S2E26: YMI Talking to Tyler Stalletti from QNB Bank

New Episode dropped!

This week on the YMI Talking Podcast, we’re joined by Tyler Stalletti, and his passion for service and community will leave you inspired! From his dedication to family to his work with the Allentown Rotary, Tyler is all about making a difference.

Plus, his playlist is fire, from Glen Campbell to Billie Eilish. Can he get any cooler?!

Listen now! Episode is live! 

For more info on YMI insurance visit our website at ymiagency.com

Or give us a call at 610-868-8762 to see how we can better protect your business and family.

Transcript

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Yeah. So I was born and raised in Quakertown. But I was heavily involved in high school. I was a district volunteer for Quakertown Community high school. Historic society and rotary and, but I would come up here. My grandparents had an auction off. They have an auction all up here for, for over 30 years. My uncle took over, and my aunt, and, I was up here all the time. So, I was, I was they had an auction at American Square mall. I wanted to, I was, I was there all the time. In the summer. As soon as I was, out of of, school intern summer, I was up there. Weekends, you name it. So, that's kind of what I was always coming up here. And then, the bank through that. So that's kind of why I know up here, but, I mentioned rotary, you know, because it it kind of like that's how that came to QNB. Because my grandfather and being up in the valley, talking with the bank at Quakertown, the it kind of just evolved that way. Welcome to why am I talking? Podcast where the guests are so good. You'll wonder why the host is even talking. In each episode, you will hear one of the leaders of the Lehigh Valley’s Vibrant Business hub. They will tell you the keys to their success, the mistakes they've made, and what they have in store for the future. Here is the host of Why Am I Talking from why am I insurance? Jimi Honochick. All right. That is me, Jimi Honochick. And I am joined by Noelle Baxter. Noelle. Hello. How are you? Sorry, I. Was going to ask you. I'm good. How are you? I am doing great. I think I would say great. Yeah. That's good. Life is good. My birthday’s tomorrow. I know, happy birthday. Thank you. That is exciting. You're like a Valentine's baby. I'm almost. Yeah, yeah, I was a little lazy and just wanted to stay a little bit longer. Ruin everyone's Valentine's day. Oh, But this, So that tells everyone where we are. It's February 14th right now. Yeah, and the Eagles recently won the Super Bowl. Yes! I'm so excited. You are a huge Eagles fan. I am I. Am I am not. It's okay. Not everyone bleeds green. The parade is happening today. And it is. It is. It looks awesome. I know I'm I have FOMO. I'm shocked that you're here, actually. I know, I was like, should I ask? I was like, no. You know, we would have let you go. I know, but I was trying to be mature. I'm kicking myself for it. That's a terrible decision. And why I decided to do that. All of a. Sudden? Please never put this job ahead of me. It's not the Eagles. Yes, certainly not the Eagles. But that is awesome. So congrats to. You. Thank you. Yes, I appreciate it. Our guest today is an Eagles fan. Yes. Yeah. We didn't talk about that. On the podcast. No. We bonded before and after. Yeah. But as a Falcons fan, we didn't need to talk any more about that. Now coming in. But he is also an awesome guy. Yes. Yeah. Had a lot of fun with the conversation. Yeah, he's super nice. He also showed me that these microphones go up. I know he's techie, and we're not. Yes. You have been here longer than I have. I was like, oh, thank you for teaching me that. I was like, shocked. Like, it was a big deal. Yeah, it really blew my mind. And what else blows my mind is this is the end of season two, right? This is our finale. And happy and happy because there's going to be season three. I know it's time. Yes. But I cannot believe how quickly two years the podcast has flown by. I know it's, you know. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, it's been really cool. You know, you start a podcast, and it feels really weird because, like, I have a podcast. Yeah. Do I though. But then you do it long enough and it starts feeling real and you get really cool guests. Season two had some incredible guests. And so it's really cool to be able to do that. Yeah. And we have some good people lined up for season three already. We definitely do. I’m excited. But before we go into season three, I'm giving one final shout out to our sponsors. Look at the camera here. Hocus Pocus cleaning service is without a doubt and scientifically proven to be the greatest cleaning service in the entire world. They have been our sponsor for the entire season two and they have been incredible in that capacity. But what they're even better at is cleaning your home or your office. So please, please, please give them a call and get your house clean. Thank you. Get it together, people. Get it together. Stop doing the work yourself when you have an incredible company. So I'm going to do it. Absolutely. All right. Without further ado, let's cap