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The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from Murem Sharpe, founder and CEO of the global web and mobile services provider, Evoca. Murem and her Savannah-based company love to call Savannah home.  Read on for Murem’s thoughts on how to build a global business from right here in beautiful Savannah….

Visualize your company as being global.

With Savannah’s location as a cultural and tourism hub and international port, it can be. No matter what our product or service, all of us can serve a global market. According to Visit Savannah, the city hosts 11.4 million visitors a year. That means that business people, professionals, and tourists from all over can learn about your product and bring it back to their home countries and cities. Establishing an online presence to tap into these visitors both before and after they head to our Hostess City is important. Communicate the story about your Savannah-based business every chance you get.

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from DaVena Jordan, Queen Bee and Executive Director of AWOL (All Walks of Life), one of the most successful youth outreach programs in the region.  Read on to learn about the gold DaVena and her husband Tony are mining right in our own backyards…..

Artwork by Lloyd “KidSyc” Harold

The most famous quote of the California Gold Rush was uttered by a local news publisher, Samuel Brannan, who ran through the streets of San Francisco shouting, “Gold! Gold! from the American River.”

So now that I have your attention, the truth is, there is no actual gold in the Savannah River, but there is something just as precious and very similar to gold lurking around every corner of our community. Gold is represented on the periodic table by the symbol Au and the atomic number 79. It is a dense, soft, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a beautiful shiny yellow luster that has been considered attractive for thousands of years. So, by now you’re wondering just where I’m going with this and more important, where is this likewise precious item in Savannah?

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from Kayne Lanahan, CEO and founder of Savannah Stopover Music Festival.  Read on for Kayne’s notes on what it takes to create a mushrooming music scene…..

Photo by Matthew McCully

Just last week the manager of one of Savannah’s Broughton Street retail stores professed a profound desire to get involved in this year’s Savannah Stopover Music Festival because she was willing to do anything to help improve the “crappy” music scene in this town.

I hear this sentiment expressed over and over again in Savannah, primarily from the 18-34 year old demographic. Two years ago I would have stood there shaking my head and nodding “yes, yes, I hear you, I agree” but now I find myself asking the harder questions: What constitutes a “Music Scene” in a city? What if my scene is different than your scene? What if there is a “scene” and we just don’t do a very good job of promoting it across Savannah’s many microcosms of youth?

The Creative Coast’s blogspot is Savannah’s sounding board for local thinkers, innovators, wanderers and wonderers. Guest bloggers share their thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s blog is from Beth Vantosh,  commercial realtor extraordinaire.  Read on for Beth’s strategy for turning lemons into a whole grove of citrus trees….. 

OK, so here’s the deal…the Savannah commercial real estate market has taken quite the hard hit in recent years (and not in a good way, if you know what I mean. And I know you do). Businesses have left our amazing community due to the global economic downturn. This sucks, not only for those gone businesses, but also for those of you (being the concerned Savannahians that you are) who want to see cool, successful businesses influence our economy and lives. We want our creative community to prosper, right?! Right!

Although this downturn may seem like a Death-Eaters’ warning for small businesses (sorry to all you non-Harry Potter fans, but you get the idea), there is a glittering lining: Lower commercial real estate prices, as well as a push from the government, are giving small businesses unprecedented opportunities to shine and prosper in Savannah.