Creating Better Days produces CBD products, even canine ones!

Creating Better Days Owner Does The Come Up

Don’t let sleeping dogs lie; let them get high!

creating better days

Creating Better Days, a Fort Myers-based company that specializes in CBD gummies, recently dropped 75 pounds of pet edibles for the dogs at a Southwest Florida human society in a philanthropic mission to soothe animals’ separation anxiety and other issues.

Creating Better Days CBD

Apparently, the pet CBD market is big business. You’ll learn why in our interview with Creating Better Days Owner Kai Pfretzschner in Content with Teeth’s The Come Up video podcast of notable Southwest Florida entrepreneurs.

 

Creating Better Days in Southwest Florida

CBD Kingpin

Creating Better Days industrial hemp CBD

You’ll meet the Creating Better Days leader and learn how the German-born Kai went from studying to be a Mercedes mechanic to running the fifth largest producer of gummy edibles in the United States and manufacturer of 350k gummies a day right here in Fort Myers.

Creating Better Podcasts Highlights

Cretting Better Day CBD pet market

Here are the highlights of The Come Up Episode 6:

No Scrappy, You Won’t Get High from Drinking 33 Bottles of CBD: Kai explains how Creating Better Days CBD rich hemp oil is non-psychoactive and won’t make you an extra in a Hollywood reboot of Cheech and Chong.

Creating Better Days CBD

What Is Cannabidiol: Kai explains what creates a healthy endocannabinoid system, how CBD made from mature industrial hemp can safely replace some prescription medications and fight a serious medical condition while serving as naturally occurring antioxidants . Kai is not a doctor offering medical advice, but he drops serious CBD knowledge!

CBD products

Nano amplified CBD: Kai explains what this type of CBD product is and why it might be helpful for people who don’t absorb CBD products well.

Scrappy’s Parole Officer Would Like a Word: The Come Up host Scrappy Jackson jokes if ingesting CBD products will trigger a call from his P.O. Watch the episode to learn Kai’s response. It will totally surprise you!

Creating Better Days won't trigger your parole officer

Learn to delegate: Creating Better Days Chief Development Officer Kai gives advice to budding entrepreneurs who think they have to do it all. Watch the episode to learn how to make your organization more productive by empowering the people around you.

Creating Better Days management philosophy

About Kai Pfretzschner & Content with Teeth

For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE. Find out more about Kai Pfretzschner’s Creating Better Days CBD products HERE.

The Come Up Episode 6 Video Transcript

Scrappy Jackson:

What up? What up? What up? What up? What up? Welcome to The Come Up, a podcast featuring Southwest Florida’s ambitious, innovating, forward thinking entrepreneurs. I’m Scrappy, and we’re brought to you by Content with Teeth. They’re an amazing content marketing agency for real, right here in Southwest Florida. 20 years experience. They do it big, real big, just like this fat head behind me. Content with Teeth. Check them out. Today’s guest is fascinating to me. Kai Pfretzschner, owner of Creating Better Days, a CBD manufacturer in Fort Myers. What’s going on Kai?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Not too much. How are you doing?

Scrappy Jackson:

Good. Real good. When we think of CBD, I’m like, well, it’s kind of cool, but I’m not really sure what it is. Does it give me a buzz? Does it help me with pain? Does it relieve anxiety? There’s still a little confusion about it. Can you break it down for us?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Right. So CBD is one of 140 cannabinoids that occur in a cannabis plant and it’s non-psychoactive. So it does not get you high, but it helps with certain ailments. So it calms you down and relieves anxiety. It’s an anti-inflammatory, so it helps with recovery after certain sports injuries and all kind of stuff.

Scrappy Jackson:

Very nice. Very nice. I understand that THC is there a little bit, like 3%. So can I drink 33 bottles and get high like weed?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Well, full spectrum CBD by law is allowed to have 0.3% THC. So some products, if you take a little bit more, you can definitely feel it. We have a line of gummies that’s called Spectrum Plus. They do have about 10 milligrams of THC, legally, in a gummy. So you definitely feel it.

Scrappy Jackson:

I’ve never taken CBD before. What’s the sensation like?

Kai Pfretzschner:

It’s more like a calming feeling. It kind of takes the edge off a little bit. So if you worry too much, it calms you down a little bit. But like I said, you don’t really get a head high or anything.

Scrappy Jackson:

And the government, they seem to be supportive of it. But not to the point where they’re like… They’re still saying May, probably. Well, sometimes, potential… How come the government hasn’t put the rubber stamp on this?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Yeah, it just seems like the FDA, as every government agency, is moving fairly slow. So we’ve been doing this for eight years now. So ever since we started in this business… And the beginning was a total gray area. Then legislation came down a little bit through the FDA. The FDA didn’t want to deal with it. And especially in Florida, so they gave the Department of Agriculture the authority to regulate us. So businesses like mine are now regulated by the Department of Agriculture for labeling, product standards, manufacturing practices, and all that good stuff.

Scrappy Jackson:

I’ve been on your website. I know you tried to educate your customers there, but on a daily basis, how do you sensitize your customers to what you have, this great product that you have?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Well, I mean, the customer educates themselves usually through online searches. So people gotten very knowledgeable with CBD. We do have a quiz on our website and kind of ask a couple of questions and then suggest you a product. But grand scheme of things, people gotten pretty knowledgeable about CBD. And now there’s many other cannabinoids out there, Delta-8, D9, all kind of different ones. CBN for more calming, relaxing, and nighttime relief. So there’s a bunch of things to choose from.

Scrappy Jackson:

My brother takes it, but he says his gastrointestinal tract doesn’t absorb it fast enough. Is that why nano is available?

Kai Pfretzschner:

That’s why nano is available. It just downsizes the molecule size a little bit. Usually you kind of need a medium chain triglyceride oil, a fatty acid, with any cannabinoid. So your stomach can absorb it faster. If you nanofy, you break down the size, the absorption rate goes up, and you feel the effects a little bit faster.

Scrappy Jackson:

Kai, you have anti-depressants and also anti-psychotics in your CBD. That’s pretty cool. I mean, that’s really awesome. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?

Kai Pfretzschner:

I’m not sure about anti-depressant and anti-psychotic. There is a couple of things that we offer. So there’s an entourage effect between CBD, CBN, and melatonin. So we sometimes use an over the counter, like melatonin, a sleep aid, and couple it together with CBD and CBN, to give you a better effect. So there’s some people that can’t sleep sort of take melatonin. They get used to melatonin. Well, it turns out if you throw together a CBD and melatonin in one edible… in a gummy, for example, it really helps.

Scrappy Jackson:

Sleep, anxiety, pain. You’re doing really good stuff here, but the public really is still not sensitized to completely. So what will you say to the public, to all Southwest Florida, when it comes to buy my CBDs, damn it?

Kai Pfretzschner:

All I can tell them, give it a try. There’s really no side effects to CBD. Like I said, not psychoactive. So don’t be afraid that you are not going to be able to drive a car. The label state, if you use something new in your diet, like you add something like CBD, ask you physician first, “Hey, is this good for me? Hey, I’m taking X, Y, Z prescriptions. Is that going to affect it?” So you should always ask you physician. That’s something. But other than that, give it a try. Start with a low dosage. A lot of people just go way too high in the beginning and then… Start low.

Scrappy Jackson:

My parole officer’s always asking me, “Scrappy, you got to take a test.” Will I pass a test if I take CBD?

Kai Pfretzschner:

If you do an isolated CBD, CBD isolate meaning it’s just CBD, there’s Delta-9 THC in it, then you are not going to have any issues with the drug test. If you use a full spectrum product, there’s trace amounts of THC in it, then that might show up. So you got to be careful which product you choose. We got several different ones, so.

Scrappy Jackson:

I’m just kidding about the parole thing.

Kai Pfretzschner:

Hey man, I don’t know. Judgment-free zone.

Scrappy Jackson:

You mentioned gummies. What other products do you have?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Right now, our main product is gummies. So we produce about 350,000 gummies a day.

Scrappy Jackson:

Wow.

Kai Pfretzschner:

And yeah, that’s our main business right now, but we offer anything from oils to topicals. We got pet-related products, pet treats. There’s a lot of products to choose from. But we dialed it down a little bit since gummies is now our main road.

Scrappy Jackson:

Okay. Well, I’m curious about the gummies, but pets? You’re giving this stuff to pets?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Yeah. The pet CBD market has been highly successful maybe for the last five years. So obviously, pets, dogs, cats deal with things like separation anxiety. They get nervous during storm and CBD helps calm them down. So we have several dog treats and tinctures for cats and docs available too.

Scrappy Jackson:

I noticed on your website, you have Better Days, Better Nights, Better Defense, Better Delights, and you have Better Pets. But you need Better Babies, man. Babies on an airplane. They’re getting a little unruly, just give them a gummy and they’ll sleep for hours.

Kai Pfretzschner:

Yeah. This 18 years and older is a thing in Florida, so.

Scrappy Jackson:

So 350,000 gummies a day. That’s amazing, man. You’re right here in Fort Myers. Where does that put you industry wise, nationwide, globally?

Kai Pfretzschner:

In the US, right now, we’re one of the fifth largest producers of gummy edibles in the US. So yeah, we’re up there. We’re pretty busy.

Scrappy Jackson:

One of the things that’s really, really cool about you guys is the fact that you do nonprofit work. You have your quarterly donations, is it? Quarterly… What is it called?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Yeah, we choose a charity every quarter and we help them either out with donations or we help them funding-wise or we advertise for them. We do cross collaborations with all kind of charities that in our area specifically, and that target a couple things that we feel that we can help and contribute a little bit to give back.

Scrappy Jackson:

Yeah. I noticed you’re helping out the veterans, breast cancer, humane society, man. I commend you on that. That’s really awesome.

Kai Pfretzschner:

Thank you. Thank you. I mean, giving back is one of the things that I think are important I mean a business is designed to make money, but giving back is important, especially to things that you feel are close to your… you know?

Scrappy Jackson:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And you dropped off, what, 75 pounds of gummies to the dogs at the Ford Myers Humane Society. They must have been sleeping for days.

Kai Pfretzschner:

No. No, no. We helped them out with treats. We donated bulk treats. We had our team. We currently have about 85 people working for us. So they made dog toys. So we helped them out with adoption drives, treats, we built toys for them. So everybody chips in their time a little bit.

Scrappy Jackson:

You mentioned you’ve been in business for eight years, but you’ve really skyrocketed under your leadership. How have you evolved so quickly?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Oh, good question. I mean, it’s a combination. So you are in a business. You’re trying to figure out what drives your business a little bit quicker. You hone in, there’s a thing called the power law. 20% of anything you do usually gives you about 80% of your return. So in our case, we honed into the gummies. So two and a half years ago, we decided to manufacture our own gummies. Not a lot of people did. It took about six months to get the machinery up and going, to get the R&D work together, get all the licenses together. And producing our own gummy edibles really made a difference. So that’s propelled our business.

Scrappy Jackson:

You have a fascinating background. You’re from Germany and you were studying Mercedes-Benz. You were going to be a mechanic for Mercedes-Benz. So in coming over here, you’re somewhat of a scientist, aren’t you? You’re kind of like an engineer that tinkers a lot, right?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Well yeah, that’s how I started. I was an engineer for Mercedes and, yeah. Then I moved here about 20 years ago, went through a couple different businesses, anything from construction, real estate, and then ended up in the cannabis industry. And in the beginning it was all self taught. Right? So a lot of reading. How do I come up with a formula for a gummy? What’s picked and what’s glucose and what’s everything that’s in there, right? So in the beginning it was all that. Now, we have chemists employed that check all their formulas. I’m the chief development officer so I’ll come up with new ideas, new gummies. And then I go to them and say, “Here, this is my idea. Can we do it or not?” And then we work together on the formulation and SOPs and all that good stuff.

