401: Getting Your Reindeer: Anahi Perez on Creative Risk-Taking

Transcript

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Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs from mastering leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light.

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Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place.

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I'm your host, denny Corby.

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Welcome to the show.

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And in this episode I am chatting with my new friend, anaheim Perez, the clubhouse manager at North Shore Country Club in Illinois, and we talk about her journey, starting off working on the BevCart to now clubhouse manager and all of what entailed through that whole process.

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She's very passionate and has this drive and commitment to, I think, like a lot of us are trying to.

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I don't want to say reshape how clubs approach things, but just the progression, the forwardness, the newness, uniqueness, the Marcom movement, that is, of how clubs approach their events, their community, their marketing, their everything, and so we talk about the importance of Marcom.

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We also touch on the topic of culture and balance and work and how to make everything work, focusing on prioritizing cultural fits and well-being for teams, and one of the best takeaways from the episode is that, with enough drive and going after things and taking some risks and taking a leap of faith, that's where the best results come from and because one day you will get your reindeer, just call back to the episode.

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This is a great story, great episode.

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I know you're going to enjoy it.

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If you haven't done so already, sign up for the newsletter.

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Head on over to privateclubradiocom.

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The box pops up.

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There's some thanks to some of our show partners you're going to hear about a little bit later Concert Golf Partners, golf life navigators, kenneth's member vetting and myself.

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Denny Corby the Denny Corby Experience, magic, mind reading and comedy.

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It's one of the most fun event nights you're going to have, guaranteed Now, booking into 2025.

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If you want to learn more, head on over to dennycorbycom.

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Enough about that, let's get to the episode.

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Private Club Radio listeners.

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Let's welcome Anahai Perez.

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So what makes your Halloween event so much fun?

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So our basement becomes like the haunted basement.

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What it's terrifying.

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Adults are terrified.

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It's already scary.

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It's a basement.

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Adults are terrified.

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It's already scary.

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It's a basement in a clubhouse and then our maintenance team goes all out.

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They love Halloween.

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So there are adults that will not go down there and you can see the kids that are brave and go through all of it.

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So that's wild.

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You know we have the usual offerings everybody else has.

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you know, pumpkin carving pumpkin decoration, bouncy houses and everything else, um, but for us to casual and think of like going to a pumpkin farm, but in the country club I like it.

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I like it.

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How long have you guys been doing that for?

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Oh?

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Oh, years Since, before I got here.

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Oh, so it's always been a big.

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We've just gotten bigger.

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We go bigger every year.

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That's our niche.

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You give us, we'll top that.

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Hold my beer.

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Hold my espresso, martini, that's funny.

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So what's the big thing for 2024?

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like what was your thing for for this year, for this year, for the whole year, oh or no, no, so for for the halloween thing there's.

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So they made a coffin.

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It looks like a real coffin and it's hidden.

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So we've changed it up and it looks like a real coffin.

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Someone's going to go in there and pop out of there.

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So I've seen this thing come together and when they first pitched it to me, I'm thinking sure make it, whatever how it's going to be.

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I go in there and I saw I was like, oh, that looks like a real coffin, so it sounds huge.

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I think I was driving to.

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I used to go to school in Boston many, many, many, many years ago and I would make the trek from Pennsylvania to New England, boston once, twice a month easy.

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And I remember there was a truck for a casket company and on the side and on the back it just said keep texting and driving.

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Hey, get a point across.

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It made me.

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I have it.

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I have it on my phone somewhere.

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I have to find it.

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But yeah, keep keep texting and driving.

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I was like, well played, well played.

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I was like, well played, well played, but yeah.

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So I've been excited for this chat because you do a lot for the club industry, you do a lot for the community, you do a lot for the youth, you do a lot for education, you're big on community building and, yeah, it's something that I think we need a lot more of and I'm happy to see that you're doing a lot.

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Real quick, give us the you know, the 30,000 foot view, the two minute story.

