Marketing, AI & Podcasting with Dave Fiore | Panhandle Pulse

In this episode of Panhandle Pulse, Chuck sits down with Dave Fiore, founder of Fiore Communications and host of the How I Got Here podcast, to discuss entrepreneurship, digital marketing, AI, and building lasting relationships with customers.

Dave shares how he transitioned from journalism and magazine publishing into launching his own marketing agency, the lessons learned over 25 years in business, and why authentic relationships still matter in an AI-driven world.

They also discuss:

• How marketing has evolved over the past 25 years
• Using AI as a tool without replacing human creativity
• Why long-term marketing strategy beats chasing viral moments
• The relationship between marketing and sales
• Starting and growing a successful podcast
• Entrepreneurship, business ownership, and taking calculated risks
• The future of work and AI
• Why Tallahassee and Florida's Panhandle are great places to build a business

Whether you're a business owner, entrepreneur, marketer, or podcast creator, this episode is packed with practical insights and real-world advice.

Keywords: marketing, AI marketing, entrepreneurship, Tallahassee business, Florida business, digital marketing, podcasting, content marketing, small business growth, Panhandle Pulse, Dave Fiore, Fiore Communications, business strategy, branding, customer relationships, Florida entrepreneurs

https://fiorecommunications.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Welcome to the Pain Handle Pulse, the show that dives into real challenges and honest conversations shaping the Florida pain handle. I'm your host, Chuck Asbury. Each week we sit down with the people who make our community strong, sharing real issues, real conversations, and no filters. Hey guys, welcome back to Panhandle Police. I got a great guest and David Fiore. He is the owner of a marketing firm here in Tallahassee and also the host of How I Got Here. David, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Thanks, Chuck. I appreciate it. Looking forward to talking with you.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Yeah, excellent. So for our listeners here in Northern Panhandle in Tallahassee, how did you come to the Great State of Florida?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Well, I I was born in Indiana, but lived in Florida since I was in the third grade, grew up in central Florida and in Polk County in Haynes City. And then I came, lived there all my all growing up years, and then came to Tallahassee to go to school at Florida State, met my wife here, and we never left. We've been here four 40 plus years.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Nice. Yeah. Tallahassee's a great area and FSU is a great school. I was an FSU fan for uh when I was a little kid in West Virginia because they were all over TV during the Bobby Bowden days.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

So yeah, strong connection to West Virginia here for uh Florida State.

unknown 1:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Yep. Yeah, it all ties in when you started watching it. I was like, wait, he used to coach at West Virginia. And uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Yeah, it's funny. In the in the movie Marshall, he's represented as he helped get the team back together after the plane crash. Bobby was part of that story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Yeah, that was a good movie too for all of our listeners if you heard that.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

