Wayne Baxter
Hello and welcome to the Three Questions podcast, where we dive deep into the world of wealth management and connect you with industry experts. I'm your host, Wayne Baxter, senior executive manager at One Capital Management. If you or someone close to you is a Canadian business owner and considering opportunities in Florida, you will not want to miss this week's episode.

Wayne Baxter
Our topic the three Questions Canadian Business owners should ask about connecting with professionals in Florida. Thank you for taking time to check us out, and if you enjoyed this episode of the Three Questions podcast, please consider liking this video and subscribing to our podcast and YouTube channels. According to the Executive Office of the Governor of Florida, Florida saw an estimated 582,000 Canadian visitors in the third quarter of 2024 alone, and the data suggests that the trend extends to more permanent relocations.

Wayne Baxter
Folks that are moving there permanently. And these permanent relocations will Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs who are looking to establish themselves south of the border. Now, getting established is not a do it yourself exercise. I can assure you all my based on my own personal experience. And with that in mind, we're joined by Miami, Florida based and fellow expat Canadian Cari Martinez.

Wayne Baxter
Carina is the exact year director of the Canada Florida Chamber of Commerce, and is here to assist us in addressing the three questions Canadian business owners should ask about connecting with professionals in Florida. Kareen, great to see you again, my friend. Hope you're doing well. A little chilly in Florida. I understand.

Katrine Martinez
Cold in Florida, yeah, but not as good as the Canadian winter. But cold.

Wayne Baxter
Perfect. Perfect timing for our little get together today. Yes.

Katrine Martinez
Thank you.

Wayne Baxter
Yeah, I'm really glad you made it. And this is something we wanted to do for a while now. And glad we were able to get you on the podcast. And, looking forward to our conversation today. I think before we get started, I should mention that when Capital Management and yours truly have recently became a major partner with the Canada Florida Chamber of Commerce, I'm really looking forward to working with Duke Green and being a resource, and I couldn't be more happy with the relationship.

Wayne Baxter
We're going to work together and we have lots of exciting things planned.

Katrine Martinez
Oh yeah, I'm super excited about this, new partnership for 2025. I mean, what a great way to get started. Podcast hosts a roadshow. Membership drives a lot of fun, professional, interesting networking. Initiatives, with one Capital Management. So we're we're we're excited about this.

Wayne Baxter
And I'm really I get, I get I thank you and I, I've said this once and I'll say it before, you know, you were, in my opinion, the the driving force behind this whole relationship coming together. And, I'm really happy and working. Looking forward to collaborating with you. You know, before we get to our three questions, why don't we just start out and take a minute and give you a chance to tell you, you know, talk about the the Canada Florida Chamber of Commerce and what your role is as executive director.

Wayne Baxter
We'll start there. Then we'll get to our questions.

Katrine Martinez
Oh, of course. So I'm the executive director for the Canada Florida Chamber. I'm based here in Miami. As you mentioned. I'm also a Canadian. I'm born and raised in Montreal, relocated here two and a half years ago. And so I was like everybody else, like you as well, starting fresh. And so in my role as the executive director, my job is to connect people and, on both sides of the border.

Katrine Martinez
So we're a bilateral chamber of commerce, which means that we're in Canada and in Florida as well. And so we have memberships on both side of the border. So a lot of our professionals are interested in the cross-border aspect of, our unique chamber. And so, within our network, well, at the chamber we have various initiatives, but there's an educational component, for people that for folks that are coming here that are looking for information that are looking for to to connect with professionals, in their project to establish themselves here.

Katrine Martinez
And then we have trade missions. We also do phenomenal events, and we do connect people on a one on one basis. Once you become a member.

Wayne Baxter
I think this is a great opportunity for us to collaborate, collaborate together, and given the role that we play as cross-border financial advisors, I couldn't seems to me to be a really good fit. And again, looking forward to it. And, you know, I will say this at first blush, you know, it's notwithstanding the weather, maybe this week in Florida, it's easy to see why Canadians are drawn to Florida.

Wayne Baxter
And typically, you know, you get warm weather year round. No state income tax, right? Supposedly more often than not, a lower cost of living. That said, there are plenty of challenges for a business owner or an entrepreneur or from Canada to overcome when relocating from Canada to to Florida. And I'll give you some examples. You know, Florida has its own set of business regulations, different tax laws, compliance requirements that differ from those in Canada, you know, interest rates and loan terms.