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What got you to clubhouse manager at North Shore Country Club?

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Oh God, what got me my kids, my kid got me my kids, my kid, I, I wanted, I want to make sure that he had a future and I wanted him to um be able.

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I want to be able to provide that for him.

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Um, but also because I started as like the beverage cart girl and the summer help, you know um I now can go back and be like, oh, I should.

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No, this needs to change and you can't change it when you're at the bar.

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You gotta, you gotta, move up there and do it.

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Um, so when I know that I'm we're mad, I go in and like what do you mean?

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You can't do that?

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Yes, you can Like, and I tell people you know, I was the beverage cart girl that didn't know the difference between a Pinot Noir and a vodka soda Like you can do it.

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Come on, it couldn't have been that bad.

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Yes, I remember working in the restaurant at my first club and someone asked me for a Grey Goose and something and some wine.

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Yeah.

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I wouldn't have known the difference.

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I just knew how to take the order and say it back to the bartender, and the bartender would just grab it to me If he messed up.

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I would not have been able to say anything.

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How old were you when you first started in clubs and?

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2021?

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.

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Okay.

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You know, most 21 year olds don't know the difference between like a, the difference between a Grey Goose Martini and perhaps a Sauvignon Blanc that is in a certain area of Italy.

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Why would you know that?

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Yeah, and then at what point were you like?

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I think I'm going to stick in clubs.

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The first time that one of my managers got got sick and it was a small event.

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I've done many events like that and they're like can you just do this?

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Uh, we're a little busy downstairs, this should be a no brainer.

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I'm like, yeah, I know the chef and I know how to get through it, got it, I got it.

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I got through it Cause I knew the staff, I knew the chef.

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I've done several of those small baby showers.

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I'm like, yeah, I can do this.

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Now, even to this day, I have days when I'm like I have no idea how I'm going to do this.

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And I go through.

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Okay, I've been here, I've been here before.

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Just get through it.

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Just try it before you walk out.

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Yeah, commit, first, figure the rest out later.

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Now, did you grow up in the Chicagoland area?

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Yeah, okay, I'm from Chicago.

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That's a unique, fun city area.

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I call it the Willis Tower I.

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If you're a Packers fan, you know you come to Chicago, you get what you ask.

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You know that's what it is and don't start a conversation about pizza or baseball unless you're ready to have a sit down.

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It can get very heated yeah.

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I'm from the north side and I'm a White Sox fan, which is that's a topic of discussion.

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I went to this was pre-pandemic, had to be 2000, maybe 16, 17 I did a.

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I was doing a doing a club show and then for some reason I stayed like an extra day and I just went on like ticket master and I got like a I believe it was an eight dollar, ten dollar ticket to the white socks game, all the way up just, but it was like the beer was $15.

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I was like, oh, the beer is more expensive than the ticket, but it was so much fun, the stadium was fun, the people were fun, it was just a really good time.

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Hey, we like our baseball, no matter what Chicago likes their baseball.

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They like their sports.

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Yeah, and we can handle the weather, it's fine.

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And you are a brand new CCM right this year.

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Congrats, congrats, thank you.

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How?

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was that whole process Nerve wracking, A lot of studying, a lot of practice.

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And I recall that after I took the test I called my GM at the time.

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I called him.

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I said I'm sorry, I think I failed the test.

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I didn't tell him that I was taking it that day.

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I told him I'm going to take it I'm not telling you what day it is because I don't need any added pressure and so I took it.

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I thought I failed it, Called him.

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I said I'm sorry, I think I failed the test.

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I I'm going to have to take this class all over again.

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And three days later or four days later, I get the email in my office and I just start screaming like a crazy person in my office.

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When I got that I was like yes, what made you think that you failed?

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It's a hard test.

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It takes a while, and it's a hard test, it, you know it, it takes a while and it's very easy.

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It's very easy, simple, to just like double, like second guess yourself and not sure if you did everything that you could.

