January 20, 2025 • 30 mins
Ever wondered how small businesses fuel the heartbeat of a community? Join us as Matt Menenga, the dedicated president and CEO of the Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce, shares his inspiring journey from humble beginnings in the hospitality industry to leading a vibrant chamber. Matt's story is a testament to the power of relationship-building, resilience, and community engagement. You'll uncover his insights on how small businesses can thrive with the right support and how chambers of commerce play a critical role in fostering economic growth in diverse communities like Palm Harbor.
Explore the dynamic world of Palm Harbor's business scene as Matt reveals the challenges and triumphs of nurturing local enterprises. With a background that spans from busboy to business leader, Matt provides a unique perspective on the intersections of customer service, business management, and community involvement. Learn how his transition from the restaurant industry to the chamber world has equipped him to champion the cause of small businesses, creating opportunities for education, networking, and economic development.
Feel the pulse of the Palm Harbor community as we highlight heartwarming stories of unity and compassion. From festive parades to acts of kindness in the wake of hurricanes, discover how community events and volunteer efforts bolster local commerce and forge lasting connections. Be inspired by initiatives like the Palm Harbor Main Street project, which aims to revitalize the downtown area, and the touching generosity of residents who ensured that disaster-affected students could still attend homecoming. Experience the incredible spirit that defines Palm Harbor, where businesses and residents collaborate to build a thriving, supportive community.
Stroll through the laid-back streets of the Palm Harbor community with this informative podcast, proudly brought to you by Donnie Hathaway with The Hathaway Group, your trusted guide and local expert in navigating the diverse and ever-changing property landscape of Palm Harbor.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Donnie (00:00):
Welcome to Palm Harbor Local, where we bring you
inspiring stories from the heartof our community.
I'm your host, donnie Hathaway,and today we are joined by Matt
Menenga.
He is a business owner and thecurrent president and CEO of the
Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce.
Now our show is all aboutcelebrating those who have put
in the sweats, overcome thehurdles and still find time to
(00:20):
give back to the community.
If you want to be inspired byhow they got started, what keeps
them going and what they'redoing to make Palm Harbor even
better today, you're in theright place.
In today's episode, you'lllearn what your chamber should
be doing for you, how Mattbecame the president of the
current Palm Harbor Chamber andwhat Matt loves about being in
(00:42):
Palm Harbor.
Now be sure to follow us onInstagram at palmharborlocal and
join our weekly newsletter atpalmharborlocalcom.
Let's get started, matt Menengo.
Welcome to Palm Harbor Localman.
Matt (00:58):
Thank you.
Donnie (00:59):
I'm excited to have this conversation.
We were just chatting a littlebit before.
Some good stuff and some somegood stuff, and we'll share some
of that too.
But you're the president andCEO of Palm Harbor chamber.
Like we just discussed what, umwhat led you to becoming the
chamber, the chamber president,here in Palm Harbor.
Matt (01:20):
Great question.
Um, maybe just enjoying being apart of a community, seeing the
needs of a lot of the businesseconomies and communities in the
local communities and trying tojust help educate on how to
(01:42):
build those communities bysharing exposure for those
businesses.
Because that's mainly what Iconcentrate on is the business
part or business economy of acommunity how to teach people,
how to build relationshipsthrough networking, how to send
referrals and contacts, how tomake those connections, how to
(02:04):
get exposure through marketing,how to educate.
You know a lot of smallbusinesses are the heart of a
community.
Yeah, big businesses play a bigrole too.
People don't they kind ofdisregard the bigger businesses
sometimes, or vice versa, theyconcentrate on the big
businesses and disregard smallbusinesses.
(02:26):
The small business makes thatattractive for big businesses to
come do big business in acommunity.
So that's why I like to saythat small businesses are the
heart of a community and themore that we concentrate on
building that, the more thatwill attract bigger businesses
(02:48):
and more businesses to boost theeconomy we want to to have here
, and so we try to offer a lotof education for things that
small businesses don't have theopportunity or the means to have
, like marketing.
We do marketing mondays.
(03:08):
It's a free educational classin a way, to teach people how to
do it.
If they can't afford to, youknow, pay somebody to do their
marketing for them.
Their social media, which is sorelevant these days.
We might not like it I don'ttypically like that, I have to
do social media but it's sorelevant and so much of it's
(03:31):
free.
If you know how to utilize itas a tool, um, it can really
benefit your business.
So we teach a lot of thatbecause, especially small
businesses at first, or whenthey're first starting in
business, they don't have thatknowledge or they don't have the
means to hire a marketingdepartment or a marketing person
(03:53):
.
So that's crucial in thebeginning.
Donnie (03:56):
Yeah, I like that.
I like that you touched on,like the, the concept of you
know both the small businesscommunity and some of these
larger corporations like youknow, we, we need both of them
here.
Right and I and I think we'rewe're fortunate in Palm Harbor
and in a lot of our little umcities around Palm Harbor too
that have like this coredowntown community of small
(04:20):
businesses right, that there'sother parts of the of the state
and in our immediate area andcounty that don't.
They don't have that right.
They just have like some of thebigger corporations and stuff
in there.
So I think it's, um, it'simportant to, like you said, to
educate the small businessowners so that they can stay
there long term and we can keepthis, this core structure of of
(04:43):
having like the downtown areasthat we have and Palm Harbor is
unique and special.
Matt (04:49):
We're more widespread.
We're Ozona, crystal Beach,east Lake, right.
So we're more spread out, youknow, and we actually have like
two or three times thebusinesses that a Dunedin or a
Tarpon or Safety Harbor has.
So we have a lot more potential.
(05:11):
And that's kind of whatattracts me here too is because
the untapped potential andtrying to figure out how
everybody can utilize eachother's contacts, figure out how
, um, everybody can utilize eachother's contacts, you know, you
know we a lot of people may notremember rolodexes, but, um,
it's basically how it's teachingpeople how to use each other's
(05:35):
rolodexes by, you know, um,creating relationships yeah um,
now it's.