So what got you into uh to marketing? So originally you were uh an editor and a writer. Tell us about about uh your pathway and journey to being an editor writing and then switching over to a marketing career.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Yeah, well, I I came to Florida State to be a band director. I was a music major, and then after about a year of that, I realized that was not the thing for me. So I had I uh knew somebody who was in the PR program, and I said, Well, what's that all about? And so I got interested in that, and it was a really good fit for me. So I got my degree in public relations in the communication school. And so that's I really when I graduated, I really did something similar to that. I I did writing and editing, I worked for a state agency for a couple years, right? I basically took a job that was available because my wife to be was still in school, so we needed to stay here. So I found a good job that helped, and it just led. Then I worked for the Tallahassee Democrat, our newspaper, for a couple years, and I was editor of Tallahassee magazine, and I worked for a PR firm after that for about six years, and then went off on my own in January of 2001, starting what would become what it is now. There are a few twists and turns along the way, but that's so I've been on my this is our 25th year in business in in its form, one way or another. So been very blessed to be able to do this for that long.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Yeah, it's good. Congratulations for uh the 25th anniversary for Yeah, thank you. So, how did the transition go from being uh an editor and a writer into creating your marketing firm here, especially in the Tallahassee region? Did you have background in the marketing side as you're doing that from the publications, or was it completely new when you went out and started it?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah, well, with my degree in PR, which is very similar to marketing, it I had that background educationally, and part of my first job was related to that. And PR and marketing and communications is so much writing-based anyway. So it was a really good foundation. And some of our first clients, and still some of the clients that we work with today, are big state associations that have publications. So we still do magazines for state associations, Florida Sheriff's Association, Florida Homeschool, or parent educators. We work with worked with the Pharmacy Association for a long time doing their magazine. So we have that, and then we also write a lot of blog posts and a lot of other, we didn't call it content 20 years ago, but that's what we are creating, different forms of content. So it really is just kind of a slight pivot to the to the digital ad buying and the social media and all the things that came along the way. But really, the foundation of what we do is creating great content that matches our clients with the audiences they're trying to reach. And that's something I've been doing my whole career. It's just shifted in the way it's been delivered a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Right. Yeah. And so what made you want to go out and start your own company and leave the corporate world?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Yeah. So I had, I just kind of reached a point where I felt like I had done what I was going to do at that job. And I actually had a friend that I took off that we started the business together, and he did something unrelated. So it wasn't as scary because we were doing it together, but that only lasted a year. So that's not wasn't a great plan in the big picture, but it kind of gave me a little bit of safety knit, I think, to have the confidence to jump off and do that. And I worked for a great boss before I quit. I gave him three months' notice. He knew what I was doing. So I had a long on-ramp to leave that job. So it wasn't just like I'm gonna leave and I'm quitting tomorrow and I'm out the door. It I was I was grateful to have an opportunity to do it on in my on my own terms a little bit, and it wasn't quite as scary as it might have been for somebody else.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Yeah, that's scary. I mean, especially nowadays, everyone's looking to be entrepreneurs, start their own businesses, and it gives you that a little bit of a bridge to go out and build it over time instead of jumping straight into it.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yeah, I mean, it's scary. I still borrowed money from family that I took way too long to pay back. And, you know, I I had a wife and small children, and so it was definitely scary. And uh, but I was just, like I said, just super blessed that I had enough to get by for long enough until I could gain some momentum and add employees, add services, get some bigger clients and kind of grow from there.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

And uh 25 years in the marketing business now has changed drastically. What do you think has been the biggest change from as you said, you started off as basically content creation back then, which is what we use today, uh, to how it is now with AI and social media and everything else?

