Episode 21 - 40 Years of Marketing and Communications

Three questions...

1. How has marketing and communications changed in 40 years?

2. How has communications at Countryside changed in 20 years?

3. How do you continue growing  a 20 year solid foundation of communications?

Mary Groesser, Countryside's Director of Communication for the past 20 years reflects on you her 40 year career in the marketing, advertising and graphic design industry - you won't believe how far things have come in a relatively short time. Ironic how Mary is finishing up her career the same year Countryside is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Half of her career was spent at Countryside growing our communications department into what it is today - best in class! 

How do we plan to keep it best in class?? Sarah Nadal....Our new Director of Communications. Hand selected by Mary for her unique background, eye for detail and incredible perspective in how she is able to see what needs to be communicated and understood from the Member's perspective. She's got big shoes to fill but is more than up to the challenge and already taking things to the next level. 

This is a cool episode not only because of these two ladies being powerhouses in the communication field, but also because it's not often you're able to sit down with a long term retiring team member and the incoming team member to discuss their areas of expertise and how the "torch is being passed"...

Enjoy this one - tons of wisdom and remember...."How we do small things is how we do ALL things"..

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

How we do small things in the past. Where we discuss all things hospitality and most things and things in the middle of the case.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Here we are. This is our um our final conversation with Mary Grozier.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

Oh, it's breaking my heart.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Who is our retiring outgoing director of communications? So we've got Mary Grozier and Sarah Nadal. Is that the right way to pronounce it?

SPEAKER_06 1:05

Yeah, you know, people say it all different ways. Nadal, Nadal. I answer to whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:09

Nadal is how I would normally say it.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Nadal? Okay. I can start doing that. I grew up with a first name, Josiah. So I got Joshua, Josiah, like all everything but Josiah.

SPEAKER_06 1:21

I get Sharon every now and then. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Maybe from the dyslexic folks.

SPEAKER_06 1:26

Yeah, maybe. Some people spell my name Sarah, but S-H-A-R-A.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

That would be uh Sarah.

SPEAKER_06 1:33

Yeah, you'd think. I don't know. I don't know. I answer to whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Well, welcome. Either way. Welcome. Thank you. Um, so yeah, we let's just let's talk about communications. I feel that, you know, for me this season, communications has been like at the forefront of my mind. And it always is, but it's it's more so been like automatic. Like we just communicate, right? It's just part of what we do. But like this season, moving into the club, all the updates. Um, I had a lot of focus on some communication like history, knowing that you were retiring. Um, you know, we we did a whole thing at the annual membership meeting, and I kind of I was going back getting ready for that meeting. I was going back looking at all of the old communications and like what the old website looked like. Because what I wanted to do for the members was, and Mary didn't know we were doing this, but what I wanted to do was like over over over 18 years, Mary, you know, when Mary joined the club, like this looked like this, and now it looks like this, and this looked like this. And so like I was the the whole communications thing was at the forefront of my head this whole season. And then, you know, getting invited to to share a little bit of our communication story with the CMAA. Um, I was pulling some stats and you know, kind of knee deep in you know, YouTube stats and website clicks and all that.

SPEAKER_06 3:12

So and what the stats show, Joe.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

People love how we communicate, and um our website is extremely, extremely used, well used, which is great. Um, and I think that's a great segue because the foundation for all that was laid by Mary.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

Thanks, Joe.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Over almost 19 years.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

Almost 19.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

I know at the annual meeting I said 18 years and seven months, I think.

SPEAKER_04 3:43

So August would have been 19.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Would have been 19. Wow. I joined the club in August also.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

So good month.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

It's crazy. We're not that busy at in August.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

The right time to have someone join. Yeah. It's a better time to have someone join at the end of season, which is when Sarah joined.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Because it gives you a little bit of extra time to wrap your arm around.

SPEAKER_06 4:07

Yeah, I get to experience it. And then there's a little bit of an on-ramp as we work on those annual reports and things that we prepare all year long and then head into season when it's super busy.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

So, Mary, um, let's start with you.

SPEAKER_06 4:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Talk to us about um not only your nearly 20 years here, but you've been in the marketing communications industry for since 1987.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

1987, I would say. The year I graduated. So, you want me to start?

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Yeah. Were you always interested in that field?

SPEAKER_04 4:43

So I always favored art. And uh, when it was time uh to go to college, I reviewed the uh college handbook to see what type of classes I wanted to take. And I found business communication had advertising, graphic design. So that was how I went into uh majoring in business communication because I was told at the time artists are always poor and you couldn't major in art. So that was my second choice. Uh, but no regrets, it's been um a very good career path for me. I did get to utilize the art that I do like to do. Um, but however, it did change, it evolved from just regular painting and whatnot to graphics and computer art. Yeah, and it has evolved a lot since then.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Well, from an artistic standpoint, you are ridiculously talented. Have you seen some of Mary's work?

SPEAKER_06 5:49

I have. She had some hanging up in her office when I first arrived, including a photo of Captain, which, if I understand correctly, there's a special connection there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Late Captain.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

My beloved captain. He was almost 13 years old and uh he passed away last December. Yeah. But you have his son, Wrigley.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

Yeah. So Mary and I are family.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

His legacy lives on. I love that. Yeah, yeah. My sweet captain. But yeah, getting back to communication, um, when when I think back in 1987 when I graduated, um, there wasn't much available as far as computer tools. It was all hands-on where we used um I I was telling uh you earlier, but I'll tell everyone here that when I first started, we had a person that did all the typesetting, and their title was a typesetter. And then we had another person that's where I was. I was the paste up artist. And so what I would do is take the text that a typesetter would type up, and she would or he would uh set up the type exactly um in the way it needed to be laid out. So they that person would have to decide on the font, the size of the font, whether it was justified or not, or centered. So that person would design just the text, and then they would send it to a printer that would print it on wax paper. Then me as a paste-up artist would then take that wax paper, run it through a wax machine, and uh then take a Xacto blade, an L-shaped ruler, and lay it out on this big spreadsheet. Now, my past, I worked at a uh magazine company in Melbourne, Florida, and then newspaper in Salisbury, Maryland. I moved a lot around a lot early. I was married to an airline pilot, so I was here, you know, six months here, two years. Traveled a lot, see saw a lot. Um, but with that, it was it was really interesting back in the late 80s, early 90s before the computer world started introducing graphic design. But yeah, going back to to when I first started, we would take the text, we would then take the photos and line them up on this uh drafting board type of uh platform, and we would use a wooden uh wheel to uh secure the waxed text and photos.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

So let me ask you though, did you know, like getting out of college, did you know that that was the process?