I would guess you would consideryour contact list.
Donnie (05:44):
Yeah so yeah, it's important.
I would guess you wouldconsider it your contact list.
Matt (05:46):
Yeah, so yeah it's important and we just have so
much potential.
That's not being you know asfar as how many businesses were
spread out.
We don't have a littleconcentration.
We have a little concentrationof downtown, but that's just not
all of Palm Harbor.
There's way more to palm harborand I I'm trying to include all
(06:09):
of it and uh and try to figureout how to focus on um, getting
everybody involved to helpattract more, more money to be
spent in our businesses.
Donnie (06:18):
So yeah, I like that.
So your your background, let's,let's go go there and like
where did you, what have youdone before being involved in
the chambers?
Matt (06:28):
I was in the customer service business hospitality
business For the majority of mylife.
In high school I was in theroofing and construction
business.
Because, I like work with myhands.
I'm a solutions person.
I love figuring out solutionsto problems.
That's what I do, and in therestaurant business, that's
(06:51):
every day.
You never know what's going to.
You walk in the door and whatchallenge is going to need to be
focused on to find a solution,and that's ultimately what I
enjoy doing.
Um, but I come from therestaurant, bar, nightclub
business, uh, for many years andenjoyed it.
Donnie (07:14):
It wore me out how did you get involved in that?
Like what was your first?
Did you start like Bustingtables?
Matt (07:20):
or, yeah, I was actually a busboy, then I did dishwashing,
then I was a cook for a longtime.
Okay, bartended, I like variety, so I wanted to learn
everything.
And one day I realized I'vedone everything in this building
and my manager at the time,when I was was younger, saw that
(07:47):
and he was like I want to sendyou for management training many
different personalities andemployees and staff and and then
strategies on how to keep yourcosts down, on your profits up
(08:13):
and how to control labor costsand, yeah, I'll be efficient and
all that.
So that really intrigued me andthat's when I really kind of
learned.
I really like figuring thisstuff out and figuring out
solutions for how to be moreefficient, how to make people
happy, how to make that customerthat that you go visit or I
(08:38):
used to call it touching tablescome back two, three, four times
a month.
I mean, that's the whole gamein.
There is, how do you attractcustomers to come back more?
because building that coreregular is how um local
restaurants, independentrestaurants, even corporate
(08:59):
restaurants, how they survive?
Yeah, I mean, all the seasonalstuff is all you know.
Frosting on the cake is how itshould be right, and but
building that repeat customermultiple times a month is is
where I always looked atconcentrating on, yeah, and how
I trained my staff, how Itrained my managers did you, did
(09:22):
you ever want to or have theidea of owning your own business
?
Donnie (09:26):
because so you owned your own restaurant and stuff
for a little while I've beenpartners and okay, and own my
own.
Matt (09:33):
Yeah, um, and it's not easy.
I mean a lot of people think,oh, they can just buy a
restaurant, start a restaurantyeah, and then it's just a piece
of food yeah, um, it's veryrewarding in many ways,
especially if you have acreative side and a passion for
people.
You have to have a passion forpeople, yeah, or owning a
(09:53):
customer service based businesswill not work for you.
Donnie (09:57):
That's probably like the one of the most cutthroat, like
service based, right where it'slike if they don't get what
they want, they're going to goonline, leave you a bad review
100 yeah, yeah, it's.
Matt (10:06):
You know, um.
You know I always my goal wasalways I wanted to do something
that I enjoyed, to go to workevery day and do.
And I did for many years.
As I got older it wore me outfaster, um.
And one day my daughter said tomy mom you know, does daddy
(10:30):
love this more than me?
Because I was working 80, 100hours a week.
And that broke my heart andmade me realize, yeah, I need to
change.
So that's kind of how I phasedout of the hospitality world, um
.
And then someone believed in,um, I guess, my perspective of
(10:54):
customer service to bring tothis the civic world, or to um
to a chamber of commerce, andreally wanted me to bring that
concept.
And I never thought I would beworking at a chamber before.
But once I grasped it andunderstood the need, then it was
(11:16):
my job to figure out a solutionon how to make it better.
Donnie (11:19):
Yeah, did.
You was being a business ownerowner, was that something you
always wanted to do?
Or being involved in, like thesmall business community at all?
Matt (11:29):
or, yes, I always wanted to have a small business.
I still have one, yeah, today,um, and I enjoy that um.
It gives you a sense of worth.
That gives you um, a sense ofme, what I do.
I have a handyman business so Ilove helping people, actually
(11:51):
help a lot of real estate agentswith their inspection lists or
um, and I have a lot of propertymanagement clients and um, and
any one of my regular clientscan tell you that I I love
helping.
I I hate when I have to turndown a job or, and that's.
You know, what I reallycontemplated on when taking this
(12:11):
job at the Palm Harbor chamberof commerce was am I going to be
able to focus on, you know, my,my regular clients and um, and
I did.
I got to talk with a lot of myregular clients and tell them
(12:32):
and they are all very supportiveof me taking this um because
they knew my passion for thecommunity and education um of
what a chamber should be doingand what a chamber does for a
community.
So, yeah, it's kind of whatbrought what brought me to now.
Donnie (12:43):
Yeah, so let's go back to, like, when you owned your
restaurant, were you involved?
Were you a part of the chamber?
Then, when you, okay, and whatwas the?
What was your experience likewith with those, uh, with that
chamber, at that time I had agood experience.
Matt (13:00):
I had a good experience.
They um utilized us quite a bitfor networking events and um
exposure events and um golftournaments and and uh stuff
like that.
So they kept me as a smallbusiness owner, they kept me
(13:21):
involved, which I think reallyhelped me learn and understand
um what really a chamber isabout yeah um and what it should
be doing for a community.
