We recently connected with Don Burns and have shared our conversation below.
Don, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
Sitting on the couch during covid and wanting to do something different. We have lived in Lakeland, Florida for 20 years and always bought merchandise from local vendors. I wondered if there was a “phonebook” online for Lakeland. What I found was the Lakeland Chamber, the City of Lakeland, the library, the small businesses and charity organizations all were on different websites. So we decided to organize a Lakeland phonebook all one site. We decided “I Am Lakeland” would convey the way we feel about Lakeland, Florida.
Don, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I grew up in Hamilton, Ohio and when I was 9 years old a local newspaper came to our school and asked several kids what they would do if they were millionaires. Well I was chosen to be interviewed and I said I would give it all away. I sincerely want to give from my heart even to this day.
A few years later when I was 12 I was a paper boy for the same Hamilton Journal News. They had a contest to see who could get the most new customers and could win a trip to the new Disney World being built in Orlando, Florida. Well I did my best and got 7 new customers and I won. I got to come to Orlando and enjoy Disney at the age of 12 by myself with a chaperone. So I learned early working hard could pay off.
After getting an Honorable Discharge from the Army I moved to Tampa, Florida and started my career as a maintenance person for restaurants, hospitals and more. Met my bride Lynnette in 1994 got married in 1998, and have raised 2 wonderful children Ben and Jen.
I was laid off in 2009 and decided to go back to college and get my degree. I graduated from University of South Florida Polytechnic (Lakeland campus) with a bachelors degree in marketing in 2011.
Then I retired in 2017 due to my physical limitations. In 2021, we decided to start I Am Lakeland. We also have trademarked several other names such as I Am Florida, I Am Texas and I Am Metaverse to develop in to businesses in the future.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Branding, I have found is valuable. In my efforts I have been able to get the channel or handle names of all major social media accounts for my trademark. For example, my trademark is I Am Lakeland so I have created all of my accounts under the name iamlakeland. I have found that having the same name across all platforms is valuable to getting the message that Lakeland, Florida is a beautiful city. Also, on our website there is a link to all social media account right from the top of our website.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
We have our own shop at iamlakeland.com through WordPress. However, we do have several of our items available for sale on Amazon, Instagram, Facebook and others but they are just billboards for our products because we rarely sell any from their sites. Most of our sales are in person sales that we get while setting up our 10×10 booth in our local downtown artist shows.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://iamlakeland.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamlakeland/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamlakelandflorida
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/i-am-lakeland/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamlakeland
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamlakeland
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@iamlakeland?lang=en https://vimeo.com/iamlakeland
Image Credits
Hamilton Journal News, Hamilton Ohio. Saturday August 20, 1977 page 12. Sheriff Grady Judd with Don P. Burns