July 16, 2025 • 18 mins
Stepping behind the digital curtain of Vero Beach Neighborhood (VBN), the Facebook group that connects 74,000 local residents, reveals an astonishing commitment to community stewardship. Danielle, the driving force behind this thriving online space, shares the raw realities of her 4am wake-ups and the manual processing of thousands of posts and comments each month.
"The workload, the manual amounts of work... There's less that can be automated with how I have it set up," Danielle explains, detailing her daily routine of monitoring content for hours before dawn, hosting a radio program, managing her store, and overseeing a marketing company. This isn't a passing commitment, it's approximately 4,000 posts and between 50,000-70,000 comments monthly, each requiring human review for accuracy and appropriateness.
What distinguishes VBN from countless other online communities is its unwavering commitment to truth. Every video submitted undergoes multiple reviews, sometimes taking triple the video length to properly vet. Danielle maintains vital relationships with local law enforcement agencies and businesses to verify information, creating an accountability ecosystem rarely seen in social media spaces. When asked about her advice for aspiring community builders, her candid response speaks volumes: "Absolutely do not do that." Yet for those determined to pursue similar paths, she emphasizes intellectual property protection, assembling a diverse team, and preparing for unexpected challenges. Most importantly, she advocates for patience,what appears to outsiders as an overnight success represents years of "heartache, crying, yelling, planning, work, and financial investment."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, well, welcome back to the Vero Beach
podcast.
This is part two of ourinterview with Danielle from the
Vero Beach neighborhood, andtoday we're going to be talking
about what the day to day lookslike.
So, danielle, what does the dayto day look like here?
Is there a process that youkind of flow and go with running
a Facebook?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
group, I don't know that I would as successful as I
have been.
I would not recommend thisbusiness model because it's I
don't say it's like a lightningstrike, but the workload, the
manual amounts of work.
There's less that can beautomated with how I have it set
up.
So I could go back.
I may, may have changed acouple of things, but then I
(00:38):
think if I went back and changeda couple of things would I be
where I am now.
So you kind of take the goodwith the bad.
But like a typical day in thelife of the VBN lady is up
between 4 and 5 am, back on theinternet, which I monitor for
about two or three-ish hours.
Then I go meet Jeff atChristian FM because we have a
morning radio program that we do.
In between those breaks I amVBNing, I'm answering messages,
(01:03):
I'm doing that and he hates thatthat's too bad.
And then, you know, then wekind of hit the ground running
again back to VBN, answeringtons of messages every day.
You know people have hurts andneeds and wants and they, you
know, are like where do I go?
I'm like a walking encyclopediawhich you know, for good or bad
is great.
And then we have the store andso I'm here a few days a week
(01:25):
meeting people, having meetings,doing work, working in the
store, whatever that looks like,because the store has to keep
going.
We do have a VBAN radio podcast.
It's separate, you know.
Like that Jeff and I will workon in our free time and I also
have a marketing company so Ihave to keep that afloat because
I have clients who rely on meto market for them.
So it definitely is ateeter-totter of a business
(01:46):
model, Like if one goes down,everything's going down.
I just keep always focusing onthe people that we're helping,
regardless of what hat I'mwearing that day.
I think that's the mostimportant thing.
That's kind of what keeps yougoing.
But that's a typical day.
The work on VBN is insane.
It's about 4,000 posts a month.
(02:06):
It is between 50 and 70,000comments every month and we do
go through every single one ofthose comments.
So if someone says somethingcrazy like you, agree with that,
I don't agree with that.
But sometimes I'm right thereand sometimes it takes me a
couple of days to get therebecause you're only looking
singularly at a comment that youdon't like.
I'm looking in totality at10,000 other comments between
the time that you saw thatcomment the time I can get to it
(02:27):
.
So we always ask people toreport to admin.
That's always important for us.
It goes into a different queue.
Only we can see it.
No one knows that you reportedit and that helps us get there
immediately.
So whether I don't want tobother you, please bother me,
Like that's.
The best thing you can do isreport to admin, not to Facebook
.
So sometimes posts will sit inthe queue for a couple of hours.
We usually get to them prettyquickly, but they do sit in the
queue for a couple hours becausesometimes people say crazy
(02:49):
things and so we need to verifywhat it is that you're saying
and on those a couple handful oftimes that things look
legitimate or whatever, and weput them through and we find out
that they're not legitimate,the person who has lied gets
kicked from the page.
We contact the business, we putup a courtesy post for them,
because I'm not into peoplelying.
That just doesn't work for me.
So I don't lie.
I don't expect you to liearound me, near me, in my
(03:12):
presence, on my page, in mybusiness, in my store, like take
a hike.