So I think that exposure to meum helped create my perspective
(13:41):
um in the chamber world.
Donnie (13:42):
So, yeah, so let's talk about that, like in your mind,
like what is the benefit or whatshould the benefit be of a
chamber if someone were to join,or if someone is a part of a
chamber?
Matt (13:52):
Yeah, you know it's, it's really a two way street as well.
I could list all the benefits,which I'll tell some benefits.
But it's also being involved inthe chamber and especially to
me it's important when you'refirst in business as well, or
(14:13):
when you just, you know, makingtime's hard for a business owner
and I understand that totally.
But if you can or send anemployee or train an employee to
come and be involved in ourevents, our educational classes,
our networking, we do a lot ofteaching of how to build
relationships through networking, not just networking alone,
(14:37):
because anybody can go into aroom a networking room and pass
out, you know, shake hands andpass out business cards to a
room a networking room and passout, you know, shake hands and
pass out business cards.
But I believe if you don'tbuild that relationship, that
business card just can be thrownin the trash when they get home
or get back to their office oreven before they leave that room
.
Yeah, um, so building thatrelationship is key, but you
(14:59):
can't build those relationshipsif you're not there, yeah, and
you're not involved.
Getting involved in some of the, you know, um community event,
you know, getting exposure insome of the community events.
I'm not saying you have tosponsor everything or anything
like that, but just beinginvolved and volunteering a
little bit of your time, um, atthat event, getting you know at
(15:27):
that event, getting you know thesponsorship is just good
because it gives you the biggerexposure experience, yeah, but
also volunteering is huge.
that's what we don't get thatmuch as people that step up and
want to volunteer, but it givesyou an opportunity to interact
with the community, and that'swhat you want is the community
visiting your business, and then, you're building rapport
(15:53):
relationships with the othervolunteers that you're there to
Our locals here in our communitycan spend their money locally
more than they were before.
And how to attract?
You know, we're a tourist areaand destination.
(16:13):
We have great cities all aroundus Dunning, tarpon, there are
way more touristy than even PalmHarbor.
We just have the space and theparks.
Yeah, that's what we, you knowfor visitors.
You know this isn't talkingabout visitors.
Even safety Harbor, I mean allthree of those places are hugely
(16:35):
um in the attraction oftourists and our visitors.
And so, um, you know, trying tofigure out ways to attract
visitors to spend their moneymore, um, or when they're here
in Palm Harbor, at ourbusinesses, is something that I
concentrate on all day and everytime.
(16:55):
I think about what we post onsocial media or business
spotlights that we do, thenewsletters that we, you know,
communicate with all of ourmembers in the community and the
events that we come up with.
That's all about attracting our, our community to spend their
(17:17):
money at our biz, at our localbusinesses and visitors to
support local as well.
Donnie (17:23):
So let's, let's dive into some of the events, right,
cause, like Palm Harbor, likebeing on unincorporated, mm-hmm.
So let's let's dive into someof the events.
Right, because, like palmharbor, like being on
unincorporated, um, we, I feellike that's always been a
struggle of like you know, wheredo I get information from
what's happening this weekend orwhat events are going on?
Who puts on what events?
(17:45):
Like, how can I be involved?
Right, because there's allthese these different um
organizations and groups thatare involved in, you know,
making palm harbor what it is.
Um, but specifically for thechamber, like, what events are
you in charge of?
Like, I guess, throughout thecalendar year?
like what events do you put on?
Matt (18:04):
well, great question, because you know all the
organizations that you know cometogether to do events and do
the community events or thedowntown events as well they're
not just downtown, they'rethroughout the community as well
Are awesome.
I mean, they really lovepulling together to create more
(18:27):
community.
I think this last year weconcentrated on more and as the
years come, we concentrate onmore events that bring the
community together, get thecommunity in the habit and used
to coming back together forevents and and or downtown.
Our downtown needs, you know,some help with that again as
(18:49):
well.
Um, and I think that'simportant, is the more we bring
the community or give anopportunity for the community to
come together, um, the morehabit they will come down and
visit.
You know our restaurants andbars yeah um salons and
barbershops and retail that wehave down here.
(19:10):
So, but the events, we allsupport each other on each
other's events.
So mainly like, say, we havethe Christmas parade coming up
next weekend, saturday the 14th,so it is a chamber event that
Parks and Recs helps support us.
(19:32):
Palm Harbor Parks and Recshelps support us with the
logistics and the organizationof it.
We couldn't do it without them.
It is kind of on the shouldersof the chamber and ultimately
the chamber in Palm Harbor Parksand Rec.
We do this solely for thecommunity, for the fun of the
(19:56):
kids and little leagues and thePanthers, the football leagues
and the Girl Scouts and the BoyScouts and for the dance
communities and schools and forour high schools and middle
schools and elementary schools.
It is a fun event.
(20:16):
It is fun to see the communitycome together and celebrate the
holidays.
So we look forward to thatevery year.
So we look forward to thatevery year um.
The other, the other big eventthat the chamber does in the
community um, which is always inwell majority in april, is palm
(20:37):
harbor fest.
Used to be called citrusfestival, yeah, um, before my
time they changed it to palmharbor fest.
Um, that's huge.
I mean it was a very bigsuccess this last april.
Um, it's coming up again thesecond weekend of april, um, in
2025 and um we get support fromdowntown.
(21:01):
Uh, palm harbor merchants, um,you know ben from divine um,
that is the president ofmerchants.
He helps so much in thiscommunity and helps us with
stuff and all of our barricadesset up, and I mean there's a
long list of stuff that he helps.
And the merchants help with thePalm Harbor again, the Palm
(21:24):
Harbor Parks and Rec help uswith all that.
