March 10, 2025 • 36 mins
Some clubs operate year-round. Others?
They pack a full year’s worth of hospitality into just six months—and that’s exactly what happens at Cedar Creek Club, where Hannah Bradford helps lead the charge.
Hannah didn’t take the traditional path into private clubs. With a background in sports science and hospitality, she found herself in membership services before taking a leap to join one of the most fast-paced, seasonal clubs in the industry. Cedar Creek isn’t just a club—it’s a tight-knit, summer camp-style community where members return year after year, expecting nothing less than perfection.
We dive into:
*How she transitioned into private clubs and what drew her to Cedar Creek.
*The unique challenges of running a seasonal club with a short, high-energy window.
*Keeping members engaged even when the club is closed for half the year.
*Why Cedar Creek feels more like “adult summer camp” than a traditional private club.
*What she’s learned about leadership, team culture, and making every moment count.
Hannah brings enthusiasm, adaptability, and a true passion for hospitality, and this conversation is full of insights on seasonal operations, member engagement, and career growth in private clubs.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs Frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, I am chattingwith Hannah Bradford, who is the
membership director at theCedar Creek Club in North
Carolina.
Some clubs have a steadyyear-round rhythm, while others
they go from zero to fullthrottle overnight, packing a
year's worth of hospitality intojust a few months.
And that's exactly how CedarCreek Club operates, and Hannah
(00:43):
Bradford is right in the middleof it.
She went from studying sportsscience to working at the front
desk at a resort and then landedin private clubs almost by
accident, but now she's leadingone of the most tight-knit,
fast-paced and unique clubs outthere.
At Cedar Creek, the season isjust about six months long, with
only about six weeks of truepeak chaos.
(01:03):
Six months long with only aboutsix weeks of true peak chaos.
It's nonstop programming, highenergy, hospitality and an
atmosphere that feels more likean adult summer camp than a
traditional club, and in thisepisode we get into how she took
the career leap to land atCedar Creek.
We talk about what it's likebeing at a very high functioning
seasonal club what works, whatdoesn't and what makes it
special, how they keep membersengaged when the club is closed
(01:26):
for half the year, and thesummer camp mindset that makes
Cedar Creek feel different fromother clubs out there.
This is a really great episode.
Cannot wait for you to dive inBefore we do quick.
Thanks to some of our showpartners You're going to hear
about them a little bit more.
In the episode.
We have our friends Kenneth'smember vetting, concert golf
partners, members first andmyself, the Denny Corby
(01:49):
experience.
So there's excitement, there'smystery.
Also there's magic.
If you are looking for one ofthe most fun member event nights
, your club can have head onover to dennycorbycom.
But enough about that, let'sget to the episode.
Private Club Radio listeners.
Let's welcome Hannah Bradford.
Now, how did you get into clubs?
Because you were in hotelsfirst, right?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah.
So I mean, it was kind of a.
It was an interesting ride.
I went to college for like asemester and a half for sports
and exercise science and then Iwas like I'm not going to be a
physical therapist, I'm notgoing to med school, like I
don't know what I'm doing and Idon't want to touch these sweaty
people.
(02:30):
Yeah, like I didn't, I don'tknow.
I mean it sounded interestingat the time and then I was like
who really knows?
And I was working inrestaurants and I enjoyed it.
Like I enjoyed hospitality andI was waiting tables and you
know it wasn't a bad gig for an18, 19 year old.
You know, the hours are prettydecent and the pay was fine, and
(02:54):
so I just kind of kept doingthat.
And then I landed a job.
I moved up to Asheville, northCarolina, just because I thought
I would like the mountains, andI got a job at the Grote Park
Inn at the front desk and theyhad kind of a rec center there
with like golf and sports andthat had a membership and so I
(03:21):
ended up there was a job openingin that department seemed
interesting and so, um, I I tookthat and started getting into
more of like the membership sideof things.
Um, and then I was there for awhile, like four years, um, and
(03:42):
then you know, I wanted to.
There wasn't a lot like itwasn't really, it was a.
It was a resort first and thenclub second, so there wasn't
like a ton for you to do withinmembership there.
And then I found like a jobopening up in Northern Virginia
for a member experience directorposition, which is sort of how
(04:03):
I really got into the club world.
So there I was doing likemember events, sort of
membership, member relations,that kind of thing, and I really
loved it.
But I did miss the mountainsand so about two years in I like
packed up my bags and movedback and didn't have a job and
(04:26):
just kind of like I got to getout of northern Virginia and it
just worked out that there wasan opening at Cedar Creek Club
like right at the same time, andso it was definitely like one
of the riskier things that I'vedone and my family wasn't like
super stoked that I was justlike throwing away my job and
(04:46):
moving back.
But it worked out because Ireally love this club and it's
been super fun.
It's such a cool little club.
You know.
I went from one that was golfwith like almost 3000 members to
this little racket and socialand dining club in the middle of
(05:06):
the mountains with 250 membersand it's it's really cool, like
everybody knows each other and,um, it just has a good vibe.
Um, everybody's, it's themountains.
So, yeah, we're all happy to behere.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
What, uh?
And the club?
The club's not open year-roundeither.
It's a very like niche-specificclub.
I feel like it's a smallfamilial.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Exactly.
No, it's kind of like a summercamp, honestly, because it's
open May 1st through October31st.
Our peak season is maybe likefour to six weeks, and it's like
between late June to like earlyearly August is when we're like
super, super busy, um, andwe'll pick up a little bit like
(05:56):
in the fall when people come tolook at the leaves, um.
But yeah, I mean it's a it's asix-month season and only about
six of those weeks are reallylike just I mean we squeezed
probably a year's worth everysingle day and it's really fun
and it's really fast pacedduring those six months and
(06:28):
there's like nothing else thatyou can focus on other than like
getting through the day andgetting through you know the
next week of activities.
But now I have the off seasonto kind of like prep and plan
and it's, it's cool, it'sdifferent.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, no, it has to be fun like the.
The excitement must build tooand you can probably feel it
between, like you, the staff,the members just have, and I
think, having that much time too, it's like the, uh, like a
rubber band almost.
It's like you know you pulllike the tension, then all of a
sudden like release, it's likeah yes, and like everything's
like going into place.
