Biz Forward August 2020 by Renaissance Publishing

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B I Z F O R W A R D : T H E R OA D TO R E COV E R Y

R E A L E STAT E

Results, Not Excuses Even in the face of challenges, quality must never suffer

WHEN Y OU’ R E LOOK I NG FOR A NEW

home in New Orleans, you want a real estate agent who knows the ins and outs of the city, someone with a passion for the people and communities that make this a place like no other. Look no further than Stacie Carubba. A New Orleans native and a graduate of Mount Carmel Academy and Louisiana State University, she’s dedicated her life to helping families find the perfect home in the perfect neighborhood. In the way some people have an eye for art, Stacie has an eye for real estate. That should come as no surprise — she grew up working in her family’s civil engineering and construction business, which uniquely enables her to visualize every home’s potential from the moment she steps through the front door. Even in a pandemic, Stacie’s top priority is helping her clients find the home of their dreams, and she won’t stop until every one of those dreams becomes a reality. In what ways are you thriv ing and pushing forward as a business during COVID-19? I have always been forward thinking and have tried to carve my own path in the real estate industry when it comes to traditional practices of business. Virtual tours and appointments have been a staple in my business for years, but throughout the pandemic, I have refined my process to implement social distancing practices and

additional sanitation measures. Additionally, I have increased my level of communication and data reporting I provide to my clients in an effort to deliver a sense of comfort and security through detailed information. Now that Louisiana and the City of New Orleans have entered Phase 2 re-opening, the real estate industry is booming again. With interest rates at a historic low, it is a great time to buy or start an investment portfolio. It is also an advantageous time to sell because the available inventory is low in comparison to the amount of demand. How have you maintained a sense of company culture? Not too much has changed for me as far as working remotely. I’ve always worked from home, and most of my work is done at properties, meeting with clients and prospective buyers and sellers. I am self-employed and have one part-timer, Claire, working with me, and I just hired another team member last week. Throughout the pandemic, I wanted to maintain a sense of normalcy with Claire by continuing to grow and develop future plans and ideas while we had the “down” time during March and April. I also wanted to make sure I did everything in my power to maintain her salary and pay because she is a valuable asset to my team. Are there any lessons you have learned? Any new technology you’ ve embraced? The pandemic has taught me gratitude. Real estate is a very personal business built on lasting relationships and trust. Without those deep-rooted connections with my clients and colleagues, my business would not have been able to survive. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and I think the pandemic has taught me a lot about myself and what is important. Every day I wake up grateful for the opportunity to do what I love in my favorite city on earth. Real estate is more than a profession to me: it is a lifestyle.

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Real estate is more than a profession to me: it is a lifestyle. STA CI E CA R U B B A TOP PRODUCING AGENT

ATHENA REAL ESTATE 118 W. HARRISON AVE. • STE. 301 • (504) 434-SOLD • STACIE@STACIECARUBBA.COM

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T E C H N O LO G Y

The Future of Frontline Defense Non-invasive temperature solutions help manage and mitigate risk.

CHANGI NG TI M ES CAL L FOR CHANGI NG

technologies, and as society adjusts to new standards of safety, DigiTHERM is helping to provide peace of mind with its innovative new products. The DigiTHERM Infrared Body Temperature Scanning Kiosk was created to serve a wide range of industries, including hospitality and education, in order to detect elevated body temperatures and protect against the spread of viruses. The touchless kiosks are simple to use, yet complex in their design: one at a time, employees and patrons are scanned by a handsfree, Level D medical grade thermal sensor. Any temperatures over 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit trigger an alert, enabling employers, restaurants and venues to effectively and immediately detect potential hazards. In this way, DigiTHERM is leading the charge toward providing a sense of safety and security to businesses, organizations and educators nationwide. In what ways are you thriv ing and pushing forward as a business during COVID-19? We are pushing forward not in spite of COVID-19, but because of COVID-19. I had the virus in March and had time to think about how the industry I’ve worked in for 30 years, hospitality, will be affected. Temperature checking of convention attendees or corporate clients entering ballrooms for events was my first thought; festivals and concerts were my second thought. Because of that, and through research