And now we have a neworganization that is rising
called Palm Harbor Main Streetand they will be based out of
Harbor Hall and their reallyfocus is going to be on this
downtown community and thebeautification community and um
(21:53):
and the beautification, thehelping, hopefully one day
having a waypoint project to goso people know where things are
and um know where downtown isknow where downtown is, even
though we're right off alternate19, because we got a lot of
traffic off alternate 19 in thetrail.
Yeah, australia.
So helping, yes, find ourbusinesses and other um uh
(22:14):
needed.
You know, organizations,buildings, but uh, they're
really going to be focusing onum, the future, the development,
the vitality um of downtownPalm Harbor and Palm Harbor as a
whole community as well.
So I'm excited for that to comeabout.
That's brand new, hopefully.
(22:36):
I'm okay with spilling thebeans on that.
But, yes, the chamber.
And then when the merchantshave, like, their veterans day
events and their other events,and when the palm harbor main
street's going to have theirevents, our job is to help
support those as well.
(22:56):
We want to not only bring our,our business members to help get
involved.
It helps them get exposure forthe business um, and then
they're creating um a communityreputation as well, which is
important, yeah, um, forattracting the community to use
(23:16):
your bit or utilize yourbusiness.
Donnie (23:18):
So for sure yeah, I think it's.
Um, I like what you said, right, like it's.
You know, maybe, like you know,palm harbor chamber is putting
on this event right, buteverybody's involved and I think
that's key for the growth andthe future of what downtown you
know can be right If we continuethat and that's important to
(23:41):
have.
Matt (23:42):
It shows the unity, all that support, yeah, and showing
that unity in a community, Ithink it just keeps the strength
moving forward, yeah and ifeveryone's working together,
everyone's collaborating,sharing ideas, bringing new
ideas and then just helping eachother with all these events.
Donnie (24:00):
We have a lot of great spaces and events already right,
but just to build on top ofthat I think will be huge.
And the consistency consistencyyou mentioned that before right
just having those events.
I think that's been some of thethe problems, the last you know
, five, ten years or whateverjust the consistency of those
events is, is and people likewait, is this happening this
(24:22):
weekend?
Matt (24:23):
but then they get out of the habit of coming yeah,
together as a community and orcoming downtown or wherever pop
stands or wherever the event is,yeah.
You get out of the habit ofdoing that when you aren't
consistent.
So consistency is huge.
I mean I come from therestaurant business, if you
don't.
I mean there's a reason whyOutback, carrabba's, longhorn, a
(24:46):
lot of those companies thathave been around a long time,
and why they've been around along time.
Donnie (24:51):
It's all about consistency yeah, you know what
you're getting.
Matt (24:54):
I mean, most business is based on consistency.
So if you're not consistent ordon't concentrate on consistent
um you know, you might as wellhang it up yeah, yeah, so yes
consistency with events in acommunity Huge.
Donnie (25:12):
Yeah, massive, massive.
So how long have you been withthe Palmeiras Chamber?
Now A little over a year.
Matt (25:18):
Yes, october 9th was a year, so just a little bit over
a year, and I'm looking forwardand excited to this next year.
Donnie (25:27):
So what are you, what's your goals for this upcoming
year?
Matt (25:31):
for the, for the chamber, great question a lot and I'm
still working on um, that list,um, but, yes, uh, I uh, um.
Main thing that I want toconcentrate on this year is
members, new members and aneducation of um, what a chamber
(25:53):
does, um to a community and thenum community involvement type.
I can say events, but um, notjust events yeah, community
happenings and and and justtrying to refocus people's minds
(26:15):
on Palm Harbor again.
Really, yeah, we need you know,we're not in bad shape or
anything like that.
We just need the you knowpeople to focus on Palm Harbor
again and just trying to attractthat yeah, I think that I think
you're, and the community wantsthat too like the people in
palm harbor like they.
Donnie (26:34):
They want a reason to come downtown and and, and you
know, hang out with theirfriends or whatever in in
downtown, in pop stancel,wherever it is so.
It's just, it's on know thedifferent organizations, like
with the chamber, the mainstreet, um, um parks and rec and
um and the downtown merchants,to, to just continue this
(26:56):
momentum that we do have, youknow so yeah, I love that.
What is, uh I'm going to wrap upwith this you, uh, how long
have you been in this area now I?
How long have you been in thisarea now I?
I moved in this area in 2000.
Okay, what is it?
What is one thing, um, you loveabout palm harbor?
Matt (27:16):
I'll give you to pick one thing the biggest thing I like
about palm harbor is um, andespecially that showed me in the
recent two hurricanes is howthe community, um it comes
together for the community andother communities surrounding us
(27:37):
.
But, man, I mean I'm gettinggoosebumps right now because it
was a huge.
Just an example to me, um, onwhy I know I'm in the right
place and from my heart, becausepeople just came together,
whether it be donations for all,for all the families and people
(27:59):
kids you know that losteverything in the hurricanes are
lost a lot or whether it wasjust cleaning up your neighbor's
yard or helping them removesome of the debris, or even we
had a really special thing thathappened at the chamber and I
was honored that they chose touse the chamber.
(28:21):
We had some moms and somefaculty of a couple of different
schools locally that knew thata lot of kids either lost a lot
of their clothing or stuff inthe hurricanes or, because of
the stuff that they lost,couldn't afford to get
(28:43):
homecoming dresses or homecomingoutfits, male and female.
And so they came together, theyutilized the chamber.
They had, I think, well over 200dresses and outfits donated.
They brought high school kidsin there to fit them with and
(29:05):
let them choose a dress thatthey probably wouldn't have been
able to afford or have to keepthem able to go to homecoming
and have that experience,because I think that was a huge
aspect and support of our kids'mental health in that time
(29:30):
period.
Because when disasters comearound, you know, adults maybe
have gone through it severaltimes in their life.
Kids, some of them, it's thefirst time they've dealt with
that kind of stuff.
