Podcast EP38: Not Italy, but Florida: Why We're Moving to Tampa St. Pete

Welcome to Podcast Episode 38: Not Italy, but Florida: Why We're Moving to Tampa St. Pete

In this episode, I'm sharing some exciting news about our big move to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area. Join me as we chat about our experience scouting Italy as a new home, why we chose St. Pete, and what this new chapter means for us and our businesses!

00:00 Introduction and Exciting News

01:39 Backstory: Italy and the Move Decision

05:15 Why Italy Wasn't the Perfect Fit

08:33 Falling in Love with Tampa St. Pete

10:51 Preparing for the Big Move

13:06 Looking Forward to New Adventures

14:17 Conclusion and Future Plans

Talk to you soon!

XOXO,

Kate

Owner + Founder, Kate Waldo + Co. 

Creator of the Smarter Not Harder: 3-Day Workweeks for Millennial Entrepreneurs©  Program

P.S. Curious how you can grow your 6-figure business while slashing your workweek in half? Click here to learn about the Smarter Not Harder© program!

Some of our content contains affiliate links which provide us with a commission at no cost to you. Kate Waldo + Co. only recommends affiliates that we know, use, and love. 

FULL TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] There was more than just eloping to a beautiful place for the reason that we went to Italy and the reason that we decided to have a month long honeymoon there. We didn't tell many people this, but we were scouting out Italy to see if we wanted to move there and. Relocate abroad

[00:00:49] Welcome back to another episode of the three-day work weeks podcast. I'm happy you're here. We have some exciting news. We're moving. This has been. A long time in the making. And I'm excited that all the pieces are falling into place. And we can finally share.

[00:01:10] So John and I have decided that we are going to be moving to Tampa St.

[00:01:16] Pete area of Florida, which is south Florida on the Gulf side. And we have not exactly figured out where we're going to be living yet. So that's in progress, but we're really, really excited to start this new adventure and live somewhere new. That is a place that we both chosen. That just really worked for us.

[00:01:39] So I'll tell you a little bit of backstory and then we'll get to what we're up to. Uh, this has been a long time in the making since John and I have been together for. Nearly three years now. And we're coming up on our one year wedding anniversary, which is really exciting. If you guys remember, we decided to elope in Italy. And. There was more than just eloping to a beautiful place for the reason that we went to Italy and the reason that we decided to have a month long honeymoon there. We didn't tell many people this, but we were scouting out Italy to see if we wanted to move there and. Relocate abroad. That was our kind of game plan.

[00:02:29] We, we were pretty much sold on it. we had some family, friends that offered to let us stay in there. Home over there, they were in the same process of getting their visas to move to Italy. And it didn't end up working out for them to move to Italy, but we got a good taste of some of the touristy, but a lot of the less touristy areas and really. The reason that we were interested in potentially moving abroad. Was for several reasons.

[00:03:01] We know that eventually we want to have a family have children. And it was really important to us that we had community. Walkability. We really liked those elements about. Europe. And the. Ability to be closer to people to actually live in a walkable distance where you knew your neighbors and people wanted to talk to each other.

[00:03:30] It wasn't so fast paced lifestyle. Kind of the mix of the good things about living in a big city and a small town. We liked that community feel where people aren't rushing too much, but they're not so far apart that they don't know each other or you're always in a car like the suburbs. we also really loved the food. We love the idea of having really clean. Healthy food as the standard. That's something that you'll find in Europe a lot more than in the us.

[00:04:02] That's kind of tough when it comes to sourcing truly clean and healthy food. That is a tangent that we could go down quite a rabbit hole on, but.

[00:04:14] That's not for today. So those were some things that we liked about it. We also liked being able to. Be in a hub where we could travel to a lot of different places, really easily. And our thought was, you know, we'll just get a place in Italy and then travel all around Europe because you can buy train and plane so easily and other parts of the world as well.

[00:04:38] It's just very central.

[00:04:40] we liked It's just a different way of looking at the world. Where work, isn't the defining factor of who you are as a person.

[00:04:51] And then the school systems.

[00:04:53] So having access to. Free education or very affordable education was really appealing to us and having more of like a worldly. View. For our future children. So all of those things were really attractive to us about. Europe and Italy specifically. And when we went, we had a ball, it was so much fun. But we didn't quite feel that. That thing in our heart, the like the ping, the connection that was like, oh my gosh, we have to be here. And I knew that that was such a big move to move to another country and just logistically. Uh, quite a feat. So we really needed to be 1000% sold on it.

[00:05:39] And so we came back from our honeymoon. We were like, wow, that was such a great experience. Vacationing for a month, as a long time to be away. And I don't think that we would do that again for four whole weeks. In that way that we did, because it's exhausting to keep packing up and moving every single night or not every night.

[00:06:02] What we learned was three nights. Is what we need for something to feel like a true vacation and getaway. So even in the states, no matter where we go now, We try our best to have three whole nights at wherever we're staying. It doesn't matter as much about how much time we have during the day, whether it ends up being three nights and three days or three nights, four days. Doesn't really matter. But not having to pack up after two nights is really nice and makes it a lot more of an enjoyable experience. So while Italy had a lot of the things that we wanted. It wasn't quite perfect and nowhere is going to be perfect. But for where we're at in our lives, we just. Weren't really seeing how it would play out at this time to move to another country, start a family, all those things. So we just kind of had to be patient and go back to the drawing board, but just not even really think too strongly about it. I think it became clear after we got back from our honeymoon. That we really love our businesses.