off season two here. Let's do it. Tyler Stalleti, QNB bank. This episode's great. Let's go. Awesome. All right. I could not be more excited for this episode. Tyler's Stelleti from QNB bank. You and I go back. You are an incredible human being. And you do so much good work for QNB, and it is truly an honor to have you here on the podcast. So thank you so much for comming on. Thank you. Jimi. Absolutely. So I still remember the first time we met. Do you remember where we were? I was actually trying to think about the other day because I, you were also one of the first real people that I met in the Lehigh Valley. And it was, a milestone for me. It's the same for me, but I actually remember where we were. So I think I like you more than you like me. That's fine. That's fine. Most people, I like them more than they like me. That's usually how it goes. But it was a chamber. It was a chamber event at, riverfront, in Allentown. Oh, yes, I remember. Yes. And it was great to kind of be out in the community and see what was going on, but then you were so like, you're so outgoing, and I guess that's your job. But where do you find the energy to be at every single event going on? And we talk about it all the time. Yeah. It's really the, the, the energy of the Lehigh Valley. I live in Quakertown, and I drive up here, and every day that I drive up here, I crank a tune up. And I'm just so excited to just come up here. And there's so many people that I've met, and I never know who I'm going to meet that particular day or any day. And it just it all comes to that. And, it's just it's just exciting to be up here. It really is. And I got a couple of areas I want to go down now. But first and foremost, what is Tyler cranking in the car when he's driving? Well, I how it's usually classical, or country. We are, folk country music or anything classic Hank Williams. Yeah. Old stuff. I love Glen Campbell. I love the stuff that most people listen to. So that I like Glen. I just wanted to say I like Glen. Well. Yeah, yeah. But, usually with, with the Grammys, it always inspires, new songs. I love, Billie Eilish. Yeah. Which usually surprises people after I tell them. I tell telling Campbell. So. So it's diverse. It's a wide range. Yeah. All right. I think we could probably jam out together. Yeah. So, you know, the Lehigh Valley coming up here, you know, it is energizing. Like, what have you found is like, the special sauce, and In the Lehigh Valle that kind of makes. It gives you that unique here. Yeah. I would say, how welcoming it is. Kind of like how I met you right there on the riverfront. Yeah. You can run into somebody and, specifically with all the networking events and, everything that there is to offer, there's just so many opportunities to meet people. And when I do, and when we do it, you know, it's just a great. Usually it's a amazing experience. And you never know where it might take you, so. Yeah. And and those people you start bumping into them all the time, right? You know, meet them one time, and then you're at the next event and they're there. And it's a friendly, familiar face that you get to see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quakertown is the Lehigh Valley. No, it's, Bucks County. Okay. So no one's from Bucks country. Represent! I saw a joke from George Wacker, from the lehigh valley media. He says we we claim Quakertown every time someone from there was a grand display. Yeah. And, Sabrina Carpenter was right on, so. Yep yep yep yep yep. And, Coopers Bar is right there. So it's almost, Yeah, I like it. And I know Tony, Ionelli is is, preaching about, upper Bucks County with, with, Danielle. She's used to be with the chamber in the Lehigh Valley. Yeah. And, so it's it's almost like it is, but it isn't. Well, let's. Let's get Tony and the chamber shout out and talk about your work with them because you are involved in the Allentown Chamber, right? Yes. I'm, with their downtown board. I've been there, just over a year, longer now. And, it's been a great. You know, we meet in the corporate center in downtown Allentown, and, we just talk about, well, how can we improve? How can we change, some of the large events that they do and, essentially, how can we connect? Yeah, which is great. I mean, so QNB, let's talk about them for a minute. They are based in Quakertown. Yeah. But I feel like they and you maybe have been spearheading a really made their presence known here in Valley. They're on the board of the Allentown Chamber. So talk about, you know, that expansion, my imagining it or are you guys really growing here in the Valley? Yeah, we're. We're growing here. So, we we opened our, West Coast fill branch, quite a number of years ago, just over 15 years ago. And, QNB grows naturally. So, we we opened that branch. We actually opened at the shopping center right across from, the Walmart there in Trucksertown.[...] area. And then, we built our, our current branch there. And then it took some time before we built our Allentown branch. And as we, you know, grow, we opened the Allentown branch, and that's, over five and a half years now, we've been there. So, so it's kind of been a natural growth, but, we have a team dedicated to to the Lehigh Valley, Is the Allentown branch of your favorite one to work out of, because the other bar is right there. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah. As an ice cream junkie, I'm always jealous of that location. Yeah. In the summertime, we we usually buy a pack of, their ice cream sandwiches. And you brought me a pack one time. Yeah. That's right. Yes. So if you ever wanted to do that again, I'm always open to it, just so you know. Yeah. No, it's it's very cool to see that growth. I guess let's take a minute to just talk about QNB. What separates them from your competitors. Yeah. So, we're we're very, about our customers and, and prospects and learning about them. We love to, you know, fully get to know them and understand their banking needs. And, and then some, and, we love building our relationships. There's not a meeting or a conversation that goes by at QNB, that it's not about the relationship. That's that's our our number one thing that we start with and, and have halftime end with. What? How are we building our on our relationships? Can I tell you about a strange QNB relationship? Sure. My youngest son, George, is obsessed with Quimby. Your mascot. He, like, we went to the Allentown, Saint Patrick's Day parade, and you guys are a big part of that. Know we talk about it now right here. Oh, you really? Yes. Yeah. So George will be looking out for you because, you know, the bagpipers come by, all these people come by. He's. He's excited. Cool. It can be cool. And literally Quinby appears. You know... Quinby! And gets all excited. So you guys are so involved in all of these activities. But Quinby is really central to it all. Yeah. We're we consider ourselves as, like, a main Street branch, so we we do a, we do over 12 Christmas tree lightings, each one of our branches or is involved. And then we go and do even more because there's, you know, one branch might service more than one area. And same thing with parades. We just that's what we've always done and what we're about. Quinby! you can see him all all around Lehigh Valley. But yeah. These guys don't play on Bucks County, right? Yeah, yeah. I was telling George again about this because he's obsessed with Quinby. He goes, Quinby’s playground is so cool. You can do this and this and tell me about the cool things that go on this playground, because it's definitely one of the best. Yeah. So similar. My son, obviously. And, he can't talk much, but he loves the Quinby, playground. We were in town there, recently. Yes. Little, tried to push him down, and, it's, it's a great park. The original one was all wood, and my mom actually helped put that together. And the high school students came in for the beginner, and, I'm sure there's some other help, but, yeah, it's, there's a, a big part for older kids and a smaller part for younger kids, and there's a million different activities. Yeah. You don't go bored, even as a parent watching their kid run around. And, yeah, we. Yeah. It's refreshing. I feel like to see, you know, the community bank model because, it's easy in such a technology focused environment for people to not have those roots. Right? To not have a playground, to not have people in the community making it better. But that's not the QNB model at all, is it how you guys are? And like you said, in the parades, you're building parks and playgrounds. You're really, truly part of that community. Yeah. It would talk, I guess, about that where that comes from. Yeah. It's just, it's it's kind of in our, in our roots. We we dedicated, our headquarters is still, right in downtown Quakertown, right where we started. And, just, you know, being known in the in the in your community is, you know, how we how we grew. So, you know, but why change it? It works. Absolutely. And you, I mean, you are at these parades. You're at, I'm sure these tree lightings. How do you how do you find that time, like, truly. Yeah. Well, I find it as normally people would take their kids and families. So that's what I do. And all those extra, extra events we my wife and I'm very thankful that I sometimes go overboard and, you know, they're right there with me always, come to all the events and. Yeah. And really, it's, you know, support of your family. And I have a really good team at work, too, that they're they're excited to go and be a part of this event. So when your family's excited, your coworkers are excited, you know, and when you want to go. Absolutely. And I mean, I think I, I compliment Trish all the time, my spouse because I couldn't do what I do without her. And I think Alexis is the exact same. I've gotten to know her and you, you know, through the years. And she is sort of that rock for you. I feel. Like. Yeah. You know, how long have you guys been together? We've been together since 2014, so. Yeah. Yeah. And now you have a kid. Yeah. Harrison. How is life with. You know, I people would always ask us when we got married, like, has life changed? And we said, not really. You know, it's the same as it was. And then you have kids and everything changes. Yeah. How have you found that transition? Because