405: From H2B Visa to Club Leadership - How Kyle Hillhouse Built a Thriving Career in Private Clubs

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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In this episode I am chatting with Kyle Hillhouse.

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Kyle is a really cool dude.

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He's a hospitality superstar and we talk about his journey from South Africa to the US on an H-2B visa and how it's redefined, what it means to thrive in the private club world, in the club space.

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We talk about his journey and cultural shock realizing America wasn't what he thought it was like in the movies, but it was cool just how he found his calling in hospitality, climbing the ladder from server to director of operations, director of making things happen at Boca Woods Country Club in Boca Raton, florida, boca Raton.

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There's only a few clubs there, but it's a wonderful episode, a wonderful story, wonderful takeaways from how relationships, not roles, can transform careers, why clubs need to treat international staff like people, not just temporary workers, and connecting with them on an emotional level and how that will make them perform so much higher.

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And we talk on his advice for clubs, starting with the H-2B visas, but also people looking to follow in his footsteps, for people who are looking to Also people looking to follow in his footsteps, for people who are looking to try the H-2B visa, to hear what the program is like, to hear what it's like to come over and the steps and the journey.

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This is an episode for everybody because the H-2B visa program is not just about ticking a box.

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It's about creating a family box.

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It's about creating a family.

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You can hear Kyle's passion for people, his grit and his focus on creating memorable member experiences for his club, for his people, but also for his staff.

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That's probably why he's become the person he has and the leader he has is because he has worked in so many aspects and seen the goods, the bads, and he's able to connect and relate with so many people in so many different capacities.

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This episode is really good.

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I'm super stoked for this one.

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Before we get to the episode, I am currently in the process of finishing up my club entertainment guide the ultimate club entertainment guide on all things club entertainment.

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If you would like early access to it.

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I'm not done yet.

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It's gonna be done soon.

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But if you would like early access to it for when it is ready, before I start really pushing it out, email me, hello at privateclubradiocom.

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Subject line entertainment guide or just guide, and I will add you to the list and I'll make sure you get a early copy of the club entertainment guide.

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Big thanks to some of our show partners.

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You're going to hear more about some of them later concert golf partners, golf life navigators and kenneth's member vetting and myself, the denny corby experience.

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There's excitement, there's mystery, also there's magic.

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But right now let's welcome the director of Clubhouse operations from Boca Woods Country Club, kyle Hill House.

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So you're how old when you came over to to the states?

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uh, 18, 18, 19.

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Yeah, yeah so.

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So when I came over and I'm not so basically I came over 2014.

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Um, I started my first season down in Florida at Boca West Country Club, so I was there for about 2014 to 2018.

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And that was a real culture builder of like, oh wow, this is like America, understanding what their hospitality scene is, like their training schedule, and I was like my first season it didn't settle.

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It was a big culture shock for me, especially coming over from a third world coming to a first world country.

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So just like climatizing and understanding like this is the real world and not america in the movies.

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Um, it, it, it was, it was eye-opening and then going down to miami.

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What was, what was some of that?

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What were some of those initial shocks?

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What were you very surprised about?

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What were you just like whoa?

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One of the biggest psychological shocks.

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We were taking a drive down to Miami and as we were going down to Miami, obviously you see this beautiful Miami movies, you see the yellow cabs in New York City, everything was all bougie and amazing and you go and see these squatter camps on your way down to miami and I was like wow, like like america actually has these kind of things and looking at it from the media and stuff, the media doesn't really portray those kind of things.

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They like portray america as this beautiful country which it is, but it's just, it's just scary to realize that it's what you believe.

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It is like if you're watching a movie and and and you're coming over from a third world country, it's.

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It's a real eye-opener to realize that there's real life situations like that that happen all across the world what?

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what made you, or how did you even how much?

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When were you like I want to go to America, how do I get there?

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What do I do Like?

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What was that like?

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So I never planned to stay in America.

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The goal was never to be in America.

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My goal was to come over to America my first year, gain a bit of experience, gain that dollar and pay for my own colleges back at home, for my own colleges back at home.

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I did want to be a civil engineer.

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That was something that I was studying towards.

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I did the EGD, I did the courses and stuff in high school.

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But realizing that when I came over to America and understanding the hospitality scene my dad's in hospitality, my mom's in hospitality so it's something that came naturally to me, if I could say that, and I really enjoyed it.

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The second, my first season, was more of a cultural shock, really understanding if this is something that I want to do or if it's something that I really want to thrive in.

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My second season, I would say, is what really kicked it off my second season, I came back in banquets and the banqueting department was a group of about 25 guys and they just had one goal in mind.

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We were doing huge events.

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We were doing like tanglewood for 1400 people.

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That really established the teamwork aspect in america for me and that was really the foundation.

