Running the Bases with Small Businesses

Visit Central Italy - Win a Vacation Home in Italy

October 19, 2020 Randy Rohde Season 1 Episode 13
Running the Bases with Small Businesses
Visit Central Italy - Win a Vacation Home in Italy
Show Notes Transcript

Running the Bases today with Armand Giovannotto the CEO & Founder of Visit Central Italy - a unique real estate venture with offices around the globe.  Visit Central Italy specializes in representing properties, as you would guess - in central Italy.  VCI markets international properties, sells homes via real estate contests, and provides vacation rental accommodations. 

Armand explains how he manages a team with offices in Texas, U.K., and Italy.  Is it difficult - yes - but as Armand shares, “I get up and I make my to-do list every morning. I look at my to-do list from the day before, make sure everything is checked off on that.  I plan everything we do. And so, routine and planning are our keys to get things done.  

Selecting the right team member, investing in development, and building the team is crucial to delivering the customer experience that is expected by Armand, and is necessary for success in real estate.  As he states “So number one, taking care of the client. And then everything else comes, after that. But in order to do that, everyone has to be really on the same page.”

It’s a fascinating show as Armand also details how YOU can WIN a vacation home in Italy!  Don’t miss this show - and possibly something that could change your life.


Learn more about Visit Central Italy and how to win a vacation home in Italy  at www.visitcentralitaly.com


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Randy Rohde:

I'm Randy Rohde and I'm fascinated with entrepreneurs and small business owners. Plus I love baseball. Every show I sit down with the small business owner and we discuss their running the bases of entrepreneurship. We throw the ball around on strategy management, execution and innovation, plus a little fun baseball talk. Hey, thanks for joining us today. Settle in, grab your Cracker jacks and you know what they say? Oh right., I am Randy Rohde and you've got running the bases. We're small businesses and we have a really unique guest with us today. And as a matter of fact, Actually, this is a guest we've not had in this particular industry, which is in real estate. So he's been in the real estate industry for about 20 years, has his own real estate company, which is about two years old., but now we get into the really interesting stuff. So this is a guy he lives in Texas. His office is based out of London. He sells property in Italy. Wrap your minds around that a little bit., and then he also,, create contests in a very clever way to win a vacation home in Italy., and so we're going to get into that a little bit as well. So, hopefully I'm not going to butcher your name. I've I've really have been practicing this. All right. So I'm going to even get to see if I can get the, uh, the RS in here. Armand Giovannotto.

Armand Giovannotto:

Hey, that's excellent. Good job. You look at that row in your R's.

Randy Rohde:

All right, so Hey, so Armond, before we get into your unique real estate company, tell us how does it work? How do you live in Texas office in London, but sell properties in Italy and plus probably around the world. So how do you make that work? I can't get it.

Armand Giovannotto:

Oh, my gosh. It's, it's a challenge, especially when you have little ones in school, but,, we want to, we make sure our kids have a broad cultural view of the world. So still based in Texas. So the get Texas education in our us school system. But then of course, we get to experience other cultures by traveling Italy, try we travel. We've traveled to the UK. And then when I take on interesting listings around the world, we, we try to fly and go see those. So we, as a family, we're just adventurous. We love to travel. We love to see new things and, and this just fits right in the box with our family dynamic.

Randy Rohde:

I love that. So do you just have an UN. Godly amount of frequent flyer miles.

Armand Giovannotto:

Oh my word, it's amazing how many I have. It's amazing.

Randy Rohde:

Good for you. I think that is terrific. And I would love to be,, I think maybe one of your, uh, dependence and travel around with you.

Armand Giovannotto:

It's funny. You should see, you should see my. My seven year old's passport and all his little stamps when he's, when he gets to be B major, it's going to be, it's going to be a fun, a fun keepsake.

Randy Rohde:

Tell us about Visit Central Italy. That's the name of your company? How did you,, kind of create this? How did it come about? How did it get started? Give us the whole background on it.