you're still fairly new into it. How do you find that transition from a professional standpoint? Yeah, it was a big change. You know it. We went from come home to do, you know, we could go anywhere. Alexis would come up, meet me in the Valley because something was going on and, we had to completely change, you know, you know, a little one at home. And you want to be that first ramps up. Yeah. Yeah. And it kind of helps you realize, you know what is important, which is family. They're always going to be there. Right? Yeah. And it helps you focus on. Them and, you know, and for everyone forwarns you. But you don't know until until you experience it that. Yeah. Okay. Things are changing. Just like today, Valentine's Day, you know, Alexis and are thinking. I remember when we we can just, you know, book a restaurant. We went and. Yeah. And now it's a little bit different. You know, we have a, a third with us, so. Yeah. So. We will do that. Like if we take the kids, if they go somewhere else, it's just the two of us will be like, we can do anything we want right now. Yeah. It's so I. Know that feel like it's so different. I know. Like power. Talking about growing up in Quakertown, and then just, you know, how that has led to you being here. In the Lehigh Valley so much. Yeah. So I was born and raised in Quakertown. I was heavily involved in high school. I was a district volunteer for a high school, historic society and rotary and, but I would come up here, my grandparents had an auction off. They have an auction all up here for, for over 30 years. My uncle took over my aunt, and, I was up here all the time, so, I was always a they had an auction, all American Square mall. And, I was I was there all the time in the summer. As soon as I was in, or out of school intern summer, I was up there weekends, you name it. So, that's kind of what I was always coming up here. And then, the bank knew that. So that's kind of why I'm up here. But, I mentioned rotary, you know, because it it kind of led that's how I’m at QNB. Because my grandfather and being up in the valley, talking with the bank at Rotary in Quakertown, and it kind of just evolved that way. Yeah, yeah. Two things. First off, it can you grandfather talk really fast as. Yeah, he's pretty good. And he, he always says he he it's almost like he's saying he has his own, rhythm to it. Yeah. I mean, you a gala recently, I got to do the auction, and that was hands down. Oh, man. Yeah. I saw. That. If he's ever looking for someone, I am available. Okay. I’ll mention that to him. But the rotary. You are so involved in the rotary. And I know that it is such a great organization. Its mission is incredible. But talk, you know a little bit about it, why you're part of it and what you get out of it. Yeah. So, the biggest thing, as soon as every time someone says rotary, I think rotary, the first words that come to my mind are service above self. And I think that's what makes it different is it's stop thinking about yourself and, you know, do some too good for for others and that's what it's all built upon. So, I always say and leave your name tag at the door and, you come in and you, you know, you talk with your colleagues and figure out, well, you know, what can we do? How can we make it make a difference? Yeah. And, and with the Allentown Rotary Club and, for, for three years now and, and as soon as I, formally with the Quakertown club. And when I came with the downtown club, I saw that they did that. They did it well. And, I was there for the beginning. I transferred not too long ago. Wow. Long after. That. Yeah. What are some of your favorite projects that you've worked on? Yeah. So, there's so much, Quaker towns. I've still volunteer there, that, 4th of July. Yeah, they do do their fireworks and turn sausages to sponsor the fireworks. Okay. And it's, you know, they're just doing it to sponsor the community. You know, they don't they don't mind if they they don't care if they have to. It's an expenditure to them. But. Yeah. So things like that, and in Allentown, they have things like Romper Day where we're, you know, over, over the fields not too far from here, and we're passing out hot dogs and still doing their field day, things like that. So it's great. Yeah. Where does that sense of community come from? I mean, who is it? Your grandfather, who was an auctioneer. Like, where did you develop a sense of community and giving back? Yeah. I would say my grandfather, Kevin, he he always, he took me to very meetings when I was 14 years old, and he kind of told me, you know, this is this is what it's about, and this is why I do it. And I saw that his drive, you know, that service above self, he he he would hold to doing his job to to help with rotary and to help people in need. Yeah. But is is your grandfather. So I know making gravy and coming from an Italian family. Yeah. Is a big event right. Yeah it is that is that start with your grandfather. So that's that's my other half. Okay. Tell me about that. I mean, you tell me about that. Yeah. It's such. A fun. There. Yeah. So, my grandfather, he. And to Harrison, we call grandpa. So, he, he lost his his father. Yeah. So