What's the hard part aboutplanning that that way?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I, I don't know, like , I kind of like it.
I think that, um, you know, Iwas so used to a club where we
had a lot going on year roundand we tried to pack every
single minute of every day and Ijust always felt like I was a
little bit behind.
And so I like this, like it'sit's not easy, like the six
(07:29):
months.
You know where we're open, it'sfast paced and it's exciting
and it's like something everysingle day.
And this year was differentbecause I didn't get the
planning period.
You know, I started in Apriland so I started and we were
opening in two weeks and I hadno clue, like you know, what was
on the calendar, what wasplanned, and so it was a little
(07:54):
bit more challenging.
I think, like now, like wealready have, I sent out our
calendar to the members onFriday, so I already have for
the to the members on Friday.
So I already have for the sixmonths for next year, so I
already have our calendar builtout for next year.
You know there are some thingsthat will require, like some you
(08:18):
know, obviously, like puttingtogether the BEOs and booking
all of the live music, becausewe have a bunch of space for
live music, where I haven'tnecessarily booked everybody,
but I have like basically theentire off season to do that and
get myself ahead for nextseason.
(08:38):
I think the challenging part iskind of keeping that momentum
with the membership and keepingcommunications going because,
like in season, I'm sending outan email every single week with
like all of these events comingup and, um, you know, keeping
the excitement going, uh.
So what I'm trying to do in theoff season is sort of keep that
(09:01):
.
Like with the calendar goingout Friday, I'll probably start
dropping hints to activities andthings and entertainment, um
sort of as we go through the offseason I'll keep communications
going, like wishing everybodyhappy holidays and um, just so
they don't forget about us,because I feel like when people
(09:22):
go home, um, because this is notmost people's primary residence
, this is like a summer home ora vacation home, um, where
they're only here maybe a monthor two out of the year, and so
just kind of keeping Cedar CreekClub fresh in everybody's head,
um, sending out communicationsand um I'm trying to be more
(09:46):
active on social media.
We had no social media when Igot here so and there weren't
really like any pictures and solike I spent the entire season
trying to put together as muchcontent as I possibly could to
have enough to sort of get usthrough the off season.
But it's hard, like you know,because I didn't have that prep
time.
(10:06):
This year was like just awhirlwind of like I, you know, I
just want to try to get enoughum done every day to keep going
and make it to the next day.
That, like I, you know, I thinkevery club or every job that I
feel like I've worked at, I feel, like you know, the first year
(10:28):
is sort of that, just likegrasping everything and like
getting a handle on things andnoticing things like what, what
could be done, maybe better nextseason or next year, and then
year two.
That's when you can kind of likereally put some of those plans
(10:49):
into action, see, see what worksbecause not everything's gonna
work and, um, really try to usewhat you learned in the first
season and and try to enact it alittle bit more in the second
season and then by the thirdseason, like you, should just be
fine and everything should gosmoothly because you, you know
what you're doing.
Um, but it takes like threefull years almost to just like
(11:11):
really get a grasp um,especially like in the club
world or in hospitality, becausewhen you're in that busy season
there's really not a ton oftime to like learn and in your
busy season, because it's you'relike you're, oh yeah, you, and
you only have six months toreally do that.
So that has to be that has to bewild, and you came straight
(11:33):
into the fire, like you I didright in it was fine, like I
really was trying to, because Ihave like that personality where
I want everything to be perfectand, like you know, I I won't
rest until it is perfect.
So I really tried to like tapback into my mountain, living,
(11:54):
like you know, super zen, likejust let it go and like go with
the flow and like it's all gonnawork out.
And fortunately the membershiphere kind of allowed that.
Like they're not, I don't know,everybody here is pretty
relaxed and so I was able to dothat.
Um not that it wasn't stressfulat times, but it was a little
bit easier to not like just formy head to explode, um.
(12:19):
So I I think now, um, going intothe second season, everybody's
really excited because we haveall these plans and I was able
to like actually have ideas andum use some of the creativity.
That's just like in there.
Uh, because there was no timecreativity was like out the
window, uh in in June and July.
(12:40):
So after that it was like allright, we can really start to
think of like fun ideas forprogramming and things to do
next year and ways to make theclub, you know, and the
experience better and um it thatthat part's fun for me.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So yeah, I so did you all.
You mentioned communications,um, did you also do so?
So for current clubs?
So I'm assuming communicationyou do, the email, the
newsletter, all that jazz.
Did you also do that when youwere at Dominion Valley at your
last club, or was that a newposition?
(13:15):
Like, was that new stuff thatyou took over when you came to?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
the new club, no, so I did it there.
I did it at Grove Park for themembership too it was, you know,
at Grove Park there were lesssystems in place because there
it wasn't really.
Again, it was resort first.
I wasn't doing like the resortcommunication, so I was doing
like any mass emails that wesent out to the membership
basically.
But yeah, I mean at DominionValley I was doing our um, like
(13:44):
the emails to the members, thesocial media, that kind of thing
, until sort of the end, I wasallowed to hire a marketing
manager and she took over thatfor me, which was great because
it let me focus more on like thenumber, yeah, and especially of
(14:04):
a club that size.
It was hard to manage, and so Ithink I expressed it and I got
the help that I needed.
And so here you know, I'm doinga lot of the same things that I
was doing there, it's just on aslightly smaller scale, and I
have six months of prep, whichis like I it's I can't even
(14:28):
explain how good that is.
Yeah, um so.
So it's, it's fun, I enjoy it,but um yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
How do you, how do you manage your days and time
now?
So so, since you're, you knowI'm, I don't get to talk to too
many people who have this typeof position, who have like this.
I don't want to say time off isnot the right word, but this
much I want to say buffer.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Prep time.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah, Well, I mean there are clubs that book far
out or they plan far out, but tobe closed and to really have
that time to build and planthings.
So now that, because the clubis closed, now right.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So what does like a day look like?
You know?
How do you time bank?
How do you manage your timelike what you know, do you?
Is it like, okay, mornings Ilike doing communications,
afternoon I like social?
Like, how do you plan your days?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
sure.
So I kind of plan like a weekat a time.
Um, I'm in the office two daysa week at a time.
Um, I'm in the office two daysa week typically.
