Palm Harbor Local

Your Content Needs a Headline

• Donnie Hathaway • Episode 213

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 50:39

Send a text

Joe Molinowski built Tampa Bay is Awesome by keeping content simple, leading with strong headlines, and treating “awesome” like an idea people instantly connect with. In this episode, we talk networking, local influence, and why intentional posting beats posting every day.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Why “is awesome” works as an idea more than a brand
  • The content rule that matters most: headline first, always
  • How to build a local audience without burning out
  • Why shares and saves beat likes for real reach
  • What Joe is building next heading into 2026

Guest Bio:
Joe Joe Molinowski built Tampa Bay is Awesome by keeping content simple, leading with strong headlines, and treating “awesome” like an idea people instantly connect with. In this episode, we talk networking, local influence, and why intentional posting beats posting every day.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Why “is awesome” works as an idea more than a brand
  • The content rule that matters most: headline first, always
  • How to build a local audience without burning out
  • Why shares and saves beat likes for real reach
  • What Joe is building next heading into 2026

Guest Bio:
Joe Molinowski is the founder of Tampa Bay is Awesome, a Tampa Bay-focused media presence highlighting food, events, and local hidden gems while driving real attention to local businesses.

Links:

CTA:
Subscribe for more local conversations, leave a review if the show brings you value, and share this episode with someone building a business in Tampa Bay.

 is the founder of Tampa Bay is Awesome, a Tampa Bay-focused media presence highlighting food, events, and local hidden gems while driving real attention to local businesses.

Links:

 Subscribe for more local conversations, leave a review if the

Stroll through the laid-back streets of the Palm Harbor community with this informative podcast, proudly brought to you by Donnie Hathaway with The Hathaway Group, your trusted guide and local expert in navigating the diverse and ever-changing property landscape of Palm Harbor.

Work with me + FREE Resources

Would you like help buying a home in Palm Harbor? - Buyer Consultation
Would you like help selling your house in Palm Harbor? - Seller Marketing Consultation
Download our free buyer's guide today - Buyer's Guide

SPEAKER_02:

I was, you know, hosting tons of networking events. I charged like 35 bucks. It was like three hours. I was spending like two or three hundred dollars a month on printing flyers to tell people where all the events were. I was like, this is ridiculous. Let me just put a website together. I met a guy at a networking event, bringing it back to where this stuff started, and it was in Wesley Chapel, and he was a realtor, and he's like, I want to be the guy of Wesley Chapel. I'm like, dude, just be the guy. Create a page for Wesley Chapel. If you don't start your videos and whatever you're doing with the headline, then you've already wasted the post. People set up brands and think people care about whatever that is. That's why, like, is awesome doesn't occur as a brand, it occurs as an idea.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Palm Harbor Local, the podcast dedicated to building community and sharing inspiring stories from the heart of Palm Harbor. I'm your host, Donnie Hathaway, and today we are joined by Joe Molinovsky, who is the founder of Tampa Bay Is Awesome. Palm Harbor Local is all about spotlighting individuals and businesses who are making a difference, overcoming challenges, and fostering connections right here in our hometown. If you're passionate about making a difference, getting involved, and celebrating the people who make Palm Harbor thrive, you're exactly where you need to be. Now, in today's episode, we'll talk about what Joe was doing well before he even launched Tampa Bay is Awesome and the power of networking and being a connector, which is a lot of what Joe has done in building Tampa Bay is Awesome brand. And lastly, we'll talk about what Joe has put in the plans for expanding in 2026. Now don't forget to connect with us on Instagram at Palm Harbor Local for behind the scenes highlights and join our weekly newsletter at Palm HarborLocal.com. Let's dive in and meet Joe. Welcome to the podcast. Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, man. I'm excited to chat with you and just kind of learn more about what you're doing. Nice, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, congratulations. I mean, this is a cool setup, and I don't know, I didn't even like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there you go. Yeah. So you run Tampa Bay Is Awesome, which is now spun off into is it a start with Tampa Bay Is Awesome?

SPEAKER_02:

No, it actually started with Downtown Tampa is awesome. Okay. That was the first theory idea to go test out in 2014. And then that was kind of the and before I had the all the local pages, I had uh dozens and I had soccer is awesome, bacon's awesome, sport, like everything was awesome before we had the song, and then after a point it was like, well, how the hell am I gonna monetize bacon is awesome? I mean, we had like 10,000 followers with like twenty dollars. Really? It was so that so the initial ideas were we're testing out just different names of stuff. I love this, this is awesome, bunch of variations, and awesome always performed like at a fraction of the cost when we were running ads. Okay. And it was like, all right, awesome it is, and then just went crazy. And uh like one point I had so many other local pages. I mean, I had Carolwood is awesome, Ybor City, St. Pete Beach, so many other, you know, smaller niched ones where it's like this is not sustainable. Yeah, I don't need a Carrollwood, it's awesome. Um, so Tampa Bay, now it's just Tampa Bay, St. Pete is awesome, Dunedin's awesome, Clearwater Beach, Mr. Tampa Bay, and Tampa Bay Luxury. Those are all of the local concepts that I've got going on.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so where did all this start? And what year like how long ago?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh 2014 is when I started everything before.

SPEAKER_00:

Testing out all the different ideas and like bacon is awesome, or was that before that?