my family gets together. We're still doing it now, even after all this time, our grand, our family has grown so much that we have to do it at different times of the. Our family's coming in different times. But, at one point, we were making over a thousand jars of sauce. That's insane. Yeah. So I talk about, family and and, bunch of Italians yelling at each other. It was as a kid, you know. And so is a day event, like, walk me through how this happens. Yeah, yeah. So, when I was a kid, my grandfather, they my my my great uncle, they would drive to new Jersey. They would get all these pickup trucks and, their grandkids would go in the back and protect themselves. And we would drive to new Jersey and we would go far to farm, picking out the ripe tomato. Yeah. They would take bites and talk about in front of the truck or the next farm and until you found the right tomato. And then, that was the day before. And then the next after we bought all the tomatoes, it was work started that night. And then the next day, you know, we were processing the sauce, and, jarring it, so. Yeah. And then is that for the year, like, do you stock up and then you've got jars for the year? Yeah, for the year. And if you eat it all up and, it's December this year, you're out of luck. So you have to make some of the kitchen stuff. Yeah. How big is your family? How many people are kind of doing, Too many to count. But yeah. Yeah, It's nice to grow a big family like that and to have cousins. And for Harrison I’m sure, I like to have that extended family. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he'll definitely know, his third and fourth cousins, which is pretty amazing. You know, you don't always hear people knowing distant relatives. Yeah that's great. So QNB, I have to bring this up. And, I don't know what we're allowed to talk about. We're not allowed to talk now. But you have this incredible program for first time homebuyers. Can you tell us a little. Bit about that? Yeah. So we have a, it's called our hot program, and, it's for, for the low to moderate income housing and, and individuals and, it can provide, 100% financing. So I'll say. That again, just because it's unreal when you say that. Yeah, yeah. So, 100% financing. Yeah. For, there's a couple things that you have to meet. But, yeah, we offer. And you don't hear that too often. And definitely in this environment where the cost of homes are insane. Yeah. It's definitely a great tool. Yeah, yeah, I, I was talking to you and your colleague Brian, and he mentioned that, and I was like, that's it's unheard of, right? To be able to do. No, no downpayment. Yeah. Buy a home. Yeah. And so yeah, QNB,, again, I think it's the commitment to the community being able to do something like that. Yeah. How have you found your relationships? You know, in the community, do they, do they impact the business, or are you bringing business in for QNB? Is it, kind of the two way street where you have a relationship and you get business with it? Yeah. I think because we're we're out in the streets and we're, you know, talking to to everyone that we can, you know, a lot of our questions come, come up that I want to talk to you. I see you all the time. And you're available to talk to me. Yeah, let's let's continue the conversation. That was such a dumb question on my part. Because I'm a client of yours now. I have a home equity line of credit because I, in this relationship. I mean, you know, I know you, I see you, I know I can trust you. And so when that's something that significant, I want to put it somewhere where I trust it. So you guys do a very good. Job I appreciate that. Thank you. Absolutely. What's next for you? You know, I feel like you've really done a great job sort of establishing yourself. I see you out all the time at all these different events. Well, what's next for Tyler? Yeah. So, I actually had that conversation with my team lead, just about a month or two ago, and I asked a similar question, and, and I told them, I wake up and I love doing this, and I don't imagine myself doing, something different, just because of, you know, everything that I can do and meet all these new people and, make the connections with the bank. But, you know, I, I hope that it can continue to grow in this position. I feel like the, you know, there's no cap, you know, it's position where you grow with. I can grow with a bank. And, you never know where, you know, the opportunity will take you. And I've been working with QNB for for over nine years. And, you know, it's just been a great, great experience. I imagine QNB is one of those places where people work there for decades, right? I mean, yes, and that's a testament to the culture and the community. Again. Is that true? Is my assumption right? That people really work there? Yeah, yeah. My teammates are Tom Clay. He's been there for almost four years. And, we have a lot of stories like that at QNB. And what do you think it is like what keeps people there? I think it's the teamwork. And I think it's, you know, dedication to community. And, you know, we we have a strong group there. And, we love working together. And I think that's