So, um, like on my days here,I'll try to like plan things
that I kind of need to be inoffice for.
Most of that's like marketingbecause, like all of our um,
like the calendar, for example,when I'm putting together the
(15:43):
programming guide, it helps tohave like multiple screens and
like to be able to print thingsout and see how they look on our
printers and um, and so I'lltry to like plan or like if I
need to meet with any members,because we still have members
that will um, you know they'reyear round and they want to come
in, and so I try to plan thosethings on the days where I'm in
(16:04):
office.
Um, and then everything else.
I really just made myself like alist of goals before we closed
and decided like I want to havethe calendar done by the end of
November, beginning of December.
I want to have all theentertainment and everything
booked by uh, you know, february.
(16:26):
I want to have the uhmembership packet for 2025 done
before the end of 2024.
I want to have our, because wedidn't have, like a member, like
a new member orientation packet, any kind of like new member
guide, and so I was like I wantto have that put together, you
(16:47):
know, before the season nextyear.
So I had a list.
It was a pretty long list oflike things that I just wanted
to get done, and so I've beentrying to kind of break those
down into the weeks.
But I mean really like and whenI got this job, you know it was
told to me and you never reallyknow until you're here, but
they, they said you know, in theon season you're probably
working like 45 to 55 hours aweek and then in the off season
(17:16):
it's probably going to be closerto like 25 to 35, like it's not
as intense.
And I feel like right now I'mnot doing that because I want to
still try to get everythingthat I want to get done done and
we had our member billing andall of that stuff that just
happened.
But I'm kind of noticing nowit's like, ok, I can, I can take
(17:38):
the time and it's really like agood flexible work schedule.
And so I don't know.
And so I don't know, I mean, mydays when I'm not here are
mostly just whatever projectI've given myself for that week.
I work on it and, but I havetime in between to go like take
(17:59):
my dogs for a walk or what kindof dogs you know.
I have one that's like a he's aBrittany Spaniel, um, and then
my other one she's a rescuebecause there's unfortunately,
unfortunately there's a humanesociety like two minutes from
work.
Um, which was a danger for mebecause I already have a foster
(18:21):
fail cat, um, that we took in aslike an emergency foster during
some natural disaster, like afew years ago there's a wildfire
, and so they were likeeverybody take a cat, and then I
just never gave them back.
Um, and so, with the humanesociety down the road, I decided
to walk in like one day in Juneafter work to like pet some
puppies, because I had a bunchof puppies and then I ended up
(18:43):
just like taking one of them.
But she is, she's a.
Um, I got her doggy DNA.
It's like mostly a pit andChihuahua, which is interesting.
Um, she's like a shrunken downpit bull, like she just looks
like somebody took a pit bulland like left it in the dryer
for too long.
Um, she's really cute.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Great way to put it.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, she's adorable.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Love doggies.
They're the best.
I like them more than people.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And your job is strictly interacting with people
.
But I get it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Way to throw me under the busthere well, no, I was gonna say
I feel like that's pretty commonfor like people and very people
facing jobs, like when I'm athome, like I would.
If somebody was like yourweekend consists of just like
(19:42):
staying at home with you andyour dogs, I'd be like like that
sounds.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Double thumbs up.
I'll do that all day.
No, yeah, I know A hundredpercent.
It's a lot of immenselydraining, a lot of peopling
Cause.
Like it's a year.
It's like it's a different,like energy.
Like, if you saw me in theairport, you I have like the
worst RBF.
I wear all black.
Like I have my headphones inmost likely a hat, like phones
(20:10):
in most likely a hat, like don'tlook at me, like I'm just like
the unabomber black backpack,like I'm just like in in my zone
.
So what's it like now creating?
You said it's a, it's a newmember packet.
Like what's, what's, what'sthat been entailed?
so they didn't have anything fornew members who joined no, um
and you were like, hey, this isnot good, we need to have
something yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I mean, we, you know it was just kind of this club
it's.
It's so small and it reallyoperated more like a family type
.
Like you know, we have newpeople and we just get them
involved, and which, very no,not at all.
(20:49):
I just I'm more of like asystems person.
I like having a system in place, especially because I think you
know, when people pay for amembership and they join a club,
I've, I think there's sort ofan expectation that, like you're
going to go through some kindof orientation process that's a
(21:10):
little bit more formal At leastthat's what I would expect and
some people like that and somepeople are way cool with just
the version that they were doingbefore of like, hey, we'll just
introduce you to some peopleand have fun, and so, yeah, I
got here and that was kind ofone of the things I added to my
(21:30):
to-do list was just creating apacket that's mostly frequently
asked questions, that'll lay outthings like our dining hours
and our amenities and you knowhow to access all of the
amenities and you know what'sopen in the off season, because
(21:50):
we have certain things that areopen in the off season, like our
fitness center and pickleballcourts and and that kind of
thing, our dress code, becausethat's a question that people
ask a lot.
But I just wanted something thatexists physically but also
digitally on our website thatanybody can go and reference.
Like, even if you've been amember for a long time, you can
(22:12):
just look at this memberhandbook and it says, okay, um,
here are, uh, you know, just the, just the basics, because we
have, like, our rules and wehave our bylaws.
But, like, who wants to read 40pages of rules and 50 pages of
bylaws?
Like, I think it's a lot easierjust to like reference this
little handbook that's, you know, color coded and there's
(22:34):
pictures and also reallyorganized yeah, because it's
like you can click on the linksand it'll take you to the page
and there's little tabs and Idon't know I, I'm, I'm a little,
I'm very organized, like that'smy, that's how I operate.
It's a touch, you know, likesome tendencies there, but
(22:57):
there's nothing wrong with that.
But yeah, I think I like tohave everything pretty organized
and easy to find for myself,but also for the members.
I mean, I just think it's moreefficient for somebody to be
able to click on the memberhandbook or open their member
(23:18):
handbook and reference it tofind out a rule or a guest
policy or when the dining roomis open, versus having to call
the concierge every single time,which they're still welcome to
do.
That's why we have a concierge.
But you know, some peopleprefer just looking everything
(23:39):
up in their phone versus havingto call.
So I just like to have theoption.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, who do you guys use for your like website and
back of house stuff, for likeall your?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
so we have our.
