Episode 15 - Kathy Smart: A Life of Purpose, A Brand of Integrity

Transcript

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[Music] Oh, we're gonna Fantastic. Hello there, Powerhouse Smart friends and colleagues. I am here at the Powerhouse Smart Cool Collabs podcast. I love this podcast because it allows me to bring to you some of the coolest leaders in the luxury design build real estate sector across the world that believe in collaboration and these are mostly people who I've gotten a you know the opportunity to really get to know and um I also believe uh they have they live their lives with an attitude of gratitude and just it comes

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natural to them to give back to humanity. So today we have a special guest. I'm so excited to have Kathy Smart. She's part of my um world in the Southwest Florida market and she's with PBS Contractors. But as you know, this is a commutable podcast and I like to give as much time as I can to our guests so they can share their incredible stories. So Kathy, welcome. Share with us. Thanks Wendy. So happy to be here with you. It's nice to see your face in the sunshine. I see coming from from the sunshine here. So, it's lovely. Thank

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you so much for inviting me. I appreciate it very much. Oh, I you know what my interaction with you has been for a couple years now and every time I walk away saying, "Wow, what a beacon. She really has an amazing life. Not only professionally, but I love your story personally." So maybe take a minute and just tell us a little about where you are now in your life and then maybe we'll go back and and take a deeper dive and how you got to where you are. Sure, happy to. Sure. I I feel very blessed.

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Well, uh as Wendy mentioned, uh my name is Kathy. I'm with PBS Contractors. We are a local um general contractor here in Naples, Florida. We've been in business for 39 years. Um I head up their marketing and sales department here. uh and really really uh happy and blessed to be part of such an amazing organization. Uh we live on the foundation with the purpose statement of building better lives for our team, for our clients, and for our community. And we really truly live by that every single day. Um and then within that

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purpose statement, we also live by 28 fundamentals. And um these fundamentals are weekly just you know weekly uh reminders of how we really want to run our business. Uh things from being concierge to doing right the right thing always honor commitments. Um listen generously. Uh this is week number 27 and we're building it's build a better life for someone today. And it's really cool because uh the founder of the company, Russell Bud, uh 39 years ago when he in he he brought this fundamental um program in about seven

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years ago into into the company and he really, you know, really stands by it. And so he always says that if there's if there's two people in a in a room, you're having a discussion. If there's three, it's a meeting. And you always start by discussing the fundamental with every meeting. So we really do and we you know for example this morning we had our um our weekly operations meeting and we went around the table to see how did we like this week how are we working this fundamental and are we really

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building a better life and and and sharing some examples. So it's really cool. Uh next week is the last week of our cycle and it's a it's have fun because we always have to remember that there's more to life and we we live you know we work in a very uh challenging industry at times. It's a It's for our clients. It's one of the most stressful things that a that a client can go through. Um so we want to make sure that we're taking care of our team. So have fun. We have something planned every single day for our team. Uh like massage

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Monday, Taco Tuesdays, uh Wednesday, wavy Wednesday, we're taking everyone out on a on a sunset cruise. And uh so just doing fun things like that to remember that, you know, we really we want to we want to build a really great culture together. Wow. That's really fun. Yeah. And and a lot of companies I know strive to kind of have this culture and they they struggle with implementing and really getting it to uh you know to to really be the the way they they live every day. How how do you make that

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happen? How do you Yeah, because you know it's a we both know that the construction industry is not for the faint of heart, right? Exactly. Good question. Well, we actually have all of the fundamentals up on the walls. Number one, we have these in our pockets. Number two, and each week we start the week by having one of the team members um write about one of the fundamentals that's meaningful to them and why. And so we start that week with their story. And we've been doing that for now seven years, like I say. So every So it's it's