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah, I mean, it's it doesn't even resemble what we did before. The only thing that remains the same is we do a lot of relational, you know, trust building marketing, not coupon-y try to get somebody churn and burn kind of thing. It's about developing relationships and trust and loyalty. And so that part has remained the same no matter what the platforms or the technology. The goal is still the same. Connect your services to people in a way that's meaningful and helpful to them. So that part's exactly the same. But, you know, the again, there was no social media, there were no iPhones, none of that. It was much more traditional. We used to, I mean, we used to spend a lot of our time back in the day on you know, outdoor billboards and bus things and and traditional TV, radio, all of that, which we still have a mix of those things, but so much of it is digitally focused now. And so that was a skill we had to learn, a new way to understand that platform. And the thing about that is with all those, you know, uh Meta's, you know, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, all those, those algorithms in Google, especially Google, all those algorithms change constantly. So we can understand what we're doing, we have a plan, and then everything can change. So we have to constantly be learning, being up to date, knowing what to do. And uh that that makes it fun, but it also makes it a little scary. And of course, with AI, like you mentioned, that just changed the game completely. And even in the last year, we've gone from, you know, we we want to remain human, we don't want to let AI take over, AI's not gonna write our blogs for us, which is still true. We can't it can't, it's not replacing us yet, but we now integrate, we use Claude very heavily, we now integrate it into all our processes for summaries and note-taking and research, and it really allows us to be more efficient with our process, but it does not replace the human creativity and we understand our clients, and we it's those nuances, and we understand the market, so we can make those connections and do those things that AI can't do yet. I don't want to think what it's gonna be like in a few years. Right. But uh, but it is it is definitely we we embrace AI as a tool to help us do our job better.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Yeah, and I agree. I think you hit a great point there. So AI is great for all the things that you said, but it doesn't chase the human aspect of it yet. So it'll it'll be the fluffy pedo talk and give you all the right answers that you you think it wants, but uh that's not really meant for strategy or customers or trying to hit the right target that you're going after.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah, not yet. No, it'll provide you, it can cut down your research time dramatically and competitor research and and uh the history of a client's social media presence, and it'll do all that searching and gathering, but it's up to us then to look at that and apply the strategy to it. Say, okay, now we know this. Now what are we going to do with that to help our clients? That's that's what makes it fun. Nobody, I don't think too many people enjoyed the the gathering research. I'm sure there are people, but it's not me. I'd much rather I'd much rather sit down and figure out, okay, what do I do with all this great information to help my clients and help them help their customers? And that that that part of it's been really fun.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Yeah, that's great. You you talked about a key point there, this identifying strategy and a target of it. I think some of entrepreneurs now or small businesses or people just starting out are trying to get the latest tactics or the chasing the quick clicks for customer interactions. How do you help uh new customers or new clients come into you to not worry about the quick ramp up of something versus a long strategy?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's just a process when we talk to a new client and the our onboarding process and initially and actually even our first discovery conversations with them, we explained to them what our philosophy is and what we are trying to accomplish. And a lot of them are referred to us by other people, other clients that we're already working with, so they understand what our approach is and what we're trying to do. But yeah, I mean, and we also were very careful not to make crazy promises, you know, and say we're gonna we're gonna flip this around in a week and we're gonna quadruple your online presence after a couple of posts. We want them to have realistic expectations and understand that, you know, going viral or something like that, yeah, you may see a bump, but you're gonna look back on it in a year and say that had no real impact on my company. We're looking for long-term relationships. And, you know, you're right, that philosophy of not worrying about the immediate turnaround, but the long-term gain, that's that's what we focus on. And you're right, I think that's what they should focus on.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Yeah, yeah. Especially when you you want and you're as you said when you start uh I've started multiple businesses before, you're you're struggling to to to survive in the beginning, you're trying everything you can to continue to make revenue, bring in new customers. You're trying to do too many things at once that you start worrying about am I marketing the right people? I need to get quick market returns. Um, but again, those are just short-term based customers.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Right. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

So with AI in the future, as it just continues to help your research and move forward, do you see a point in time where it will be able to automate a lot of the marketing for some of these businesses? It'll be able to take the research and then some are automatically doing it now with all the screen posts and and imagery and stuff like that. But do you think there would ever be a need to have a human supervised over it at some point in time?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Yeah, I think there'll always be a need for a human. But the, you know, we're we're our conversation right now is about what AI is right now. And and we say AI, I mean we're I'm talking about like LLMs and the use of like ChatGPT or Claude or you know, using those tools or Gemini or or any of those to help copilot, any of those tools to help you gather information and use it in a way to develop strategy or processes or anything like that. So I think it's just gonna get faster, better. You know, I I think the the employment outlook is changing now and it's only gonna change more. I think if I was in college right now, I'd be a little confused about what to study because I don't know what the future is gonna hold. And I don't mean that in a, you know, in a in a sad way or a panicked way, but I don't think you can count on, you know, financial planning, accounting, engineering, marketing, you know, any job that is requires a computer to do your job is gonna be impacted, you know, by by AI and its incredible processing speeds and and what it can learn and do. So we have to adapt to that and figure out how to use it to help us because we can't pretend it's not gonna happen. It is gonna happen. Or it is it's happening now, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Yeah, yeah, it's definitely happening now. And I think that is I have an 18-year-old that's just graduated high school and you you go through the process of what do you want to do, what's the next in the future, and uh it's hard to determine because some people don't need to go to college because they're creating their own companies or they're going off and doing other things that schooling doesn't really necessarily need now in the future. But I don't think with AI, as you just described, it will ever replace the part of the personal connections uh within your business or within your brand that always is going to require a relationship.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

No, absolutely. And people, it's and I I know that the uh the Gen Z people are looking at their it's interesting because they the the younger generation, they're looking at social media posts and blogs, web stuff, all the digital things and assuming it's AI and trying to find the humanity in it so they don't get suckered by AI, you know, by a post that wasn't made by a person. So they're coming at it from such a different point of view in that they want to find the humanity in things. So, and I know there are there are programs that they come from AI that will purposely put mistakes in things. So you you think it's from a human, even if it's not, it's all very convoluted. But uh the bottom line is we're humans, we engage as humans, we want to have relationships with other humans, and we want to be spoken to by humans. So I I don't think that I hope that part never goes away. We're just gonna have to be a little more creative in how we grow those relationships in a world that we're getting thrown so much at us from machines.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Right. Yeah. And so how do you bridge that when you uh have customers or clients that come look for you and your services or help with their podcast to build that relationship with and show advice that this is a strategy and a long-term play rather than we're gonna do miracles in the next two or three weeks?

