490: First Year A GM, Year In Review w/ Jordan Meserole

Welcome And Quick Announcements

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Five At Club Video Show, the show where you get the two and life inside Five at Club Club. I'm your host and Cortex. And each episode is a real conversation with the club leaders, the pros, the people, and partners who help clubs drive. We talk leadership, culture, food and beverage, member experiences, member engagement, marketing governance, and so much more. If you want practical ideas, better teams, and a club experience members actually feel and talk about, you're in the right place. Now welcome to the show. In this episode, we are chatting with my friend Jordan Mezzeroll, GM of Doyle's Town Country Club, not too too far away from me. Nice guy, good human. We met at CMAA conference two two years ago. And just fast friends, just hit it off immediately. Just instant laughter, instant fun. And sure enough, just on the same flights back home to good old Pennsylvania, we were we were catching up one day. And I said, I asked how how things were going, how how how things were cooking, and because he just uh just did his first year as as GM. I was like, how how was it? Tell me all about it. And he was telling me, and I was like, wait, time out. Would you be down to do like an episode? Sort of just a year in review as your first year as GM, from membership and communications to GM, what it looked like from you know, start to finish, what the whole thing looked like. But then also the the last year. Wow, like what were the things you learned? What did you experience? What was it like? What were you prepared for? What weren't you prepared for? Uh and he was like, Yeah, sure. So that's what this conversation is. It's just, hey, a year in in review, kind of what got you to here, and then a year in review, what what was it like first year as GM? And not coming from the club hospitality space. But I'll I'll let him tell the story. And if you guys really want a great story, good stories start with great experiences. And one of the coolest experiences you can do is management in motion. My little club leadership retreat happening this fall. Who saw the shameless plug coming? Me. I did. Shameless plug management in motion coming this fall, September 21st at the Monticello Motor Club, me and you all who are coming. 50, limited to 50 people, 50 club professionals from around the country. We're going to be ripping up BMWs, M2s, 3s, and 4s, drifting, drag racing, high-speed laps, lead follows, auto X, you name it, go-karts, all the laughter, all the adrenaline, all the fun, all the food. Hosted and put on by me, Denny Corby, doing it at the Monticello Motor Club. Did it last year, doing it again this year. We are at 40% sold, almost 50% sold, limited to 50 people. If you want to learn more and sign up, Denny Corby.com slash management and motion. That's coming up this September. It's going to be a killer fall event. If you want some more fall event experiences, you got the Denny Corby experience. There's excitement, there's mystery. Also, there's magic mind reading and comedy. A ton of laughs, gasps, and holy craps. If you or your club is looking for one of the most fun member event nights, Denny Corby.com. Shameless plugs all around. What do you expect? Enough about that though. Let's get to the episode. Private club radio listeners, let's welcome the very fun Jordan Mezzerole. So you've been at Doyle's Town for how long now? Five years?

SPEAKER_02 3:32

I've been here coming up on seven years, actually. Oh shit. So yeah, in about I guess maybe 14, 15 months now as GM. So, like that's kind of what I was referencing when I say five and a half years. That was my membership and marketing director in your, but yeah, coming up on seven years, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

How'd you find your way into clubs? Because it was sort of like a like a side quest for you, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Yeah, it kind of was. It was uh, you know, you fall in backwards, you know, it's uh all the uh any uh anybody out there if we cover this topic that's like I went to hospitality school and I I put up my time at four seasons, and then they're gonna hear how I became a GM and they're gonna be like, this guy, this guy, no.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Get him out of here.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Fraud, yeah, it's total shit.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

This man's an imposter. This man's an imposter. Does he even know who Will Gadera is?

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Like just he probably hasn't read Unreasonable Hospitality once. I read I read the Ford, okay? I read The Ford. Um the so before it I was like marketing with a focus on tourism, hospitality, economic development. And so before that, my degree's actually in journalism. So I think we talked about that. So I actually started in television, was my first stint, did that for a couple years, and then went into the commercial side of television because I got tired of working 400 hours a week. And guess what? Full circle. Now I'm back to a job where I work 400 hours a week, and now it's uh yeah. But then yeah, when I got out of TV business, I went into uh marketing communications for Chamber of Commerce, did that for a while, then landed at the convention of Deserbureau, which is tourism, hopped around a little bit, and then wife wanted to move up here. She had the job, and that's what brought us from Texas to Pennsylvania was. She's from here, I think I told you that. Met Texas had the kids in Texas. She wanted to move back eventually. I said, sure, she got the job first. I came up here, no job. Uh and so the way I got into the club world was I was just searching for jobs. I had the word marketing or communications in the title, and they were hiring for membership and marketing director. So the rest is history.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Nice. And you and you stuck with it for a while, and you're still at the same club.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Correct, yeah. Still still the same the OG since the beginning. So it's you know, they're uh uh they they've really invested in me for sure. And you know, that's uh uh I I know I'm happy to be here because it's you know it's the first one, and it's I I've visited and toured, you know, tons of other clubs like like you have, and you know, I always see like, yeah, there's different clubs out there that you know they're have more money or they're more historic or whatever it is, maybe a platinum club, you know. I I love going down to Unileak, but it's like there's something about Doylestown that's yeah, it's like it's the OG, right? I gotta go back to the homie.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah, very so how how did that how did from membership director communications to GM in five years, how does that even happen? Like how like was like was there a progression? Like, how does that happen? And like did you uh intend that from the beginning? Like were like like what like walk me through because that is that is a unique trajectory to GM. So like walk me through, you know, what were you two years in and like oh like GM would be cool? Were did you approach them? Did they approach you? What was what was the what was the ride like?