Scrappy Jackson:

As entrepreneur, we highlight entrepreneurs here locally in Southwest Florida, courtesy of Content with Teeth. I think it’s fascinating that you have two incredible skills. You’re not just a scientist/engineer, but you’re also a driver. You really drive a business. You’re very ambitious. How do you go about complimenting your team so that all the parts around you work properly?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Well, that was actually one of the things that I see a lot when entrepreneurs start their business. They underestimate how important it is to have a good team, right? So when you start a business, you think this was my idea, I can do it better, and I also do it by myself because nobody else can do this, but myself. Not true. Without a team, you can’t grow a business. So our team is amazing. They do a lot of work with us. We do a lot of stuff for them. Every month, we do a employee appreciation dinner. We take them out to dinner and we cater stuff. We do fun activities at least once a month. And it’s important that everybody’s comfortable. It doesn’t have to be all work, right? So it’s good to socialize and make everybody feel they belong to that company.

Scrappy Jackson:

You create a culture.

Kai Pfretzschner:

You have to.

Scrappy Jackson:

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. From a business perspective, you mentioned that you’re fifth in the United States with the gummy business. What about competition otherwise? What are you doing to stave them off and differentiate yourself moving forward?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Well, a company our size is obviously all for regulation. In our industry, it’s always been like that, that a lot of people started it out of their garage and their homes and stuff. We adhere to every regulation there is. We got [inaudible 00:13:00], which is the agricultural in the state, in Florida right now, working close together with us. So we adhere to label guidelines. We do third party testing. So we spend large amounts of money every month to make sure that all of our product that’s produced and goes out is tested and approved before it hits the market. Right? So there’s a lot that goes into it. You have to do it right, otherwise you can’t sustain a business.

Scrappy Jackson:

Sure, sure. I find your company to be very creative as well, from the packaging to the website. What goes into that?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Yeah. We have a team of designers. So they’re the creative people. It’s definitely not me. Yeah. We design logos. We have a whole marketing team. So they do photo shoots. They plan out all the promotions, all the holidays they’re coming up three to six months ahead. They take pictures, they do videos for online, social media, ads, all kinds of stuff, so.

Scrappy Jackson:

So when you were kicking in Germany as a teenager, did you ever think in your wildest dreams you’d be selling gummies in Southwest Florida for a living?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Definitely not, really. I always was interested in the cannabis industry, like every 16-year-old is, I guess. But to make a business out of it was definitely something amazing. And yeah, it’s going great. I like it.

Scrappy Jackson:

Okay. Well, I want you to give a shout out to three groups. First of all, I want you to talk to the people that are potential consumers. What’s your pitch to them?

Kai Pfretzschner:

My pitch would be that the cannabis plant can be a perfect substitute for any kind of pharmaceuticals. You don’t have to take Vicodin and painkillers. There is a natural alternative with less to non side effects. So for one, you got a lot of customers that tell us… Oh, feedback is crazy. Older ladies and gentlemen come to us like, “Wow. I started taking CBD and Delta-8, Delta-9 THC instead of my painkillers. I feel much better.” So in my opinion, that’s one of the biggest drivers. Veterans, we sponsor them because of PTSD, right? So CBD, Delta-8 THC, Delta-9 THC helps a lot to calm them down and take the edge of a little bit. So there’s a lot of pros.

Scrappy Jackson:

Oxycodine, fentanyl. Are people actually getting off of it because of CBD?

Kai Pfretzschner:

I can’t say for sure, but I sure hope they would substitute a little bit and get off all the hard stuff.

Scrappy Jackson:

Okay. Well, another group I want you to talk to are budding entrepreneurs right here in Southwest Florida. I mean, you’re doing it. You’re doing it really big. What do you suggest for them? As far as, let’s say they’re getting out of FGCU next week, what do you tell them?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Well, if they have the entrepreneurial spirit, they most likely have an idea, right? So they think X, Y, Z, I’m interested in this. Maybe I want to start a business. You got to do your research first. What’s your competition look like? In my opinion, it helps to find a niche. Little bit something that’s right in the middle that not everybody’s doing. If you get out of FGCU and say, “Hey, I want come out with an energy drink,” well, good luck. Your competition is going to be high. They’re probably going to squish you like a bug, as they say, right?

Scrappy Jackson:

Right.

Kai Pfretzschner:

Then do your homework, right? Make sure you’re solid. Get legal representation. You need to have a legal backup. And then it’s going to be much more work than you ever thought it would be. If you don’t put in your time… Extraordinary access comes through extreme sacrifices. So you got to sacrifice your time.

Scrappy Jackson:

Yeah, definitely.

Kai Pfretzschner:

Don’t be in it for the money. Okay? The money will come later on, but hard work and just don’t give up.

Scrappy Jackson:

And Kai, what kind of advice would you give yourself when you were 12 years old?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Nothing. Everything is great. Just do exactly what you’re doing. It’s all going to be great.

Scrappy Jackson:

Really?

Kai Pfretzschner:

I wouldn’t do anything. So I could have moved a little bit earlier. Okay? So I waited until I was 20, 21 years old before I moved over here. Other than that, the only thing that I could have learned a little bit faster is delegating. We talked about it earlier, the mindset that only you can do it the right way. You need a good team of people that you can trust. You got to learn how to delegate stuff to them. That way you can get 10 times the workload done with three people in a day that would’ve taken yourself two weeks and then the customer’s already gone. So yeah.

Scrappy Jackson:

So what’s next for you, man?

Kai Pfretzschner:

Well, we’re trying to expand in a couple of different states. We’re trying to get into the regulated THC market in Michigan and a couple other projects that we have going on. So traveling a lot back and forward, just trying to make things happen.

Scrappy Jackson:

I’m kind of curious, if there’s recreational states where they allow marijuana, no problem, no medical card, can you actually up your CBD percentage, just for those states?

Kai Pfretzschner:

They’re doing it. If you blend CBD and THC together, it takes the potency of the THC away a little bit. So there’s certain products that are doing it. But usually in those states, it’s state regulated manufacturers. So you have to have a state license to operate in that state.

Scrappy Jackson:

Okay. Finally, Kai, in your success, you’ve afforded yourself the opportunity to travel. You’ve traveled extensively. And what lessons have you learned?

Kai Pfretzschner:

So traveling, I love to travel because I love to experience different cultures, different food. In my opinion, if you stay in one spot for too long, you’re in a little bubble, in a little box, right? And your mind is not as broad as it should be. So traveling, I experience other people how they do things. And then I realize that the way I’m doing it is probably not the only right way. That there’s more than one right way of doing it.

Scrappy Jackson:

True.

Kai Pfretzschner:

Yeah. I’ve been to Asia a lot, China, to our manufacturers for machinery over there. We’ve been several, four or five times to Shanghai. Those are all great people. Not so lucky right now, but those are awesome people. They hustle hard. Their work mentality is something I admire. They never give up. And, yeah.

Scrappy Jackson:

There’s… I’m sorry. There’s cannaboid oil. Okay? CBD. And Creating Better Days, I finally figured it out, man, CBD.

Kai Pfretzschner:

Ah, CBD. Create Better Days. There you go.

Scrappy Jackson:

My man, Kai Pfretzschner. Creating Better Days, a CBD manufacturer right here in Southwest Florida, doing it really big, courtesy of Content with Teeth. We’re doing this podcast. Content with Teeth, a marketing agency, doing incredible content. I’m Scrappy. Kai, peace out.

Kai Pfretzschner:

Thank you so much.

June 18, 2022 The Come Up No comments yet
Meet John Degnan who founded a growing Florida language school in the latest epsiode of Content with Teeth's video pocast The Come Up

Florida Language School Does The Come Up

From a business analyst in one of Miami’s biggest firms to opening a one-room school in South Beach with one student …

Possessing a passport stamped with countries from all around the globe…

Watching the school grow with an intensive English program with thousands and thousands of international students …

40 different nationalities passing through its corridors …

Meet the man who triumphs over the Tower of Babel. Meet Greg Degnan in the latest episode of The Come Up, Content with Teeth’s short video podcast profiling the up-and-coming entrepreneurial scene in Southwest Florida.

The Come Up Episode 5 Highlights

English courses in Florida

Here is what to look for in our latest episode where host Scrappy Jackson interviews a dynamic educator and inspiring entrepreneur.

What does Greg learn most from his students? Because of the melange of different cultures and viewpoints in one room, you learn more from the students than the students do from you.

Is teaching English a dead-end career? The English language is still the PEOPLE’S language. Learn why the industry has a lot of growth potential.

What advice would Degnan give to his 12-year-old self? Follow your dreams but find out why it’s important to be a generalist instead of a specialist.

The future of a Language Center and an English Language Institute: Online, virtual reality and lost in the Metaverse.

What does Greg value most when hiring English teachers? Experience! Watch the episode to find out exactly why – the reason might surprise you.

In this episode, meet an interesting dude who started his career hanging out with Magic and The Dream Team in Barcelona during the 1992 Olympics.

About Greg Degnan and Content with Teeth

For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE. Find Degnan’s South Beach Languages school if you want to study English or a new language HERE.

Florida language center

The Come Up Episode 5 Video Transcript

Scrappy Jackson: What’s up, what’s up, what’s up, I’m Scrappy. And this is the Come Up. Entrepreneurs on the rise throughout Southwest Florida. We have ’em for you. They’re fascinating. They’re genuine. They’re innovative. Content with Teeth, a real innovative marketing company. They do content marketing. They’re our sponsor, and they’re doing it really big. Just like this fat head behind me. Today’s guest is an entrepreneur. That’s doing big things as well. His name is Greg Degnan. He’s from the University of Florida. He’s a teacher. He does really interesting things in South Beach, Fort Myers and Hollywood with his schools. Greg. Welcome.

Greg Degnan: Thanks, Scrappy. Great to be here.

Scrappy Jackson: Yeah, it’s really great for you to be here as well. And, uh, my first question is, you know, you went to the University of Florida. You got a great education. What did you do from jump right at the beginning?

Greg Degnan: Great. Yeah, go Gators. I’m a graduate. I’m a proud Gator graduate in 1991. I was there. I had, Emmitt Smith actually in one of my classes, but, yeah, as when I graduated in 91, the majority of my friends, and peers were going off to get jobs, you know, in Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, whatever city they could, but I really wanted to travel. So I took off, I got a passport and I started just traveling all over. I was all, I went all over Latin America to almost every country in Latin America, all over Europe. At that time they had the Interrail pass. So we traveled to other countries and I also hit Asia and interesting. My first job real job was with a dream team in, uh, Barcelona.

Scrappy Jackson: Oh, cool. Very cool. So tell us about the dream team. That’s amazing.

Greg Degnan: Yeah, it was awesome. I got to meet all the players. I mean, my job was nothing special. I was in logistics, transportation, kind of getting the players around. I wrote a short book about it called, chasing the dream team, but I had some great moments. You know, just speaking with Magic and Clyde Drexler and some of these guys. I actually was translating for them. Cause one of the things that, because it was in Spain, I had Spanish. So when the players would go out and try to communicate, I would help them. A lot of funny stories and, I just saw Magic has a documentary now on Apple TV, it’s called,  They Call Me Magic. It’s an amazing documentary and I’m, I have a little cameo in there. I’m younger. Yeah.

