0:00:09 - Speaker 1
I always loved writing since I was a kid. So when I got a little older, I'm like you know I love movies, I love comic books, I love characters. How awesome would it be to you know the way people cheer for these characters, the way they cheer for a Rocky Balboa. How awesome would it be if they cheered for people who were their neighbors, who were their classmates, who were the people on the left, the people on the right. 

0:00:40 - Speaker 3
Good afternoon everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Owwll Podcast. We have an exciting guest to my left, Nile Forter. He met with me back in the day five years ago when I ran the first Entrepreneurs in Paradise, and if you Google Entrepreneurs in Paradise, you'll see the first article that Nile wrote, and it is all over the internet. There's like seven, eight articles up there and I always Google it because I never copied the URL, Nile, that's my way to get it and tell people about that first event that we did and we did Entrepreneurs in Paradise too, which was awesome Danielle Santilli, my co-host, saying at the event of course, Danielle, that was absolutely awesome hearing you saying for the first time. 

0:01:19 - Speaker 2
Aw, thank you. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. We had a big crowd. I think people really enjoyed themselves. I think we're one of the first businesses to really do a live podcasting event here in South Florida. We had not only one, but two podcast booths going throughout the event and we got to interview local entrepreneurs as well as CEOs who were featured guests at the event. So there was just a lot of networking, a lot of learning and growing, a lot of fun. 

0:01:50 - Speaker 3
I mean, at the end of the day, Owwll is all about networking and changing up the game. It's been so old school all the time going to an event. You go to a bar, you just chitchat at the event and then you leave and you don't have their contact information. Lots of times you go on Instagram, LinkedIn and everything so scattered, or a bunch of business cards, and what's cool about the event yesterday was all being recorded so everyone could go back and find all the people that they were chatting with. And then, additionally, we mentioned during the event that you could find everyone on Owwll, because one of the requirements was everyone had to download Owwll in order to enter the event. So it's pretty cool. 

You know hundreds of people downloaded Owwll the last few days. They're all on there and they're all applying to become Owwll experts so you could search for them and then and then ring them. And, of course, Owwll acts as a roll of dicks right when you can look back at all the calls you made and or we're taking and absolutely just connect with them over and over again. So, Nile, a little bit about you. Thanks for joining us on the Owwll podcast today. To start things off, Tell our audience what your expertise is Well. 

0:02:46 - Speaker 1
Before I get into that, Jason, I just want to say thank you for inviting me. I haven't seen you in a long time since, I know, since the first entrepreneurs in paradise and I'm very thankful that you liked that article and I think we need to do another one together. 

0:02:59 - Speaker 3
Hey entrepreneurs, in paradise too, it's, it's, it's all yours, let's go. 

0:03:02 - Speaker 1
All right, yeah, the sequel is always better. Okay, but in this case, just a little bit about me. I graduated from Florida Atlantic University and I'm a multimedia journalist for various publications and online platforms. So I write for the Sun Sentinel, the Miami New Times and the Parklander magazine and I really want to put a focus on South Florida and Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale, Miami. Just that way, people have more news and more insight on where they're from, and I want to make them feel proud to be here. 

0:03:32 - Speaker 3
Well, that is what our entire event was all about yesterday. Right, we literally want to showcase six entrepreneurs that had their headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, and it was so cool because one of the guests was actually part of our last entrepreneurs in paradise that was the cover article Ellie Vale jewelry, if you recall yes, as me with their crew, and you took that as the cover photo of entrepreneurs in paradise one and Ellie Vale was one of the six featured entrepreneurs that we highlighted. So it's funny how full circle right from five, three, four years ago. 

0:04:02 - Speaker 1
Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, I did the first one. 

0:04:04 - Speaker 3
And we love LOEs? Yeah, absolutely. So tell us. You know what has changed. You know, when I met with you in 2019, and then COVID hit right and the world online everything has changed so much. Right, because a lot of people could put out their own content and, of course, you know you do things a lot differently. So explain to our audience what makes your services different, and them just doing everything themselves. 

0:04:26 - Speaker 1
Well, the thing is with me. I work with a lot of editors and during COVID all those editors you know, they just unfortunately had to go home, so I was left like what do I do? How do I write these articles? How do I make a little bit of money for myself? 

