Congratulations

Hello Class,
Congratulations on completion of this long journey we all undertook. Toaday is the first day of the rest of our lives. The knowledge we gain by ourselves and from each other should open many doors to us if we choose to open them. Good luck and Godspeed.

The Vapir-izor

One More!!!

Well here we go. One more class to go. It has been a long journey, longer that I thought it would be. I will miss all my classmates but not all the reading and writing. Not sure what I am going to do next. I have had no life for so long now it is time to get my life back. My priorities have changed but so many things I have not done for 2 years, I am itching to do. I have a stack of "recommended" books to read for personal growth. Maybe now I can read them. All my hobbies have gone to the wayside. The Business plan is for the future, not the immediate future, but for the future. I need to get my house in order and get a good foundation for the future. Thanks to all who have helped me in this long project.

ILP

Here we go again. Received my first draft business plan back from my instructor. Thought I was close to done. Guess not. I need to do more research. Oh boy!!!! I have had enough of all of this. But I plug along. some day I will get my life of leisure back.

Business Plans

Well here we are close to the end. The preliminary thesis paper has been submitted to have the faculty adviser rip it apart. I know this is her job, hopefully it wont be too bad.
It has been a learning experience. Maybe some day I will learn not to procrastinate and actually get done with a project early. Even though this project is nearly done, there is much to do to make this plan become my future.

Mark Twain said that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
So, I perked up when I read a statistic recently in Newsweek magazine.

It is said that 9 percent of the 79 million baby boomers considering moving into second or third careers were interested in the bed and breakfast industry. When crunching the numbers, 1.4 million people might be interested in the B&B business. Although the total number of people considering becoming inn-keepers reflected some information found by Yellow Brick Road collected 10 years ago, One might wonder if this statistic falls into the “damned lie” category.

Whether it does or not, it serves as a reminder that optimistic statistical projections can lead a prospective business person down a slippery slope. In this case the slippery slope involves the realities of getting into and staying in the lodging business.

Most of us belong to a group of 1,422,200 people who may have an interest in getting into the bed and breakfast business. It reflects a huge amount of interest in a very small industry with only 20,000 viable businesses nationwide, according to bedandbreakfast.com.

For many, it seems like a glamorous business, an opportunity to entertain and get paid for it. You may also be thinking that renting out rooms in your house will help you pay for a bigger, better, more beautiful house than you might otherwise be able to afford. And pretty much anybody can do it. All you need do is fix up some rooms in the house, open the doors, and guests with credit cards will arrive on the doorstep.

The bed and breakfast business is part of the hospitality industry (that includes hotels, motels, RV parks, timeshares, and restaurants). If you want to do it right, your B&B needs to generate enough revenue to pay your bills and provide you with money to live on. Your own financial situation will dictate how much money you need to live. As a hospitality business, bed and breakfasts are subject to regulation and inspection by local and state agencies. They collect and pay taxes based upon the revenue the business generates.

It may cost you more than you might think to actually operate your business, starting with the higher rates usually charged for mortgage money, necessary commercial insurance, modifications to the property mandated by local laws, higher rates for things like business phones, even trash collection.

You have to generate business every day of the year. It’s harder than you might think, because you will never have the budget to match your competition (hotels). It’s okay, you might say, I only need to find a few people who want what I have to offer. True, but you have to find them one by one…and you have to make sure they come back again and again. Accomplishing this requires sophisticated marketing skills and placing a priority on using them on a daily basis.

Testing BlogJet

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

"Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination." -- Albert Einstein

My Plan

The Middle Creek Inn will be a beautiful facility that will sit in a secluded wooded area in historic Fairfield Pennsylvania. The Inn will be a start-up enterprise that will offer three wonderfully furnished rooms to guests who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of a hectic life. Each room will be individually furnished country style, with a fireplace in the living room and a hot tub on the back deck overlooking Middle Creek. The Middle Creek Inn will provide a full breakfast each morning to our guests to start them on their way. Our target market is the tourists and history buffs who are coming to see the historic Gettysburg area, or looking to ski and golf.