So it's really important.
There has to be accountability.
I think the internet doesn'tallow for that anymore, and I
think that's why people getsometimes full of funny money,
because they have to be heldaccountable for what they're
saying, and in the VBN spacethat means you're going to tell
the truth or you're going to notbe participating in what we're
doing here Now just leteverybody know if you're
(03:32):
listening.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
don't go run your phone's not ringing.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I'm sorry.
Remember we're in the store.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That's part of this podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It's probably Google.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Trust me, it's always Google, it's never anyone on
the other end of the line.
We've had to edit out way worsesounds than a telephone ringing
?
Do you use any kind of liketools for like helping to
maintain this, because you haveto so?
Do you approve every postbefore it goes on, every post
before it goes through?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Facebook has enabled, like they have AI helpers and
whatnot.
I'm not interested in that,because what AI thinks should be
happening on VPN is not whatshould actually be happening on
VPN, and so it's reallyimportant to me to be as
hands-on as possible and knowwhat's occurring.
We do use some of the features,like we have keywords, so if
you use the F word, it's notnine times out of 10, facebook
(04:16):
is going to catch that and it'sgoing to not even allow you to
post it the other times it posts, but then I can see where it's
been pulled.
So that is very helpful.
You know, some of those likedirtier words or you know, like
snake?
Yes, for you, we'll add snake tothat Sorry everyone but
politics, any of the triggerwords your president, their
(04:37):
president, like, whatever it iswe have those.
This way, it just helps us getto a little bit more quickly
sometimes, sometimes, and so wecan see what the conversation is
that's occurring.
So because something in there,even if Facebook doesn't catch
it all, we'll catch something,and then I can go back and find
where that is.
Because the last thing I wantto be viewed as someone who's
not consistent, because we arepainfully consistent, and so
(04:59):
it's important to me that thepage is curated appropriately
and that people understand thatwe're reputable and trustworthy
and consistent.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So when there are posts about crimes or situations
like that, like law enforcementsituations, do you have to
verify that?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
as well, absolutely Usually the sheriff's office,
felsmere Police, fair BeachPolice Department.
I work really nicely with allof the agencies and they usually
have already sometimes alreadyposted, so we can go on that If
people have pictures, that isthe proof, right, so I don't
have to worry about doublechecking.
It's a picture of a police carat this corner, that's what
they're saying, and so we weallow some of those.
(05:36):
There's deductive reasoning inapproving some of the more
critical posts.
Yeah, we definitely work withas many agencies and businesses
as possible, and it's good forthem as well, because VBN is a
machine, it is an informationmachine, and so they want the
information to be out there asclear and correct as we do, and
so it's a nice partnering.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
On the Facebook group itself.
Do you allow just image postsand text posts, or do you allow
videos?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
We do.
We do allow videos.
We do watch every second of avideo that you submit.
First I watch it for content,then I turn the volume up to
some insane level and I listenfor any words in the background
like that are.
If there's a foul word, like wejust don't approve it.
It is a lot of work.
So if you submit a five minutevideo, you have wasted 15
(06:22):
minutes of my life because we goover it and over it, make sure
everything is fine.
But that that's the job.
We could just approve stuff.
But I think that people havecome to expect a certain level
of of of information and I thinkit's really important that
we're we're going over thosethings every time.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That's what I love about doing a podcast like this
is really helping the communityknow how much work is going into
this as well, that's a lot Likeyou think about.
Hey, if I post a five minutevideo, you're not thinking that
you're watching it for 15minutes Right.
Yeah, I mean there's 74,000people on there, so don't
everybody post a five minutevideo.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Do not submit videos, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Otherwise you guys are helping me watch all of
those videos videos, yeah,otherwise you guys are helping
me watch all of those videos.
Shauna just volunteered, that'sright.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No, it is a lot of work, and I think a lot of
people are, because that's howFacebook works.
They want you to keep your facein their book, and they'll do
that any which way possible.
It's good for them, it's goodfor their app, it's good for
their advertisers, and I thinkpeople don't understand I don't
use the word manipulation.
It is marketing on the highestlevel you can possibly market.
That's what Facebook has lockeddown, and people are so
susceptible to it.
I think that they really believethat this shouldn't be in my
(07:26):
feed.
I don't want to see this and,like you, are still on an app
that doesn't belong to you.
Right, they've curated thecontent so you stay on it, but
every once in a while, they'regoing to throw you a fastball,
and they want that.
They want that drama, they wantthe dopamine hit.
They want all of that becausethen you stay in, stay in, stay
in, you bring other people in.
That is how it works, and soit's really important that some
(07:48):
things on VPN will give you adopamine hit, but they have to
be truthful and they have to beaccurate.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
And so we have to make.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
There are different tells.