Scrappy Jackson: That’s awesome. So a lot of students, they go abroad. They wanna have some fun. Right out of college. They’re not sure what they wanna do. Do you do the same thing or you looking to find yourself or do you know exactly what you wanted to do with your career at that point?

Greg Degnan: Uh, yeah. Great question. I, I just want, I wasn’t ready to go to an office. I studied finance at UF at University of Florida, and I just really wanted to travel after being in school for so long. And in fact, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and what I found very quickly is the easiest job to get as you’re traveling is an English teacher. Because everybody, you know, in different countries speak different languages. And at that time, especially, they all wanted to learn English. So I would just ride the train in Europe, for example. And if a city looked nice, like I would stop in Budapest, get off. And within a day or two, I would have a job as an English teacher, which was really amazing. And it taught me, you know, to start to love teaching. Cause before that I had no experience teaching English, but I learned, you know, the methodology, teaching English to international students of all ages, different group sizes. And it really helped my public speaking and presence as well.

Scrappy Jackson: So you are in South America, you have a finance degree. How do you get back to United States and get a job?

Greg Degnan: Yeah, eventually I came back, just, I had my passport stamped a lot all over the world and I came back and I went to UM, University of Miami for my MBA. I wanted to get a little more serious on the business side and that created a lot of opportunities. I had a lot of great internships at Burdines, which is now Macy’s. And if you remember Burdines, that was a big store in Florida a while ago. I did some great things there. We would work on an algorithm, for advertising to find the best advertising mix. At that time, they had this huge budget for advertising. This was pre-internet. So they had to decide how much are we gonna spend in TV? How much are we gonna spend on radio? How much are we gonna spend in direct mail?

Greg Degnan: So we, I was part of a team that created the algorithm to find that perfect mix by product category. What will our budget be? That was a great project. I worked at, BACARDÍ in the liquor industry for a couple of years, doing projects. That was also amazing cause they’re based in Miami. At that time, BACARDÍ was introducing flavors. So in the past, they would just have, you know, three BACARDÍ,  file in the middle of the shelf on the shelf. Right, right. There was a hundred brands at that time. So what they did that was very smart is started introducing flavors. And that was part of the, the group that introduced BACARDÍ LIMÓN, BACARDÍ O, BACARDÍ Razz. And once they started introducing all these flavors, it took up all the shelf space.

Scrappy Jackson: Sure. Cause they had all the leverage. Right.

Greg Degnan: Exactly. So they kind of knocked out all these mom-and-pop, you know, rum companies and just kind of took over and got stronger and stronger at that time.

Scrappy Jackson: So you’re in the corporate world, but somewhere, international teaching, you know, speaking the languages. That pool must have come in somewhere.

Greg Degnan: Exactly. Yeah. I missed it. So even as great jobs that I had and experiences, and as an analyst, as a business analyst in Miami, working for these great companies, part of me still, you know, still in a cubicle, I still had a boss and I just kind of wanted to go do my own thing. So I had such a great experience teaching that I opened the one-room school in South Beach, called it South Beach languages. And at the beginning, I was the only teacher, you know, one room, one student and little. I remember my first place was on 12th McCollins Avenue paying $300 a month, you know, just for one little room. And then little by little, we grew it, we added students. And today we, you know, we have, we’ve got thousands and thousands of students,

Scrappy Jackson: You have a diversity of students. How many countries have gone through your corridors?

Greg Degnan: Um, I would say probably 30 or 40.

Scrappy Jackson: Wow.

Greg Degnan: Different countries at least, at least.

Scrappy Jackson: And just, how do you, how do you communicate to so many different ones?

Greg Degnan: Yeah, that’s a great question. Cause like, again, when I taught in Mexico I had a class of 12 Mexican students. Right. So they were all familiar with Spanish and English. Whereas in Miami Beach, we might have a class with one Brazilian, one Japanese, one person from Serbia, it’s all, all mixed. So that teachers only speak and teach in English. So they go slowly. they have methodologies to use. So it’s up to the students to learn. It’s kind of an immersion methodology.

Scrappy Jackson: Sure, sure. In your hallways, is there cultural diversity to the point where they need to assimilate?

Greg Degnan: Um, yeah. I, I’m not sure. What, what you mean exactly, but like the, for example, it’s amazing having all these different cultures in one class, right? So a lot of students come up to us at the end of their experience and be like, wow, you know, I’ve never had that kind of experience where I had conversations with a French person and a Brazilian person and a Japanese person and a somebody from Bangladesh. And what it does is this kind of a microcosm of the world. You see all these nationalities coming together, talking to each other. Of course, there’s a lot of arguments, you know, with different viewpoints and economics and politics and all these things. But the 99% of them go home, like, wow, that was, that was a great experience.

Scrappy Jackson: You have South Beach, you got Hollywood, you have tutoring in Fort Myers. If I’m somebody that wants to be a teacher at your school, what’s the first question you ask me.

Greg Degnan: Um, I value experience the most. So I would say how much, how many years of English teaching experience do you have? Obviously, if you’re a kindergarten teacher or first-grade teacher, that actually is pretty helpful because you, you know, you’re teaching people with at the beginning stages, which is what we’re doing. They don’t know any English, a lot of them. So we do take, English teachers all the time. New English teachers. Experience. And most of our teachers have to have a certificate depending on the course of teaching. An English, ESL certificate, TEFL, they call it.

Scrappy Jackson: So you’re a teacher. You become this incredible entrepreneur. What advice do you give teachers today as far as getting into this game?

Greg Degnan: Well again, I most teachers from what I’ve seen, aren’t going into it for money at all. Because teaching, you know, in general, and especially teaching English, not something you’re gonna get rich, you have to really want to, you know, be a teacher to connect with people and see that light, you know, go on in the student’s head when they learn something. In terms of business, I think it’s still a big opportunity. If people are business people are looking for opportunities, I think this industry still has a long way to go in terms of growth. The world is becoming a little more isolated now, so it’s becoming a little bit harder to get students from everywhere like we used to. But there’s still a lot of opportunity for growth and it’s still, English is still the world language.

Scrappy Jackson: I have visited your schools and there’s an incredible culture. It, it really is, you know, the students are immersed, the teachers are immersed, and throughout the hallways, you get a special feeling it’s really, really cool. The way you put it together. It’s almost a spiritual experience for real. So given that, what is it that you’ve learned the most from your students?

Greg Degnan: I think, yeah, it’s a cliche, but when you teach English, you learn more than you teach. It’s really fascinating. All of the different cultures, again in the world coming to USA to learn English. And they have they’re in awe and big respect for this country, cuz they’re here. They’ve chosen to come here. But just learning from them, their experiences. So we might go around and say, Hey, tell us the culture, uh, of your country. Like, you know, in USA we celebrate independence day in 4th of July, what’s going on in your country? And they’ll tell us the whole story.

Scrappy Jackson: You mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of opportunities in education. What’s your personal vision and where are you going with your career and your company?

Greg Degnan: Yeah, I used to think the answer was building more schools. For a while, we were kind of expanding in that way. But we stopped that and we’re basically focusing more on content. So we are a big school in South Beach and we’re trying to create more content because as the world is becoming more online, obviously, as education, what’s happening with COVID the last couple of years, there’s kind of a, more of a, a realization that the future of our industry and education, in general, is gonna be online. It’s gonna be virtual reality. It’s gonna be Metaverse, all these, all these things you’re hearing about. Right? Right. You put on a headset and be in a class you don’t really need to physically go somewhere as much. Right. You could still have that experience with a teacher with, or the classmates, but online. So at the moment, we’re working on more content, developing our technology as opposed to just trying to make a bunch of franchises. We’re trying to have more content. So, more students around the world can connect with us wherever they are.

Scrappy Jackson: That’s cool. That’s very cool. And as far as Southwest Florida goes, how do we connect with you as far as tutoring is concerned or online classes?

Greg Degnan: Sure. Yeah. In Southwest Florida. At the moment, we offer online, group classes, in-private classes, in English, and Spanish. So if you’d like, if you’re interested in learning Spanish, for example, or English, at the moment, you could still inquire about French, Portuguese, other languages. We may have a teacher available, but because it’s online, we can give you a, for example, if you wanna learn Spanish, we might have a great teacher in Miami that can just get online with you twice a week. It’s about, it’s reasonable. It’s about $40 an hour. The teachers will be flexible with your schedule, you know, best time for you. So yeah, let us know. Our website is SBL.edu like South Beach Languages, SBL.edu. And you can come on our website and make an inquiry.

Scrappy Jackson: Okay. Finally, Greg, if you have to give advice to your 12-year-old self, what would it be?

Greg Degnan: That’s great. Yeah, one of my favorite authors is a guy named Scott Adams. He does the Dilbert cartoon and he speaks about being a generalist as opposed to being a specialist. And I really agree with that. And I found in my life by it’s more of like the baseball analogy of like being a utility player, as opposed to like the saver in baseball. Right. I think of myself more as a utility player, I can go in across different industries. That would be the advice I would give. Follow your dreams, but don’t be too specialized. Be open and try to, instead of saying, this is the only thing I’m gonna put all my eggs in this basket, I would say have a little bit of, have three or four strengths and develop all of them as opposed to just one thing.

Scrappy Jackson: So you gave great advice to your 12-year-old self.

Greg Degnan: Hopefully I did, right? Follow me.

Scrappy Jackson: Greg Degnan, South Beach Languages, South Beach, Southwest Florida, Hollywood, and incredible entrepreneur. We’re brought to you by Content with Teeth. Content with Teeth, a content marketing company, doing really big things, just like this logo behind me, Greg. Thank you so much for your time, man. We really appreciate it.

Greg Degnan: All right. Thanks.

June 4, 2022 Content, The Come Up No comments yet
Brad Cozza, Owner of a Florida investment group, is guest on the Episode 4 of The Come Up sponsored by Content with Teeth

Florida Investment Group Does The Come Up

In the latest episode of The Come Up, meet the guy every entrepreneur dreams of becoming.

He is owner of a thriving Florida investment group which means recently he has been printing cash …

He is one of Gulfshore Business’ 40 under 40 …

He is a former model …

Meet Brad Cozza.

Things weren’t always so rosy. In his earlier days, he took stock of his life after couch surfing in the Big Apple.

Now he is the founder of Cozza Investment Group which The Wall Street Journal named #10 in the country for volume produced.

The Come Up Episode 4 Highlights

The Come Up is a short video podcast produced by Content with Teeth that documents the up-and-coming entrepreneurial scene in Southwest Florida.

In Episode 4, Everyone Loves Brad Cozza.

Jumping between different companies and industries, from real estate to restaurants, you definitely want to follow this guy’s career arc.

Back in his school days: Brad was a hungry hunter for investment opportunities at FGCU when it was a lonely outpost with more snakes than students.

Cozza’s advice to entrepreneurs: Take risks, but calculated ones only. Learn how to adapt and NOT die.

Real estate success: learn how to work the genie to up your odds of being in the right place at the right time.

Watch the episode and learn the connection between Cozza and Pitbull and the ultimate advice on unlocking a real estate gamechanger.

About Brad Cozza and Content with Teeth

For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE. Find Cozza Investment Firm located in Fort Myers HERE.