SPEAKER_04 8:51

That was the only process available at the time.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

It sounds so tedious to me. And for, you know, somewhat like I'm a very creative person. I'm not a talented creative person, but I like to be creative. Yes, like that to me is like tedious.

SPEAKER_04 9:05

Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Did it drive you nuts? Or it was just it was the only way it was?

SPEAKER_04 9:10

It was the way things were done. Like I was telling Marcy Foster, she interviewed me for the newsletter article that went out last month. So I told her, I said, yeah, I went to college, I had my dictionary and thesaurus and my black and white TV and a couple of bags of clothes. No telephone, no uh no phones, no cell phones. Uh we had one phone in the hallway. So technology just was non-existent back then. I think my very last uh semester of college, we had a college professor bring in a computer, and we all just stared at it like, oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Was it an Apple?

SPEAKER_04 9:56

Probably.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Probably Well, when you were talking about font, um I'm you know, I'm I'm uh I don't know what the good word is, but I'm an Apple everything.

SPEAKER_04 10:09

Well, that's how we all started. Yeah, with an Apple.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

That was the big thing with Steve Jobs was, you know, like when he grew, you know, with the Apple, I think it was the the the Macintosh, was like all about the fonts and the different selection of fonts, which didn't exist in you know my the Microsoft world or the other computers. So it was an Apple?

SPEAKER_04 10:30

I I would say yes. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was an Apple.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

And so how does the when you transition from you know the manual design?

SPEAKER_04 10:41

I didn't tell you yet what we had to do with photos. So tell me to resize a photo wasn't just grabbing the photo back then, it was actually uh when we moved to New York, I lived in Long Island, but I commuted to the city. And I worked for the yellow page uh the telephone company designing um a phone book page advertisements. And my one job back then was uh to work with photos. I don't I don't remember recall what my title was, but that was strictly my one job where I would go in, I would get a stack of photos, and for example, one would be an eight by ten, and they wanted it to be resized to say a four by five so they could paste it on with a wax, right? So I would use this paper wheel. Um, I think it was called a scalograph. So I would put in the measurements, I'd have to measure, you know, hey, here's an eight by ten, I want it to be a four by five, and I would use this wheel and it would tell me what numbers to plug into this gigantic uh computer or a photo lens. So I would have to go into this dark room, turn off all the lights, put the eight by ten photograph underneath this glass lid, put it on, secure it, type into the machine the percentage that I want it to reduce the photo to, and then click the machine on, and it would make that sound, and it would then produce uh a four by five on a paper. I would then take it to the dark room and process the photo and hang it up, and then give it to the paste up artist to then use that four by five photographs.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Every time you had resize, you're like developing a new photograph.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

Yep. Yep. This was all pre-computer generation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

And how many years was that that the process?

SPEAKER_04 12:57

Uh that's a good question. So then I moved to, let's see, when I moved, I lived in Salisbury, Maryland. I worked at a newspaper there. We were doing pay stuff. It was shortly after, I would say the mid-90s, maybe. We then were introduced to computers, but even back then the computer programming was very limited. Like uh PageMaker, I don't know if you're familiar with uh PageMaker. I am okay. Um, but one of the first computer graphic programs I started using, which was definitely a Mac, is Quark Express. And Quark Express kind of started the evolution of uh pages, putting pages together for magazines, and so I started doing that. I worked at I don't remember the name of the company. Sorry, I moved around so many times. Uh but it was a magazine where we did everything in Quark Express and um so that kind of introduced that, and then once Adobe products came into play, they kicked out every everybody else. So I think I've been using Adobe uh InDesign is what we're using now.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Right.

SPEAKER_04 14:17

Uh and it's evolved, but like right now the numbers keep changing with and with InDesign. But yeah, so we went from using hand equipment, hand tools to pasting everything or pasting everything on the computer page. And then now, amazingly enough, we have AI and Chat GPT images that you can create in five seconds.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

So so I want to switch gears here though, but so so Sarah, listening to all that. Yes, right?

SPEAKER_04 14:49

Um you aged myself, huh? No, no, no, no, no, but you know not at all.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

You have you've got a long career in communications and marketing, um 15-ish years.

SPEAKER_06 15:02

Yeah, yeah. I got my start um in a marketing department as an which functioned as an in-house agency at a retirement community. And so a lot of what Mary's talking about, I've heard from my former colleagues talking about the good old days. But when you mentioned Quirk Express, that was the first um computer software design program that I really learned to use. And that was what I trained on as well. And it was interesting in that transition, like you said, to InDesign, because it just almost like Apple with Steve Jobs. There's just a different design philosophy. And I think that's part of what helped them take over the market.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

So so you though, your whole experience is on you know the computer platforms, if you will, software platforms. Like, what are you thinking when you hear when you think back over how Mary started in, you know, all the hand, you know, done by hand work. Like it's crazy to me to think it was done that way.

SPEAKER_06 15:58

Yeah. Agreed. Well, and I think such a greater investment of time went into making every single piece. And so there was more scrutiny every step of the way. And I think too more artistry because you're spending more time on those photographs, even just resizing them. So selecting the right image to tell the right story to begin with is something that a lot of thought goes into because you don't want to be in the, as you say, tedious stage, resizing photographs and realize it's the wrong one, where it's so easy in today's design software to make quick changes and quick edits and quick photo swaps. And I think there's an element of artistry that's been lost.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yeah. Oh, that's a good point. Think about it that way. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

What's funny too, I'll add, going back to my newspaper layout days, is uh one thing I I never forgot is when we were doing a page for a grocery store and they would use a ketchup bottle. After we sent the boards to the printer, he would return those boards back to us and we would peel off the ketchup bottle art and store it away alphabetically because we knew we may need to reuse that uh waxed ketchup bottle.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

Just like you may save a stock photo for a future design piece. That was your stock photo.