SPEAKER_02:

No, that was 20 2014. So the infancy of one of the ide of the idea was I I was at a networking meeting. So I before that, I was you know, hosting tons of networking events. I had an insurance company, and I mean, breakfast, lunch, dinner, every day is like what networking event I'm either hosting or attending. And then over time, that was from like 2005 into like 2009, 10-ish. And after a point, I had in 2008, I set up a website because I was spending like two or three hundred dollars a month on printing flyers to tell people where all the events were. I was like, this is ridiculous. Let me just put a website together. It's like, how do I do that? And then I hung out with a friend, and we just got like a domain name and hosting, and we launched a WordPress site, and he's like, You go. Like, all right. And I just was clicking around, figuring it out. Yeah. And showed up to my event the next day and was like, All right, I'm not printing anything. Here's a website, have at it. Everybody was like, How did you do this? I'm like, I got this, that, yeah, and here we are. And they're like, Can you have a class? I'm like, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't think I should be teaching this.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm like, I'm not qualified to do any of this. They're like, please, please, please. I'm like, guys, this is gonna be the slightly less blind, leading the completely blind. And they just everybody was like, have the thing, have the class. And I I'm like, all right, fine, let's do it. And that was like the start into just internet marketing and affiliate marketing, because I charge like 35 bucks, and it was like three hours. And we did it at a it was called J. Christopher's at the time, it's now Brunchie's, they have just a private room that you can, you know, rent whatever for the day. Yeah. And three-hour class takes two hours to get everybody connected to the internet because yeah, you know, it's 2008. Like you know, crazy. The the older generation I'm working with at the time, they're just like, what do I click on? Where do we do this? Right. And the only thing we were doing was buying a domain, buying hosting, and connecting the name servers, because that was like the extent of what I knew, what I knew how to do. I'm like, we're gonna let's set you up WordPress and set you off. But I made 35 bucks ahead on the people coming. I think we had 15 people, and then I made$100 ahead on hosting. So everybody that signed up for hosting, I got the affiliate. I'm like, all right, cool. I just made$1,800 for three hours. I'm like, this is pretty sweet. Yeah. Let me go deeper into the rabbit hole there. And you know, Facebook marketing was kind of becoming a thing. That's how I was promoting events that I was already hosting, and it was what would bring people out. So then I was like pseudo-consulting and people taking me out for a lot of free lunches. Yeah. Like, oh, we'd love to learn how do we do this? They're like, I'll take you to lunch. I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And then in 2009, 2010, I was hanging out with a another buddy who he had a friend that was, you know, business consultant for 30 years. And he's just, I'm like, can I do this? Because I don't have any idea, like, how do you run a practice that does this? Right. And how do I charge for this? Like, it's gotta be performance-based, right? I mean, there's you know, I'm I'm not I don't like trading the time for money. I'd rather be paid based on the performance that we have. So it's like, all right, cool. We paid you X, but we made 10X on that. Right. That was justifiable.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there's value there, right? It's easy to determine, like, it's worth it for the consumer.

SPEAKER_02:

Totally. I mean, I dealing with marketing agencies and people over time, and it's like everybody just thinks that their time is so valuable, and it's like, it's valuable to you. If you didn't produce anything out of that, it was a waste of everyone's time and money. So you should own that, which is not a popular opinion, but it's easier to sell stuff when you're willing to risk it. Right. You know, like no one says no when I'm like, hey, I had this idea, pay me afterwards, let's see if it works.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Who's gonna tell you no? Right. Like, so I met a guy at a networking event bringing it back to where this stuff started, and it was in Wesley Chapel, and he was a realtor, and he's like, I want to be the guy of Wesley Chapel. And this is like 2011. Okay, Wesley Chapel doesn't exist. There's like seven oaks and Lexington Oaks and nothing. Wiregrass isn't even an idea.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm like, dude, just be the guy. Create a page for Wesley Chapel. There's like two things happening, you know, just talk about that stuff. And he's just like, that sounds like a lot of work. I'm like, all right, then don't do it. What do you want me to tell you? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00:

It's stuck in my head. And yeah, that's pretty good for like 2011, right? Like that whole like the agent being like the local.

SPEAKER_02:

It's the easiest thing in the world. Yeah, like there's no one doing anything. Right. So that kind of just stuck with me. And then I had gone to meetings. I I wanted to do something. I'm like destined. Like, we have an awful group of people marketing downtown Tampa, marketing Igbor City. Like, it's not run by people who understand anything with marketing, it's run by a bunch of people on a board who don't do any of these things. So I started going to some meetings. I'm just gonna go do what I want to do. Let's see if it works, because then I at least have something to go pitch. Um, so that's where downtown Tampa's Awesome came up a couple years later, tested it out. It went to like five or six thousand people in two months, and it was just me going and eating and drinking around downtown. Yeah. I mean, hanging out at the restaurateurs and just like, hey guys, this is what I'm doing. They're like, Okay, whatever, make whatever you want. I don't care. Yeah. There's no influencer marketing. Right, right. And that was the infancy of it, you know. What's your background before that? Like you said you you had an insurance company? So I dropped out of USF in my second year after going to like a business calculus class, and I didn't understand like anything that the teacher had a really thick accent, and I was like, I'm not gonna I'm not doing this. Done with this. I'm like, none of these people are living the lifestyle I'm interested in, and I want to do something, you know, I'll figure it out. And super credits my parents, like they didn't give me any shit about it. I think they always knew that like I've been trying to retire since I was 12. Like it was like, what do you want to be when you grow up? I'm like, I just want to do whatever I feel like doing. Yeah. Like, what's that look like? How do I do that? No one had an answer, but got into insurance at 23, and the first month was amazing. I was like, this is great. You know, you're warm market, everybody's like, yeah, this is cool. I'm like, great. Right. And then like the second month came and there's like nothing. I'm just like, I'm not rich.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I have a business owner.

