.org/jobs. ]]> http://accesstallahassee.com/industry-relations-coordinator/feed/ 0 http://accesstallahassee.com/account-payable-clerk/ http://accesstallahassee.com/account-payable-clerk/#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:54:51 +0000 access-tallahassee http://accesstallahassee.com/?p=772 Goodwill Industries of the Big Bend

Responsible for: Processes invoices, check requests, and expense reports, and other tasks related to maintaining the accounts payable and receivable for an organization. Applies correct codes to vendor invoices and files related supporting documents. Checks and verifies expense reports. Documents third party invoicing electronically. Researches and posts outstanding vendor payments. Generates payments and distributes checks. Invoices third parties and performs other collection activities according to contract terms. Contacts clients on past-due invoices. Maintains accurate records of payments received and future payments. Filing completed paperwork and disposing of old records.

Here’s the details: http://www.goodwillbigbend.com/jobs/

Job Description
MCCi is accepting applications for an Account Manager position. The right candidate will be a quick study, able to work “hard & smart” to satisfy customer needs both on the phone and in-person when travel is warranted. Position involves customer account management, prospecting, marketing, technical selling skills, and responsibility for territory performance. In turn, MCCi will focus on this candidate’s continued sales skills and knowledge growth. Compensation:$28k-$45k (base plus incentive bonuses)

Daily Responsibilities

•Heavy focus on phone calls to customers. 80% of your time will be spent talking to customers regarding various topics.
•Maintain a current list of accounts that you are responsible for
•Assist in scheduling and planning events for customers such as webinars and user groups
•Consulting with customers to provide solutions and pricing. Will be an expert in demoing and software licensing.
•Speak to 15+ customers a day

Requirements:

•Maintaining strong relationship with clients by serving as the primary interface with our clients and ensuring customer satisfaction and continued business.
•Growing the relationship with our clients and focusing on opportunities for account growth
•2 years of experience in business-to-business sales or account management
•Motivated self-starter with excellent communication skills and attention to detail.
•Must have technical skills in order to discuss and demo software.
•Superior prioritizing and time management skills.
•Proven track record of results, demonstrated accountability for achieving individual and shared goals

Contact: Alexis Blue, ablue@mccinnovations.com