Armand Giovannotto:

So visit central Italy,, was birth. Actually just from the need of the people in Italy., when we originally moved Hidley to restore,, restorative Villa there, we had no intention of doing anything. And then,, people found out that I was in real estate and I was real estate for years. And,, It was birthed out of just that need for the people. And so we wanted to figure out how to bring it to market in a way that would still fit in with our lifestyle,, yet would still serve the people. And so what we've done is,, visit central Italy. We are a real estate advertising company. And so we've basically taken our very favorite part of real estate, which is,, seeing new listings meeting with clients, entertaining the, the clients that come in from out of town,, all of that,, we've we've made our business and then the parts that we don't love as much., we we've left that into the hands of title companies and attorneys. So it's worked out, it's worked out well so far.

Randy Rohde:

Very good. are you in a very specific, so you say, you know, visit central Italy, so it's central Italy, for me, I had actually go on a mapping like, what defines central Italy. So maybe you can like, share a little bit about that. Are there specific areas and, or,, towns or villages that you specialize in or focus on?

Armand Giovannotto:

Do you so visit central Italy is,, is just that. So our focus in Italy is basically from the border of Tuscany down to almost the border of Napoli. And we focus in that market,, just so we can really, really pay, uh, pay close attention to the homes, the listings, the customers, we're not running all over the country. And,, we can really take excellent care of everyone who comes on board.

Randy Rohde:

So what are some of the little towns or villages I'm saying little, but I dunno how what's the population I've been to Italy., my wife and I had honeymoon there for a couple of weeks and loved it. We were in Tuscany and the San, Jimmy Giuliano and the chink Katerra and eventually down to Rome, but. I don't know that we ever hit your particular kind of zone where you are, but what are some of the villages or towns

Armand Giovannotto:

so, uh, right now, one of one town that's really up and coming for X pass, and people coming in is Pendenza is about an hour from Rome., the largest, uh, major 10 next to it is reality. Rating's claim to fame is it's exactly the center of Italy. And so from there you have all of these other great towns. You have Paterno, you have copper those. So,, you have calc Andiola, you have all of these other, other places that kind of form the community., Lago Del Salto is right there. And these are all places that you're seeing an influx now of Americans, Canadians, Germans, and British all coming in to form a form, an expert community. Brilliant.

Randy Rohde:

Brilliant., I tell you, I love Italy. I want to go back and,, actually the family, we're trying to figure out how and hopefully have travel permits that we can maybe go there. This coming summer, I think would be great. And, uh, 20, 21,, So you've been in real estate for 20 years. I mean, that is a long time in the industry., you're an old grizzled. I like to throw that term out with my guests, you know, and the old grizzled pro,, but,, I can only imagine that that industry has evolved., through the course of use of technology and the way the business has done,, what are some of those changes that you've seen over the years and how have you had to adapt, I guess, in your style to be successful?

Armand Giovannotto:

Oh, my word. So, you know, I've been in real estate. That long that's exactly when that whole Countrywide fiasco was happening. That was the year, the year after I got licensed. So that was the time where if you had a 475 FICO score for you, you qualify for a house. No job, no job. That's okay. We'll still state your income and so

Randy Rohde:

easy to make money then probably right.

Armand Giovannotto:

Oh my gosh. And so from those crazy real estate days, you know, we hit a pretty hard recession where banks lost there, but homes were not selling foreclosures were abundant. If you would show 10 homes, nine of the 10 were foreclosures. And so that. That was hard for everyone. No one was selling a realtor, literally starving. And so at that point, you have to retrain yourself,, your team, your people, and in order to get right listings. That can actually sell, uh, build a team that, that works at actually selling and finding new customers, customers that make sense., even through, through the years,, with technical, with paperless contracts, with them, now we're in our new contracts, glitz system. You just really have to move, move with the times and, and really stay on top of every, every trend that comes about.

Randy Rohde:

really, it's kind of a great story, but it, it really kind of speaks to, as an entrepreneur, a business owner, you've got to adapt. Right., and otherwise you're going to sink., are there things that you're looking at now that you're. In your particular industry, that that may be kind of on the edge a little bit, but, or a trend that you think this is going to be big in like two or three or five years. This is going to be the way the business is done.

