Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christine Smith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Christine, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Becoming a Hospitality Business Coach inevitably became who I am after years of serving the hospitality industry in various ways. All of which showed me that the leaders I was admiring were for all the wrong reasons. Reasons such as fame, money, and validation from others other than myself. The leaders I looked up to were missing the big picture, the “thing” that could excel in their business if only they knew the secret ingredient. The secret ingredient I intuitively picked up on at an early age. Looking back, I always had this gift that I felt others did not know how to tap into. I’ll share the secret ingredient of tapping into your emotional intelligence.
Do you remember working that job, the one where the manager was all over the place, controlling, demanding? I seemed to have that a lot in my career. I remember those interactions not settling well. I would run from job to job, underperform, stress myself out, etc. Did you blame the manager, or were you able to look beyond the emotion and notice that those reactions were not your manager’s true nature? They were circumstantial. How do I know that you ask? I know that because I view things with an open-mind and with curiosity. This is my nature. This is who I am. Knowing this about myself didn’t evolve overnight. I had to take my course of action to improve my self-development skills. Lots of time, money, and resources to get where I am today.
For years I let people walk all over me. My skills were hindered. My passion and ideas were shunned. All of this could have been prohibited if I knew myself and could guide my leaders better. I remember looking back at my roles in certain jobs where I would watch the owner, co-workers, and guests, all treat each other poorly. They would be judgemental, point fingers, blame, and skirt around the true “problem”, aka, opportunity. That opportunity was always to understand each other better. Make better decisions based on having clarity and understanding. Do you realize, the only reason why we “argue” is due to lack of understanding? Do you understand that a debate is a healthy conversation to gain clarity and express ideas, thoughts, and emotions? Do you see the difference? Emotional intelligence comes into play when you notice your feelings and emotions and you choose to bring that into awareness. In my experience, my hospitality leaders never brought these topics into conversations, which led to high turnover rates, hiring issues, loss of revenue, and the list continues into the guest experience. What happens internally in a hospitality organization ultimately affects our guest experiences. It affects your experience as a traveler who is reading this article now. You may not have thought about your experience as a guest in an establishment this way until now.
So, after years of hindering my skills, I set out on my own to bring light to the topic of emotional intelligence, enhanced communications, and building relationships for people in the hospitality industry. It’s easy to create confusion, create chaos, and keep going on the path we are on. It’s challenging when we sit and listen to how we feel, and how we know we want to grow as individuals. Yet it’s quite possibly the easiest thing we can do to solve our problems. My why is because I love helping people. When people become a better version of themselves for others, I light up, it brings me joy. There is no reason why we should “suffer” in this world of confusion and constant change when all we have to do is communicate and appreciate each other more. We all can do this by tapping into our emotional intelligence. I believe if we all communicated better, we could solve all of our “problems”.
I knew this endeavor was worthwhile when I saw firsthand people’s struggles. I saw and felt their emotions in the mix of chaos, and I had solutions all along. Now that I have tapped into these skills myself, I know it will help my industry, as I love to travel and want a great experience for myself when I do so.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
From age 14 I have always worked in the hospitality industry in some fashion. As someone who grew up on the beach and had expensive taste as a teenager, I was told I had to get a job by my single mother. I tried to leave the hospitality industry once and found myself right back in route. Hospitality is me, it’s as simple as that. There’s not a stranger I have met. Making connections with people comes naturally to me. If I were an animal, I would be a herding dog, as I love to bring people together. I’m without a doubt the one who is going to want to go deeper with you in conversation. I’m also the one who is going to know when and when not to go deeper with you based on understanding human behavior and social cues.
I enjoy working one-on-one with leaders so they get the utmost attention they deserve. Working one-on-one also is how I work best. Each individual is unique and has unique needs, and I believe that is sacred. Apart from one-on-one work, I do offer team-building workshops for retreats, a more immersive type of experience. I’m not your typical hospitality business coach. I have worked in several sectors of the industry where I have a wide range of expertise in sectors such as restaurants, hotels, B&Bs, short-term rentals, tech start-up companies, events, and sales. Understanding the dynamics of the hospitality industry can be complex. While being complex and not black and white, I understand the unique challenges every role faces. I solve my clients’ problems by understanding how they operate, finding out their needs, their goals, and creating a more holistic approach to solving their problems by understanding the human behind the role. The hospitality and tourism industry is a billion-dollar industry that is always looking to improve its ROI and revenue, and I help my clients do so by the work I do with them. Increasing your revenue starts from the inside with yourself and your team.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
My pivotal moment in life was a mixture of life decisions for my sanity, which led me to where I am today. As I have mentioned before, in my career, I was jumping from job to job. Jumping from job to job made me question life, question and judge myself for doing so, and overall not happy. It was at my last job before creating my own business and going into self-employment where I was physically sick. I became this emotionally unstable human being in the hospitality industry who was known to be this happy-go-lucky person. Deep down I was the total opposite. It got to the point where I lashed out at a guest on the property where I worked at the time. I became broken from my suffering. I had enough of hindering my skills, and shunning my natural gifts to help others in the capacity I was made for. I was so unhappy that I became this person I did not recognize anymore. I knew that I had to make a change. In a matter of 1 month, I quit my job, made my decision to work for myself with no business plan, and moved to Asheville NC. Not having plans did not scare me, I leaned into my solo journey with perseverance like I had everything to lose. I became unstoppable. My mission and passion were larger than me. I knew that I had to get my story out to the world. To help those in need. Here I am now, going strong and patiently waiting for those who crave support because my heart is in this. It’s who I am. I cannot undo or unlearn what I know to be true. No more will I shun my skills and talents of helping others succeed.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn is that I can do anything I want in this life. That I am capable. That I can afford the things I want in life. My mother was a single mother who did the best she knew how at the time. I must say, she did an exceptional job at raising me. I would not be the same without her. Having the wisdom and understanding I do now about life and people, I believe my mother did not love herself as she could have. Whether it be circumstances, support, upbringing, or all of the above, her actions and words affected me as a child. This healing is not just a story of mine, but as a collective here, we all have healing to do to some degree. The words I heard over and over again growing up were, “We can’t afford that”, “That’s not for you”, or “No way that will happen”. As children, we look up to our elders for guidance and affirmation. When this negative self-talk is repeated, it becomes the norm and a belief. All of these beliefs I had to unlearn and redirect to have the life I desired. What we tell ourselves is ultimately what we receive, where our attention goes to. I no longer wanted that life, I wanted more that I knew I deserved.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://csmithphilosophy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/csconsulting101/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/csconsulting101/