So I was so honored that theyeven asked to utilize the
chamber building.
Um, to me, those ladies areangels, um, for this community,
(29:51):
and they would probably, um, uh,be shy if I said who they were.
So I won't, but, um, they knowwho they are and they're um just
amazing that they even came upwith that concept.
Donnie (30:06):
To me that was special to be involved in, so, yeah,
yeah, that's pretty cool and I'mglad you mentioned that too,
because I think that's I thinkthat's one thing that's unique
about palm harbor shows theheart yeah, we just have a
really great community of peoplewho truly care about, uh, each
other in the community, and so,um, yeah, that's awesome yeah
yeah, matt, thanks for beinghere yeah, I appreciate it.
Matt (30:27):
Donnie, thank you very much.
I appreciate the opportunityand what you do for our
community.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, all right.
Welcome to Palm Harbor Local, where we bring you
inspiring stories from the heartof our community.
I'm your host, donnie Hathaway,and today we are joined by Matt
Menenga.
He is a business owner and thecurrent president and CEO of the
Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce.
Now our show is all aboutcelebrating those who have put
in the sweats, overcome thehurdles and still find time to
(00:20):
give back to the community.
If you want to be inspired byhow they got started, what keeps
them going and what they'redoing to make Palm Harbor even
better today, you're in theright place.
In today's episode, you'lllearn what your chamber should
be doing for you, how Mattbecame the president of the
current Palm Harbor Chamber andwhat Matt loves about being in
(00:42):
Palm Harbor.
Now be sure to follow us onInstagram at palmharborlocal and
join our weekly newsletter atpalmharborlocalcom.
Let's get started, matt Menengo.
Welcome to Palm Harbor Localman.
Matt (00:58):
Thank you.
Donnie (00:59):
I'm excited to have this conversation.
We were just chatting a littlebit before.
Some good stuff and some somegood stuff, and we'll share some
of that too.
But you're the president andCEO of Palm Harbor chamber.
Like we just discussed what, umwhat led you to becoming the
chamber, the chamber president,here in Palm Harbor.
Matt (01:20):
Great question.
Um, maybe just enjoying being apart of a community, seeing the
needs of a lot of the businesseconomies and communities in the
local communities and trying tojust help educate on how to
(01:42):
build those communities bysharing exposure for those
businesses.
Because that's mainly what Iconcentrate on is the business
part or business economy of acommunity how to teach people,
how to build relationshipsthrough networking, how to send
referrals and contacts, how tomake those connections, how to
(02:04):
get exposure through marketing,how to educate.
You know a lot of smallbusinesses are the heart of a
community.
Yeah, big businesses play a bigrole too.
People don't they kind ofdisregard the bigger businesses
sometimes, or vice versa, theyconcentrate on the big
businesses and disregard smallbusinesses.
(02:26):
The small business makes thatattractive for big businesses to
come do big business in acommunity.
So that's why I like to saythat small businesses are the
heart of a community and themore that we concentrate on
building that, the more thatwill attract bigger businesses
(02:48):
and more businesses to boost theeconomy we want to to have here
, and so we try to offer a lotof education for things that
small businesses don't have theopportunity or the means to have
, like marketing.
We do marketing mondays.
(03:08):
It's a free educational classin a way, to teach people how to
do it.
If they can't afford to, youknow, pay somebody to do their
marketing for them.
Their social media, which is sorelevant these days.
We might not like it I don'ttypically like that, I have to
do social media but it's sorelevant and so much of it's
(03:31):
free.
If you know how to utilize itas a tool, um, it can really
benefit your business.
So we teach a lot of thatbecause, especially small
businesses at first, or whenthey're first starting in
business, they don't have thatknowledge or they don't have the
means to hire a marketingdepartment or a marketing person
(03:53):
.
So that's crucial in thebeginning.
Donnie (03:56):
Yeah, I like that.
I like that you touched on,like the, the concept of you
know both the small businesscommunity and some of these
larger corporations like youknow, we, we need both of them
here.
Right and I and I think we'rewe're fortunate in Palm Harbor
and in a lot of our little umcities around Palm Harbor too
that have like this coredowntown community of small
(04:20):
businesses right, that there'sother parts of the of the state
and in our immediate area andcounty that don't.
They don't have that right.
They just have like some of thebigger corporations and stuff
in there.
So I think it's, um, it'simportant to, like you said, to
educate the small businessowners so that they can stay
there long term and we can keepthis, this core structure of of
(04:43):
having like the downtown areasthat we have and Palm Harbor is
unique and special.
Matt (04:49):
We're more widespread.
We're Ozona, crystal Beach,east Lake, right.
So we're more spread out, youknow, and we actually have like
two or three times thebusinesses that a Dunedin or a
Tarpon or Safety Harbor has.
So we have a lot more potential.
(05:11):
And that's kind of whatattracts me here too is because
the untapped potential andtrying to figure out how
everybody can utilize eachother's contacts, figure out how
, um, everybody can utilize eachother's contacts, you know, you
know we a lot of people may notremember rolodexes, but, um,
it's basically how it's teachingpeople how to use each other's
(05:35):
rolodexes by, you know, um,creating relationships yeah um,
now it's.
I would guess you would consideryour contact list.
Donnie (05:44):
Yeah so yeah, it's important.
I would guess you wouldconsider it your contact list.
Matt (05:46):
Yeah, so yeah it's important and we just have so
much potential.
That's not being you know asfar as how many businesses were
spread out.
We don't have a littleconcentration.
We have a little concentrationof downtown, but that's just not
all of Palm Harbor.
There's way more to palm harborand I I'm trying to include all
(06:09):
of it and uh and try to figureout how to focus on um, getting
everybody involved to helpattract more, more money to be
spent in our businesses.
Donnie (06:18):
So yeah, I like that.