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pretty incredible. And it's just something that we've implemented as part of who we are. It's part of our DNA at this point. How many people on your team? 23 23 full-time 23 full time and do you feel pretty confident to say that I could talk to any one of them and and they would very much be able to explain what the fundamental of the week is and how that's changed their lives or do you think I believe so I I believe that they can certainly it's part of the orientation again it's part of the weekly everything so um I'm I know they

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certainly can speak to it because it's in their inbox so they're looking at it every day Um and and it's really wonderful seeing some of the stories of how they interpret, you know, it's it's when the fundamentals were first built um by the leadership of the company seven years ago, they you know, they were looking at the um you know, the temperature at the time and so they really put a lot of thought into what they wanted the company to represent. So it's just been really interesting because we you know every 28 weeks we

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rotate the cycle again. So, it's really interesting how different people have different interpretations of each one of the fundamentals and so the story never gets old. It's always pretty cool. Yeah. Wow. Wow. I can just see that that takes such a what would be a complicated and trying type of job and really, you know, saying, you know, love what you do and really being able to to to pull that into your heart. That's really amazing. So, I'm going to give you a few seconds to think about this while I ask you to

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go back into where did you come where were you before PBS was so lucky to have you join their team because I know you're well suited for this type of a company. But I was going to ask is maybe before we're done at the end of our 20 minute um uh interview here, how can other companies who want to have this incredible culture, how can they get started in doing this themselves? So, we'll leave that. I know that's a little bit of a deeper question, but before we get into that, I want you to share just

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I know it's you and I know each other a little bit more than you know just business friends. So I um pretend we're having a cup of coffee. Share with me your background and how you got to where you are in Naples. Yeah, sure. Thank you. Happy to. Um, well, I've been in, like I say, I I I head up the sales and marketing department here, um, at PBS, and I've been in sales and marketing pretty much all my life, literally out of high school. It's a I go, if I'm going to go back that far, I, uh, I was

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supposed to go in one direction with college and I went in a totally different direction with work and career. And so, it's it's sort of been something that I've I've learned and known all of my life. And I'm not going to give you the numbers so that you don't do the math. Um but uh but certainly it's been it's been a lot of fun. Everything from uh owning my own moving and storage business. So that's taken care of all of those different aspects. Um to uh to working in the alternative health care field, which is

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was one of the most some of the most fabulous years of my life because I met some of the most incredible healers from all over the world. That was just fantastic. So those are that was a really wonderful time. Then into into media again taking still all of my my training into uh into media uh into and events. And then finally I met the love of my life and uh who happened to be living in Naples, Florida. He's I'm from Canada originally, born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Um but and uh I

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actually but spent most of my time grow uh living in Calgary, Alberta and that's where I met my uh my now husband and he he was too from he's a dual citizen but was also from Calgary but was just visiting there and on his way back to Florida and we met. So it was a lot of long distance a little bit of a longdistance romance into into engagement and marriage and it's been the most wonderful. We've been together, we've been together for over 11 years and married for six. So, it's been wonderful. But, it brought me to Naples.

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And at the time, I was still working for um it was a very large uh event in conference management company called EqualsMC Squared. We had offices in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. And we were one of the largest uh organizations in that industry in Canada. Um, and they were so gracious and wonderful and I loved being with them because they allowed me to to work remotely from here and then I would travel back up to Canada on occasion. Well, then co happened and of course the event industry was um, you know, taken a

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back. So, we ended up, you know, we we all took personal um personal sacrifices to keep the company going, which I I I don't regret whatsoever because it's they're still some of my dearest friends to this day. Um but looking now here, living here in Naples and deciding to actually be here was then I needed to really think about how did I want to become part of this community because am I still am I there or am I here? So, I dusted off a resume because I've been fortunate enough through my life that my

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work has taken me from people that I've, you know, people that I've known that have referred me along the way. So, I dusted off a resume and there were three jobs that I was thinking, okay, well, I think I could probably do this. I know nobody here. I know everybody in Calgary. I know nobody here. Um, and I submitted the my resumes and then I got this call a week later from PBS and I went, "Oh, exciting. That was one that I really wanted." And then they said PBS contractors and I went, "Contractors?" I actually thought that I

