Party On

Party On

ENTREPRENEURS by Jean Gruss | Editor/Lee-Collier

George Ghanem is no doom-and-gloomer. After all, his business depends on people celebrating.

The party is just getting started and George Ghanem won't let people bring him down with talk of a recession.

The gregarious Fort Myers entrepreneur is building a 60,000-square-foot party palace that will be the Gulf Coast headquarters for his company, Creative Events and Rentals. It will be one of the largest event planning and rental facilities in the state.

And it's also an $8 million bet that the party in Southwest Florida isn't over.

"There's too much negative talk," says Ghanem, 46. "Most people I know would love to be in Florida."

But Ghanem is no Pollyanna. He saw rapidly increasing competition in construction-tool rentals before the construction downturn and shifted his business to party planning and events in 2003. The party planning business has less local competition and can weather the economic cycles better. "Even when the economy is slow," says Ghanem, "people still get married, they celebrate achievements."

There's a lot of celebrating going on down here. His territory stretches from Sarasota to Naples. "On the weekends we'll do a couple hundred deliveries," Ghanem says.

Revenues hit $5 million last year and Ghanem is confident he can double annual revenues in the next four years with the new facility. "We're growing 25% a year," he says. He's exploring new services, such as catering and scouting new territories such as Tampa.

Party favors

Ghanem grew up in California, the son of Middle Eastern immigrants. He learned to repair jet engines and later got into the insurance business, becoming a general agent for Northwestern Mutual Life and building a 14-office operation in eastern Pennsylvania.

Ghanem sold his stake in the insurance business in 2000, eager to be his own boss. "When your money's on the line, you want to make 100% of the decisions," he says.

Like so many entrepreneurs who pick Florida, Ghanem was attracted by weather and business opportunities. Southwest Florida, he says, was "a growing, untouched market."

He found an equipment-rental business for sale, part of the Taylor Rental chain where businesses can rent a variety of tools, from small Bobcat bulldozers to chain saws. He bought it in October 2001 with a loan from the Small Business Administration.

The owner of the business had died but surviving relatives who were in the same business tried to take customers away. Ghanem was forced to sue, which he did successfully. "That experience taught me more about myself," he says.

Among the lessons Ghanem learned:

• Contracts are only as good as the people who sign them.

• Character is difficult to gauge, except for your own.

• When you have it all on the line, you better be committed to play the game to the end.

The hurricanes that followed in 2003 and 2004 boosted Ghanem's business, as he provided bulldozers, saws and tents to the army of workers who were hired to clear the debris. He expanded to Bonita Springs to keep the competition at bay.

When he bought the Taylor Rental business, party rentals such as tents, tables and tents only accounted for just 30% of the business. But Ghanem could see that competition from rivals was growing as the hurricane cleanup brought national attention and the building boom got underway. At least six national competitors moved into Fort Myers. "That put a lot of pressure," he recalls.

In 2003, Ghanem decided to grow the party rental business, seeing that competition was virtually nonexistent.

"That transition turned out to be a wise one," says Joe Wheeler, a friend of Ghanem's who recently was named president of CNL Bank in Fort Myers. "He has a good grasp of opportunities and how they change."

Wheeler met Ghanem at a Bonita Springs Chamber of Commerce leadership program. "He was constantly on the phone," Wheeler chuckles. "Every second he had a chance he was trying to make a deal on the phone."

Wheeler marvels at Ghanem's ability to land new business, something he attributes to his success in building an insurance business. "His networking ability came from selling life insurance; there's nothing harder to sell than a life-insurance policy," Wheeler says.

But being a good salesman and a good entrepreneur are two distinct talents. "He's an entrepreneur," Wheeler says. "He's always thinking of new ways of doing business."

Party animal

The key to keep competitors at bay in the party rental business, Ghanem figured out, was adding services to the rental business.

In addition to renting tables, chairs and tents, Creative Events arranges caterers and flowers and designs the decor and builds special props. He rents 400 tents that come in all sizes, even ones that measure 30,000 square feet that can be air-conditioned. Rentals cost from $500 for small parties to as much as $100,000 for huge affairs.

While no customer accounts for more than 1.3% of annual revenues, about 70% of his business comes from corporate and nonprofit events. Creative Events books "a couple thousand" parties per month, Ghanem says.

Now, 85% of Creative Events' business is party and event-related. It's a good thing, because the construction-related equipment business has slowed as the construction boom ended. The company provides equipment for weddings, trade shows, nonprofit galas and corporate gatherings.

Ghanem says the challenge is to get businesses and individuals to think of his company when they're planning parties. He's had to rebrand his company's business from tool rentals to party planning and events. He bristles when competitors from Florida's east coast and Orlando take business away, as they did with tents for the high-profile Naples Wine Festival recently.

As part of the re-branding, Ghanem spent $30,000 to build a Web site that will soon be launched. His new building in Fort Myers will also include a 6,000-square-foot showroom, where customers can see what the company can offer.

The new facility in south Fort Myers will let Ghanem's employees load 10 delivery trucks at a time and will include a commercial laundry. There will be manufacturing space to design and produce linens and props as well as a conference room for wedding planners who will be able to bring their clients.

He's also exploring entering the Tampa market. "They're pulling lots of business from Orlando," Ghanem says. "We think there's opportunity."

A big prize: the 2009 Super Bowl. The game in Tampa next year includes a huge tent village where corporations entertain their best clients. The National Football League makes sure companies in the host cities get first dibs at contracts.

Meanwhile, a slowing economy doesn't bother Ghanem. "You have to be sharper, work smarter, harder," he says. "But that's not bad," he adds with a smile.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Industry. Party and event planning

Company. Creative Events and Rentals

Key. An economic slowdown won't put a halt to celebrations.