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Uh I I just bribed and paid off a lot of people and eventually uh you know uh money took me.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

There's nothing wrong with that. I talk about that all the time. You know, when in doubt, pay them out. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 7:17

That's I owe a lot of favors to a lot of people. It's like the godfather. I'm waiting for the day that somebody comes and is like, on this day, my daughter's wedding, you will give me the Shivari chairs. Uh yeah. So it's uh yeah, it is the the longer I've been in this industry, the more I realize like it's not the typical uh pathway for lack of work. And over time, over my seven years that I've been doing this, it's I've met slowly more and more membership directors that have kind of the same outlook. Like they get in there like, one day I want to run my own club. So I think, you know, 20 from from my loose kind of history digging, you know, 20 years ago, the membership director wasn't even rolling a lot of clubs. A lot of times it was the secretary that did it, or uh, you know, or it was like the banquet person who also did tours, or a lot of GMs, you know, from what I know about Doellstown, is uh up until like 15-ish years ago, the GM was doing tours and handling membership matters. So uh it shows you how much industry is involved in the membership role. Yeah, uh, you know, shout out for all the membership directors out there because it's uh it really is so so much of a cornerstone of a role for clubs now. I mean, it most clubs couldn't survive without that role. And that's why you see some of the best thriving clubs, they have whole departments, you know, they have a team of six in their membership department, not just one, but uh, but all that to say, yeah, it's that pathway was, you know, I I didn't even think I was gonna stick in this industry. It was one of those things where it was, you know, I needed a job to start, right? I have a family, I have a wife, two kids, and uh came in and uh really at first it I was more sold on the uh um just the idea of like, oh, I can fix your website, I can fix your Instagram, I can do marketing campaigns, I can get you members. Uh, because when I came in, we only had about 550 members. Uh we're now we've been full for four and a half years. We're at 775. You know, yeah, humble brag, you know, where's the uh yeah, I need the person behind me holding the belt in the air. Yeah. The world champion. No. But uh so that that was kind of more the, you know, it's like, hey, you know, I'll do this for a couple of years. If I like it, I'll stick around. If not, you know, I'll keep looking. But once I got in here and uh became part of this community, the and I saw how great the members were. And uh I've worked a lot of jobs. Yeah, you know, I've worked in in college, I worked in bars, I worked in restaurants, so I kind of had that that other tie-in that's real important to the club world, service, hospitality, all that stuff. My first job actually was working for the Texas Rangers as a bat boy. Uh, so that was even where I kind of got my first like service and providing exceptional next level to members. I think it's all burned in here. It's all been like the past history built up to where I've gotten today. Uh, so it wasn't by necessarily accident. But once I got in and I was here about a year and a half, and then I was like, okay, I like this. I could, I could do this. You know, I'm I'm already almost 40 at this point. Like, you know, I'm telling myself, okay, you know, I need to start thinking long term. Like, I should stop job hopping, career hopping. Like, let's I could do country clubs for a while. I've had way worse jobs, more stressful jobs. TV news is the highest stress uh you know that I've ever had. It's uh even being a GM doesn't relate to some of the stresses I had in the TV world. So I will, yeah, it's uh uh and so that kind of helped shape my mindset. Just, you know, hey, it's time to stop just moving around. So uh and then once I got in, then I uh my GM at that time, Eric Hogan, who's out at uh Xmoor now, shout out to Eric. Uh, but um he kind of started playing the the seed of my mind too. He was like, I think he saw as a mentor those those qualities in me that you know, hey, uh you're you're obviously invested in this, you care a lot about the club, you put your time uh and effort into it. And uh uh and and he said, you know, you should start thinking about CMAA or you should start being getting involved more and learning about this industry and what it really takes to run a club. And uh, you know, towards the end before he left to go to uh Xmore, uh he even started inviting me to come to board meetings. You know what you should start sitting on the at the board, and there's not a lot of membership directors out there that sit at the monthly board meeting table as well. So that was the huge first step as well, going from where the membership chair and maybe the board president were the only two people that knew my name at the board level to suddenly everybody at the board knew me on a first name basis and more of a personal level. And that that was a huge first step as well. And then and then from there, then I was like, something clicked, and I said, you know what? I love this, I'm all in, and I've always been my my personality and style is uh I want to lead. It's just it's ingrained in me, right? It's uh uh I I want to be part of something big. And I just decided I want to lead a club. So about that one and a half year mark, I started looking at okay, what's the next layer I need to add? Next layer I need to add. I talked to uh you know other GMs like how do we become an AGM or what's next step? Should I be a clubhouse manager? Uh, should I jump clubs, whatever it is? What uh courses should I take? Should I get a mentor? Uh, you know, I started looking at all those pieces. It's it's like beautiful mind, you know, insert the you know, the uh the flashing numbers going across my face trying to figure out uh or or the uh uh the Charlie from the Toyota Funny Spring Theory, the red lines everywhere, and I'm like, yeah, yeah. If I do this, I will be GM one day. But uh but it it all um every person I've met along the way, uh, and that's the great thing about this industry that I love too, is it's so easy to pick up mentors, uh, and for lack of better words for if for free. I mean, yes, there are obviously compensated individuals out there that are great at what they do, but there's plenty of people that have been in this industry 20, 30, 40 years. I even met uh some at uh management at motion who gave me their cell phone right away, call me if you need anything, type thing. And it's that's the great thing about this industry is you can build yourself up just by meeting these other people who are willing to help you. And and you just got to pick up the phone and you know say, hey, uh, what do you do here? Or how do I do this? Or what's the next step? And so uh, you know, I was encouraged to get more involved in committee meetings and then by uh maybe struck of low uh as luck, a lucky stroke. I'm having a lucky stroke right now.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

You beat me to it. Uh but then I didn't want to joke about it because I was like, what if you actually did? It's like just like the last interview.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Just this is where you put the uh you know, blackout my face and lovely memory of Jordan.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

We'll be right back after these messages.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

We can weaken up Bernie's me, you know, prop me up and sunglasses on all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Jordan, thanks for being on. It's been great. See you next time. All right.