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was applying for public broadcasting system because that was my background, PBS. And so clearly I was, my husband and I were on our way to go out for dinner that night, so maybe I wasn't paying attention to detail, which is one of our fundamentals, by the way. So, um, but so I took the took the interview and I was just really impressed with how they, um, how they presented themselves and what they were all about and a very stable company here in town, like I say, and um, and so I just ex I just continued

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down that path of learning more. It was an extensive um, interview process. I I interviewed three different times. I had to do a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation on the fundamental. So that just goes how how important it is. I and um so it was it was really interesting but it was the best decision I ever made. So I'll be celebrating five years with them this month in June actually and um I'm I'm thrilled like it's it's everything really that I'm all about. So I'm happy to support them while they strongly

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support me. Sure. and you know they probably you know typically a construction company's looking for somebody who has experience in some kind of the design build world but they looked at your resume and given that they truly walk the talk right they saw healing they they saw you know your diverse background about serving people right and that so most companies again I go back to who really want to evolve they they they can't get outside of that you know I'm going to change my attitude and PBS right five years ago whoever was

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you know the decision maker to bring you in just could see right through through it and I'm just so odd like the healing part is excites me because that's my world I know we we have to have more conversations about that one day Wendy for sure we're on this journey together and uh so I love it and so then you know so again what a perfect marriage and then to see meet you and go wow Wow. I I have like a soul sister in Naples, Florida. We don't get to see each other as often as I'd like, but when I'm in

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town, it just feels amazing. And everywhere you go, you're like a a shining light, Kathy. I appreciate that very much. Thank you. You as well. Trust me, you as well. So, thank you. Yes. And what I love best is we talk about cool collaborators. You know, obviously you're a leader within PBS, but you've been a leader in every company that including owning your own company as an entrepreneur. But when I when I see you in a room, you just are just always so open-minded and willing to walk up to someone and learn about what they're

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doing and then help them without expecting anything in return. And so definitely a role model and I love well I appreciate that and you know what I think this particular community is very much like that and I learned that very quickly. One of my you know one of my methods of getting to know the community is just say yes. say yes to everything and get to know everyone. Um because that's how you learn best is exactly what is the heartbeat of a community is by really getting involved in as many aspects as possible. So one of the first

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things that I was really of course industry-wise I got involved with the interior design society right away which I'm now on the board of. I got involved with the um the um collier building industry association which I'm now on the board of. So all of those things industry-wise was really important, but even outside of that community-wise, um my the the leadership of the company, they've been very involved with uh the leadership collier program here, which is run by the Greater Naples Chamber. and the leadership caller program you

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apply to be a part of an very intensive program over an like it's it's a commitment for life quite frankly but it's a it's it's you know the first couple of years you're very very um instilled in it. You're learning everything from healthc care from to education to law enforcement um to um to growth management and you're really seeing every corner nook and cranny of the um of the community. As a matter of fact, I'm now on a chair for the leadership uh collier lunch uh leadership lunch committee. We just had

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our last lunch of the of the season. I just literally came back, sat down, put a little lip gloss on, and here I am. They um we just had we were at the uh emergency command center, which was really cool seeing the behind the scenes as we're preparing going into hurricane season starting next month. So, so that was really cool. So, I was really fortunate that I had a company that supported me in that to be able to see that. But what I've learned about this community, and I'm sure it's like that everywhere, but this place, you know,

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it's small, smaller, and it's really, really tight. Everyone does really know each other, but everybody really supports each other. Um, and it's a very philanthropic community. They're, you know, um, great supporters of many important, incredible causes. So, it's just it's it's it's awesome. And so the more you see and and and breathe what the community is all about, the more you really want to be involved and you find your you find your special place, right? Yes, absolutely. And yeah, and I was