So the old spam profilesthere's very few of those left
Now.
They're using AI, they're veryadvanced, they absolutely look
real, and so there's a coupletells that we use to, you know,
kind of vet through all of those.
So I would say, like ifFacebook was going to remove
profiles from VBN that were notreal profiles, I am highly
(08:20):
confident it would be anincredibly low number.
But there are other pageslocally and I have reached out
to them.
You guys have like 10,000 spamprofiles, because they have
literally tens of thousands ofspam profiles and they lay
dormant, lay dormant untilthey're not dormant, but once
one gets in it's like a paradeof them that comes in if they're
not locked down appropriately.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Now I'm going to ask you some questions on the
business side of it too.
First off, let's talk aboutfake profiles.
To grow this, did you do anykind of advertisements to join
the group?
No, Okay, Because I know a lotof businesses that have went
that route.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Like paid for advertisements, Paid for yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
And paid for followers, yeah.
And then what happens isthey've built this huge audience
that are a lot of fake accounts, sure.
So I had a feeling that thatwasn't the case with your group,
because there's so muchengagement and you could tell
that they're real.
Yeah, they're real people.
So I think that's really animportant piece to look at, when
even other people are lookingat other groups Go look at the
profiles.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
What's happening here ?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Get an idea of what's going on.
Is there any like plan or gameplan or concerns about what
happens if this goes away?
Because, like you said, it issomebody else's property.
It's like a lease property.
So what are your thoughts aboutthat?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, I think there's always talk anytime there's a
presidential election.
I think this comes up aboutwhat can control social media.
You know the big tech has overwhatever, but I'm also very
confident that the guys at thetop are saying whatever they
need to say to whoever they needto say it to, back and forth.
So I'm really not worried thatFacebook is going to go down.
That being said, it is a pieceof technology that can be hacked
, manipulated, whatever it maybe.
(09:54):
So it always is always aconcern, but I think, until that
point, as we just continue todo like the good work you know
and not worry about it, we dohave a separate website,
vrbchneighborhoodcom, that youcan go to, and we're starting to
build that up and out, butthere's no chat feature yet
built into that, so we willeventually get there.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
That's always a good plan to always have like
something of your own.
I think that's good insight too.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Like you said, you have this faith that they're
doing what they need to do tokeep things going as well,
because they don't want it toclose down.
No, they just have a lot ofadvertisers and a lot of people
who have a lot of money on theline, and so I'm fairly
confident that they're going tomaintain.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
What advice would you give to someone that maybe is
starting a community-focusedFacebook group Run?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I guess it depends on what their goals are, but my
knee-jerk, absolutely do not dothat.
Also, maintain all of yourintellectual property, whatever
that looks like In Florida it'sa little bit more difficult to
stay hidden when you maintainthat, but whatever it looks like
trademarks, registrations,sunbiz I highly recommend that
(11:00):
you do.
I've done that with all of mythings.
Like I own VBN, I own VBN.
So these are things that areimportant to your business model
.
And then be prepared.
Be prepared for all kinds ofstuff stuff that you wouldn't
even dream of having to dealwith, I would say and surround
yourself with a really solidteam and a team of people who
(11:21):
think like you for cohesion, butalso don't think like you for
dynamic, right.
So it's really important that,like Mike and I are basically
work very well together, morelike a yin and yang kind of team
, right?
So we do think very, verysimilarly.
We're able to deduce certainsituations and know exactly who
we're talking to before theyknow that we're talking to them.
But we also are on twodifferent ends of the religious
(11:44):
spectrum, the political spectrum, the.
You know so, and so I thinkthat's very, very important.
It's definitely those are thekind of like the top three or
four that I would recommend topeople if they wanted to do this
.
Really good advice.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, and I do.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I like the advice run too because I really think
about what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
There's a lot.
There's a lot to it.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
There's a lot a lot of responsibility too.
If you want to do it well, yeah.
And again, it depends on whatyour goals are.
But if you're looking to dosomething similar to what we are
doing, you really need to beintrospective in terms of do you
enjoy family time?
Do you like?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
holidays, Do you you?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
know these are different things.
I mean my family.
You know I shout out to ShannonPeruta earlier because she's a
saint, but you know my familyalso.
Like there's not a minute thatgoes by that I'm not working on
something VBN related.
I don't have to be in the VBNqueues to be thinking, planning
on the phone in a meeting.
You know whatever about allkinds of stuff.
And it goes further than thatbecause it's so impactful.
(12:41):
It's also is it businessconsulting?
Is it people who are just like,listen, we just need help.
How do we, you know?
