Sean Palmer admits the view of Flagler County in his rearview mirror was a great sight as he headed for college in 2001. He was 18 and felt he had experienced all his hometown of Flagler Beach had to offer.
He eventually wound up in Birmingham, Alabama working for an architecture firm. But surprisingly, the call to come home proved too much to ignore.
Palmer said it began about five years ago. “Every time we'd come visit family and friends I would just get excited about being here.”
In September, he opened up his own firm.
Since then, he's been trying to drum up business and contact old high school friends, trying to get them to join him back in Flagler County.
His pitch? “I work two blocks from the pier. My lunch break, when there's nice waves I can go check them out.”
While working and living so close to the beach can seem attractive, the cold hard fact is that sun and sand don't pay the bills. So what other help is available to those who may be considering coming home?
The Florida Small Business Development Center, a partnership with University of Central Florida and a number of counties can offer help in creating business plans, lining up potential funding partners and the like.
But Ray Peter, who heads the SBDC office in Palm Coast said those who already know the lay-of-the-land have a head start. “The social media, the networking, so vitally important for a business to extend, not only their brand but their business across the Internet, through relationships is essential.”
In fact, they're working with high school students right now in forming real businesses.
“The intent, hopefully is for those students, whether they go off to college or not, to return and establish, be the entrepreneur," Peter said. "They're the entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow.”