SPEAKER_02:

What's going on? I have a business. I'm a business owner. I should I should be printing money. And uh learned about one networking event, and then that learned about another one, and before you know it, I'm just like then the the learning component there was no one cares about insurance. Yeah. So that was a fun, like, all right, cool. Now what am I doing at these events? I need to know these people. Then I just started connecting everybody. You know, I met X person at this event who said they wanted to meet someone who does Y. I'm like, I met them at another event. So just started connecting everybody and then eventually started to make money, which was nice. But kind of just inherited, learned, continue to read tons and tons of books about whatever sales and marketing and investing is extremely important, but it can also be somewhat confusing.

SPEAKER_00:

With taxes, asset allocations, stocks, bonds, and funds, to know what to do with all this could be overwhelming. Jacob Wade is a financial coach and will work directly with you to put together a roadmap for your money, for life. Jacob has built a name for himself as a finance expert, and you can find his writings in places like ForbesAdvisor, Money.com, Investipedia, and Time.com. But he has a passion for helping people create a clear and simple investment roadmap to buy back their time and retire with confidence. If you could use a financial coach on your team, then simply go to palmaborlocal.com backslash roadmap to book a call with Jacob today and see if hiring a financial coach could help you crush your 2025 goals. Don't wait to have that same feeling next year of not hitting your financial goals. Connect with Jacob today and let's make 2025 your best financial year yet. No, uh growing up, like did you ever I want to own a business, I want to do like any, I want to be a marketing, like anything like that?

SPEAKER_02:

Not really. Um, so I mean, I was just like, how can I make money? It wasn't, I think it was like I'd have a business, but yeah, just show me how to do it. Yeah. You know, I can remember my parents being like, it takes money to make money investing in this and that, but they weren't doing it, so I didn't have like a practical learning environment for it. No, no, they didn't own a business or anything like that. Nope, they my dad did in New York when I was uh really young, and then we moved down here, and um he worked on boats and he was an engineer doing stuff, and like when we moved down, my mom like worked at Publix in like '92. So they were a great role model and example of like work ethic. Right. They just work their asses off. And I'm just like, I don't really want to do that. That doesn't look fun. This doesn't look like I'm playing with my friends, this looks like I'm going somewhere every morning and dealing with other people's headaches. Yeah. Real estate was is always been a little bit of an interesting thread of of interest, and how is it gonna play out? And it's you know, that's been fun. But I liked insurance because of residual income. And the funny part for me was actually, so I I sold like my last policy in like 2009.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And just a few years ago, maybe three or four years ago, my buddy's calling me up. He's like, Hey, company is trying to get in touch with you. Like, you want to call me back? And I was like, and this is a guy who's kind of always a bit salesy. I'm like, What are we doing here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's like, They have fourteen thousand dollars of residuals that they haven't been able to pay you. I'm like, Oh you screwing with me? Yeah, he was like, No, man, call, call him up, call them up, and like a day later, I'm like, I just got 14 grand from that's incredible, 11 or 12 years of doing absolutely nothing. So that was just super cool. Um, and I still get like I was gonna say, do you still have the yeah, yeah, I still get like a hundred bucks, 150 bucks a month, something like that. So it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so you just keep that active. And you got into real estate when?

SPEAKER_02:

So real estate started because of the pages in 2016. I was hanging out with just you know, I was still networking a little bit, but the pages had been growing, so now people are reaching out to me a little. And people like, hey, can I can you promote a property of mine? Can we do this? Can we do that? So the way that I originally started off was like you're an agent in Dunedin and you're just you know doing the social stuff you don't get. All right, come hang out. You can be Joe's friend every time I go to Dunedin.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And we'll just parade around town and promote what you're doing, and when you have a listing, we'll show it off. Um, so they would pay, you know, anywhere from like$500 to$1,000 a month to like be my buddy. Yeah. And I'm just generating absurd amounts of leads. I mean, thousands of leads from their website from from my from my post, driving traffic to their site, and I was making sure that we're tracking what's coming in on that. And stupidly enough, I mean it took six years for me to just be like, Why like they're paying me a thousand dollars? Like, I just made them thirty thousand dollars. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is stupid. And like remember the last one, it was like a of a house that had burned down on Madeira Beach, and the guy's like, Can you just go promote this lot? I'm like, Yeah, cool. And it was still going for like 400k. I'm just like, What's 400k get you on Madeira Beach? And I just like walk around, I'm like, This, this, this is it. I'm standing on it. Yeah, sold it in like two days. He paid me 500 bucks, and I'm just like, Well, yeah, we gotta change this. Like, let me just go get my license and still manage things the same way, but now I can, you know, share in the share in the revenue.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. Generate a little bit more of that for yourself. The marketing thing is didn't so going back to like networking stuff, like you did a ton of networking events. So many, so many. Did you enjoy that?

SPEAKER_02:

Initially, no, it's fun because you're socializing, you're just hanging out and mingling with people. But after a point, I mean, I remember very vividly like the last day of doing stuff. I'm like, all right, done. Yeah, like tired of this. Yeah. Like, you know, it's very like, you know, B and I E, or you're just everyone, all right, everybody do your commercial. And you know, after for five, six years of doing it, you've seen the same people for so many you've I I know what everybody in this room does. Yeah. So does everybody else in this room. There's one new person, three new people. What are we doing? And uh I had I think I would host like three or four groups, 50, 60 people each, and then go to other ones. But yeah, I was definitely ready to be done with that.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you think that's a good concept as a as a business owner, like the networking groups? Like there's I think it depends on the businesses. Like real estate's always like the hottest seat in those groups.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, of course. Anything service-based is like that critical thing. Yeah, you know, B and I've done a fantastic job of building those communities of people who are, you know, they're tracking leads that they're giving each other, they're being mindful of when they hear something, refer them out. So I I they absolutely play a great role. People will be like, oh, do you still go to networking events? I was like, restaurateurs don't go to networking events, guys. Like, I don't need to be like I can meet anybody I want to meet at this point because of what I've built. Like, I don't need to go, do you know this person? How do I get to this person? How do I get to that person? Like, I'll figure out a way to get to right directly there. And um, but it's it's still the same, I think, philosophy of when you are able to provide the value to whoever it is that you're trying to build a relationship with, like before you've tried to build a relationship, like they're asking to hang out with you. And that was kind of what I had done with the networking was like, all right, I just heard your sales pitch in your 30 seconds. You said you want to meet this person. I know 20 of those people, let me just connect you. Like, and then that's it. Like, there's no expectation, I don't care. Cool, go make some money. Yeah, like I don't have anything for you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but you're just that guy, like the connector, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Like the you know I was it a Jeffrey Gidamer or uh uh every salesperson said you help enough people get what they want, you're able to get what you want. You know, it's and it just I soaked that in at a young age, and I'm super grateful. Like my daughter, she's only seven, like she has already mastered how to win friends on this one's people, like it's absurd. Yeah, she's just like, What is this sweater? This is so lovely. Yeah, and and my wife is the opposite of that. My wife's like, please stop talking to people. Oh yeah. Um, but it's so fun, so fun.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so the Go Giver was a book that I read, and that was like the first one that like the whole connect. Uh Bob Bob Berg and someone else. I forget. Um, I have it in the back. We'll I'll check after, but but yeah, I mean it's you know, and that's what I've learned through the podcast too, is is just um you're just being curious, building relationships with people, and and then it's easy and fun to connect them with with others right in the community and stuff. Yeah. From where like Tampa Bay is awesome now and like your concept and how you create the videos and stuff, like what did it start? Has it always been that that same concept or has it changed?

SPEAKER_02:

It's it's pretty I've tried to keep everything like if stuff's not simple, it's not gonna last.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And in the content creation world, it's easy to burn yourself out. So, what are the systems that work well, scheduling content? So the ideas have kind of been always there. Everything I've always done on a phone. It's like if you can't do it on a phone, it's too complicated. Yeah, because it's like, all right, you've now added, I need to get it from my phone to my computer, into the program. Like, then after three days, now all right, now I got 20 videos to do where like at this point, if I go somewhere, I'll usually shoot everything and I just like hang out there and I put the video together while I'm sitting there. Yeah. And then show whoever I was doing it for. They're like, like they don't know what I'm doing. And then I show them, like, what the hell just happened? Like, I got like three videos done, headlines. I'm like, I just gotta go do the voiceover, guys, but this is what I'm gonna roll with. And yeah, it's it's gotta be streamlined, especially with still so many pages. Right. The biggest change I think has actually been like I used to be like you I have to post every single day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's just like psychologically immense. Now I don't care anymore. Like if I miss a few days, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00:

How often are you posting? You just whenever you have content?

SPEAKER_02:

So Tampa Bay is awesome's definitely got content every day. Sometimes more than one post. St. Pete, most days. Dunedin two to four times a week, maybe. Yeah. Clearwater Beach, like I've slacked off on a ton. Like I haven't posted in a couple weeks, but it's like to understanding how you can kind of like restart them a little bit. I throw a sunset post on Clearwater Beach, explodes again. All right, cool. I've primed the pump enough for talking about restaurants and whatever. So it's not critical to be toast. It's more critical to understand why you are posting. I think play people, businesses, like who you're talking to, like what they're looking for. Just why are you posting this? Like if it's not posted with the intention of like this is going to get engagement and this is going to, you know, activate my audience. If it's not going to do that, if it's like posting for the sake of randomly getting a post out today, it's it's wasting time and it's kind of frustrating the algorithm where if you have back to back to posts that just flop, the next post that you that would be good and you want people to see isn't going to do as well. You've kind of just like continued to you know show Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, whoever, like you post crap, your audience isn't gonna care about this, or just skip the crap and be like, all right, the last one hit, what's the next one that we're gonna post that's gonna have some relevance to it?

SPEAKER_00:

It's interesting how the algorithms change and stuff, right? Because it there's there's still talk of like you've gotta post a ton of content, like daily, twice a day, whatever it is to reach an audience. But I I do agree with you, and I think Gary Vase even talked about this, where quality matters m now more than than it did in the in the past. I think the to an extent, right? Like you don't have to have everything like perfectly polished and edited and stuff, but raw, whatever, like that's the cool part about it.

SPEAKER_02:

But I think what where the flooding the market with contents theory is, is most people's engagement isn't very high. So it's like, all right, and their audience might not be that large, so they're like, you need to keep posting because like at some point it's gonna get in front of like they're not thinking of it from the engagement, they're thinking of it from the exposure, where the engagement is the value, like shares and saves are the currency. I don't even care about likes, right? Like shares because that's what's pushing it out. Yeah, I don't think that that's changed. I think as many algorithm changes and everything like that, like if you don't start your videos and whatever you're doing with a headline, then you've already wasted the post.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Like headline is critical. Like three seconds, getting people past that, and then getting them past seven seconds, and then you're solid. Yeah. Like you get the little check mark of like, all right, cool, people care about this. They watch seven seconds. Yeah. Let's blow it out.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Do you have a formula now for your headlines, like how you're creating those?

SPEAKER_02:

Or so I am just my brain at this point just goes around thinking of headlines. Like it's I just see stuff and I was like, oh, this is a clever headline.

