Deborah Danto

I attribute my success to building relationships and surrounding myself with good, supportive people. My theme for the Chamber last year was building relationships, and that's so critical in every single thing you do, whether it's business development, your relationships with subcontractors so they'll bid competitively and show up and get the job done correctly, your team, your clients, everybody. It's all about building relationships and surrounding yourself with really good, positive people that can help you, whether it's finance, marketing, or operations. I'm also very methodical and analytical and process-driven, which has allowed me to make huge improvements. I never gave up, even during the recession when I thought I was gonna die - we had to stay open and we got through that. Now we're in a place I'm so proud of, where we came from during the recession and how we got back on our feet, and now we're thriving. Having a commitment to community and charities without an agenda has also been beautiful, because when you really go out and help people, it just naturally or organically helps you. What goes around comes around, and what you put out there, you get back.

Surround yourself with good, supportive people. Building relationships is so critical in every single thing you do, whether it's business development or your relationships with subcontractors, your team, or your clients. It's all about building relationships and surrounding yourself with really good, positive people that can help you, whether it's finance, marketing, or operations. Then have a plan and really follow that plan and be committed, because when you have a business and you have people depending on you, it's like having a family and you have to feed those families. It takes time to build relationships and build trust. I know younger generations expect things quicker, and we all do when we're younger, and everyone wants instant gratification. But even with technology being so quick, it still takes time to build relationships and build trust. So be out there and expand your network, and have a commitment to community and charities without an agenda. That's a beautiful thing when you really go out and help people - it just naturally or organically helps you. What goes around comes around, and what you put out there, you get back. Put yourself out there in a lot of different areas, being out there in general and doing things with the community.

Building relationships and trust is absolutely critical to me. Here in Florida, you truly have to build relationships and trust, and to do that you need great communication, transparency, and just really providing the best service you can provide and being available. I believe it's extremely important for businesses to be involved in community, whether it's associations or charity. Having a commitment to community and charities without an agenda is really important - when you really go out and help people, it just naturally helps you, and what you put out there, you get back. I also value treating our team like family, not just employees, because they're not only a team to us, they're family, and we treat them like family, as we do our subcontractors. My husband has a funny internal mission statement, which is to have fun, make money, and get the job done. We really try to have fun here, and we want people to be happy about coming to work every day and feel good. I'm always into improving and making us better, and providing our team with tools that make them better so they can succeed.