by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Anne Urban can sum up the trials and tribulations of starting and owning a business with a few wisdom-filled words.
“You don’t know what you don’t know.”
Urban, president of Destination Planning Corporation, has learned more than just a few things in her hospitality-driven career that reached another level of achievement recently when she was named the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Small Business Leader of the Year after being nominated by the Chamber’s Beaches Division.
“It makes me feel so great,” said Urban. “It (the announcement) was so exciting ... I was shocked.”
She started Destination Planning Corporation — a full-service destination management company that provides services ranging from decor and themed events and team-building activities to transportation and conference management and more — in early 2004 after 22 years in the hotel industry and another five as director of convention sales and marketing for the Jacksonville and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is now Visit Jacksonville.
Her working roots are part of the reason she’s in the position she is today.
“While attending the University of Maryland, I worked at a Holiday Inn in downtown Washington, D.C. and I absolutely loved it,” she said of her hospitality beginnings. “I loved working with people and the travel ... I loved the day-to-day operations of the business.”
She calls her time with the local visitors bureau a great experience and “like getting my masters” by learning the wants and needs of people coming to the area. But it was also there she made observations of the local destination management companies.
“There were 1,500 DMCs across the country,” she said, “but there really wasn’t one in Jacksonville.”
Area attractions and developments started becoming a destination for visitors, she believed, around 1999, so she began formulating a business plan to get into the industry and capitalize on the region’s marked growth and attractions.
She was ready to launch the business until a national tragedy put the plans on an indefinite hold.
“Then Sept. 11 happened,” she explained. “It and the time after was not a good time for our industry.”
Delayed but not deterred, she “began getting her feet wet” in early 2004 on the cusp of Jacksonville hosting the Super Bowl in 2005, which ended extremely profitably and was the “experience of a lifetime.” While most DMCs limit themselves to planning and accommodating 3-4 groups for such an event, Urban and staff took on around 25 groups. While long hours and hectic schedules might have been the norm during the time, it was a valuable — and profitable — learning experience that makes typical days seem to pale in comparison.
“I guess you can say we were a bit of a Super Bowl success,” said Urban, with a smile. “The game alone brought us more than $1 million ... but it was just the beginning. We doubled in business the year following the game.”
In the time since, Urban has physically grown the business from her dining room table to a new facility and warehouse, grown staff to 10 full-time with several more part-time, acquired a talent company and launched a wedding-specific service and continued developing relationships with local vendors and merchants (“And yes we have a ‘do not use list’,” she said, smiling) for the few services the company doesn’t provide.
The one thing that has stayed relatively the same has been her workday, which often goes 12-14 hours.
“I’m a busy girl,” she said with a laugh. “When people ask me why I’m always working, I laugh. It doesn’t feel like working.”
The economy has taken its toll on industry with more companies and groups sitting on the fence or scaling back travel altogether, but recent signs have made her optimistic on the year ahead. Economy aside, maybe the biggest challenge has been getting Destination Planning’s name out there at the local level. Around 80 percent of Urban’s business comes outside the region looking at Jacksonville, but she hopes to offer her services to more people in the area.
The award itself doesn’t come without some work, though it’s also a chance to let other businesses know about her company. As Small Business Leader of the Year, Urban will be traveling to the different Chamber Councils to discuss her business and award in addition to traveling to the next Chamber trip.
“It (the award) really is a cool program and been around for a while,” said John Bryan, Beaches Division and Chamber Councils director, later adding: “I’ve known Anne for a bit from our time in Leadership Jacksonville and think she does a great job with her business ... it (the award) is huge for public relations and a great opportunity.”
As for the award itself, Urban said she feels she represents the hardworking people of the hotel and hospitality industry who don’t often get the recognition they deserve.
“I’m one of them,” she said.
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