SPEAKER_00:

Like you're looking at other content, or you're just like in.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh wow, that would be that would work. I forgot where I was a night ago and was out having a drink with some friends, and uh, damn, what did she say? I usually will save them in my phone because I know that I'll lose them. Yeah, I'll like think of it, I was like, doom, saving that. It was something about a cocktail, and I was like, that's total gold. Like you'll you'll almost like a comedian will reference like they see something in passing, they think of a quick line for a bit. Like, that's my headspace of headlines at this point.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Just annoying sometimes. I'll like wake up at night and be like, oh, that's a good one. Gotta save this one.

SPEAKER_00:

But yeah, so you've been doing content since 2014. Yeah. Has anything uh have you have you noticed? Um is it harder to get in uh engagement now, or is like you've built the pages to such a large audience now?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't think that engagement's more challenging. I I look the so where the bacon page actually came from was I was working with a company locally and they do uh food delivery nationwide. It's a paleo food company. And I only did the bacon one because like they had a relationship with a bacon farm, and I'm just like, let's just test this thing out. And we said a bacon's awesome, it blew up. I was like, all right, cool, these people like bacon. Now we can at least try to use this to like, hey, we can buy bacon, and and we were also you you've always not always for a very long time. You were always able to create an audience in Facebook Meta Dashboard that would be like, all right, I want to target everybody that likes bacon, and then also they they also have to be paleo food people too. So narrow that audience down. So that's how we built the bacon page, and then we use that to go promote it. So thinking about that, I think the company at the time had like 30,000 followers on their page. I just built 10,000 people that were their target audience for ten dollars with a generic thought, and that's really the bigger theory of how to build things bigger and faster. People set up brands and think people care about whatever that is. That's why, like, is awesome doesn't occur as a brand, it occurs as an idea. Oh yeah, Tampa Bay is awesome, Dun Eaton is awesome. Yes, I agree with you. Yeah. So, like, I was like, let's create a bacon page with a friend of mine who was bottling uh pasta sauce and going in the grocers. I was like, bro, no one cares about your brand. When you leave Tampa, you're irrelevant. Like, create I love pasta. And then you can, you know, when you're gonna be in Atlanta, you can run ads in Atlanta a month before it's out there, build a huge audience. Now our pasta sauce is released here. It's so much less expensive and easier, and gives you other ways to monetize that concept. Let's say you had the pasta page, like he's had a bunch of people who love pasta in Atlanta. He could be like, all right, what are the cool restaurants around town? Like a talk about them to get them to pay, like, hey, give us the money. We put made a post about you, it did really well. Fire over a hundred bucks and we'll run some ads. Now you're using their money to build your concept and sell your sauce. Like it it just works so much bigger and faster. And you know, it's I'm gonna say like I'm kind of a Gary V product at this point because he he was doing variations of that in the in the early time with the wine. Yeah. Like it wasn't his wine, it wasn't his parents' wine store, it was wine TV and him ranting about stuff. Like he created a theory, an I general idea, and then he could sell anything. Right. So that's the uh that's what's always worked. It continues to work. So like thinking of a bigger audience to to reach. Totally, because you can s you can get other people funding stuff, you can build the audience for less money, it's an easier thing to engage with. You do have to stay within context. Like, yeah, I can't just go start talking about gambling at like, oh, it's awesome. We go to Hard Rock today because you can win all this money. It's like that's not why they followed me. Yeah. Very much how look, the Palm Harbor local, the the podcast of stuff here, like it's a theory. It's like, oh yeah, I live in Palm Harbor. Yeah. If what are they talking about? What's going on? I want to be in the know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Um, what is what's like your future vision for Tampa Bay is awesome and stuff? Like, are you doing anything different?

SPEAKER_02:

Or do you think there's a lot of stuff that we're been building out for the last couple months now? So we have two online shows, podcasts that are launching, and I am partnering up with uh it's called Cheeseology. So they are a cheese making like class, kind of like you know, painting with a twisty sort of thing. But yeah. You show up, you make mozzarella, awesome date night. Yeah. They've been around for a little over a year, they're franchising, so I'm leading the franchise development side of everything that they're doing. So that all kind of ties into the shows that we're producing. One of them is a bit more like food, restaurant tour focused, and the other one is called Beyond the Followers, and it's me hanging out with influencers in various industries when I've gone. I went to my daughter's school the other day, and uh one of the kids was like, You're a YouTuber. They're like losing their minds, and understanding that like a very considerable part of the younger population is like, I want to be on YouTube, I want to be this. There's no educational component to this because it's so hard to organize because every one of our business silos is so different. There's obviously some commonalities, but let's break this down. Like, who's a Disney influencer? How are you monetizing this? How did it start? Because Disney's not paying these people, Disney does not care about what they're doing. Yeah, and so many industries, how how do they grow? How did it evolve? How people think that Instagram and Facebook pay me. Like, if I made a hundred dollars this month from Instagram, it would be like it was a big deal. Like, I don't make anything from them. So hanging out with them, we were originally going to go starting that with like a Netflix side of things and pitching it, but it's faster for us to just go get that out, build the credibility because every show is built in with thousands and millions of followers. So all that's launching in January, the real estate side of things, we've streamlined a little bit differently. So there's just like a lot of been uh development that's been building up in preparation kind of for next year. Yeah, 2026. So, yeah, there's a lot of fun stuff. What that means for awesome, like I'm still gonna be doing my foodie stuff and that still goes. Um, because it's so rewarding. I mean, I like to eat.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, where did that get where did how like did you like was that a passion or just something you enjoyed?