The Come Up Episode 4 Transcript

Scrappy Jackson: What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? I’m Scrap Jackson, and this is The Come Up, a video podcast celebrating Southwest Florida’s most interesting entrepreneurs. We’re brought to you by Content with Teeth, a creative content marketing agency right here in Southwest Florida. They do all kinds of good stuff: copywriting, video production, HubSpot services, and based on this big ass Fathead logo behind me, you can tell they do it big, real big.

Scrappy Jackson: Our guest today is Brad Cozza, an FGCU grad who’s turned his business degree into a Southwest Florida real estate and entertainment empire. He’s done it with moxie, risk-taking vision, passion. It’s awesome to have you here, Brad. We really appreciate it.

Brad Cozza: What’s up, Scrap? Thanks for having me. How you been?

Scrappy Jackson: Good. Really good. Really good. Southwest Florida is alive with real estate entertainment. You’re on the cusp. But I’m thinking back in the day, when you were in West Warwick, Rhode Island, you’re playing shortstop for your little league team, in your wildest dreams did you think you’d be here today?

Brad Cozza: Well, everybody in their wildest dreams in West Warwick, Rhode Island in little league thought that they were all going to play for the Boston Red Sox, so that was, I guess, my dream back then. But no, I’m very blessed to have made that move to Southwest Florida, because it was just a golden opportunity and moved at the right place at the right time, and I was very happy to go south.

Scrappy Jackson: And then you went to FGCU. Tell us about your experience there with Business Administration.

Brad Cozza: I did. So I was one of the second, I think it was the second graduating class at FGCU. So back then, you would take a ride to your dorm room down Ben Hill Griffin. And I felt like Jack Hanna, basically looking for boar, for reptiles, for snakes. It was just before there was any growth pattern, that now you take a look to see Gulf Coast Town Center, you take a look at Miramar, it’s a completely different environment where it was 15 years ago.

Scrappy Jackson: If you only had one acre of Miramar land back, then you’d be pretty much set. Right?

Brad Cozza: I would have bought something, I just didn’t have any money.

Scrappy Jackson: So, you get involved in modeling. You go to Miami. Perry Ellis, Levi’s, Tommy Hilfiger, you’re doing really big for the Miami modeling scene, but I read somewhere where you were stuck on a couch and you wanted more out of life?

Brad Cozza: So, the modeling industry was for the time being. It was one of those situations where you would go to the coolest parties, and I had a vast appreciation for fashion, but it’s one of those industries where you don’t make any money.

Scrappy Jackson: Yeah.

Brad Cozza: And I went to college and wanted to, obviously, use my college education. And I found myself one morning in Queens, basically living on a couch. I was like, “Okay. This was fun, now it’s time to actually do some work.”

Scrappy Jackson: But in many respects, it was the groundwork for your perspective today, because your real estate vision involves somewhat of a metropolitan, cosmopolitan feel. Right?

Brad Cozza: Sure, absolutely. So, definitely, the real estate investment arena in Southwest Florida has been what I actually focused on when I first got my license. When I was a licensed agent, typically you get into real estate and you do cookie-cutter showings and working with buyers. I knew right off the bat that I had a passion for ROI investment, development, and was in the right place at the right time during the market boom of 2005. And we started marketing to major metropolitan centers. We would run ads in the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, New York Post. And it went from five deals to 10 deals, and in 2006, our company was ranked number 10 in the nation by the Wall Street Journal for volume produced nationwide. So it was a great accolade and definitely found my sweet spot with working with investor.

Scrappy Jackson: Foreclosures, pre-construction, flips, sales, what do you like the best? What’s the most exciting to you?

Brad Cozza: Depends on what the market is.

Scrappy Jackson: Really, because you’re a businessman. Right?

Brad Cozza: So, right now you read the market and there’s a housing scarcity. So what makes this market different from ’05, ’06 is back then it was just anybody could get a construction loan, state-to-state programs, everybody was irresponsible. It was investors buying from investors. It was all hyper appreciation, false appreciation.

Brad Cozza: In this market, the game changer was COVID. 2020, our governor, you never actually bring up politics in business, but you have to state the obvious. When our governor DeSantis basically said, “Hey, listen. Florida’s open for business,” it just really spiked our local economy, spiked the economy of Florida. And from 2020 to 2021, it was the largest economic boom that Florida has ever seen.

Brad Cozza: Now you’re seeing the drip, drip, residential effect, where there’s a huge demand for housing, because people are being relocated here from their northernly blue states. And you’re starting to see for the first time, you’re seeing New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, you’re seeing New England, you’re seeing Washington, you’re seeing California. So it’s good to see that we’re now increasing the people that basically are actually coming to this area, in addition to the Midwesterners that historically come to South of Florida.

Scrappy Jackson: From a complexion standpoint, where do you see the demographic texture going here in Southwest Florida?

Brad Cozza: Major metropolitan, which is very diverse, and you’re going to see, which we love, we love a melting pot. We love different concepts. And especially to see that this market is very educated and metropolitan-oriented, it’s completely different where it was five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago. This market is looking and feeling more and more of something you would see in the East Coast.

Scrappy Jackson: And you’re on the cusp, that’s for sure. Gulf Shore Magazine’s 40 under 40. And I was doing my homework on you, Brad, and I came up with this idea. Now tell me if I’m wrong. Modeling was an indoctrination, real estate, a foundation, food and entertainment, an avocation.

Brad Cozza: I think I might use that. That’s IG-worthy.

Scrappy Jackson: Yeah, man, because your avocation-

Brad Cozza: Yeah. Listen, hospitality has always been a passion mine, and I consider it a fun environment to be around. And I really think that Southwest Florida is ready for some major metropolitan ideas and some concepts that more and more we’re seeing that. We’re getting away from what historically would actually work in Southwest Florida five, 10 years ago, because it is so diverse and we are seeing such migration to this location, to Southwest Florida. So it’s getting that metropolitan vibe and we love it.

Scrappy Jackson: Yeah. You’re not satisfied with just real estate. Colleoni’s is a wonderful Italian restaurant. Tell us about that.

Brad Cozza: Yeah. So I was always one of their biggest patrons. I used to go there all the time. And COVID happened, and they have some family back in Milan, so they said, “Hey, Brad, would you be interested in promoting and selling our business?” So I said, “Well, how much do you want?” And we actually came to terms, and I said, “I’d like to take over the tradition itself.” So we hired a really good team, hired a really good chef that basically provided a little, had that whole Colleoni family recipe, but added a little modern touch to it. And it’s been great. We’re looking for expansion, and it’s been a tremendous opportunity.

Scrappy Jackson: That’s great. As an entrepreneur, you’ve definitely carved your own path. You’ve taken risks. You faced adversity. What kind of advice can you give a young entrepreneur today?

Brad Cozza: Take risks, but definitely diversify. Take calculated risks, do your homework. What works in one market might not work in another market itself. So just really dial into what market you would like to take that risk in, and take that jump in the pool.

Scrappy Jackson: Another piece of advice; I want Brad to give advice to his 20-year-old self.

Brad Cozza: Get in real estate before you’re 25. But again, the experiences I had with modeling and hospitality and so on and so forth, I like to be well-rounded, and I like to do numerous things at the same time. So I would not second guess anything, and I’m very happy and very fortunate to be in such a growing, explosive marketplace.

Scrappy Jackson: As ambitious as you are, how do you keep all these things, how do you keep them balanced, work/life?

Brad Cozza: That’s always the challenge. The challenge is I always like to work. I work when I’m basically not working if that makes any sense.

Scrappy Jackson: Yes.

Brad Cozza: I always, whenever I go on vacation, I’m basically looking at other concepts, I’m looking at other ideas. And so, it’s always churning in order to basically stay ahead of the game and ahead of curve, especially in a market that you can definitely actually take advantage of in a positive way, and basically actually impact some positive changes.

Scrappy Jackson: Cozza Investment Firm. Tell us about it right now, and how can we participate with you in future opportunities?

Brad Cozza: So, we’re working with some large institutional hedge funds, as well as individual investors. Again, we never want to basically overplay one specific marketplace, so we’re very flexible. There’s a huge demand for affordable housing, so we’re taking our investment group and our investors, our builders, and we’re moving north. We’re actually going to Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, North Port, Claremont, center of the state, anywhere where it makes sense where you can create affordable housing. That’s where the true demand is, and that’s where you’re going to have your exit strategies in a very safe, relative marketplace compared to what it was in that 2005, 2006 market. So we like to be flexible and we like to… Because the more investors make, the more they’re going to invest back with us.

Scrappy Jackson: Given your flexibility, do you still have a niche?

Brad Cozza: We do. We do. Pre-construction is definitely a huge niche because we’re in such a hot seller’s marketplace right now that the cost of reproduction is the only way that we can show an equity position for our investors. Because we give our builders such high volume, they can afford to scale it, and basically, actually reduce the price per square foot. So pre-construction is the niche now, but again, you never know. The market changes. Who would have known in 2008 that our sole business plan would be attending the foreclosure auction every day?

Scrappy Jackson: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve seen you on IG, family, fun, friends, entrepreneurship. You’re a good dude, and I really appreciate you, man. And one of the things that I kind of correlate with is Pitbull. He says, “Live life. Don’t let life live you.” And you’re certainly doing that.

Brad Cozza: That’s correct. It’s got to be a well-rounded lifestyle.

Scrappy Jackson: Brad Cozza, I appreciate you, bud, really do. This is The Come Up, a video podcast celebrating Southwest Florida’s entrepreneurs. It is brought to you by Content with Teeth, a creative content marketing agency right here in Southwest Florida. From copywriting to video production to HubSpot service, they do it really big, just like this Fathead right here, Content with Teeth. Brad, thanks again, man. I really appreciate it.

Brad Cozza: Scrap, you’re the man. Thanks, brother.

May 20, 2022 The Come Up No comments yet
Time up Ep-3

Naples, FL Wedding DJ Does The Come Up

 

If you are about to say, “I do,” DJ PatPat, a Naples, FL wedding DJ, is the OG in back, NOT the chump in the front …

Find out why in Episode 3 of The Come Up where host Scrappy Jackson interviews the coolest DJ in Southwest Florida who has been spinning DJ entertainment and keeping the nuptials party alive for some four decades.

 

Naples, FL wedding DJ

The Come Up is a short video podcast produced by Content with Teeth that documents up-and-coming entrepreneurial scene in Naples, Marco Island, Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Charlotte County.

The Come Up Episode 3 Highlights with a Southwest Florida Weddings DJ

Check out some notable moments from this episode featuring a professional Naples DJ:

The art of delegation and organization: Event entertainment services are undoubtedly not stress-free. Find out how the veteran DJ PatPat keeps everything together, from customer service to employee retention, by using one simple trick for wedding receptions.

About handling “Bridezillas” and some of the most demanding clients on Earth : Everyone wants perfection at a wedding. Achieve that by serving the client a long-form document where all ground rules and contingencies are outlined and planned for! Discover what Wedding DJ PatPat puts in her planners to avoid drama at wedding receptions.

How to deal with wedding DJs who undercut prices: DJ PatPat is a dance floor Queen who has been running the Naples DJ scene for some 40 years. Discover the strategy of this Naples Florida wedding DJ to fend off low-cost c0mpetition.

A tip to your 20-year-old self: Stop spending money on dumb stuff!

Regarding starting your own business: DJ PatPat’s advice is grounded in a simple maxim – Invest in yourself. Learn how she grew her DJ service empire in Southwest Florida by following this concept.

The worst best man’s speech made in history: Your jaw will be on the ground after hearing dance floor queen DJ PatPat’s story – “Did that dude really say THAT!?”