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We worked with great minded people andrew macy, atomic thomas casner, some real role, role models in the industry and that really set the boundary for me to be like, wow, this could be fun.

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Regardless of all the crazy hours and everything that we worked, it was actually fun.

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So I went up north after my second season.

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I worked at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club.

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That's in new jersey and I think you also did a yeah, yeah podcast with tommy donovan.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, tommy donovan, the whole family.

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Donovan family is amazing people yeah, that, that was a really cool episode.

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Uh, I got linked up with him through um, oh my goodness, I forget his name but through through wine, wine, beau.

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I met him, ian Ian, ian Hawk.

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There we go Bang, just just need that first one.

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But yeah, I got linked up through him and there that whole story and stuff is is great.

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There's.

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It's really I, I enjoy, I love.

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I love clubs and stuff club that's like run well, done well yeah, and that was one of the biggest like opening openers for me.

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Working club like obviously knowing poker is huge, huge membership and understanding the difference between the membership and a family-owned club and the family-owned club was a a great experience to understand that there is a versatile sort of clubs out there and and that's my advice to everyone that's up and coming in the industry there's not one club that fits all.

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There's family-owned, there's social, there's city clubs.

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There's so many different clubs under the country club or under the club experience, if you would say, and working at Fiddler's Elbow under a family that really just was driven to exceed that member expectation.

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Tommy had so many great ideas, ken had so many great ideas and everyone, just like Chef Michael, michael Weisshoff he was phenomenal, like the things that he did.

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Everything was just for the membership and it came from a place of caring and I think I just landed at the right spot at the right time, as I developed my curiosity in hospitality and I was just like I could make a life out of this.

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And in 2017 was my first season or second season I went to Fiddlers and they sponsored me a green card and that's how I got the green card opportunity.

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It was employment based up in New Jersey.

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That's awesome.

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That.

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That's how I got the green card opportunity.

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It was employment-based up in New Jersey.

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That's awesome.

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That's awesome.

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What was the H-2B visa process like?

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Yeah.

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So the H-2B visa process was.

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It was actually scary how it initially landed up in my lap.

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We were just chilling at a bar back in South Africa and someone walked up and were like, hey, listen, do you want to go work in America?

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And I was like, oh, that's crazy, let me just grab that, put it in my back pocket and and it is what it is.

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And, uh, as, as we went along, we were just continuing with the life and the guys was like, oh, are you going to the, to the, to the interviews at one of the hotels?

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And I was like, okay, let's, let's go and see what it's like.

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So, anyway, the whole process was you go for an interview.

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It was initial screening, then the second interview, you came back and then it was more of an interview with the country clubs and everything happened so quick and the foundation that work away, which is the organization that brings you over, they do everything.

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They help with your visas, transportation, accommodation.

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They were very hands-on.

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So it was just you showing up was the most important thing, showing up and just filling in the correct paperwork, and they basically held your hand along the way.

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But the H-2B process was a six-month visa and every six months you have to change your whole lifestyle.

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Meaning you get an opportunity to go home or you get an opportunity to go home.

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You get an opportunity to go up to your up north club, and when you speak about relationships, you obviously want to go back to the same club that that you previously went to.

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So we started off at fiddler's elbow great experience.

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Uh, we started the petition for the green card, but in the, in the process, I still had to go back and forth after every six months.

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So since 2014, up until I think it was 2019, 2020, I was traveling every six months back and forth, back and forth.

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So we had a Florida club which was Boca West.

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My last season at Boca West was 2018.

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But just knowing that you had to pick up your whole lifestyle after six months and then do the whole traveling because a lot of people flew.

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So it wasn't like buying your own bed or buying your tv or doing all of those kind of things.

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You had to just live six months at a time that has to be a little stressful.

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Yeah, just just like having that like little, like.

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I don't want to say like a ticking time bomb, but it's like, oh, like, but, but I, I'm just I would.

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Would you know everyone's different, but I would assume maybe for you that was did you work harder because of it?

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Like what?

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What was your mindset knowing that you only had six months?

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Yeah, that's a great question and I think everyone has a different mindset of the experience that they go up for or they go down to, and I think the most important thing for me was building a relationship the way I was, and a lot of people chase the money.

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So Florida clubs you get certain clubs that pay higher, or up north clubs that pay higher, and you end up jumping around and chasing the money, but you make more money at certain places regardless.

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Some people charge less for accommodation, some people charge a higher hourly rate.

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There's different packages of wherever you work.

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My biggest focus was the relationships that I was working on at the current place.

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I still have great connections out at boca was great connections at Fiddler's, great connections at the restaurant group that I worked at.

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So my main focus was the relationships I was creating and how we could partner up for the future.

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What sort of hospitality roles were your family in?

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Yeah, so my dad.

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He has a business that cooks for a retirement village so he runs a whole hospitality program front of house, back of house and shows that the caving business is run successfully.