Covid, I don't want to say it was a blessing, but it actually you can work around it. So what I did was everybody knew me as the Boca Raton guy. You cover Boca Raton, you cover FAU. But I said maybe I can do more than that. So during COVID I started writing like social media blogs and just really getting out there more often and I was writing about for Lauderdale, Miami. So I became more known as the South Florida guy. So it's like oh, you're the Boca guy, good for you, you also do this. And I think COVID actually helped with that because it allowed me to I guess I know this is corny, but you know spread my wings a little bit and I just decided to do a lot more than what people were expecting from me and I think that really actually plays into the variety. That way I have variety, but people realize South Florida also has variety too. 

0:05:25 - Speaker 3
What's the hottest section in town right now? Is it Miami. For Lauderdale, Westmont Beach, Boca. 

0:05:30 - Speaker 1
To LA, honestly, I'm gonna say Boca Raton. You don't wanna know why. 

0:05:34 - Speaker 2
Why? 

0:05:34 - Speaker 1
I'm curious, we have a lot of good restaurants opening here. 

0:05:37 - Speaker 3
That's why that's true. Meisner Park, I think American Socials opening soon. 

0:05:41 - Speaker 1
That's right, and I just wrote about the foodie therapist on Instagram. We met up at the new Capow and it looks amazing there. 

0:05:48 - Speaker 3
Vaughn was out at our event last night. He was a co-host in one of our interactive podcasts and he did a hell of a job. And, of course, Capow's amazing. 

0:05:55 - Speaker 1
Oh yeah, I loved that I could eat there every day. 

0:05:57 - Speaker 3
Absolutely. And then in Boca, you're so close to all the airports where they have a private one. 

0:06:04 - Speaker 1
Yes. 

0:06:05 - Speaker 3
And then they also for Lauderdale or Westmont Beach. You go to either one, which makes it very unique. And, of course, FAU right, march Madness. They have a big event tonight showcasing all the players. You can meet and greet them at the Meisner Ampe Theater, and it's just a hot town right now. That's football starting with FAU as well. That's right, the stadium looks beautiful, right? 

0:06:24 - Speaker 1
Oh yeah, boca is the place to be right now, not just for FAU, but honestly, boca is the place to be for everything. I feel like you get so much variety here. 

0:06:33 - Speaker 3
That's what I like about it, so we picked a good name is what you're saying over here. 

0:06:36 - Speaker 1
Oh yeah, Having to go with Owwll right. 

0:06:37 - Speaker 3
Oh yeah, go Owwlls Danielle wearing an Owwll t-shirt today, not t-shirts. 

0:06:42 - Speaker 2
A hoodie, a hoodie. You were wearing a t-shirt last night. Cool. I'm curious do you have a certain type of event that's sort of your favorite to cover right now? I know we were talking about fashion earlier. 

0:06:53 - Speaker 1
Well, yeah, I've been working a lot with Fort Lauderdale Fashion Week and they have a lot of great events, yeah, and I think you guys could actually be there. I like I said I love your hooded sweatshirt, but I really do like events that focus a lot on arts and culture. So, if it's a musician or if it's an artist, if it's a entrepreneur event, just something that showcases people's talent, that's what I really enjoy. 

0:07:17 - Speaker 2
Well, we need to talk after this. Because, I'm a musician songwriter. We actually have through one of our podcast guests. He's doing next weekend a big songwriter's event for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in Palm Beach or Jupiter, I guess, so we'll have to talk about that. It's going to be a big event. 

0:07:35 - Speaker 1
Oh yeah, we'll chat later. 

0:07:36 - Speaker 2
Yeah. 

0:07:38 - Speaker 3
And you are correct about the Owwll brand. People love wearing our shirts or hoodies. A lot of brands give out t-shirts and you never see anyone wearing them, like I go to conference after conference and I get another one like oh, a ticket t-shirt, and before you know it I got a stack of them in my closet and I never wear them. 

0:07:52 - Speaker 2
I wear them to bed. That's pretty much it, yeah. 

0:07:54 - Speaker 3
But what's interesting with Owwll? It's different, like you saw last night at the event, like people grabbing them they were going to the bathroom and putting them on, and they were cutting them out on the females. So it's kind of more like a v-neck. 

0:08:03 - Speaker 2
I think it's the cute little owl. I think that's the best part People like Owls. 

0:08:08 - Speaker 3
They do like Owls and of course, it's the animal of intelligence and wisdom and people really feel part of the brand when they wear it. I find a lot, and of course the same thing goes for the FAU Owls. Obviously we're not associated with them, but I know being an alumni of FAU means a lot to you. 

0:08:25 - Speaker 1
It does actually I love FAU. 

