MegaSuccess Comes to Town, Latin Chamber Hosts Latin Entertainment Luncheon, Cutting Edge Nominees Sought, 75,000 Attend Grand Prix Americas 

Business News:  

*Locally and nationally recognized best selling, authors, speakers and entrepreneurs join forces to share their formulas for success at MegaSuccess 2003.

The two-day conference boasts 14 best-selling authors and nationally recognized speakers, teaching attendees how to achieve success in various aspects of their lives.

The list of prominent speakers includes Miami native and national speaking celebrity, Les Brown on Living Your Dreams and Overcoming Your Fears.  Brown is one of America’s top motivational speakers and TV personalities as well as the author of three best-selling books: Live Your Dreams, It’s Not Over Until You Win and Up Thoughts For Down Times. Susan Ford Collins, an ex-researcher at The National Institutes of Health, spent years as a psychologist studying abnormal behavior and, later, what made successful people achieve. The result is the best-selling book, The Joy of Success: The 10 Skills of Highly Successful People. Her new passion for studying success has resulted in a successful consulting business that has led to over 2,500 trainings for American Express, Ryder System, Florida Power & Light, Kimberly-Clark, IBM and Upjohn as well as appearances on CNN's Business Unusual.

Also appearing are some of the nation’s leading speakers on financial success including David Cooper, a professional speaker and income/sales trainer who has appeared on 20/20 and lectured to sold out audiences nationwide. He will be speaking on How to Ask Your Way to Sales Success. John Childers, a millionaire real estate investor and professional speaker for over 20 years, will be speaking about how to achieve financial independence through real estate and public speaking.

The two-day event will balance business and personal topics with speakers such as Dr. Judith Wright, author of the best-selling book, There Must Be More Than This. Dr. Wright has appeared on numerous talk shows, including Good Morning America to discuss the idea of overcoming “soft-addictions” such as watching too much TV, over shopping, overeating, or surfing the Internet for hours.

Additional speakers at the event include Richard Israel on How to Think Creatively, Lillian Monterrey on Listening to Your Instincts, Kevin Ross on The Spirituality of Success, Luis Mago on The Ten Laws of Success, Leo Alcalá on The Power to Achieve Anything You Want, Victor González on The Logic of Success, John Dessauer on Success in Real Estate Investing and John Di Lemme on building a million dollar business as an entrepreneur.

“Our goal is to create an annual event that showcases local talent with national personalities to facilitate interaction between the attendees and the speakers,” says Gil Lozano, CEO of MegaSuccess.

The event will take place on October 23 & 24, 2003 at The Hyatt Regency in Downtown Miami. Cost for the two-day event is $249. Advance registration cost, available prior to the event date is $97. For more detailed information on the event, visit www.megasuccess2003.com or call 305-773-3507.

MegaSuccess 2003 is sponsored by: SprintPCS, Eastern Credit Financial Union, Tiempos del Mundo, The World Trade Center Palm Beach, Florida Free Trade Association, Vision:Miami, Latin Club of America, Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Status Magazine, Hispanic Success Magazine, La Guia, Books & Books, ThinkHolistic, SunPost and The Miami Herald. 

* The state of the Latin Entertainment Industry will be discussed at The Loews Miami Beach Hotel, 1601 Collins Avenue, on Tuesday, October 21, at 11:30 a.m.  The event is hosted by the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce, the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce and the City of Miami Beach Production Industry Council.

The forum will be moderated by Mary Sutter, Latin America bureau chief for Variety Magazine and include Michel Vega of the William Morris Agency, Alfredo Richard of Claxson, Juan Marquez of Sony Publishing Latin America, John Echevarria of Universal Music Latin America, Ellen Moraskie of Warner Chappell Music and Bruno del Granado of Maverick Entertainment.

“The Latin entertainment industry greatly benefits our city in terms of international exposure, revenues, job creation and business productivity,” says Grace Calvani, executive director of the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce.

The event will be aired on Cable Channel 20 in Miami Beach.  To RSVP, call 305-674-1300 ext. 319.

* The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneurial Business Group is accepting nominations for the prestigious 2004 Cutting Edge Award.  Nominations must be received at the Chamber’s office, 1601 Biscayne Boulevard, by 4 p.m., Friday, December 5, 2003.

