Miami PR expert builds her online audience with tools from Verizon
Janie Flores dreams of having a national streaming radio station for multicultural entrepreneurs
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Janie Flores interviews local entrepreneurs and thought leaders on her weekly show.
As a PR specialist in Miami, Janie Flores makes her job look easy. At events she hosts to empower other small business owners, she talks passionately about local women leaders, and takes selfies with the ease of a teenager. But being a solopreneur can be tough, she says. “A lot of stuff, I do on my own,” says Flores. “So going to that next level is hard.”
Flores founded her public relations firm, Buena Vida Media, to empower other South Florida entrepreneurs and help their businesses gain traction. After a decade in operation, Buena Vida Media has worked with hundreds of small businesses. Flores is also the host of a weekly Facebook Live radio show, “Janie Flores Live,” which presents thought leadership from local Latinos and Latinas.
Like many entrepreneurs, the pandemic hit Flores’s company hard: she estimates her business dropped 80% as communities went into lockdown, and her networking and marketing events moved online.
Flores recently turned to Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, a free learning portal, to give her business a boost. While taking two marketing courses, she decided to start a YouTube channel for “Janie Flores Live.” “The portal gave me that extra push that I needed to expand to more platforms,” Flores says. “I’m always looking for different and new platforms where I can start to build an audience.”
"I thought I was a digital person, but that learning curve was hard,” she says. “The internet is a challenge. Videoconferencing is a challenge.”
Today, Flores dreams of starting America’s first national radio show dedicated to multicultural entrepreneurs.
“The mainstream media may say one thing about us [Hispanics],” she says. “But Buena Vida Media is elevating the real part. Our community is making important contributions to this country.”
Verizon Small Business Digital Ready is a free online curriculum designed to help small businesses succeed in today’s digital world—moving the world forward for all. To sign-up for this free program, click here.
“When you’re a micro-entrepreneur, many times you end up having to do things yourself.”
Janie Flores
