November 2019 Morning Meeting Highlights
Good day members. Thank you to all who attended our meeting. It was a great conversation with a lot of useful information. Here are the November 2019 morning meeting highlights.
After conducting our pledge of allegiance and thanking those who donated the coffee (Sweet Southern Comfort) and the food (the FMA Board) we launched into discussions.
Nanci Watkins, FMA Treasurer, updated everyone on our current and growing member count. This was followed up with the current status of our marketing material. All drafts and designs are created and preparing for printing/manufacture. Once we have it available, we will share it with the membership to place in their place of business and share with others.
Following on the heels of our marketing, Nanci launched into a discussion about end of the year tax tips. She explained that even subcontracted labor adds to the COGS (cost of goods sold) which reduces the profit and thereby reduces the tax burden. Additionally Nanci relayed that you can capture your receipts digitally now and do not need to keep the receipts any more (as long as you keep the digital copy). She went on to discuss how to attach that to your accounting software as well.
For more in-depth info on these tips, reach out to Nanci directly. She owns JNS Financial and you can find her contact info here.
In that same spirit, The FMA would like to extend a Happy Thanksgiving to all merchants and supporters! We are grateful for you.
Then he reminded everyone of the monthly evening social. The next one is hosted by Skippers and NextHome Realty at the Skippers Furniture location. It will be December 5th at 6:30 pm.
Next up was Chase Barfield, FMA Vice President. He relayed a suggestion give to him by City Council Member Ferris. The following is what was contained in the email and it was summarized at the meeting:
“I would like to throw something out to you and the merchants dealing with Christmas. What do you think about seeing if all of the merchants would be willing to decorate the outside of their business for Christmas? I believe it would be a great tradition to start in our city. To be able to see the eyes in our kids light up as they see the different decorations throughout our city is worth it all. To be able to bring a little joy and spread the joy of Christmas.”
Some of the merchants have storefronts while others do not. The merchants that were in attendance and have a storefront did not seem opposed to the idea at all, as long as they would not receive code violations for decorations outside of their stores and offices.
This actually caused a discussion about the Main Street Program that the FMA was (is) in discussions with Latilda (The City Planner) about. Chase spoke with Jay Evans, Executive Director of Main Street DeFuniak Springs, back in October to garner his experiences and successes with the program in DeFuniak Springs (which were quite positive and a learning experience for Mr. Evans). The general, unofficial, consensus is that the City would rather wait until FDOT is finished with the 4 lane on Hwy 20 since that is the proposed Main Street corridor. However, it makes more sense to us (members of the FMA) to work with FDOT, the county and the city so that all construction takes place at one time. Stay tuned for further updates.
After the Main Street conversation, Chase jumped into the conclusion of the land development code saga that had been going on that specifically pertained to outside influences trying to get signage and building construction changes made that will reduce choice and increase cost on the merchants. The grand sum of the efforts of our board, our members and other merchants in Freeport resulted in not adopting the new language and keeping the freedom of choice, while eliminating burdensome costs from landing on the merchants’ shoulders.
The FMA would like to thank all of those merchants who gave their support in this. We would also like to thank the Planning and Development Board who UNANIMOUSLY supported the merchants in their recommendation to not proceed with the proposed changes. And we would like to thank the entire City Council that voted in accordance with the Planning and Development Board.
To the City Council member that voted against the Planning and Development Board, we hope to win you over to our side in support of Freeport Merchants’ freedom of choice and not incurring unneeded and burdensome costs in an environment that can be difficult enough to make a profit in the first place. We need to help, not hinder, the growth of the merchants in Freeport. Our thanks yous could not be complete without thanking Latilda for talking with the FMA, at our invitation, and explaining what the land development code changes meant and granting us clarity of understanding.
One other thing came out of the last City Council meeting. Some of the Council Members suggested a collaboration between the city and the public. Chase Barfield referenced a discussion he had with Latilda about this very topic. To create a committee that included private citizens, merchants and government to learn and understand the needs and wants of all aspects of life in Freeport. Anyone interested in participating, contact us.
On to the next topic, Chase continued with the offer that came from Corey Flynn of N2 Publishing. She granted an FMA Exclusive offer for advertising in Be Local, a magazine that is delivered to every new resident in Walton County as well as those who move within Walton County. The offer included a special reduced price and to have a Freeport Map with multiple merchants on it, each sharing in a portion of the cost. We currently have 6 members who want to commit to this offer. In order to us to make it feasible, we need 4 more. The summary version is that committing will give you broad distribution for your business at the cost of about $45 per month on a 1 year commitment. Contact us if you are interested. We need to know before December 5th.
Along the lines of marketing, Rick Gonzales made a couple of offers. The first is in regards to a Social Media Workshop. This is an FMA Exclusive for Members only and each of you have already received an email about it. The other offer he gave us was to put articles on the FreeportInsider.com. It receives about 6000 views a week and it is a way to put out value to the public, become an authority on what you wrote and get free advertising.
Rick said that the article needed to be 600 words or more and include 1 picture he can use. One suggestion for a source to write about is to think about what your customers ask you as it pertains to their problems and solutions you offer. Write about their problem and your solution and viola! You have an article. Contact Rick on Facebook Messenger to discuss the article. You can find him here.
Brian McBroom from the Walton County Tax Collector’s Office had an announcement to make as well. He said, first of all, that the Freeport Office now offers EVERY service that DeFuniak and Santa Rosa Beach does with the exception of issuing driver’s licenses. He anticipates on that coming in around the first quarter of 2020 but has no concrete date. The second thing he announced, and this one saves you money, is the discount on property taxes.
If you owe property taxes, make sure you pay them before December 1 and you will get a 4% discount. This includes if you mail it in and the postmark says November 30 or earlier. But, don’t wait or you could lose out. They offer a 3% discount in December, 2% in January and 1% in February. No discount is offered in March and if you go past that, your bill could go higher. The early bird gets the worn on this one.
The meeting was concluded by Jeff Weller asking is there were any other questions, comments or concerns. We (The FMA) serve you (The Merchants). The more input you give us the more effective we can be at helping. We know you are all super busy building and running your businesses. But, if you would take some time to let us know what kind of help, direction or advice you need, we will happily do our best to help. You unanimously voted against the land development code change. So we went to work. But it was because you spoke up. We are stronger together and the FMA and its members are willing to help other members. But it is up to you to make those needs known.
That concluded the November Morning Meeting. It was a great and lively meeting. We look forward to seeing you all at the December Evening Social and our next morning meeting.
If you are not a member and wish to join to gain the benefits of membership, feel free to visit our membership page to sign up.
FMA – Uniting The Businesses of Freeport