And so it's phone call afterphone call.
So there really is a lot, a lotto it.
So it really just depends onwhat your goals are.
But for universal advice, thoseare my top three or four.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
And I love that you're really leaning into the
goals, because I think that's soimportant, because you can just
you can waste a lot of timejust doing digital and not
without having a goal in mind.
You don't know if you'reheading in the right direction,
of what you're doing is workingRight, if it's not working or if
it's working against you.
You know what are your goals.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Going forward.
I always have like a list ofthings I want to do and I've had
that ongoing probably for about10 years now.
So the store has been on thelist for a very long time, but
it's just in the last I guess itwas last November we opened.
So it's one of those thingswhere you hope, wait and pray
Right and and these are thethings that, um, I'm always a
full believer in it has to bethe right thing at the right
(13:34):
time.
There are some things on my listthat other businesses have
rolled out.
I'm like, oh man, that is sogood and like, and then I just
cross it off my list, you know,because some things you can make
your own but some things justlook like copying at that point
and so and I'm not into that sowe would just cross that off the
list.
But then there are some thingsthat you know come to fruition
when they're supposed to.
If I had rushed the store, if Ihad rushed the podcast, or if I
(13:56):
had rushed the marketingcompany, it wouldn't work how
it's working.
It has to be the right thing atthe right time.
So I think when people look atVBN they go, oh, this is VBN
empire, you know kind of thing,and I didn't go from 2017 to
2025 as king of my own empire.
Right, like it's a lot ofheartache, a lot of crying, a
(14:16):
lot of yelling, a lot ofplanning, a lot of work, a lot
of financial investment and allthose things.
Now you're seeing the fruit ofall of that labor, but I would
definitely recommend to peoplethat not only do they have goals
, but realistic goals.
Be willing to take things offyour list that you really
thought that were going to work,because maybe it's just not
time for that.
Back to your original question,which is I definitely have a
(14:37):
bunch of things on the listwhich I'll keep to myself
currently.
But, they're very big andthey're very fun and I think
that people really like them asthey roll out.
Currently we're focused mainlyon continuing the VBN mission.
My marketing company and nowthe store is a very big
component.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I love it.
I didn't know the store was asnew as it is, so that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
So congratulations on that milestone, thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
You know we get asked that question often with the
podcast.
Sometimes I think people feellike we have like a hidden
agenda.
Like what is it Like?
Why are you doing this for free?
Yeah, yeah, like what is itlike?
Why are you doing this for free?
Yeah, yeah, we were likepraying, like what?
What is it here that's reallyunique about this area?
And it was one sunday morning,it was 2 am.
I woke up and I'm like the verobeach podcast and then I was
like myverobeachcom.
There's no way that's available.
And it was everything wasavailable.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Like what the heck?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
yeah, I'm like okay, I'm buying everything, and then
it's like the thought came to melike meet your neighbors and
support local.
I was like what does it take toget something trademarked?
Because I think we shouldprobably get meet your neighbors
, support local.
And so we've started going onthat process, learning about it
and and we've had so muchsupport from the community.
But we have had people ask uslike when we sit down, like
what's your real agenda here?
And I know people are gettingto know us too Sure, and I'm
(15:44):
like to be honest with you, theright now we don't like this
isn't to support us Our businessdoes that but this is really to
help us meet our neighbors andsupport local.
It's a way for us to helpsupport the local business as we
get to meet our neighbors andhelp others.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So it's a wild question too that people would
would ask it's like?
It's like it's free, it's likequiet?
For Vero Beach neighborhoodendorsed beside before the store
VBN endorses my marketingcompany.
That was the only thing thatmonetized, and so a lot of
people really struggle tounderstand, like why would you
be doing all of this work andnot getting paid for it?
(16:20):
And there's other people thatare like how dare you make money
from Facebook?
And I go I don't make moneyfrom Facebook.
I make money from localbusinesses that I market for,
like every other marketingcompany.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
There's a lot of zero stuff you have to do.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, and because you want to build your brand.
But in the meantime, if you'rehelping people, you need to meet
people.
Really, that is so enriching.
I think that there's somepeople that really don't kind of
fully understand how great thatis.
Besides it being great for yourbrand, it's great for your
person, it's great for thecommunity.
So I love that people areengaging with you with your
podcast.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
So I was going to say too is part of it is selfish on
my part.
I love local businesses.
I love a different experiencethan something you're going to
get with, like, a national chain.
So I don't want thesebusinesses to go away.
Whatever I can do to supportthem, that's because I want them
to be around.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
And I figured if we could do a podcast to help
support she wouldn't spend asmuch money.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
But that's really not here all the time.
