Today we’d like to introduce you to The Florida Comeback.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Our platform @thefloridacomeback is a passion project. We are passionate about the hospitality industry and outside of working in it, we are always looking for ways to experience it. We kept looking for ways to make money which is a forefront thought when you do not have a job but each of us was being led in different paths in that regard but the one space we all came together on was our love and enjoyment of the industry and how we wanted to share that with others but more importantly share what going back to Florida’s experiences looks like. We took our combined 45 years of experience and started to look at our experiences in the eyes of visitors coming back to their favorite Florida places.
I think it is obvious that this project started over a bottle of wine. Ha! In all seriousness, it did start over a bottle of wine; maybe two. It was the first time we had seen each other since March, and we were talking about how Florida was opening but we saw very little being shared on social media as to what experiences looked like. We looked at websites and websites were/are sharing a wealth of information on what to expect when adventuring in Florida, but we wanted it to be more relatable, more real-time, we also wanted to share all that there is to experience in Florida, from theme parks to nature, to restaurants, the arts, shopping and more. We decided we needed to answer our own questions about getting “back” out to experience our Florida. A couple of weeks went by before we got the four of us together and we just kept talking about the name. How did we want to define what we are sharing and how can we ensure longevity behind this project? We knew the word Florida would be there but what was our purpose. Well after about a list of only 20 words, we wrote comeback…our purpose was to share Florida’s Comeback. Comeback like a legendary win after being down the whole game. We are showing how Florida can comeback, how hospitality can comeback but also our “we will come back” reviews. Comeback makes so much sense for us. We are fun competitors by nature, and nothing really creates the ultimate comeback like digging deep, being a team and showing how Florida hospitality will win!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Now that we are all back to working full time, the challenge is finding time to continue to share our experiences. Since we have less “free time” we aren’t getting out as much as last year.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Our differences in personality and differences in our hospitality experiences is what makes our platform unique. All four of us will say we love the hospitality industry but the paths we have taken to grow in the industry and the pieces of the industry we enjoy personally are all different which makes our project fun and for everyone. We are not just focusing on hospitality as most would think which is your hotels and restaurants. Hospitality is about guests, visitors and strangers and it is the experiences that those people have when they are anywhere and for us, anywhere in Florida. Every experience that we post is our experience. If we don’t feel that the experience was great then we will not post about it. Our brand is about focusing on great experience service but not putting businesses down because we had an un-great experience. Additionally, everything you see in our stories and posts is experienced firsthand by one of us! As the state continues to evolve, we have shifted from pandemic measures to must try items and tips for each of our experiences.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The entire project has been a leap of faith and risk taking. We use social media as part of our personal lives but once we started this venture, it was about showcasing ourselves as professionals and learning everything in social media as it pertains to businesses. During our first month, we were sent to “Instagram jail” for connecting with too many followers at once, something we had never experienced before. Majority of the places we visit, we spend our own money and when businesses started reaching out to us for free items in exchange for marketing, we had to figure out what questions to ask to ensure we were getting the right content for them but also receiving the proper credit. We want to continue to take risks with this project and expand to a website with more marketing and partnership possibilities.
Contact Info:
- Email: floridacomeback@gmail.com
- Instagram: @thefloridacomeback
- Facebook: @thefloridacomeback
Image Credits
All Florida Comeback Pictures