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So, but I am one of those persons that, like I know what I know, and I'm you know, if I don't know it, I'm not going to sit here looking at it for two hours.

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Yeah, so what was, what was the hardest part of the test?

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Like, what was like, what was your what?

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What section were did you struggle the most on?

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Oh, membership, that that's what membership.

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But it is that marketing component and the terms.

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That's where I struggled, because I can.

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I'm like what does it mean?

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What is that?

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I don't use that terminology here.

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We use this terminology at the club, so um, but that's it.

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What, what, uh, what, what area did you kill it?

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Not food and beverage.

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Not food and beverage Um, it was actually a governance.

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So that's the one.

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I really I thought I would do amazing in food and beverage and I did fine.

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I was very surprised.

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I did really good in governance and um golf like, but I've been in country clubs for a while so I was like okay, that made sense, yeah.

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Yeah, I mean, you're pretty much your whole career has been in, been in country clubs for a while.

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So I was like, okay, that made sense, yeah, yeah, I mean, you're pretty much your whole career has been in, been in clubs right for the most part for the most part, private clubs yeah, and then you've been at, uh, your current club for what?

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Seven, eight, nine years you you've been there.

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We're teetering on the eight now that's awesome.

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Now did you start off club clubhouse manager there yeah, so I was a club manager, but we had a different structure back then.

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So we restructured a couple of times.

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So back then the clubhouse manager reported to another person.

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Now the clubhouse manager reports to the GM directly.

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So we've restructured as most clubs do.

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Yeah, what was the reason for the restructure?

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Just to make it more efficient soon?

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Yeah, what what?

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what?

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What was the reason for the re restructure?

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Just just to make it more efficient or Streamline it?

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Focus on other departments.

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We added more departments, so now we have like HR Mark in person.

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We didn't have those.

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When I started, it was a team of four, and so now there's like a whole gang here.

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Well, so obviously then, that means the club is must be doing better, you must have more members.

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Like everything must just everything's bigger, I'm telling you.

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We're bigger and better every year.

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How?

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How many memberships do you have now and for, or like?

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Where did you start at and then where are you at now?

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Oh, so we're at like five, 10 now you know FMEs, and maybe we were at 430, something back in 17.

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Don't call me on that number.

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Yeah, zero quotes.

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When did you start?

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Because I remember when we first chatted it was a lot on the Marcom side.

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When did that start becoming a bigger component of your?

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I don't want to say beliefs, but like when.

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When did that start becoming a bigger?

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Um, well, I don't know, I can't even think of the word right now, but like when.

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When did that start becoming a thing for you?

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Um, so that's always been in my belief, you know, because I was in retail for a while and when I was in retail, that was when that company was going through a rebranding.

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So I got to see what that meant for a company and I was just like, why don't clubs do this?

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You know, social media was also something I grew up with.

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Clubs weren't doing that, and so it's always been on my mind.

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The club here specifically didn't start that fully embracing it until maybe 2020, when we got our first Markham person.

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We had some people working through it and getting our feet wet with it, but not fully invested.

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Yeah, it's definitely, and that's what I really enjoy too is people are now seeing and realizing, like this is not an admin position, like this isn't just, you know, a part time.

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This is like someone, this is a career.

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Like this is a I don't want to say a lifestyle, but it's like a, it's a way of life potentially.

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I mean just you know the mindset of it.

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Would you remember what you, what you learned or what you took away from watching the corporate rebrand and what you took into the club space?

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Yeah, the brand, knowing the history of the brand, recognizing the brand and like everything from the color scheme, the roots, why everything was selected the way it was.

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And then I had known the brand for a while.

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So I was like, oh yeah, that that makes complete sense.

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I never knew that, but it makes complete sense.

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And as they were transitioning and the choices that were being made, I was just like you're staying true to your brand.

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This is.

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You're just making it modern, more embraced, because at that time they want to embrace the millennials.