Don’t forget to watch to learn more about the marketing tactics that DJ PatPat uses for her Southwest Florida DJ service and more wisdom that applies to all businesses, not just DJ entertainment.

About DJ PatPat and Content with Teeth

For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE.
Reach out to DJ PatPat’s company HERE. Check out one of the best Naples wedding DJs’ social media accounts HERE, HERE and HERE.

The Come Up Episode 3 Transcript

Scrappy Jackson: What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? I’m Scrap Jackson, and this is The Come Up. I’m so excited about The Come Up. We do this every week on a video podcast with Content with Teeth. We celebrate entrepreneurs, unconventional entrepreneurs like DJ PatPat, my girl representing hard for Naples. What’s up, girlfriend?

DJ PatPat: Yo, Scrappy. What’s popping?

Scrappy Jackson: It’s awesome to see you. You’re definitely unconventional when it comes to an entrepreneur. That’s for sure.

DJ PatPat: Oh, man. I love the entrepreneur world. I really, truly do.

Scrappy Jackson: Tell us about it. You started off as a teenager.

DJ PatPat: I started off really young, at 14 years old, man, just working with my parents at the restaurant back in the day. It was actually a Spanish grocery store, and I used to handle money and stuff like that.

Scrappy Jackson: Okay. How did it progress from there?

DJ PatPat: Well, from there, by the time I was 16, I started actually DJing, and I started my little entertainment company, and I started doing private parties and events. I’ve just basically been in the whole restaurant entertainment world for almost 24 years now.

Scrappy Jackson: Yeah. You’re a staple in Naples, whether it’s DJing on a radio station, doing it at the club, doing it at quinceañeras. Forget about it. You’re at nightclubs, all over the place. But your core business is definitely weddings. Tell us about that.

DJ PatPat: Yes. So, the wedding industry is pretty big here in Florida. We are a destination hotspot for weddings. A lot of our weddings are ceremonies on the beach, and then the receptions and cocktails are at a country club or at a hotel or a resort. It’s just a really popular industry. Everybody’s just getting married these days. A lot of young people are starting to get married, too, at 22, 23 years old.

Scrappy Jackson: You’ve been at this for 24 years in the wedding business as a DJ. How much of it is fun versus business at this point in your career?

DJ PatPat: That’s a great question. I still love, obviously, what I do. I don’t get bored of it. It’s my passion. I don’t think I’m ever going to say, “Oh, I’m just doing this to do this.” You know what I mean? My goal is to hang up the gloves at about 56 because that is going to be 40 years of doing this, and I want to be able to say I was a DJ for 40 years.

Scrappy Jackson: Well, you can hang up your hat. You still have five or six DJs working for you, right?

DJ PatPat: Yeah. No. I will. I will have the team out in the field working it while I work it behind the scenes, but I don’t want to be that, let’s say, 56-year-old, 60-year-old DJ. I don’t. You know what I’m saying? People that are booking in their 20s and 30s, they’re probably going to look at it like, “I don’t want this 60-year-old.” They’re going to want somebody younger. I get it because, if it was my wedding, I would probably want the same thing, even though this 60-year-old guy has been doing it for 50 years. You get what I’m saying?

Scrappy Jackson: Yeah. Yeah.

DJ PatPat: Times kind of change, and your style kind of changes a little bit too. It’s not going to be my thing.

Scrappy Jackson: You can be the mack in the back.

DJ PatPat: Correct. Correct.

Scrappy Jackson: Your DJs can be the chump in the front.

DJ PatPat: You got it.

Scrappy Jackson: How do you market your business these days?

DJ PatPat: I use WeddingWire. I use their sister company called The Knot. I attend bridal shows. I do Google AdWords, a lot of word-of-mouth referrals.

Scrappy Jackson: Well, that’s what I was curious about because you’re so popular. You’re so prevalent in the community. Do you have to market yourself outside of just referrals? Because you’re pretty much the known quantity in Naples.

DJ PatPat: When it comes to the wedding industry, I’m always going to advertise on wedding websites because clients are going to go there first and say, “Oh, where can I find my florist?” if they don’t know a florist, or, “Where can I find my video guy if I don’t know a video guy?” You become the first reference for them, so it’s really good to do that. I also am a preferred vendor at a lot of venues. I make a relationship with the facility. I show that “Hey, I’m a pro. I know what I’m doing,” and they like what I do, so I get added to their list.

Scrappy Jackson: You’re such a professional, and there’s so many things you have to worry about: being responsible, customer service, taking care of your employees. How do you keep it all together?

DJ PatPat: Great question. I put everything on my calendar. For example, on our iPhones, we have iCal or whatever, and I put on there, “I have to call so-and-so at a certain time” or, “I’m meeting …” I make a to-do list on my calendar, and I follow that daily, and I write things down, and I try to be one to respond back to emails in less than 24 hours. I’m very organized when it comes to writing everything down and putting it in my to-do list.

Scrappy Jackson: I think it’s amazing how you delegate too. You’re definitely the jefe, but you have a great ability to empower the people that work around you to do their job and do it responsibly.

DJ PatPat: Thank you. Thank you. It’s a lot of hard work. It really is. Sometimes, it’s-

Scrappy Jackson: How do you choose your people?

DJ PatPat: Well, I meet them. I interview them. I check out their experience. Are they put together? I want to see your system, how it looks when you’re out in a field. If I see you’re not how I’m set up, well, I’m going to tell you some tips and tricks and have you get the things that you need so you can follow my brand. That’s pretty much how I do it with my team. Once they see it, they’re like, “Oh, man. Thanks for telling me to do this or put a speaker skirt over my stand just to keep things neater.” That’s pretty much how I do it with my guys.

Scrappy Jackson: But you don’t lose any sleep because the customers are very, very, very, very, very demanding in your business. The brides want it perfect. I disc jockeyed a couple of them, just a couple of them, and I was overwhelmed by the demands. How do you keep it all intact?

DJ PatPat: I give my clients what’s called a 12-page wedding planner, and that’s what keeps them organized and me knowing what they want me to do, or my team. It’s basically fill-in-the-blanks. Every question that I have for them will be on those 12 pages. It’s a great guide and a reference on how your day’s going to go from start to end. Then, once I get that back after it’s been filled out, at least two weeks before their wedding day, I’ll call them in the evening time when they’re both home and we can all discuss, me, the bride, and the groom, and we can discuss that paperwork, drop our timeline.

DJ PatPat: Then, once that’s done, then I get with my team, tell them what the dealio is. I’ll put it all together. I’ll provide them with any extra equipment we need. I’ll provide them with any lighting, any extra enhancements, if we need assistance, with an assistant to help the DJ. That’s where I come in and organize everything. We create a timeline and provide any additional things that are needed.

Scrappy Jackson: Interesting. Interesting. I didn’t realize you were that organized.

DJ PatPat: Yes. Yes, Scrappy. I have to be.

Scrappy Jackson: Because I think of DJ PatPat, I’m thinking [inaudible 00:07:15].

DJ PatPat: No. See, a lot of people think, “Oh, yeah. I found a DJ for 500 bucks.” I’m like, “Well, you’re going to get what you paid for, or I’m going to get that call, “The DJ just canceled on me last minute.”

Scrappy Jackson: I’m so glad you said that because that was my next question. You’re an elite wedding service, but there’s so many up-and-comers that try to undercut you. How do you deal with that?

DJ PatPat: I don’t really pay attention to that kind of stuff anymore. Like you said, I have 24 years of experience under my belt. I have over 1,500 weddings that I’ve either DJed or produced with my team. I have more than enough experience for some Joe Schmo to come in and say, “Well, I’m half the price.” Does Joe Schmo provide you with a planner? Does Joe Schmo provide you with two people at your wedding day? Does Joe Schmo provide you with uplights or these enhancements or a photo booth or planning a timeline. A lot of times, they’ll be like, “Oh, no. No. He didn’t mention that.” “Well, then how do you know what you’re going to do?”

DJ PatPat: A lot of those guys that are cheap, I have to say they’re more of a nightclub-type DJ, a bar-type DJ. A nightclub/bar DJ that is not a mobile DJ does not understand how a wedding should flow. They just don’t.

Scrappy Jackson: I’ve witnessed you in action, and you’re so polished. Your organization is so polished. That’s a reflection of you. It’s a personification. DJ PatPat is organized and polished and customer service-driven. You do an amazing job, and it really shows over time.

DJ PatPat: Thank you, Scrappy. Thank you, man. Nobody taught me this. This was all self-taught, just watching and seeing and learning and going through a bumpy road, bumpy things on a road and having to pick myself back up and, “You know what? I’m not going to do it like this anymore. I’m going to change it. I’m going to do it like this now.” What I do now works for me.

DJ PatPat: I tell anybody new that comes and works for me, I’m like, “Hey, man …” Great example. Last Saturday, I had a new guy training, being my assistant at an event. He did a fantastic job. He’s a little DJ, bedroom DJ for his friends and stuff. Great attitude. He’s a business owner. He’s available on the weekends, polished dude, great day with him. I was like, “Wow. You’re really into this.” He’s like, “Yeah, man.” He goes, “And I just learned some things from you today. I didn’t know you did this like this or you did this like that.”

Scrappy Jackson: Cool. You want to hear that?

DJ PatPat: Yeah. Absolutely. I told him, I said, “Hey, when you do next Saturday with me,” I said, “you’re going to notice that this becomes repetitive.” It’s repetitive. It’s the same sound system. It’s the same setup. We might just include a couple of little things or tweak a couple of little things out, but it literally just becomes a repetitive thing every week where it should just be flawless.

Scrappy Jackson: Best man’s speech. What’s the worst one you’ve ever heard?

DJ PatPat: A few years back, this guy starts with, “I’m not going to say a few things that’s happened with us in the past, but I am going to mention this.” He starts talking about the groom’s ex-girlfriend and how him and the groom had a great time with her one night. I was like, “Oh my goodness. Why do we even bring this subject up?” I don’t know what happened that day after all that. I was so embarrassed myself just listening to this and knowing that I have control of this guy’s microphone. This guy was pretty much saying that him and the groom had a great time with his ex-girlfriend if you know what I mean?

Scrappy Jackson: Yeah. As accomplished as you are, what advice do you give young entrepreneurs?

DJ PatPat: Hard work. Hard work. A lot of late nights. A lot of failure. A lot of patience. You really have to put a lot of passion and perseverance into what you do because I feel like that is what equals success.

Scrappy Jackson: Absolutely. Absolutely. Another piece of advice. Pat, give yourself advice to your 20-year-old self.

DJ PatPat: My 20-year-old self, huh? I wish that I wouldn’t have thrown away a lot of money in my 20s.

Scrappy Jackson: Okay. All right. That’s cool. That’s personal. How about from a business tip?

DJ PatPat: Business tip. When you’re young, start investing in yourself. Okay? If you want to start a business, start buying what you need little by little. Open up that name, get that logo, the little things that you’ve got to start with. Invest in yourself because, when you invest in yourself, that’s when you’re starting to invest in your company, in your future, in your business, and how to pick up and start doing it on your own. Always invest in yourself and in your venture, what you want to do.

Scrappy Jackson: DJ PatPat is an iconic brand in Naples. That’s for sure.

DJ PatPat: Thank you, Scrappy. Thank you.

Scrappy Jackson: Do you want to shout out your business? This is an opportunity for you to market yourself.

DJ PatPat: Yeah, sure. My entertainment company, you can find us on the internet at hpsentertainment.com, and anything social media @hpsentertainment.