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telling you that I was looking for our charity to be the benefactor of our luxury conference. Uh and sure enough, you gave me a list and a great uh start for me to do my research and then I ended up letting you know, hey, we picked David Lauren Senters and you're like, yes, that's like what it's amazing. Yeah, absolutely. It's wonderful. Thank you so much. We um actually this month, May, is mental health awareness month. Uh today, is mental health action day. May and so that's why we're all wearing green. So,

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a lot of our u a lot of our team members are wearing green for the day. We lit up our our building green. We've changed our logo on our website and on our all of our social medias for green today so that we can uh just uh raise awareness for mental health. So, yeah. Absolutely. I love that. I love that. This is going way too fast. You know, our 20 minutes is like flying. Great. That's okay. Can always do another time again. Yes, we can. Absolutely. So, back to I just everything that you you said is so

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valuable and so helpful and I'll I'll have a summary too and and links to for people to reach out to you because I know you're always so open to meeting people and and that's what absolutely for. Right. Right. Um but back to that last question for um companies that really want to do the right thing and want to have a culture and I know you're a blue zone company. Correct. Yeah, we are blue zone um certified work worksp space as well. Absolutely. And we're going to talk a lot about that during the luxury conferences this year. Oh,

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good. Yeah. So, and we'll get more from you too. So, how can somebody who's got a company even maybe only they have three employees or they have 23 employees, it doesn't matter. How how do they get started? What do you recommend? Sure. Well, these I mean we didn't just say let's build 28 fundamentals uh one day. Um we actually I was just going to see if I could pull something up here for you, but I will send it to you so you have a link Wendy to share. Um but it's actually through an organization

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called Culture Wise and they put together they actually can bring out to help you can go through workshops to help you build what does that fundamental what do those fundamentals look for you? how was it meaningful to your company? So um it so you don't have to start from zero. It's it's a really great um support system and um so that's number one. Um but I would say the first thing you need to believe in it and you need to believe that it's actually part of uh your foundation of how you want to

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um live it every day. And that's that's the that's the commitment. And I know we all we always get busy and it's easy to let that kind of slide away but it's really truly one of the most important things that uh you know keeping us keep us moving forward for a purpose right yeah wonderful wonderful advice absolutely so true and and and I have learned that adopting that attitude in your life really makes those hard things you know the business is hard it makes it easier because now you have a choice

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step back be the observer What are those fundamentals that we're working on? Oh yeah. How would we handle that from that perspective? And now the emotion goes away and you can be a more balanced human soul. Right. Abs. I've tell you and they're magical. Like every week they come out and there's always some sort of it's how did this particular situation come up that I can apply this fundamental and not even just in business. I've pulled it out on my kids too. So it's Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I love that. So, you know,

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the three pillars are cool collaborators and leaders, obviously, living life with an attitude of gratitude. It just exudes from you, Kathy, and then giving back to help humanity. And I know you do it from the outside, just on your daily all these boards and whatnot. And then also, you get to do it within your company. So, full circle, you are my hero. Oh, Wendy, please. Likewise. Oh, thank you. Thank you for pulling us all together always. Yes, it's amazing. We'll continue to do that. So, I'm going to

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have links to how to find Kathy, all about PBS contractors. We love you guys and obviously you're a thriving company in the Naples market. You you know, obviously have a reputation that is um you know, just beyond, you know, as far as leadership and integrity and quality and and I'm sure your clients probably appreciate that you have this culture as well because wow, what absolutely. Oh, I we share it with them for sure when we first present our work. We absolutely share that this is something that's

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really important to us. Yeah. Brilliant. Okay. Well, Kathy, I love you. I'll be actually um in Naples soon. You and I will get together and have more discussions on our soul journeys. Sounds good. Sounds wonderful. Well, safe travels. Thank you for having me and we'll see you real soon, Wendy. We'll see you too, my girlfriend. Bye. Bye. All right. And