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My mom is a support component to that.

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She helps on the floor sometimes or she will help on the back end, help cook and stuff like that.

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But what my mom and dad actually do is manage a team to run the food and beverage service.

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Were you a part of that as you were growing up, or did you have completely just different jobs?

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No, that's my first job.

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When I was 14, 15 years old.

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That was me helping my dad cutting potatoes, supporting packing the van, offloading the van, and it was just something that was interesting to me because, like helping elderly members or people, was just something that my parents didn't enjoy doing and I just fell in love doing it anyway, whenever we used to have like birthday parties and stuff at home, my dad was at the grill.

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He was always the barbecue, as we call it, the bry man, but he was always the barbecue guy.

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Um, so it just hospitality ran in us and it just made sense for me to enjoy the industry that's awesome, that's awesome.

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So what was your first position?

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Were you server?

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yeah, so my my first season I was a food and beverage server um down Boca West, and then my second season I came back as a banquet server and then I got quickly progressed into a banquet supervisor.

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My third season at Boca.

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West.

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That's pretty quick, was it?

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At that point you started taking it a little, I shouldn't say taking it a little bit more serious, because I don't know where your headspace was at.

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but at what point were you like oh, there's something here yeah, I think, as I built the relationships and I enjoyed what I was doing, I never really set like a time goal for myself, because then you feel the pressure of completing something in a different.

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I'm a big believer everything happens for a reason.

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But I think just focusing on the aspects of relationships, support, being a better person, I think those were my main focuses, because I think, at the end of the day, if you are a better person, you're a better person for your team, and I think that was important to me.

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Every position or every place that I worked at was just focusing on how you could be a best person in the current position that you found yourself in were there any things that you learned early on that still stick with you, like?

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were there any phrases?

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Were there any things that you just picked up along the way early on that, like, still is just ingrained in you that you go back to every day?

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Yeah, that's a great question.

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One of the things that always stick with me is like inspect what you expect.

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It was always something yeah, inspect what you expect.

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And I think with the development of hospitality and the labor market and stuff like that, it's so important.

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As you came up in the industry, everyone was like, oh, we used to do this, oh, we used to do that.

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That doesn't mean that you still cannot do it.

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I think you just got to manage how you are working with the individuals to meet your expectation.

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And I think the biggest change a lot of people don't understand is when you move through the ranks and as you get into higher positions.

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There's a reason why you move through the ranks to get to this higher or to this director position.

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Don't forget to continue doing the things that you love, like I'll go in the back, help carry a tray or go and help be on the floor and be focused on members and stuff, because that's what really helped you get to where you are.

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And I think so many people just lose that member interaction because they're like oh, I'm now in an office, I can sit in the office, and now they lose that floor presence because it's the title that they were chasing and I think I was very fortunate to work with a lot of managers that were very hands-on focused and just were there for the members.

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I currently work for a GM right now, david Sweet.

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He's phenomenal.

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He really drives home that personal relationship and also that professional relationship, and it's so important in this hospitality career, as so many people can just get lost in the space and just go down a rabbit hole because they consume hospitality as this dark organization or this dark workforce that there's nothing happy that comes out of it.

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What do you mean by that?

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Yeah.

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So I think hospitality has a stigma behind it where people think that you can't make money or you can't.

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You can't have an amazing life working in hospitality, like if you speak to so many different people, like they're coming home two, three o'clock in the morning.

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And I always talk about service, Like what we offer as country clubs.

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We offer a lifestyle for our team members.

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You have two choices.

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You could work at a restaurant that closes 1, 2 o'clock.

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That's cash driven.

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You could take home cash.

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Or you could work an hourly rate and work at like 9, 10 o'clock at night and still have that quality of life.

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You still got and we saw that coming out of COVID the support that you get in country clubs regardless to any public organization, and I don't want to put any names to it.

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It's just night and day.

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You had members setting up GoFundMe pages throughout COVID.

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You had members supporting.

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You had members coming to team members' homes and stuff like that that.

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You had members coming to team members homes and stuff like that.

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So showing that support and hospitality in country clubs just speaks volumes in in desperate times and and many people can point to desperate times very often and it's scary yeah, I have a episode coming out with colin burns and we go into a lot of.

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it is how, uh, the club he used to be at was very involved in the lives of their staff and their members and the members were also involved in there was, you know, a couple situations that we talk about where you know, the club stepped up way more than it probably had to and should have.

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Yeah, I don't know if that's the right thing to say, but like they, they, they like really stepped up, uh, in a really big way.

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um, yeah, that was wingfoot, yeah, colin did a great job over at wingfoot yeah yeah, there was a uh, I'll I'll it episode will come out soon, but it was.

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It was basically a.

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A staff member was killed, yeah, like at his house, and the club just like stepped up and, like the kids, like the members, ended up like raising enough that the kids colleges were like taken care of, like it was, there was.