Armand Giovannotto:

Exactly. And, you know, we, we look at everything even, even if it's particularly relevant to us at this time. So we'll, we'll look at what the kids are watching, you know, we'll, we'll look at what ticktock does. We'll look at what a liker does, even though, you know, it hasn't been, you know, like restaurant got a huge amount of ground, but we look at what the. The now 16 to 23 year olds, what are their, what are their, what are their patterns? How are they buying? Where are they going? What are their interests? And see and how that could correlate to what we do., our thing now is our contests. And so we found that contests are a great way to spark interest in properties. So. You'll have like our current contest, which is the warehouse in Italy live contest,

Randy Rohde:

right? Yeah. I got to get into this. So lay that whole thing out for us, because I think that is incredibly unique and I love the idea.

Armand Giovannotto:

So it's, it's really, really. Ultimate marketing. You know, we, we organize this contest house,, set out just a crazy prize,, just the limited amount of tickets. And so there's only 7,000 tickets in the whole contest tickets affordable. And so people will come on,, they'll buy a ticket right now. We have a promotion, so people are buying blocks of tickets at a time. Right. Um, but in addition to. Buying tickets there they're steps. They're spending time on the website. They're looking at our other listings. And so while they're romancing, Italy, the contest house, you know, their life, their life, you know, under the Tuscan sun, right., they're looking at our listings. And so there's so many great deals. Now I've sold seven other homes with this one contest home.

Randy Rohde:

That seriously. That's brilliant. That really

Armand Giovannotto:

is bro.

Randy Rohde:

That's all, it's like, it's like, you've created this incredible, I don't know when he's they lost leader, but it's like a,, Well lost leader. Like you throw this thing out, there's an incredible deal. Can look at this thing., and while you're here, here, take a look at all of this other grades stuff and,, grabbed the interest of people and, I didn't realize, I knew you were having success in you're driving traffic to the overall site., I didn't realize that you were doing those kinds of transactions actually,, off of ancillary properties that you have. That's terrific.

Armand Giovannotto:

Well, and it takes a lot of, a lot of looking after, cause you know, there's trolls all over. And so with the level of marketing that we do,, the contest has really does almost seem too good to be true, right? Like, Oh, wouldn't ask for 50 bucks scam, blah, blah, blah. You know, and you have, you'll have, you'll have those all the time. And then,, initially I've, I've, I've been giving it or I'll send out a press release to go with their, with their objection, but then,, It's a, it's a lot to, it's a lot to keep up with. So, ah, scam, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're a bottom line, you know,

, Randy Rohde:

to be transparent, you're a client of ours. And when this thing first kind of came across my desk, I thought, what I mean, I was a little skeptic, right. And then, um, dug into it and looked him like, wow, this is, wow, this really is something. So we've helped you kind of promote this and get this thing out there. And,, it really is incredible. So for a very reasonable price on a ticket. I could win like this guy sitting in the middle of a Northeast, Ohio. I could win a vacation home in Italy.

Armand Giovannotto:

That's and that's shit in our, you know, our current promotion. I think you get, if you buy six, six tickets or give you two tickets, so you'll have a total of eight tickets that is a one in 700 chance of winning a house.

Randy Rohde:

I like those odds. And I can make it better if I just keep buying more tickets even. Wow. I like those.

Armand Giovannotto:

But more than just the ticket. I think in, I think today,, it's just so much more than a ticket. I have people that just buy one and even, you know, it's a toughie for them by one, but in that one ticket, they're buying hope. Right. You know, they're buying something that captures their imagination in these really, really terrible times., this one that he'll, she'll message me every, every couple of weeks. And she'll tell me about her daydreams and how she's going to plant her garden and how this has been just a distraction she needed., You know, during, during our COVID times and just, just people like that, that buy tickets just really, really make it all, all really worthwhile and just lots of fun. Lots of fun to do.

. Randy Rohde:

Okay. So they can go check this out. I want to get the link out there right now and visit central italy.com.

Armand Giovannotto:

Right. Exactly. Right, exactly. Right.