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Yeah, I I think it's just about setting up, you know, looking at past performance, looking at, you know, doing a lot of research and evaluating, basically doing an audit, saying, okay, this is where you are, this is what you've done in the past, this is how your posts or your marketing has performed in whatever uh form or format it is. And then this is what we're going to do. And based on the information we know, this is the strategy, this is the end game. This is our first 90-day three-month, you know, well, that is 90 days. You have a first quarter plan, right? This is what we're going to try to accomplish. And this is what we expect. And the good thing about all then it's not AI, but it's just digital in that, although AI helps with it now is everything is report trackable, reportable. All the reports we give our clients show exactly what's happening on every platform that's digital, you know, email, website, social, paid ads, all those platforms. And says exactly what the engagement is, what the clicks, you know, what they spent, what the ROI is on it, how we can improve, which things did better. And then we can then that's where the human part comes in and says, okay, we we can see that these kind of engagements are really good because people love when you talk about this or this. So let's do that more. Let's focus more on that and build on that. And that's that's when we find success. And that's where the our part comes in. And to answer your question, I mean, we just have to keep reiterating, you know. I mean, we don't sign people up for long contracts and say you're with us for a year no matter what, or two years. It's like, okay, we're gonna we're gonna agree on a period of time to see if this stuff is working. And then after that, you just evaluate us, and if it's not working, we're not gonna hold you to that. But that that almost never, I mean, it really essentially never happens because we're very we really focus on being transparent and not just trying to sell them something to get them as a client. So I think everybody starts out on the same page of understanding, you know, as a marketing firm, our only success is defined by their success. It it's only how well they're doing. That's the only thing we can judge ourselves on. So as long as they listen to what we say, if they ignore us, then then we can't help that. Right. But uh, so we just try to, that's it. And and having those conversations, being really upfront and honest with them from the beginning is how we've always done it. And it's worked pretty well.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

That's good. And you talk about the KPIs and metrics being important and showing the value to the business owners. Where are something or what is one metric that you think most of the business owners ignore or overlook based on that data that you're providing them?

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Well, one thing that we talk about a lot and we try to emphasize is how the marketing overlays with their business goals. So while we, you know, they're called vanity metric, like how many likes and shares and reposts and stuff like that, where that might make you feel good, and it is, they do have value in building presence and branding. But the real goal is how, if we're showing a lot of success on the marketing side, what does that look like on your business side? Is it resulting in more leads and more conversions and more customers and more sales? And of course, there are, you know, we work with an air conditioning company and we could be doing, I hope he doesn't listen to this, but we could be doing almost nothing. It's 110 degrees every day, they're gonna be busy, right? I mean, I'd love to take all the credit for it, but Mother Nature has has taken care of that for us. So, you know, we can't control every aspect of it. But for the things we can control, if over time you're not seeing any difference in what we have agreed are the KPIs we care about, then we need to look and talk about you know, a pivot or changing direction and not just keep cranking out the marketing that's having no impact on their business. I mean, I I think that's I know that's what they care about, but sometimes marketing firms don't emphasize that enough. They just want to show you all the good numbers that they're creating. And because, you know, like you, I mean, I'm a business owner too. I I get that not from just a marketing standpoint, but from a business standpoint. Everything we spend, I want it to work for us in one way or another.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Right. Yeah, that that's that's good advice. At what point uh would you advise a company to to look out for a marketing firm or start thinking about doing that in the stage when they they they starting up from nothing?

