Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor

FMBGN-Luna Digital Services-From Broken Promises to Digital Success Helping Small Businesses

• "Cabo" Jim Schaller • Season 5 • Episode 13

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Technology promises often fall short of expectations, leaving business owners frustrated and their digital needs unmet. That's where Brett Palladino and Luna Digital Services step in, providing what so many tech companies don't - actual solutions and genuine customer service.

On this episode of the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor podcast, Brett shares his journey from construction to becoming a trusted IT partner for small businesses and nonprofits across South Florida. With refreshing honesty, he acknowledges the industry's typical shortcomings: "The typical starting line for all our clients is 'I was promised this and ended up with something different.'" Luna Digital positions itself as the "hole in the wall" technology company that delivers results where others have failed.

What makes Brett's approach distinctive is his commitment to forming true alliances with clients. Luna Digital offers comprehensive services from website development that generates immediate leads to cloud migrations that enable remote work flexibility. But beyond the technical offerings, they provide peace of mind - something Brett values above all else. "If you don't have peace of mind, you can't operate at your best with clarity, focus, drive, and ambition because you're consumed with what could go wrong," he explains. For small business owners staying up until 2:30 AM worrying about data security or backup issues, this peace of mind is invaluable.

Most importantly, Brett dispels the myth that quality IT support is only for large corporations with massive budgets. "A lot of places think you need to be an Amazon or IBM to afford these services, and it's really not the case," he emphasizes. With scalable pricing based on complexity rather than company size, Luna Digital Services makes enterprise-level technology accessible to businesses of all sizes. Check out lunadigitalservices.co to book a consultation and discover how the right technology partner can transform your business operations.

Luna Digital Services
Brett Paladino
Naples, FL
Contact@lunadigitalservices.co
lunadigitalservices.co

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor podcast, where the sun's always shining and the stories are even brighter. Each episode we bring you closer to the neighbors, local legends and beachside businesses that make Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love. Pull up a beach chair, grab a drink and let's meet the people who make this island feel like home. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance USA and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers.

Speaker 2:

Welcome Good Neighbors. Today we have Good Neighbor Brett Palladino from Luna Digital Services. Welcome, hey Jim. How are you? Awesome, Awesome. Thanks for joining us, Excited about sharing your information and story with our listeners. So I guess, without further ado, let's jump right in. And why don't you share a little bit about what Luna Digital Services is?

Speaker 3:

little bit about what luna digital services is. Uh, it's an it outfit in south florida that you know is helping non-profit businesses. Um, you know, it's kind of niched into that, that demographic, where you know, for, for all the, for all the clients we have, the. The typical starting line is I was promised this and ended up with something different.

Speaker 2:

Always, that was that way right.

Speaker 3:

And that doesn't really matter that if it's nonprofit or for-profit. There seems to be a lot of companies that promise the world and under-deliver.

Speaker 3:

Or an outfit that everyone knows for restaurants, everyone knows. Fifth out for restaurants, right, everyone knows there's great food there. But then you find a hole in the wall and like the outskirts somewhere, like oh my God, that food was so good. We're kind of that like hole in the wall company, where you know you find someone who's a real it partner, a real it Alliance and advisor, and you know someone that gives you real solutions, brings you into the game of. You know what's going to make a major impact and major change in your business.

Speaker 2:

So you're actually saying you handle and you provide customer service. Yeah, it's weird, right, especially nowadays, right, yeah, customer service. Yeah, it's weird, right, especially nowadays, right, yeah, yeah there's no, uh, robo calls. No, no, automated customer support it's just it's you, it's you and all the way around. That is great, so let's back. Let's back up your story a little bit. How did you get involved in all this?

Speaker 3:

You know I'm young and old enough to remember the past books. When I used to go to, I used to walk into the bank and the transfer money between accounts. Remember the old typewriter you'd hear as you're transferring money. What started the idea was you know, being you know, getting like being able to send money to the other side of the world at your fingertips. Right Technology hasn't allowed that and that's kind of where it started for me, where you think about how much easier your life gets you know in every aspect, whether it's sending money abroad or you know emails. I mean just everything. Everything in everyday life is just everything is technology fed and it's it's streamlined processes and created a lot more efficiencies. Prior to my tech background, I was in construction, so you know I got in a time where they were still snail mailing as built you know what I think?

Speaker 3:

yeah, yeah, yeah, um too, um, you know, but again now. Now, every industry across the world is sharing data digitally and technology is at the forefront. To be thanked for that. So it's.

