S1 Ep9: Managing Your Time Better So You Can Take Your Time Off While Running Your Bed and Breakfast, Guest House or Inn

How Bed and Breakfasts, Guest Houses and Inns Can Make More Money with Less Work

Hello, I’m Yvonne Halling at BedandBreakfastCoach.com and today I’m going to talk about how to manage your time so you can take time off, avoid burnout and even going completely insane.

The burnout is real, so we want to plan ahead so we don’t descend into it.

So whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in this business for many years, here’s 5 helpful tips that both I and my clients have used to stay on top of your business.

There’s basically three different areas that will compete for your time.

Guest facing, where you’re with your guests and making them feel welcome and cared for.

Daily labour tasks which include the cleaning, laundry and general maintenance and running of your property.

And marketing your business so you’ve got a constant stream of guests booking with you, and you’re in communication with both prospective and past guests.

If you have a family as well, you’ll need to factor that in too.

Tip #1

First to stay relaxed and feeling good, I encourage you to think about outsourcing the daily labour tasks. This means getting help with cleaning and laundry specifically, getting deliveries to you for supplies, instead of going out shopping for them and if you can manage it, getting help with general maintenance work to keep your place looking nice.

You may think, well I can’t afford help, but if you factor in the costs for this into your pricing, coupled with the extra bookings you’ll create when you take yourself out of the daily stuff, you’ll be able to afford it.

Tip #2

Take a look at how much time you really do need to be spending with your guests. Typically, they arrive during the late afternoon or early evening and they leave in the mornings, either to leave you completely or to go out to see the attractions of your area.

See if you can narrow down the guest facing window so you’re free to do the real work of making sure you’ve got a constant stream of bookings and you’re in communication with your guests, past, present and future.

Tip #3

Have a timetable that you stick to throughout your day. This doesn’t mean you won’t get interrupted or that things won’t go swimmingly every day but a structure for your day gives you a place to come back to when things get off track. Without the structure, you’ll be constantly in a state of chaos, where nothing much gets done and you’ll start to feel anxious.

Structure provides clear boundaries for you and your staff and even your family.

When you “work from home” it’s too easy for family to just think, well mum’s here so I can get her attention any time I want. You’ll need to set clear boundaries for yourself around your work so you’re not constantly getting interrupted when you’re working.

Tip #4

Carve your day up into compartments. I learned this when I was struggling with coping with our first child. Luckily for me, I was given a book that showed me how to plan the day around everything that needed to be taken care of, so that I could have some time for me too.

Once I had the courage to implement the plan, everything became so much easier.

Find what works for you, and then stick to that. Everyone’s different. Everyone works at different paces and in different ways. Have the courage to say – this doesn’t work for me – and then make the changes needed that do work for you.

Tip #5

Put your holidays in the calendar now and if you don’t have cover, be brave and close regularly, if only for a day or two. If the majority of your business is on weekends, take two days off during the week and go away somewhere on a regular basis. When you stay at home, it’s just time away from guests, not time off work. You’ll be drawn into doing little jobs to catch up and that’s definitely not time off work, no matter how much you love it.

You need time to refresh and recharge so you can be the best you can be for yourself, and your guests, so you won’t burn out and you won’t go insane.

If you’d like to know more about how to streamline your business so you can free up even more of your time, then register below for my upcoming Masterclass where I’ll show you how to make more, work less, pay less commissions with less stress.

https://bedandbreakfastcoach.com/masterclass/