SPEAKER_02:

Like, why did you start with restaurants or uh I mean look, you like eating and I'm like, I'm good at eating and drinking. I could do this. I was already doing it. Yeah. And knowing that it's content that people will engage with. Yeah. And you know, you I have fitness people, like, oh, can we train to be this? And I was like, I have a very different diet program than anything that, like, oh, well, we can help you with that. I was like, you I it's taking me this. I'm 41. I have dialed this into understanding like my fasting days and cardio days, like it's a lot. But to be able to do something, like I was just at 4.2 uh a week or two ago, and they launched a new brunch, and they were averaging like 70, 80 tickets a night. I made a post about stuff, and they went back to back weeks of like 225 tickets a night. Like that's awesome. That that ability is I don't say priceless. I mean, we made a lot of money for them, and they're a great person, they're a great team to work with, but to have that ability with restaurants is is just cool to be able to make that difference. So it's yeah, to have that influence, right? Like over the in in the community. The first the very first time I kind of like really recognized it. You familiar with whistle stop in the safety harbor?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So I worked at the spa from when I was 16 till I was 20. I was a valet in a bellman. There was nothing in Safety Harbor, yeah, you know, 299 to 2003. Yeah. And um years had passed, and I had the pages, and I saw somebody saying that the city was making them do something or it's gonna cost them like 15 grand. And I was like, that's bullshit. And I was like, they had like a petition or something. I did zero research. I like read a post and was like, I don't like this either, and it went crazy. And then like the news is hitting me, like lots of people think that I'm the authority on what's happening. I was like, oh, I don't know anything. All I know is I like burgers, I like milkshakes, I like whistle stop. I didn't want them to have to spend money they didn't spend. Yeah. And that was the okay, you can't just like put stuff out, randomly do things. You you get you have to you have to take some time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I want to go back to you said you you read a lot of books and stuff. Like, what is uh if you had to pick one book that had like the biggest influence, biggest impact on you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So the first book that I could I mean it's highlighted and I mean Thinking Grow Rich was was when I quit school. It was I think it's page seven of the paperback, and it says something about cutting your safety nets. And I was like, all right, done.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It was like all I needed. This is the book you're gonna do. You seem incredible, you've been around since the 30s. Let me let me do that. Um, you know, I I think that that book and like, you know, that and psychocybernetics were the originals, so to speak, of that kind of personal development, business, manifestation, all of these things to where like everything else that we've had for a hundred years has sort of been somebody telling that story with their own words. How does it, you know, relate and connect to different people? I feel you know, those psycho cybernetics is rough. Like I've never read that one. I think it I don't know if it came out before or after, but it's kind of like Think and Grow Rich, but a little bit more like science-y. Okay. Um, way ahead of its time. Like so, so far ahead of its time. But those two would be really Think and Grow Rich would be the starting point. But I am Was that one of the first books you read? Was Think and Grow Rich? I don't think it was one of the first ones. I think the first one I read. So when I was like 18, I went to one of the like the network, like network marketing was like a huge thing from like 2003 through, you know, through the recession. And I was, I think I just started in college, and a friend of mine joined something called Quickstar, which was like the online version of like Amway's digital online version. And it was talking about residual income, which is what eventually led me to insurance stuff. But all of the network marketing companies are very personal development, like yeah, you know, reading this every month in Teams and brah rah rah. But the first book was called Um Become or What You Were What You Were Born to Be by Brian Sousa Sauza. Okay. I still have that. It was just like my first book of any sort of personal developmentiness. Let me check this out. Uh yeah. And I was like, all right, cool. And it's a lot of quotes and it was good. But that I think thinking or it was very soon after that uh I did that. But at this, I have like if I just listen to I listened to David Goggin's stuff years ago, and like you can't listen to another, there's no other personal development motivational books that like top. Go anywhere near it. Yeah, it's just like what it what are you looking for? Like, and I need I like the just screaming at you rawness of stuff because we're everyone's like looking for magic bullets, and it it felt like when the first time I listened to to it was like so many of the ideas and thoughts and theories that I had kind of had, but it sort of gave a little bit more framework to it for me. So it's kind of just like my little annual recharge, either one of them. Usually like the second one I tend to leave. Did you look did you listen to it or I listen to both of them, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because it's great when he's doing the audio and stuff, right? And then the stories in between and like the backstories and stuff.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And I have I have one YouTube video that's from C.T. Fletcher. So C.T. Fletcher is a was a a bodybuilder, and like he's I think I listened to it maybe right around just before Goggins or after Goggins. Yeah. And he had a bunch of videos on YouTube, and he's just that same kind of like loud cursing vibe. And I have like a three-minute video that I've saved, and like when I do my cold plunge and stuff, like that's my three-minute timer, is listening to that, and it's just like those two things just charge me all up because after a point, you really have all of the knowledge you need. It's how are you gonna implement this and be consistent?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's what I realized at some point, like the same thing. I'm I went through, read a bunch of personal development books, and and then you're like they're all the same ideas, they're just kind of twisted in their own, you know, personal way and stuff. And it's like these people have just taken like really it's like the think and grow rich concepts and and just made it their own, and then wrote a book about it, and you're like, Yeah, I already know all this stuff. So it's like just yeah, implement it.