So your your background, let's,let's go go there and like
where did you, what have youdone before being involved in
the chambers?
Matt (06:28):
I was in the customer service business hospitality
business For the majority of mylife.
In high school I was in theroofing and construction
business.
Because, I like work with myhands.
I'm a solutions person.
I love figuring out solutionsto problems.
That's what I do, and in therestaurant business, that's
(06:51):
every day.
You never know what's going to.
You walk in the door and whatchallenge is going to need to be
focused on to find a solution,and that's ultimately what I
enjoy doing.
Um, but I come from therestaurant, bar, nightclub
business, uh, for many years andenjoyed it.
Donnie (07:14):
It wore me out how did you get involved in that?
Like what was your first?
Did you start like Bustingtables?
Matt (07:20):
or, yeah, I was actually a busboy, then I did dishwashing,
then I was a cook for a longtime.
Okay, bartended, I like variety, so I wanted to learn
everything.
And one day I realized I'vedone everything in this building
and my manager at the time,when I was was younger, saw that
(07:47):
and he was like I want to sendyou for management training many
different personalities andemployees and staff and and then
strategies on how to keep yourcosts down, on your profits up
(08:13):
and how to control labor costsand, yeah, I'll be efficient and
all that.
So that really intrigued me andthat's when I really kind of
learned.
I really like figuring thisstuff out and figuring out
solutions for how to be moreefficient, how to make people
happy, how to make that customerthat that you go visit or I
(08:38):
used to call it touching tablescome back two, three, four times
a month.
I mean, that's the whole gamein.
There is, how do you attractcustomers to come back more?
because building that coreregular is how um local
restaurants, independentrestaurants, even corporate
(08:59):
restaurants, how they survive?
Yeah, I mean, all the seasonalstuff is all you know.
Frosting on the cake is how itshould be right, and but
building that repeat customermultiple times a month is is
where I always looked atconcentrating on, yeah, and how
I trained my staff, how Itrained my managers did you, did
(09:22):
you ever want to or have theidea of owning your own business
?
Donnie (09:26):
because so you owned your own restaurant and stuff
for a little while I've beenpartners and okay, and own my
own.
Matt (09:33):
Yeah, um, and it's not easy.
I mean a lot of people think,oh, they can just buy a
restaurant, start a restaurantyeah, and then it's just a piece
of food yeah, um, it's veryrewarding in many ways,
especially if you have acreative side and a passion for
people.
You have to have a passion forpeople, yeah, or owning a
(09:53):
customer service based businesswill not work for you.
Donnie (09:57):
That's probably like the one of the most cutthroat, like
service based, right where it'slike if they don't get what
they want, they're going to goonline, leave you a bad review
100 yeah, yeah, it's.
Matt (10:06):
You know, um.
You know I always my goal wasalways I wanted to do something
that I enjoyed, to go to workevery day and do.
And I did for many years.
As I got older it wore me outfaster, um.
And one day my daughter said tomy mom you know, does daddy
(10:30):
love this more than me?
Because I was working 80, 100hours a week.
And that broke my heart andmade me realize, yeah, I need to
change.
So that's kind of how I phasedout of the hospitality world, um
.
And then someone believed in,um, I guess, my perspective of
(10:54):
customer service to bring tothis the civic world, or to um
to a chamber of commerce, andreally wanted me to bring that
concept.
And I never thought I would beworking at a chamber before.
But once I grasped it andunderstood the need, then it was
(11:16):
my job to figure out a solutionon how to make it better.
Donnie (11:19):
Yeah, did.
You was being a business ownerowner, was that something you
always wanted to do?
Or being involved in, like thesmall business community at all?
Matt (11:29):
or, yes, I always wanted to have a small business.
I still have one, yeah, today,um, and I enjoy that um.
It gives you a sense of worth.
That gives you um, a sense ofme, what I do.
I have a handyman business so Ilove helping people, actually
(11:51):
help a lot of real estate agentswith their inspection lists or
um, and I have a lot of propertymanagement clients and um, and
any one of my regular clientscan tell you that I I love
helping.
I I hate when I have to turndown a job or, and that's.
You know, what I reallycontemplated on when taking this
(12:11):
job at the Palm Harbor chamberof commerce was am I going to be
able to focus on, you know, my,my regular clients and um, and
I did.
I got to talk with a lot of myregular clients and tell them
(12:32):
and they are all very supportiveof me taking this um because
they knew my passion for thecommunity and education um of
what a chamber should be doingand what a chamber does for a
community.
So, yeah, it's kind of whatbrought what brought me to now.
Donnie (12:43):
Yeah, so let's go back to, like, when you owned your
restaurant, were you involved?
Were you a part of the chamber?
Then, when you, okay, and whatwas the?
What was your experience likewith with those, uh, with that
chamber, at that time I had agood experience.
Matt (13:00):
I had a good experience.
They um utilized us quite a bitfor networking events and um
exposure events and um golftournaments and and uh stuff
like that.
So they kept me as a smallbusiness owner, they kept me
(13:21):
involved, which I think reallyhelped me learn and understand
um what really a chamber isabout yeah um and what it should
be doing for a community.
So I think that exposure to meum helped create my perspective
(13:41):
um in the chamber world.
Donnie (13:42):
So, yeah, so let's talk about that, like in your mind,
like what is the benefit or whatshould the benefit be of a
chamber if someone were to join,or if someone is a part of a
chamber?
Matt (13:52):
Yeah, you know it's, it's really a two way street as well.
I could list all the benefits,which I'll tell some benefits.
But it's also being involved inthe chamber and especially to
me it's important when you'refirst in business as well, or
(14:13):
when you just, you know, makingtime's hard for a business owner
and I understand that totally.
