Transitioning Your Bed and Breakfast, Guest House or Inn From a Hobby into a Professional Business

If you’ve ever been in the situation where somehow you just have to make your little B&B or guest house transform itself into a proper business making enough income to support you, or you’re plain fed up with running a hobby because it’s taking over your life, then this post is for you.

It looks easy to just add a couple more rooms and see how it goes, right?

The reality is that while running a hobby as a side income is fun and rewarding, welcoming guests and making the rooms pretty, while doing all the housekeeping yourself and not having to pay attention to much marketing, running a proper business is totally different.

Here’s my experience of running first a hobby, and then transforming it into a proper business, then decide what you really want yours to be.

Definition of a hobby B&B

You probably have around 2 – 3 rooms in your house with or without en-suite bathrooms (which were probably your childrens’ rooms before they flew the nest)

You have another income source, either yourself or your partner/spouse.

You open when you want, and close when you want.

Guests are like friends – they’ve been coming for years and you just love entertaining them.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you make any money (although the extra is nice) because your basic needs are taken care of by other income sources.

You or a family member built your website and you don’t know how to make any changes.

You do little marketing, if any and it ticks along all on its own

Definition of a professional B&B, guest house or inn.

You have at least 4 rooms all with ensuite bathrooms and your own sleeping accommodation is separate.

You have a small team to take care of the daily cleaning and housekeeping chores while you focus on the marketing to attract guests.

You have clear opening times which you decide in advance, scheduling in your own holidays in advance.

You have defined who you can best serve and you pro-actively seek them out utilising many of the free online tools at your disposal, which you have learned to use.

You are 100% focussed on the financials and know exactly where you are each week/month compared to last year and your goals.

You have total control of your website, because you know that this is your best marketing tool

You have systems in place to attract guests, increase their spend with you, and to generate repeat business. You leave nothing to chance.

You invest in professionals who know how to do and have done what you want to do because you know that this is fastest path to take.

Can you spot the big difference?

Both are OK by the way, you just have to know what you want.

And if you want to make that transition, there’s one big thing that has to change that no-one talks about.

Mindset and attitude.

Without a shift in the way you perceive yourself, your own value and what you can bring to the world that serves others, you risk everything, especially if you’ve invested in converting more rooms and now need to make that money back.

Your choice.

If you want to find out more about how to transition from a hobby to a professional business, then register below for my next Masterclass where I’ll share with you the 3 systems you’ll need to have in place so you can make more money, while doing less work and having more fun. Click below to register and I’ll see you there.