Capital Projects And Hard Hat Minute

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Um but we're we're sidetracking here. But uh all that to say uh uh kind of the next piece that was uh for me in kind of my step into stepping stones was uh we start an$11 million renovation on the club. And that was a huge opportunity. I kind of see it, saw it in my eyes too. I said, I need to be involved in this in every way because every club's expanding. Uh and and you know what? I I looked at uh GM listings out there for other clubs, and you know, some clubs would say must have knowledge in capital projects or something like that. So the the few things that pop up a lot then when I was reading these was you know, experience in capital projects or experience in running F programs successfully or CCM. And so, you know, again, it's clicking in my mind. I'm like, all right, I need to chase the CCM, all right, I need to figure out capital projects, all right, I need to get more versed in FMB. Again, I've worked in bars and restaurants and I can carry a tray with the best of them. It's that's how I impress members sometimes. I can do the you know the three-finger lift on the trays above my head, and they're like, oh, okay, you know. Uh yeah. But um yeah, the the the project was a huge catalyst. So uh I approached it from two fronts. There's one, as I said, I need to keep the members involved and informed. Uh, and on my own, I created a uh it's not necessarily a new concept or new idea, but I called it the hard hat minute. When it was one to one and a half minute long snippets every week, I would choose something different that was happening around the club involved with the project, do a little video. I actually have a hard hat. Uh go to our the YouTube channel, you can see uh how many episodes do we have now? We have like I think 87 episodes or something like that. So uh I did one a week. I did 51 initial episodes. Uh it actually they we started getting a thousand views a week on these these uh videos, and we only have 775 household memberships. So uh I don't know where the extra numbers are coming from, but uh that really put me that helped put me even right exactly. You're the other 300.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I am over and over and over.

Learning F&B By Running The Pool

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Um but uh the um but uh that what that helped do was not only kind of a connection with the members and getting in front of their face every week, but it allowed me to every week have to talk to the construction superintendent and got on a first name basis with him, got on a first name basis with the owner of the construction company, uh, where he actually had my cell phone number and was asking for like write-ups for the company afterwards and all that. Um then I, as I started doing these videos, and then the the board and the committee realized, oh, members like this and it's not going away, you know, 12 episodes in, and I was doing them every week. Uh I started sitting on the construction committee. And that was the huge help, was I didn't really add much, but I was sitting there listening, hearing how they were actually the board was interacting with the construction committee. And that was the next huge step for me because uh how we got to the additional 20-ish episodes of the Hard Half Minute was I've done two phases of the renovation on our ballroom and banquet spaces, uh half a million dollars uh that I've led that we didn't necessarily contract out. I kind of brought on my own contractors, but all the knowledge I got from that$11 million project helped me get there. So that's that was one layer that kind of helped elevate me in the board's eyes. And the other was uh the year before I became GM, I raised my hand. Uh there were uh they didn't have a full roster of pool managers. And I always had a soft spot for the pool because of my kids, they love the pool. And I I kind of always felt like it was over the last few years, it was just not poorly run, just not pay a lot of attention to. And it was, you know, the main FB leaders were pulled a million different ways in the club. And so, excuse me. See my uh coffee there, my extra kick-up juice. Uh the FB leaders were kind of pulled multiple different ways, and Dennester didn't have the manpower to devote extra uh eyes and attention to the pool that should be. So I raised my hand and I said, I'll help run the pool this season. And you know, at first they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, you you already you got a million things, you're you know, you're membership director, marketing director, doing a hard hat minutes like and you know what it takes to run it's 90 days of week, you know, a lot of clubs call it the 90-day war, uh, because it really is, it's just sun up to sundown, and uh you never know if you're gonna get 10 members of the pool or 220 members of the pool. But I said, yeah, I I knew that was the F component I was missing. So I ran the pool that year. Uh satisfaction scores were the highest they'd been in a number of years. Revenue numbers were great. The you know, just all in all, it was a great pool season. Uh, we kind of built up a few new uh uh uh systems that we use at the pool that we still use today. And so that was those were all the kind of layers, and then I like that. I started flipping my resume out and trying to, I got a few interviews at a few clubs, but uh nothing more than maybe an initial kind of how you doing and let's see what you look like type thing. But um the opportunity arose here at the club, GM opening, and uh I I immediately went to the you know the board president right away and I said, I'm interested, I think I'm ready. Here's my resume, here's my full packet. Uh I put together like a 30-page packet on things I would change at the club and why I thought it was the right time for me. And uh I'll tell you, you know, I got the initial, all right, we'll we'll keep in mind we're still gonna we're gonna engage a search firm. You know, didn't hear anything for three, four weeks, and I'm sitting there, I'm like, uh, you know, that's this is you know, not in the cards. Oh well, at least I I shot my shot, you know. Uh but uh uh and then got a call from the search firm, and you know, he he was like, Hey, you know what, we're we're gonna consider you as an applicant. You still have to go through the process like anybody else. You gotta fill out this candidate questionnaire, like this 20. It was like a 20-page or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

It was did you not see my 30 that I just did?

