July 11, 2007. The rain was falling as we left the Simms’ home in St. Petersburg, FL. Our next stop– Atlanta, Georgia. 480 miles of highway lay ahead.
When we hit Tampa, we decided to hit the iHop (a change from our Waffle House routine). Rudy got pancakes, I went with the scrambled eggs.
While we were eating, we got a call from broker Marc Vitorilla of condoleaf.com., a boutique Tampa brokerage. He drove to the restaurant to meet with us. What an interesting fellow. We talked internet marketing and leads. Marc’s website looks like a search engine and incorporates his blog, as well as an “Ask Mr. Condo, Condo Lawyer and Condo Lender” feature to engage visitors (get leads). The site is very clean and easy to use.
Marc is a mobile techie
Marc uses all the tech tools for one purpose— quick customer response. His lead conversion rate is excellent he says because he gives the internet client what they want– information FAST. Having that information at his fingertips while MOBILE impresses clients.
[Marc shared one of his secret weapons, a video email service that we believe will get wide adoption. (more on that later).] We took some photos in the sweltering heat with my ancient tripod and said our goodbyes.
Our hot time in Florida ends…almost
Naked Lunch? Cafe Risque
While driving toward Gainsville, we saw a lot of bilboards advertising an unusual twist to highway food—a cafe where clothes are shed for the diners’ pleasure (does that make you eat more?). A cross between a strip club and roadside diner, Club Risque piqued our blogger attention. So we pulled up to see what we could see.
Here are some views from the outside.
Seems harmless
Enter at your own risk
Terms of use
Waitress staff
Know your market
We spoke to the manager who told us we could not film inside, but that we were still welcome to come in. We declined. If we did we might have to use this billboard:
to be continued, on the road…