Our public website is go daddyand then our um member site is
club essentials.
So um, which I like clubessentials, I mean we've been.
This is they're new to me.
I used members first um at mylast club and so, but they're
(24:13):
all kind of the same.
I mean they do the same stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So I know they're all .
Yeah, I was working, I'm stillworking at it, I'm still working
on a, on an episode I have todo it, uh, where I'm like trying
to do like a higher level,comparing all like the different
platforms.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
No-transcript yeah, I mean it was funny.
Like here we use clubessentials for everything um.
I work when I was at dominionvalley that's an invited club uh
, formerly club corp and theyhave different systems for like
everything um.
(24:55):
So with that you got experiencein all of these different
systems.
You also had to learn like 30systems.
So we used like cater pro forour videos and then you use
members first for yourmembership stuff in your website
and then you use um what wasthe?
It was like Pardot for ouremails and Salesforce for the
(25:22):
prospecting and CRM, yeah.
So it was like a lot ofdifferent um different things.
Yeah, are you?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
also responsible for bringing in new members, and all
of that at your current club.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Mm-hmm.
So, and we actually just addeda CRM through Club Essentials,
which that'll be nice to haveeverything kind of talking to
each other.
So I don't have to hand inputeverything.
But, yeah, so our membershipsales process is not like with
(25:59):
invited clubs.
Any club like, they have amembership sales director and
that's their only job is justselling memberships.
Here, like we have, it's a muchmore and a selective process.
To find members and get themstarted at the club.
(26:22):
They have to have sponsors thatare current members and so it's
a little bit less there.
There are no like direct.
We're not doing like marketing.
We're not doing advertisement,like it's not, you know, but we
(26:43):
try to get people and through,like our social media, um, and
just keeping everything on thewebsite looking pretty and word
of mouth around the mountain.
So, um, those are our bigthings, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Mountain mouth.
Yeah, that sounds weird.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I will edit.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Doing the edit for me .
Thanks, yeah.
You were saying oh, it's easy.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
This club, though we have our dining here is like
actually the best on the plateau.
The plateau is the area that weare located.
It's um this cashers highland,uh, sapphire region of north
carolina, but um, we have, likepeople come from other clubs
(27:37):
there are a ton of clubs up here, um, and members from other
clubs will come as guests of ourmembers to come eat here, cause
our food's the best.
Like it's, this is an easy sell.
Like it's like adult summercamp.
It's beautiful, there's amazingfood and fun events and just
the setting and the vibe.
Like it's just all.
(27:58):
It's the easiest sales shop.
Like it's not.
I'm not really having to do aton of work on the sales side Um
other than just kind of likemaking sure that we we look good
to the public, but our diningteam, our chef and our athletics
team and you know anybody upkeeping the grounds here sort of
(28:20):
does that.
For me it's not um, it's nothard.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So well, it's hard in different aspects, cause I'm
sure if other people looked atwhat you were doing, going like,
oh my God, I can never do thatLike, so it's uh, there's
probably a definitely an art toit of making it look look easy
and stuff what, um, what aresome things that maybe you wish
you knew sooner starting off inclub?
(28:45):
Or, uh, what are some thingsyou wish you knew when you first
started off in clubs doingmemberships and communications,
like you know, looking back,it's what you've been in the
club space eight, six years,seven years, no, no, no, because
I'm omni parks of four.
Yeah, about what?
Six, seven, eight years ishsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I guess I started in.
What year is it?
It's 2024 almost 25 yeah ohokay, so yeah, I guess like
seven years what?
Speaker 1 (29:13):
what are some things that you know you.
You know now that you wish youknew when you were first
starting.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
There are no country club emergencies, and I've
probably going to get in troublewith somebody for saying that,
but I believe it.
So hear me out.
Like there we don't work in ahospital, like there's nobody's
(29:58):
life that's on the line.
Yes, country club emergencylike that's a, that's a real one
.
Um, however, otherwise, likethere are things that can be
pressing, um, but in the grandscheme of things, like there are
no country club emergenciesthat are worth like your mental
(30:18):
health and sanity.
Like I feel like I put so muchpressure, especially in that job
at Dominion Valley, like I putmostly the pressure on myself
because I was like everythinghas to be perfect and like the
members can't notice anything.
No mistakes, no, nothing.
Like everything just has to go.
And that's me.
Like I, it's like I'm aperfectionist and so, like I
(30:40):
again, like nobody was tellingme these things, if I messed up,
it was kind of like, okay, well, you messed up and move on.
But like for me it was like youknow, on the communication side
, like if I had an error in anemail, it was like the end of
the world.
Or like if an event didn't goexactly as planned all the way
(31:01):
through, like I really stressedout about that stuff and over
time I was kind of like lookingwhen the mistakes would happen
or, you know, when things in anevent wouldn't go exactly as
planned, or like if my scriptgot thrown off in a new member
orientation, just like all theselittle things, and I'm like,
(31:22):
did it really like affect theexperience that much?
Like we recovered it's not thatbig of a deal, like it's not an
emergency, there's nothing likeI don't know, they're just it's
not an emergency.
Because I had like a marketingmanager at Dominion Valley and
she would get really stressedout too and I think a lot of
(31:44):
that was probably coming from me, because I was always really
stressed out and so then I wouldtell her things like there's no
emergencies, like if we don'twork at a hospital and nobody's
like going to die, we're fine.
Like you know, the numbers aregoing to have a good time, and
they're not paying attention tolike these little things that
may or may not go wrong.
And um, then I had to actuallybelieve that, because at the
(32:07):
time I was not putting that intopractice for myself, I was just
kind of like preaching it.
Um, but yeah, that's what Iwish.
I like believed at thebeginning.
Even at Grove Park Inn we workin hospitality you can have
(32:30):
little mistakes happen and notbe perfect 100% of the time and
most likely no one will noticeor at the very least least you
can recover from it.
It's not, um, the end all beall, uh.
So I think that's that was thebiggest thing for me, because
it's hard when you likeeverything to be perfect.
(32:50):
Um, because it's kind of my jobto like notice the little
details, um, but the recovery isbig.
Um, just like being able tokind of have mistakes happen and
roll with it.
That's probably the biggestthing.
But yeah, no country clubemergencies.
