Monthly Archives: November 2013

Do You Have Enough Recipes For Your Own Cookbook?

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recipesforyourowncookbook

If you have had your own Bed and Breakfast for a while now, you have probably collected enough recipes for your own cookbook.  You can check out other recipes posted online and tested by other inn keepers across the country.

Some bed and breakfast cookbooks are collections of recipes from their own state.  The Michigan Bed and Breakfast Cookbook and the California Bed and Breakfast Cookbook are two examples.  Find out if your state has a Bed and Breakfast Association with a published cookbook.

Some bed and breakfasts sell their very own cookbook to their guests.  Then the guests have a reminder of their stay and can try to cook some of the same foods that had when they stayed at your bed and breakfast.

Feel free to post some of your recipes in your blog. You may actually get some web traffic from people searching for a recipe. They can serendipitously come to your website and instantly think about the possibility of staying at your bed and breakfast.

Posted in Food

If You Own a Historic Bed and Breakfast

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Many Bed and Breakfasts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Up to 90% of Bed and Breakfasts occupy historic buildings that have been lovingly restored.  Some of them have received rewards from a Preservation Society.  If you own a historic bed and breakfast, do you emphasize its history to your guests?

You can give tours of your historic home and talk about the people who formerly lived there.  If you know their names, talk about them.  Feel free to share any stories you know to be true. If they are rumors, then let your guests know that the information can not be confirmed.  Your guests will feel as though you are giving them a window into the life of those who once lived in your home.

If you have antique pictures of family members, hang them on your walls. Bed and breakfast owners, you can display precious momentos from your historic home.  If they are valuable and/or fragile, consider putting them in a locked glass display case for your guests to view.

You could even put together a scrapbook of old photos of your bed and breakfast and the people who formerly lived in your home.  If you put that scrapbook in a common area of the house, guests will be able to enjoy looking at the pages to get a sense of the history of the place they are staying in.

Guests love staying in places that have a fascinating history. Perhaps someone famous owned (or stayed at) your bed and breakfast.  You can mention that on your website and you can refer to that in a blog post.  Highlight the things that make your bed and breakfast unique and you will attract more visitors!

Posted in History

Why Your B&B Needs a Blog

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According to the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, “A new bed and breakfast will get 95% of its guests from the Internet.” Even if you are an established bed and breakfast, you want people to find your place when they go online.

Search engines love fresh content.  Blogs provide new and attractive information to your current guests and entice your potential guests. We can share your own homemade recipes, reveal how your B&B celebrates the various holidays and seasons, and let your guests know about the fun things to do in your area.

Your bed and breakfast’s blog can be tailored include keywords for which you want to be known.  For example, if you want to be known for having guest rooms with hot tubs, we can write about the romance and fun of soaking in hot tubs as you renew your relationship with your special someone.

We can also emphasize the theme of your B & B.  If you are on the beach and every room is decorated to reflect that, we can talk about the spectacular view, the warm sun, and the refreshing water.

We can share the benefits of relaxation and time away from everyday life.  Our main goal is for you to have a waiting list of guests who want to stay at your bed and breakfast because all of your rooms stay booked!

Posted in Blog and Social Media

Ten Things to Blog About

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We need a hook to “reel” our audiences in.  If we provide enough useful content on a regular basis, visitors will continue coming back. Here is a list of ideas of things we can all blog about:

  • Instructional–tell people how to do something, include tips
  • Insider information–Share some of our trade secrets
  • People love lists–top 10, reasons why, favorite, mistakes, etc.
  • Review a produce or service relevant for our readers
  • Interview a relevant expert and focus on their career
  • Write a how-to blog post
  • Hypothetical–answer a “what if…”
  • Content curating–tie together the ideas of others, adding value by sharing our input
  • Inspirational–motivational posts of good-news stories, examples of success, and writing about “what could be”
  • Informational–give information on a particular topic of interest to our readers
  • and the list goes on………..

The point is to be ever present in the minds of our blog readers through our words on the screen!

Posted in Blog and Social Media

Do Your Best and Be Good For Your Word

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If you always do your best (no matter what your situation), you will develop long-term, and mutually beneficial, relationships with others.

Cultivate a reputation of integrity so that when people hear your name, they immediately think of you as someone with whom they can trust. If you are good for your word in small things, people will trust you with bigger things.

Posted in Success

Successful People Help Others Get What They Want

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The late success consultant, speaker, and author, Zig Ziglar, said that

“You can get everything you want in life, if you help enough people get what they want.”

So we must ask ourselves what we can offer people that they would want?  The answer to that question depends upon several factors.

First, do you have positive role models in your life?  Even if you do not personally know someone who is successful in your field of interest, of course you can read about accomplished people. Their success can motivate you.  Do what they did.  Read what they read. Learn what they learned.  Just take action!

In addition, use your resources (this includes your education and experiences) to seek out ways to meet the needs of others.  You can also use your skills (such as communicating or leading or researching) to your advantage.  Use the skills that people tell you they admire about you.

Also, the more connections you develop, the easier it is to refer people to others and to receive referrals from others.  Social media (such as Face Book, Linked In, and Twitter) makes it even easier to be connected to other people.

Zig Ziglar at Get Motivated Seminar, Cow Palace 2009-3-24 3.JPG

I think Mr. Zig Ziglar’s point was that when you put others needs before your own, then your needs will be taken care of as well. It is only natural that people will hear about how you helped other people and want you to help them, too.