0:08:27 - Speaker 3
Yes, so do I With the other pockets. We were on the shrimp tank. They had been an incredible partner and last night we got the opportunity to kind of hang out with Roland Kidwell and Kevin Cox Cois and the whole entire event with us. So it was pretty cool. But they came on board early on and cared about entrepreneurship. They didn't worry so much about the red tape, because so many universities just skip over entrepreneurship. Today it's the old school college of business and there's a couple of classes here or there with entrepreneurship, but not a major. But FAU has a major with entrepreneurship, which is pretty awesome. 

So let's touch base on networking. You got all these events and the individuals you just mentioned are really hard to get on a phone call with or responding to an email. Folks in fashion are just getting hammered with Instagram messages, of course, and they don't know how to really kind of handle the incoming message. They say who's the right person to chat with, who could really do what you're saying right and what you do, because often I get 100 emails a day just being run an Owwll and then my other business in the financial service industry and it's overwhelming. You just kind of have to quickly look at it and make a decision. But in person, obviously, that's a game changer. Once you look at the outfit you're wearing, which you're coming with style today, right, and you're put together. But how do you network? What is your trick to getting the right people to then partner with and write these articles and then, of course, get them out to the right magazines? At the end of the day, Well, instagram is a huge one. 

0:09:55 - Speaker 1
People are putting out what they want to do, what they're interested in, so you can look at Instagram and find who you actually want to network with. And it's not just Instagram, it's Facebook, it's Owwll, it's LinkedIn, it's all these platforms, and we're lucky because our family members back in the past did not have these things, nope. So you can network now more than ever. But just going back to doing it in person, you know a lot of people when they come to these events, they see it as a chance to maybe talk to some pretty girls. You know, drink some booze and really not make it what it's worth Of course. 

But if you go prepared, if you go wanting to have the right intentions to meet people, you know, do the old-fashioned thing and give a business card, give a compliment and then drink some booze and talk to some pretty girls, then you're networking and it's really just making that connection with someone and making a lasting impression. But I really think if you just send a proper email, word it correctly and just really be honest with people about your intentions I want to work with you they actually will be open to it, because so many people nowadays they beat around the bush. They don't get to the point. But I find people respect it when you're like no, this is what I'm about and I think this is how we can benefit each other. 

0:11:04 - Speaker 3
Now, is there a cost to working with you? How does this completely work? Peel back the onion for a minute. You reach out to someone you want to write an article about their business or themselves, right? Kind of explain the process a little further. 

0:11:16 - Speaker 1
Well, sometimes these editors, they actually give me stories to do Gotcha, but a lot of it I say it's 50-50. They give me stories but I also provide them with insights on things like we can do, like with the entrepreneurs in Paradise. Truthfully, they didn't know about that event, but I told them, like you know, this awesome guy named Jason Hill is doing this event and you got to give me a chance. You got to give him a chance and they're like okay, which goes back to how you sell something. So if you're selling them a story, they will be open to it. 

0:11:44 - Speaker 3
That was a pretty good name too, right. Entrepreneurs in Paradise. 

0:11:47 - Speaker 1
Oh yeah. 

0:11:49 - Speaker 3
Yeah, we're going to keep that one going. So this year was the second one we done, but as we continue to do it, we'll do two, three, four, five, six. 

0:11:56 - Speaker 1
Yeah, let's make this a franchise, of course. 

0:11:59 - Speaker 2
I'm curious. I mean, I can tell that you're passionate about what you do. Did you always know that this was something you wanted to do? Obviously you're a graduate from FAU. Did you study this? How did you get into this? 

0:12:11 - Speaker 1
Yes, I did study this at FAU and even at Broward College I did multimedia studies and I always loved storytelling. I always loved writing since I was a kid. So when I got a little older, I'm like you know I love movies, I love comic books, I love characters. How awesome would it be to you know the way people cheer for these characters, the way they cheer for a Rocky Balboa. How awesome would it be if they cheered for people who were their neighbors, who were their classmates, who were the people on the left, the people on the right. And that's when I said maybe I could write about my students, like not students, the classmates. So I was part of the student blog at Piper High School a long time ago and they're like, yeah, just write about the student of the week and whatnot. And I had a great teacher named Mr Khande and he said you know, you're really good at this, writing stories about the community and local people. Why don't you consider journalism? And then I said, oh, I'll think about it. And here we are, years later, Wow. 

And that's where we are. 

0:13:09 - Speaker 2
Nice. 

0:13:09 - Speaker 1
Okay we're going to have some fun. 