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Like when when might be when might you be ready to hire a marketing firm? Well, I think you have to it really do it depends on the type of industry, you know, and what kind of marketing budget you're gonna have and where the startup is. A lot of the things that we do for people, a really, really small company, a startup, a one or two person, they technically can do it for themselves. Like anybody can post on social media, but the strategy of it and the consistency of it, that's where it gets hard. So there are if you're just starting, there are plenty of one person, you know, boutique kind of agencies or just a single proprietor that are that are really good and that could help you get started for a much lower cost than hiring a full service agency. You know, we just have a uh a rate and uh a monthly expectation because we have employees and overhead and all the things, and we provide great value for customers who need all the services we provide. But for somebody who just comes in and you just need to, you know, maybe film a couple videos and help get you started with this or that, honestly, college students who are there are students who are very good at that, marketing students, and then firms who are one person just kind of get started. That's what we try to sell. We we don't try to convince somebody to spend 50% of their income on marketing. You know, you you need to ramp up and be ready and get the the appropriate level help for where you are.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Yeah. And I always say this to uh all of my entrepreneur friends that marketing is a key aspect of it goes pretty much hand in hand with sales. If you have a good sales team but you can't market your product or there's no marketing behind the product or service, then it's gonna be a little bit harder to sell than it would be if you're able to market the product and sell at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Yeah, I mean, if if one of your salespeople goes to a potential client and says, We've got the best, you know, blank blank product in the world, whatever it is, and they're like, I've never heard of it. I've never heard of you. Where I've I'm on social all the time. I've never seen a post, I've never seen a sign, I've never seen, I've never heard you on the radio. I've never, there's nothing. It's like you don't exist. Never seen a flyer on a door or whatever it is, then you're obviously going to have a much harder time. So, you know, in marketing, our job is creating awareness and connecting the right services with the right audiences. But more and more, what we're doing is what you just said, and that is equipping salespeople with the tools like a deck or information that allow that makes their sales process easier or a follow-up, you know, process is the the sales and marketing are married in that, and they have to support each other. Or um in the same way, it's the opposite's true too. You can market the heck out of it, and if you don't have anybody out there selling it, you're not going to be successful either. Because they're not the same thing. They're related and they support each other, but they're not the same processes. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

So transition a little bit here. What do I what made you want to get into uh hosting your own podcast?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yeah. So I uh I, as I told you, I was a writer and an editor for a long time, and I told lots of people's stories over time, you know, written, I would interview people, write them, and they'd be in different publications. And I really, I really enjoyed that. And then um in 2000, I guess early 2019 or so, I uh I actually adopted my wife and I had our family adopted a dog, a rescue, and I started taking him on walks every morning and started listening to different podcasts. I listened to um How I Built This with Guy Roz, an MPR podcast that talks about, he talks to founders about the brands that they built, and it's brands everybody's heard of. And it was really fascinating to hear their stories and their journeys as a business owner. I'm like, I can relate to that and you know how many times they almost quit or how something happened out of the blue that gave them an opportunity. And I thought that was pretty, that's pretty cool. I wonder if I could do that in Tallahassee, only talk to leaders, community leaders, business owners, people in the arts, associations, nonprofits, people from all over the community, and have them tell their journeys of their life to this point in their life. And, you know, because a lot of Tallahassee is a small town in the big picture. And a lot of people know people's names or faces or their jobs, you know, where they are, but they really don't know them that well or their or how they got to this point or, you know, what they may have overcome. So I want it to be inspirational and encouraging to those people. And I've had over a hundred episodes now and talked to just some of the most amazing people who had the craziest stories you would never imagine. And it's just so much fun to talk to them. And it's been a, you know, when I started, I didn't know anything. I didn't know how to use a microphone. I mean, I knew how to write, I knew how to interview, and I knew how to tell stories. I did not know any of the technical side of podcasting. So I had to learn all that on my own. And I've learned I had some people who helped me. I watched a lot of, you know, webinars and videos and master classes and everything on how to get up to all that. Yep, get up to speed. And uh so I've just been doing it ever since, and it's just been a lot of fun. It's when it's one of the really fun things I've done in my career.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Yeah. I've only been doing this since November of last year, so we're eight months into this.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

