Dunedin entrepreneur pays it forward as a mentor, and he wants you to join him

To the casual observer, it might look like Dunedin native and entrepreneur Jason Seibert is all over the map, professionally speaking. But there’s a method to his madness. His wide-ranging experience in small business and entrepreneurship — from web design and bartending to restaurant ownership, marketing and even yoga — has helped him develop an uncanny ability to identify a winning idea, and envision a pathway from that idea to maximum profitability. This ability, coupled with an approach of working smarter vs. harder, has brought him good fortune in life.

As the owner of Flanagan’s Irish Pub in Dunedin — that of one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day Festivals in the state — Jason is deeply thankful for that good fortune, and he is determined to pay it forward.

To Jason, paying it forward means a number of things — from acting as an influencer to facilitating introductions, from offering fresh perspective and smart advice to partnering or investing. He wants to give aspiring entrepreneurs the benefits of what he’s learned in his 20-plus years of mentoring, investing and entrepreneurship. His goal is to become an influencer in the Tampa Bay business community, and to grow a network of like-minded mentors from businesspeople and entrepreneurs he has come to know — and is yet to meet.

So what’s in it for him? Plenty, as it turns out: the deep satisfaction of paying back the Tampa Bay community in general and Dunedin in particular for the good life he has built here, the desire to be an integral part of the area’s growth and development, and the fulfillment gained by bringing people together who can learn from and help one another on the road to prosperity.

Jason has experienced first-hand both the satisfaction and the sense of support and confidence mentorship can bring. For 10 years, he grew in confidence as a businessman thanks to the advice and support of his friend and mentor, Jim Ashbaugh (pictured). About Ashbaugh, who sadly passed from cancer last year, Jason said, “I attribute much of my success to the knowledge he graciously shared with me.” This important relationship is a major reason why Jason has become a mentorship evangelist.

If you share Jason’s enthusiasm for mentorship and supporting aspiring entrepreneurs in the area, and would like to be a part of it, he would love to talk to you. Reach him on Instagram @intheflowbro.