So take your eyes off of yourself for the moment and look to solve someone else’s problem. In doing so, you will have solved your problem. That is the beauty of what Mr. Ziglar was talking about.

Posted in Success

If You Knew You Could Not Fail

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If you knew you could not fail, what would you try to do?  I think most people, by nature, do not like taking risks. Most people like a safety net.

The people who have succeeded in life made their dreams so much bigger than their fears.  They did not focus on what could go wrong, but on how they could do it better next time. They did not let any of their perceived failures stop them from trying again.

Where does that confidence come from

Sources of Confidence:

1. Real life examples–they observe people who are successful and imitate them

2. Relationships–they have family and friends who believe in them and tell them they can do it

3. Reading–they actively pursue reading positive and motivating material and avoid the negative

4. Remembering–they reflect upon previous successes & remind themselves they can do it again

5. Realizing–they realize the potential they have for greatness and do something great

But what if you lack confidence in yourself?

Steps to Add Confidence:

1. Seek out a mentor–a person you think is successful in life and who is willing to give you advice

2. Spend time with people who are encouraging (rather than downers or critics)

3. Read biographies of successful people (to discover some of their secrets)

4. Put together a dream board/collage of pictures of places you want to go, motivating quotes, etc.

5. Reward your small successes along the way (to motivate you to achieve even more)

Over time, it will become more natural for you to accomplish your goals.  Do not let any setbacks get in the way of your vision for a better future for you and your family.  Keep dreaming, keep going, no matter what!

Posted in Success

5 Sources of Good Ideas

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We all love good ideas and we want to know where and how to find them.  Good ideas come from many different sources.  Here is a list of five:

1. Conversations with others–you never know what someone will say that will spark a light bulb to shine in your head. This could even happen when you overhear others talking in a public place. They could be discussing the latest news story or anything that triggers you to think of a good idea.

2. What you read–this could be from a book, a magazine, a newspaper, an online article, a chat room discussion, a web page, etc. You would be amazed where people find sources of inspiration. It could even be from an advertisement!  You just never know!

3. What you watch–on the television or in the movies.  On the television, you could be watching the news, a documentary, or a funny sitcom.  It could be any kind of movie, too.  It could be a concept that is being discussed or watching the plot of a story that gives you an idea.  Even watching people you know interact in person and do things can help you come up with an idea.

4.What you do–when you are working or exercising or having fun, your body can focus on a new way to go about solving your problem or answering a need.  There is something to be said for concentration, whether it is from organizing or looking for information, taking a leisurely walk, or even singing the lyrics in a karaoke song.

5.When you sleep–Albert Einstein kept a pencil and notepad next to him so that, if his dream gave him an idea, he would write it down before he forgot the idea.  Some times your brain works on a problem for you overnight (or during a nap) and you wake up with new insight.

The important thing is to keep an awareness of your goals in the back of your mind, so that your brain can be working on a solution or answer.  Ideas can come from anywhere.  It does not matter how you thought of the idea or the source that sparked the idea, it just matters that the idea be something that will help you reach your goals.

Posted in Success

Social Media Success

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Using social media is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get the word out about your own business, products, and ideas.  The popular social media websites include:

  • Facebook (one of the first big social media sites)
  • Twitter (limited to 140 characters per tweet–which forces people to get to the point!)
  • Linked In (the best business social media network where you establish connections with other professionals)
  • Google Plus (you can add people to your circles)
  • Pinterest (you can post pictures of your bed and breakfast–inside and out!)

Social media is an industry by itself. People can actually earn social media certification through various programs both online and offline. There are search engine optimization (SEO) experts who will tell you that it is extremely important that people have blogs using keywords that are relevant to their audience.

The search engines love it when you generate a lot of traffic regularly to your website and they reward you with higher rankings.  Many businesses seek to be one of the first search results for a specific set of keywords.

Blogs need to be written regularly so people know they can come back to your blog for relevant, useful, up-to-date information. I hope I have encouraged you to think about the possibilities of widening your particular audience by using social media!

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Success

Napoleon Hill’s Keys to Success

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Napoleon Hill was born into poverty in 1883, but later achieved great success as an attorney and a journalist. He was an advisor to Andrew Carnegie and together they formulated a philosophy of success. One of Hill’s most famous books was called Think and Grow Rich.

His books are full of practical wisdom that, if applied, can lead anyone to success.  He talked about having a “definiteness of purpose” as a starting point for all achievement.  It is important to know what you do well and to actively look for opportunities related to your major purpose.

He emphasized over and over in his writings the importance of having a positive mental attitude. According to Hill, “Your mental attitude gives power to everything you do.” Visualizing yourself succeeding in your mind will lead to you accomplishing it in real life. He encouraged people to “keep your mind focused on the things, conditions, and circumstances you really want.”  That will make you much more likely to get them.

He was a big believer in what he called the “Law of Compensation“–everything you do will bring you some sort of result of the same kind.  If you go the extra mile for someone, that good favor will come back to you greatly multiplied.

If he were still alive to have a conversation with you today, he may have asked you these three questions:

  • Do you know what your purpose is?
  • How positive is your mental attitude?
  • Based on what you are doing, what kind of results should you expect?
Posted in Success
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