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Like makes sense.

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Yeah.

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And that's the same thing here.

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I always go into clubs.

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I'm just like.

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Before any employee walks into their first day, they should know what the club is for.

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Why are why?

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And do you take that and instill that when you work with the new hires and work with new people and it's not just even staff, I'm sure it's members also you have to instill into them what the brand of the club is and what the mission is and the values and all of that as well.

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Yeah, yeah, Well, there's.

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Here's the thing.

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There's two brands, really right.

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There's what the members see and then there's what the employees feel with it and something you know you have to make sure that they're you're aware that there's the brand that the members see, they have their perception, and then there's the brand that's in the employees as an employer.

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So that's two very big components.

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So you have your values for your members and your values for your employees, and that's important.

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We were really important for us the culture here of our employees as well as the culture of the members.

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Now, member culture is driven by its board.

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Employee culture is driven by us.

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We have full control over that.

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What does it look like for your club from the member side and then from the employee side?

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Well, it's big families for the member side.

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Big families, um, that is number one.

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It's in our mission statement.

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But even if I was to tell you right here, they're all somehow related to each other.

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They've grown up literally with each other.

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They like, oh, I remember that when they were adult, I'm like when they got married, I'm like I knew really like, and oh, we're married, they're cousin, they're my adult.

00:17:31.536 --> 00:17:35.147
I'm like when they got married, I'm like I knew really like, and oh, we're married, they're cousins, they're my cousin.

00:17:35.167 --> 00:17:38.034
I'm like I didn't know this and I've been at clubs before.

00:17:38.034 --> 00:17:40.339
I hadn't seen it as ingrained as it is here, and it's just like.

00:17:40.339 --> 00:17:43.257
This makes sense and they generally care about each other.

00:17:43.257 --> 00:17:55.901
They know they call each other, even if it's like the younger ones or the older ones, like, you see them, like, oh, I knew his kids when they grew up and they go here.

00:17:55.901 --> 00:17:58.771
I'm like, oh, you know this, I know this because I see them.

00:17:58.771 --> 00:17:59.432
I didn't know that.

00:17:59.432 --> 00:18:18.237
You go way back, um, and on the other side, you know, everyone's like, oh, we, we have a big thing here for employees of don't overwork yourself, you are not saving lives.

00:18:18.237 --> 00:18:24.813
We have really good workers and it's just like give it grace, we can figure it out.

00:18:24.813 --> 00:18:32.532
If everybody needs to be here at every single moment in time, something's wrong, so something's going to come up from time to time.

00:18:32.532 --> 00:18:37.167
Whatever your best is at today it's your best, that's okay.

00:18:37.167 --> 00:18:40.657
Maybe tomorrow your best is better.

00:18:40.738 --> 00:18:47.615
Have you always been that way and felt that way, or has that been a shift as well in you and your leadership and your personality?

00:18:49.258 --> 00:18:49.919
Absolutely not.

00:18:49.919 --> 00:18:55.676
So I started in this industry when they told you you have to pay your dues and you've got to work.

00:18:55.676 --> 00:18:59.358
You know, especially as you're going up, you got to pay your dues.

00:18:59.358 --> 00:19:05.816
So working 14 days straight and 14 hour days, that was normal.

00:19:05.816 --> 00:19:07.415
You know they call it the a hundred days of hell.

00:19:08.750 --> 00:19:24.954
I'm sure you've heard that before but it just didn't seem right and I I personally have had a challenge sometimes dealing with it, but I've been blessed that I had enough support to continue to do that.

00:19:24.954 --> 00:19:30.492
Um, being a parent, not everybody has that and I was just like how are other people doing it?

00:19:30.492 --> 00:19:31.474
Because I've been blessed.

00:19:31.474 --> 00:19:34.019
If they don't have it, how are they going to move forward?

00:19:34.019 --> 00:19:45.516
So it's been a shift when you go from being um as you go from the bottom of the like the chain to the top and now you're responsible for making sure that their success.