(33:13):
Just don't let your generalmanager hear that, because he
might disagree.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Thank you so much for coming on, thanks for sharing
and appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
It was fun talking about thisstuff.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Hope you all enjoyed that episode as much as I did.
If you do a like, share,subscribe, share it with a
colleague, share it with afriend, share it on LinkedIn,
share it on the socials.
Give us a five-star review.
Anything you can do to helpmove the channel forward means
the world and costs nothing.
That's this episode.
Until next time, I'm your host,denny corby.
Catch y'all on the flippityflip.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs Frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, I am chattingwith Hannah Bradford, who is the
membership director at theCedar Creek Club in North
Carolina.
Some clubs have a steadyyear-round rhythm, while others
they go from zero to fullthrottle overnight, packing a
year's worth of hospitality intojust a few months.
And that's exactly how CedarCreek Club operates, and Hannah
(00:43):
Bradford is right in the middleof it.
She went from studying sportsscience to working at the front
desk at a resort and then landedin private clubs almost by
accident, but now she's leadingone of the most tight-knit,
fast-paced and unique clubs outthere.
At Cedar Creek, the season isjust about six months long, with
only about six weeks of truepeak chaos.
(01:03):
Six months long with only aboutsix weeks of true peak chaos.
It's nonstop programming, highenergy, hospitality and an
atmosphere that feels more likean adult summer camp than a
traditional club, and in thisepisode we get into how she took
the career leap to land atCedar Creek.
We talk about what it's likebeing at a very high functioning
seasonal club what works, whatdoesn't and what makes it
special, how they keep membersengaged when the club is closed
(01:26):
for half the year, and thesummer camp mindset that makes
Cedar Creek feel different fromother clubs out there.
This is a really great episode.
Cannot wait for you to dive inBefore we do quick.
Thanks to some of our showpartners You're going to hear
about them a little bit more.
In the episode.
We have our friends Kenneth'smember vetting, concert golf
partners, members first andmyself, the Denny Corby
(01:49):
experience.
So there's excitement, there'smystery.
Also there's magic.
If you are looking for one ofthe most fun member event nights
, your club can have head onover to dennycorbycom.
But enough about that, let'sget to the episode.
Private Club Radio listeners.
Let's welcome Hannah Bradford.
Now, how did you get into clubs?
Because you were in hotelsfirst, right?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah.
So I mean, it was kind of a.
It was an interesting ride.
I went to college for like asemester and a half for sports
and exercise science and then Iwas like I'm not going to be a
physical therapist, I'm notgoing to med school, like I
don't know what I'm doing and Idon't want to touch these sweaty
people.
(02:30):
Yeah, like I didn't, I don'tknow.
I mean it sounded interestingat the time and then I was like
who really knows?
And I was working inrestaurants and I enjoyed it.
Like I enjoyed hospitality andI was waiting tables and you
know it wasn't a bad gig for an18, 19 year old.
You know, the hours are prettydecent and the pay was fine, and
(02:54):
so I just kind of kept doingthat.
And then I landed a job.
I moved up to Asheville, northCarolina, just because I thought
I would like the mountains, andI got a job at the Grote Park
Inn at the front desk and theyhad kind of a rec center there
with like golf and sports andthat had a membership and so I
(03:21):
ended up there was a job openingin that department seemed
interesting and so, um, I I tookthat and started getting into
more of like the membership sideof things.
Um, and then I was there for awhile, like four years, um, and
(03:42):
then you know, I wanted to.
There wasn't a lot like itwasn't really, it was a.
It was a resort first and thenclub second, so there wasn't
like a ton for you to do withinmembership there.
And then I found like a jobopening up in Northern Virginia
for a member experience directorposition, which is sort of how
(04:03):
I really got into the club world.
So there I was doing likemember events, sort of
membership, member relations,that kind of thing, and I really
loved it.
But I did miss the mountainsand so about two years in I like
packed up my bags and movedback and didn't have a job and
(04:26):
just kind of like I got to getout of northern Virginia and it
just worked out that there wasan opening at Cedar Creek Club
like right at the same time, andso it was definitely like one
of the riskier things that I'vedone and my family wasn't like
super stoked that I was justlike throwing away my job and
(04:46):
moving back.
But it worked out because Ireally love this club and it's
been super fun.
It's such a cool little club.
You know.
I went from one that was golfwith like almost 3000 members to
this little racket and socialand dining club in the middle of
(05:06):
the mountains with 250 membersand it's it's really cool, like
everybody knows each other and,um, it just has a good vibe.
Um, everybody's, it's themountains.
So, yeah, we're all happy to behere.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
What, uh?
And the club?
The club's not open year-roundeither.
It's a very like niche-specificclub.
I feel like it's a smallfamilial.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Exactly.
No, it's kind of like a summercamp, honestly, because it's
open May 1st through October31st.
Our peak season is maybe likefour to six weeks, and it's like
between late June to like earlyearly August is when we're like
super, super busy, um, andwe'll pick up a little bit like
(05:56):
in the fall when people come tolook at the leaves, um.
But yeah, I mean it's a it's asix-month season and only about
six of those weeks are reallylike just I mean we squeezed
probably a year's worth everysingle day and it's really fun
and it's really fast pacedduring those six months and
(06:28):
there's like nothing else thatyou can focus on other than like
getting through the day andgetting through you know the
next week of activities.
But now I have the off seasonto kind of like prep and plan
and it's, it's cool, it'sdifferent.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, no, it has to be fun like the.
The excitement must build tooand you can probably feel it
between, like you, the staff,the members just have, and I
think, having that much time too, it's like the, uh, like a
rubber band almost.
It's like you know you pulllike the tension, then all of a
sudden like release, it's likeah yes, and like everything's
like going into place.
What's the hard part aboutplanning that that way?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I, I don't know, like , I kind of like it.
I think that, um, you know, Iwas so used to a club where we
had a lot going on year roundand we tried to pack every
single minute of every day and Ijust always felt like I was a
little bit behind.
And so I like this, like it'sit's not easy, like the six
(07:29):
months.
You know where we're open, it'sfast paced and it's exciting
and it's like something everysingle day.
And this year was differentbecause I didn't get the
planning period.
