Hey, welcome back to another episode of Team Builders where we are unpacking the insights, the strategies, the leadership qualities of leaders in the real estate business, growing their teams, scaling their reach, and impacting a larger number of buyers and sellers through their businesses today. I've got a special guest, a personal client, a long time friend, someone that is has certainly been challenged recently and has been forced. Dare I say to step up her leadership because of the impact of Hurricane Ian in Southwest Florida So I Want to get into what she's done, how she's done it, and shared just with you some of the insights that you can glean from this extraordinary leader because we're all going to experience crisis in our life. So Mary Bartos I am so excited you're joining us! How are you today? Great! thank you so much for asking! So Mary several weeks ago something happened.

Everyone knew it was coming. Um, it's almost hard to Fathom unless you've seen the pictures or followed along or you've been on the streets and on the ground how devastating this was. Help help. The Listener Understand, like give us the behind the scenes.

How devastating was this hurricane? Not just you know for the everyday person, but for the whole psyche of the community and then of course your real estate practice. Sure! so you know the crazy thing is with a hurricane Tom is you have a lot of notice so you know they roll off the coast of Africa and you get them named and you go on and on and on. So we knew it was coming. we just didn't know what size it was and it get got bigger as it came across the gulf.

Now having said that, it took um a Barrier Island Sanibel on straight on. and the surge on this storm because it got so much momentum through its time over the gulf really was huge and that was devastating in certain areas. My area was only eight and a half feet which sounds pretty tall, but our homes are built for this type of of you know storm unfortunately. and you know of the 50 on my team only one really had damage.

but 10 of our Market Tom at around 45 000 roughly were either damaged or destroyed. And you know, ten percent a lot. and it's a lot for buyers and sellers to kind of get their head around. So you know what do you do because you see it on the news it was.

You know the news as you said is meant to terrify, not clarify and it's just all over the news of this horrific site that you see in say Lee County in Fort Myers Beach where a lot of people go and Sanibel places they've gone and seen and loved. So that's the behind the scenes back story. Yeah, um and thank you for putting that in context too. it's 45 000 families homes.

Um, and you mentioned eight feet but that meant that meant you were safe and there was eight feet of water coming through parking lots, streets, neighborhoods. and I know for the person listening, you know, maybe you've never experienced something like this or you've only seen it on the news. Um, but is it safe to say that the world kind of shuts down during this time? That there's just there's nothing but survival. Yeah, you're hunkering down.

Hopefully a lot of people leave, which you know, not as many left as should have. Um, I Personally was the first time to watch it in Live and up Close and you're just kind of looking at it going. okay. I know high tide is here and when are they saying it's going to hit and and the world stopped that day? You know what was that movie way back in? Um, remember that science fiction movie Tom That said, the world stopped.

um, the day this the? Earth Stood Still Yes, you kind of felt like that now the next day after that? Tom Really is? You know in certain areas some of our restaurants were open feeding people that were in the higher areas. You know again, ninety percent of our Market is fine. Maybe lost some power, maybe some other issues, but this 10 percent that's devastated. Like you said, 45 48 000 families that that's a lot and it's a lot to them.

and there are still areas that are really struggling as well. So so Walk The Listener through your process and I I don't recall if you called me from a satellite phone or from a cell phone when we were first chatting about, you know what was going on and you know what? What should we say to the team? What's the right message? Just kind of walk people through that process of what you did to rally the troops. Well, you know? Yes. I Actually, my office came up and running pretty quickly on the Saturday following.

Um, but you know we have unfortunately been through this before. Uh, Irma was the last one. It was in 2017 so that was five years ago and the play is just like we did in the pandemic. First of all, reach out to our clients to make sure they're okay.

What can we do? How can we help? You know what resources can we bring both? and um, people that are doing work, people that need to cut out work you know, on at the Bartos group we had, um, great resources that could go along and help along the way with that. um after that and in addition to that I would say making sure your team's okay if you're running a team because you know it's kind of like the oxygen mask says put it on first and then help others. You got to make sure your team is okay and then um, and then it's You know as that starts to kind of dissipate. Here we are a month later now.

What are we going to do with business now? Many of you may ask, are you still writing? You know, are you still selling things? Absolutely. Because the investors are coming in and there's there's people that need to get out of their house, they don't want to rebuild it. You know the land is worth a lot of money in our area, so we're blessed. So yeah, we're during this month long, we're still.

You know, writing contracts, helping people buy uh and sell. But you know it's a psyche that you have to get through. And I have to say Tom one of the best things that really you and I talked about is really what we're doing and and I'll I'll let you tee that up? Sure. So I want to go back to the very first thing you said You said Just like in the pandemic, the very first play that anybody should be running when in a crisis, right is first and foremost take care of your clients, reach out to your past clients, reach out to your friends, reach out to your providers, your partners, the people that it's like show how large Your Capacity to care is in that moment and I know that that'll sound different for some people because a lot of people when in a crisis.

