Publisher's Note | The Year Ahead

By Robert Orso

This publisher’s note is written one month in advance of publication, so I would not dare to make any predictions on where our country and community will be in dealing with COVID19, the economy or life in general. I will only state my optimism about the year ahead. The vaccine is being distributed and my hope is that we will soon be an unmasked society again! We all long for normalcy to return and I refuse to believe that normal will be some kind of “new normal.” No, normal would be how things were pre-COVID-19. I believe all of you want the real normal.

We have been truly fortunate that our community has been much less altered than some other areas of the country, which means that we will return to normal life earlier than most areas. Let us be thankful for that!

I would like to offer my condolences to any of you who have had family members or friends adversely affected or who have died due to COVID-19. A few months ago, I did not know anyone who had COVID. Now I know many and have even lost a couple of elderly acquaintances. My, what a year it has been.

Looking ahead, we should all be prayerful and hopeful that 2021 will be a year like no other. I have learned that keeping a positive attitude, speaking cheerful words, and focusing on the things that are most important to me and my family will typically yield great results. I have several goals for this year, some of them lofty, and I am sure you do as well. Focus and faith are the key.

My goals include the growth and effectiveness of this publication. The Real Producers Platform includes two things. This magazine and quarterly, private social events for the top agents and partners who receive the magazine – the best of the best. We launched our first publication in April 2020, but we have been unable to have our first social event due to COVID. That is about to change. In the next issue, I will announce the details of our first event(s). Due to crowd restrictions, we will probably have two to three smaller events in different locations and hopefully have a BIG EVENT late spring.

We hear a lot on the news about how resilient we Americans are to bounce back from hard times, but I believe we can multiply the resiliency factor by five on the Gulf Coast. I am happy that, despite COVID and lockdowns, the real estate business has been extremely good for all of you. Now all you need is more inventory to list and sell. My guess is that you all hope the market is as good this year as it was last year. You are in the fortunate position of not needing to bounce back but bounce up.

God only knows what this year holds, but I am full of faith and expectation that great things are at our door. I hope you are too!