SPEAKER_02:

And feeling and you know, I I write almost every day, like it's more like gratitude, affirmation-y, just kind of getting it out. And I always like my intro of it is you know, life gets better every day in every way, and then at the end I'll write the universe is operating absolutely perfectly, and I continue on with that, but it's taken years to like settle into that that that idea that everything's happening fine. And it was the one of the most fascinating, I think, experiences was I I'd gone to a three-day Ayurvedic, it's like a yogi kind of thing in Ocala, and I had met the guys in the family who had like how I got there wasn't was reasonably interesting. But then I was listening to a book, uh, I think it was a surrender experiment. He has two books. I forgot the other one. It was one of his two books. I forgot the guy's name, too. Okay, let's call it the surrender experiment. Whoever that author is is who I was listening to. And I'm getting in my car after the third day to go home. I'm in, and it's a beautiful property. It's like probably a 200-yard driveway to get out, it's on a lake. Yeah, I'm still on the property, and in this book, he starts to talk about his relationship with the guy that I just left. Oh, wow. And this place that I am. And I'm like stopped in a driveway and I rewound it. I was like, what the hell is he talking about? I'm just like, holy shit. Like, all right, yeah, I am in the flow. Like, this is perfect. All right, good. Yeah, doesn't matter how anything else is working, I'm in the space and not forcing things. That I think is one of the hardest, you know. You you like, I have an idea and I'm gonna go make this happen. Like, yeah, it's not gonna happen the way that linear path, like the shows that we're doing, the way that your podcast has gone, all these things, like 50 other things have yeah, happened during the way that that's helped.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's that's a massive learning curve, I think. Like understanding that and and being okay with that, right? Just accepting it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

You can't fight if you fight against it, like you're just gonna cause more headaches, more friction, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like just go with the flow. Like what do you I journal my myself daily too, and then uh meditation I've started to do more uh consistently now, and that's been a big change for me.

SPEAKER_02:

It's huge, and I'm not doing I'm gonna say any of it right now. I'm not gonna say enough of it would be at over simple. Like I have not been, and so when I started doing I was meditating before you know four or five, six years ago, I think. Started in my like later twenties. Yeah. And a friend of mine brought me to like a Wim Hof session. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Four years ago. Before it was like it was like just before the world was like, cold plunges were great. Yeah. So no one knew anything. It was like I went down to the thing in Sarasota with him. We did the breathing, and the breath work was like the lights kind of turned on. Right. I remember leaving this, you know, we we did the sessions of breath work, we did the plunge, and it was like, God, it was just like your drug of this is awesome. I want to like live in that space. Yeah. And it's it's a an unfortunate thing that like we've all that we all the world has leaned more into the cold plunging component to it, the science and you know, the Huron podcast and all these different amazing things, and it's just fantastic. But the breath work component, like it's easy to skip. Right. You know, like, oh, I just want to go jump in the plunge. Like it's an activity, yeah. Or like the breath work I is I think more important for me, but it's I'm not making any time for it right now.

SPEAKER_00:

The yeah, I've had a trainer on it, and he's big on that too. It's like, you know, breath work, and he mentioned it too. It's like when you do breath work, it's it's like a drug, like you're you're on a high because it's you know, you haven't experienced that before.

SPEAKER_02:

100%. Like you almost get it. I remember the first time felt almost a little bit like a whip it where it was like I remember just laying there looking up like through the tree through a tree, and it was like, wow, like okay, how do I just feel like this all the time? Then you can, you know, when you read like autobiography of a yogi or something, and these guys who disappear for like months and years, like, all right, that's a pretty injured. I don't think we could do that. Yeah, like I can see that being consuming.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Maybe like a day or two.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. The cold plunge, do you enjoy that? Like, do you still do that? I I do cold plunges all the time. I love it. I I am a psycho.

SPEAKER_00:

I uh stochastically what's your attempts that you're in it?

SPEAKER_02:

So I have one at the house that during the it's in my garage. Yeah. So I noticed it like the the bottom like eight or inches of the water, which is where the thermostat part was, was like reading, you know, 49, but then above the water, above that, like there was like a very definitive line. It was like definitely in the higher 50s, maybe even sixties. So at the house, I'll try to do it at like 50-ish degrees. Okay. I have no idea how accurate it is. Yeah. But this day spa that I'm a member of, they have a steam room, a sauna, and she recently got a cold plunge, and she keeps it at 52. And like, I don't, I'm fine with it. I don't care.

SPEAKER_00:

We can go higher, we can go lower. Yeah, the the coldest I've done is 47, but I I have one at the house too, and I usually do like 52 to 55, somewhere around there. I've done the 30s. That's oh I don't I don't know if I could do thirty. I mean, I'm sure I could do it, right?

SPEAKER_02:

It's it's definitely a shock. I remember getting in 47 like hurts, like it all, yeah. 50s, like I could sit in this all day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Um once you get past like the first 30 seconds, like in 50. Totally. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

My buddy, so there was a place in St. Pete that we were just popping into and going to, and like it was circulating, and he did it. I didn't go that day. And he's like, dude, it was it was like 31. I'm like, how was it not a block of ice? He's like, because it was circulating. He's like, that sucked. I was like, and I'm like, I want to go through it.

SPEAKER_00:

There's no like thermal layer you build up, it's just constant.

SPEAKER_02:

But he actually he'd gone to um like the Alps and did a whole week-long Wim Hof thing and like wow, really crazy intense stuff. Sounds fun. I don't I don't know if I need to go there for it, but it's yeah, yeah. It sounds pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_00:

There's still a lot of benefits. What do you notice the most like when you from cold plunging? Like what what side effects, what benefits you the most?

SPEAKER_02:

So I I was told that like I find that I will stay, like I operate at like a hundred thousand degrees. Like I am just sweating and hot all the time. So it just like gives me a lot longer regulation of like I'll still kind of like have a little bit of a shiver, you know, maybe 45 minutes later sometimes. And somebody was like, Oh, that means you have really great circulation. I'm like, okay. But I I just you know, recovery sides of things is great. I think just a little that endorphin rush. I'm not a like I'll I started drinking coffee because tea became like eight dollars for a tea. And I was like, well, I just need to hang out and get some work done. So like, all right, I'll get a three dollar coffee. So that's how I actually started drinking coffee probably five years ago. Yeah, wow. Um never before? I just I don't need caffeine, like I'm not a wake up in the morning, give me a cup of coffee kind of guy. Yeah, it's amazing. So now I kind of just get it, and now I'll even drink it black because I'm trying to acquire a palate for like discerning coffees. Yeah, but yeah, I I you know the waking up component to it. I like the little doing something you didn't want to do. Yeah. That little mental, like, all right, check that. Didn't feel like doing that today, got that done. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And that never goes away with cold plunging.

