Eight years ago, I loaded my person belongings on a handcart from Enterprise Florida’s Tallahassee office, took the elevator to the ground floor and rolled down the street to my new Regus co-work space. I had a desk, laptop, backpack, newly purchased whiteboard and NO clients. But I had a vision that was shared by both Griff Salmon and Melissa Medley to launch a consulting practice that would have longevity and not just be a placeholder for the next gig.

Eight years later, we are realizing that vision at VisionFirst Advisors.

According to BLS data, 45 percent of new businesses fail in five years. And there was doubt in 2020, our fifth-year anniversary if we would survive the untimely death of founding partner Melissa and the Covid pandemic which all happened together in a matter of weeks. We survived, even grew that year and have not missed a beat since.

Our team is talented, passionate and freaking amazing. We also have earned the trust of many clients – more than 140 since our start – that continue to engage with us on a variety of site selection, workforce, marketing and planning opportunities.

Today, we have a team of nine, a board of seven and we are proud to be a part of the Butler Snow family.

Each day, I am proud to say that our team works tirelessly on providing a suite of services including location advisory, labor and market intelligence, marketing and economic development strategy.

Last year alone our clients announced new site selection projects that will create nearly 1,000 jobs and $1 billion in private capital investment. We saw our labor intelligence product being used not only by economic development but also corporate clients in making location decisions. We utilize data, context and a deep understanding of what’s realistic to help our clients achieve success.  

The key to our success and a core principle to VisionFirst, is our focus on the customer. We listen and then focus using our data, market intelligence, strategy, messaging and context to deliver solutions.

As we celebrate eight years, I want to thank you for your continued trust and business.