Scrappy Jackson: You have robots too. What services do you offer? I know you have lighting. You have robots. What else?

DJ PatPat: We do DJ services. We do photo booth. We do rentals with a slingshot for people’s photos. We do uplighting, dance floor lighting. I have an in-house hair and makeup artist who is my wife. I also have an in-house videographer for videography needs. Yeah. We try to do a little one-stop-shop so, that way, we can help a lot of the burden of your event all in one place.

Scrappy Jackson: Content with Teeth, young entrepreneurs on The Come Up doing big things. You can see this logo behind me, this fat head, this big bulldog. Contentwithteeth.com. Check them out, a creative content agency. Pat, I got nothing but love for you, baby.

DJ PatPat: Scrappy, you know I got nothing but love for you too, homie.

May 14, 2022 The Come Up No comments yet
This Florida Entertainment Boss is Come Up's second episode's star

Greetings from Lakes Park, S.W.F.L. 

When you think of The Boss and entertainment, you immediately think of Bruce Springsteen. 

Not in Southwest Florida where The Boss is Rachelle Ford, Owner of Ford Entertainment Magazine chronicling the world of entertainment with a hip hop flavor.

In Episode 2 of The Come Up, Scrappy Jackson interviews Rachelle who is legendary for her compact but killer tenacity.

Our video podcast chronicles the up-and-coming entrepreneurial scene in Southwest Florida.

Here are some highlights of The Come Up E2:

Print: With Ford Magazine Entertainment, Rachelle will have you reconsidering print if you solely rely on digital.

Motto: If you can sell one, you can sell a million (or maybe a 100 million!) Rachelle offers lessons on how to shoot for the moon.

Best advice to your 22-year-old self: Skip waiting on that co-sign and Express Yourself.

Rachelle’s secret sauce: Doing one thing so well and getting paid for it rather than working on several projects that spread you thin and don’t grease the wheel.

About Rachelle Ford and Content with Teeth

For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE.
Order issue 71 of Rachelle’s magazine HERE or on her app HERE.

The Come Up Episode 2 Transcript

Scrappy Jackson: What up? What up? What up? What up? What up? I’m Scrappy Jackson. This is The Come Up for up-and-coming people in Southwest Florida that are entrepreneurs and highly intriguing. So we call it The Come Up because they’re up and coming, we flip it on its ear. And it’s brought to you by Content with Teeth, an amazing content agency. They’re incredible, they do creative content, and they’re big, they’re really big, they’re huge. So big check out this fathead, that’s how big they are.

 

Rachelle Ford: I love it. I love it. What’s up, Scrappy?

 

Scrappy Jackson: Content with Teeth. Yes, definitely. Rachelle, it is awesome, awesome, awesome to see you. I love you. I got nothing but respect, admiration, appreciation for you. Few people understand and comprehend how amazing you are. I see you blushing.

 

Rachelle Ford: I am. Thank you Scrappy. I have so much respect for you, so much love for you. Oh my gosh, it’s a pleasure. It’s really a pleasure.

 

Scrappy Jackson: It’s really awesome for me too. You’re a Haitian immigrant. At age 14, you came to Southwest Florida. You got the bug for entertainment, you became a teen model. And then in 2009, you did something special, you started Ford Entertainment Magazine, highly impressive, awesome. Tell us about your magazine.

 

Rachelle Ford: Well, my magazine, I’ve always been into journalism and interviewing and I’ve always wanted to be curious about someone’s journey, someone’s story, especially the creative beings because I feel like I’m one of the creative beings, I just don’t have any singing talents. So it’s like those who can’t do teach or report it. So I report the stories. So I started the magazine because I’ve always wanted to be in media, publication and I just went for it and I’ve just been enjoying it ever since.

 

Scrappy Jackson: I met you in 2009 when the first issue came out and I have to say three things hit me immediately, Rachelle. Number one, you’re the boss, you’re definitely the boss. And you’re not that tall, how tall are you?

 

Rachelle Ford: I am 4′ 11.5″.

 

Scrappy Jackson: But you’re still the boss.

 

Rachelle Ford: Still the boss. I’m compact but I’m the boss.

 

Scrappy Jackson: And I think everybody can see by this video that you’re amazingly passionate about what you do on a daily basis no matter what it is. You attack life, I respect that. And number three, your confidence, your amazing confidence. Oh, I have number four actually too. And I don’t know if this is because of Haitian people in general, but you’re gentle and wonderful and warm and soft yet you are the boss.

 

Rachelle Ford: You have to be in this, especially in the music industry. It’s a very male-dominated industry but there’s so many ladies that are trailblazing, that are kicking butt out here, and I just want to be one of them. I feel like as far as confidence if you believe in what you’re doing… I know everybody has checked out the latest Genius documentary and it just inspires so much, and it’s the same spirit. If you believe in what you’re doing and you believe in where you’re going, you just got to keep that sight, keep that vision in mind and just keep going and keep… What we’re trying to do. So let’s take some time to explain or show them more because you don’t want to waste time banging on the same doors because it’s a numbers game. If you knock on 1,000 doors, at least 10 of them is going to open for you. So you don’t want to keep knocking on the same 10 doors, you want to keep going. So relentless is keep going, but not so much in that same little corner all the time, you’ve got to broaden your horizons.

 

Scrappy Jackson: But it must be crazy frustrating when you have something so special that you know is undeniable and will touch the world, highly creative and you get no, no, no, no, no.

 

Rachelle Ford: Of all the nos you get, you have to pay attention to the yeses. Because like I said, you’re going to get nos. If every single person you talk to says no, then take a step back and look at yourself and say, “Okay, wait. Do I need to tweak some stuff? What’s going on?” You got to pay attention to the yeses because the yeses are what’s going to keep you going. When I see a random person looking at the magazine or like someone was talking to their friends and that person was looking at the magazine on the phone not knowing I was there and he was like, “Yo, this is great, I love this, this is on point.” And they were saying really great things and I was in the corner like, “Oh my gosh.” Blushing [inaudible]. When people gravitate towards your product, if you can sell one, you can sell 10. And if you can sell 10, you can sell 100 million.

 

Scrappy Jackson: True that. True that, that’s a great point. That’s a great point.

 

Rachelle Ford: You’ve got to perfect your craft. So when you hear a no, don’t take that no from, oh, they’re hating, they’re trying to keep me in the bucket, they’re trying to do this. Be like, “Okay, let me keep going. What can I do better or what can I change? What can I tweak?” Sometimes you don’t have to change anything about it, it’s just not the right person. There’s a billion people on the planet, why do you keep chasing that same one person?

 

Scrappy Jackson: Good point, good point, good point. When you were in Haiti growing up, did you have any entrepreneurial spirit way back when?

 

Rachelle Ford: Growing up in Haiti, literally my childhood was just my childhood. I had such an amazing childhood, I had no responsibilities except to be a kid, go to school, and play with my cousins. So life didn’t really start for me until I left Haiti. Which was so impactful for me because moving out of what I know from my little cushion bubble and then moving to the real world, into a brand new culture, brand new language, brand new people, and then trying to figure things out. So I think my entrepreneurial spirit really kicked in starting with a survival spirit really because coming into a country that’s completely foreign and you have to navigate your way through it.

Rachelle Ford: And I’m the type of person I’m not going to wait for anyone to feed me, I’m not going to wait for anyone to hand me a check. I want to go get it, I want to know, I want to be in charge of every second of my day. So that’s how that started. If I’m going to be learning the culture, what do… And then I also went through a really horrible period of my life in a toxic relationship, a very violent relationship with children, and all of that. I used to tell myself if I was to get out of that, what would I do? And I said, “I would be in charge of my time, I would be in charge of my dreams, and I would just go for them relentlessly.” And I just did that. So my entrepreneurial spirit really started in America, so thank God America.

 

Scrappy Jackson: Busta Rhymes once said, “There’s no such thing as plan B.” You mentioned you’re a survivor and you’re going to do it, whether it’s domestically or professionally. Speak on that because you jumped all in with your projects.

 

Rachelle Ford: It’s like I want to do it all, it’s a blessing and a curse. When you tell yourself, I can do anything, everything is within my reach, I just got to focus on it hard enough, it almost becomes dangerous because it applies to everything. So then we find ourselves trying to do everything because opportunities sometimes come in waves and you don’t want to miss out. So I always get into this feeling of, oh my gosh, I don’t want to miss out. And then also how my weird Gemini brain is wired is like, I want to do it now, I want the world right now, I want everything right now. So I’ll be trying to do it all, I’ll be trying to do it all, I ain’t even going to lie.

Scrappy Jackson: Tell us about your magazine. When I first heard of it, I thought of it as straight-up hip-hop. But it’s so much more than that, it’s entertainment magazine.

 

Rachelle Ford: It’s entertainment, it’s Ford Entertainment Magazine. It really did start as hip-hop because I’m in love with hip-hop, but it focuses on artists, models, business entrepreneurs, everybody, actors. Entertainment industry is not just music. So it started off with music but music has so many legs you can’t do anything in life without music. So the magazine is not just music, it’s life literally.

 

Scrappy Jackson: You facilitated a lot of artists over the years, a lot of local up and comers. Tell us about your grind.

 

Rachelle Ford: My grind has been nonstop. I’ve met so many amazing artists, I’ve done so many projects with so many amazing artists, both locally and nationally, because it is also a national magazine. I even did a Nigerian issue one time with YCee, which is my favorite Nigerian artist of all time. So I use the magazine to meet all the cool people, so hey.

 

Scrappy Jackson: Okay, cool. You’re in print and you’re online, how do you stay afloat in print?

Rachelle Ford: I don’t even know how to answer that because it’s a self-funded business. So a lot of people in the entertainment industry, they feel like they’re superstars and they shouldn’t have to pay for anything, everything should be free. So they get offended when you tell them no, it’s a fee-based publication, it’s a business because it goes towards the printing. So it does get hard to manage the printing, but we’re going to keep going because we have a large subscriber base that are incarcerated, that can’t see it online, that can’t go on our app, which is on Apple and Google Play. So we keep the print alive and we’re going to keep the printing alive. And we’re just going to increase and expand.

 

Scrappy Jackson: It’s interesting to say that because you’re very passionate about that. But if you operate as two individual cost centers, online versus print, is it sustainable in print? Are you making money in print?

 

Rachelle Ford: I make more money in print than I do with online.

 

Scrappy Jackson: No, well.

 

Rachelle Ford: Because everybody thinks that print is going away. But you go to any doctor’s offices’, barbershop, nail salons, there’s magazines on the waiting table and people are going to pick them up.

 

Scrappy Jackson: True.

 

Rachelle Ford: So people love to say, print is dying, no print is going to stay forever because we read, everybody reads, and not everybody is digitally inclined. Some people want to relax and go over a nice little story and that’s what we’re doing.

 

Scrappy Jackson: Sure. Your business model, I see advertising in your magazine, but you also have rappers and models, et cetera. Do you charge the rappers and models for exposure?

 

Rachelle Ford: I do. But the way we do it, it’s more than just I charge you and I did an interview with you. We’re taking it so much further to brand that artist, to promote that artist. For example, the artist that I’m working with now, he’s on the cover of the magazine. We did a full story on him and we also dropped a juice, which is a personal custom lemonade, orange pineapple lemonade for him. And we’ve been selling this lemonade for the last month now, we now have it at a local grocery store and the artist makes a commission from that product. So it’s more like a business venture together.

 

Scrappy Jackson: I read about it, it’s called Juice Box, very innovative. And when does The Scrappy juice come out?