You know, I started in Apriland so I started and we were
opening in two weeks and I hadno clue, like you know, what was
on the calendar, what wasplanned, and so it was a little
(07:54):
bit more challenging.
I think, like now, like wealready have, I sent out our
calendar to the members onFriday, so I already have for
the to the members on Friday.
So I already have for the sixmonths for next year, so I
already have our calendar builtout for next year.
You know there are some thingsthat will require, like some you
(08:18):
know, obviously, like puttingtogether the BEOs and booking
all of the live music, becausewe have a bunch of space for
live music, where I haven'tnecessarily booked everybody,
but I have like basically theentire off season to do that and
get myself ahead for nextseason.
(08:38):
I think the challenging part iskind of keeping that momentum
with the membership and keepingcommunications going because,
like in season, I'm sending outan email every single week with
like all of these events comingup and, um, you know, keeping
the excitement going, uh.
So what I'm trying to do in theoff season is sort of keep that
(09:01):
.
Like with the calendar goingout Friday, I'll probably start
dropping hints to activities andthings and entertainment, um
sort of as we go through the offseason I'll keep communications
going, like wishing everybodyhappy holidays and um, just so
they don't forget about us,because I feel like when people
(09:22):
go home, um, because this is notmost people's primary residence
, this is like a summer home ora vacation home, um, where
they're only here maybe a monthor two out of the year, and so
just kind of keeping Cedar CreekClub fresh in everybody's head,
um, sending out communicationsand um I'm trying to be more
(09:46):
active on social media.
We had no social media when Igot here so and there weren't
really like any pictures and solike I spent the entire season
trying to put together as muchcontent as I possibly could to
have enough to sort of get usthrough the off season.
But it's hard, like you know,because I didn't have that prep
time.
(10:06):
This year was like just awhirlwind of like I, you know, I
just want to try to get enoughum done every day to keep going
and make it to the next day.
That, like I, you know, I thinkevery club or every job that I
feel like I've worked at, I feel, like you know, the first year
(10:28):
is sort of that, just likegrasping everything and like
getting a handle on things andnoticing things like what, what
could be done, maybe better nextseason or next year, and then
year two.
That's when you can kind of likereally put some of those plans
(10:49):
into action, see, see what worksbecause not everything's gonna
work and, um, really try to usewhat you learned in the first
season and and try to enact it alittle bit more in the second
season and then by the thirdseason, like you, should just be
fine and everything should gosmoothly because you, you know
what you're doing.
Um, but it takes like threefull years almost to just like
(11:11):
really get a grasp um,especially like in the club
world or in hospitality, becausewhen you're in that busy season
there's really not a ton oftime to like learn and in your
busy season, because it's you'relike you're, oh yeah, you, and
you only have six months toreally do that.
So that has to be that has to bewild, and you came straight
(11:33):
into the fire, like you I didright in it was fine, like I
really was trying to, because Ihave like that personality where
I want everything to be perfectand, like you know, I I won't
rest until it is perfect.
So I really tried to like tapback into my mountain, living,
(11:54):
like you know, super zen, likejust let it go and like go with
the flow and like it's all gonnawork out.
And fortunately the membershiphere kind of allowed that.
Like they're not, I don't know,everybody here is pretty
relaxed and so I was able to dothat.
Um not that it wasn't stressfulat times, but it was a little
bit easier to not like just formy head to explode, um.
(12:19):
So I I think now, um, going intothe second season, everybody's
really excited because we haveall these plans and I was able
to like actually have ideas andum use some of the creativity.
That's just like in there.
Uh, because there was no timecreativity was like out the
window, uh in in June and July.
(12:40):
So after that it was like allright, we can really start to
think of like fun ideas forprogramming and things to do
next year and ways to make theclub, you know, and the
experience better and um it thatthat part's fun for me.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So yeah, I so did you all.
You mentioned communications,um, did you also do so?
So for current clubs?
So I'm assuming communicationyou do, the email, the
newsletter, all that jazz.
Did you also do that when youwere at Dominion Valley at your
last club, or was that a newposition?
(13:15):
Like, was that new stuff thatyou took over when you came to?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
the new club, no, so I did it there.
I did it at Grove Park for themembership too it was, you know,
at Grove Park there were lesssystems in place because there
it wasn't really.
Again, it was resort first.
I wasn't doing like the resortcommunication, so I was doing
like any mass emails that wesent out to the membership
basically.
But yeah, I mean at DominionValley I was doing our um, like
(13:44):
the emails to the members, thesocial media, that kind of thing
, until sort of the end, I wasallowed to hire a marketing
manager and she took over thatfor me, which was great because
it let me focus more on like thenumber, yeah, and especially of
(14:04):
a club that size.
It was hard to manage, and so Ithink I expressed it and I got
the help that I needed.
And so here you know, I'm doinga lot of the same things that I
was doing there, it's just on aslightly smaller scale, and I
have six months of prep, whichis like I it's I can't even
(14:28):
explain how good that is.
Yeah, um so.
So it's, it's fun, I enjoy it,but um yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
How do you, how do you manage your days and time
now?
So so, since you're, you knowI'm, I don't get to talk to too
many people who have this typeof position, who have like this.
I don't want to say time off isnot the right word, but this
much I want to say buffer.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Prep time.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah, Well, I mean there are clubs that book far
out or they plan far out, but tobe closed and to really have
that time to build and planthings.
So now that, because the clubis closed, now right.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
So what does like a day look like?
You know?
How do you time bank?
How do you manage your timelike what you know, do you?
Is it like, okay, mornings Ilike doing communications,
afternoon I like social?
Like, how do you plan your days?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
sure.
So I kind of plan like a weekat a time.
Um, I'm in the office two daysa week at a time.
Um, I'm in the office two daysa week typically.
So, um, like on my days here,I'll try to like plan things
that I kind of need to be inoffice for.
Most of that's like marketingbecause, like all of our um,
like the calendar, for example,when I'm putting together the
(15:43):
programming guide, it helps tohave like multiple screens and
like to be able to print thingsout and see how they look on our
printers and um, and so I'lltry to like plan or like if I
need to meet with any members,because we still have members
that will um, you know they'reyear round and they want to come
in, and so I try to plan thosethings on the days where I'm in
(16:04):
office.
Um, and then everything else.