The 10th Annual Award recognizes companies that have distinguished themselves in marketing, growth, and management.  The companies that will be chosen as finalists will be formally recognized at the Cutting Edge Award luncheon on April 29 at the InterContinental Hotel. For more information, call 305-577-5442. 

*  Some 75,000 spectators saw cars racing down Biscayne Boulevard at speeds close to 180 MPH during the 2nd annual Grand Prix Americas presented by Sportsbook.com, held September 26 – 28 in the streets of Downtown Miami, according to event promoters.

“The second annual Grand Prix Americas was a huge success,” said Chuck M. Martinez, president and general manager of Grand Prix Americas.  “While the forecast for the weekend weather was gloomy and the rain in some parts of South Florida may have kept some people away, the sun did not stop shining at the track.  We had three days of racing with four races, two concerts and a host of celebrities that made this year’s international celebration another Blast by the Bay.  We saw marked increases in general admission tickets, an increase in sponsors and we sold out all of our premium suites.”

In addition to attracting thousands of spectators to downtown Miami, the final television rating for Sunday’s CBS broadcast of the Grand Prix Americas presented by Sportsbook.com was 1.3, reaching 1.45 million households, according to a Conroy Martinez release. Similar to last year, this year’s broadcast was the largest television share for any CART race this season.

Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau officials state that Downtown Miami hotel occupancies for September 25 – 28 (race weekend) increased to 80 percent.  This is in contrast to last year’s occupancy averages of the same hotels for the same four days (non-race weekend) that were slightly more than 50 percent. 

Movers-n-Shakers 

One Bal Harbour’s floor plans range from 2,000 to 8,500 square feet and are priced from $1 million to more than $10 million. In addition to this 185-unit, 26-story residential tower, One Bal Harbour will include a 17-story world-class hotel with 124 hotel suites. The hotel’s operator has not been determined.   

WCI has been creating amenity-rich, leisure-oriented master-planned communities for more than 50 years. WCI’s award-winning communities offer primary, retirement, and second homebuyers traditional and tower home choices with prices from mid-$100,000 to more than $10 million and currently offer approximately 550 holes of golf and 1,000 boat slips and country club, tennis and recreational facilities. The company currently owns and controls over 14,000 acres of developable land in Florida.

Submit Business Briefs to editorial@miamisunpost.com 

Business Focus

Local Parking Manager Appointed Co-Chairman of Business Advisory Council 

“AAA Parking is at this point the biggest valet parking company in the south with more than 160 properties in hotels, hospitals and special events.” –Manuel Grossy 

By Eppie Vega
Staff Writer 

Manuel Grossy, PhD, district manager of AAA Parking, was recently appointed Honorary Co-Chairman of the Business Advisory Council.

Grossy will represent the state of Florida and play a crucial role in the Republican Party’s efforts to involve top business people in the process of government reform. The Business Advisory Council, which is part of the National Republican Congressional Committee, makes sure that small business has a voice in Washington.

“I travel to Washington approximately every three months to deal with issues such as tax reform and the integration of minorities in government contracts,” Grossy said.

Grossy also won the Business Man of the Year award 2003 for the state of Florida, given by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

He is a member of the American Manager Association, International Parking Institute and Florida Parking Association. In the month of August, the International Parking Institute Magazine published his thesis on parking entitled Parking: Challenge to the New Century. Grossy believes that the availability of accessible, economical parking and good service is essential in the continued success of Florida commercial districts and residential neighborhoods.

Born in Uruguay, Grossy received his PhD in Business from Harrington University in England.

“I came to the United States 14 years ago. I live with my three children in Miami,” Grossy said. His 21 year-old son attends Florida International University and is majoring in Business Administration. His two daughters go to high school.

AAA Parking was opened in Miami in 1994. They offer valet parking operations, parking management and parking consulting and pride themselves on operating a first class parking facility. “AAA Parking is at this point the biggest valet parking company in the south with more than 160 properties in hotels, hospitals and special events,” Grossy said.

Grossy has yet another honor slated for October: “On October 7, I’m going to Washington to receive the Gold Medal from the Republican Party, the maximum distinction that the Republican Congressional Committee gives to a citizen.”