SPEAKER_04 17:23

Yeah, we would have an actual ketchup bottle photo that we would have to dig back up.

SPEAKER_06 17:30

Well, not to be abstract about it, but I wonder how that's changed the footprint and physical appearance of offices too, because you would need filing cabinets upon filing cabinets for that. And now we have infinite storage space on our little thumb drives.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Yeah. That's interesting. That's wild. That is wild.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

So yeah, it it's been, you know, quite interesting to see how the programming has changed and how communications in general has changed dramatically. Yeah. And and it's just only been 40 years. Imagine what the next 40 will how it'll change going forward, you know? I don't know if I'm ready to think about that yet. It it's amazing. And then you'll look back 40 years from now and laugh at it, like we're like I'm laughing now about how I used to.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Well, I mean, you know, you know what's funny is and just ironic, this is the community's 40th year, right? We just put the time capsule on the ground, which they're gonna open in 40 years. And that was like one of the jokes when we were filling this time capsule, is like like I put a I put an external hard drive in there. Like, are they even gonna be able to use this? You know, absolutely. It's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

They might look at it and say, What is this? Let's go to the antique store and see if we can find some way to plug this in.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Oh no, it's like an A-track.

SPEAKER_06 18:47

It's true, yeah. Or a VCR.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Yeah, well, you know, I I don't know. I think about that all the time with Emma, my daughter, you know, where I've so like you know, living through that transition technology. We we're we've lived through that. I'm looking at Sarah now, right? You know, we've lived through that. Like in Emma's age, demographic, like she has no idea what a VCR tape is. We don't even have a DVD player in the house, like or a landline. Don't even no, she's never like we were having this conversation a couple weeks ago. She's like, What do you mean you had a house phone? Like, what is that? Oh wow, you know, and that's how I grew up, you know. And I mean, to her, everything is at the fingertips. Yeah, you know, we won't watch a show, it's all streamed. Like, you don't have to go get the tape, and you know, it's crazy, it's crazy to think about. So let's let's talk about countryside.

SPEAKER_04 19:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

So you joined Countryside in 2007. I was and you were gonna be here for one year.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

I was that was my plan. That was your plan. Because I live in Fort Myers.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

What happened?

SPEAKER_04 19:56

So I woke up that morning. I had an interview set up with Jeff Jacobs, and I woke up and I told I was just newly married. I told my husband, I said, I'm not driving to Naples. I didn't know when I was talking to Jeff previously that the job was in Naples. So his my husband's background was working for country clubs, so he's like, Oh, just go, just go talk to him. You might like it. So I did. I drove all the way here. And uh I met with Marsha Feeney. She was she's one of those legendary countrysiders that was greatly um loved and adored. Uh, she interviewed me with Jeff, and it was a perfect fit for me because of all my traveling that I did previously, where I worked as a public relations representative, marketing director, paced-up artist, graphic designer. And all those years that I did move around, I had what seemed to be like the perfect background to just stepping right in and taking charge of what was lacking here at countryside. And basically, when I uh started in 2007, there was nothing here. They had a TV in uh the office that played a PowerPoint presentation of very basic slides and kind of like cheesy music that would play. I don't know if you remember back in the day, they would play something similar like that in hotel rooms. Like if you wanted to know what was happening. Oh, yeah. That's what it reminded me of. Yeah, but but that was their form of communication to our members, and then we did have flyers out in the lobby, but again, not to criticize anybody, but they were very cheesy type of flyers that were done in a Word document. So coming on board, I didn't have anyone to train me. It was just like, here you go.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

And was there a person doing that?

SPEAKER_04 21:55

We had seriously, or my understanding is we had an older gentleman. That they were outsourcing the newsletter and the directory. And I think that was it. And then the food and beverage manager at the time was putting together calendars and flyers. So when I saw the what products were being produced at the time, I thought, oh, let me take this. I can make it look better. And so I did little bits here and there and just started building up what needed to be done. One of the big things was a new website right away that had to be done because our old website just looked like an old news newspaper. Like it just scrolled and kept scrolling and scrolling. It didn't really offer very much. So right away that was one of the big tasks that I started working on. And the new website, it introduced um just about everything, like email communication started, calendar of events. Oh yeah, Joe's showing me a picture of it. That's that's the old web the old website.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Did you know about this? You go online, there's a um it's an archive of old web pages. It's called Wayback Machine.com.

SPEAKER_06 23:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

So when I was preparing the slides for the annual meeting, I went to Jeff and I was like, Do you have any sh pictures of like the original website? And he goes, No, go to Wayback Machine. I'm like, I thought he was joking. And you go to that website and you put in any URL and it will show you like screenshots of original or old websites.

SPEAKER_06 23:33

Yeah, you can pick the date.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

And that's yeah, that's how I pulled that up, and I was like, wow.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

Yeah. Wow. And it would just scroll, like it would just keep scrolling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

And I I heard a rumor that you didn't even have an office when you started.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

That's correct. So we uh countryside didn't have a spot for communications. In fact, I don't think any other clubs did either. So when I came on board, they didn't know where to place me. So I was on the on the deep side of the dining room. Outside I I don't know if you're you remember our old dining room area where there was that like walk through uh FB office. Yeah. Okay, that's my office was outside of that. So you were in the dining room. I was in the dining room. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Did you have a desk at least or a table?

SPEAKER_04 24:29

No, I just had a table.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 24:31

So I sat down with Jeff and I said, Jeff, I need, you know, this program, I need this laptop, and right away he set it up for me, and I just started drilling through everything that needed to be done. Wow. Yeah, just pacing it together.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

How was the interview with Jeff?

SPEAKER_04 24:49

It was it was great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

I love Jeff. Yeah. He's brilliant. He is he's a brilliant, probably one of the best controllers I've ever worked with.

