This Plumber from New Hampshire Has 16K Followers (and Growing)
We all know the tacky classic social media move to get more followers: Follow a whole bunch of people, get them to follow you back, then delete them all. (We’re looking at you, Jenny Johnson.) Well, this plumber from New Hampshire doesn’t need sneaky tactics to gain followers. He just uses his #PMA (positive mental attitude).
Meet Jay Band, a 27-year-old plumber from Londonderry, New Hampshire. Last January, he started a Instagram handle called “Me and Todd,” and in nine short months went from zero followers to almost 16,000 through selfies and positive messages—because, he says, if you are fixing toilets and sewage systems for a living, you have to have a good sense of humor.
“It started with me and another guy, Todd. The handle was ‘Me and Todd.’ It started as a joke, basically. We were in the van together all the time and it turned into a very real thing. The guys from Greg and Morning Buzz found us and started talking about us on the radio a few times,” Band says. “It turned into a thing and they told the listeners to go on and follow us because we had a good message.”
Todd moved away, and Band changed the handle to “Me and the 603” to show his New Hampshire pride, and to continue to spread his positivity message.
“I try to spread a message of having a positive mental attitude, which is kind of a lifestyle, really. You don’t have to angry and mad and sad,” Band says. “I try to promote that and have fun at work. It’s dirty job, and we work really, really hard, but we stay positive. There are people that can drag down a room by complaining all the time, and there are other people who can bring you up. I want to be the latter.”
His feed is mostly selfies, but even with his #PMA, Band wasn’t expecting it to blow up as fast as it did. He’s developed quite the following, and sometimes fans can be relentless.
“A lot of people comment, and I get a lot of fan mail, from both men and women, but I don’t say where I work exactly because I don’t want my employer to get special requests for me,” Band says. “It’s all good as long as it’s not creepy stuff or sexual harassment.”
And while there has been plenty of creepy comments and sexual harassment along the way—it comes with the territory of putting yourself out there on the Web, of course—it doesn’t phase Band, who will continue his quest to enlighten people on the positive effects of having a good attitude.
“I believe in the law of attraction, and I’m just going to see where this social media journey takes me,” Band says.
In the meantime, while his Instagram fame has been fun, Band says he still wakes up every day and helps the people of New Hampshire fix their toilets.