The first thing they say is I need to check on me am I Okay, well our experience Mary you and I haven't gone through the pandemic and now through this is our head is a scary place to be. So if we're fully focused on ourselves right assuming that you're physically okay right? If you're fully focused on yourselves, you're going to get in your head and you're going to be in trouble. So we know the fastest way to get yourself out of a funk is first to move your body differently. Secondly, it is to focus on others to contribute.

But once you had done that and started that momentum with the team and then got your team's head right, we started baking up this concept. I'm like well you know what could you do to and I forget I forget the exact question Mary So if I if I butcher this just you know, correct me right here on live on my own podcast. It was like what could you do to show the other side of this because the news is only going to show devastation. So there I Teach up what'd you come up with So collectively Tom I think I'm pretty sure I'm pretty confident this was your idea.

So I'm going to give credit where credit's due was hashtag good news SW And the benefit of that is we're catching people doing amazing things. you know, donating things Food Supplies whatever restaurants that are open. Um, and we're posting that up on a regular basis. You know we have 30 plus agents on our team.

um, you know we're doing at least three or four of these posts a day and just making sure that people know that things are still working and doing well here. you know I was I was interviewing because I Tom I Know you know this about me, but I love to eat out. It takes a lot to support this figure. I have so um so I you know a little too much and I was at a restaurant last um week ago Friday with the owner and he goes Mary thank you for doing this because people need to know we're here and we're ready and our businesses are here and to come on down.

Yes, and you know it's not about us at that point because it's about our restaurants, about our services. all the people that support this community, we need to make sure they're still there and still supporting it when things get back to normal. and if it's anything like Tom it has been in the past, it takes us about a month to get back up and running and then for the next couple months we kind of, you know, hiccup a little bit and then by month three or four especially in season which we're coming up to, we'll we should be back in gear and if the analysts are saying what they did for the last ones, we'll see about a seven percent increase in our Market It's really interesting to think about, you know just that. Just that statement that that home prices will go up by seven percent because of this.

So someone's gonna ask why is that Mary Well you know it's a good question. First of all, you know in the areas that you know are safe and people know that the goal of that is honestly to that they still want to come down, they still want their piece of paradise, they still want it and they're like oh my gosh, if they can survive a hundred year storm it's going to be okay. Yeah and then you've got the folks that um, you know need to need to sell. but our land is worth so much more now Tom than it was before that if the house was destroyed, the structure in one of those 1970s 60s homes is not worth very much.

but the land is right. So then you've got the people that are building and doing all that. So it's just a supply and demand and you know, improved construction from when they were originally built to now how they're going to be built. I I Gotta say I was blown away I Was watching um like a snippet that somebody had sent me of the Goober.

Whatever, you know, the the race between the two people that want to be uh, governor in Florida and hearing that they've rebuilt the bridges one in just a few days and one in two weeks was pretty remarkable. Sanibel I know you and Kathy haven't made it down to our neck of the woods this time, but I know you know you have a family member that had a place down here. That bridge is an engineering feat. Yes, well.

Governor DeSantis said to get that bridge back up and running in two weeks to get people back on to see what had happened with their homes. right? right? So so if you were to to sort of recap this experience if someone was saying to you Mary what did you do right? Where did you miss? you know what would you have done differently? You know. looking now back 30 days ago, Wow, that's a really good question. Um, because this isn't my first rodeo with this.

We had a practice shot with Irma Sure. um I think Ian is a lot bigger and more devastating than Irma was. um I there's not enough time for me to get it all done. you know? I Would have liked to have deployed more of my team out to do property checks faster.

We didn't have internet we didn't have with Spotty phone service but I would have loved to have done that I just felt like that. you know we were calling. We were talking doing everything we could, but it just wanted to do it faster. From my team perspective.

Um I Touched base with them all before to make sure they were going to go be safe after and then you know again and then I'd talk to them for an hour every day, you know? I The jury's out on whether I'm doing that right Tom or not because um, you might think I'm a bit of a robot as much of a heart as I have an easy cry that I am Tom yes when it comes to this I'm like, put it aside, people need our help. Get busy, stop messing around, you know, kind of messaging and I don't know if I'm a little too hard on them. time at times? I'm not really sure. Yeah, um, but what I do know is that we're doing the best we can right now to get through it and to come out on the other side.

We did it with a pandemic. we did it with Irma We did it with the Gulf Oil spill. you know? I've started my career and been through this so many times that the Playbook is always the same. just a little bit of a tweak.