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It was a lot of.

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The story is fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

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But, um, but no, and that's and that's.

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Clubs are a very magical place, um, and I think where they separate a lot and can show their value is being especially now being more understanding and, uh, adapting to and understanding their, their team members lives and like, hey, like it's, they're gonna have to leave and like in and being a dad, like you know I've.

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Hey, like it's they're going to have to leave and like and and being a dad.

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You know, I've heard of some clubs it's like, oh, you know someone.

00:20:03.877 --> 00:20:21.663
It's like, hey, I can work from noon to four, but then I'm gonna have to leave for two hours, but then I can come back from, like you know, six to whatever, and it's one of those like a normal place, a normal, let's just say, you know, it might not be the best, but you're a really good worker, so we'll make it work.

00:20:22.704 --> 00:20:23.506
There's flexibility, yeah.

00:20:24.105 --> 00:20:28.752
Yeah, yeah, that's cool.

00:20:28.752 --> 00:20:29.634
What have been some of your?

00:20:29.634 --> 00:20:30.836
Oh, go ahead Sorry.

00:20:31.337 --> 00:20:31.979
No, no, go ahead.

00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:34.303
Oh, I didn't even know what I was going to say.

00:20:34.303 --> 00:20:34.663
Go ahead.

00:20:36.365 --> 00:20:37.025
Yeah, no, no.

00:20:37.025 --> 00:20:47.429
I think obviously working in clubs and stuff like that and coming just the changes in general about CMA and the support that CMA gives us.

00:20:47.429 --> 00:21:02.730
Like if you look at the educations and the educations are driven to build community, like if you look at you have your national level, then you have your state levels and stuff, every bit of that education is around community.

00:21:02.730 --> 00:21:07.241
It's around community education how you bring people together, how you work.

00:21:07.241 --> 00:21:08.332
You have your YoPros.

00:21:08.332 --> 00:21:14.999
You have so many different levels of how you can rely on one another to achieve the same challenges we're all going through.

00:21:14.999 --> 00:21:20.340
Like Meisner or a different country club down the road isn't going through different challenges.

00:21:20.340 --> 00:21:28.123
They might be dealing with different members, but it's similar challenges and every organization around us understands that we lean on each other.

00:21:28.585 --> 00:21:35.711
Our GM was on a group this morning with like 25 other general managers and just bouncing each other's plans hurricane plans off each other.

00:21:35.711 --> 00:21:39.239
So we all know what the clubs in the area are doing.

00:21:39.239 --> 00:21:49.035
So we're never alone and I think, especially coming over from South Africa thinking that, oh, you're going to be one person in the scary world.

00:21:49.035 --> 00:21:51.199
It was completely the opposite.

00:21:51.199 --> 00:21:52.741
It was team orientated.

00:21:52.741 --> 00:21:57.135
The club was embraced, every international that came over.

00:21:57.135 --> 00:21:58.960
They made it feel like a family.

00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:11.357
They did all of these crazy events for us, took us to Universal, took us all around America and that really changed that experience for an international team member, which is why I'm here today.

00:22:12.651 --> 00:22:20.201
I'm assuming most of the members were open and accepting of people coming on the H-2B visas.

00:22:20.201 --> 00:22:30.642
Did you ever experience any members that were hostile, rude or just didn't didn't like I don't want to say appreciate, but like just were just rude?

00:22:31.304 --> 00:22:38.417
yeah, yes, uh, you can definitely say that.

00:22:38.417 --> 00:22:47.618
Um, especially my first second season, it was there was a member that brought her phone over and she was like, hey, can you take a picture for us?

00:22:47.618 --> 00:22:50.308
And I was like, yeah, sure, let me, let me take a picture.

00:22:50.308 --> 00:22:56.653
So she gave me her phone and then she like started walking me through how to use a phone and this button to take a picture and stuff.

00:22:56.653 --> 00:22:59.325
I was like, oh, that's so crazy, I didn't even know.

00:22:59.325 --> 00:23:02.271
So she's like, yeah, this.

00:23:02.271 --> 00:23:05.077
But I was like, okay, perfect, boom, boom, took pictures and stuff.

00:23:05.077 --> 00:23:08.112
And then she started going to like detail about my clothing.

00:23:08.112 --> 00:23:12.611
She's like, oh, how is it like having clothes, how is it like having shoes, like how's it?

00:23:12.611 --> 00:23:14.606
Yeah, yeah, and and.

00:23:14.606 --> 00:23:17.596
And I was like, okay, this is this is like where are we going?

00:23:17.596 --> 00:23:22.185
And I was like, no, it's actually like crazy, this is the first time, and it's just.

00:23:24.229 --> 00:23:34.803
And as we have these conversations, like back at our apartment complex, it was like a group of uh, americans that were around and I was like what, where do you guys get this information from?