Randy Rohde:

All right. So w we'll have links to all of your sites and all of your information down in the show notes. So people can go,, look at those links,, in the sites,, and platforms that they're listening on,, you could go there right now visit central italy.com. Very fun. All right. So. Do you only sell in Italy? I thought I saw somewhere whether it was on your site or I saw maybe in a social post or something that you threw out, that there was like,, something in Africa. I am I wrong about that? No,

Armand Giovannotto:

no, you're absolutely right. We sell worldwide and our new branch of business central Italy is a VCI worldwide. And so Westworld we're taking on exclusive listings. All over the world. And so if right now you'll look and see, we partner with other real estate agents. So you'll see listings on our site in Galveston, Texas,, some summer coming on from The Bahamas. The Africa property I brought on is just. I don't even have words for it. You know, it's just a dream property. If that property was anywhere else in the world, it would be easily,, be more than $5 billion. And it's, it's a private resort,, in Watson Matsu. So white sand beach, clear water., it's an eight bedroom Villa. It's all furnished. It's brand spanking new and it's 680,000 bucks.

Randy Rohde:

I know I saw that on there. It's incredible. And it, it is beautiful., but I know when I saw that, I'm like, Oh, that's a long way from Italy. Is could that really be his property? I've got to hit him up for that when, uh, the next time I talked to you, so, absolutely.

Armand Giovannotto:

Yeah. Or exclusive listing and the buyer of that property even gets a roundtrip ticket to purchase the home on us and the accommodations and all that.

. Randy Rohde:

That is nice. All right. Okay. So I know, you know, At the heart of it. You're an entrepreneur. I mean, you and I have talked several times. I, I know your spirit., you are like so many of our other guests, you guys, you're just constantly thinking and creating and looking at ways to build a business and what those concepts are. So you've. You're in the process. You're developing other business interests as well at the moment. Can you tell us a little bit about some of those or is it still a little hush hush or, you know, I don't want you to get into trouble or divulge anything, you know, but

Armand Giovannotto:

sure.

Randy Rohde:

Should I do what the inside story though? So

Armand Giovannotto:

sure. We have an exciting new, new venture. That's going to be, be released here in the next, in the next 45 days., that is actually going to be supporting ex pats,, that are worldwide. And so it's going to be really expat support services when it comes, to mail correspondence from, from home,, offering people that are abroad a base here, and we're going to base it actually right here in Texas. And so,, final details of that are coming soon., A few investors are coming on board with that. So once that's all organized, we're going to do a really large release on it. Yeah. And it's going to be exciting, exciting for us and also exciting for the people that we support because having lived as an expat now for two years, it's really a benefit. We needed service for, our Americans that are abroad.

Randy Rohde:

And that really is something., this particular idea, I mean, you recognize the need. it's obviously it's a very narrow niche, but the

Armand Giovannotto:

need,

Randy Rohde:

the need is there. And so you can provide this solution. And that literally is where I think, entrepreneurs thrive. You identify the need. Doesn't matter whether it's broad or narrow. And you create a solution and people are going to gobble it up. So 45 days or so, it's going to be coming online then

Armand Giovannotto:

online, online, and, you know, we have X pants all over the world, like via the amount of Americans that are not in the U S is just a mind blowing number. You know, there's one ex-pat group in Singapore that we're a part of. That group alone is 50,000 members on a Facebook group in Singapore. And so there's, there's so many of us all over. It was just scattered all over, all over the world. And

Randy Rohde:

to your point, they are all over the world and obviously need a service like you've described., alright Armond, do you know what time it is? Yeah. Okay. Armand is the seventh inning stretch. I tried to warn you about it. All right.

Armand Giovannotto:

It is

Randy Rohde:

the seventh inning

Armand Giovannotto:

stretch

Randy Rohde:

Italian style. Right? So my research team tried to do some work for us. Try to find a little bit of information on. Baseball in Italy didyou know, that they play baseball in Italy.

Armand Giovannotto:

I do. It's called soccer.

Randy Rohde:

No Italy, actually. It has a national baseball team., and so here's my question for you. Uh, actually, it's, it's a double question. So a whole time. So the Italian national baseball team. Was actually ranked in the top 20 in the world in 2014? Yes.. So do you know what ranking they actually held in 2018? I don't know what happened in 19, but my research team handed me this, Hey, this is cool. 2018. I'm like, okay.