SPEAKER_04 24:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Um, but I wonder how it would be interviewing with him.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

No, he was good.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

He had just joined the club as well. Yes. Right around the club.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

I think a year, year or so before me. Yeah. So how long were you in the middle of the dining room until it it really wasn't that bad because when I came in, they were already working on the office space. And I think what they did is they took a portion of the uh meeting room and the storage room and put an office right in the middle of the two. Put a wall. You missed all this good stuff, Sarah. I missed all the fun. Yeah. So that that was my office for goodness, I don't know how many years, Joe.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

This is this is actually good for me to remember because um our office, our new offices are very nice, but they're small. Um, and I feel bad about that. But then when I think about the office space we had we had, um Mary didn't Mary didn't even have a door. Like she was she wasn't in the dining room when I got here. She was in the offices, but it wasn't a it was in like a walk, like a pass-through, like to the conference room. And there was no door there.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Yeah. It made it hard because when I was on the phone and people were coming out of the meeting room and they would talk loud, and I'm like pressing the phone against my ear trying to listen to somebody that I'm talking to on the phone.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

But yeah. Um so that's how it was set up back then.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

So what what what hooked you to staying on country at country? To go from a year to to almost 20.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

Well, my original plan of coming here for a year, then the market dropped drastically. The housing department or or housing um had had just flattened out, and everyone that had a job was just grateful to have a job back then. Uh you know, if you I don't know if you remember 2007, 2008. Uh a lot of people lost their homes at that time. And we actually bought when the prices were high, and we were one of those that was under. So um but as time went on, I really started enjoying the challenge that had to take place at countryside. Like I said, nothing was set up. And uh I was going through my list here, like uh email communication started, we started uh uploading members' photos so we could identify them when they came in. That started. We didn't have that before. The event calendar started, um, memorial page, online forms. I mean, the line just goes on and on. Everything that little by little we started piecing together on this new website till it evolved to what we have today. We've had to redo the website I think three times maybe since I've been here. I'm not sure. Is it three?

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Well, last time we did it was was uh maybe six years. No.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

It's old.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

It was right, it was right after I started. Yeah, that was yeah, because I remember when I got here, everything was still like like our brand colors were maroon and browns and grays. And you and I went to the teals and grays and you know, lighter colors, and I think we did that, was the last redesign was right around that time.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

Yeah. So a lot's been done.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

How about how about the transition? Because I I think we've really jumped just in the last eight years in terms of how we communicate. And I mean, I remember when I started, we had the the folder in the lobby with the three-ring binder with flyers and you know, things like the digital signage that we've we've now implemented, and um I mean, there's been a lot of changes in that aspect as well.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

Yes. Yes. Uh change is always painful, especially for members uh that are not accustomed to change. Yeah. Um, but it's just a matter of educating them and enlightening them, you know, to going digital. It's easier, especially this season alone, where we had changes to our calendar like almost every day. Yeah. Um and just showing them, hey, take this path and not that path, and this is why.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Well, as far as like funneling members to the website, um I I mean Sarah just shared some stats last week that were pretty like to me anyways, mind blowing.

SPEAKER_06 29:38

Um Yeah, I pulled the I pulled the numbers and just comparing year over year last year to this year. Um, last year in April, there were about 67,000 people who visited the website. Uh this year in April, it was 215,000.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

That's just insane.

SPEAKER_06 29:58

And March was the all-time high, 250,000 people looking up information on the website, things to do, making reservations. I think it's really a testament to the successful launch of the Clubhouse. And you see it in the website numbers.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

And again, we just continue to funnel. Like that's I mean, the story we've told, which is true, um, most of what you want on the website, if you want a hard copy, you can get it, most of it. But as far as getting the most up-to-date information, like that's the place to get it. Because as soon as like and I think I think back to 40 years ago, um to have to if if something goes out of date when you go through all that work to print it, to reprint it, it's a big deal. Um, a little bit easier today, but still, once it's like it on a hard copy, it's like that's it, set in stone. Um, and I think we've done a good job just funneling people to the website. You know, I don't know if you remember, but when I started here, we were not doing online dining reservations.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

That was one of the last things that we hadn't converted over yet. So members would call or come in physically to make dining reservations. Um, or they would, if they called and didn't get anyone, they would leave a voicemail. So I remember our food and beverage team, you know, if you know, they'd come in in the morning after a busy night or something, and they'd come in, there might be 40 voicemails that they have to return, you know, just for reservate reservation queries. Um, and we pulled the trigger that first season on you know, implementing online dining reservations. And yeah, that was that was a big hurdle. And now, again, it's become the norm, you know. So that was that was huge. So, and it's efficient. And I think I think for members, um it is an efficient, relatively easy way to access the club, especially with the technology today.

SPEAKER_06 32:00

And from anywhere, whether you're up north, whether you're living here on campus at the time, you can access up to the minute information about what's going on in the countryside.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Yeah. So, Sarah, this we're in your I don't know, I keep, I keep guessing. Fourth week?

SPEAKER_06 32:16

Fourth week.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Is it? It is, feels longer to me.

SPEAKER_06 32:19

I feel like I've blinked and I've been here forever, but then every time I go to do something, you know, when you're new, it always takes a couple of extra steps because you have to look up this or look up that. But I feel like I'm really starting to fly through things now.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Yeah. So what is your um like what how have you perceived the community, the members, the role, just like kind of everything?

SPEAKER_06 32:43

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 32:44

Well, and be honest.

SPEAKER_06 32:45

Yeah, no, I'm fully delighted. Fully delighted and excited to be here. I think Mary has laid such a strong foundation in her years here, and like you've been talking about, I think members have really been trained about how to access the information that they want on their timetable, and that's a real strength. And so I think building on that foundation, I'm in a place, especially as I continue to onboard, where I'm just observing. I want to see how things are working. You know, we get great member feedback almost on a daily basis, and it's taking a look at that and seeing, okay, you know, as we think about communications moving forward in the future, how can we make sure that we are communicating in a clear, consistent manner that makes it easier for them to connect with the people or the services or the amenities that they're wanting to enjoy?