00:23:34.803 --> 00:23:39.238
Because when I was approached, they were like, oh, no, you can't be from africa, you're not black.

00:23:39.238 --> 00:23:40.442
And I was like what?

00:23:40.442 --> 00:23:49.635
Because now, this is like my first, this was like my first second season in america, and I was like I'm a bit confused and I was like no, I'm from south.

00:23:49.635 --> 00:23:50.980
Confused and I was like no, I'm from South Africa.

00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:52.325
They were like no, no, you're not, you're not black.

00:23:52.325 --> 00:23:54.392
And I was like this is crazy.

00:23:54.392 --> 00:23:57.294
And I was like what are you guys learning in school?

00:23:57.294 --> 00:24:00.835
And I asked someone where's South Africa?

00:24:00.835 --> 00:24:03.153
They were like oh no, south Africa is a continent.

00:24:03.153 --> 00:24:06.013
And I was like I was mind blown.

00:24:06.013 --> 00:24:16.757
I was like that is crazy Because I believe that, from the conversation they're getting talks on Africa as Africa as a continent, we still get people asking if there's animals walking in our streets.

00:24:18.058 --> 00:24:18.679
All the time.

00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:27.480
Yes, Giraffes in our backyard, swinging their necks around.

00:24:28.833 --> 00:24:29.545
That's great.

00:24:29.545 --> 00:24:32.311
Wow, you handle that very well.

00:24:32.953 --> 00:24:40.855
uh, a lot of no, it's uh, yeah, it's great wow wow, do you?

00:24:41.036 --> 00:24:42.238
do you still get anything?

00:24:42.238 --> 00:24:42.878
Do you?

00:24:42.878 --> 00:24:43.825
You still don't get that right?

00:24:44.405 --> 00:24:52.019
no, no, I, I think obviously working in in in country clubs now with the HIV program, so it's everywhere now.

00:24:52.019 --> 00:25:06.298
Now organizations are looking into the J1 program, which is a year-round visa from other countries that bring team members over from countries that they are studying hospitality.

00:25:06.904 --> 00:25:17.047
So it's more the HIV programs like like, out there, everyone knows that you bring people from south africa, romania, portugal, so there's a lot of other countries that you bring, get brought from.

00:25:17.047 --> 00:25:24.509
The biggest one that I get now is people start speaking spanish to me and I was like sorry, I don't understand.

00:25:24.509 --> 00:25:27.355
They're like, oh, are you not mexican?

00:25:27.355 --> 00:25:30.269
I was like no, I'm not mexican, I'm South African.

00:25:30.269 --> 00:25:33.506
And they're like oh, I look Mexican, I look.

00:25:35.569 --> 00:25:36.491
Spanish, it's great.

00:25:36.491 --> 00:25:41.707
It's the same people who said, oh, you can't be from Africa, you're not black.

00:25:41.707 --> 00:25:46.434
It's exactly that, that's crazy, that's wild, that's nuts.

00:25:46.976 --> 00:25:47.537
What do you Go ahead?

00:25:47.537 --> 00:25:53.446
No, I just said yeah.

00:25:53.446 --> 00:26:12.742
No, it's, it's wild, it's it's crazy to see it, especially when it's like your first conversation with someone and they're like, uh, and I was like you know, you lost me that's, that's that's when you start learning like Chinese and Japanese, you start responding in that they're like wait, what that's a good idea.

00:26:12.843 --> 00:26:13.744
We call it konnichiwa.

00:26:13.744 --> 00:26:15.731
They're like come again, like I don't.

00:26:15.731 --> 00:26:23.500
So now, in your current position you are, are you out of food and beverage now?

00:26:24.624 --> 00:26:25.105
Yeah, so.

00:26:25.105 --> 00:26:31.704
So basically, I think as you evolve into high positions at the club, you're always going to be focused on food and beverage.

00:26:31.704 --> 00:26:40.413
Food and beverage is the number one headache in every country club and I think that's important for upcoming GMs and everyone to understand that food and beverage will never leave you.

00:26:40.413 --> 00:26:44.816
As you move up in the organization you get different reports.

00:26:44.816 --> 00:26:58.960
So currently, right now, I'm the Director of Operations and currently I oversee maintenance, the culinary department, the food and beverage outlets, housekeeping, membership communications.

00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:00.892
I do have many reports.

00:27:00.892 --> 00:27:06.057
Food and beverage is still a main component, part of the org chart.

00:27:06.057 --> 00:27:10.253
Food and beverage will never leave us.

00:27:10.253 --> 00:27:10.917
That is my.

00:27:10.917 --> 00:27:15.836
My passion is food and beverage but as you grow, uh in organizations.

00:27:15.876 --> 00:27:18.425
That's something that never leaves you that's cool.