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah, exactly. I was like, I'll see your 20 page and raise you 30, my good friend. Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Your scroll.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

It's like some crocodile that you call that a knife. This is a knife.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

In it.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

But uh, yeah, I mean it was uh what I will say is I know I had support of the board, and here's the great thing is uh over that five year period, five and a half years, you know, I collected um this this booklet of peers and friends and uh industry known people, both GMs, former GMs, whatever it is, and I even the uh uh the owner of the construction company that you know ran the$11 million project and all that stuff, um, reaching out and supported me. Uh there was two or three that I reached out to and I was like, hey, I would love for you to be my letter of reference or whatever I proactively reached out to them. But slowly kind of word got out there. You know, this is it's a small world, even though it's a big world where you know people heard, oh, there's an opening at dual style, oh, you're gonna go for it. And I had at least three other people on their own that I didn't say, hey, you know, please please write this for me. That reached out to the board, another GM at another local club. She wrote a letter to directly the board, didn't know about it. And in the final interview, the board president was like, Hey, by the way, you got a big fan of you know, so and so. And I was like, What? They wrote a letter for me. So, um, that you know, that collection is what helped as well. People in my corner, and that that is the great thing about this industry is people rooting for you, right? Like uh you you it's such a great support system, like you don't necessarily have that in every industry. And I've worked on a lot of them, uh, but uh uh And and so that probably helped as well that uh all these industry known people were saying, hey, Jordan Jordan's he's not gonna let you down. It's uh and that's yeah, that's the the long pathway.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

It was, you know, it it it was three and a half year, four year, a long play of being like, like I said, that beautiful mind kind of uh Yeah, but you were you were taking it sounds like you were just if there was opportunities, chances, you just took something and just rose a hand, like you were just like, yeah, I'll I'll give it a whirl. You need some help, okay. I'll come over, I'll stay late, I'll do this, I'll do that. So I'm I'm sure that all compounded and they saw that. So they were like, okay, like you know, were there maybe other better fits? Probably, but you probably checked so many more boxes and you know went like you were you were hungry, you were malleable, you know what I mean? Like still learning, but like adaptable, coachable, I guess is probably like the right word. And sometimes better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. So, you know, for them, they're probably like, hey, you know what? We know he uh you know we'll we'll do the work. He's a good, good, a good human. And I I'm assuming too at that point the the club was probably running fairly well. Like, do you you you guys must have like a strategic plan or something in place that you know it it's at least running like there's like a goal everyone's working towards. So it's not like you know, you're helping come recreate the strategic plan and that that that that that that then maybe there would have been different conversations, but it sounds like the club's already kind of doing well. They just needed someone to help kind of keep it going in the in the right direction.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Yeah, spot on. Like, yeah, a keeper of the flame, yeah, it was kind of that's a great way to put it. Was we we I have amazing support people, right? And I tell them that in our department leader meetings from time to time. I I say I make sure to let them know, like, yeah, I am very aware this club can run without me. Like, y'all make it happen, and I'm just a cheerleader that, and I just from time to time say, hey, don't forget we're doing this project, we need to focus on it. But um, you know, I in every department I don't have to worry who's showing up on time, who's calling out. I mean, at least at the department leader level, like of course, you know that worrying about who's gonna call out on the uh line cook for the night, that's a different story, but uh yeah it had it was it I'm assuming it had to be difficult, maybe not.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

You've you're with a lot of these people for years, and then almost overnight, you're the boss. That has to be weird. It has to be a little a little strange.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

It's still weird. It's still yeah, yeah. That that's probably one of the few big the one of the hardest kind of for lack of better words, transitions in in this role is yeah, going from uh most of those people are still here five and a half years later. Uh my banquets manager, my clubhouse manager, uh their servers and bartenders that have been here that whole time. Uh yeah, I mean I can keep running down the list. And so it's odd to go from sitting shoulder to shoulder with them and you know lobbing jokes and staff meetings and being like, oh, this guy's a joker, you know, or whatever, or you know, being like, oh, this idea is terrible. And now I'm the one sitting up at the front and I'm like, this is a good idea, and you know, get decided over, and I'm like, it's a good idea, you know. But but what I will say is um while it does it still every now and then does feel odd because I have such a close relationship with these people already, kind of kind of go from this friendly to more I'm expecting action out of you is there is very much a a uh very embedded system of trust and respect here. You know, and it we're definitely in a lot of clubs, and this industry in general is that way. You you uh you give the respect and you earn the respect type thing. Um the uh uh and and and you know, it not necessarily it's a pat on the back, but uh kind of you you were talking about a little bit like you know, probably the same thing the board saw. I was I'm willing to put in the hours, I'm willing to carry a tray, I'm really uh uh you know happy to uh uh do anything for this club that is more than just giving a tour to a prospective member, you know, type thing. And yeah, so I know you know I I've earned their respect over time and I respect the heck out of them. And um uh in it, but it it still is hard sometimes because I I know there's is that layer of like, ah, it's just Jordan, he's kind of goofball. Like I, you know, I'm sure he's not gonna end. You know, there's been a few times I've had had the tense shut the door kind of conversation, and you know, even somebody that's you know, it hasn't me and him have a good relationship over the years, and when I shut the door and he kind of did a oh, uh-oh. And I was like, yeah, uh-oh. Um versus you know, if you go go into a club uh a brand new club where nobody knows you, you can you can be whoever you you could be Denny Corby, you know. It's uh sorry.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

Do you do you watch uh uh superstore?

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Do you see the wall? It was the one where like the district managers uh she made her hut she made her son the manager, and he was like, Okay, where's inventory? And she's like all around us, like the store? He's like, Okay, this makes sense, like well, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Yeah. So what what is it that you do here?

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Yeah, and you're a member?

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Okay, okay. Uh uh But uh what I will say is um that transition, you know, if anybody else ever makes that transition where they've been a club a long time, they become the number one. Yeah, it it that that first for me was about six months until I finally started feeling comfortable, like, okay, I I'm the boss. It wasn't an imposter thing necessarily, it was just changing those dynamics with everybody and and you know, saying, hey, this this is my vision. I I need you to be part of my vision. But uh it it took a little bit.