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Yeah, yeah. One thing that always sticks in my head when you join a new business or club community, especially in a leadership or director role. A general manager friend told me this years ago. He's like, the most important thing you can do in your first year is nothing. I'm like, well, what do you mean? He's like, Well, I'm not being literal, but you want to observe, right? You don't want to come in and just like revamp, you know, reinvent the wheel, you know. So I think I think you're right. Like that first year, six to eight months, like you're really, and don't get me wrong, we've got some things that big projects that we're gonna, you know, overhaul and tweak some things, but really it's like understand the operation, how information flows, and you know.

SPEAKER_06 34:20

Yeah. I mean, essentially, my goal is to just make sure that we are communicating whatever um members need to know to support the club experience that they're already enjoying.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:32

You know, and so again, that just means making sure that what they need is at their fingertips.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Yeah. And that's always been my approach. Like to me, I'm like, I don't ever want to be in a spot where someone tells me they didn't know about something. And I have to say, well, that's because it's not available, it's it's not out there or we we missed it somewhere. If if someone comes to me and says, Well, I didn't know about this, I want to be able to say, Well, you didn't look for it or you didn't read it. You know, not that I would say it like that. But it's, you know, again, communication is two ways, right? There's the communicator, but someone has to be on the other end receiving it. And as long as we're putting it out there, um, then the kind of kind of the ball's in their core. Right. You know.

SPEAKER_06 35:17

Well, and I think it's too, it's a testament to countryside and what's planned and offered here because people are so highly engaged and invested in the day-to-day.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

Yeah. Yeah. It's a beautiful thing. It is, it is. And I think this first season um coming through the clubhouse, and I wanna I I got a question for you, Mary. Sure. But um, when I think back over the last like six months, um this is a completely different place than what it was, you know. And I think to, you know, the the members were excited in general um for this year, but so much was going on, and there was really nothing that wasn't well supported. And to I didn't get a whole lot of questions of like, well, we didn't know about this, or we don't know what hours we were open, or um, so I think I think we did a good job.

SPEAKER_06 36:07

And if I can, yes, and that coming on board as I've been meeting members, they have been effusive in their compliments toward Mary and just how well things have been communicated in advance of the changes, through the changes, and then coming out the other side and seeing all the wonderful photos. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

Well, and uh again, again, kudos to Mary also. I've net I've it's it's not typical that you have a communications director that also has a graphic design background. Um, and that was a huge luxury for me when when I got here. And, you know, when we were looking for your replacement, like that was a must-have, you know. And a lot of clubs will outsource the graphic design stuff, you know. I I did it for years when I worked for the developer, like we outsourced a lot of graphic design stuff.

SPEAKER_04 36:57

And that's costly.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

Um, it is costly, but it's also um for me, anyways, like I like to be able to walk into your office and be like, here's what I'm thinking. Can you make it can you come bring it to life? You know, and then the then when you're you got some changes, you go back and forth and make this look like that, and can you change this color and whatnot? It's just more efficient all around.

SPEAKER_06 37:18

Well, and when you keep the graphic design with one person too, it's more cohesive. Yeah, and you have a greater degree of control over it, and you know, you can be more timely for sure in producing it as well.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

For sure. I the one thing that I really comes to mind is remember when we did the the um um project booklet?

SPEAKER_04 37:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

So we we did the sales booklet, if you will, highlighting the project and the cost and the renderings and everything. Remember, we were we had all these pages that Mary had designed, and I had them on my office floor. Remember? Uh-huh. My whole floor was covered with the pages, and we're like, well, maybe we'd move this page here and this page. And we did all that in-house, which was and I think the product that came out, and you did the same thing with the wellness center as well, I think. Um, you know, that's a big thing that clubs don't realize um as a cost to doing these these renovations. It's something, you know, the marketing piece you're often outsourcing. And to be able to do all that in-house is a big deal.

SPEAKER_04 38:17

So that was very important to me when I realized, you know, it's time for me to retire and move on. I sat down with Joe and I said, Joe, you know, we need someone that knows how to do everything that I can do plus some. Um bringing in the video production that you're doing too. Like I know it it gets to be a lot on your schedule to try to do all of that. Sure. So yeah, Sarah. When I when I saw her resume, you know, I thought, yep, she can do she can do all this. Because it's it's beyond recognition trying to train somebody to do graphics if you can't do the graphics. Yeah. So that was utterly important to me.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

You know, well, I think I mean just, you know, in the recent two weeks here, week and a half, you know, you took some time off. Um, I don't think we skipped the beat. Like, I honestly I I didn't really even think about, you know, um, do I have to make sure Sarah knows how to do that? Or no, you know, like anything that was the the Tuesday emails were good, the Monday emails were good. Like I didn't change in other words, I guess I didn't change how I was communicating with Mary for you know eight years. Just like, here's the video, it goes live, here's what it needs to say, boom, you know.

SPEAKER_06 39:33

Well, good because which is awesome. One of my personal onboarding goals was try to make sure that things remain as seamless as possible, you know. And my style really is to come alongside and support what other other departments need, what you need, and like Mary said, free up your time for its highest and best use as our general manager. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

Well, and I think I think we're gonna work well together on that aspect. And it just makes us all more efficient, you know, and it and efficiency on our end translates into a better experience on the member end, you know. But getting efficient means being inefficient in the process sometimes. So it's a good time of year to be that way. I was gonna ask you, Mary, though, um, over your 20 years, um, did you ever think that we would be sitting in a clubhouse like what we had have now compared to what we had? You know, I mean, when I walk in this place every single day, I'm like, I cannot believe this clubhouse is here.

SPEAKER_04 40:33

Yeah, and it's beautiful, it's very classy looking. Um, I I'm just proud that I was able to see this happen. Uh, because even when I first started in 2007, I can't honestly say that it was a beautiful clubhouse. There were a lot of dark, gloomy colors. Well, it was it was that was the time.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Yeah, that was the the the time and the style. You're right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

It was the style. Um, but no, it's it's beautiful the way it's set up today.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

The all like I walk out to the pool cafe and the resort pool, and I'm just it just blows my mind. It blows my mind.