Armand Giovannotto:

Okay. So you don't, now that you say this, you know, as you travel about, you know, you see, you see people that are clearly sports players as you're out and about. So this wouldn't make sense. Uh, in 2018, I would say we probably rank. I would say we are, we are number seven.

Randy Rohde:

Ah, nice. Not quite that good,

Armand Giovannotto:

but

Randy Rohde:

what's a webcast 16th, 16th in the world. Come on. That's it. I thought as soon as I even saw that, like, wow, the top 20, that is fabulous. Cause you don't really hear a lot of Italian baseball going on.

Armand Giovannotto:

Not, not at, not at all.

Randy Rohde:

Now check this out. So., Italy's favorite son from the,, national baseball league,, manages the team,, the Italian national team. Do you have an idea who that manager is?

Armand Giovannotto:

Italy's favorite son.

Randy Rohde:

Well, I threw that out there. I don't know.

Armand Giovannotto:

Wait a minute.

Randy Rohde:

Hey, no, looking it up here.

Armand Giovannotto:

No flavor. So at least favorite son. So of course, you know, being Italian, I'm thinking, all right. You know, my interpretation, it says it's different. I'm like did Lucho about TST come back from the grave?

Randy Rohde:

Well, I called him Italy's favorite site. I don't even know if he's from Italy, but

Armand Giovannotto:

gosh, I don't know. Antonio Sabato jr.

, Randy Rohde:

no, he was a former New York Mets player and a hall of fame. Inductee. Does that help you? I know some of our baseball fans are going like, Oh, come on.

Armand Giovannotto:

I know

Randy Rohde:

Mike Piazza,

Armand Giovannotto:

Mike Piatsa. I was going to say it.

Randy Rohde:

Yeah.

Armand Giovannotto:

I'm like that, Mike, but that's going to be far off. I

Randy Rohde:

can't believe that. Yes, that's good. I love it. All right. Well, let's get back to it. Play ball. All right. So thanks for playing by the way. I appreciate it. Armond and entertaining. Is there a little bit of bass,

Armand Giovannotto:

man? Thanks. Thank you. Alright,

Randy Rohde:

so you've got all of this stuff going on. your foot is in one country or another,. You're building a new business venture. How do you stay on top of the details? So as an entrepreneur, how do you do it? How do you stay organized? What, what, what's your secret?

Armand Giovannotto:

My secret is routine routine routine routine., every morning we. We do the same effectively, the same things Monday through Friday. So we get up at a certain time. I get up and I make my to do list every morning., I look at my to do this from the day before, make sure everything is checked off on that., I plan everything we do. And so routine and planning are our keys to get things done.

Randy Rohde:

does it make it difficult though, when you're either in your place in Italy or London or wherever?, does it make it challenging to kind of stick to the same routine?

Armand Giovannotto:

It's challenging if you don't have a routine, even for when you travel. Especially,, in my case, when I travel, I travel with the whole, with the whole crew of kids and you know, everything else. So you have to have that, you have to have that structure. Uh, and, and, you know, we're also, we also have a notebook,, that each of us carry. And so my kid has a notebook. I have a notebook., we write things down as we go. If there's an idea that pops up, we write it down in our notebook, a question there even, Julian or Vinci, it just like in the, in auntie Mame, if there's a word that they don't know, they write it down on the notebook. So where we, we try to keep, keep on top of details and,, and just organize, organize, and plan.

Randy Rohde:

All right. So that's some good advice for us., So you have these business ideas. I don't know, like this thing with that ex-pat, I would have had no idea anything about that. Where do you come up with these ideas?, the visit central Italy and given away the house., do you partner with someone, you just sit around with a pint of beer and brainstorm and just like, yeah, let's throw this out. I mean, where does this happen?

Armand Giovannotto:

So I, I am blessed to, to be able to work with a team of really talented people. And so that I've also that are seasoned in the industry people., I get to work with,, chase Boger, Ramona Bowker., I have a guy on the ground in Italy., Who speaks four different languages., his name is Bogdan and he is my brother director of client relations., we bounce things off each other all the time. We have great people here that are in HR., I have, I have just a really great, great team. And then we'll, we'll jump on calls together. We'll we'll arrange meetings and we'll be exactly right. We'll bounce ideas off each other., what we think will work, what we think will not work., how can we bring it to market? Will it work if we're bring it to market right. And,, it makes a big difference. It makes it makes a big, a big difference.

