Monday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 10/29/2012

Are Floridians upbeat enough to spend?

Can consumer confidence in Florida keep growing, enough to speed up the state's sluggish economic recovery? Last month, the University of Florida reported that consumer confidence had risen to an almost five-year high. The latest consumer report comes out Tuesday after Floridians have heard another month of good news. More at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Business Advice
Five tips to generate quality sales leads

You never seem to have enough prospects. You need more customers, but your sales pipeline isn’t loaded with leads. It’s the number one issue facing businesses owners today. Fresh leads are the lifeblood of business. It’s time to start a new marketing campaign and push the sales team harder. Or is it? Read Ron Stein's full column.

Prices at the pump slid 12 cents last week

Business Profile

Yellow Green Farmers Market

In South Florida, where agriculture has taken a back seat to development, Hollywood’s Yellow Green Market has sprouted up as a way to give farmers, artists and other entrepreneurs a venue to sell their goods, and consumers a chance to learn the origins of their food.

“Folks are turning back to having a relationship with their food,” said Danny Raulerson, bureau chief of state farmers markets. “They want to know where it comes from.”

» More from the Miami Herald.

» Official site

Retail gasoline prices in the Southeast dropped another 12 cents last week, and pump prices are expected to continue their decline even as Hurricane Sandy threatens the East Coast. And gasoline prices could plunge up to 50 cents a gallon over the next few weeks from October’s $3.86 peak average, providing a lift for the economy. Read more from the Gainesville Sun and Florida Today.

How a Florida firm aims to profit from the newest iPad

Ronnie Khadaran heads up marketing for Marware, a Hollywood company that sells its own line of cases and other add-ons for Apple products. Weeks before the Oct. 23 reveal of the smaller iPad, Marware’s design team made their best guess of what the new product would look like, how it would function and what, exactly, it would be called. More at the Miami Herald.

Small Business Advice
Work healthy in a clean and green work space

Whether you have a one-person office or a hundred-person office, maintaining a clean work environment is important for so many different reasons — the health of your workforce and orderly presentation are just a couple of them. More small business advice from Jerry Osteryoung.

Out of the Box
Florida dealer willing to pay $200,000 for a penny

Michael O'Higgins would pay $200,000 for a penny. But only if it's the penny, an elusive and storied 1943 copper cent. O'Higgins, 57, of Hallandale Beach, makes his living buying monetary oddities and selling them at a profit. The latest scuttlebutt among coin collectors suggests there's a 1943 lurking in South Florida, so he placed an ad in a local weekly: "$200,000 reward."