SPEAKER_04 41:17

What amazes me is how many people I see out laying by the pool and bringing their kids or grandkids. We never ever had that before. We would be lucky if we saw one or two people before in that rectangular pool we used to have. And now it's just it's very resort.

SPEAKER_02 41:35

Well, there was no reason to go out to that pool before. Yeah, you know. Um, I remember when you brought Doug in to do updated photos of the club. Um, I know we had some professional photos of the pool previously, and when I say photos, I mean photo. Like I don't there was no reason to really highlight that part of the clubhouse, you know.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

It was just a rec rectangular and it was it sat between literally three buildings.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

So, you know, there was a building on one end, there was the wellness center, and then the clubhouse, and it was right next to the loading dock where we used to have um our dumpsters. Yeah, and it just was it wasn't really appealing, you know. Wow. Um, and again, I I just I walk out to that space and and having the bar there too is a huge help.

SPEAKER_04 42:26

Sure. You can go there and dine and enjoy yourself.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

It's what this is one of the things that members don't think of, but I've seen it here this season. Um, I think it's made visiting grandma and grandpa more um um what's the word I'm looking for?

SPEAKER_06 42:47

Exciting.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

More exciting, maybe. Yeah. Like it's like we want to go down to Florida and stay there and visit. And I mean, again, just as a thinking of you know, someone in that age demographic, you know, they love having the grandkids down here and the families down here and visiting them. And now it's not just because it's Thanksgiving or because it's Easter, it's hey, spring break, we're gonna go down to stay at grandma and grandpa's house and hang out at the pool, which is a big deal for our members. Absolutely any members.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

So well, when you think about it, we didn't have all that to offer them for grandkids.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

There was no reason. Yeah, you know, I think the club felt stuffy. And you know, but it again every club felt stuffy in the early 2000s. That was that was the industry.

SPEAKER_06 43:37

So well now, just speaking as a new person, taking it in fresh, it just seems like a little slice of paradise.

SPEAKER_02 43:43

100%. Yeah, 100%. It really does. So so what so Sarah, your first um your first exposure to countryside after we made it official was the concert.

SPEAKER_03 43:55

Yes. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Yeah, what did you like? I always I always wonder. When someone comes to something like that the first time, um, what you think of like what when you come in and you're like, you see the beach chairs and the and the atmosphere and like the food concessions and like what's right.

SPEAKER_06 44:15

Well, there were so many people and just seeing everybody, there was so much laughter and energy. And you know, during the concert, people were getting up and dancing. Yeah, you know, and the food was so well prepared. And I think the event was very well organized to be outdoors, to have people bring and set up their chairs, and so it just felt like this community event. Um, and you know, that's something I think I've observed in my time here at Countryside that I really love about it is there's something unique about the community spirit here at Countryside, whether it's members interacting with each other or the country club team interacting with the members um, you know, serving a meal or what have you. There's just this sense of pride. Um, you know, and I was really feeling that when I was at the concert. You could just, you know, people were introducing themselves, um, not necessarily knowing who I am, but you know, people were just friendly. Yeah. Um, and that that really just does define countryside, I think.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Yeah, pride's a good word. You know, I think there's always been a sense of pride in the community, but this year it was like all-time high.

SPEAKER_04 45:16

Absolutely, with good reason.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 45:18

I think it's healthy too for the membership. Like I remember walking around the pool, and a lady stopped me to say, you know, I really love the concerts. I'm out there on the dance floor dancing like a teenager, and she's just so ecstatic to share how she just loves going out and dancing. And, you know, clearly she was probably in her 70s, but it was so refreshing to hear her share her experience that she felt young again and inspired to go out and dance like a kid, which is awesome because we're all kids inside. I know. Yeah, I do too. I just love hearing them having a great time.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

Well, I mean, I I think that's the ultimate goal for you know, communities like ours. Is at the end of the day, the sticks and bricks are great, you know, the clubhouse stuff, the you know, the the amenities are great, but you know, they're all at this point, they're all very similar community to community. So it's it really comes back to the programming and how people feel when they're here, you know, using the sticks and bricks, if you will. You know, and I think we do a really, really good job at that, you know, both for our members and our employees. Absolutely. So so Mary, with someone of uh, you know, a 40-year career in marketing design and communications, what not not specifically to Sarah, but really anyone um, you know, in the industry today, like what piece of advice would you give them um to be successful?

SPEAKER_04 46:59

Well, I would say stay adaptable. The tools and technology will continue to change, uh, but the ability to communicate clearly and connect with people will always be essential. And uh don't lose sight of the fundamentals, good writing, attention to detail, and understanding your audience will always matter. Yeah, you know, that is excellent advice. Yeah, yeah. Well, and and one more, one more, don't leave countryside. Don't leave I can't tell you, and and I, you know, I've got credit to say this after so many years of being here. I have seen so many people leave. And uh several of them have come back, and just about everyone I've seen leave have regretted leaving. So I say, you know, come in, do what you're hired to do. And uh if you love countryside, countryside would love you back.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 47:58

You know, it's just it's been such a very rewarding um place to be at. Yeah. The people here, they just love on you and you can't help but to love them back.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

Yeah, the the relationships you build here are are sweet.

SPEAKER_04 48:16

They are sweet and tender and real. They're not fake, you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:20

Yeah, for sure. So a couple last questions I have. Um what's one of your best memories over your career here? So I had a feeling most defining, like something that's stuck in your sticks in your head.