00:19:45.516 --> 00:19:58.005
But it's like no, I have to make sure that they're happy with their life so that they don't feel like they have to move out of the industry to get their fill of life because they're like, oh, I have to work.

00:19:58.005 --> 00:20:07.061
No, we don't, I can do it or somebody else can do it, you're going to stay in this industry if you feel like it fulfills your life goals.

00:20:07.061 --> 00:20:10.737
Like don't just work on your professional resume, work on your life resume.

00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:14.863
What are you doing to work on your life goals, like, don't just work on your professional resume, work on your life resume.

00:20:14.923 --> 00:20:16.409
What are you doing to work on your life resume?

00:20:16.409 --> 00:20:19.777
Well, so, um, I have a 15 year old that will be going to.

00:20:19.777 --> 00:20:25.997
It's going through um high school and then we're going to start looking at colleges pretty soon.

00:20:25.997 --> 00:20:29.755
Actually, have one um on Saturday, so that's wild.

00:20:30.297 --> 00:20:37.355
Wait, looking at colleges at 15.

00:20:37.355 --> 00:20:38.196
Hey, it's all about the mindset.

00:20:38.196 --> 00:20:39.199
Wow, I don't think I looked at colleges.

00:20:39.219 --> 00:20:50.075
I was like 18, you know, I didn't either, um, but it's a topic he and I've always discussed, and so for him it's a no-brainer, it's just.

00:20:50.075 --> 00:20:52.204
Yeah, college is after, it's's just yeah, college is after.

00:20:52.204 --> 00:20:54.679
It's not like what am I going to do after high school.

00:20:54.679 --> 00:20:57.258
It's just like going from first grade to second grade.

00:20:57.258 --> 00:20:59.415
You don't think about it, you just do it.

00:20:59.415 --> 00:21:02.269
So, that's a wrap.

00:21:02.891 --> 00:21:12.772
I want to get back to your MarCom, because that's something you're very passionate about and that's something that you're building and doing a lot with in the Chicagoland area.

00:21:12.772 --> 00:21:14.898
Right, what?

00:21:14.898 --> 00:21:17.306
What made you start what?

00:21:17.306 --> 00:21:18.650
What put that on your radar more?

00:21:18.650 --> 00:21:18.951
And?

00:21:18.951 --> 00:21:23.298
And what are you doing to bring that more to light?

00:21:23.298 --> 00:21:28.175
And what are you doing in the industry to, you know, bring more awareness to it?

00:21:28.797 --> 00:21:34.054
Well, I, you know I've had a lot of support from the um, our CMA chapter, here.

00:21:34.054 --> 00:21:40.404
They we've always been very grassroots in this area of like.

00:21:40.404 --> 00:21:43.576
If there's a need, we'll just figure it out and put it together.

00:21:43.576 --> 00:21:52.002
The other side was I remember when I started in this industry that the people around me might not work.

00:21:52.002 --> 00:22:00.432
They've supported me, they've guided me, they've given me advice on things and it's a phone call away, a text message, an email, whatever.

00:22:00.432 --> 00:22:01.214
That's always been.

00:22:01.214 --> 00:22:09.295
That's how I've gotten to where I'm at and anytime I go to anything that's CMA related, I always find my people.

00:22:09.295 --> 00:22:10.539
There's my tribe.

00:22:13.011 --> 00:22:19.763
But, we talk a lot about operations and becoming GMs and things like that.

00:22:19.763 --> 00:22:38.694
Well, a Markham person wouldn't necessarily be interested in any of that, because they have their own niche of interest and their own challenges, have their own niche of interest and their own challenges and, quite frankly, it's new for the clubs.

00:22:38.694 --> 00:22:39.616
So they're the pioneers.

00:22:39.616 --> 00:22:51.980
They need their people too, they need their village, they need their tribe, and so if you put them all together, they may benefit just like all of us have in the past of like learning from each other's experiences.

