What Does Plythe Freedman CEO of Treasures of Fort Pierce Do?

Last week I was checking my website stats and someone had searched the term, “What does Plythe Freedman do?” It made me wonder why someone would ask that question, and then I wondered to myself, what do I do? I posed the question on Facebook and here is what the response was:

Gary Hartley You hang around and look pretty.

Frank Rohan You promote your business and that of all Fort Pierce, and look great doing it

Lori Heneke: Plythe has a true heart for the Treasure Coast & local businesses & the community! Her desire to see the Treasure Coast’s treasures the people & their businesses & the  “Sunrise City” prosper once again! She is a true Treasure!!!

Susie Cassens And you are a great mom, too;)

Hilton Fulwood YOU DO A LOT PLYTHE. EVERYDAY.

Debbie Cox McManus You are all things social…social media, socializing, P.R. person….and where you go, you promote all the businesses with whom you have a connection with.  A one woman advertising machine! At the cost of conventional advertising..WORD OF MOUTH is the best way to get your name on people’s lips. You tire me out keeping up with all of your outings and going ons! love you, Plythe! Keep up the good work!

So, those were the comments and all were correct to some degree. I am a first and foremost a mother of two. Taylor is 15 and Brandon is 12. I am a wife and have been married for 23 years to Michael. He is in the medical field so his hours are unpredictable and change daily.  My day usually starts early about 5:30 in the morning. I begin by reading a devotional and pray, then I check email, I feed the cat and the dog. I wake my daughter, get her to school, update the website, input information, then wake my son, get him to school all before 9:30am. I also, clean my house , do laundry, run errands, cook dinner, pick up my children after school, take them to their activities and try to promote my website and the businesses. I occasionally have to take care of my mother. Her health is good but there are times she needs assistance getting to appointments and has had some hospitalizations. I visit my businesses and update pictures to help promote. I write articles(blogs) to keep things interesting, I post information on Facebook, I attend events as a media representative, I volunteer and have been on multiple committees to fundraise for several nonprofits. In between, I get messaged, texted, receive phone calls and emails that need handled. My evenings are just as full, trying to juggle family things and meetings. I love to stay involved with the community and If everyone knows me, then they know my website and know that I am constantly in the press, reminding people that I represent my clients.  I have become the face of Treasures of Fort Pierce. One of the best compliments I can receive is when people say to me, “I see you everywhere.” Then, I know my marketing is working. But it is also in the spirit of humbleness. I don’t promote myself, I’m just involved and that gets me in the press. If you are interested, then that makes you interesting! And I am interested in my community where I raise my children. I network for my clients. They are the Treasures of Fort Pierce. I take that seriously, and if I have a client that is needing more connections, I do what I can to help them. You see it’s not just about advertising on the website, it’s about social marketing. It’s the new way of marketing and it is a hard change for many. It takes time to do Facebook and website posting. I have to receive the information  and then upload it, include pictures tags and  keywords in and all that takes time. I’m exhausted thinking about all I do. But, I love what I do and it is a passion. I care about my clients and want to help promote them and I want Fort Pierce to thrive. The Treasures of Fort Pierce website is an online magazine I call a ” Local Coastal Living Treasure Trove”.  It’s an information resource about Fort Pierce with some of the local small businesses  listed on this website. These businesses want to be listed because they support me and what I do.  I am truly blessed to have this opportunity. My most recent accomplishment is getting my parents books published in 3  digital formats to get them back out to the public. My parents are wonderful and so are their books. Check them out in the Shoppe Tab on the Feature page. The website Treasures of Fort Pierce is dedicated to God, in memory of my father and in honor of my mother who is my ” silent partner”.

On top of all that, a sudden loss of my daughter’s friend occurred just before Christmas which shook my whole family up. Losing a friend is just hard, especially when it’s someone young. Grief has a way of effecting your whole existence. It was a tragedy that made our family stop and think about life and how precious it is. I’m constantly striving to balance the demands of family life and work which is not an easy task. Sometimes I am amazed at how much is expected of me as far as my website promoting. I know I cannot please everyone and my family comes before my work. So, as I go along in life I just do my best, knowing that not everyone is going to understand me or what I do. But, this may help answer the question of  “what does Plythe Gibbons do”, if anyone really cares!

What Does Plythe Gibbons Do? photo by Mitch Kloorfain, Feature photo by Stone Photography