00:27:18.486 --> 00:27:21.434
What have been some of the biggest uh challenges?

00:27:21.434 --> 00:27:27.211
Uh going from, you know, from director of food and beverage now director of operations?

00:27:28.614 --> 00:27:29.777
that's's a great question.

00:27:29.777 --> 00:27:32.684
It's when you're a director of food and beverage.

00:27:32.684 --> 00:27:35.634
That's something you specialized in was food and beverage.

00:27:35.634 --> 00:27:41.555
Moving into a higher position is getting someone to meet your same expectations without you doing.

00:27:41.555 --> 00:27:50.336
You are now training someone else to meet those expectations without you lifting or doing a word or saying a word.

00:27:50.336 --> 00:27:56.790
So it's basically getting them to see your bigger vision and understanding that they are not you.

00:27:56.790 --> 00:28:07.394
What you did when you were director of food and beverage or any position, is not something that you could just copy and paste and expect the director of food and beverage at those clubs to do exactly the same thing.

00:28:07.394 --> 00:28:14.134
It's their ways, it's their ideas, it's their understanding of how we could still get to the goal.

00:28:14.134 --> 00:28:16.778
Many roads lead to the same goal type thing.

00:28:16.778 --> 00:28:19.163
I would say that that was one of the biggest challenges.

00:28:19.163 --> 00:28:23.208
And just trust, trust, trust.

00:28:23.248 --> 00:28:26.851
Trusting your people yeah, and, and that could be hard to do.

00:28:26.851 --> 00:28:29.712
Yeah, that could be hard.

00:28:29.712 --> 00:28:38.078
What are some things you would tell people who are looking to do a H-2B visa?

00:28:38.078 --> 00:28:39.559
Let me scratch that.

00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:47.651
What would you tell your 18-year-old self?

00:28:47.651 --> 00:28:52.567
You're getting ready, you're on the plane over, you know you're, you're sitting there for the.

00:28:52.567 --> 00:28:53.809
Was it 18 hours?

00:28:53.809 --> 00:28:56.757
Whatever silly flight it is 22.

00:28:56.757 --> 00:29:04.297
Yeah, it was crazy it's one of those like you watch three movies and you're still going.

00:29:04.297 --> 00:29:05.699
You're like how in the world?

00:29:07.029 --> 00:29:10.022
and you're walking up and down the aisle and then someone is like sit down.

00:29:10.022 --> 00:29:11.548
And I'm like I need to stretch my feet.

00:29:11.548 --> 00:29:13.557
I know it's crazy uh, no.

00:29:13.596 --> 00:29:14.179
So you know what?

00:29:14.179 --> 00:29:15.565
What would you tell yourself?

00:29:15.565 --> 00:29:19.313
You know 10, 10 years ago, now, right, you've been, it's 10 years, what?

00:29:19.634 --> 00:29:20.476
what do you?

00:29:21.117 --> 00:29:21.965
what would you tell yourself?

00:29:23.307 --> 00:29:23.387
I.

00:29:23.387 --> 00:29:30.078
I think, looking back, there's many distractions and and many distractions coming over.

00:29:30.078 --> 00:29:39.311
I think when you come over with 250 internationals, everyone has a different idea, a different plan, a different vision, a different goal for themselves.

00:29:39.311 --> 00:29:46.181
Personally, and I would say find a goal, stick to your goal, but also have fun.

00:29:46.181 --> 00:30:04.311
And I think the most important thing is having fun throughout the process, especially being away from family, not knowing anyone coming over to America, because sometimes you don't come across with friends and it's important to have a vision, have a goal, but just have fun along the process.

00:30:04.865 --> 00:30:08.154
You're going to have nights that everyone's going out.

00:30:08.154 --> 00:30:11.208
You can go out, make the right decisions when you go out.

00:30:11.208 --> 00:30:22.556
If you have work the next morning, you can go out four or five o'clock in the morning, but if you don't have the willpower to get up and go to work the next day, don't do it, because it's just your perception and your reputation that's on the line.

00:30:22.556 --> 00:30:28.328
Your body's not going to come and save you from your reputation.

00:30:28.328 --> 00:30:34.054
You're in it alone and I think that's a scary thing with so many people.

00:30:34.054 --> 00:30:35.816
It's like you've all come to America.

00:30:35.816 --> 00:30:43.461
It's this beautiful dream, you get all of these convenient things and it's like, oh, I can do this, I can do it.

00:30:48.538 --> 00:30:50.305
You can't do it, but it comes with repercussion.

00:30:50.305 --> 00:31:02.795
If you're on an H-2B visa and let's just say you've partied a couple too many times, you relate too many times, can they send you back like, can they, can they, can the club or whoever just go like I think we're done yeah, so they can definitely do that.

00:31:03.737 --> 00:31:09.214
my first season they fired about 40 to 50 people in like the first month yeah.