I really just made myself like alist of goals before we closed
and decided like I want to havethe calendar done by the end of
November, beginning of December.
I want to have all theentertainment and everything
booked by uh, you know, february.
(16:26):
I want to have the uhmembership packet for 2025 done
before the end of 2024.
I want to have our, because wedidn't have, like a member, like
a new member orientation packet, any kind of like new member
guide, and so I was like I wantto have that put together, you
(16:47):
know, before the season nextyear.
So I had a list.
It was a pretty long list oflike things that I just wanted
to get done, and so I've beentrying to kind of break those
down into the weeks.
But I mean really like and whenI got this job, you know it was
told to me and you never reallyknow until you're here, but
they, they said you know, in theon season you're probably
working like 45 to 55 hours aweek and then in the off season
(17:16):
it's probably going to be closerto like 25 to 35, like it's not
as intense.
And I feel like right now I'mnot doing that because I want to
still try to get everythingthat I want to get done done and
we had our member billing andall of that stuff that just
happened.
But I'm kind of noticing nowit's like, ok, I can, I can take
(17:38):
the time and it's really like agood flexible work schedule.
And so I don't know.
And so I don't know, I mean, mydays when I'm not here are
mostly just whatever projectI've given myself for that week.
I work on it and, but I havetime in between to go like take
(17:59):
my dogs for a walk or what kindof dogs you know.
I have one that's like a he's aBrittany Spaniel, um, and then
my other one she's a rescuebecause there's unfortunately,
unfortunately there's a humanesociety like two minutes from
work.
Um, which was a danger for mebecause I already have a foster
(18:21):
fail cat, um, that we took in aslike an emergency foster during
some natural disaster, like afew years ago there's a wildfire
, and so they were likeeverybody take a cat, and then I
just never gave them back.
Um, and so, with the humanesociety down the road, I decided
to walk in like one day in Juneafter work to like pet some
puppies, because I had a bunchof puppies and then I ended up
(18:43):
just like taking one of them.
But she is, she's a.
Um, I got her doggy DNA.
It's like mostly a pit andChihuahua, which is interesting.
Um, she's like a shrunken downpit bull, like she just looks
like somebody took a pit bulland like left it in the dryer
for too long.
Um, she's really cute.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Great way to put it.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, she's adorable.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Love doggies.
They're the best.
I like them more than people.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And your job is strictly interacting with people
.
But I get it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Way to throw me under the busthere well, no, I was gonna say
I feel like that's pretty commonfor like people and very people
facing jobs, like when I'm athome, like I would.
If somebody was like yourweekend consists of just like
(19:42):
staying at home with you andyour dogs, I'd be like like that
sounds.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Double thumbs up.
I'll do that all day.
No, yeah, I know A hundredpercent.
It's a lot of immenselydraining, a lot of peopling
Cause.
Like it's a year.
It's like it's a different,like energy.
Like, if you saw me in theairport, you I have like the
worst RBF.
I wear all black.
Like I have my headphones inmost likely a hat, like phones
(20:10):
in most likely a hat, like don'tlook at me, like I'm just like
the unabomber black backpack,like I'm just like in in my zone
.
So what's it like now creating?
You said it's a, it's a newmember packet.
Like what's, what's, what'sthat been entailed?
so they didn't have anything fornew members who joined no, um
and you were like, hey, this isnot good, we need to have
something yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
I mean, we, you know it was just kind of this club
it's.
It's so small and it reallyoperated more like a family type
.
Like you know, we have newpeople and we just get them
involved, and which, very no,not at all.
(20:49):
I just I'm more of like asystems person.
I like having a system in place, especially because I think you
know, when people pay for amembership and they join a club,
I've, I think there's sort ofan expectation that, like you're
going to go through some kindof orientation process that's a
(21:10):
little bit more formal At leastthat's what I would expect and
some people like that and somepeople are way cool with just
the version that they were doingbefore of like, hey, we'll just
introduce you to some peopleand have fun, and so, yeah, I
got here and that was kind ofone of the things I added to my
(21:30):
to-do list was just creating apacket that's mostly frequently
asked questions, that'll lay outthings like our dining hours
and our amenities and you knowhow to access all of the
amenities and you know what'sopen in the off season, because
(21:50):
we have certain things that areopen in the off season, like our
fitness center and pickleballcourts and and that kind of
thing, our dress code, becausethat's a question that people
ask a lot.
But I just wanted something thatexists physically but also
digitally on our website thatanybody can go and reference.
Like, even if you've been amember for a long time, you can
(22:12):
just look at this memberhandbook and it says, okay, um,
here are, uh, you know, just the, just the basics, because we
have, like, our rules and wehave our bylaws.
But, like, who wants to read 40pages of rules and 50 pages of
bylaws?
Like, I think it's a lot easierjust to like reference this
little handbook that's, you know, color coded and there's
(22:34):
pictures and also reallyorganized yeah, because it's
like you can click on the linksand it'll take you to the page
and there's little tabs and Idon't know I, I'm, I'm a little,
I'm very organized, like that'smy, that's how I operate.
It's a touch, you know, likesome tendencies there, but
(22:57):
there's nothing wrong with that.
But yeah, I think I like tohave everything pretty organized
and easy to find for myself,but also for the members.
I mean, I just think it's moreefficient for somebody to be
able to click on the memberhandbook or open their member
(23:18):
handbook and reference it tofind out a rule or a guest
policy or when the dining roomis open, versus having to call
the concierge every single time,which they're still welcome to
do.
That's why we have a concierge.
But you know, some peopleprefer just looking everything
(23:39):
up in their phone versus havingto call.
So I just like to have theoption.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, who do you guys use for your like website and
back of house stuff, for likeall your?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
so we have our.
Our public website is go daddyand then our um member site is
club essentials.
So um, which I like clubessentials, I mean we've been.
This is they're new to me.
I used members first um at mylast club and so, but they're
(24:13):
all kind of the same.
I mean they do the same stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So I know they're all .
Yeah, I was working, I'm stillworking at it, I'm still working
on a, on an episode I have todo it, uh, where I'm like trying
to do like a higher level,comparing all like the different
platforms.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
No-transcript yeah, I mean it was funny.
Like here we use clubessentials for everything um.
