When I began managing the hotel, I had no prior real management experience, especially with a business this large and by myself. Since my parents were already managing three restaurants, I took this project on as my baby and gave it everything I had. I remember when we first opened, I could never get any sleep because I'd keep myself up thinking about all the things I needed to do the next day for the hotel. Who should I hire? What policies do I need to make? Should I order another inventory of towels? Where should we put this plant? Who's my target market and how should I market to them? On top of that, I started my first semester of business school. Fortunately for me, it was just right across the street and most of my assignments involved team work which I love so business school was a lot of fun for me. :) Like starting up most busineses, the hardest part was in the beginning. After six months, the stress had subsided and the Garden Villas' staff were trained and dedicated enough for me not to worry as much. It was definitely a relief, and I began to have more opportunity to get to know my staff and guests more.
The Garden Villas is an extended stay hotel, meaning that guests could stay for a day to a month or even a year. We've had several guests stay with us beyond two years and getting to know them was definitely one of the best parts of my job. Living at the hotel only made it better. Because of my extroverted personality, I found great comfort and happiness living around a lot of people and the guests quickly became my friends.
So, after nearly four years of operating the Garden Villas, we have developed a pretty awesome staff. We have an assistant manager who pretty much knows all the ins and outs of the hotel and is confident enough to make wise decisions for the hotel without my consent. In our routine meetings, he fills me in on what's going on with the hotel, guests and staff. Since he's been doing so well at his job, I have nothing left to do! With all this free time, I decided to engage in some more businesses with my parents.
My father is what I like to call an "ambitious dreamer." I think he really enjoys dreaming about unique businesses to introduce to people just for fun, and if it fails, then he doesn't mind as long as he's created something for others to remember. We've been working on creating a Thai and Chinese restaurant with delivery called the GARDEN CAFE recently. Currently, we're in the inspections stage and if all goes well, we'll be introducing a new Thai and Chinese restaurant to Valdosta, GA soon! We've also been working on opening an oyster bar and billiard. Cleverly, with an old Marco Polo sign, we're thinking of naming the billiard, "Mr. Pool." haha okay maybe not so clever, but it's so funny to me and I hope it goes through. At the moment, we're still in the build-out stage but it's making great progress.
Lastly, we've been working on creating a 134 lot subdivision called Willow Creek. The subdivision sits on a gorgeous 100 acre lot that has beautiful old oak trees and a lake. We've been working with the City of Valdosta a lot to make sure it complies with its ordinances. So far, it's been a lot of fun, and it's amazing how much fun it is to start something and to make decisions that are significant to its future.
Of course there's room to have lunch with friends :) Here's a couple of pictures of my friends at VSU having lunch at my parents' Japanese restaurant, Ichiban, and one of Valdosta's best kept secrets, Michael's Deli.
Benji told me a couple of months ago that he fears that once I start helping my parents with their business, I may not want to become a PA. I'm pretty "Gung-Ho" about PA school, and I'm not going let my opportunity to join Barry's PA Class of 2012 up for anything! Though it will be sad leaving my family and businesses here, I know that I'll be leaving with experiences I could never get anywhere else, and I'll be able to apply them to my future as a PA. I'm pretty thrilled about the rest of my life. :)
