Small Business Boomers

He just retired and managed to find a great part-time job. The old pickup he’s been driving for five years is just not trustworthy anymore. So he decided to buy a big truck, a 2005 F150, V8, with extended cab. Gas prices have been over $4 a gallon for several months, so at first blush it sounds like a really bad idea. I figured there was a good reason auto dealers are trying to get rid of trucks; after all, this is the same thing that happened in the late 1970s, in the “gas …read more

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How about a travel service for grandparents and grandchildren.  It is called “Grandtravel.“  Tours go to places like Alaska, the Galapagos. and Italy.  Obviously these are for older grandchildren, not young ones, depending on the type of tour.
While you are on their website, check out their quotes at the bottom of the Grandparents page.  And note that they seem to understand the younger generation – iTunes, etc.
One tour that sounds great is the Trains of the Wild West one, which includes a ride on the Durango/Silverton Railway.  My children, my mother-in-law and I took this tour several years ago, and …read more

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I love to travel, and I have many places I want to see and experience.  So I have been exploring possibilities.  They are limited only by your imagination.  Do you want to:

Go fishing,  hiking, golfing, boating, hot air ballooning?
Learn some history, literature, religion, photography?
See a festival, play, or musical event?
Enjoy a dude ranch, a cruise, or an eco-adventure?
Have an extreme hiking, skiing,rafting, canoing adventure?
Stay in a castle?  Or a hostel?

Over the next few weeks, I’ll show you some fun and unusual vacation websites I have found.  I have not been on any of these tours or experiences, so I’m not …read more

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If you are looking for an unusual vacation, to a different place this summer, you might want to consider.  The Home Exchange, for example,  allows you to list your home and exchange for another home.  The cost is $99.95 a year.  They say most exchanges are direct (one-to-one), and you should clean at the end of your visit.  (I would clean before I left my house, and again when I left the exchange house – yuck!  Too much cleaning for me!)
With Vacation Exchange, you pay only when you arrange a home exchange ($500), and the exchanges don’t have to be one-to-one. This one …read more

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I just found a website for an interesting company called VocationVacations®. The company sends you on a vacation to try out a vocation.
Have you ever wanted to be:

An alpaca rancher?
A bed and breakfast owner?
A chef?
A dude rancher?
An interior designer?
A private investigator?
A sailing boat captain?
A wine bar owner, vineyard owner, or wine retailer?

There are many more possibilities. The deal is that you go on vacation to try out a vacation. I’m guessing the value of the experience may vary, and you really can’t tell what it would be like to be, say, a chef, by just working a couple …read more

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Like other baby boomers in business, I talk to people in the same profession.  A doctor told me about this dilemma and asked for my advice:
A  patient who is a travel agent had been coming to this doctor’s office for several months.  When  he asked how she was doing, she occasionally bemoaned the fact that her travel agency was not doing well.
The other day, he casually mentioned he was taking a cruise with his family and th at he had booked it online to save money.  The patient was very upset and asked, “Why didn’t you book it with me?!”  …read more

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One last comment on my series on Bed and Breakfasts as businesses for baby boomers. In my interview with Linda Stroup from Olde World B&B, she mentioned that some B&B owners get “sitters” or caretakers to take care of their business while they’re gone.
Sounds like a great idea to me. The owner can check out the person or couple and have some peace of mind that things are going to be taken care of properly while they are gone. The caretakers get to stay somewhere free and have plenty of time to do some sightseeing and relax. …read more

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To continue my interview with the owner of Olde World Bed and Breakfast in Dover, Ohio (Check out Part 1-intro, Part 2-benefits of staying in a B&B, and part 3-cost/benefit analysis of b&b ownership).
My husband and I just returned from spending two nights at a wonderful bed and breakfast in Dover, Ohio called Olde World B&B. We have stayed here at least 4 times, partly because we have family in the area, and also because we love this place. It has a beautiful garden, a hot tub in a separate building, and a …read more

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My husband and I just left our favorite B&B – Olde World Bed and Breakfast in Dover, Ohio after a wonderful weekend. As I promised in my previous blog posts (one, two, and three) I interviewed the owner. I’ll share this interview with you in two parts:
Linda and Ronnie Stroup (young baby boomers) became proud owners of Olde World Bed and Breakfast in June of last year (I was there and met her during the transition this same week in 2007). Their journey to ownership actually goes back many years, as Linda had a dream of owning …read more

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A couple of days ago, I wrote about Bed and Breakfasts as great businesses for baby boomers.
Bed and breakfasts have been around for a long time. They started out many years ago in the U.K, spread around the world. B&B’s might have been called ‘guest houses’ in earlier times. They are not really “inns” since most are in private homes. Almost all provide breakfast (hence the name), but no other meals.
My sister has stayed in B&B’s in Ireland and Australia, and she says they are a great way to meet local people and learn more about …read more

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