Panhandle Paul's podcast. And uh it has it's been great. It's like I s like you said, I started off, I had no clue how to do any of this, not comfortable being in front of a mic or camera, and I've met amazing people throughout the uh the northern part of Florida here, and it's just being able to share their stories has been the the highlightness, the huge blessing of it.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Yeah, well, congratulations on making it, you know, coming up on a year here pretty soon. That's it it's interesting to me. Podcasting is not hard to do, but it's hard to keep doing, you know, over time. Um most podcasts don't make it past like seven episodes and then they just kind of go away. So uh keep at it. It is it is worth it. To me, it you know, people ask me, well, do you make money on it? And is it for the business? And I'm like, I mean, it does, it gets my name out there, it puts me in front of people I may not have been in front of otherwise. So yes, it is helpful in that way. I do not make money on it. It's just such a great relationship builder, and I just really appreciate getting to know all these incredible people better, and that's that's why I keep doing it.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

Yeah, and that's the huge part that I've got. You got to share stories of people in the area of nonprofits or or like yourself that's been down here creating businesses uh that people may not have ever heard of until now. So you get to share stories of everyone in the community and it it builds a better community for us, and that's the thing I like about it.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:37

And connecting. It also makes me a better listener, too, because you have to learn to listen to your guests.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

You do. That's a that's a skill where I I I I did that. I I was used to doing that for my job, but not but and you do a good job. You've walked me through, you know, a logical conversation, but I felt like you were listening to me as well. And that's hard. You hear some people and it's like, next question, next question. And nobody wants to hear that because that's not a conversation. That's yeah, you know, that's a I don't know, interrogation might be a little harsh, but it's it's just questions and answers. It's not two people really talking, and I think people always appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Yeah, that was probably my first four or five episodes was the uh the question, the interrogation part of it, my skill set. So I'm like, I gotta just make this conversational. There's much grip to this, and it it goes way better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Well, after a couple years, when you're doing it, you'll look you'll tell people, don't go listen, don't listen to my first couple episodes, you know, because I was still learning what to do. That's what I always do. I'm like, no, I said the the so what I did was I started I launched with four episodes, which are supposed to launch with more than one, and I launched with four, but I produced all four at the same time and made the same mistakes on all four of them. Where I should have completed I should have just completed one and then evaluated it and learned from it. But no, I went all in and goofed up four times. So I learned from that.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Yeah. I think I did the same thing. We we must have watched the same master class on how to create a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Yeah. I've got to figure out now into the the way I'm running the podcast, how to transition it either to seasons or breaking points, because right now I'm on a weekly release schedule, so it gets a good bit to find people and guests on a constant cadence and then find the time to edit these. Uh, because when you're first starting out, again, I'm editing all these myself.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

So I I just run them straight through, but I'm on a much less aggressive schedule than you are. So I do I try to get two out a month, but a lot a lot of times it's every three weeks or so, sometimes even four. So I I don't like that. Consistency is important, and really two weeks is the right, the right rhythm for me. So that's what I shoot for, but I don't uh sometimes I don't always get I don't always stick to that, which is something I'm trying to work on now. I also do update episodes for people that I talked to five years ago. We do kind of a five-year, like what where are you now kind of thing? And that's been really good. And those are easy, those are only like 10 minutes, and so I'll bring them in, and that's a real quick one time through edit. I really don't edit it at all, so that's that's easy. And then I can fill those in in between to help make it better. But for audience building, consistent creation is super important. And uh, yeah, I need to do better. So I don't have the I'm not the right person to ask. I don't have a good answer for you. But if you do it every week, I would definitely take a break sometimes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Yeah, uh that's that's on the plan. I'm gonna have to figure out how to rotate that into our the season. So I'm gonna have to break it up at some point because there's a lot and it is good with all the people and the guests that we get, but trying to make sure you're on top of those is uh is a hard task to do.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Yeah, so the summer, you know, is a good time, like right now would be a good time to take a break. And then of course the holidays, you know, over Christmas and New Year's, that's a good time. But some people only do maybe, I don't know, 15 or 20 and then call it a year and then take a couple months and then come back. So I mean, what I always tell people is whatever is gonna make it sustainable for you, you know, the important thing is to keep going so you know what your limits are and just do what you can do. And then it's more important to it's better to do fewer episodes in a year and keep doing it than burn yourself out.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Right. And I like your idea on the five-year update. That's great. I'm gonna take that as a note for all the guests I've had on here throughout the year and and see where they've transitioned because five years from now, from some of the businesses or the nonprofits I've talked to, can drastically change.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Yeah. And my last question on my podcast for everybody is you know, where do you think here is it's called, you know, how I got here, and we talk about that. But then, like, where do you think here is gonna be for you in three to five years? So they answer that, and then on the updates, we I play it for them, what they said five years ago, you know, we listen to it together, and then they talk about how different or the same their prediction, you know, what it turned out to be, which has been fun.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