[00:07:13] So John and I run heartbeat safety, which is a safety business that gives you the tools and the training to save a life. We love that business. We're very passionate about it. It's John's baby. He's done safety training for his entire life, and that's something that we wanted to continue. We've worked really hard to build that business up over the last three years. And we wanted to continue that I love doing my consulting for businesses on their systems and their organization. that's something that I can do from anywhere. But something that we were missing. In the thought of. Completely uprooting our lives and moving abroad is that community aspect.

[00:08:00] we talked about multiple places. I'm from Savannah, Georgia, my mom and stepdad lived there. My dad lives in Atlanta. I was born there and lived there for a little while after college.We both knew that those were options, but they didn't call to us all that much. It just didn't tick the rest of the boxes for us. John has a background in financial advising. And we had an investment firm reach out. About a position that was in Tampa. And we hadn't really considered Tampa. It wasn't something that had crossed our minds. But when this opportunity came up, We decided not to move forward with the opportunity itself, but we started to set our sights on Tampa St.

[00:08:48] Pete area and started to fall in love with it. And we were like, wow, this. Really checks a lot of our boxes. It's still on the Gulf of Mexico, which was important to me. the St. Pete area is a very walkable community centered place. There's a lot more access to a lot more things since Tampa is right there. We have direct flights from. Tampa to almost anywhere that are pretty affordable.

[00:09:17] And so that allows us to travel a lot easier. And then it's also closer to our family. it's a longer drive from Atlanta, then Atlanta to Pensacola, it is a very easy direct flight. And then it's a shorter drive to Savannah. And then John's mom lives in Boca Raton, and it's a much shorter drive to her. And we've already been doing some business in the south Florida area, which is quite a haul from Pensacola.

[00:09:46] And so it all just started to. I feel like the right move. John has a background in safety training and he also has a background in elite swim coaching. And it just so happened that one of his friends that he used to coach with back in the day, Had an opening for a part-time swim coach. And he was like, you come work with me.

[00:10:14] Part-time. They gave us an offer. We couldn't refuse.We are also getting plugged into the community to promote heartbeat safety. At the same time. So we're not starting from scratch. As far as community goes and building up our business. I have so many friends that have lived in the Tampa St. Pete area and they absolutely rave about it. It's funny. They all joke that like, if they didn't have family somewhere else, that they would be still living there.

[00:10:45] So that always piqued my interest of like, what is this place in? Uh, so when John and I went to visit. We both had this like peaceful, knowing that this is the place that is what's next for us. We feel really excited and it's a whole new chapter. Pensacola has been so good to us and it's where we met.

[00:11:07] It's where we fell in love. And it's where we got married at the courthouse. Which our anniversary of that is coming up really soon. I really, really love Pensacola. It's such a special place. But we're really excited to expand heartbeat safety to another location.

[00:11:24] So we'll be keeping our Pensacola location. And then we'll be expanding. Into the Tampa St. Pete area. I'm excited to have community of like, just more access to more things. We kind of get the benefit of the city with the vibe of chill, beachy town. And I'm just really excited, like lots of yoga studios, lots of Pilates studios.

[00:11:50] Can actually go to whole foods and get little frozen croissants and cookie dough, whatever. Those are the silly things that I'm excited about. Trader Joe's flowers to one of my favorite hobbies is floral arranging. And so I'm excited to just have access to two more things just to have options.

[00:12:10] the entrepreneurial community, I'm excited to get into that and get to know people and be with even more people that are doing really cool things to feel inspired and. Grow. Kate Waldo + Co. and meet new people. If any of you guys are down there that listened to this, reach out to me, I'd love to meet you in real life.

[00:12:31] Maybe we can do like meetups, that kind of thing. Pensacola is so like off the beaten path in a lot of ways you have to really be in intentionally going to Pensacola to get there. But I feel like a lot more things happen down in the Tampa area. So I am really excited. I know that it kind of seemed like really fast when we set our sights on the Tampa St.

[00:12:56] Pete area. It just all started to fall into place.It just happened really quickly, but John and I knew this is what's right for us, and this is our next step. And also life is short. We've kind of been living like retirees and the best way here in Pensacola,

[00:13:13] And so we're ready for a little bit of excitement access to. Lots of concerts and comedy shows. different events and sporting events and all sorts of stuff like that. Really, really excited for that.

[00:13:26] looking towards the future. Eventually having children not pregnant. Don't don't ask me. That's not happening anytime soon, but we're just planning ahead.potentially maybe getting our parents to move closer to us, to be in the area.

[00:13:40] I've been in Pensacola going on five years. And this is the longest I've lived in the same place in the same home since I was like 10 years old, which is really crazy. Um, but I am. I'm very excited for our new adventure. We don't even have a place to live yet, but we're going to figure it out.

[00:14:01] I'm just believing that like, everything else has fallen into place that that will too.

[00:14:06] I will get down there.

[00:14:07] The end of August, John is already there. And I'm wrapping up some things up here and then we start our new adventure. So. I wanted to share this with you guys. Cause you guys seem to care about the personal things too, and I'm excited for what that means for Kate Waldo + Co. For growth and expansion and new inspiration and all those things.

[00:14:31] So. Follow along on Instagram. Cause I'll be sharing more. Um, when I'm not buried in logistics Olympics, as I've been calling it. Trying to figure out all these details, but. It's really exciting. Might take a pause from the podcast. This one's. If you watch on YouTube you'll you will have already noticed that this is audio only, but, we'll see.

[00:14:54] I really love doing the podcast, so I'm going to try and continue to put these out, but we might have a little bit. Of a different schedule happening for a little while, once we get settled, but I'll talk to you guys soon. Thanks for hanging out.