00:22:51.980 --> 00:22:55.319
I think during COVID is what was like the biggest thing.

00:22:55.319 --> 00:23:00.692
We didn't know how to handle every change in COVID, but we call each other what are you doing?

00:23:00.692 --> 00:23:02.498
I'm doing this, what are you doing?

00:23:02.498 --> 00:23:03.359
How did that go?

00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:05.257
Well, that didn't go work and we'll hear our club.

00:23:05.257 --> 00:23:07.570
So don't do that Same thing.

00:23:07.570 --> 00:23:15.635
It's our network and while there isn't necessarily a confined space for them yet, if you just start it it will come.

00:23:15.635 --> 00:23:16.720
You know, feel the dreams here.

00:23:17.730 --> 00:23:21.227
How big is your MarCom community now and what are you doing?

00:23:21.227 --> 00:23:23.073
And actually, how did you start it Like?

00:23:23.073 --> 00:23:24.676
So, was it just like?

00:23:24.676 --> 00:23:26.561
Was it just like a conversation?

00:23:26.561 --> 00:23:27.796
Like, do you guys meet monthly?

00:23:27.796 --> 00:23:30.171
What's that group look like, you know?

00:23:30.531 --> 00:23:34.602
it started with another professional, one professional that I know in this area.

00:23:34.602 --> 00:23:50.538
She was at a different club and she had been on the operation side, moved over to the Marcom side and she she asked for help and support with us and I was like, okay, let's go with it and she had like her small group that she already talked to because she'd know them.

00:23:50.557 --> 00:24:04.118
And I'm like I don't know those people, but I know many clubs and I'm sure that if I just call and ask to be connected to the person in charge of communications, I will talk to that person, or if I email them, they will respond back.

00:24:04.118 --> 00:24:22.022
It's just what private club people do, and so now I think we're like 15, 20 people that regularly attend or communicate between each other, and sometimes it gets up to 30, depending on whose days and how they all movement here and there.

00:24:22.022 --> 00:24:29.507
But that's a good number to have because we're all in this area.

00:24:29.507 --> 00:24:34.656
There's like the city clubs, there's the the city clubs, there's the country clubs, there's the yacht clubs, and so there's a little bit of difference between our clubs.

00:24:34.656 --> 00:24:40.218
But maybe we can learn from each other or or at least say like, what are you doing on camera?

00:24:40.218 --> 00:24:41.641
How do you do this?

00:24:41.641 --> 00:24:42.943
Did you see the updates?

00:24:42.943 --> 00:24:44.211
Do you like it?

00:24:46.555 --> 00:24:47.215
it's the worst.

00:24:47.215 --> 00:24:48.998
No, I'm kidding it.

00:24:49.038 --> 00:24:51.541
For some it's like, oh no, that's super easy, you just go here here.

00:24:51.541 --> 00:24:54.546
And it's like, yeah, I couldn't have figured that out, thanks.

00:24:56.191 --> 00:24:57.998
There are some Canva wizards out there.

00:24:59.230 --> 00:25:04.563
I don't ask me to be one, but I just want to connect them to each other.

00:25:04.563 --> 00:25:07.084
Because that's what I do.

00:25:07.084 --> 00:25:10.606
When I don't know how to do something, I go call somebody else like how did you do this?

00:25:10.606 --> 00:25:12.367
Or is this my idea?

00:25:12.367 --> 00:25:14.852
Does this sound great, you know?

00:25:14.852 --> 00:25:19.980
And if there is no solution, at least you don't feel alone.

00:25:21.644 --> 00:25:24.617
You know, and that's what community is about.

00:25:25.019 --> 00:25:28.598
Yeah, so that's how I feel about it.

00:25:28.598 --> 00:25:33.715
Cma has always given me a community, and so let's build more communities around it.

00:25:35.057 --> 00:25:35.617
Coke or Pepsi.