Wayne Baxter
You know, if you're if you're looking for a business loan can be markedly different than they are in Canada. And hiring talent that understands the market can be beneficial. But it might also require some adjustments in management styles and even company culture, you know, to align. Align with, you know, local norms. And and really, I know I'm just scratching the surface.

Wayne Baxter
I could go on and on. There's obviously immigration issues, wealth management related issues that will need to be addressed at the outset. But again, it's it's not a do it yourself process of coming across the board and say, oh, was just going to set up shop. In a way, we go, no.

Katrine Martinez
Correct. You're absolutely correct on that. It's it's far more it's not that complicated. There's ways to do it. That's why there's a Chamber of commerce. That's why we, we vet professionals within our network. That's the reason why we we want to be a resource for the community and for people that are establishing or thinking about establishing themselves here in order to get the proper guidance and the.

Wayne Baxter
Perfect segue into our into our topic. So we're going to be discussing the three questions Canadian business owners should ask about connecting with professionals in Florida. Let's get right to it, Kareen. Here we go with the first question. Question number one. What is the most important element of success to growing my professional network in Florida? Corinne, take it away.

Katrine Martinez
To growing the professional network. Well, one would be to join a chamber of commerce. That's a great way to grow your network. Attend events, get. You know, don't be afraid to go be physically present. People need to know who you are. They need to know. They need to see your face. They need to interact with you.

Katrine Martinez
That's just the way we're talking about the business culture, the business culture here in Florida is very much of an in person, type of business culture. You know, don't get discouraged at first glance if you see that it's not working. Just knock on the most possible doors that you can. You can. And that is done by, you know, joining a bilateral chamber, a local chamber, going through two events, joining a trade mission, you know, do your exploratory work.

Katrine Martinez
That's very, very important. And then then again, you know, make sure that, you know, when you are growing your professional network, that you are going through the channels of people that have vetted them before. So referral is very important because that will give you that will fast track you in your in your endeavor to, grow your business, get the appropriate information, and then not waste any money.

Katrine Martinez
Just along the way, you make sure that you're capitalizing on the maximum that you can at first. So that's that's key for me for next for to grow your professional network.

Wayne Baxter
You know, I would add one other thing is having realistic expectations. And you kind of mentioned it about not getting discouraged of, you know, you don't hit a home run on the first pitch if you're well, right. You know, I think that realistically speaking, it takes time to develop these relationships and, and to get traction. So, you know, I this is my own personal opinion.

Wayne Baxter
You may differ. That's fine. But I, I think you have to give yourself a couple of years to really get entrenched. It doesn't happen overnight. So you need to you have to have realistic expectations of it doesn't take that long. Great. But at the same time, don't get discouraged with it as within the first, say, six months.

Wayne Baxter
You don't seem to be making a lot of headway. You got to be patient. And, you know, if you stick to it, have a business plan and keep work in a way, you'll you'll be fine. Okay, so question number two. Corinne.

Katrine Martinez
Yes.

Wayne Baxter
Here we go. As a professional relocating from Canada, where are the prime locations in Florida that I should consider moving to? And that's actually a pretty important marker.

Katrine Martinez
That's a very important question. So we see that a lot of Canadians are very, very interested in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. These are the, you know, the typical relocation, places we also have on the southwest, on the southwest coast of Florida. There's, a lot of Canadians in Naples, Fort Myers and Tampa, but we're seeing more and more that, there's Canadians relocating in Lee County and Charlotte County.

Katrine Martinez
And these are locations that are still, developing very affordable and where they're in dire need, you know, businesses there are there have their own economic development organization that are, that are regional or local and they're looking to attract, foreign direct investment, you know, from other countries, one of which is Canada. Canada is and top three of a lot of these economic development organizations, attraction programs.

Katrine Martinez
So, at the end of the day, also, it's very personal. I mean, it's where you feel the best. You know, people usually don't move, to locations on their own. They have families, they have children. It has also everything to do with you know, what you like, what you know what. Where you feel that your children will go will have better education, where there's most opportunity and that's also something that we can help with at, connect you with at the, at the chamber as well.

Wayne Baxter
All right. So what were the what would you say would be the main city in those two, those main cities and in those two counties that you mentioned.

Katrine Martinez
So Lee County would be Fort Myers and Charlotte County would be Port Charlotte. So these are cities that are let's say Fort Myers is halfway between Naples and Tampa and Port Charlotte is in between Fort Myers and Orlando.