of available technology, we began DigiTHERM as a tool to help not only venues, but also attendees feel a little safer knowing that at least no one around them has a high temperature. We understand that people can still have the virus and not have a high temperature, but felt that addressing those who do have a temperature would be the first line of defense. Are there any lessons you have learned? Any new technology you’ ve embraced? Through research and marketing, we have found that this technology not only works for the hospitality industry, but also for the medical community, law firms, retirement homes and, most importantly, educational institutions. We are now supporting several local high schools with temperature checking of students when they arrive for school. This allows for less staff to take hand-held temperatures of every student, saving time and money for the high schools. It also keeps the temperature takers socially distant from the students, and we have found that we can process around 15-20 students a minute. After manufacturing the kiosks locally, we had to address how restaurants and caterers would do contact tracing of all customers. For those restaurants that don’t take reservations, we created Safe-Trace, which is a fast, secure, cost-effective solution for businesses to collect patron information per city COVID-19 guidelines and utilize the data for future marketing initiatives. Do you anticipate your business w ill change in any way when the community opens back up? If so, how ? We do anticipate an increase in sales when the community opens back up because more people will come in contact with our infrared temperature scanning kiosks and become more comfortable with the process. The kiosks are there for their peace of mind and the establishment that they are entering. These kiosks are independent of each other and are not connected to Wi-Fi or the cloud. They are not storing names and information; they are merely taking your temperature hands free and non-invasively. This, along with wearing masks, is what our immediate and distant future will encompass. We are trying to make everyday operations easier, safer and more efficient for everyone involved.

DIGITHERM KIOSKS

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We are trying to make everyday operations easier, safer and more efficient for everyone involved.

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DAV I D R OM E CO-OWNER

DIGI-THERM 1461 N. CAUSEWAY BLVD. • STE. 13 • MANDEVILLE • (504) 233-2166 • DIGI-THERM.COM

SPONSORED

B I Z F O R W A R D : T H E R OA D TO R E COV E R Y

CO N ST R U CT I O N

A People-First Approach Developing strong connections is the best way forward

CO N S T R U C T I O N P R OJ E C T S O F A N Y K I N D

are a major investment, so Mayer Building Company strives to provide reliable, high-quality service and expert guidance from the moment they meet a new client. Their capabilities span all aspects of commercial general contracting, retail construction, historic renovations, design/ build projects and more. The team’s years of collective experience and dedication ensure they can make any customer’s vision a reality on schedule, on budget and with no unexpected surprises along the way. Behind the scenes, Mayer Building Company boasts a supportive, unified work environment, which poised them for continued success even when COVID-19 disrupted traditional methods of meeting, collaborating and building. In the same way they tackle any project, Ryan D. Mayer and his team have set their sights on the future, moving onward and upward as they go. In what w ay s are you thriv ing and pushing for w ard as a business during COVID-19? In the early days of the pandemic, I made a list of goals for both myself and my company to focus on in the event we had downtime. As you can imagine, there was downtime. Among other things, I wanted to seek and obtain a new Mississippi license, OSHA 30 Hour professional certification, publish a couple of trade articles, maintain or try to maintain current staff levels, secure government assistance, increase my bonding capacity, tune up my online presence and newsletters, develop a new sales strategy to fit with the times, make charitable donations (even if minor), and spend most of my time focusing on people, not projects. I’d say the completion rate is at 85-90 percent. The net

result is that these accomplishments not only made me a stronger leader, but also allowed for deeper connections to my stakeholders. How hav e you maintained a sense of company culture? Along with the personal and professional objectives I identified, I asked my staff to cultivate their own goal lists for our company. I’ve also expressed to each and every one of them my gratitude for “sticking it out” with me. Our company culture is based on fairness above most everything, and during trying times, fairness always serves well. Other than that, we have been in the business of expressing gratitude to customers, trying to find out what will be helpful to them and accommodating those requests. Lastly, while the conventional construction technician doesn’t necessarily convey a “picture of health,” times like these helped us pay more attention to regular workaday best practices of hand washing, eating healthier and effectively using PPE. What has been your ex perience w ith the change to remote w ork ing? Administratively, we had a smooth transition, but unfortunately, actual construction work cannot be done remotely. We excelled at maintaining CDC guidelines at our job sites, and our work schedules were adjusted for limited crews or trade-by-trade mobilizations. Our owners were apprised of (and appreciated) this adjustment. At one time, we had a person call in with a fever, so we shut down the job for a recommended period, disinfected surfaces with a qualified vendor, re-mobilized and still managed to complete the job to the customer’s satisfaction. I’m particularly proud of how we handled that. Do you anticipate your business w ill change in any w ay when the community opens back up? If so, how ? I sure hope so. Change is good! I hope my staff is more tightly woven; I hope my subcontractors and vendors know I appreciate them; I hope my owners and design colleagues get a more robust sense of our customer advocacy. We’ve made some in-house promotions, and we set goals to participate in at least one additional staff volunteer day and one additional team-building day per year. More systematically, we’ve already streamlined our Bid Solicitation program and CRM, and we tuned up IT and online marketing. We hope to find a good, cheap cloud-based project management software by 2021.

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During trying times, fairness always serves well.

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RY AN D. MAYER OWNER

MAYER BUI LDI NG COMPANY 1000 NORTH BROAD STREET • NEW ORLEANS • (504) 315-8423 • MAYERBUILT.COM