SPEAKER_02:

Like you especially when you do it like so as we get colder now, yeah, I'll have it on in the garage and I'll do it like before I leave to go to the gym or something. Okay. At like, you know, 5 30 in the morning, where it's like, you really don't like you really don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

You're just like, All right, let's go, let's get it done. Yeah, I've been trying this week to do it when I get home from work because like I I work out in the morning and I'm trying to to not do it like right before I work out or right after. Yeah. So I'm like, all right, when else can I do it? I'm like, maybe I'll do it like as soon as I get home. It's like five o'clock, five thirty. So it's like still long enough where it's not right before bed. And I'm seeing how that goes. But I do like, I think I've noticed a little bit more of an effect like first thing in the morning. Have you done it before bed? Because I've done that in the not right before bed. Oh, it was terrible. The latest I'd done it is like 5 36, probably.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't remember why I did it, but I did it at like nine o'clock. Yeah, because that wake that keeps you up. Oh my god. I don't know what I was thinking. I was like, I'll be fine. And it was not. I was like, I'll take a shower, I'll heat myself back up. Like that did not work. No, did not work, it was terrible.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, yeah, all great things too, especially when you're managing so much, right? Like you need to take time for yourself.

SPEAKER_02:

The thing that I feel like I've learned, and I love long distance things and you know, endurance-y stuff. You know, Thursdays, I'll go run stairs for 30, 45 minutes with friends and long bike rides on the weekends. But there was why do I like that? What is it about that? Is it the physical stuff? It's like, no, that's I've learned really over the last years, like that's cool more of my meditation side to where it's like, you know, why did I like to do it's not the running of the stairs, it's the last 15 minutes where you're just like you can't even think of anything else. You're just like, just get through it. You know, you're on a really long bike ride, and you, you know, I'll do the veterans. And I don't know if you've ever been up there, but it's like on your way back to 54, there is uh a sign that's you know, it says a mile and three quarters to get to the exit. And it's not really a mile and three-quarters, it's like two miles because when you get to the exit ramp, it's another yeah, but like you see that sign, and you're just like, All right. And I I you know, find an email. I'm like, just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling.

SPEAKER_00:

One pedal at a time.

SPEAKER_02:

And that singleness of focus is so challenging to get outside of doing it with meditation. Like, how do you clear everything out? This is all my mind is able to focus on.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's it. So for me, it it was running. I used to run a lot a few years ago, and and oh I'm starting to get back into it, but like I I noticed I would try to like think about um something that was going on in my life or something I wanted to think through like early on in the run. I'm be like, okay, I'm gonna focus on this and and just kind of like sit with this idea. And I couldn't I couldn't focus on it for whatever reason, I you know, and so I would just like alright, forget that. And then like all the ideas would come like rushing to me, like towards the end of the, the very end of the run, right? The last you know, five minutes or whatever it is, it was like I think you know, you kind of like clear out your mind or and you're able to just kind of like accept whatever's coming your way, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

It's awesome, and it's it takes like a lot of time and work to get to that. Right, right. You know, you can't just like a mile, I mean a mile run might be fine for some people, like you're not gonna get no that clarity. It's like I need a solid 30 minutes of punishment before you can kind of get that clarity.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, 100%, 100%. So good stuff. So, where can people uh if they want to learn more about Tampa Bay's awesome, what's the best way for doing it?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, any, you know, Tampa Bay's awesome, Dunedin's awesome, St. Pete is awesome, Clearwater Beach, I mean Facebook, Instagram, Tampa Bay is awesome, and Mr. Tampa Bay on TikTok. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

What's your best performing um social platform?

SPEAKER_02:

People did Facebook still crushes it like insanely more with less engagement. But like more views. Totally. Like you know, it's interesting. Instagrams combine the numbers now, so it's like pulling your reach from both, but it's like when you go and look at the analytics, like I'm 3x from Facebook than it is on Instagram. Audience-wise, they're pretty similar. Uh Facebook's like 230,000 and Instagram's 212. But the exposure reach of it just crushes it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02:

And that and carousels now. I mean, they keep changing a few things, so like carousel posts will do a ton better. I'm just figuring out the game and pivoting as you go.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but same overall concept, keeping that the same.

SPEAKER_02:

Headlines. Yeah. That opening three-second headline is everything.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I don't think that'll ever change, right?

SPEAKER_02:

Like that's no, look, I mean, you look at YouTube videos from 2008, everybody's still got the same face on the front and whatever clickbaity headline, like 20 years later, we're still doing the same thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's so true. So true. Well, Joe, thanks for being here, man. It's been fun to have you. Thanks for having me. It's been great. Yeah. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Palm Harbor Local. We are incredibly grateful for our sponsors who make this show possible. So let's be sure to keep supporting these local businesses and let's keep building community together. Until next time, stay involved, stay connected, and keep making Palm Harbor an amazing place to call home. Bye.

Head Shot

Donnie Hathaway

Host

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

Palm Harbor Local Artwork

Palm Harbor Local

Donnie Hathaway
Welcome to Florida Artwork

Welcome to Florida

Chadd Scott