Speaker 2:

And people need to understand that Things are changing. Things are evolving, much like Fort Myers Beach. A lot of things are changing and developing and becoming new. But let's talk about the challenges. Obviously, going from construction to IT, that's a big change, that's a big leap. From construction to IT, that's a big change, that's a big leap.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the ineffectiveness in construction is what got me interested in IT. I was always rebuilding computers, you know, writing programs. I just always kind of had a gift for, for development, for coding, for writing programs, building graphics. Um, yeah, when in my construction days you know over 10 years ago I was it became, you know, I'm working 50, 60 hours a week. How can I do this? You know, from home, how can I do this? Where I get the? You know, drive the client's buildings and you know, just enjoy the ride. You know, help them improve their processes, help them get that. You know, get them online and streamline a lot of what they're doing. Um, and then came the it of, you know, being able to be remote and not be in the same office for 20 years. Change the scenery.

Speaker 2:

Big difference.

Speaker 3:

Very good. That's what brought that. I enjoy taking people. Listen, I wish no one got burnt. I wish everyone got what they were promised and what they paid for, but that's just not the story. It seems like that is not the reoccurring theme with us. So I enjoy helping people. When you finally get them to, I mean we work with several nonprofits and for-profits, several nonprofits, nonprofits and for-profits. But so you know, when you take them from a place of I paid this, I didn't get it. I can't work with what I have. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to where to begin. You know I need someone that's going to help me get my business going. You know digitally and I mean we build websites that build websites for a variety of different industries, but we built websites that we turn them on and they're getting leads.

Speaker 2:

It makes a difference when you do it right.

Speaker 3:

It does. If it's done correctly and done properly, you'll get leads all day. There's a lot of businesses that don't put the time and the commitment into building a product correctly and then it's. It's not an effective strategy long-term, but we get to take people who are disappointed with their last IT provider and now we're shaking up their world with being able to provide real solutions in real time that solves their pain points pain points.

Speaker 2:

So so, along those lines, let's let's touch on the myths, or maybe misconceptions, surrounding what you do that most people might go.

Speaker 3:

well, I don't need to do that, or you know so when people, when people ask me what I do, I always go to it because it is very broad. I and what we do is very broad from. You know things like help desk, from things from web design and web development, managed services, which is, you know, cloud management, storage. You know cloud migrations meaning going from a little in-office computer to having endless scalability in the cloud. So there's a wide variety of services that we help with. There's not enough time in the day to explain what all of them are. You know it's what's but what.

Speaker 3:

While that can be a mouthful, what's also nice is you get one technology alliance that you know can help you in every step of the way, whether you need a website to get your business online or you need, you know, your computer's malfunctioning, you need someone to help correct a program error, or you know it's just to be able to consolidate and have one trusted partner in your corner. You know it, it's really. It cuts a lot of the fat out. It cuts a lot of getting the no multiple vendors and finger pointing. No, they're responsible. We're, you know it's just there's no accountability. Um, so it it just all around great, creates a great service offering, and you know we enjoy seeing our clients happy well, that's the important part.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, there's a lot. It's technology, so there's a lot that's always changing. Are there certain things that are maybe more recent trending Are?

Speaker 3:

there certain things that are maybe more recent trending In the Web2 space. Web2 and Web3 is my background, so Web3 is more blockchain and Web2 is more of the websites and the mobile apps and the e-commerces and web designs and help desk and all those services. A lot of companies are seeing the benefit of having a technology arm as a third party that can provide the support without having to fully fund the cost of having it 40 hours a week and for them it's beautiful. You know cause they don't? When it's technical issues are low, they're. They're not funding someone you know 160 hours a month to be there just in case you get an on-demand support. You know on-call. You know help desk used as need. So huge cost savings for businesses, no matter what your profit status is, no matter what your size is.

Speaker 3:

We really shine in the small and medium market niches because, I mean, we were a startup at one time. Um, we know the pains, we know the struggles, we know how everything's. You know when you first beginning, a lot of it's out of reach and you're like I have this great product, I have this great service, I have this great offering, but I can't get it to anyone because it's all 80 plus thousand dollars. You know, we, you know and I guess in a selfish way you know, with how we accommodate small businesses is we thrive. We enjoy being a part of that success story, being a part of an up and coming innovative idea.

Speaker 3:

Or taking a company from, you know, from still doing their accounting on Excel sheets, little notebooks, to running full bore in cloud-based servers. It's easier for them, it's remote. You're sick one day you don't want to go to the office, you can just sign in. Tell us your pain points. We know you're sick one day you don't want to go to the office. You can just sign in. It's just, you know. Tell us your pain points, we'll tell you your roadmap.

