Entrepreneur Spence Trick knows what it’s like when a potentially awkward business situation turns out to be a blessing.
Trick, co-owner of WakeSurf Tampa, enrolls in AMPLIFY Clearwater’s tourism incubator program and discovers that ClearWake Watersports, another water sports company working out of Clearwater Beach, is also part of the class. Working side-by-side in the demanding 10-week incubator program, the two seeming competitors become compadres.
“We had never really talked or tried to form a mutually beneficial relationship before
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AMPLIFY ClearwaterWakeSurf Tampa co-owners Spence Trick and Frank Mastthis,” Trick says. “We were helping each other every week in our sessions. We were connecting each other to our partners. We realized we’re not competitors. We can really help each other.”
Reaching more entrepreneurs
AMPLIFY wants to reach more business owners like Trick and the other members of the tourism incubator by expanding the programs and resources available through its IGNITE Entrepreneurship Center. AMPLIFY officially launched IGNITE with the state’s first tourism incubator in October 2023. This summer, AMPLIFY has secured a corporate sponsorship agreement with Duke Energy and started to expand the center’s programming with a marketing boot camp in partnership with BLKDOG, a marketing and brand promotion agency with offices in St. Pete and New York.
The boot camp is designed to equip entrepreneurs and small business owners with the insights and skills needed to “effectively reach their target audience, articulate their brand’s message, and solidify their market,” AMPLIFY says. The marketing boot camp accepts applications through September 4th and will take up to 15 businesses. The five-session boot camp runs from September 10th to October 15th and mixes virtual and in-person sessions. The in-person sessions are September 10th and October 15th, with virtual sessions on September 17th and 24th and October 1st. The marketing boot camp's in-person sessions and the IGNITE center are run out of AMPLIFY’s headquarters on the 1300 block of South Fort Harrison Avenue.
AMPLIFY CEO and President Amanda Payne says IGNITE will provide entrepreneurs with “wraparound services” and “more personalized help.” She says the center’s programming will expand in 2025 with monthly workshops and additional boot camps. The effort to help more entrepreneurs and small businesses survive, flourish and grow will also revamp the Clearwater Business SPARK program to focus specifically on startups, Payne says.
AMPLIFY, the chamber of commerce and business advocacy group in the Clearwater area, took over the operation of SPARK, a partnership of organizations that provide support and expertise to small businesses, from the City of Clearwater in the fall of 2022. Payne says the redesigned SPARK program will offer founders and entrepreneurs resources and programs like boot camps and a “mini incubator for startups.”
“The class of 2024”
As AMPLIFY adds programs and resources, IGNITE’s cornerstone initiative is running strong and producing results. Trick says during each session of the 10-week tourism incubator, cohort members held each other accountable for doing the assigned classwork and supported one another. On top of building business connections, Trick says it’s an opportunity to “get out of your own head, take a step back” and see how other small business owners approach a situation.
“They really became a cohort, the class of 2024,” says AMPLIFY Chief of Staff Joe
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AMPLIFY Clearwater“They really became a cohort, the class of 2024,” says AMPLIFY Clearwater Chief of Staff Joe Lugo says about the tourism incubator's latest class. Lugo, who runs the tourism incubator program. “They connected. They learned from each other. They referred business to each other…I truly did see businesses grow. I saw people’s eyes light up. I saw people get comfortable because they saw there was support out there for them. As an entrepreneur, a lot of times you feel like you're doing this alone and you’re the only one in the world when nothing could be further from the truth. Every entrepreneur goes through this.”
Lugo says the incubator’s class of ‘24 has even set up its own networking group.
“They get together to see each other, talk to each other,” he says. “It’s created friendships.”
Like
WakeSurf Tampa, some businesses in the recent incubator class fit the typical notion of tourism.
ClearWake Watersports owners are two cousins and their spouses. They fell in love with Clearwater Beach on family vacations and moved down to launch a business that gives visitors the same memorable experiences on the beach and the water that attracted them.
Way2Go Rides owner Jasper Klein bought the transportation company from a prior owner when it was on the verge of shutting down just before Christmas 2018. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the state on St. Patrick’s Day 2020, usually the busiest day of the year, Klein sold his personal truck and stopped taking a paycheck to keep the company going. Way2Go has survived and grown, making 10,000 airport trips in 2023. The business has also expanded into marketing with ad-wrapped vehicles and welcome packages for passengers that offer promotions and exclusive deals at partner businesses.
Kelly Kelly, founder of destination, event and business promotion website
I Love Clearwater, first saw Clearwater from the window of an airplane at age 20.
“It was a no-brainer,” she recalls. “I fell in love instantly.”
Kelly, a travel writer, photographer and radio show host, says I Love Clearwater is a “central hub” of photos, videos and articles showcasing all the city has to offer.
Other businesses show tourism’s wide-ranging impact on the local economy. During the tourism incubator’s pitch night event in late June, the small business owners in the program share their stories.
When Ryan Jesi bought the
Jet’s Pizza franchise on Gulf to Bay Boulevard in April 2021, the location was doing $9,000 a week in sales when the target was $20,000. The business also had “zero community involvement.” In a year, Jesi and his team more than doubled weekly sales. They’ve also gotten involved in the community, donating pizzas for neighboring Clearwater High’s teacher appreciation celebration and sponsoring football, basketball, band and drama at the school.
The Wine Down Blue co-owners Monique Griggley and Kim Brown are bringing a wine and jazz bar to Clearwater’s North Greenwood area. Griggley says their wine bar will carry on the legacy of the Blue Chip, a nightclub that operated in the Greenwood area for more than 40 years. The wine bar will feature jazz music, a top-flight wine selection and wine slushies.
Steven “Q” Berry, owner of
Style-City Music, brings decades of music industry and management experience to his Largo-based company, which provides audio and video solutions for corporate events. As the pandemic hit and some companies went out of business, Style-City pivoted to drive-in movie-style events that allowed for distancing. Since then, he says the company has established itself as a best-cost solution for medium-sized corporate events while providing job and work experience opportunities to African American techs.
With three decades of experience in the tech marketing industry, James Porter, owner of St. Petersburg-based
Street Level One, has seen dramatic shifts how businesses reach target audiences. His company is a digital marketing, advertising and customer engagement firm that uses clusters of touchscreen digital signs to transform “street level storefront glass into interactive marketing hubs” in high foot-traffic areas.
Senor Bubbles, a family-owned and operated laundromat and laundry service on Cleveland Street in Clearwater, wants to generate more business from visitors in town for work or vacation and hotel and restaurant clients. Owner Brenda Baez says Senor Bubbles focuses on customer service and community involvement, organizing a back-to-school backpack and supplies giveaway for children, participating in Clearwater’s Art Oasis Mural Festival and donating clothing left at the laundromat to charities serving the homeless.
Beau Andrews, CEO and founder of Tampa-based
BayWest Digital, formed his digital marketing firm during the pandemic. He’s expanded beyond marketing and offers businesses the capability to manage and connect essential business functions like marketing, advertising, sales, legal, HR, staffing insurance and customer relationship management on a single AI-assisted platform. Andrews says BayWest is an ideal resource for small and medium-sized businesses in the local tourism industry.
AMPLIFY’s next tourism incubator cohort will launch in January 2025.
For more information, go to IGNITE Entrepreneurship Center
This story is produced through an underwriting agreement between AMPLIFY Clearwater and 83 Degrees Media to spotlight entrepreneurship, small business success stories and programs that help businesses thrive.