00:25:36.558 --> 00:25:36.900
Pepsi.

00:25:37.800 --> 00:25:38.582
Oh God really.

00:25:39.442 --> 00:25:40.144
Oh yeah.

00:25:40.703 --> 00:25:44.692
Oh, all right, I think.

00:25:44.692 --> 00:25:46.236
I think we're done.

00:25:46.236 --> 00:25:47.798
I can't, ok, no.

00:25:48.560 --> 00:25:49.182
Wait hold on.

00:25:54.596 --> 00:25:56.464
Canned Coke or bottle glass bottle Coke?

00:25:56.464 --> 00:26:05.163
See, I don't, I don't experience glass bottle Coke much.

00:26:05.163 --> 00:26:13.626
I did in Mexico and it was very good, but then, if you really want to break it down, now are we talking like McDonald's fountain diet Coke, because that's a whole different, because that's a whole different end.

00:26:13.626 --> 00:26:14.269
That's a whole different game.

00:26:14.288 --> 00:26:23.573
Yeah, two liters not the same as the can, not the same as the glass bottle, not the same as the fountain or the gun.

00:26:24.800 --> 00:26:25.704
Nope, nope, nope, nope.

00:26:25.704 --> 00:26:31.573
What have been some of the biggest learning lessons from building your MarCom community?

00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:37.085
Yeah, communication Okay to get a hold of people.

00:26:37.085 --> 00:26:41.625
Some people are still email, some people a phone call, some it's a text.

00:26:42.884 --> 00:26:44.609
And we say people, are you meaning members?

00:26:45.501 --> 00:26:49.066
I'm talking professionals, talking to the professionals.

00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:51.267
So not even the member side.

00:26:51.267 --> 00:26:52.765
We're talking professional side.

00:26:52.846 --> 00:27:17.415
Okay, members, paper, email text, phone calls, and somehow you will still not get through all of them, and so you learn to accept that that is okay, as long as you, if you know that you did your best, you put out the information multiple ways, you made it accessible, it's okay.

00:27:17.415 --> 00:27:21.605
And any feedback that you get of like, well, could this have been a?

00:27:21.605 --> 00:27:25.233
Okay, we can see it, we can shoot for next time, that's okay.

00:27:25.233 --> 00:27:27.547
I'm not going to get 100%.

00:27:28.061 --> 00:27:29.307
Have you always had this?

00:27:29.307 --> 00:27:32.565
What's the word I'm looking for?

00:27:32.565 --> 00:27:43.691
I want to say energy, but this, like almost like a calmness, like have you always had this like stoic, a little bit Like it's okay?

00:27:43.932 --> 00:27:55.748
Hey, it is what it is, no no, Um, I always used to shoot for perfectionism and everything to be great, uh, prim and proper.

00:27:55.748 --> 00:27:58.732
You know the best of the best, yeah, Actually.

00:27:58.752 --> 00:28:04.691
I ended up in North shore, um, and my bosses would be like aim for perfection.

00:28:04.691 --> 00:28:12.269
But I accept that you won't always get perfect, and when I'm going to get perfect you tell me I can't do.

00:28:12.269 --> 00:28:12.931
I'm going to do it.

00:28:12.931 --> 00:28:23.819
But when you start looking at things like communications, development arts, those things continue to develop.

00:28:23.819 --> 00:28:31.153
So you're never going to reach 100, because what is 100 today will be 110 tomorrow and 120 the day after.

00:28:31.153 --> 00:28:36.227
So you just have to keep shooting to improve, keep shooting Like that's what it is.

00:28:36.227 --> 00:28:42.451
And there was a point when I was just like all right, I finished all the goals that I wanted.

00:28:42.451 --> 00:28:43.192
Now what?

00:28:43.192 --> 00:28:46.019
Now I have this, so I got 100%.

00:28:46.019 --> 00:28:49.346
Now I don't feel fulfilled, I have nothing else to do anymore.