what keeps us together. Yeah. It's nice. It's nice when you find that. Yeah. I mean, it's it's hard. It's a culture. Right? It's hard to develop that. I try to every day here, but it is something you have to work towards. It doesn't just magically happen. Yeah. So it's great that you guys have found that success. Yeah. And anyone I have met there, this is not just QNB that, I swear. But anyone I have met there has been exceptional to work with. Yeah, it was intimidating when you first and I started because I, you know, I was asked I working full time, going to school full time. Yeah. And, everyone there was at least there for maybe 15 years or so. And, you know, as I've been there, you know, I could feel good being, you know, that I've been there just as long now, but. Yeah, but those people now been every day, you know, 20 or 30 years. Yeah. And what do you do to keep Quinby around? He hasn't gone anywhere else. Yeah. He he's going all around. So he has a new our minivan, that they got last year with, his pictures on the side. So even when he's not out and about and he's waving on the side of the minivan. So. Yeah, we, we keep him alive everywhere. Right? Yeah. And you guys do you were involved with, the lights for Christmas right over at the, the ball park? Yeah. Yeah. At the Iron Pigs, illumination Park. Yeah. That was our first walk there. First year. And, yeah, we did it. And it was a blast. We had so many people so excited to go to that, and we were, giving out tickets to, you know, customers. Yeah. Friends and family and and, we had such a great feedback about how amazing it was. So I think it's I talked to, a few few people at the ballpark, and they were just talking about how they're doing it next year. Without a doubt, it was it was a big deal. And I think it really made an impression on people. Yeah, yeah, I'm already excited. So I guess think about partnerships, right. You have to be strategic. You can't just say yes to everything, but it feels like you guys have said yes to some really, you know, interesting, cool things. How do you guys think about that strategically? Yeah. So, you know, it's again, I think it's about community. A lot of the things that we talk about, or that comes to us, it just doesn't come to me or it doesn't just go to me. We share it as a team. So, you know, the team talks about it. And a lot of times our executive team is also, you know, involved. And it might be just a small donation to a community, community organization, but, you know, it. Everyone kind of knows about it. And as a decision makers are all involved. So and I think that, you know, that's something that, you know, I'm always here also and, and you know, everyone being involved and learning about an organization or an event or something. So yeah, it kind of speaks to the small back model that you can have these conversations at a community bank with the big decision makers. Yeah. Yeah that's great. All right. I give a shout out to our sponsor, Hocus Pocus Cleaning Services. They are literally the best cleaners in the entire, probably in the entire world. But certainly, in the Lehigh Valley and they do all sorts of things from routine, you know, weekly cleanings to if you have a disorganized closet, they can come in and they call it their witching hour, and they come in to make it all nicely. And it's it's magical what they do. And so what I like to do is ask all of our guests, oh my gosh, I haven't even said this yet. This is our season finale. Oh yeah. This is the team that. We brought Tyler in here for the season finale. I couldn't think of a better guy to close this all out with, And this will be our last shout out to Hocus Pocus, the best cleaning service in the world. And so if you could have any magical ability, what would you. Magical ability? I would say flying, but super fast. So I can see the whole world in, like, 30s. I'm glad you still believe it, because that's a point of contention that, like, what makes you think you can fly faster than even what the biggest goal is? So you could. Pick how fast you got that. That would be pretty cool though. Yeah, yeah. You fly. Yeah. I travel the world in 90 days and, you know. And, you know, all the travel. Yeah. Yep. Time to go through custom. Yeah. This is back. Whenever you want. Maybe you should think about changing. I'm. Tyler, anything that we didn't hit that we should. Anything that can be anything. You family, anything you want to out. You hit a lot. A lot of good questions and a lot of good points and, Yeah. No. Well, good. I mean, thank you. This was an awesome episode to close out season two with. You are so involved in the area, in the community. You're a good friend and I cannot thank you enough for coming on here. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. And your friendship and yeah, so it's been amazing. Awesome. Well Tyler Stelleti, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Awesome. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Why Am I talking podcast. If you enjoyed this and want to hear more content from amazing personalities in the Valley, please subscribe, leave a rating and drop us a quick review.