It's not really working out forme on that side, so it's
actually backfired yeah it'sbackfired.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Now she's getting to find all these wonderful places.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
And she's like I'm going to go buy this.
I'm like, all right, now I knowa lot more places to go, so
that support that donate thepodcast.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You know, support the podcast for $3 a month isn't
just paying, let's just clarifythat Well hey, this has been a
great episode.
I'm excited to get into partthree, where we're going to talk
about why Vero Beach and whatyou love about Vero Beach.
So, everybody, if you'veenjoyed the episode, make sure
you guys click, follow, leave usa review.
Your feedback actually helpsmore people find the podcast,
(17:43):
your local podcast and it helpssupport our local podcast.
So with that we will catch youin part three.
All right, well, welcome back to the Vero Beach
podcast.
This is part two of ourinterview with Danielle from the
Vero Beach neighborhood, andtoday we're going to be talking
about what the day to day lookslike.
So, danielle, what does the dayto day look like here?
Is there a process that youkind of flow and go with running
a Facebook?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
group, I don't know that I would as successful as I
have been.
I would not recommend thisbusiness model because it's I
don't say it's like a lightningstrike, but the workload, the
manual amounts of work.
There's less that can beautomated with how I have it set
up.
So I could go back.
I may, may have changed acouple of things, but then I
(00:38):
think if I went back and changeda couple of things would I be
where I am now.
So you kind of take the goodwith the bad.
But like a typical day in thelife of the VBN lady is up
between 4 and 5 am, back on theinternet, which I monitor for
about two or three-ish hours.
Then I go meet Jeff atChristian FM because we have a
morning radio program that we do.
In between those breaks I amVBNing, I'm answering messages,
(01:03):
I'm doing that and he hates thatthat's too bad.
And then, you know, then wekind of hit the ground running
again back to VBN, answeringtons of messages every day.
You know people have hurts andneeds and wants and they, you
know, are like where do I go?
I'm like a walking encyclopediawhich you know, for good or bad
is great.
And then we have the store andso I'm here a few days a week
(01:25):
meeting people, having meetings,doing work, working in the
store, whatever that looks like,because the store has to keep
going.
We do have a VBAN radio podcast.
It's separate, you know.
Like that Jeff and I will workon in our free time and I also
have a marketing company so Ihave to keep that afloat because
I have clients who rely on meto market for them.
So it definitely is ateeter-totter of a business
(01:46):
model, Like if one goes down,everything's going down.
I just keep always focusing onthe people that we're helping,
regardless of what hat I'mwearing that day.
I think that's the mostimportant thing.
That's kind of what keeps yougoing.
But that's a typical day.
The work on VBN is insane.
It's about 4,000 posts a month.
(02:06):
It is between 50 and 70,000comments every month and we do
go through every single one ofthose comments.
So if someone says somethingcrazy like you, agree with that,
I don't agree with that.
But sometimes I'm right thereand sometimes it takes me a
couple of days to get therebecause you're only looking
singularly at a comment that youdon't like.
I'm looking in totality at10,000 other comments between
the time that you saw thatcomment the time I can get to it
(02:27):
.
So we always ask people toreport to admin.
That's always important for us.
It goes into a different queue.
Only we can see it.
No one knows that you reportedit and that helps us get there
immediately.
So whether I don't want tobother you, please bother me,
Like that's.
The best thing you can do isreport to admin, not to Facebook
.
So sometimes posts will sit inthe queue for a couple of hours.
We usually get to them prettyquickly, but they do sit in the
queue for a couple hours becausesometimes people say crazy
(02:49):
things and so we need to verifywhat it is that you're saying
and on those a couple handful oftimes that things look
legitimate or whatever, and weput them through and we find out
that they're not legitimate,the person who has lied gets
kicked from the page.
We contact the business, we putup a courtesy post for them,
because I'm not into peoplelying.
That just doesn't work for me.
So I don't lie.
I don't expect you to liearound me, near me, in my
(03:12):
presence, on my page, in mybusiness, in my store, like take
a hike.
So it's really important.
There has to be accountability.
I think the internet doesn'tallow for that anymore, and I
think that's why people getsometimes full of funny money,
because they have to be heldaccountable for what they're
saying, and in the VBN spacethat means you're going to tell
the truth or you're going to notbe participating in what we're
doing here Now just leteverybody know if you're
(03:32):
listening.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
don't go run your phone's not ringing.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I'm sorry.
Remember we're in the store.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That's part of this podcast.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It's probably Google.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Trust me, it's always Google, it's never anyone on
the other end of the line.
We've had to edit out way worsesounds than a telephone ringing
?
Do you use any kind of liketools for like helping to
maintain this, because you haveto so?