, Randy Rohde:

this world of COVID that we live in and right now, as you even described, you've got team members that are in not just,, in different portions of the same city, but different countries, right? So different countries, you really have been working and managing remote teams,, for a while now., what are some advice,, Ideas that you have and help you people kind of manage through that. If they're doing the same thing, having to manage remote teams.

Armand Giovannotto:

So my, my biggest,, my biggest piece of advice would be, would be communication and transparency. Make sure that you chat often make sure that conversations are transparent., make sure you don't leave anyone behind or leave anyone out of the conversation., Make sure that in everything you do, especially with your team, like you do the right thing. Of course you want to do the right thing for, for your employee, but I mean, you want to do the right thing for the client and everyone involved too. So number one, taking care of the client. And then everything else comes, comes after that. But in order to do that, everyone has to be really on the same page.

Randy Rohde:

Nice, good, good. So I'm sure. So you've been in business you've you've been in. Whether you've owned your own business or you've been operating in businesses., I am curious about your challenge,, and, the VCI,, visit central Italy., what are some of those challenges that you you faced?, and then how did you overcome come them,, to continue to press for success in that venture?

Armand Giovannotto:

So we'll use VCI as an example, some of the biggest challenges are initially, so, so pre COVID, was getting, getting worthwhile listings and then bringing those listings to market. And getting people, to come, and see things in COBA times that we are now, it's been easier. It's been easier since we'll, we'll now shoot videos. We'll do video calls., the biggest challenge we've had so far is really keeping up with the times, in regard to technology and everything else. That's why we try to really stay on top of all of that. To make sure that we can get people connected to Italy and to the properties. And just the things that you know, will capture their imagination,

, Randy Rohde:

during this time. Is it challenging? Because, you know, , as I mentioned earlier, I mean, we would love to go to Italy, obviously travel is. kind of questionable., I don't know if you guys are traveling, how do you do it? I mean, is this an issue,, or an obstacle right now for your industry, for your particular company?

Armand Giovannotto:

So VCI is doing something unprecedented. Now,, if you see a patient, are you like that's one of our exclusive listings,, you're able to video tour it., we'll take you through every single corner of it. We'll send you all the documents. You are able to pay for it or put down your earnest money now, and you're able to close on it. From anywhere between now and 10 months from now. So you'll, you're, you're, you're able to secure the home you love without having actually having to travel. Cause even now none of us are able to travel unless you have urgent business there

Randy Rohde:

and you can do this whole transaction all remotely through Alexa. Tronic and digital paper and everything. I mean, I just to think about now, it's been a long time since we've, we've been in our house for a number of years. And so I haven't had to do a real estate transaction for a while, but, yeah, , as an example, like technology, so you're doing full home tours by a video.

Armand Giovannotto:

Via video exactly right. Exactly. I will set up a time for the, for the client are a colleague will go and meet it's a client at the home and they'll start the tour or they'll, they'll tour them on the city. They'll turn them on the home. They'll get in the car and drive the streets. So I just like we would within a

Randy Rohde:

person's land. So now I think, you know, here's me, I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack here., so it's not just a where it's a pre-shot video. I mean, you literally the agent or the rep. Well, you know, I could be sitting here in Cleveland. I have an appointment with a Buddha bugged, her

Armand Giovannotto:

bogged in right.

Randy Rohde:

Bogged in I'm like, Hey, Bogdan, let's connect it to two. O'clock my time. And Bogdan, then we go live and bogged in is like walking me with a live cam through the house. I'd say, Hey, bugged up, open up that cabinet. I want to take, how does that work

Armand Giovannotto:

exactly right.

Randy Rohde:

Oh my gosh. Well that is the way to do it. And so, yeah.

