10. 'Christmas' & New Year Nostalgia

No. 10 - Christmas & New Year Nostalgia

I'm getting mixed feedback about how busy it is this year with Christmas functions & New Year's Eve party interest. Please write in the comments below what your own experience has been.

I've always loved the Christmas & New Year period working in the hospitality industry. I had about 4 years out of hospitality in the 90s after I completed my MBA and wanted to test-drive a different industry. I always missed the busy trading periods, the functions & events and the generally 'merry' atmosphere that seemed unique to the hospitality industry.

Our venues are where almost everybody comes to celebrate the festive period. The 'occasions to visit' are numerous. Whether it's the big 'company event' that we've seen get smaller and quieter over the years, or the friends catching up at the end of the year or the family's avoiding cooking, plus a whole array of other reasons (occasions to visit) that we experience every year.

During the 80s and 90s when I was in the UK working for large multi-site groups the festive season is winter so it's sort of enhanced by early dark nights (as early as 4:30pm in winter) which enhance the Christmas lights in shop windows, town centre displays and then inside the venues themselves. It's freezing cold, so people are 'rugged up' which means most people aren't sitting outside, they're inside, looking for open fires and warm venues to gather inside.

In the 00s and 10s in Australia, with my first Christmas in Melbourne as CEO of the pub & restaurant group we created in 8 months and enjoyed the first Christmas in December 2000, it seemed strange to me, being summer, very hot, very light and much more a celebration of what was then an extended summer holiday period for most people, not working in hospitality! 4-5 weeks off was normal and it was a shock on the revenue lines of the entire group when so many people leave the inner city for so long! ??

My first Christmas of 12 years on my own entrepreneurial journey was Christmas 2001 when I'd purchased the freehold and business of my first venue. I recall that strange feeling that's a combination between the excitement of finally being my own boss and the opportunities ahead and that other feeling that the rather nice and big salary I'd been paid every month wasn't coming in and I'd be paying myself if we did 'ok' over the summer period. As it happened trade increased by more than 30% within the first few weeks, so you might imagine the relief I had not wondering how I was going to pay the mortgage on the house never mind the commercial loan on the freehold. ??

The first New Years, which was December 31, 2001, was going to be the first New Year's Party this venue had ever had. With only a couple of weeks to promote and run an event, I was taking a risk, of course. But we had a sell-out New year's event courtesy of some clever marketing and a great team of managers and staff. I remember planning a sit-down dinner followed by a quick clear to create a cocktail party with additional guests joining us for the later part of the evening. There are moments of joy I remember from that period.

The other annual event that takes place around this time is the staff Christmas party. I hope you're involved in a great one with the team you lead or work with this year.

The staff party for HMC, the pub group I led, was interesting in early January 2001. I'd arranged for the 1,300 or so staff to come together in one of our own venues, the Metro nightclub in Melbourne CBD at the end of the first or second week in January. We had staff 'bussed in' from the regional cities of Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong where we operated venues. Everybody else was based in the inner suburbs and able to get trams into the city pretty easily. We gave it a fancy dress theme, 'characters from favourite films'.

I went as Austin Powers! Yes, I know, very Shagadelic Baby! This video works ok on YouTube, it's just not showing the thumbnail here - this is pretty much what I looked like ??

I think the bar bill was over A$70,000 back in 2001. And worth every cent. There are some stories from that staff party that I'll share with you in another newsletter, I promise.

Christmas staff parties in my own group of businesses were always in the first week of January. Get all the events completed for customers and then we could chill out and have fun. We did a variety of things from chartering 54 ft catamarans or motor yachts in the Bay, to go-karting events followed by food and drinks. But every year we did a major staff party in early January and often another 2-3 events in between times!

I'm curious about what you're doing if you are doing a staff party. please comment below and let me know. I know it's a tough trading time for many but I'd encourage anybody who hasn't planned anything to do something with your team and celebrate the year, however tough it's been.

The end of one year is also the start of the next. That bizarre moment in time at midnight on 31 December when people celebrate all that was the year that's now behind them, entering the new year often with the hope that the next 12 months will be better than the previous 12 months.

Most of the time though, it only ever is hope, because nothing else changes. Research into New Year's resolutions suggests that more than 90% of people setting a New Year's resolution will have given up on it/them by 20 January!

Now, this shouldn't be surprising to us because there's also a lot of research available that suggests it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Habits are actions we take routinely, 'habitually' even! Now, what most people don't realise is that there are habits they need to stop doing as well habits they need to start doing. To get the change, indeed the transformation they want, they generally have to drop some old habits that don't take them where they want to go and start some new ones that do.

Maybe you'll be setting some resolutions. Let me know in the comments below what resolutions you're planning to start.

I'd encourage you to do more than set some resolutions though. I encourage you to work out what you actually want to be different in your life in 3-12 months' time, from what you experience right now, and then to set some goals and plans and actions that bring what you really want into reality. Easy, huh? Of course not. If it was, everybody would be leading the life that they dream of, right?

Well, I've got your back! I'm running a free workshop in the last week in December, between Christmas & New Year, in that small window of time that many hospitality leaders actually get lots done because it's often quiet for them (not for everybody).

I've run this workshop many times over the years. I've evolved it and tweaked it over the years. The processes that I share with you are what helped me become the CEO of what was Australia's second-largest multi-site group back in 2000 and helped make me a self-made multi-millionaire within 5 years of my 12-year entrepreneurial journey. The very same processes helped me become president of two different business & industry associations and re-elected several times and appointed to the board of the Port Phillip Eco-centre.

I tell you these things not to try and impress you, but to impress upon you the power of the processes in helping you create the life, career and business you want.

Now, if your life is exactly how you dreamed it could be then you might think you don't need to come, and maybe you don't. But I'd suggest you've just not been dreaming big enough if you think there's nothing more to do with your life and to make a difference in the world around you. ??

And, I'd also add that my process didn't stop me from being defrauded, ending up burnt out, dropping a few $m and almost losing my life! But that's a story for another newsletter. It's certainly going to be a book!

For most of us, there are always things we want to do in life, experience, make a difference, develop relationships, develop ourselves, improve our attitude, move our careers forward, build our businesses, change the way we spend our time and much more.

For most, making more time to do more fun things with people we love is a big desire. Making a difference in our communities is another popular one. Making more money is often high up the list and right now, with rising costs, we all probably need to make some more money.

I'd like to invite you of course, but also offer you the opportunity to invite your team, possibly key staff, to take part. It's a powerful 90-minute online workshop, and you'll learn my 3-step process to goal-setting on steroids, get clarity about what you really want in life, career and business, and finally, you'll take away your own customised plan for 2023.

You'll find a link to register for this workshop in the FEATURED section of my LinkedIn profile page. I know there's at least one big thing you'd like to be different in 3-12 months time and if you could do it your life would change for the better. This process will help you get there!

So, it's that time of year. I hope you've enjoyed my nostalgic journey into the previous Christmas & New Year periods. We'll hit the tough subjects again in January. Right now I just want to support you and what you're dealing with, the good & the challenging 'stuff'.

I'd love you to put in the comments the first thing that comes into your head, having read this. I'm sort of hoping it will be quite intuitive, but don't overthink it, just write it down.

Take care and remember, we're stronger together!

David Carruthers

#FutureOfHospitalityWithDC #StrategyAndTransformation #Hospitality