Do you approve every postbefore it goes on, every post
before it goes through?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Facebook has enabled, like they have AI helpers and
whatnot.
I'm not interested in that,because what AI thinks should be
happening on VPN is not whatshould actually be happening on
VPN, and so it's reallyimportant to me to be as
hands-on as possible and knowwhat's occurring.
We do use some of the features,like we have keywords, so if
you use the F word, it's notnine times out of 10, facebook
(04:16):
is going to catch that and it'sgoing to not even allow you to
post it the other times it posts, but then I can see where it's
been pulled.
So that is very helpful.
You know, some of those likedirtier words or you know, like
snake?
Yes, for you, we'll add snake tothat Sorry everyone but
politics, any of the triggerwords your president, their
(04:37):
president, like, whatever it iswe have those.
This way, it just helps us getto a little bit more quickly
sometimes, sometimes, and so wecan see what the conversation is
that's occurring.
So because something in there,even if Facebook doesn't catch
it all, we'll catch something,and then I can go back and find
where that is.
Because the last thing I wantto be viewed as someone who's
not consistent, because we arepainfully consistent, and so
(04:59):
it's important to me that thepage is curated appropriately
and that people understand thatwe're reputable and trustworthy
and consistent.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So when there are posts about crimes or situations
like that, like law enforcementsituations, do you have to
verify that?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
as well, absolutely Usually the sheriff's office,
felsmere Police, fair BeachPolice Department.
I work really nicely with allof the agencies and they usually
have already sometimes alreadyposted, so we can go on that If
people have pictures, that isthe proof, right, so I don't
have to worry about doublechecking.
It's a picture of a police carat this corner, that's what
they're saying, and so we weallow some of those.
(05:36):
There's deductive reasoning inapproving some of the more
critical posts.
Yeah, we definitely work withas many agencies and businesses
as possible, and it's good forthem as well, because VBN is a
machine, it is an informationmachine, and so they want the
information to be out there asclear and correct as we do, and
so it's a nice partnering.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
On the Facebook group itself.
Do you allow just image postsand text posts, or do you allow
videos?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
We do.
We do allow videos.
We do watch every second of avideo that you submit.
First I watch it for content,then I turn the volume up to
some insane level and I listenfor any words in the background
like that are.
If there's a foul word, like wejust don't approve it.
It is a lot of work.
So if you submit a five minutevideo, you have wasted 15
(06:22):
minutes of my life because we goover it and over it, make sure
everything is fine.
But that that's the job.
We could just approve stuff.
But I think that people havecome to expect a certain level
of of of information and I thinkit's really important that
we're we're going over thosethings every time.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That's what I love about doing a podcast like this
is really helping the communityknow how much work is going into
this as well, that's a lot Likeyou think about.
Hey, if I post a five minutevideo, you're not thinking that
you're watching it for 15minutes Right.
Yeah, I mean there's 74,000people on there, so don't
everybody post a five minutevideo.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Do not submit videos, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Otherwise you guys are helping me watch all of
those videos videos, yeah,otherwise you guys are helping
me watch all of those videos.
Shauna just volunteered, that'sright.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No, it is a lot of work, and I think a lot of
people are, because that's howFacebook works.
They want you to keep your facein their book, and they'll do
that any which way possible.
It's good for them, it's goodfor their app, it's good for
their advertisers, and I thinkpeople don't understand I don't
use the word manipulation.
It is marketing on the highestlevel you can possibly market.
That's what Facebook has lockeddown, and people are so
susceptible to it.
I think that they really believethat this shouldn't be in my
(07:26):
feed.
I don't want to see this and,like you, are still on an app
that doesn't belong to you.
Right, they've curated thecontent so you stay on it, but
every once in a while, they'regoing to throw you a fastball,
and they want that.
They want that drama, they wantthe dopamine hit.
They want all of that becausethen you stay in, stay in, stay
in, you bring other people in.
That is how it works, and soit's really important that some
(07:48):
things on VPN will give you adopamine hit, but they have to
be truthful and they have to beaccurate.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
And so we have to make.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
There are different tells.
So the old spam profilesthere's very few of those left
Now.
They're using AI, they're veryadvanced, they absolutely look
real, and so there's a coupletells that we use to, you know,
kind of vet through all of those.
So I would say, like ifFacebook was going to remove
profiles from VBN that were notreal profiles, I am highly
(08:20):
confident it would be anincredibly low number.
But there are other pageslocally and I have reached out
to them.
You guys have like 10,000 spamprofiles, because they have
literally tens of thousands ofspam profiles and they lay
dormant, lay dormant untilthey're not dormant, but once
one gets in it's like a paradeof them that comes in if they're
not locked down appropriately.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Now I'm going to ask you some questions on the
business side of it too.
