Entering Innkeeping....Part 1. Lifestyle

As I’ve said, people regularly tell me they think they want to have their own B&B and I’m asked how to go about it. I’ve promised five Mondays to break the process down into easy steps of consideration. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the individual steps because taken together they will provide a good basis for your decision to work toward your own business or to look at other opportunities.

As a first step let’s take a look at the lifestyle of someone who not only operates his/her own business, but specifically a bed and breakfast or small inn. This is a centuries old business. Let’s not forget Mary and Joseph and the whole “no room at the Inn” thing. Down through the ages, the core business hasn’t changed that much. An Innkeeper has overnight space available for the traveling public. The traveler pays a fee for the use of the space. Food has often times been served. I use the word space because in times past it was not uncommon for the innkeeper to divide available space down to parts of a single bed. I use the word food, because again in times past, travelers weren’t quite as particular for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Wholesome sustenance was the priority of the time. But I digress. Tired people needed a place for rest and nourishment, and there were Innkeepers ready to provide those things in whatever fashion.

The owners of bed and breakfasts and small Inns, either in metropolitan or rural areas generally refer to themselves as Innkeepers. Today Innkeeping is a wonderful career many people have undertaken with great spiritual and financial success. It has also been romanticized to some degree. There have been those who are disenchanted soon after they enter innkeeping. There are some harsh realities to owning and operating your own business, particularly when you must depend on others to help with that business. I know a couple who spent months, even years, exploring all sorts of bed and breakfast business opportunities. After all their research they found their perfect dream business. These bright eyed, eager entrepreneurs became angry and bitter over the daily grind of business ownership in just a few short months. They soon had the business back on the market, and were ending their personal relationship as well.

Realistically, if your enterprise is successful, you could find yourself up at 6:00am every morning for the rest of your working life getting breakfast ready for hungry overnight guests. If you’re the sort of person who’s not awake until their third cup of coffee, sometime after 9:00am……well…..Houston….we have a problem.

If you have not been an entrepreneur before, it's important to understand the seemingly simple differences from the more traditional employer/employee career paths. Entrepreneurs are always doing business, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The responsibility is around the clock, 365 days a year, ultimately responsible for each and every decision involving the enterprise. Innkeepers are generally very hands on owners, oftentimes responding to reservations information, greeting & entertaining guests, cooking, cleaning, decorating & redecorating, repairs & maintenance, gardening, marketing, business planning, etc. They may have staff, but when the housekeeper, that one and only housekeeper, isn’t able to get to work, guess who’s cleaning guestrooms?

On one hand, you may feel a sense of emancipation. The freedom to determine your destiny, to succeed or fail by your own means might be a particularly important personal goal. On the other hand, you don’t get to go home at the end of your shift. Some have found that kind of total commitment to be too heavy a burden to bear, day in and day out, year in and year out.

Each of us has life goals. Your interest in innkeeping has been sparked at least in part by one of your goals. Your perception of an element of the lifestyle may have sparked your interest in it.
• You might be attracted to a particular part of the world and operating a B&B in that location is a logical plan of action i.e. you love the mountains, and can live and earn a living in the environment you relish.
• Perhaps owning a large spacious house is important to you. You love to have family and friends in. You’re a people person. Innkeeping would be an extension of that entertaining, and operating that house as a B&B for at least part of the time, making a little money, will help you afford that kind of home.
• Maybe you are expecting the enterprise to provide a long term career with substantial financial benefit throughout your career.
• There are also those who see the business as a career and also as a major real estate investment whereby they anticipate a dramatic return on their real estate investment.

Over the years, the industry has been able to identify those four general areas of interest that draw people to the industry. Again, they are:
• Location. Where you want to live
• Love of entertaining family and friends
• Career choice with substantial benefits.
• Real estate investment with anticipated dramatic financial return.
It’s important to recognize that many people who are drawn to this business niche for real estate investment purposes, often times have a specific project in mind. They have an old building that must be saved, a neighborhood that needs revitalizing, an empty city block that needs to be filled, or an existing building that should be repurposed. They look to the bed and breakfast business as a way of utilizing the building.

Enthusiasm for a project is a wonderful thing. Any of us can get caught up in that enthusiasm and find ourselves involved at a different level than initially planned. Define your goals. Don't casually allow yourself to deviate from those goals. If you decide to change your goals, do so consciously, keep them handy, and refer to them.

Next week we’re going to explore specific goal details. In the meantime, take an inventory of your life, the way you want or prefer to live. Does it match inkeeping?