Armand Giovannotto:

But even a step forward and we'll even go a step further, like, cause we want you to get immersed in the town and the culture Bogdan will take you to the house, but then he'll take you to the bar that's in the town. He'll, you know, you'll, you'll meet the barista. You'll have a coffee, you'll meet the, you'll meet the locals that are in the bar. They'll they'll wave to you. Cause we were thrilled that someone from America's in their bar, even if it's on video, It's such a fun experience.

Randy Rohde:

It wasn't very clever., I just have not heard of anybody doing anything like that,, to that degree anyway, and, and especially if there's a great, ingenious way of utilizing technology to overcome really sin. In trepidation or fear of travel and really not letting distance be,, an obstacle.. That is cool. I like it. I should just do a tour just for the fun of it.

Armand Giovannotto:

You should do it when I'm doing it. It's so it's so fun. So fun.

Randy Rohde:

Oh, very nice.

Armand Giovannotto:

each appointment is set just for that one client. So you won't have a group tour. You won't have more than one person on your, on your private call. We have a number of high profile clients. And, for their privacy and others,, that we have listings with us. And then we show, uh, everything is, everything is done individually, which is, which is great.

Randy Rohde:

That is great the use of technology and I think that's so important as entrepreneurs, right? So understanding what's available to us, how we might be able to adapt and do different things, but, but you've taken technology that's been there obviously, and then applied it in a little. Unique way,, to overcome some of the other challenges that, you know, certainly the pandemic has created from,, operation for you. And, and I look at that and think, wow, that is very cool and able to go do some stuff that you know, that I would do. You know, similarly, when we. Moved to our town that we live in,, go around and go visit, go see the shops, go kind of get a feel sense of the community. that's really nice. I like it plus sure. I might just do that and call bogged in anyway, like, Hey, you know what I mean? I need a tour of Italy. It only take me around.

Armand Giovannotto:

You should do it. You should do it. You know? Cause I mean, of course, you know, you can always do the Google street map and, you know, drive the streets with, with Google maps. How

Randy Rohde:

much fun? I don't have somebody live on the line.

Armand Giovannotto:

Right.

Randy Rohde:

exactly. Baggins gotta be my best friend here.

Armand Giovannotto:

I'm telling you. She's awesome.

Randy Rohde:

All right. So,, Armand, we're coming in here to the bottom of the night that goes so fast. We're at the bottom of the ninth. What advice. Do you have for rookies in the game., and I'd say rookies, I, I asked this question to every guest. So your advice to those folks who are either just starting out in business, or maybe who have already had their business and they're looking for guidance, what kind of advice do you have? I mean, you're an entrepreneur. You've started a business, you've got one running, you're working on other businesses. What kind of words do you have?

Armand Giovannotto:

So my advice is, is to plan,, always write a business plan if you're in business or you're just starting out in your six months, then revisit your business plan and see if it needs adjustment,, map out your day, have your routines. And the most important thing is, is to be kind right,, be kind your employees be kind of the people, that you interact with,, always try to treat., people has, as you want to be treated. Like I know we always say,, treat everybody like a, somebody,, Randy Rohde: Great words. I love that. I love the last one, especially be kind and treat people well. again, I want to,, let people know they can go win a home in central Italy,, at visit central italy.com., do you have the,, Resort and Africa listed on there as well on the site or where do you have that? I do. I do. It's actually a, if you click on, get on the website, there's a property listing stabbing. It's actually our featured property right now.

Randy Rohde:

All right. it was very cool. Alright. So visit central italy.com. Armond Giovannotto, you are so clever and so great. And,, Appreciate you joining the show today. It's been a lot of fun,, and I I'm just romanticizing and just dreaming of my next trip to Italy so I can hardly wait., be a lot of man., I'm ready to go. Believe me, I'm getting their bags packed., Armand Giovannotto: we'll talk about it. We get, maybe we'll make it happen. All right. All right. Well, that's the ball game folks. Thanks for joining us today., and if you liked our show, please tell your friends. Subscribe. And of course we'd love your review. You, and as we like to say, we'll see around the ballpark running the basis with small businesses is brought to you by 38 digital marketer, a digital marketing agency, committed to client growth. With lead generation higher conversions and increased sales connect with us today at 38 digital market.