I work when I was at dominionvalley that's an invited club uh
, formerly club corp and theyhave different systems for like
everything um.
(24:55):
So with that you got experiencein all of these different
systems.
You also had to learn like 30systems.
So we used like cater pro forour videos and then you use
members first for yourmembership stuff in your website
and then you use um what wasthe?
It was like Pardot for ouremails and Salesforce for the
(25:22):
prospecting and CRM, yeah.
So it was like a lot ofdifferent um different things.
Yeah, are you?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
also responsible for bringing in new members, and all
of that at your current club.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Mm-hmm.
So, and we actually just addeda CRM through Club Essentials,
which that'll be nice to haveeverything kind of talking to
each other.
So I don't have to hand inputeverything.
But, yeah, so our membershipsales process is not like with
(25:59):
invited clubs.
Any club like, they have amembership sales director and
that's their only job is justselling memberships.
Here, like we have, it's a muchmore and a selective process.
To find members and get themstarted at the club.
(26:22):
They have to have sponsors thatare current members and so it's
a little bit less there.
There are no like direct.
We're not doing like marketing.
We're not doing advertisement,like it's not, you know, but we
(26:43):
try to get people and through,like our social media, um, and
just keeping everything on thewebsite looking pretty and word
of mouth around the mountain.
So, um, those are our bigthings, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Mountain mouth.
Yeah, that sounds weird.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I will edit.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Doing the edit for me .
Thanks, yeah.
You were saying oh, it's easy.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
This club, though we have our dining here is like
actually the best on the plateau.
The plateau is the area that weare located.
It's um this cashers highland,uh, sapphire region of north
carolina, but um, we have, likepeople come from other clubs
(27:37):
there are a ton of clubs up here, um, and members from other
clubs will come as guests of ourmembers to come eat here, cause
our food's the best.
Like it's, this is an easy sell.
Like it's like adult summercamp.
It's beautiful, there's amazingfood and fun events and just
the setting and the vibe.
Like it's just all.
(27:58):
It's the easiest sales shop.
Like it's not.
I'm not really having to do aton of work on the sales side Um
other than just kind of likemaking sure that we we look good
to the public, but our diningteam, our chef and our athletics
team and you know anybody upkeeping the grounds here sort of
(28:20):
does that.
For me it's not um, it's nothard.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So well, it's hard in different aspects, cause I'm
sure if other people looked atwhat you were doing, going like,
oh my God, I can never do thatLike, so it's uh, there's
probably a definitely an art toit of making it look look easy
and stuff what, um, what aresome things that maybe you wish
you knew sooner starting off inclub?
(28:45):
Or, uh, what are some thingsyou wish you knew when you first
started off in clubs doingmemberships and communications,
like you know, looking back,it's what you've been in the
club space eight, six years,seven years, no, no, no, because
I'm omni parks of four.
Yeah, about what?
Six, seven, eight years ishsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I guess I started in.
What year is it?
It's 2024 almost 25 yeah ohokay, so yeah, I guess like
seven years what?
Speaker 1 (29:13):
what are some things that you know you.
You know now that you wish youknew when you were first
starting.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
There are no country club emergencies, and I've
probably going to get in troublewith somebody for saying that,
but I believe it.
So hear me out.
Like there we don't work in ahospital, like there's nobody's
(29:58):
life that's on the line.
Yes, country club emergencylike that's a, that's a real one
.
Um, however, otherwise, likethere are things that can be
pressing, um, but in the grandscheme of things, like there are
no country club emergenciesthat are worth like your mental
(30:18):
health and sanity.
Like I feel like I put so muchpressure, especially in that job
at Dominion Valley, like I putmostly the pressure on myself
because I was like everythinghas to be perfect and like the
members can't notice anything.
No mistakes, no, nothing.
Like everything just has to go.
And that's me.
Like I, it's like I'm aperfectionist and so, like I
(30:40):
again, like nobody was tellingme these things, if I messed up,
it was kind of like, okay, well, you messed up and move on.
But like for me it was like youknow, on the communication side
, like if I had an error in anemail, it was like the end of
the world.
Or like if an event didn't goexactly as planned all the way
(31:01):
through, like I really stressedout about that stuff and over
time I was kind of like lookingwhen the mistakes would happen
or, you know, when things in anevent wouldn't go exactly as
planned, or like if my scriptgot thrown off in a new member
orientation, just like all theselittle things, and I'm like,
(31:22):
did it really like affect theexperience that much?
Like we recovered it's not thatbig of a deal, like it's not an
emergency, there's nothing likeI don't know, they're just it's
not an emergency.
Because I had like a marketingmanager at Dominion Valley and
she would get really stressedout too and I think a lot of
(31:44):
that was probably coming from me, because I was always really
stressed out and so then I wouldtell her things like there's no
emergencies, like if we don'twork at a hospital and nobody's
like going to die, we're fine.
Like you know, the numbers aregoing to have a good time, and
they're not paying attention tolike these little things that
may or may not go wrong.
And um, then I had to actuallybelieve that, because at the
(32:07):
time I was not putting that intopractice for myself, I was just
kind of like preaching it.
Um, but yeah, that's what Iwish.
I like believed at thebeginning.
Even at Grove Park Inn we workin hospitality you can have
(32:30):
little mistakes happen and notbe perfect 100% of the time and
most likely no one will noticeor at the very least least you
can recover from it.
It's not, um, the end all beall, uh.
So I think that's that was thebiggest thing for me, because
it's hard when you likeeverything to be perfect.
(32:50):
Um, because it's kind of my jobto like notice the little
details, um, but the recovery isbig.
Um, just like being able tokind of have mistakes happen and
roll with it.
That's probably the biggestthing.
But yeah, no country clubemergencies.
(33:13):
Just don't let your generalmanager hear that, because he
might disagree.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Thank you so much for coming on, thanks for sharing
and appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
It was fun talking about thisstuff.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Hope you all enjoyed that episode as much as I did.
If you do a like, share,subscribe, share it with a
colleague, share it with afriend, share it on LinkedIn,
share it on the socials.
Give us a five-star review.
Anything you can do to helpmove the channel forward means
the world and costs nothing.
That's this episode.
Until next time, I'm your host,denny corby.
Catch y'all on the flippityflip.
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