But if you can or send anemployee or train an employee to
come and be involved in ourevents, our educational classes,
our networking, we do a lot ofteaching of how to build
relationships through networking, not just networking alone,
(14:37):
because anybody can go into aroom a networking room and pass
out, you know, shake hands andpass out business cards to a
room a networking room and passout, you know, shake hands and
pass out business cards.
But I believe if you don'tbuild that relationship, that
business card just can be thrownin the trash when they get home
or get back to their office oreven before they leave that room
.
Yeah, um, so building thatrelationship is key, but you
(14:59):
can't build those relationshipsif you're not there, yeah, and
you're not involved.
Getting involved in some of the, you know, um community event,
you know, getting exposure insome of the community events.
I'm not saying you have tosponsor everything or anything
like that, but just beinginvolved and volunteering a
little bit of your time, um, atthat event, getting you know at
(15:27):
that event, getting you know thesponsorship is just good
because it gives you the biggerexposure experience, yeah, but
also volunteering is huge.
that's what we don't get thatmuch as people that step up and
want to volunteer, but it givesyou an opportunity to interact
with the community, and that'swhat you want is the community
visiting your business, and then, you're building rapport
(15:53):
relationships with the othervolunteers that you're there to
Our locals here in our communitycan spend their money locally
more than they were before.
And how to attract?
You know, we're a tourist areaand destination.
(16:13):
We have great cities all aroundus Dunning, tarpon, there are
way more touristy than even PalmHarbor.
We just have the space and theparks.
Yeah, that's what we, you knowfor visitors.
You know this isn't talkingabout visitors.
Even safety Harbor, I mean allthree of those places are hugely
(16:35):
um in the attraction oftourists and our visitors.
And so, um, you know, trying tofigure out ways to attract
visitors to spend their moneymore, um, or when they're here
in Palm Harbor, at ourbusinesses, is something that I
concentrate on all day and everytime.
(16:55):
I think about what we post onsocial media or business
spotlights that we do, thenewsletters that we, you know,
communicate with all of ourmembers in the community and the
events that we come up with.
That's all about attracting our, our community to spend their
(17:17):
money at our biz, at our localbusinesses and visitors to
support local as well.
Donnie (17:23):
So let's, let's dive into some of the events, right,
cause, like Palm Harbor, likebeing on unincorporated, mm-hmm.
So let's let's dive into someof the events.
Right, because, like palmharbor, like being on
unincorporated, um, we, I feellike that's always been a
struggle of like you know, wheredo I get information from
what's happening this weekend orwhat events are going on?
Who puts on what events?
(17:45):
Like, how can I be involved?
Right, because there's allthese these different um
organizations and groups thatare involved in, you know,
making palm harbor what it is.
Um, but specifically for thechamber, like, what events are
you in charge of?
Like, I guess, throughout thecalendar year?
like what events do you put on?
Matt (18:04):
well, great question, because you know all the
organizations that you know cometogether to do events and do
the community events or thedowntown events as well they're
not just downtown, they'rethroughout the community as well
Are awesome.
I mean, they really lovepulling together to create more
(18:27):
community.
I think this last year weconcentrated on more and as the
years come, we concentrate onmore events that bring the
community together, get thecommunity in the habit and used
to coming back together forevents and and or downtown.
Our downtown needs, you know,some help with that again as
(18:49):
well.
Um, and I think that'simportant, is the more we bring
the community or give anopportunity for the community to
come together, um, the morehabit they will come down and
visit.
You know our restaurants andbars yeah um salons and
barbershops and retail that wehave down here.
(19:10):
So, but the events, we allsupport each other on each
other's events.
So mainly like, say, we havethe Christmas parade coming up
next weekend, saturday the 14th,so it is a chamber event that
Parks and Recs helps support us.
(19:32):
Palm Harbor Parks and Recshelps support us with the
logistics and the organizationof it.
We couldn't do it without them.
It is kind of on the shouldersof the chamber and ultimately
the chamber in Palm Harbor Parksand Rec.
We do this solely for thecommunity, for the fun of the
(19:56):
kids and little leagues and thePanthers, the football leagues
and the Girl Scouts and the BoyScouts and for the dance
communities and schools and forour high schools and middle
schools and elementary schools.
It is a fun event.
(20:16):
It is fun to see the communitycome together and celebrate the
holidays.
So we look forward to thatevery year.
So we look forward to thatevery year um.
The other, the other big eventthat the chamber does in the
community um, which is always inwell majority in april, is palm
(20:37):
harbor fest.
Used to be called citrusfestival, yeah, um, before my
time they changed it to palmharbor fest.
Um, that's huge.
I mean it was a very bigsuccess this last april.
Um, it's coming up again thesecond weekend of april, um, in
2025 and um we get support fromdowntown.
(21:01):
Uh, palm harbor merchants, um,you know ben from divine um,
that is the president ofmerchants.
He helps so much in thiscommunity and helps us with
stuff and all of our barricadesset up, and I mean there's a
long list of stuff that he helps.
And the merchants help with thePalm Harbor again, the Palm
(21:24):
Harbor Parks and Rec help uswith all that.
And now we have a neworganization that is rising
called Palm Harbor Main Streetand they will be based out of
Harbor Hall and their reallyfocus is going to be on this
downtown community and thebeautification community and um
(21:53):
and the beautification, thehelping, hopefully one day
having a waypoint project to goso people know where things are
and um know where downtown isknow where downtown is, even
though we're right off alternate19, because we got a lot of
traffic off alternate 19 in thetrail.
Yeah, australia.
So helping, yes, find ourbusinesses and other um uh
(22:14):
needed.
You know, organizations,buildings, but uh, they're
really going to be focusing onum, the future, the development,
the vitality um of downtownPalm Harbor and Palm Harbor as a
whole community as well.
So I'm excited for that to comeabout.
That's brand new, hopefully.
(22:36):
I'm okay with spilling thebeans on that.
But, yes, the chamber.