SPEAKER_04 48:39

All right. I had a feeling you were gonna ask me this. Yeah. Because I've heard your previous podcasts, and hopefully after I leave, I'll continue leave, I'll continue listening. You better, no, you better be a subscriber. I will. So, in my mind, you know, yeah, I could go back 10 years, 15 years, whatnot, but I have to say the one that really stands out the most was the boat regatta. I just absolutely loved that. And I'm out there, you know, in pants and I was sweating, taking pictures. I was hot. But deep inside, I just wanted to put a bathing suit on and jump in a boat and build a boat. It was, I just got such pleasure watching, you know, our membership building, you know, the stress of building a cardboard boat, and you could see it was really intense, and they were really serious about it, and then you know, racing in the water, and I just felt so much excitement for them because they were all acting like kids, yeah. And I think in life you are forced to grow up and act mature and take life seriously, and that just stuck with me. Like, we're all just kids, we want to have fun, yeah, you know, we want to act like kids, you know, and build a boat and just splash in the water and have fun doing it. And I that to me will be memorable that I will do it to me.

SPEAKER_02 50:15

Definitely one of the probably the best events we did this year.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

I I just uh yeah, just as a photographer, I tried to capture the moments, but I really wanted to just jump in the water and or build a boat w alongside with them. It was just a lot of fun just watching it.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

So a follow-up, what what about um previous to this season?

SPEAKER_04 50:41

Um the concerts were always great. Yeah. Again, being the photographer, I just wanted to dance with them instead of taking pictures. Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 50:57

The lifestyle overall.

SPEAKER_05 50:59

The lifestyle, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:01

Oh, it's great.

SPEAKER_05 51:02

And the sense of fun I'm hearing. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

Yeah, that's important. We sometimes we take what we do too seriously. Yeah. In especially in this business. Like at the end of the day, you'll hear me say it, Sarah. I'm like, it's it's about golf and hamburgers. Like it's we're saving lives here. So let's have fun while we're doing, you know, and we I mean, we are making a difference. Our jobs are very important. Um, but there's certain things like it's okay to have fun in the execution of said jobs. Yeah, and don't don't get so stressed. Like, there's not a whole lot to stress about. Yeah, you know, things things happen, change is inevitable. Um have have a good time, right?

SPEAKER_04 51:44

And be a kid again.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

You know, why take life so serious and and you know, just enjoy life. Yeah. My husband once asked me, hey, what do you want to do for your birthday? I said, you know what? I just want to go hit a baseball. That's all I wanted to do. Just go out and hit a baseball. I didn't want to go get dressed up and go to dinner and you know, act like an old lady. I just wanted to be a kid again, you know, and just enjoy doing something a kid would do. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:17

How about Sarah? What are you looking forward to most? Um, let's say in this upcoming fall season, and um I know you're gonna have a very long career here, but is there any are there any like career-defining things that you could see in the future?

SPEAKER_06 52:39

Wow, those are two big questions.

SPEAKER_02 52:41

Very big questions.

SPEAKER_06 52:42

Um, I might have the same answer for both of them, okay, which I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about this, but you and I have had a couple of conversations about a new website. And I'm actually You can talk about it. Okay. Well, it's time. I'm pretty eager and excited about that. You know, I think um the website that we have now offers the members everything that they're looking for, but there's opportunities as we go uh into season, and we'll be working throughout season with a new website partner to prepare that. And so I think being able to observe everything that the members enjoy and being hands-on that first season, I can help customize some of that new website content. And it's really important to make sure that we're carrying over all of the functionality and the things that the members need and want. And so going into season, I know things get really busy. Um, you know, we're still having that sense of fun, as you mentioned, but there's a lot to do in a day. And so, you know, I think it's a combination of taking in kind of the temperature of what a day um of club season looks like here at countryside, um, and then imbuing this new website with that, you know, not only the functionality, but that sense of storytelling and finding those places where we can put photos of members having fun and have these little um kind of destination areas where they can go. So I'm excited about that. And I do think on some level that'll be career-defining. Um, and it'll be a big thing because you know, anytime that there's change, you have to communicate what's coming. You communicate during and then you communicate after. And I think Mary really paved the way um in the past by doing that. And I'm really eager to kind of jump in and and carry on the torch for her.

SPEAKER_02 54:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:25

Um, and hopefully do her justice. She's leaving very big shoes to fill.

SPEAKER_02 54:30

Well, uh you're yes, you're right. She's leaving big shoes to fill, but um I know you've got the right feet to fill them. And that's right. Um I mean, I haven't seen your feet, but it wasn't part of the interview. Let's see your feet. But um, I mean, on the website, like that's it's actually ironic that you bring that up because you know the that was one of Mary's like big things when she started here, you know, and the website, I kind of look at it as um, you know, when you're the one who implements it, uh, it's yours. Like it's got your touch to it, right? And the website that we've we have today, aside from a few redesigns, which are you know, really were more aesthetic redesigns and just updates, it's it's Mary's, you know. Um so this is now this is an opportunity for you to put your touch on it. And this is this is a big deal. Like this is a change, a changeover. We're you're we're building a new website from the ground up. You know, so yes, a lot all of the functionality and and all the information will get pulled over, but the website itself is like new, everything about it will be new. So, and that's a huge project, huge.

SPEAKER_06 55:49

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 55:51

Um, I'm excited to have you take the charge of that. Um, I'm totally confident that you're gonna be able to handle it because I won't be able to. Um, and it's yeah, I know it's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_06 56:04

I'm looking forward to it too. And I think, yes, I will put my own stamp on it, but I think what's more important is making sure that the members feel connected to the community and building those connections and making, you know, designing the website in a way that encourages that.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

Yeah, awesome. Cool.

SPEAKER_04 56:22

So I'll I'll share something too. Um, I I I shared with you privately about this, but I'll share with Sarah too. I think maybe you were in the room, Sarah. But when we were interviewing for this position, I barely knew much about you. And when she came on board, she's like my new best friend. Like we really hit it off. I think we're both type A personalities where perfection just eats us up till it's perfect. Um, and as an artist, like I have my style of doing stuff, and I feel like she's an artist in her way, and she has her style of doing stuff that we really hit it off really well. Um, I think because of our background, we like we know what to look for and how to structure it and how to organize it and all that. That I just think it's just been a really great transition time, a really great experience for hopefully both of us. Absolutely. That yeah, we just hit it off really quickly. And yeah, I feel like I have a friend for life. Oh that's awesome. Yeah, countryside's in good hands with her. Yeah, I feel the same. Yeah, definitely. Wow, that means a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:32

Any other parting thoughts? Words of wisdom, mantras. I always I always say like the the my last question on the podcast is always because the podcast is called How We Do Small Things. So I always say, um, I always ask, I gotta get the actual length, the verbiage here, um, so I don't mess it up. So bear with me. Um I always ask what small thing did you see, experience, or do recently that made a big impact? And I was trying to think of how could I tie that into communications, but um I'll just be general. Do you have one? If you don't, it's okay.