Year One Crises And Hard Lessons

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Yeah. Yeah. And and and I just know this from from us being you know friendly over some time. It's and and that further, you had a lot happen that first year. Like most stuff that you learn about in the books and the trainings, and just as you go through life, you're like, oh, you know, this is what you should prepare for. It's probably never gonna happen. But here's what didn't all that's like anything and everything happened year one for you. Like you got a real world lesson in everything.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Everything is uh, yeah, that's uh an understatement of the year, that's for sure. Like, I mean, you know, in the three five and a half years I was here, you know, I I saw a number of things happen, but uh nothing where I was, you know, necessarily there wasn't everything like, oh my gosh, like, oh, anything that would give me pause, be like, I don't want to be a GM. That's uh uh I I mean I at this point I joke uh with my golf uh director. I said, you know, he's been in the industry 25 years, but I'm like, he said it too. Like I could write a book practically, and I'm not even a full year and a half into this role, but uh, you know, there there's some that uh you know are easy to share, but some some that aren't because some of them involve members or you know, staff. Uh but uh I mean uh everything from uh you know having to call 911 at least two different times for uh two different staffers in separate situations, you know, that's nothing you ever want to do. Like my worst fear, but uh one of them uh and the both the staffers are fine, by the way. They uh good. That one was good. Uh uh, but still a situation where you don't want to have to do that.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

But uh uh anytime anytime flashing lights at the club and it's not like a holiday is not good. You know what I mean? Like anytime there's you know we need uh we need we need a bus over to the club. Like that's not not a good look.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

No, it's not. Yeah. And for one of them, it was, you know, he has he was having chest pains and uh you know, like having maybe a heart uh uh episode. And uh and luckily I had actually made uh you know, I'm big on safety and training, and I had just not even a month earlier made a video for members talking about where the AEDs around the facility. And uh, you know, as I we had called 911 and I'm starting to run up, and I'm like, I'm gonna go meet the medics at the top of the stairs. And as I start to run, I stop and I grab the AD box and I'm like, you know, throw it at the club manager, I'm like, here's an AD, you know, it's it was all a flash in the moment, but uh yeah, that's something you never think about when you're signing up via GM is that, oh, I might have to grab an AD box at one point. And uh you'll learn the hard way too. That night we discovered that our uh if they bring a full-size stretcher and try to go down our current uh service elevator, uh the new stretcher is just a little bit too big to fit the elevator. Uh discovered that the hard way. So uh these are the things that are not in a GM book, like, hey, I should probably check how big our elevator is versus a uh an actual full-size uh uh ambulance stretcher. Now I know.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

No, like that that is good to know. And my head always just goes to the funny. Like, can you imagine being the employee on the stretcher, like, oh thank God, then all of a sudden it's like the door won't close. Like, oh my god, you have to be like sweating.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

And I'm I'm glad that he he is fine and he's still working here, but uh like in my head, I'm envisioning the Austin Powers thing where like ding, ding, yeah, ding, ding, you know, trying to back it up nine times to fit nail. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Guys, how about if we tilt it at the angle? Like, I'll just walk. He gets up, I'm just gonna walk. I'm just gonna walk.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Exactly. Um, I mean, and then oh go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Then what you had you you had a couple pipe bursts bursts in like the same week? Was it like three three pipes in three weeks?

SPEAKER_02 31:38

Uh yeah, six six weeks. Uh yeah, three pipes, six weeks. It was we had one of the coldest winters in the northeast uh this past uh winter. And that was the past week? What's that again?

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Uh this was this past winter?

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Yes, yeah. This was yeah, this was just January and February was all all when this uh went down. So uh yeah, just this past winter, but uh um and they were all unrelated. They were all in separate areas, they weren't there wasn't a relational burst in each one, different areas of the building. Uh and it was just that stretch where you know we had multiple days, it was only 10 or 15 outside, and uh and and the things you don't necessarily learn unless you learn it the hard way is especially when you have those kind of temperatures, checking some of the low points, even if you've got a dry uh sprinkler system, is you still need to do a regular kind of check or drain just to make sure there isn't the smallest amount of uh condensation or moisture that's uh getting into some of those low points. So luckily one of the bursts was actually on our lower outdoor patio. So the even the you know, it still sets off the fire alarms, the fire department shows up all that, and you know, it showered thousands of gallons on the lower patio, but you know, minimal damage air. Another one was a totally unrelated and different end of the spectrum, uh another sprinkler head burst in our kind of like back kitchen dock area. Uh, same kind of thing. Took out a few tiles, but mostly it was concrete floor, like uh didn't damage uh the walk-in fridge, like dodged a bullet there. But then the final one was an in-wall pipe. It was when we had a stretch of like three days in a row when it was four outside, uh, and it was an out exterior wall, uh, but an inside pipe burst, and that one ran all the way down the hallway, uh, out into uh our bathrooms and our main floor, flooded out at the women's locker room, like a hundred thousand dollars worth of damage. And yeah, yeah, I've you know, I've heard uh I've heard other episodes. I think uh there was one recently where you somebody had like half a million dollars, something like that. So uh I'll take a hundred thousand uh over that. But uh uh but yeah, the the la and the last one, of course, the most expensive one was the third one. So, you know, the first two of them already had the headaches, and by the time the third one happened, you know what? I think I was on the phone when you went when that one happened, didn't it?