0:13:11 - Speaker 3
now we're going to call people that are on the Owwll platform and we're going to pull them into this podcast. We're going to be calling Joel. Hey Joel, welcome to the Owwll podcast. How are you doing today? 

0:13:23 - Speaker 4
I'm doing quite well. How are you? 

0:13:24 - Speaker 3
We're with me, Danielle and Niall and uh you know we're doing it. I'm glad to be with all of you. We are doing something new Right now. It's Stream Facebook Live and we're calling different Owwll experts on the platform. Joel, tell us a little bit about your expertise. Niall wants to know, and keep it to 30 seconds or less 30 seconds. 

0:13:43 - Speaker 4
Well, that's easy. I am a political consultant, that is, a public relations professional, so what I do is I try to brand different people Republicans and Democrats, independents to try to get the right person for the right job. That's what I do for a living, and I also have a podcast called you Can't Make this Shit Up. 

0:14:02 - Speaker 3
You can make this shit up. I agree, it's crazy out there, joel, last night on a man and someone tried to fight me at the end of it and I was like I know it made no sense. You know they came right over to me and they had the wrong person and you cannot make that shit up sometimes. But uh, Nile and you do something similar. He writes a lot of, you know, editorials, you know, for people in the fashion business, politics, anything under the sun. Do you mess with politics at all? 

0:14:27 - Speaker 1
Niall, I've gotten into politics and, like you, people have tried to fight me. 

0:14:30 - Speaker 3
So can you ask Joel a question? Does something come to mind, when it comes to politics, that you want to pick as Marino. 

0:14:37 - Speaker 1
Well, not so much politics but public relations. I've worked in public relations as well. I just have a question for you how do you personally pitch you know, your press releases in your news to major media outlets or even local outlets? 

0:14:52 - Speaker 4
Well, that's a. That's always a challenge. But the challenge needs to be that you need to know who those outlets are, or who those people are in the in the outlets, because relationships are the most important thing and, having a story that needs to get out, you need to know that it's going to the right person. Most of the time, what happens is people will pitch a public relations idea to the wrong people and it will never get to the, it'll never see the newspaper, it will never see the light of day because the amount of press releases that come in are enormous. So, get the right person, get it to the right person who does that coverage, and you will get seen every time. 

0:15:37 - Speaker 1
All right, I like the way you think. I wish I got some stuff from you as well, because I get a lot of emails and, honestly, you seem like you have a good head on your shoulder. Well, I appreciate that. 

0:15:47 - Speaker 4
So it's really just listening to people and knowing who they are. And the media is not your friend, but they're not your enemy either, and if you know them and you can eat and drink with them, you're gonna learn a lot. 

0:16:01 - Speaker 1
Amen, and you can't make that shit up. 

0:16:03 - Speaker 4
You can't. 

0:16:06 - Speaker 3
And Joel, you're Nile's first alcohol right. He's just experienced it. How cool is this? We were just talking. You know how he networks in person and on Instagram and on LinkedIn and just being himself and then making the right contacts and, of course, just providing value to the relationships that he builds. And here we are now. How cool is that. 

0:16:28 - Speaker 1
This is amazing. 

0:16:29 - Speaker 3
It's amazing because one of the things like you know you're not gonna have a conversation. 

0:16:33 - Speaker 4
One of the things that's amazing is like you get a new CEO on the platform. Like I called Giovanni, I was his first call, but he runs a company called Stream and I am trying to transition to Stream. It was the best conversation you can have. The value that you have on Owwll the people you have access to, especially when they're just starting out is phenomenal. If you don't take and capitalize on that one dollar call, you may be seeing a $25 call in the future, but they're really excellent people that you're talking to. 

0:17:08 - Speaker 3
I love that you just brought that up. The dollar call. That's gonna become $25. Because I see all the CEOs you know that come on either of our podcasts the Shrimp Tank or the Owwll one and we feature them every single week and they go live and I'm like why is no one calling them? They're a dollar and they should not be a dollar. You know how hard it is to get in. You know in touch with Gio. Gio gets hundreds of messages. He's got you know like 50,000 plus followers on Instagram and 80 plus employees out of Miami run Stream and he's a very busy individual. And then you get on there and you call him for a buck and then just pick his brain about. You know his technology and how he does live streaming. 

0:17:45 - Speaker 4
You know all of his clients. Well, he's sponsoring us, we're sponsoring him, he's giving us three months free on Stream Studio and we're loving it, and in return we're pitching him to a whole Hispanic community, which he loves, and we share that connection right now and then we'll revisit it after we see what we produce for him. 