Yeah, you know you don't wish that on anybody having to have all those experiences. Um, but what does it tell you about you? Well, I'm crusty. No editing in these podcasts Mary My crusty broad. You know from that perspective.

yeah, what does that mean? What does that mean? A crusty? Rod Yeah, Thank you. Resilient. Super strong, Like what you wanted? Yeah. But you know when people look at you sometimes you know they as you and I have talked many times.

you know they see the side. That's the strength. Yeah and some of mine that if they're I have a soft under underbelly but they don't see when you're like going. What? What the what? Uh, you know how is this gonna all come together And I know by the grace of God this always comes together.

and whether we make money or we lose money or whatever, the money is not the most important thing. it's our clients. It's our prospective clients and our team and not necessarily in that order that make that. It is what this business is all about.

right? And I remember that Saturday morning when you and I were chatting and it was you know, is the phone going to work? Is it not going to work? Can we hear each other and I just you know said you? God I watched the news and I was devastated and we both started crying. Yeah, so there is something to being that leader. Who can you know let out that emotion, Who can show that emotion and then turn that emotion into strength because we both know your team. your Marketplace all of your clients needed you at your very best.

So how did you just kind of staying on that same how did you keep that strength when a lot of people marry? Just in no judgment here. a lot of people just crumble in that moment. Where do you find the strength? Hmm Well my dad used to say you could edit this out right? Tom oh my God damn it. Um my dad used to say if you get kicked over or you fall down and you can look up, you can get up and that's just what I do every day you know.

say the line again. If you get if you fall down or you get kicked down and you can look up, you can get up. So the first thing is if your hat faces in the dirt you better roll over. and then once you roll over and you can see the stars you can, you know or the sun.

whatever you can get up and you just don't focus on it. you know I think the other side of that is, you know I'm a firm believer that you don't take the groove of the old records that had the groove and you keep doing the same mental information over and over and over again. You just have to break that record and say this is who cares Yeah and you know I Guess we've always we've you know I Started this with the Gulf Oil spill. So I got into the business two weeks later the Gulf Oil spill happened.

Well guess what? I quit my six figure plus income I had a family and you know I was joining Joe in the business and and it wasn't making really any money at the time I'm like huh? Well I'll take the summer off and then I'll figure it out and I met you shortly shortly thereafter because within that first year of me joining I thought well I did everything my broker said and that didn't quite work out. And so you know I just know it's always going to work out. it always does. and maybe that's just experience of getting kicked enough that you know um I just shared.

You know Barbara Corcoran's um podcast or Ted Talk that she did the one with her, um, her gal that I I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody but um, you know she said at the end of that she said people fail well and I guess I fail well because I have so many at bats that I fail enough that I fail forward. Yes and you just got every single cliche thing Tom that goes through my head right in the in those moments. Yeah, yeah. so Mary I just want to say publicly.

you know as I've said to you many times: I appreciate your strength I know that your market and your team and your clients appreciate your leadership and I could I could make the argument that the entire Community around us like we all appreciate the strength. We know it wasn't easy, but you did it and you did it well right? So no second guessing. You know the plays. You did it right.

So as we get near wrapping this up, if you were to just share with us what's one piece of advice you would say to someone who's going to say well, I didn't go through. you know, necessarily a hurricane. but I feel like my business got hit by a hurricane because of inflation and interest rates and demand being lower? What advice do you have for that person? Well, it's the same advice I'm giving my team and that is just work your way out of it. Tom I Mean it's accountability.

Get an accountability partner, Do your calls, Um, talk to more people and miraculously the business will follow because there's a lot of Duds out there and you just got to find the studs and you know, um, we all have those moments where you're like crap. What? Now what? you know? How am I going to do this? If you don't give up, you don't lose mic drop I Love it Mary I Love you. Thank you so much for being on this podcast. Uh, so if somebody wants to reach out to you or they just want to know what else is going on, do they follow you on the hashtag? what's the best way for somebody to reach out to DM you on Instagram Oh, there's so many ways you can get to me.

uh YouTube Bartos group uh Premiere plus Realty Facebook Personally, everything that gets to me personally is Mary Bartos um Instagram LinkedIn you know Facebook and um my email is Marriottbartosgroup.com and I give you out that because if you have a specific question and you don't want to DM me or you know how DM can be weird sometimes, um, feel free to send me an email I'm happy to share as you all know we're I Don't know when this will air time but we just came off of a great team plus leadership um event and it was fabulous and um you know I got the privilege and the honor to speak at that and you know I just I Feel that it it is just our privilege. When you're at the level of your game, it's your honor and privilege to give back. Yes, you know if we don't do that then why are we in it? So whether it's to a team, whether it's to a colleague, whether it's your family, you know, whatever level you're at giving back. And as you said, Tom early on in this hey, when you're it's a mess, go do something different and and then come back to it and I'll tell you I still haven't learned that all the way.

Tom but I'm really working on it. Yeah, you're doing great my dear. Well, thank you so much for for sharing on this show and for my friend listening. Um I would definitely email Mary if you got a question.

make sure you follow her on social. Definitely follow up on the hashtag Good News SW Uh keep you know let's keep promoting that. Let's keep promoting the good news and uh and as always make sure you like subscribe and do all that hit the notification button stuff. So Mary I'll see you on our next coaching session.

Thank you so much for being a part of this and keep up the great leadership my dear! We'll see you soon! Thank you thank you.