There’s a whole lot going on here at Mercantile and in the world of small business lending. There’s so much going on, in fact, that I decided to do another video blog — the second one this week. This is unprecedented for us, but I want to keep you in the loop on our latest SBA lending webinar, our upcoming Open House, President Obama’s Disney visit yesterday, and the SBA Administrator becoming a member of the President’s Cabinet. Oh, and there’s Rick Perry’s little comment about abolishing the SBA (a pretty terrible idea in our humble opinion). Little wonder he’s just withdrawn from the presidential race.
Well…without any further ado, I present to you our second video blog this week:
We’re sort-of-almost-completely moved-in to our new headquarters in Downtown Orlando, so of course we’re throwing a party. If you’re anywhere near Orlando, you’ll want to RSVP for our Open House next Thursday by calling Ken at 407-786-5040 or emailing me directly at ChrisHurn@MercantileCC.com. Even if you’re not in Central Florida, and you’re looking for an excuse to come visit the Sunshine State (we’ll have 70-degree weather next week), you’re more than welcome.
Watch the short video below to get some more details about this shindig straight from the horse’s mouth (proverbially speaking).
I always appreciate good YouTube videos… the more entertaining and clever, the better. I thought you’d enjoy one we at Mercantile have a personal connection to. The “star” of this video is Brian, a college friend of our marketing associate, Mandy. He did QUITE the surprise dance for his wife at their wedding reception. Since it was posted last Wednesday, the video’s been watched over 3 million times, while also making the front page of Yahoo, the Huffington Post, Sports Illustrated and many more. You might have already seen it by now, but I HAD to share it. It’s not every day that someone we know has a video go THIS viral. Enjoy:
At Mercantile Capital Corporation, we issue press releases fairly regularly to update our industry and the news media on what we’re up to — recent closed loans, monthly and yearly totals, etc. I know these are not nearly as personable as our usual blog posts and videos, but I think our readers (you) might be interested in keeping up with our activities and performance throughout the year. I don’t want to seem too self-serving by doing this — I just want to share how things are going.
The following press release is a year-end recap of our 2011. It was a good year for us, especially given the ongoing economic sluggishness, and it’s an indication that things are looking up for America’s small businesses.
Even though 2012 is six days old…I owe you a “Happy New Year!” I hope you had a great New Year’s holiday, and that 2012 is looking bright so far for you and your business.
For my first blog post in this New Year, I’ve recorded a video that I’d like you watch for two reasons. The first is that I recap how Mercantile did in 2011. We had a really good year, but I don’t mean to “toot our own horn” by any means. Though our Mercantile Family works extremely hard to be the best at what we do, we could never be such a success without ALL the people we work with along the way, and we’re very thankful to them. The second reason to watch the video below is that we’re having an Open House to celebrate moving into our new offices (and the New Year…and because we just enjoy throwing a party every once in a while). Watch this to get all the details…
Yesterday was my last day in the office for this year. I decided to spend some extra time with my family, so we’re spending the weekend on the Florida Gulf Coast for a little rest and relaxation to celebrate the New Year. We’re headed to the Ringling Circus Museum later today, so I wanted to type this quick message to you before the day gets away from me.
I simply want to sincerely wish you a Happy New Year and a relaxing holiday weekend. You deserve it.
It’s been one heck of a year, and I want you to know that the work you put into your business matters. It’s important. YOU’RE important. Your business fuels your personal economy, provides value to others, and maybe even employs people.
True or False: Santa’s red-and-white garb was invented by Coca-Cola for their advertising in the 1930s.
I was reading an article about the recent white Coke cans — the ones with polar bears on them. Coke abruptly discontinued them after lots of people mistook them for Diet Coke and complained (they were all surprised by how good the Diet Coke tasted!).
Anyway, this article stated that it was silly for Coke to abandon their traditional red-and-white can colors because, after all, their advertising was responsible for establishing Santa’s red-and-white getup. This is something I wasn’t aware of, so I did a little research.
It’s been a busy and hectic two weeks, but we’re finally moved-in and getting settled into our new digs. We really appreciate everybody’s patience as we moved our email servers and phones and everything else. Our office is set up a bit differently than before (we now occupy multiple floors of our new building), so we’re forming new routines and systems for getting things done more efficiently.
We have some footage here of us packing up our old office and getting moved into our new space, so watch the video below to see some of that craziness.
The first-ever sales and marketing conference for the small business lending industry is officially over, but you can still get your hands on the wealth of information SBA University has to offer. Before I get into all the details, watch this short video to get a taste of what it was like to be there in person…
To say that we enjoy the Holiday Season here at Mercantile is an understatement. I guess it’s one of the joys of working with people who we actually care about — we’re more like family than just coworkers.
With Thanksgiving fast approaching (and Hanukkah and Christmas not far behind), Ken, Nikos, Trey and myself decided to treat ourselves to a pre-Thanksgiving breakfast at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill at DeLeon Springs. If you live in Florida or if you plan on visiting at some point, this is something you need to experience. Watch the video below to hear a little about the history of DeLeon Springs and see how our do-it-yourself, all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast went…