That's a great idea. So doing doing the the podcast, what has been your most uh inspiring moment or interview that you've had from any one of the uh shows that you've had?

SPEAKER_00 31:15

I don't I mean I've had of a lot of really, really, really interesting people who overcame a lot when they were young. Abuse, you know, physical abuse and addictions, all different kinds of things, and they fought through and and turned out to, you know, lead amazing lives. That's been good. A lot of while I'm not a Christian-based podcast, faith comes up a lot in people's stories and primarily Christian faith, but fa other faiths as well. And that's been really inspiring to me as a Christian myself. I I love hearing how God has worked in in people's lives. And, you know, they're not they're not necessarily preaching from the mountaintop, but they're witnessing and testifying to God's faithfulness to them through hard times in their life. And again, it's not the focus of the show, but when you've experienced that, you can't help but make that part of your story. And that's been very cool. Uh, I've really enjoyed people sharing those, that part of their lives with us.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Yeah, that's that's awesome. I've had similar conversations with a bunch of different guests, and a lady I just interviewed last week about a book that she wrote on that, and it's just tremendous. You see that faith throughout your story, uh, my family story, and everyone's it's just not the point of winning across, but people need to hear it in the way that they need to in the timing. I think this is just one way to promote that or stories through it.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Yeah, absolutely. And then I will add one more. I I did have uh tried not to be too much of a fanboy, but as a big FSU fan, I had Charlie Ward on a couple years ago, and he's my all-time favorite FSU player. So, and he's doing a lot of great stuff in our community. He and his wife are doing a lot of nonprofit building a community and uh they're building a ranch to help kids you know integrate faith and athletics, and uh, it's really very cool what they're doing. But talking to him, and I actually talked to him, I had to cut a big chunk out because I got really into weeds on football questions. That uh, what were you thinking here when this happened in the Clemson game when we came back and and all that? So I had to actually create a little bonus section of just football stuff and made that available for subscribers to our newsletter. So uh that was a lot of fun talking to him as well.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

Yeah, that's that's cool. I can only imagine you sit there and watch them play for all those years, all the questions you have in your head as they were winning back to your head.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Yeah, it was a lot because he he was sort of, well not sort of, he was the beginning of a lot of good things for Florida State, you know, when you know, when his and he came, he came from Thomasville, you know, which is right up the road here, and and had didn't have the grades right away and had to work his way in and started out. He he was the punter first because they needed a punter. He was FSU's first black starting quarterback. I mean, he broke a lot of barriers and did a lot of things that uh were were very cool and and had a lot of impact on the program for you know, they still do, you know, what he did.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

Yeah. Yeah, that's great. It'd be interesting to have uh listen to that. I'm gonna go look for that because a big Charlie Ward fan.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Yeah, yeah, you'll enjoy it. Just uh yeah, just go to go to the website and type in Charlie Ward and it'll it'll bring it up.

SPEAKER_02 34:21

Yeah. What what would be some advice that you'd give people looking to start their own their own show, looking to start their own business, or leave their nine to five job?