 

Rachelle Ford: Scrappy juice got to tell me. This girl’s craving [inaudible].

 

Scrappy Jackson: Let’s make it happen. Let’s make it happen.

 

Rachelle Ford: Scrappy juice coming out, you just got to tell me your flavor, I’ll pay [inaudible].

 

Scrappy Jackson: I’m bad about it. And you don’t have to pay me, I just want to hear Scrappy juice, that sounds really cool.

Rachelle Ford: Let’s do it. Let’s do it, Scrappy. I got the logo in mind and everything. I just had the whole thing fucking in my head.

 

Scrappy Jackson: You’re really, really creative, you’re really inspiring, you’re very ambitious. I think about you and the conferences and the awards and the Iron Circle with empowered women and the homeless people you take care of, and the magazine and the digital magazine. You do so much. How many people are on your staff to do all these things?

 

Rachelle Ford: [inaudible] there are four personalities. No, but there’s a lot of great, great, great people in my circle, a lot of great people on my team. Just quick plug, I’m actually sitting right here at Smoke’ N Ink, which is going to be the newest, hottest tattoo shop in Fort Myers, I’m telling y’all right now. And it’s me being a part of a team. So there’s not a lot of people on the team. I’m pretty much the captain and the steer and the janitor. But at the same time, I have some really great resources and great people and smart individuals around me that I can always reach out to and say, “Hey, I need to do this, I need to do that, how can you help me?” So it’s always great to have that support system.

 

Scrappy Jackson: So you’re the 4′ 11″ dynamo, you’re doing everything and then some. But I’m just curious from a business perspective, with doing at least six or seven things on such a remarkable level, do you ever think to yourself, if I just did one thing incredibly well, I would get paid?

 

Rachelle Ford: Yes, I actually do that. So what I’ve been doing actually is consolidating all of my projects into what makes sense and what I enjoy doing. So I’ve been asking myself literally all last year and this year, okay, let’s cut it down to what’s really work and what’s really me being creative and getting paid for it. I much more enjoy being creative and getting paid for it. And my baby, my passion, that answer always doubles back to the magazine.

 

Scrappy Jackson: How about a financial partner, have you ever thought about taking somebody on? Not me, but.

 

Rachelle Ford: [inaudible]. I was like, wait a minute. No, but serious conversation, I have my business plans, my partnership agreements, my investor agreements, I even have where if you wanted to sponsor a copy, how we can partner up and you sponsor a copy and how you can double your money back. So I have all of those plans. It just comes into finding the right people because a lot of people are talkers not really doers, a lot of people just want to see what you got going on, and people don’t really be real, they’re not really be willing to work. So I’m all the way, 1,000% open. If you’ve got a bag and you’re ready to work, let’s go, let’s blow this up, that’s all I know.

 

Scrappy Jackson: I can feel your intensity and your energy and your passion and your brilliance, it’s awesome. One last question for you, what would you tell your 22-year-old self?

 

Rachelle Ford: Leave that man. Because that’s where I was at 22, I was stuck in this prison of a relationship that was very abusive. Dealing with someone who’s addicted to drugs is not an easy feat, it’s a whole interview by itself, just that situation. And being stuck in that situation at a young age, I had my first child at 19 turning 20. So from age 19 to about 25, I was just like a baby breeder.

 

Rachelle Ford: But if I met me at 22, I’d be like, “Look girl, [inaudible] a little sooner.” But at 22, I would tell myself too as well, take better care of yourself, listen to your spirit, listen to your dreams and go for it, stop doubting yourself, stop waiting for that cosign. I feel like a long, long, long part of my journey was me waiting on a cosign, was me waiting on somebody to say, “Yeah, girl, you can do that. Oh yeah, that’s going to be prosperous.” I feel like part of me to this day still looked for that cosign, for somebody to say, “Yeah, this could be a success.” But I’ve stopped believing that I needed that cosign. If you know something-

 

Scrappy Jackson: You gained a lot of strength in that relationship and it taught you so many different things that makes you independent and strong and the boss.

 

Rachelle Ford: That’s true. We’ll give them that credit, Scrappy, we’ll do that.

 

Scrappy Jackson: 71st issue, is that right now? Where can we find it?

 

Rachelle Ford: It’s online, we also have them at Palm Avenue Groceries, which also carries our custom Ten Toes lemonade, which is coupled with issue number 71. They can also order it on the website, fordentmag.com. They can also order it on the app, which is Ford Entertainment Magazine for Apple and Google Play. We do ship to all correctional facilities.

 

Scrappy Jackson: Oh wow.

 

Rachelle Ford: So if you have someone who’s locked up and you want to do something nice and you want to spend a couple of bucks, you just got to tell us just their name. We’re able to look them up and find out exactly where they’re housed and we send them a copy.

 

Scrappy Jackson: Cool. Content with Teeth made this possible. Just look over my shoulder, Content with Teeth, get in touch with them for all your content and digital marketing needs. Content with Teeth creates unboring content like this podcast. It gets attention for your product, your service on the interweb. If you want to be my next guest, all you have to do is holla @heyscrappy on IG. Content with Teeth, thank you very much. Rachelle, I want to give you a hug through the computer, but it’s not possible.

 

Rachelle Ford: Bring it in Scrappy, bring it in Scrappy. I love you Scrappy. Since we’ve met, I think we met… Actually, the same person that we are doing the tattoo shop is where we met. Because we met in Naples at a showcase that was being thrown by Peter 4K and you were a judge and I was a judge as well. And ever since then, you’ve always been a supporter, we’ve always had that love, and I just love it. I love you Scrappy, I appreciate you for everything.

Scrappy Jackson: I love you too. And I’m a fan of Rachelle Ford, I’m a huge fan. God bless you.

Rachelle Ford: I’m a huge fan of Scrappy.

 

Scrappy Jackson: And thanks for everything, Rachelle. I appreciate you.

 

Rachelle Ford: I love you.

 

May 7, 2022 The Come Up No comments yet
Watch The Come Up E1 sponsored by Content with Teeth and detailing crypto in Florida

Introducing The Come Up

 

Out of the ashes of dead newspapers that no one reads and local news that only “the olds” consume for their Preparation H fix, there is a new outlet to document emerging Southwest Florida entrepreneurs – The Come Up sponsored by the hot new streamer CWT –.

It is a video podcast hosted by local media personality Scrappy Jackson. The Come Up lives on this blog and new episodes drop every Friday at 3 pm ET on our YouTube channel.

Read below for highlights for The Come Up maiden voyage.

Crypto in Florida

Michel Pacifico is Scrappy’s first guest. He is a successful cryptocurrency entrepreneur based in Cape Coral. He has founded three different businesses over the years, including USScyber, a blockchain company focused on cybersecurity, WSCE, a sports token company that aims to revolutionize the world of sports, and XLiquidus, an upcoming cryptocurrency exchange platform.

Sports and Crypto? Better than Peanut Butter and Chocolate

Why invest 17 minutes on The Come Up? Here are the CliffsNotes, a list of tantalizing nuggets that Scrappy covers with Michel in Episode 1:

Primer on crypto: Learn the three types of cryptocurrencies and that NFT doesn’t stand for “non-fungible testicles” (for some).

About blockchain: People use crypto for trading, but Blockchain is the main system, that’s where you need to look if you are serious about this new realm of non-fiat currency.

About sports token/utility token: Sports Tokens benefit fans around the globe and create a new ecosystem for adventurers, blockchain enthusiasts, crypto investors and even gamblers. Learn about how Bulgaria, tokens and sports find “synergy.”

NFTs Can Help Sports Fans Make Money: NFTs are available in all the sports, have launched soccer recently, listed 95 countries, over 2,760 soccer teams, divisions A and B. The entirety of South America, North America, the entirety of Europe, Asia, Africa, and so on. Michel is signing up clubs, working on the entire Bulgarian thing and other markets.

About Europe’s situation and token benefit: The war cooled things off a little bit in Europe. Learn how Michel’s company is pumping resources into sports clubs and giving fans a “sports stock market.”

Qualities of an entrepreneur: Michel details how a successful entrepreneur is realistic, has a clear vision about the product and is more disciplined than Mark Wahlberg around weights! 

What percentage of Michel Pacifico is passionate vs. opportunist: He leans passionate but pockets opportunist. Find out just how wildly it can swing depending on the product.

What advice would he give himself in his younger years: Michel’s advice involves Bitcoin and the tender age when people bar hop instead of opportunity hop.

About Michel Pacifico and Content with Teeth.

For UnBoring Content like The Come Up, contact Content with Teeth HERE. You can get your crypto jones and all things Michel Pacifico HERE and HERE.

The Come Up Episode 1 Transcript

Michel Pacifico: Hey buddy, how are you doing? Thanks for having me here, appreciate the time. I’m doing great, man. I’m feeling great, too. It’s such a beautiful day in Florida.

Scrappy Jackson: Absolutely. You were from Brazil, you immigrated here when you were 19, 20 years old, to Cape Coral. You were a pilot, and you got into cryptocurrency in 2010. Tell us about your journey.

Michel Pacifico: Yes. Coming from Brazil, I was in pilot school. I decided to go over my entrepreneur skills. I quit all that, all the schooling. Back in 2010, I was introduced to Bitcoin. What fascinates me was the technology behind it, which is the blockchain, the cryptocurrency, and the new digital money, the new digital coin. What’s that? It was intriguing, it was very interesting. I started digging in, unfortunately, I didn’t invest at the time, because I wasn’t sure what it was.

Scrappy Jackson: Sure.

Michel Pacifico: What’s up? Welcome to The Come Up. I’m Scrap Jackson, and this is a weekly podcast celebrating Southwest Florida’s up-and-coming entrepreneurs. We call it The Come Up, up and coming, we flip it on its ear. There are a lot of intriguing stories right here in Southwest Florida. Talking about ambition, challenges, sacrifice. Our guest today is my man Michael Pacifico. He’s the owner of three startup companies, cryptocurrency businesses: USS Cyber, WSCE Coin, and Xliquid USBR. Content With Teeth is this awesome content creative company, doing all kinds of big things, and they want to make sure that, when you look at this logo behind me, they do things big, really big. Big engagements online, a creative content agency. So make sure you show them some love.

Like everybody else, I wish I did, but I was learning so much about it. The more I was looking into it, the more fascinated and intriguing the blockchain is. The cryptocurrency today, usually people utilize it as a secondary market. Trading to make money. Actually, we have to look into the blockchain, the system. That’s what I think is the most valuable of all.

Scrappy Jackson: Okay. Now, there’s cryptocurrency, there’s NFTs, there are assets, digital assets, there’s Bitcoins, there are tokens, there’s a lot of vernacular out there. Can you break it down for us that don’t really know about cryptocurrency?

Michel Pacifico: Sure. There’s actually three different types of crypto right now. There’s regular cryptocurrency, which is Ethereum, and Bitcoin, which is a form of security, but not called security yet by the SEC, and so on. There’s the NFT, which is the new generation of token, non-fungible token. There are also security tokens. We are launching a new form of tokens based on future performance tokens, sports based on performance.

Michel Pacifico: The cryptocurrency Bitcoin, today it’s usually for trading faster payment processes, and so on. Back then, it was the fastest thing ever. You would’ve transferred money within 30 minutes. Ethereum came along a few years later, with between a 10 to the 20 minutes gap, usually 15 to eight minutes, 12 minutes or so, to do a transfer. Now, there are payment processors out there which are super, super fast. Give an example, our payment processor, we can do a 100,000 transactions in a minute. The blockchain has been growing and growing, the evolution of the technology has been out there.