Wayne Baxter
All right. Great. So you're saying that those are two areas that wouldn't be a good opportunity. And I'm going to hazard a guess here, just off the top of my head that the traffic in, Port Charlotte, Fort Myers. Yeah. Quite intense is how we say in the, Miami Fort Lauderdale corridor, possibly.

Katrine Martinez
No, very, very realistic. Yes. Anybody that in here has, has suffered the for with the Miami traffic. Yeah.

Wayne Baxter
Yeah. It well I've been living in Toronto for all the years that I did. I know all about traffic and know when I moved down here to La Brea and, and and but here and this is now personal editorializing. You know, I would say that this may shock some people, but in my experience, I think the traffic in Toronto is even worse than LA.

Wayne Baxter
So on that note. So anyway, that's me.

Katrine Martinez
I agree with that.

Wayne Baxter
Yeah, I'm telling you, a lot of dead end, a lot of dead end freeways in Toronto that you don't experience here in L.A. at least here in L.A., traffic moves.

Katrine Martinez
Saying the same about Montreal and Miami.

Wayne Baxter
It's slowing. It crawls, but it moves. In Toronto, you got a lot of freeways that come to a dead end. But anyway, we're getting way off topic. Okay. So great so far, Kareen. So let's get to question number three. And again, this is a bit of a leading question, but I think an appropriate one. What is the best organization to connect with.

Wayne Baxter
And why your your your chance to share your thoughts here.

Katrine Martinez
I represent the Canada Florida Chamber of Commerce. So I would completely, you know, be biased on that one. But we're an amazing organization. We have a wonderful, professional and wonderful network of established professionals. We've been in existence for 15 years. We also collaborate a lot with local, economic development organizations. You know, there's economic development organizations for almost every city in Florida.

Katrine Martinez
And so, as well with the consulate delegates offices. And so we have a lot of access to different resources that a lot of people don't know about. And these, these connections that we have bring other connections. And so definitely Chamber of Commerce is definitely, you know, check out different cities that say you want to relocate to, you know, LA County and you want to relocate to Fort Myers.

Katrine Martinez
Well, contact our local economic development team. And they have a slew of information of, you know, demographics of anything that you would like to know. And then also, you can contact their county. So there's, you know, there's there's a plethora of information that you can get. But but like you said, a lot of people don't know or don't have that perspective or that first, reaction or, you know, to, to contact a chamber of commerce, they have in their mind that a chamber of commerce is very local, and it's only there for to benefit the businesses that are there.

Katrine Martinez
And it's, it's, it's, it's it's cannot be far from the truth.

Wayne Baxter
Yeah. I would say that these are local development. These economic development entities are, you know, they're going to be a great resource even for us. We're going to the plan that we have in our, in our scheming and our plans here is to, put together a series of roadshows, workshops around the state. And, I mean, in our initial discussion from talking to Ukraine, those, local development, organizations are going to be a big help to us in getting out of here.

Katrine Martinez
They are. Absolutely, absolutely. And it's it's a way for us, for the chamber, for one capital management, for our partners in this. It's also a way for us to, you know, to let the community, though, that we're there, that we're there to provide, educational information, but also for, you know, not only on exploratory basis, but also on a concrete bases, you know, people need help.

Katrine Martinez
I cannot tell you the amount of Canadians that I've met now that that that have had, bad stories with regards to connecting with the wrong people and getting frustrated. And so, that's what we want to avoid. And that's.

Wayne Baxter
Me.

Katrine Martinez
Yeah. Well.

Wayne Baxter
Okay, so, you know, you brought some really good, good ideas to the table here. Based on what you've seen so far. I know you've been down in Florida now for a lot going on for a 2 or 3 years.

Katrine Martinez
Yeah.

Wayne Baxter
What are Canadian business owners doing that you've seen that seems to be working.

Katrine Martinez
Well, first.

Wayne Baxter
Themselves established just to be clear on where do you what do you see.

Katrine Martinez
So the for everything else is that they're consulting with an immigration lawyer. They are looking at their options to come here legally to establish their business structure in a proper way. The consult with CPA advisory firm, tax attorneys, they consult with wealth management companies as well because they have, they have properties, they have, estate planning. They have rrsps in their country, in the country of origin.

Katrine Martinez
And all of this needs to be, done properly. So the number one, I would say would be getting the appropriate information from professionals. Number two is getting the so coming on an exploratory trip with their families, if they have family and looking at areas and, you know, consulting real local real estate, agents and asking the most amount of questions, you know, at the end of the day, you have to feel comfortable.