SPEAKER_00 33:58

Wasn't I oh my god, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

I was on the phone with you when that one popped, and that's right. That's right. You had made a joke about fire or something like that, and the fire alarm went off, don't you? That was that day.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Um way.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

Yeah, and it's it's a yeah, so it's uh yeah, you know, it's uh I I talked to other GMs in this area, and you know, some had pipes also burst in their clubs over that same same period, one or two. But when I was talking to them, I was like, did you ever have them burst in your first year? And like out of the 10 GMs I talked to in the this Philly region, like none of them are like, no, I'm not that lucky. And I was like, Cool, so it's just me. All right.

AED Response And Safety Culture

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Uh now, now it uh hate to like go go go back just like squirrel. The going back to the AED moment, that must have changed the vibe of the club a tiny bit. Maybe, no? Like, meaning, like, was were because uh you said you were you know big on safety and stuff. Like, was that like a little like wake up moment too? Like, was there something around that that maybe there was like a and and I don't I don't even 100% know where that question's going, but like I just don't think that happens a lot. And so it was just to me in my head, just kind of like the squirrel too. It was like, oh shit, like that must have been a unique moment there for everybody after, like, oh snap, like okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Yeah, it uh I'm very proud of how everyone reacted in the moment. Um uh so it was it was a bartender, and um there were a few members sitting in front of them, and somebody had there was like four or five people, and even one of them said, like, you don't look like you're looking so hot, and you know, oh yeah, I think he brushed it off. And he like went down to get uh maybe something out of the bottom beer cabinet or something like that. He like that's when he kind of like was like kind of leaning sideways and feeling a little dizzy and vision maybe going a little bit, and um so the member themselves right away was like uh you know, it knew something was not right immediately. So that's the great thing, is you know, our members, I mean, you would hope anybody in any situation would do that, but like the member right away is like, oh my gosh, somebody called 991 and ran back behind the bar. And there happened to be a server nearby that you know heard her be like, hey, call 991, he's not okay. She immediately ran and got a got a manager. The manager, I happened to be having a meeting with my club manager. I we were both there and it was like 7:30 at night, just kind of off the side room. So that manager, as he's running to go to the situation, stops like and also had the wherewithal to like stop and let us know, hey, uh, he's down on the floor. We don't know what's going on, we're calling 911. Like, so we all jump up uh sprinting. So like the fact that in within you know 45 seconds to a minute, the response was went from one member to essentially half of the FB team or leadership team there uh was amazing. And then very proud of them how you know right away somebody's on the phone with 911. And uh, you know, then I'm realizing like, oh, if they pull up, they're not gonna go know what stairs go down. And luckily we were in our downstairs bar, not our main bar. So the thing I have in mind is like last thing I want to do is freak out members, seeing you know a stretcher coming in the front door. So I was like, let me go run up and meet them through the ADED at my club manager. And he knew right away he like was unt I get to him, he was unzipping it, like no hesitation, like, what do I do with this? Like, um, you know, it it didn't necessarily it it reminded me how important safety training is, but it also made me very proud that I guess we've done enough training that everybody knew what to do in that moment and nobody shirked back and and nobody left. Uh yeah, it was you know, I would would the situation then any different if we had delayed or anybody taking different different steps? I don't I don't think so necessarily. It wasn't necessarily a full-on heart attack moment, but um certainly the actions we took I know were the right ones and yeah, it made me very proud of them.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

That's awesome. That's great. That's great. Congrats. That's still who I mean. I got the chills just even like thinking about it. That's uh that has to, yeah, that's uh that's a that's a that's a unique moment.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

That's that's not a tough GM book. Yeah, they do talk about that you gotta be ready for just about everything as GM, but uh you don't ever ever actually think you're gonna see your own employee laying on the floor.

The Hardest Part Is Coaching People

SPEAKER_00 38:19

That's uh yeah, yeah, that's uh that's that's that's tough. It's it yeah. Anybody on the floor is tough, especially a staff member. That's that's that's really hard. Coming into, you know, you so you you had some time to transition and kind of get ready for the GM role a bit. Is there anything, you know, looking you know you know, looking at this a year in in in review plus, you know, uh give or take. Is there anything that you knew would probably be an issue, but you're like, oh man, this is really like tough. Like these are just like issues of being like a GM. Like I know like a lot of people talk about like labor issues. Like, like, is there like what are some things like you know, a year looking back, you're like, oh man, this is actually like a bigger deal than like I thought. This is like harder than I thought.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

All of it's harder than I thought. No, I mean, I you know, I'll be honest, it's yeah, you know, I I'm a hard worker, I've been here five and a half years. I I've paid a lot of attention not only to the past GMs before me in this building, but like I said, you know, I've I've gained friends with others, and I I knew I knew what I was raising my hand for or what I was asking for, but knowing it and living it are two totally different things. That's that's for certain. It's uh it it is just everything at all the time. You never feel like uh, for lack of better words, you can be off. And I don't mean that in a bad way, and and I know every GM feels that way, but if you care so much about the you know 140 bodies I have in this building, which I care about every one of them, and then the 775 members in this building, and then I care about this place in general, you know, I I I I fully recognize that the board uh said, you know, here's a fully renovated$11 million uh uh 1967 Ferrari, here's the keys, don't screw it up, and you know, you know, it's and I don't go pass a minute respecting the car I've gotten, but I also want to drive it 170 miles an hour, you know. It's uh uh but uh humble plug for management motion, uh but uh um but um yeah, all of it was it was what I expected, but then when you're actually living it every day, it's it's a whole different, you know, next level type thing. Uh and you know, it probably the biggest things that you know you you realize, but it not until you're living it as partially just having to be there for everybody. Um, you know, I've talked about this with my board president. He's actually said, man, it's he he's seen it before in action. He's like, your door is practically revolving, your office is a revolving door at this point. I'm like, yeah, it's it's hard to get work done because staff have that comfortability. You know, of course, being here five and a half years adds to that. But you know, coming in wanted to talk about, oh man, I'm going through this personal thing at home. Uh oh man, can you help me write this letter for uh support of XYZ? Uh oh man, uh, you know, my girlfriend's threatening to break up. I mean she's five months pregnant, or you know, what are it's that stuff. And then it's the internal stuff. Oh, so-and-so is not talking to me. And uh it's coaching on so many levels and so many personalities and so many different scenarios. It's you it's almost like you really need to probably get some uh courses as a you have to really be ready as a GM in like uh you know, psychology or therapy or or something like that. Just have a couch in your office practically. Uh that's probably the thing one of the things that was a lot harder than I realized is coaching people, and you have to be adaptable to coach them in the way they want to be coached, uh, to steal the line from uh uh uh from not Toby from the office, but uh Ryan from the office. Lead me when I want to be led, in the way that I want to be led.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