Scrappy Jackson: You’re a technological nerd, so I’m going to break it down for our audience just a little bit. From my perspective, blockchains to technology, you’ve got Bitcoin to the left, for currency trading, and on the right, you’ve got tokens, NFT, nonfungible tokens that you use for sporting events, VIP opportunities, experiences. That’s the realm you’re in. You’re not so much a Bitcoin guy as you are a token guy for sports, correct?

Michel Pacifico: Exactly. Our first launch, our first product is WFC, World of Sports Coin Exchange. We wanted to specialize in that market for sports, at first. Our coin is based on performance of games, of teams. Give an example. Soccer, which is our first coin at the moment, live, every time you pick a team, a country, perhaps it’s Spain, you pick Real Madrid. Every time they do well on the field, the token goes up in price.

Scrappy Jackson: It’s betting. You’re betting, you’re hedging.

Michel Pacifico: It’s different than betting, though. Betting is a one-time event. This one, you lose a fraction of it, if the team doesn’t do well. It’s an algorithm. It’s an intelligence algorithm that we created, artificial intelligence that we created, which is attached to the performance of the team, game by game. That will give a price according to their matches during the season. I’m sorry, not a price, a value, according to the matches through the season.

Scrappy Jackson: Why don’t just call my local bookie, Jimmy the Bookie in New York City, and say, “Yo, dude, hook me up with a Boston Red Sox?” Why would I go with your thing rather than something that’s more tangible?

Michel Pacifico: Put it this way: it’s heaven. Think about it. If the Boston Red Sox don’t do well, you still own your token. It’s still there. By the end of the season, who knows? It could win the World Series, and it could explode in evaluation, instead of if they don’t do well, and you lost your investment, as a bet. We’re not a betting company. There’s nothing to do with betting. It’s a mixture between stock market with commodities. Because it’s based on future performance, which is not a commodity entity. It’s something new. It’s a new form of token out there. It’s a new product out there. It’s hard to describe but think of it this way. The Miami Dolphins, touchdown, boom! The token goes up in price. The other team, the token is going down on price.

Scrappy Jackson: It’s a sports stock market.

Michel Pacifico: Yes, very similar to that. Very similar to that. We want to be careful with the words here, but yeah.

Scrappy Jackson: Okay. When I think of sports tokens, I think of more of a VIP perspective. Access to the players, voting, balloting maybe on what the song is at halftime, merchandise.

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Michel Pacifico: Yes.

Scrappy Jackson: Are you in that realm as well?

Michel Pacifico: We have a part of that too, as well. That’s called a 100% utility token, but we’re utilizing those offers as well. We just closed with a team in Bulgaria. Lokomotiv, and we are doing pretty much everything for them. Their token right now, it’s not doing so good, because they lost a couple of matches, as you can see on the platform.

Scrappy Jackson: You as a business person, as an entrepreneur, you’re watching the game saying, “Come on Bulgaria, please!”

Michel Pacifico: Exactly. We’re literally opening a new channel for people all over the world to watch games, that was not so much of an expression out there. Teams in Bulgaria, I would never watch a game in Bulgaria, but now I’m watching a game in Bulgaria, just to see how the token has performed.

Scrappy Jackson: Absolutely. You have an investment in the team, emotionally and financially.

Michel Pacifico: Exactly. It’s for the fans, and also for adventurers out there. Blockchain enthusiasts, crypto enthusiasts who like crypto, and so on. For everybody, even gamblers, they’re welcome to come in.

Scrappy Jackson: Is it really competitive, getting Bulgaria to sign on with you guys? I’m thinking to myself, the volatility of it, the level of competition, how it’s exploded. How do I get hooked up with a team as a startup entrepreneur in Cape Coral, hooking up with Bulgaria?

Michel Pacifico: First, we were going for major leagues. Bulgaria plays in a major league, they also play Champions League as well, and Euro Cup. The way we structure the algorithm is, we have to go by what the FIFA ranking is, according to the leagues. We have Bulgaria, they’re not so strong in Europe, but they are a bit strong. It was the first team that actually loved the project. They jumped right in it. Not just the Lokomotiv team, which is the team that we closed. We have a lot of other teams in the pipeline and want to close with us, because we’re a new form of revenue for the clubs. We are giving tokens to the clubs as they’re signing up with us. Plus, we’re giving them transactions fees too, every time somebody buys a token from them.

Scrappy Jackson: Sure.

Michel Pacifico: We give them some percentage of a transaction as well. We’re a new form of revenue for the club, especially clubs in soccer right now. As you can hear in the news, you know it’s been hard all over the world with major soccer teams and they don’t have money. There’s so much that fans can help with. Now, this is a great take for the fans. They can help the club that they love, and they can earn something from it. Not just the gambling, which you help, and if you lose, you’re out. No, at least if you lose, maybe by the end of the season you can do well, and the token can go up in price.

Scrappy Jackson: You still have equity, which is really cool. I’m thinking to myself, I’m a big New York Knicks fan. It’d be cool to have an NFT on that. What I could do is stack them up, and get my meet and greet with Randle. That’d be cool.

Michel Pacifico: Exactly.

Scrappy Jackson: That’s fun.

Michel Pacifico: Yes, man, it is fun. We do all the sports. Right now, we’re launching soccer. We have in the platform right now listed 95 countries, over 2,760 soccer teams, divisions A and B. The entirety of South America, most of North America, the entirety of Europe, Asia, Africa, and so on. We’re signing up clubs as we go with it. Right now, we are pretty much working on the entire Bulgarian league, Portuguese league. We’re working on the Spanish league. We’re trying to bring everybody with us because fans love it. Everybody that sees the project and hears about it, they love it. You can make money with the team that you own. Why not?

Scrappy Jackson: Contractually, do you have them locked down? They’re pretty much in your back pocket now?

Michel Pacifico: Yeah, we have contracts with them. Everything is contracted.

Scrappy Jackson: That’s great.

Michel Pacifico: We’re only with one team at the moment, but we have pipelines with other teams right now. The war cooled things off a little bit with us because people don’t know what’s going to happen in Europe. It cools off a little bit, some of the contracts. We are talking to Russia, we had to back away from Russia. We’re engaged in Ukraine, too. Unfortunately, we had to back away from that, because of what’s going on today. The rest of the world, we’re working on it.

Scrappy Jackson: If your teams are your strategic partners, tell us about your customer, and how you market to them.

Michel Pacifico: Yeah, what we do is this: every time when we close a club, all we ask is for them to market. That’s all we ask from the club.

Scrappy Jackson: Interesting.

Michel Pacifico: We’re giving 25 million tokens for the clubs, plus a percentage on the transactions, buy and sell, for life. All we ask is for them to do our marketing. Their cost, and their risk, are very minimum. Zero, because they own a marketing team. They own their own marketing. That’s what we ask. In the meantime, we’ve been doing our own marketing about our technology. We focus on our technology. We created a really awesome hybrid technology that today, the world needs. Our gas feed is very, very low. Our transactions are really fast and secure, too. We’ve been marketing our technology.

Scrappy Jackson: That’s fascinating. You have the clubs actually working for you. They’re the ones that market to the fans, and you worry about the tech, and hooking up the teams, more or less.

Michel Pacifico: Yeah, we work together. They don’t work for me. We are working together-

Scrappy Jackson: Okay.

Michel Pacifico: For the success of the token, because remember, they have half of it. 50% of the token belongs to the club, in total of 50 million coins per team. They own half of it. We’re giving them half. We’re working together for the success of it. The more you market, you know how it is, supplying demand has an influence into the algorithm, too. Our algorithm is based on performance: goals, league difficulty, draws, wins and losses, and points into the leagues. We also have a calculation in the algorithm for supply and demand, which is pretty strong, too. We need people to support their own clubs.

Scrappy Jackson: Very cool. Switching up, you’re from Southwest Florida. You’re a start-up entrepreneur.

Michel Pacifico: Yeah.

Scrappy Jackson: What qualities do you think entrepreneurs need to have in order to succeed?

Michel Pacifico: You need to have a vision for your product, and you need to be realistic if this is good or not. I think the most quality…discipline is everything. You go into the gym, and you want to work out, and you want to look good, and you have to have discipline. Wake up early in the morning, do your exercise, eat well. It’s the same as starting a business. You need to start with discipline from the beginning, because how strong is your discipline is going to determine how you are going to grow.

Scrappy Jackson: Okay. Are you adverse to risk? Are you risk taker? “No big deal, I’m not worried about the sacrifice.”

Michel Pacifico: Nah, man, I’m all the away. There’s no 80/20. I’m all the way in, man. I’m chips all in. I don’t do it half away. If you’re going to do something, and you believe it, you got to do it all.

Scrappy Jackson: Okay. I want you to give two pieces of advice. First, advice to young entrepreneurs, maybe getting out of FGCU, they want to embark on this journey. What do you tell them?

Michel Pacifico: If you want to become an entrepreneur, the first thing you need to do is to start a business, and you want it to grow into your idea. First, you need to go legal. What I mean by legal is, go to an attorney, ask them about your idea, ask them what type of contracts you need. You want to protect yourself. I’m giving you business advice. You need legal on your side first, to make sure, because that’s going to determine how high you’re going to grow. Then, you don’t have any problems in the future with partners, or with employees, or any type of legal.

Michel Pacifico: The other advice that I give you is personal advice. You need to believe in yourself first, before you do anything. You need to know if you’re capable of doing, if you’re capable of growing. How to create this belief is to think, eat, sleep, and dream about your project. Every day, think about it. Don’t think about the gains. Don’t ever think about money. Think about the problems that come with it. If you can resolve every single problem of it, you’re going to succeed, no matter what.

Scrappy Jackson: What percentage of you are passionate versus opportunist?

Michel Pacifico: That’s a good one, man. That is a good one. I think it’s 60/40, and depending on the product, it’s 80/20. 80 passion, and 20 opportunities.

Scrappy Jackson: I can feel your passion, as far as this project and business is concerned. Last question, as far as advice is concerned, what advice would you give to yourself back in 2010, when you were just starting in cryptocurrency. What advice would you give yourself?

Michel Pacifico: Buy Bitcoin! Sell your house and buy Bitcoin. Sell your car, stop partying, buy Bitcoin!

Scrappy Jackson: My man, Michael Pacifico. Entrepreneur, three different businesses, doing it big with tokens and sports worldwide, globally. Highly impressive my brother, highly impressive. I’m Scrap. I have a large head right now, right beside me, and it’s dwarfing my head because it’s big. That’s how Content with Teeth do business. They get big results. They deliver unboring content, like this podcast.

Scrappy Jackson: Michael Pacifico, man, I appreciate you. Can you give out all your IG handles, and your social handles?

Michel Pacifico: Yes, one more time. Scrappy, thank you so much. If anybody wants to reach out to us, for the blockchain, the name of the company is called USScyber.com

. We also are on all the social media. For the sports token, it’s WSCE.world., worldofsportscoinexchange.world

. For the exchange that we’re launching globally, we have that in Portugal. We already have that in Brazil. We’re working on Asia right now. The name is XLiquidus.com, XLiquidus.com.

Michel Pacifico: Thank you very much Scrappy, I really appreciate what you’re doing.

Scrappy Jackson: I want a dozen tokens on Bulgaria, please!

Michel Pacifico: Yes sir.

Scrappy Jackson: We’ll see you next week with another Southwest Florida entrepreneur.

April 29, 2022 The Come Up No comments yet

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