Katrine Martinez
We're going to you are going to relocate where your family is going to be, where your business is going to be. Like you said, traffic here can be a huge deterrent. And so, you know, maybe Miami is not for you. Maybe, you know, you'll be happier in West Palm Beach. And so this is these are things that you need to consider to have a successful establishment here and, and have a prolific business.

Katrine Martinez
And then, the third thing is the networking aspect of it. And so, you know, networking is here in Florida, there are, I mean, a lot of events. So you have to be, very selective in the types of events you go to. You have to make sure that, you know, we have to come in with the plan and who you want to meet and where you want to go, and then check out the appropriate events for you and your business.

Katrine Martinez
And and then I would say the fourth is to connect with the government organizations. So these these are I would be the top four of what, the successful Canadian businesses have. Manage to to, to, to, to be successful without, you know, any, any hiccups. Yeah.

Wayne Baxter
Well, like I said, it is a, you know, I, I've done it myself and, you know, relocating, from Canada, the US, you know, you know, ignorance is bliss. And the mother of adventure. You know, sometimes it's not what you don't know that can hurt you as much as what you do now. And, I couldn't agree with you more, Kareen, in regards to the collaboration and getting connected and I really like the idea, you know, obviously doing all your due diligence up front, getting your subject matter, relationships, immigration attorney, tax advisor, financial advisor, property and casualty experts.

Wayne Baxter
You can go on and on. Real, you know, your real estate broker, your mortgage person, etc..

Katrine Martinez
Insurance.

Wayne Baxter
Yeah, all of the all of that. Again, property and casualty. And then you get down to life insurance and all of that. But you know, the that's sort of getting yourself on the ground that's like the table stakes. And then once you get established, you know, having those professional relationships in place and, and really integrating yourself into the community and, and, and, and, and here's one last thing I would say is, you know, being a resource, trying to be a resource right away, there's no reason to wait.

Wayne Baxter
You know, it's the relationships that you foster when you go and. Right, and you're meeting people, you know, you're all of a sudden you can be a resource yourself. So it isn't always about how can how can you help me? It's more like, how can I help you? Right. So, well, anyway, and we're going to be doing a lot to help people educate people.

Wayne Baxter
And, and people are looking to get themselves integrated into Florida. You know, for the folks who have been here for a while and still wondering, you know, which way should I be turning? And, you know, we're going to be putting on some, roadshow. We're going to be doing a roadshow and doing some workshops this year. And, we can, hopefully be a resource for everybody there, regardless of your in, Naples or Fort Myers or Tampa or Orlando or wherever we're going to be.

Wayne Baxter
We're going to be traveling the state and I'm looking forward to it. But just just before we wrap up here, you know, we have folks watching in here on our website, but there's also people listening, you know, on a podcast format. And for those who are listening, they can't see on that. We have all of your information on the screen.

Wayne Baxter
What is the best way for them to contact you? Is it by phone, email? How can people contact you if they want more information about the candle? Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Katrine Martinez
So we do have a website which is Canada Florida chamber.com. We have a LinkedIn page where people can follow us like the page it's Canada, Florida Chamber, LinkedIn page. I mean, they can contact me by email. It's the best way at K dot martinez at Canada, Florida chamber.com or my phone number, which is (561) 897-5417. So these are the many ways in which you can contact me and have more information and participate.

Katrine Martinez
You know, you can come in as a non member at first and just come and see our events. Come, come participate in our activities and what we're doing. Get to know the community here and you will be more than welcome. And by all of our wonderful members.

Wayne Baxter
Well, that's, that's exactly how we all end up getting together. And, I was happy to join and be, and be a participant and be a resource. Green, thanks a lot for making time for us. So it was great seeing you again. Great. And I appreciate you having you on. And, I look forward to continuing our, our relationship over the long term.

Katrine Martinez
I look forward to it, too.

Wayne Baxter
Yeah. For sure. So Carrie Martinez is the executive director with the Canada Florida Chamber of Commerce, and she joined us today from Miami, Florida. I look forward to bringing you the three question podcast, and I hope you find them educational and informative. Please consider liking this video and subscribing to our podcast and YouTube channels, and to receive notification of when our latest episodes have been posted, please click on the notification bell.

Wayne Baxter
Lastly, to schedule an online consultation with me to discuss your wealth management needs, please click on the link in the description box below. www.onecapital.com/meetwitwayne. Thank you and we'll see you soon.