00:31:09.295 --> 00:31:09.776
What.

00:31:09.796 --> 00:31:15.750
Yeah, yeah, I mean they're bringing over like 300 internationals, so that's still a chunk.

00:31:15.810 --> 00:31:16.292
It's still.

00:31:16.432 --> 00:31:16.815
Yeah.

00:31:16.815 --> 00:31:20.472
So when you're looking, when you're looking at that many people, but it's, it's.

00:31:20.472 --> 00:31:29.980
It really sets a precedent of like, hey, listen, like we are not yet to play around being the club that they are or that they were having that status.

00:31:29.980 --> 00:31:34.250
You need to lay the ground down somewhere, whether it's right or wrong.

00:31:34.250 --> 00:31:35.273
However, they manage.

00:31:35.273 --> 00:31:39.474
The people that ended the season were the best of the best.

00:31:39.474 --> 00:31:41.711
They knew what they had to do.

00:31:41.711 --> 00:31:48.866
They knew that member experience came first above none other, and they really drove it home.

00:31:48.866 --> 00:31:51.869
Every day, coming into work, shoes were polished, facial hair was it home.

00:31:51.869 --> 00:31:54.773
Every day, coming into work, shoes were polished, facial hair was shaven, uniform was pressed.

00:31:54.773 --> 00:31:54.953
Like.

00:31:54.953 --> 00:31:58.458
Every day when we came to work, we knew it was going to be a good day.

00:31:58.557 --> 00:32:00.119
Everyone focused on one goal.

00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:09.375
Your first month was a terrible month because people were getting fired left, right and center and it was crazy because you make a friend and all of a sudden, that friend is not there anymore.

00:32:09.375 --> 00:32:15.692
Because you make a friend and all of a sudden, that friend is not there anymore and you're like, okay, wow, like I've got to pull my socks off.

00:32:15.692 --> 00:32:17.076
So clubs can definitely do that.

00:32:17.076 --> 00:32:20.431
Yeah, it's definitely slowed down.

00:32:20.431 --> 00:32:32.211
Yeah, it's definitely slowed down a lot of the time because, when you look at culture and stuff like that, I think we need to spend more time on training and getting team members to understand the expectation and the vision that we set forth.

00:32:32.211 --> 00:32:42.057
And it is a lot of hard work, but that's also another reason why you want to get into management is if that's one of your strengths, one of the things that you enjoy.

00:32:42.057 --> 00:32:45.993
Take it home, do what you enjoy doing, spend time with people.

00:32:45.993 --> 00:32:48.871
So, yeah, training is important.

00:32:50.506 --> 00:32:52.510
Now here's a similar question.

00:32:52.510 --> 00:33:04.531
Ish is, there are now clubs who are starting to explore some h2b fees uh, starting to explore bringing in people and using h2b visas and stuff like this.

00:33:04.531 --> 00:33:14.209
What do you tell a club that maybe has never utilized, um, you know, an h2b visa program or you know is used to bringing in people from other countries?

00:33:14.209 --> 00:33:17.374
What, what advice do you have for those clubs?

00:33:17.674 --> 00:33:23.191
yeah, I, I think new clubs that are bringing h2bs over.

00:33:23.511 --> 00:33:33.219
I think it's it's it's important to understand that, this, that they're still human beings at the end of the day and go in with the mindset of treat humans like humans.

00:33:33.865 --> 00:33:56.155
And it's important that you go in with that mindset because when you connect with them on an emotional platform, they perform so much higher when you understand that they're away from home and when they don't have someone to talk to when they go home, because you think about the time difference, when you're finishing work at 7, 8 o'clock at night, it's like 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning.

00:33:56.644 --> 00:34:02.999
So those international team members don't have that emotional connection as much as they did when they were back home.

00:34:02.999 --> 00:34:10.418
So your open door policy with your HR department needs to be tapping into the emotional side of the employees.

00:34:10.418 --> 00:34:19.835
When you look at gifts, when you look at parties or when you look at certain things, when you do for these internationals, don't do it to tick a box and say, hey, listen, you did this.

00:34:19.835 --> 00:34:28.050
Do it because you want to connect them on an emotional level and you want to relate to them, whether it's people from Romania, turkish, south Africa.

00:34:28.050 --> 00:34:37.514
It takes so much for those people to be away from home and be away from their loved ones to provide the service that they do for our members.

00:34:37.514 --> 00:34:40.393
So it's just treating humans like humans.

00:34:44.065 --> 00:34:45.793
It's so simple, yet so easy.

00:34:49.048 --> 00:34:54.494
And I think the whole stigma behind the international team members oh, they only have for six months, they don't need this or they don't need that.

00:34:54.494 --> 00:34:58.476
When you look at your return rate, it's so important to keep.

00:34:58.476 --> 00:35:01.715
We have such a great return rate down at Boca Woods.