All right. If if if if we're going back to office lines, to go back to your AED story with the CPR. So uh for the if you if you guys don't know here on the here on the chat uh on the show, so born and raised in Scranton, my my family owned uh the paper supply company in Scranton. And we we did uh this is like years and years and years ago, we we did a CPR training. And even though I haven't worked there in years, my dad's like, hey, why don't you just come and do like the train? I'm like, all right, he's like, it's spend a minute, get like, you know, come like okay. So I was like, this is it. Here we go. So the guy is doing his training, and I just went, You're from the parking lot earlier. That's how I know you. And he just went, What? I have it on video too, so I will send it to you. That's like that's like it has to be and and and didn't mean for that for for that for that side quest, but it's also like now that you're boss, people I would assume expect answers. So it's not like you know, when you were when you were, you know, Jordan director, you know what I mean? Like you were like you can people can come to your event and like they they may or may not be expecting, you know, everything, but like when you're now bot and they come, they're gonna probably want like some guidance, some thing to be said, like something.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

Right, yeah, you're correct. It's gone from yeah, it absolutely spot on from the venting session to now, it's like hear me out, and I want some sort of action out of this. Um some of the not all the time, but some of the times, yeah. And it's and it's tough because you know, I've had to have those conversations out. That's a great idea. Here's why we can't do it, or here's why we got to park it and come back to it. You know, it's and you yeah, and the the part of me, you know, as a a very opportunistic and and and big vision and big idea kind of guy, like I hate. Telling somebody because I, you know, I've been in that boat too and been like, hey, we should do this on TikTok. And you know, you get the eye roll like, okay, sure. You know, it's uh uh so I I hate to crush anybody's dreams, you know, because uh, you know, you you you look at the story of uh hot Cheetos as you know, essentially made by a guy that believed in it and nobody else did. It's uh and I I would hate to be the one to shoot down the hot Cheetos idea sitting in my office. Uh but uh but yeah, that is the tough part is yeah, sometimes they're bringing something and they're like, I need action from this. And I, you know, it's a balance of their what they're bringing to you in their in their moment is real and they need to be heard and it needs to be addressed. And you know, it's hard to say, hey, look, I've got a meeting with the board president in 10 minutes and we're talking about a million-dollar idea. You know, you yours is down here. You can't say that to them, but uh uh it is a balancing game, and and there are those moments too where you do have to, you know, literally the AED moment, you're in the middle of a actually I was in the middle of a very tense conversation, believe it or not. Uh it all it's all very clear, yeah. They all the different back, but I was in a very like closed-door conversation with that uh manager in that moment when uh they came in. And same kind of scenario for other things where just sometimes you have to say, uh, okay, uh you're right, you know, at clearing my next 30 minutes, let's go figure this out, let's go talk this out, whatever it is. Um, yeah, it it the action part is a lot different than from before where you're correct. It was sometimes there's just venting or uh commiserating, whatever it may be. Yeah.

unknown 45:26

Yeah.

Advice To New GMs On Priorities

SPEAKER_00 45:27

Yeah. If you can go back and have like a five-minute conversation with yourself the day before you came GM, what would you say?

SPEAKER_02 45:39

We're going back to the moon, baby. No. Uh we did it! We landed on the moon.

SPEAKER_00 45:49

That's a good line. That would be so well written.

SPEAKER_02 45:53

Yeah. Should we record a uh few blips in case this episode doesn't air for many months? Uh, should we start it? Uh oh, this is going on immediately.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

This is going past every you're going straight to the top, straight to the moon. This is going right right out of the atmosphere.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

I was gonna go right to uh welcoming our alien overlords, or uh uh but yeah, this isn't gonna play for a little bit though. That that's fine. Okay. Uh yeah, if I could go back uh, you know, uh before I accepted the role, um, what would I tell myself?

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Um or like, you know, it's it's like it's like the day, it's like you you accepted, but it's so it's like it's like the day before, right? It's like, I don't know. It's just like what would you tell yourself? Like buckle up buttercup, like you have no idea. Call a plumber now.

unknown 46:40

Right.

SPEAKER_03 46:40

Exactly.

unknown 46:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Get to know a plumber, an electrician, and a medic really well, uh, and a lawyer. I can't tell you how many times I've had to call a lawyer in the last year and a half. Uh, and it's not for advice, it's for make sure the club's not in hot water. Those are whole separate stories as well.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

Trust me, the uh part two after these messages.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

The message brought to you by oh, we can't say names on this podcast, can you probably get the cease and desist. Uh, by this broadcast brought to you by Peanut Butter and Jelly.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

Blue Apron.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

By Circuit City.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

Yes. Uh but you know, like what would you tell yourself? You know, like looking looking back day before your your official title change, the new business cards.

