Like so many who move to the beautiful Emerald Coast, Christopher Cumby was immediately struck by the remarkable number of events and festivals celebrating the relaxed tourist lifestyle. Wine festivals, food celebrations, weekends dedicated to songwriters and musicians, and whole communities turned over to the creative and digital arts feature high on the social calendar for 30A residents and visitors.

But entrepreneur Christopher saw a gap in the market.

“When I moved here eight years ago, there was a tremendous amount of growth taking place, and entrepreneurs, investors, and small business operators were moving here in ever-increasing numbers,” said the Toronto, Canada, native. “But the problem was that outside of the traditional chamber of commerce and business networks, there was nowhere for the business community to meet and grow. The area didn’t really provide a true outlet for world-class training and workshop-style learning; nowhere for this growing army of business owners and entrepreneurs to sharpen their skills, develop new strategies, or learn more about marketing, training, sales, and personal development.”

From this gap was born Level Up – a new entrepreneur incubator and focal point for the business community along the Emerald Coast. Christopher and business partner Chris Josten now offer world-class learning, mentoring, and development training right here in the heart of the 30A community.

March 7 and 8, 2023, will see the first Level Up Emerald Coast event take place at 98 Distillery, located in the Serenoa Business Park in Santa Rosa Beach. Click HERE to register.

“With more than 20 contributors and speakers, we offer entrepreneurs from Pensacola to Panama City the opportunity to explore new marketing insights, sales strategies, and tactics, tips on accessing capital, and, importantly, personal development to inspire and motivate entrepreneurs to achieve more,” explained Christopher.

And the way Level Up works is a radical departure from the normal conferences or ‘death by powerpoint’ approach of the traditional business community.

Christopher Cumby is the author of The Success Playbook, and the founder of the Sales Accelerator & Gamification Bootcamp, a complete step-by-step process designed for sales ‘go-getters’ to advance to the top of their game. “We embrace ‘gamification’ in our training,” said the 52-year-old businessman. “We work with organizations and individuals who want to rise to the top of their game – whether that is generating revenue, growing sales, or their personal or business development – we use gamification to bring out that competitive spirit in people. “I’ve built a series of successful businesses using these techniques and supported and mentored many others to grow successfully so know this approach delivers results.”

Jeff Hoffman

Dave Clare

To be successful, entrepreneurs and business professionals need a little help to bring their businesses to a new level. Level Up Emerald Coast will also feature two world-renowned business speakers – Jeff Hoffman and Dave Clare.

Jeff Hoffman is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and humanitarian. He is a frequent face on Fox News and CNN, and as a film and music producer has brought many headline events to our stages and screens. He is the Chairman of the Global Entrepreneur Network which works with budding businesswomen and men in 190 countries, and he is a founding board member of The Unreasonable Group whose 289 portfolio companies have raised $6.6 billion in funding for business and projects positively impacting 720 million lives worldwide.

Dave Clare is the founder and CEO of Circle Leadership, looking to develop achievement, fulfillment, and joy in the workplace. Author of the best-selling business book Simplified, Dave believes we are at the tipping point for traditional leadership styles and practices.

“Leadership is in crisis mode. It is broken. We are spending billions of dollars annually to improve it so why then is employee disengagement on the rise around the world? It is time for leadership to pivot. It is time to lead differently. It is time for purpose-driven leadership,” Said Dave.

Leadership is simple,” he said. “You lead people.”

And people are more complex than just their business ambitions. Christopher has parcelled his personal experiences with his business ones. Raised in Toronto by a stay-at-home mom and a hard-working dad, he was always curious about what else was out there. A wrestler at school, the sport taught Christopher the importance of being a leader in a team, being self-reliant, and always being a student – by listening to his coaches he could seek improvement not just on the mat but in life. Treks to Machu Picchu, backpacking around Europe and traveling the world followed as Christopher sought answers and understanding about who he was.

Armed with this positive attitude and confidence, he recognized the answer to life was within himself and he could do anything his heart desired. He saw the opportunity to expand his core business to include business coaching and professional development and wrote The Success Playbook to share his arsenal of practical strategies to help people ready to make a change.

And Christopher’s desire to help extends beyond the workplace.

He is the founder of the #HeroWithin Project which is a passion project to help dads become the best version of themselves and lead their children into the world with a greater chance of success and accomplishment. Christopher leaves us with a quote he believes sums up his approach:

“Walk as far as you can see, and you will see a little further…and if we all walk together, we will get there faster…”

To learn more, or to buy tickets, visit Level Up Emerald Coast. You can also follow their updates on Instagram.