SPEAKER_04 58:25

Want me to go first?

SPEAKER_02 58:27

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 58:28

Um well, whether it was uh if a member needed their username and password updated, which we do, as you know, get a lot of that um all the time, or hey, can you post uh this picture in the newsletter? Uh all kinds of requests that I get from people, um, or even from our staff members, like, hey, here's new golf scores, can you post them? Or hey, I need a new flyer, can you do this? I just hope my actions uh with everyone that uh I that it was a positive um reflection of God's love. Uh knowing that, you know, hopefully I represented him correctly and shared that with everybody that I meet.

SPEAKER_06 59:17

Yeah, and kind of piggybacking on that, my answer is Mary, because that's been a big part of my experience here at the club so far. And, you know, it's the small things that you do with members, you know, you're talking about taking golf scores or having conversations, but I've watched you pause in the middle of a really busy day and really listen to whatever the member is bringing to you. You know, and there's a smile and there's a kind word and there's a solution offered, and then they go on their way and you go back to what you were doing. But I think those are the small things that have a big impact on others, and seeing that had a small impact, a big impact on me.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 59:55

But well, I know technology can always be frustrating. Sure can. Like we had someone come in today, she was really frustrated, she couldn't get our website on her phone and username and password issues. And I just want to know within all my heart that I when she walks out that office, that she is a hundred percent confident that when she goes home, she can get on quickly and not have that frustration anymore. And that's meaningful to me to know that you know she's she's good to go.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:27

And it's just it's a small thing to you, but a big thing to her, and that's the whole idea is like how we do small things is how we do all things, you know. And if you put the effort and focus into the little stuff, you know, you're naturally gonna put the effort and focus into the big stuff. And you know, the detail stuff makes makes bigger impact off oftentimes.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:49

Yeah, and and you uh at least what I do is I always try to put myself in their shoes. Like, you know, when she goes home, is she gonna be able to log in? Yeah. Or is she gonna be get frustrated and feel like she has to walk back in again?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:04

Right.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:04

Yeah. Well, and in turn, that small thing, in my opinion, is part of what makes the job so rewarding because you know you've helped somebody. Yeah. And for me, that's very rewarding.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

So my small thing, and it's a real small thing, but I think it's gonna be a big impact, is your hours of operation flyer. No, I'm serious. So I and I I think I briefly alluded to you that you know, the way we I've always published them is broken down by service or or up or the area of operation. And I didn't, when I asked Sarah to design it, I didn't tell her how I was how we've always done it in the past, right? And whether or not you intended to do it, but it was such a small thing of you just saying, no, I read this as should be broken down by the day and what's operating on what day. And I it never occurred to me that way. My brain just doesn't see it that way. But I'm looking, I'm like, this to me, to the I put myself in the members' shoes, and that's exactly what you did. I'm like, wait a second, this makes so much more sense. It's so much clearer to the members rather than looking at you know, lunch services, these hours on these days, and dinner services, these in the pro no, here's the day of the week, and here's what's open on each day of the week. Well, the thought of such a clear thing, a small thing, but I'm like, for me, I was like, this is so much easier to explain. It's so much easier to look at, and I think it'll be easier for the members and reciprocals and all of us internally to understand, just say what day is it?

SPEAKER_06 1:02:42

Exactly Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:43

Okay, here's what's open.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:45

Yeah, you have someone that's never been to countryside, they're in the in the golf club.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:48

Big deal.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:49

It's a Thursday, and you know, maybe they're feeling a bit peckish, and they go, Okay, well, do you have anything open here? Well, you just look and Yeah. I'm gonna drive you nuts, Joel, because I ask why a lot. Because I just I like to know that things have a purpose and they're designed with purpose and start with why.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

Simon Cynic. Without the why, the the how and what really don't matter what much. So ask why.

unknown 1:03:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:16

So cool. Should we close it out there?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:20

Can I leave you with a mantra?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:21

Please.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:22

Sun Tzu, Art of War. Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:28

Love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:30

Love it.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:30

Wonderful. That's the mantra I'm gonna carry into season.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:33

We will have several opportunities, I can assure you. Beautiful. Well, ladies, thank you for the time. Thanks, Joe. Mary, congratulations on retirement. Thank you. Enjoy whatever you're going to go enjoy.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:47

Oh, I I have an ending, I guess. I can throw one in. Well, uh, my stepdaughter shared with me uh because my husband and I are wondering, like, okay, now what what do we want to do? And we always thought, okay, we're gonna go travel the world and we have our list of places we wanted to visit. But option two came up last week, um, where my stepson is moving uh kind of within the area between here and Sarasota. Uh actually not here, Pontagorda to Sarasota Sarasota. So we started That's still between here and Sarasota. Yeah. Wherever here is. Yeah. But anyway, uh so we started looking at country uh type of home with more acreage. So anyway, my stepdaughter said to me, Oh, Mary, you're gonna be leaving countryside to go to countryside. So I just thought I I did too. I just love that. So maybe we'll see. We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:50

It'll be great, whatever happens.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:51

Yeah, so and you'll have to come back and visit maybe at the one-year mark. Come see how we're doing. Yeah, we'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:58

Either way, you you're gonna you have to stay in touch. Yes. All right, I will. Yeah, well, good luck, Mary. Thank you. Thanks for all the work, awesome guys. You've you've left a huge impact here, and uh but I leave you in great hands. Sarah, welcome to the family. You're gonna do great, it's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:16

So thank you so much. Your vote of confidence really means a lot, Mary. Yeah, thanks.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:21

Good stuff. All right, right. Peace out.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

Or experience that made a big impact. Talk soon.