SPEAKER_02 47:29

I think I would tell myself, and I I finally have a year and almost half in now. Uh I am slowly, it took me a while to get there. Is you know, especially if you are, and most GMs are this way. They're big idea people, big energy. A lot of them on network. Uh, you know, you literally talk about there. Uh there's uh uh uh Matthew out in uh uh uh California. I'm a blanket on the club, but he brought a giraffe to the beach. You know, uh a lot of GMs are that level, insane, insane kind of people. Um and you know, right off the bat, I had like that 30-page uh booklet I gave the board, right? Yeah, you know, there's 50 ideas in there. Uh what I would tell myself is you can do it, people respect you. You don't have to prove everything in the first six months. And you know, that those first six months I was living here. And you know, that's you hear that thing, oh, it's the unwritten rule in your first year as a gym, you're gonna live at the club, you're gonna work 60 hours and all that stuff. But you know, I was at one point I I was an air traffic controller, right? I had 27 planes in the air, and you, you know, it's uh I'm sure if anybody is tenured out there listening to that, they know that that that you know uh that how quickly all those can come crumbling down. It's just too many planes for one person to control, and you've got to focus on the six most important while keeping the other 18 ready on the runway type thing versus getting them all up in the air. And that's that's probably what I would tell myself is get the systems in place, focus on the six most important, knock down that list. You know, I I probably tried to rush into it too fast, not that I failed on anything, but it was I stressed myself, you know, this then here.

SPEAKER_00 49:01

So yeah, yeah. Was there anything that surprised you the most? Not I mean not so much about the job, but like about yourself.

SPEAKER_02 49:12

That's a great question. Surprise me most about myself. That's a really good question. Uh you know, I I guess it's the ability to do the stuff that I hadn't done before, if that makes sense, right? Uh I I hadn't been a GM before. I had been in other jobs and and roles out there outside the industry. I'd been in charge of a departmental budget. Uh here at the club, I was in charge of a very small membership budget. I but I wasn't in charge of you know a uh a multi-million dollar budget, and I wasn't in charge of hiring and firing people. And what I will say is the one thing that I've you know, I had a little bit of fear going to that. Not not that uh I didn't know it. It was just like some of it's kind of foreign to me. You know, I've never built a budget for an entire building. I've only done departments uh and uh it you know, the the ability to learn that on the fly and still, you know, kind of keep everything running. That might be the kind of the one thing.

unknown 50:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

Is there is there is there a moment from like the past year that you're like genuinely proud of that no one else saw?

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Um man. You know, it's um I know it seems so cliche to I we we talked about a little bit earlier, but to cliche to kind of give it back to the rest of the people below me. But um uh I I look back at butterfly type effects, you know, scenarios where one thing different and this whole place goes to shambles, right? Uh and and a GM can't do it all. They can't be there all the time. I I can't be here from sunup to sundown, even though I am sometimes. But um I I am incredibly proud of the people that do this job every day and run it well and put on a good show night after night after night after night. You know, this thing hums along really well, and I am most proud of that. 100% true. Like I recognize I said it earlier, I couldn't do it without these people. Uh, they're building me up as a better leader, and I'm trying to pour myself back into them to make them better leaders and proud of themselves as well. You know, that would that would probably be the biggest one for me. Trying to think if there's any projects I kind of shoehorn through that I was like, all right, yeah. Uh I am making inroads with the bridge ladies. I realized you can't ignore the bridge ladies. You know what?

SPEAKER_00 51:39

It took a year and a half, but you actually it took seven and a half years. You finally did it. You were gaining traction as the membership, you lost it for the GM, but you finally got it back.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

The bridge ladies, you know what? They they got their new coffee mugs they've been asking for for six months, and you would have thought I gave them a million dollars each. They they love those coffee mugs, so uh you know.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

That's funny. Jordan, thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for sharing your story. Thanks for being so open and love what you've done. And uh it's been so cool to watch and so such an amazing story of I don't even know where I'm going with it, but it I just love how you got here. No, no, but it it genuinely is cool that without like thinking that was gonna happen, you just took a couple risks, just took you know, risen your hand, rose in your hand, raised your hand a few times.

SPEAKER_02 52:33

I didn't do great either.

SPEAKER_00 52:34

Put your hands up in the air for for Detroit. Don't care. Yeah. Wait. Um, but uh no, like the and thank you for coming on and sharing also. Um yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

No, appreciate you uh having me on. Uh and me, you know, we you're I talked about tools and mentors and people in this industry that helped me get to where I am. And uh you should realize too, by the way, Pat on your back, if yourself pat on the shoulder, because uh this podcast, what do you you're almost like it's true? Like there's somebody out there listening who is like uh a first year membership director, an entry-level F and B manager who's like trying to figure out and they're listening to every episode. And uh you're part of that journey too. You you're gonna help somebody one day.

SPEAKER_00 53:23

One day, one day, after I'm dead. Because because where I was at, I had a heart attack, they didn't have an AED, nobody was trained, and I'm just gonna fizzle that that that way. That's how I'm gonna go. I think they only did some more training.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

Uh but no, yeah, thanks for having me on. It's been a great time. I I enjoy this. Uh you you do a great show.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

Jordan, thank you so much for coming on and sharing and opening up. Um, you're doing some great things and really appreciate you coming on and uh sharing about your story and opening up on the first year of GM Ship. Thanks, Home. Hope you all enjoyed that episode. Want to learn more about management and motion? Head on over to Danny Corby.com slash management and motion and same website if you want to learn more about the fun experiences that I bring to you and your members, comedy, magic, and mind reading. That's this episode, though. Until next time, I'm your host, Danny Corby. Catch you guys on the flippity flip.