The Best of Tampa Bay Featuring Joe Malinowski and Sven Boermeester!

We all know that Tampa Bay is a tremendous and aspiring City in Florida.  With the rise in entrepreneurism in the area, re-development in Channelside and talk of the Tampa Bay Rays moving to Tampa, there is much to be excited about in our community.  Our guests in this segment know that very well too that they invested in the brand that Tampa offers!

Guest one was Joe Malinowski who is the Lead Seeker of Awesomeness at Tampa Bay is Awesome. Tampa Bay is Awesome was founded in July 2014 and in less than 2 short years has acquired over 220,000 Social followers, and tens of thousands of website visits. The concept now serves as a community promotion resource showing off all the awesomeness the Tampa Bay area has to offer.

Guest two was Sven Boermeester who was born in Belgium and moved to Tampa a few months ago via South Africa. 10 years ago he saw a need for a high end publication that highlights the best of cities and countries around the world, a publication that closes the gap between countries to promote trade and economic growth.   Out of this idea Global Village was born.  Since its inception the organization has published hundreds of B2B books highlighting the best success stories of a region.

Joe has used his brand to also produce a line of beers called Tampa Bay is Awesome of which comes highly recommended by Jamie too! Sven just released The Best of Tampa Bay which highlights many local business leaders, political leaders as well as #ThatBusinessShow and Tampa Bay Business Owners.  The book is a tremendous gift to the City and is laid out beautifully.  Tampa Bay was the first City chosen in the USA too for this brand and will lead the way for all the other major cities to have their brands highlighted but not before other areas of Florida are done.  Next up is Best of Tampa and Best of St. Petersburg!   Find the book online at www.globalvillage.world and more about Joe and his brand at www.tampabayisawesome.com!  This interview and many more entrepreneurial interviews can be found on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/jamiemeloni!

What is American Food to Other Cultures? Featuring Joanie Corneil

Cultures are often defined by their food.  Whether it is Chinese, Mexican, French or other delicacies, we know the atmosphere and offerings that will be presented to us in that restaurant.  I often wonder though how other Countries view American food.  Do Chinese people say “let’s go out for American food” like we say here for Chinese food?  Our guest today, says no.  She is Joanie Corneil, Co-Owner and Chef of Bella’s Italian Café as well as Square 1 Burgers.  Joanie spent several years learning how to prepare Italian food and soaking up the culture before returning to the States and opening Bella’s in 1986.  The question posed prior is one that Jamie has raised on several occasions with world travelers and unfortunately, the USA is not known by our foods, just that we like to eat a lot of food no matter the Country of origin!

Joanie talks about how in Italy, they are loyal to their food too with many of them dining on Italian style food regularly.  Today, as the co-owner and head chef at Bella’s, she has built a recognized brand in the SoHo District around the Italian cuisines she perfected and recently released the Bella’s Cookbook which outlines all the recipes for her creations!  This book is descriptive and colorful and would make a great Christmas gift!  Find this online at Amazon or at www.bellasitaliancafe.com.

In 2008 she and Bill Shumate opened the first Square 1 Burger with the goal of elevating the perception of the burger beyond its ‘burger joint’ origins by offering hormone- and antibiotic-free humanely raised proteins in a swanky full-service atmosphere with a full bar. There are now ten Square 1 locations across west central Florida, thus complementing their Bella Brand!   Located at 1413 S Howard Ave in Tampa, Bella’s is a delightful treat and South Tampa favorite, be sure to check it out!  Catch this interview and many others at www.youtube.com/jamiemeloni or www.thatbusinessshow.com and find us on Twitter @thatbizshow and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/thatbusinessshow!

Reddit as a Resource for Business Owners? Featuring Matt Ashwood

#WhatsTrending was the focus of this segment of #ThatBusinessShow with our guest and in house social media content provider, Matt Ashwood of Songbird Agency.  Ask him anything at www.mattashwood.me about social media and invite him in for a free consultation on how he can help you and your business get noticed on the web!

The #MorningDiscussion opened with a talk about Star Wars and how Matt used an app to overlay Darth Vader onto a recent short video clip of the program.  This creativity worked to get many more views and engagement than normal and also added some more hilarity to the program.  We post the full length videos at www.youtube.com/jamiemeloni and you can find short clips daily at www.facebook.com/thatbusinessshow We also learn in this segment that Star Wars Episode 4 was produced before the prequels because in charge planning Yoda was (it’s okay if that took a moment).

We then moved onto a discussion of Reddit, the self-proclaimed front page of the Internet.  Jamie recently found this tool and wanted to learn more about what proper “reddiquette” is.  The site in short is a collection of communities that people share content from the web to.  Users then vote the content up or down and the more popular content moves to the top and can be featured on the front page if it receives enough up votes.  Many of the communities have sub-rules and many trends begin on Reddit and then show up on Twitter, Facebook and other sites.  Users work to build up karma points via engagement on the site and proper reddiquette requires users to comment and engage with other posts and avoid just self-promotion.  The site is a resource for business owners to promote themselves but it takes work and time to position yourself inside one of the communities effectively.  Given all the resources on the web and learned about on this program, we recommend you stay away from Reddit for your business unless you have some time to spare!  Help our program grow by finding us on YouTube and subscribing at www.youtube.com/jamiemeloni and on iTunes as well.  By downloading our content, you help support the world of entrepreneurs and if you would like to be featured on the program, visit www.tbsinterview.com for more information!

Resources for Veterans Returning to the Workforce Featuring Forrest Baumhover!

As I concluded my High School years, I considered military service but did not move forward with it.  I oftentimes speak of this on the #MorningAir and blame it on a fear of commitment.  As I reflect back, I regret the decision not the join our Armed Services and feel that the men and women that serve our Country are true American heroes.  It is a privilege on #ThatBusinessShow to interview a Veteran in uniform or returning to the workforce as was the case on this edition of the program.  Our guest today was Forrest Baumhover, Founder and Principal of WestChase Financial Planning.  He is in his final (25 years) year of Naval Service and will transition to full time entrepreneurism this summer.

Throughout his career as a naval officer, his desire to help his fellow Sailors, friends and family members resolve their financial concerns has long been Forrest’s inspiration for starting a second career as a financial planner.  Forrest is a Certified Financial Planner™ and is enrolled to practice in front of the Internal Revenue Service.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in English from the United States Naval Academy and a Master of Business Administration from Old Dominion University.  Forrest also writes personal finance articles for transitioning military personnel and real estate agents.  You can check out his articles on the following websites:

• Military In Transition
• Real Estate Agent Finances

The discussion also centered on the challenges that Veterans have in returning to the workforce.  Some struggle with the lack of structure, others with the lack of guidance and training.  For those in the Tampa area, we have interviewed and promoted several resources available for veterans returning to the workforce including the Office of Veteran Success at USF led by Dr. Larry Braue, St. Petersburg College Veterans’ Services which we discussed in our interview with Fred Tucker and Katelyn Sussex of the Workforce Institute at the College, and also Valerie Ellis who leads Veterans2Corporate and is a returning service women who has worked with transitioning veterans upon her return.

Forrest looks to focus on Real Estate professionals and Veterans in the world of financial planning.  Please help support him and all our returning Veterans and if you can use his services (fee based only) give him a call at 901-483-1427 or visit www.westchasefinancialplanning.com.  Catch the interview at www.youtube.com/jamiemeloni or www.thatbusinessshow.com and follow us on Twitter @thatbizshow for more entrepreneurial interviews!!