Patent trolls targeting more businesses

During the last few years, the ranks of patent trolls have grown -- and they're using ever-aggressive tactics to target more businesses not usually linked to patent scuffles or intellectual property. More Main Street shops --including restaurants, retailers, hotels, real-estate agents and credit unions --are getting threatening letters, alleging a variety of infringements. More at CNBC.

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Sales and Marketing Advice for Florida Business
When to keep a business secret and when to blab

Here’s a dilemma for you to mull over. Your company has a new product or service in the works. It’s not quite ready for prime time and you’re in the early stages of planning for its rollout. Do you wait until every last detail is set for launch -- or go for it now? Read more from Ron Stein.

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Remodeling was solution for business

Business Profile LinguaSys Major hotel chains, credit card companies — even the federal government — are using a Boca Raton company to analyze Tweets and other online content. LinguaSys offers software that can translate and interpret online content in 17 languages: English, Arabic, traditional and simplified Chinese, German, French, Hebrew, Japanese, Malay, Spanish, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese and Urdu. » Full story from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Denny Yoder opened his construction business in Southwest Florida at the height of the real estate bubble. But rather than fold under the weight of the Great Recession, Yoder found a new niche that has allowed his business to thrive despite the dark days for homebuilding and remodeling. More at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

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Florida third-worst state for mortgage layoffs

Florida suffered the third-most layoffs in the mortgage industry in the fourth quarter, according to Mortgage Daily. Mortgage-related jobs fell by 31,931 nationwide in 2013, the worst year since 2008. More at the South Florida Business Journal.

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Small Business Advice
Are you making it difficult for your customers to do business with you?

Feedback from your customers is critical to the success of your business, but there are many things they are simply not going to tell you. What is important to remember about these things is this: just because your customers are not saying anything about them does not mean they are not costing you business. Read more from Jerry Osteryoung.

Entrepreneurship Young entrepreneurs make their own markets Fifteen-year-old Noah Cook had a "eureka" moment one day when he was staring at a surfboard and realized that it was "a perfect paint canvas." That's when he decided to decorate surfboards with his own designs. Cook's artistic experiment turned into a profitable business when friends asked to buy the colorfully creative boards. At the time, he was in seventh grade. » Full story from Florida Today

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