First off, let's talk aboutfake profiles.
To grow this, did you do anykind of advertisements to join
the group?
No, Okay, Because I know a lotof businesses that have went
that route.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Like paid for advertisements, Paid for yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
And paid for followers, yeah.
And then what happens isthey've built this huge audience
that are a lot of fake accounts, sure.
So I had a feeling that thatwasn't the case with your group,
because there's so muchengagement and you could tell
that they're real.
Yeah, they're real people.
So I think that's really animportant piece to look at, when
even other people are lookingat other groups Go look at the
profiles.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
What's happening here ?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Get an idea of what's going on.
Is there any like plan or gameplan or concerns about what
happens if this goes away?
Because, like you said, it issomebody else's property.
It's like a lease property.
So what are your thoughts aboutthat?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, I think there's always talk anytime there's a
presidential election.
I think this comes up aboutwhat can control social media.
You know the big tech has overwhatever, but I'm also very
confident that the guys at thetop are saying whatever they
need to say to whoever they needto say it to, back and forth.
So I'm really not worried thatFacebook is going to go down.
That being said, it is a pieceof technology that can be hacked
, manipulated, whatever it maybe.
(09:54):
So it always is always aconcern, but I think, until that
point, as we just continue todo like the good work you know
and not worry about it, we dohave a separate website,
vrbchneighborhoodcom, that youcan go to, and we're starting to
build that up and out, butthere's no chat feature yet
built into that, so we willeventually get there.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
That's always a good plan to always have like
something of your own.
I think that's good insight too.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Like you said, you have this faith that they're
doing what they need to do tokeep things going as well,
because they don't want it toclose down.
No, they just have a lot ofadvertisers and a lot of people
who have a lot of money on theline, and so I'm fairly
confident that they're going tomaintain.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
What advice would you give to someone that maybe is
starting a community-focusedFacebook group Run?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I guess it depends on what their goals are, but my
knee-jerk, absolutely do not dothat.
Also, maintain all of yourintellectual property, whatever
that looks like In Florida it'sa little bit more difficult to
stay hidden when you maintainthat, but whatever it looks like
trademarks, registrations,sunbiz I highly recommend that
(11:00):
you do.
I've done that with all of mythings.
Like I own VBN, I own VBN.
So these are things that areimportant to your business model
.
And then be prepared.
Be prepared for all kinds ofstuff stuff that you wouldn't
even dream of having to dealwith, I would say and surround
yourself with a really solidteam and a team of people who
(11:21):
think like you for cohesion, butalso don't think like you for
dynamic, right.
So it's really important that,like Mike and I are basically
work very well together, morelike a yin and yang kind of team
, right?
So we do think very, verysimilarly.
We're able to deduce certainsituations and know exactly who
we're talking to before theyknow that we're talking to them.
But we also are on twodifferent ends of the religious
(11:44):
spectrum, the political spectrum, the.
You know so, and so I thinkthat's very, very important.
It's definitely those are thekind of like the top three or
four that I would recommend topeople if they wanted to do this
.
Really good advice.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, and I do.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
I like the advice run too because I really think
about what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
There's a lot.
There's a lot to it.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
There's a lot a lot of responsibility too.
If you want to do it well, yeah.
And again, it depends on whatyour goals are.
But if you're looking to dosomething similar to what we are
doing, you really need to beintrospective in terms of do you
enjoy family time?
Do you like?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
holidays, Do you you?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
know these are different things.
I mean my family.
You know I shout out to ShannonPeruta earlier because she's a
saint, but you know my familyalso.
Like there's not a minute thatgoes by that I'm not working on
something VBN related.
I don't have to be in the VBNqueues to be thinking, planning
on the phone in a meeting.
You know whatever about allkinds of stuff.
And it goes further than thatbecause it's so impactful.
(12:41):
It's also is it businessconsulting?
Is it people who are just like,listen, we just need help.
How do we, you know?
And so it's phone call afterphone call.
So there really is a lot, a lotto it.
So it really just depends onwhat your goals are.
But for universal advice, thoseare my top three or four.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
And I love that you're really leaning into the
goals, because I think that's soimportant, because you can just
you can waste a lot of timejust doing digital and not
without having a goal in mind.
You don't know if you'reheading in the right direction,
of what you're doing is workingRight, if it's not working or if
it's working against you.
You know what are your goals.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Going forward.
I always have like a list ofthings I want to do and I've had
that ongoing probably for about10 years now.
So the store has been on thelist for a very long time, but
it's just in the last I guess itwas last November we opened.
