Recently my sister suggested that I write a little bit about why we are opening up a bed and breakfast and I thought that it was a great idea,, so here goes! I have known for a really long time now that I have wanted to own my own business, but I just never really knew when I would be able to do that,, or what exactly that would look like. I always thought and still do think that I will have a retail shop of some sorts. And that is still the ultimate goal, but the timing for that just isn't right for where Ben and I are in our lives right now.
There are a couple of reasons for this. Right now, Ben has already started up his own busines. He is working very hard and extremely successfully in opening up his own financial services brokerage with World Financial Group. This has been an exciting ride, but we do need to focus a lot of time and energy on that to ensure that it will continue to work out and be successful, like starting up any business would need.
Secondly, we are having a second baby(hopefully any day now!), and opening up a retail store would just be too much additional work and ridiculous amounts of stress on top of having 2 kids. Thirdly I have no idea where I want to open up this shop. Part of me really wants to open it up in some small ocean front town, where everyone knows everyone, but part of me doesn't want to have to move and I want to be able to open it up here in Ottawa. Fourthly I am not 100% sure of what I would like to sell. At first I thought it would be an outdoors store, gear and all but now I am leaning more towards funky outdoor chic kind of clothing, and not gear. Ultimately I just don't think that we are ready to start down the path of owning a retail store, there are a lot more concrete decisions that we would have to make. We need to have a much better plan in place when we want to open up shop. So for now I think that it's a better idea to let these ideas continue to percolate and see what we can come up with over the next couple of years.
After mulling over about whether or not to start up a retail store,Ben and I tried to think of what we could do instead, that would allow Ben the time he needs to put into his business but that would give me a challenge and something to work on. We had been talking about putting an addition above our garage. At first we threw around the idea of just making it an amazing master bedroom suite, and that would be Ben and I's space. However when we starting talking about it more, we thought that if we put a bed and breakfast in, we would be able to earn some extra income, it would give me some flexibility while I am at home with the kids, and it would be a great way to test out whether or not we like the hospitality industry. So the more we thought about it the more we thought that it was a good idea, and now,, well Green Truck Bed and Breakfast is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality.
There is also another reason for the bed and breakfast. One of our other long term goals is to open up a luxury resort or villa. We want to own a large amount of land, preferrably on water, and we want to be able to build cabins on this land, and rent them out. There will be a main lodge and a wide range of activivites for the guests to partake in. The cabins will be very cozy and luxurious, and it will be open year round. So with this in mind, we thought that a bed and breakfast might be a good stepping stone into some of these other crazy dreams and ideas that we have. We will be learning more about owning our own business, we will learn more about hosting people and what it is that people want out of their accomodations, and it's something that I can work on while being at home with 2 kids. Granted it's going to be a little nuts and busy, but it will be fun, exciting, and very challenging all at the same time. I can't wait to see what the first year of being open will bring!
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