Speaker 2:

Technology is a wonderful thing. You just use it the right way. So are you from Southwest Florida originally.

Speaker 3:

Originally. No, you know, I've had family here since the 80s. I've been down here pretty much my entire childhood, so I guess I'm not a stranger to South Florida. There you go. I guess I can't say I'm native either, but yeah, what a great place, great people, great communities.

Speaker 2:

That's why we live here, kind of paradise, speaking of which you know, I know owning your own business can be very demanding every time, but when you do get a free moment, what do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Speaker 3:

Uh, you know, hanging out in the community with friends going out, shaking hands, meeting people talking about you know. It's amazing who you can meet down here in Passing Um, whether it's you know's the wife of Ford Motor Credit. I met her at Esplanade Right. There's so many walks of life here. It's just such an interesting plethora of people and careers and major Fortune 5000 corporation CEOs that come through here. It's just amazing. The weather is amazing in itself, but the people you meet make it all that more enjoyable.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, it's a very nice melting pot. You can belly up to a barn. You never know who you're going to be sitting next to, but you know it's going to be interesting one way or the other. Is there one thing you wish our listeners knew about Luna Digital Services that maybe they're not too aware of? I'm sorry. Is there one thing about Luna Digital Services that our listeners probably wouldn't know, but they should be aware of?

Speaker 3:

You know we, luna Digital Services does I mean, like we've already said, it does a plethora of different services, but really you don't just get a service provider, you get a partner. So if there's something you don't know, if there's something you need help with, if there's something you're like I'm having this issue, I don't know what to do about it. I don't know how to get out of this situation. Like we, we, we are your alliance, your ally, your, your guide, if you will, to fix your current situation. I mean, we've taken clients where they've had to let past providers go and they are in some troubling situations as far as risk data.

Speaker 3:

And we come in and we get them migrated, we get them moved, we get them backed up, secured. You know, and it's we, we shine where a lot of other providers seem to fail. Um, you know, and that's something we hang our pride on, and you know, getting a customer who went from. You know I'm researching things at 10, 11 o'clock at night. I'm not going to bed until 2.30 in the morning because I'm worried about what's happening in my office. Am I going to lose my data? Where is it backed up? I don't have access to anything. We come in and we fix all those oh crap moments.

Speaker 2:

Give me that peace of mind. Yes, right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean if you don't have the peace of mind, you can't be at your best, you can't operate at your best with clarity, with focus, with drive, with ambition, because you're just so consumed with what's going to go wrong.

Speaker 2:

Yep, yep, positive. We got to think positive. Right, that's what it's all about.

Speaker 3:

You know, and backups is huge in non-profits because you know donor databases. That's one of the most critical operating parts and components to the non-profits. You know your donors, yep, um, you know. In the small businesses I mean, a lot of places think that you need to be you know in Amazon or in IBM to afford these services and it's really not the case. Like your, price points are based off complexity. Do you have three users in your office? Do you have 300? Right, it's all scalable. It's all. It's not you need to be, you know, a multimillion dollar entity to afford the services that are out there. We work with small businesses all day, every day. There you go.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, how would somebody get a hold of you if they had questions concerns that they wanted to address?

Speaker 3:

The website lunadigitalservices. co. There's a booking link on there. You can book a time with us and just fill out some questions and we'll set up. We'll set up a time to to meet, whether it's in person or online, we have our number on there as well, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, very good. Well, any last words for our listeners today.

Speaker 3:

If you're not happy with your current IT, you know who to call. I know a guy perfect.

Speaker 2:

Well, brett, it's been a pleasure getting to know you and your business. Thank you for being such a good neighbor and we'll see you out in the community here soon.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, jim thanks for tuning in to the Fort Myers beach Good neighbor podcast, where community meets paradise. If you love what you heard, share it with a friend and keep the good vibes going until next time. Stay sunny, stay salty and keep being a good neighbor. Also, to nominate your favorite neighbors, local legends, heroes or island businesses to be on the show, go to Cabo WaboJim. com that's CaboWaboJim. com, or call 239-427-4100. We want to send out some island love to Eric Tibbs from Edward Jones State Insurance USA and Home Well Care Services Fort Myers. They are the businesses that allow us to share the soul of our community with every listener, from local stories to the positive vibe of island life. Here's to celebrating all that makes Fort Myers Beach the slice of paradise we all love.