00:35:01.715 --> 00:35:08.532
It's because when we have our team members over, we want them to feel like they're at home.

00:35:08.532 --> 00:35:16.048
We want them to feel like they can come to anyone's office to speak to us and really just talk to us if they have some issues or problems.

00:35:16.048 --> 00:35:20.827
Not to say we are their therapist or something, but just having an open door policy.

00:35:20.827 --> 00:35:25.807
People want to say, oh, we have an open door policy, tick, oh, I have it, and no one visits them.

00:35:25.807 --> 00:35:33.244
It's so important to get them to understand that if there's anything going on, let us know about it, let's talk through it, let's walk through it.

00:35:33.244 --> 00:35:35.132
You're having a get-together over at your house.

00:35:35.132 --> 00:35:36.434
Sure, let me come.

00:35:36.434 --> 00:35:40.528
Let me bring some traditional South African food or something.

00:35:40.528 --> 00:35:42.114
Emotional connection.

00:35:44.588 --> 00:35:45.070
I like that.

00:35:45.070 --> 00:35:46.153
I like that a lot.

00:35:46.153 --> 00:35:53.876
Anything else you'd like to add or anything we didn't go over or talk about that you, that you wanted to.

00:35:54.824 --> 00:35:57.755
No, no, I think this, this, this was a great, great conversation.

00:35:58.385 --> 00:36:10.755
Yeah, uh, yeah, I'm also thinking maybe I think I'm like maybe another episode just strictly on, like hey, you know, you just got your H2B visa, you're coming over to work at a club.

00:36:10.755 --> 00:36:17.739
Now what Almost like 10 tips for like your first time, you know, for your first or second like club season.

00:36:17.739 --> 00:36:18.621
That might be something fun.

00:36:19.525 --> 00:36:35.942
Yeah, I want to start educating more of that H-2B clientele and just really getting them to understand that if you put in the hard work and just have that grit to pursue something in America, the opportunity is there.

00:36:35.942 --> 00:36:44.356
Like it's so crazy how so many people just throw the opportunity away by making bad decisions and not taking ownership of them.

00:36:44.356 --> 00:36:47.293
It's just mind-blowing.

00:36:47.293 --> 00:36:53.010
And we've all been there, we all have fun times, we all go down, make bad decisions and stuff like that.

00:36:53.010 --> 00:37:06.358
But at the end of the day, if that's a goal that you want to achieve and if you want to pursue it and you see there's a future in America, do whatever you can to make a life in America and do what you can to make it last long.

00:37:12.085 --> 00:37:38.728
And, and I was uh, I forget who I was just chatting with about this too, actually it could have been today who whom I interview just came out with, but it was, you know, the just from, from interviewing and chatting and just experiencing clubs and people from you know all over the, all over the world, and you know, between private club radio and also just meeting people in person when I'm out doing shows, it's you know, the, the, the, the, the people coming over on HTV visas and and people from foreign countries.

00:37:39.009 --> 00:37:53.898
They're hungry, like they're coming over here ready to work, wanting to work, and they have a goal in mind and they will outwork, out, hustle a lot of Americans and I don't think, I think a lot of people rest on their laurels a bit and it's like nah and the more I think I see it coming.

00:37:53.898 --> 00:38:05.193
It's like there's people coming over hungry who want to do a good job, who come from you know could be hospitality in their backgrounds or whatever, but like they're coming over ready to make a make, make a difference.

00:38:05.193 --> 00:38:14.257
A lot of clubs are, you know, they don't care about your, I mean, they don't care about your, I mean they don't care about your background, they like do, but they want good quality people and they don't care where you're from.

00:38:14.257 --> 00:38:15.500
They don't care about any of that.

00:38:15.500 --> 00:38:17.932
They want the best for their club, the members and their staff.

00:38:18.534 --> 00:38:25.675
Yeah, and knowing that it should push clubs to reevaluate their training program to get that member experience out there.

00:38:25.675 --> 00:38:53.458
Because you hit the nail on the head, Like HV team members or any international team members are coming over to prove that they could do something, that they have a value in this industry and it's our responsibility to set up the expectations, allow them to play around in that box and meet and exceed those member expectations and, as they always do, it's our responsibility to set up those training plans, set up those training goals and just continue inspecting what we expect.

00:38:55.945 --> 00:38:57.570
Kyle, thank you so much for coming on.

00:38:57.570 --> 00:38:58.393
I really appreciate this.

00:38:58.393 --> 00:39:01.409
This was a really good chat and hopefully the first of many.

00:39:02.251 --> 00:39:03.132
I appreciate it, danny.

00:39:03.132 --> 00:39:04.313
It was awesome, I appreciate it.

00:39:04.313 --> 00:39:05.235
Thank you very much, danny.

00:39:05.936 --> 00:39:06.396