0:18:08 - Speaker 3
So listen. 

0:18:09 - Speaker 4
I wouldn't have had that opportunity if I didn't have him for a dollar on a conversation being the first call, knowing he needed to get 10 calls. 

0:18:16 - Speaker 3
Like he was making a dollar by the day. It's like now he's in here like this is awesome. 

0:18:20 - Speaker 4
Well, you just put another CEO on, uh, and I'm At lost for his name, right, the second. 

0:18:26 - Speaker 3
But uh, he runs a dot com car, luxury car oh, Michael, yeah, last night he brought a car and we had the Owwll logo on it and his logo on it. He's phenomenal. 

0:18:38 - Speaker 4
I had a great conversation with him and to find out how much he invested and how many people thought he was crazy when he did this, that was, that was two dollars. Because it was such a good conversation, I had to do another 10 minutes, but it was. It was his first call and I'm like you can't, you can't make this shit up. 

0:18:54 - Speaker 3
If they're there, call them, you'll find something to talk about definitely well, joel, thank you for joining us on the Owwll podcast. Go ahead and uh hook up over on facebook live and and you'll get to listen to yourself and see what uh Nile looks like, and now he's going to become an expert today on the platform. So when nile drives out of here and he goes live when he's driving home, I expect you to give him a ring. Is that a deal? 

0:19:16 - Speaker 4
I will definitely do that, and I will call Daniel too, because I have lyrics to you. Can't make this shit up and I need somebody to put some music to it. 

0:19:23 - Speaker 3
So she's got you, she's got you. 

0:19:26 - Speaker 2
I got you, thank you. Take care joel. Take care joel, take care. 

0:19:30 - Speaker 3
So, nile, that's pretty awesome right. 

0:19:32 - Speaker 1
It is awesome. I I don't know who joel is, but now I do. I love that. 

0:19:37 - Speaker 3
Yeah, joel's down here in Florida and he's one of the Owwll brand ambassadors. He saw the the value of the platform immediately and, uh, he want to take a, you know, a deeper dive with our brand. We have about 50 brand ambassadors. Were goal, our goals to scale over 100 Uh with just like-minded individuals that you know really need to network for their business and want to do it through Owwll. You know, a different approach than your typical instagram Messaging or LinkedIn messaging, which is becoming harder and harder today Because so many people are getting uh spam so much. I know you have the same problem. I bet you know at least 50 of all incoming messages are spam. Is that, was that about, accurate? 

0:20:15 - Speaker 1
You would say, yeah, that's about out gear, and I just want to say thank you for telling me about this, and Also, Brian Rammel did an amazing job explaining this to me, because he just made it so clear and he made me Want to just dive into it. So I really appreciate that, Brian cool. 

0:20:30 - Speaker 3
So, Nile, you know now you see, the value of the platform. So, everyone listening, niles gonna sign up. His last name is spelled f o r t n e r, so search for him through the filter search and then give him a ring and I'm sure you could pick his brain About trying to get your brand more, more noticed out, in whatever sector it has to be in. Of course, nile, do you want to say anything to the audience? Uh, how do they find you, for example? What's the best route? 

0:20:58 - Speaker 1
Yeah, you can find me on Owwll. Obviously, you can also find me on LinkedIn, instagram and facebook. I share a lot of news updates, such as what I'm currently writing and community happenings, and you can actually just get in touch with me through email at NileFortner@gmail.com. That works, too, and I'll tell you what I tell everyone. You know where to find me. 

0:21:19 - Speaker 3
Which I like about you. You know, right before your episode I'm on your website, crystal clear all your social handles, your email, your phone number. So often everyone hides their phone number. Today it's like you know. No, you're trying to be in business, right? You're trying to make it easy for people you know to to get in touch with you and, unfortunately, too often people have too many roadblocks, you know, but in your field it's a necessity. You want people to be able to reach out. And, Danielle, thanks again for co-hosting the show with me and, of course, singing last night. 

That was absolutely awesome and we're gonna have you back on the next. Entrepreneurs bar was, of course, doing some more singing, of course. Well now, thanks for joining us on the alpacas, Take care Awesome that's great. Good job, we're gonna take some photos now. 

0:22:12 - Speaker 1
And then we'll sign up and I gotta talk to you, Jason, we gotta catch up. 

0:22:16 - Speaker 3
Absolutely, so why don't we do this?