And then when the merchantshave, like, their veterans day
events and their other events,and when the palm harbor main
street's going to have theirevents, our job is to help
support those as well.
(22:56):
We want to not only bring our,our business members to help get
involved.
It helps them get exposure forthe business um, and then
they're creating um a communityreputation as well, which is
important, yeah, um, forattracting the community to use
(23:16):
your bit or utilize yourbusiness.
Donnie (23:18):
So for sure yeah, I think it's.
Um, I like what you said, right, like it's.
You know, maybe, like you know,palm harbor chamber is putting
on this event right, buteverybody's involved and I think
that's key for the growth andthe future of what downtown you
know can be right If we continuethat and that's important to
(23:41):
have.
Matt (23:42):
It shows the unity, all that support, yeah, and showing
that unity in a community, Ithink it just keeps the strength
moving forward, yeah and ifeveryone's working together,
everyone's collaborating,sharing ideas, bringing new
ideas and then just helping eachother with all these events.
Donnie (24:00):
We have a lot of great spaces and events already right,
but just to build on top ofthat I think will be huge.
And the consistency consistencyyou mentioned that before right
just having those events.
I think that's been some of thethe problems, the last you know
, five, ten years or whateverjust the consistency of those
events is, is and people likewait, is this happening this
(24:22):
weekend?
Matt (24:23):
but then they get out of the habit of coming yeah,
together as a community and orcoming downtown or wherever pop
stands or wherever the event is,yeah.
You get out of the habit ofdoing that when you aren't
consistent.
So consistency is huge.
I mean I come from therestaurant business, if you
don't.
I mean there's a reason whyOutback, carrabba's, longhorn, a
(24:46):
lot of those companies thathave been around a long time,
and why they've been around along time.
Donnie (24:51):
It's all about consistency yeah, you know what
you're getting.
Matt (24:54):
I mean, most business is based on consistency.
So if you're not consistent ordon't concentrate on consistent
um you know, you might as wellhang it up yeah, yeah, so yes
consistency with events in acommunity Huge.
Donnie (25:12):
Yeah, massive, massive.
So how long have you been withthe Palmeiras Chamber?
Now A little over a year.
Matt (25:18):
Yes, october 9th was a year, so just a little bit over
a year, and I'm looking forwardand excited to this next year.
Donnie (25:27):
So what are you, what's your goals for this upcoming
year?
Matt (25:31):
for the, for the chamber, great question a lot and I'm
still working on um, that list,um, but, yes, uh, I uh, um.
Main thing that I want toconcentrate on this year is
members, new members and aneducation of um, what a chamber
(25:53):
does, um to a community and thenum community involvement type.
I can say events, but um, notjust events yeah, community
happenings and and and justtrying to refocus people's minds
(26:15):
on Palm Harbor again.
Really, yeah, we need you know,we're not in bad shape or
anything like that.
We just need the you knowpeople to focus on Palm Harbor
again and just trying to attractthat yeah, I think that I think
you're, and the community wantsthat too like the people in
palm harbor like they.
Donnie (26:34):
They want a reason to come downtown and and, and you
know, hang out with theirfriends or whatever in in
downtown, in pop stancel,wherever it is so.
It's just, it's on know thedifferent organizations, like
with the chamber, the mainstreet, um, um parks and rec and
um and the downtown merchants,to, to just continue this
(26:56):
momentum that we do have, youknow so yeah, I love that.
What is, uh I'm going to wrap upwith this you, uh, how long
have you been in this area now I?
How long have you been in thisarea now I?
I moved in this area in 2000.
Okay, what is it?
What is one thing, um, you loveabout palm harbor?
Matt (27:16):
I'll give you to pick one thing the biggest thing I like
about palm harbor is um, andespecially that showed me in the
recent two hurricanes is howthe community, um it comes
together for the community andother communities surrounding us
(27:37):
.
But, man, I mean I'm gettinggoosebumps right now because it
was a huge.
Just an example to me, um, onwhy I know I'm in the right
place and from my heart, becausepeople just came together,
whether it be donations for all,for all the families and people
(27:59):
kids you know that losteverything in the hurricanes are
lost a lot or whether it wasjust cleaning up your neighbor's
yard or helping them removesome of the debris, or even we
had a really special thing thathappened at the chamber and I
was honored that they chose touse the chamber.
(28:21):
We had some moms and somefaculty of a couple of different
schools locally that knew thata lot of kids either lost a lot
of their clothing or stuff inthe hurricanes or, because of
the stuff that they lost,couldn't afford to get
(28:43):
homecoming dresses or homecomingoutfits, male and female.
And so they came together, theyutilized the chamber.
They had, I think, well over 200dresses and outfits donated.
They brought high school kidsin there to fit them with and
(29:05):
let them choose a dress thatthey probably wouldn't have been
able to afford or have to keepthem able to go to homecoming
and have that experience,because I think that was a huge
aspect and support of our kids'mental health in that time
(29:30):
period.
Because when disasters comearound, you know, adults maybe
have gone through it severaltimes in their life.
Kids, some of them, it's thefirst time they've dealt with
that kind of stuff.
So I was so honored that theyeven asked to utilize the
chamber building.
Um, to me, those ladies areangels, um, for this community,
(29:51):
and they would probably, um, uh,be shy if I said who they were.
So I won't, but, um, they knowwho they are and they're um just
amazing that they even came upwith that concept.
Donnie (30:06):
To me that was special to be involved in, so, yeah,
yeah, that's pretty cool and I'mglad you mentioned that too,
because I think that's I thinkthat's one thing that's unique
about palm harbor shows theheart yeah, we just have a
really great community of peoplewho truly care about, uh, each
other in the community, and so,um, yeah, that's awesome yeah
yeah, matt, thanks for beinghere yeah, I appreciate it.
Matt (30:27):
Donnie, thank you very much.
I appreciate the opportunityand what you do for our
community.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, all right.
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