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Well, it's interesting because you know, this younger generation today, so much of it is, you know, hybrid working or you know, the gig economy, you know, doing things on their own. It's it's very different than the you know, nine to five in the office, work for the same company for a long time. It's it's really different. So the opportunities are so great to do some do something that you love and be good at it and offer your services in a variety of ways. So I think that's I think that's exciting, and I think that's very open for anybody who wants to pursue that. As far as an established person, like quitting their job and saying I want to go off and do my own, if it's not a I realize I was blessed in that. I I got to make that decision. Some people don't get to make a decision. Sometimes it's a jarring life's consequence, whether it's health or the health of a family member or you get fired or laid off or a company goes out of business. So those are different conversations. That's like, okay, I have to do something different. But if just if it's just because you want to, I you know, I there's so many ways now to do that. It's so easy. So much easier now to start a business and do the to support another business with whatever it is you do in a lot of ways. And we're I'm just talking about you know more office-related stuff. But if you if you wanted to quit and you know be a carpenter, that's one thing with AI home service companies, you know, roofers, plumbers, electricians, HVAC, those people are cranking. They are making money and doing super well. So if you want to give it, give up your office job and learn a trade, a lot of those positions are apprenticeship-based. So you don't even have to have experience. If you're if you're willing to work hard and learn, they'll take you on, they'll teach you the trade. And you can do really, really well for yourself. So I would just be open. You know, don't have preconceived ideas of what you're good at or what your what's your opportunities or what your options are. There are a lot of options out there, and you can do all kinds of different things.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Yeah, that's great advice. And one of the things like you I always end on the show is one of the biggest challenges or issues that you see that is facing the northern panhandle of Florida that listeners or community can help make a difference in.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

I think, you know, Tallahassee struggles with growth, Leon County in this area, getting good companies to move here. Our population isn't growing, we're not having the seeing the kind of growth we want. And that's because you have to go three hours to get to Pensacola or three hours to get to Jacksonville, and there's not a lot in between in terms of population centers. So we're kind of on little islands up here as far as you know attracting big companies. And I mean, it's big companies are coming here. We just had a huge, we just got our big Amazon facility here, which is great and employs like over a thousand people. And so that's good. There are we're not void of opportunity here, but just because of our access to population isn't as good as it is in Central or South Florida. I think that brings some other opportunities. And even Pensacola is close to Alabama, obviously. And they're I don't I don't know exactly the geography of how close it is to all those other places, but it's just a little different. We're kind of out here on our own. So, but there's also a plus side to that. I love Tallahassee. I could never think of living anywhere else. My wife and I just really adore this city and and love all the opportunities. We love the the natural beauty, the natural resources, the the vibe and the rhythm and the pace. You know, we were in Orlando for a conference a couple months ago, and she's like, I think I would leave you if you told me we had to move to Orlando. And I'm like, right back at you. I'm, you know, I have I have no desire. So I appreciate North Florida and the panhandle, love the Emerald Coast, love Panama City, love, you know, Destin. Just beautiful, beautiful area and such a great place to live. We this really is a wonderful part of the state to live.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Yeah, that's that's great. That's a that's a great response. I'm what I thought of it that way is we're in these siloed little areas of people between distances between Tallahassee and Panama City and Pensacola, and there's no real quick and easy, convenient way of connecting versus driving uh between all of those locations.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Right. Yeah, and I know that, you know, like FSU and and Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, their building facilities or already have them in Panama City. So it is it's at least with Panama City, it's a little bit we're closing that space up as far as services and in community. It's we're not can't do anything about the distance, but there are a lot of beautiful things in between, you know, uh Appalachic Cola, uh St. George Island, you know, there's some very cool places in between here and there. It just takes a minute to get there.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

Yeah. That's not gonna change at all. Well, Dave, thanks for being on the show today. Uh, how can listeners find you? Uh, I'll post all the links here in the description, but uh for people just listening and want to look at you.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Yeah, well, I appreciate that. Yeah, so it are the company websites Fiori F-I-O-R-E communications.com. The website is Hi T L H H I G H like How I Got Here, T L H dot com. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, all those. Just search my name and you'll find me.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

All right. That sounds good. I appreciate your time of the day, and I'm sure our listeners would be excited to hear our episode.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Thank you, Chuck. I appreciate it, and it was great talking with you.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Thanks for listening today's episode. If you liked it, be sure to follow and subscribe. I'll leave you with this what's the biggest issue you see in the pain handle right now? Join the conversation with me at Chuck Asbury, IIX. I'd love to hear your thoughts.