So it's one of those thingswhere you hope, wait and pray
Right and and these are thethings that, um, I'm always a
full believer in it has to bethe right thing at the right
(13:34):
time.
There are some things on my listthat other businesses have
rolled out.
I'm like, oh man, that is sogood and like, and then I just
cross it off my list, you know,because some things you can make
your own but some things justlook like copying at that point
and so and I'm not into that sowe would just cross that off the
list.
But then there are some thingsthat you know come to fruition
when they're supposed to.
If I had rushed the store, if Ihad rushed the podcast, or if I
(13:56):
had rushed the marketingcompany, it wouldn't work how
it's working.
It has to be the right thing atthe right time.
So I think when people look atVBN they go, oh, this is VBN
empire, you know kind of thing,and I didn't go from 2017 to
2025 as king of my own empire.
Right, like it's a lot ofheartache, a lot of crying, a
(14:16):
lot of yelling, a lot ofplanning, a lot of work, a lot
of financial investment and allthose things.
Now you're seeing the fruit ofall of that labor, but I would
definitely recommend to peoplethat not only do they have goals
, but realistic goals.
Be willing to take things offyour list that you really
thought that were going to work,because maybe it's just not
time for that.
Back to your original question,which is I definitely have a
(14:37):
bunch of things on the listwhich I'll keep to myself
currently.
But, they're very big andthey're very fun and I think
that people really like them asthey roll out.
Currently we're focused mainlyon continuing the VBN mission.
My marketing company and nowthe store is a very big
component.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I love it.
I didn't know the store was asnew as it is, so that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
So congratulations on that milestone, thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
You know we get asked that question often with the
podcast.
Sometimes I think people feellike we have like a hidden
agenda.
Like what is it Like?
Why are you doing this for free?
Yeah, yeah, like what is itlike?
Why are you doing this for free?
Yeah, yeah, we were likepraying, like what?
What is it here that's reallyunique about this area?
And it was one sunday morning,it was 2 am.
I woke up and I'm like the verobeach podcast and then I was
like myverobeachcom.
There's no way that's available.
And it was everything wasavailable.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Like what the heck?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
yeah, I'm like okay, I'm buying everything, and then
it's like the thought came to melike meet your neighbors and
support local.
I was like what does it take toget something trademarked?
Because I think we shouldprobably get meet your neighbors
, support local.
And so we've started going onthat process, learning about it
and and we've had so muchsupport from the community.
But we have had people ask uslike when we sit down, like
what's your real agenda here?
And I know people are gettingto know us too Sure, and I'm
(15:44):
like to be honest with you, theright now we don't like this
isn't to support us Our businessdoes that but this is really to
help us meet our neighbors andsupport local.
It's a way for us to helpsupport the local business as we
get to meet our neighbors andhelp others.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So it's a wild question too that people would
would ask it's like?
It's like it's free, it's likequiet?
For Vero Beach neighborhoodendorsed beside before the store
VBN endorses my marketingcompany.
That was the only thing thatmonetized, and so a lot of
people really struggle tounderstand, like why would you
be doing all of this work andnot getting paid for it?
(16:20):
And there's other people thatare like how dare you make money
from Facebook?
And I go I don't make moneyfrom Facebook.
I make money from localbusinesses that I market for,
like every other marketingcompany.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
There's a lot of zero stuff you have to do.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, and because you want to build your brand.
But in the meantime, if you'rehelping people, you need to meet
people.
Really, that is so enriching.
I think that there's somepeople that really don't kind of
fully understand how great thatis.
Besides it being great for yourbrand, it's great for your
person, it's great for thecommunity.
So I love that people areengaging with you with your
podcast.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
So I was going to say too is part of it is selfish on
my part.
I love local businesses.
I love a different experiencethan something you're going to
get with, like, a national chain.
So I don't want thesebusinesses to go away.
Whatever I can do to supportthem, that's because I want them
to be around.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
And I figured if we could do a podcast to help
support she wouldn't spend asmuch money.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
But that's really not here all the time.
It's not really working out forme on that side, so it's
actually backfired yeah it'sbackfired.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Now she's getting to find all these wonderful places.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
And she's like I'm going to go buy this.
I'm like, all right, now I knowa lot more places to go, so
that support that donate thepodcast.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You know, support the podcast for $3 a month isn't
just paying, let's just clarifythat Well hey, this has been a
great episode.
I'm excited to get into partthree, where we're going to talk
about why Vero Beach and whatyou love about Vero Beach.
So, everybody, if you'veenjoyed the episode, make sure
you guys click, follow, leave usa review.
Your feedback actually helpsmore people find the podcast,
(17:43):
your local podcast and it helpssupport our local podcast.
So with that we will catch youin part three.
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