00:28:49.346 --> 00:28:57.342
And so I realized that I like the challenge and I like to keep on Like.

00:28:57.342 --> 00:28:58.807
I like the moving target.

00:28:58.807 --> 00:29:05.093
So if the moving target is keep improving, you're going to keep improving.

00:29:05.093 --> 00:29:07.284
So you just accept that, okay.

00:29:09.367 --> 00:29:10.490
Did having the kid help.

00:29:10.490 --> 00:29:14.824
I'm sure that had to teach you patience and it's okay.

00:29:15.104 --> 00:29:36.663
And a little bit, every day a little bit of patience, a little bit of baby steps forward yeah, but I think being in the private industry is what really drove that, because we kept growing, we kept growing, and so it was never the same every year.

00:29:36.663 --> 00:29:44.556
You know, um, and so you just learn to be gold like surf, ride the waves.

00:29:44.556 --> 00:29:50.053
I don't know if you serve, but like just ride the waves, enjoy that, get wet a little.

00:29:50.053 --> 00:30:03.835
Um, how my kids actually a lot more calm than I am, so that's that may have influenced me in that direction, but yeah, ooh, interesting, interesting.

00:30:05.824 --> 00:30:09.186
What's the MarCom journey been like at North Shore Country Club?

00:30:11.423 --> 00:30:14.359
Oh, it's been really interesting.

00:30:14.359 --> 00:30:21.492
We're actually in a time of forming, so-.

00:30:22.034 --> 00:30:22.575
Go on.

00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:38.515
We did not have a marketing or communications component until maybe my second year here and it was very part-time, very um reactive, less proactive, and then as can you.

00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:45.374
Can you just go into what that means a little bit being reactive and not proactive when it comes to Markami stuff?

00:30:45.922 --> 00:30:49.847
We didn't have a strategy, we didn't have branding guides.

00:30:49.847 --> 00:30:57.730
We used whatever logo, whatever font looked good If we were going to market an event.

00:30:57.730 --> 00:31:04.883
It was more like, oh, we should market this event, we know we have this calendar of events and we should communicate in this way.

00:31:04.883 --> 00:31:20.567
It was, oh, members like email, send an email out, send another one, and it's just like you know how many people like will tell you you're emailing me too much, stop emailing me, um, or we'll say, yeah, I get enough junk mail, stop it.

00:31:20.567 --> 00:31:24.233
With the flyers, and some people are like thank you for the flyer.

00:31:24.233 --> 00:31:30.287
So we were just whatever feedback we would get then we would react at the time.

00:31:30.287 --> 00:31:53.402
We were then eventually able to put in a person and invest in that person to have the communications component as one of their to-dos, with strategy, with organization, with skill, with fun, and so that developed A couple of years ago.

00:31:53.563 --> 00:31:59.374
We actually ended up getting a very talented person here, jillian.

00:31:59.374 --> 00:32:12.361
She is amazing at what she does because she's very well organized, but also is very creative, and so she took it to a different role of all.

00:32:12.361 --> 00:32:14.507
Right, this is our brand, this is what this tells you.

00:32:14.507 --> 00:32:15.911
Don't bombard them with this.

00:32:15.911 --> 00:32:16.862
We have good usage.

00:32:16.862 --> 00:32:20.931
Right here, she was giving statistics and giving us knowledge.

00:32:20.931 --> 00:32:27.305
So now we were again proactive, strategic, strategic, not just shoot from the hip and let's see what happens.

00:32:27.305 --> 00:32:40.884
And so now we've gotten to a level of don't just do for the sake of doing, plan out successes, plan on what it's going to be, because that's the right way of doing things.

00:32:40.884 --> 00:32:47.340
Um, it's thought out, um, and here's the other side of it.

00:32:47.340 --> 00:32:54.641
You can't go when something doesn't go well, you can't say, oh well, we should have marketed.

00:32:54.641 --> 00:33:00.448