CEO SPOTLIGHT
How Vacation Planning—and Family Memories—Made a Successful Business
By: Meredith Flory
When Regina Edry moved back home to Augusta, Georgia from Ohio in 2016, she did not plan on opening her own interior design business and becoming a “Superhost” for Airbnb, yet now her business is focused on helping people plan their travel, sell their home through staging, and make other property decisions.
Working as a caretaker, she owned a home, but she wasn’t spending a lot of time in it due to often working nights. Inspired by Gammy, a spunky elderly woman she cared for who taught Edry how “attitude is everything,” and encouraged by her mother Kathy, a business owner herself, Edry decided to rent out her “cute little house on the hill.” As Edry began to have more and more people interested in staying in the rental home, she gradually moved in with her mother and purchased another property to renovate and rent out.
Edry’s father passed away unexpectedly a few years ago, but it was his influence of making memories for her family that motivated her to be a hostess who connects with her guests. She now owns three rental properties and puts flourishing touches on each to make every stay feel special. She recalls that when she was in high school, her dad decided the family would take a trip for Father’s Day, and the family decided to rent a home on Jekyll Island. It became a twenty-year tradition for her family, and Edry remembers the joy and expectation she and her siblings had of staying at a property each year and looking through the art, bookshelves, and decorations, clues to unraveling the mystery of who the families were that owned these homes. Continuing these stays has been a way for her family to “see our dad everywhere” as they visit his favorite places on the island. Now, Edry wants to “take care of guests in a personal way” that helps their own families make precious memories.
In fact, she does have people rent from her multiple times, and she says that renting a guest house through a company like Airbnb, or other forms of staying with a host, allows you to experience a community in a more close-up way than a traditional hotel stay, whether it’s for business, a family vacation, a getaway with friends, or another travel need. For example, Edry has gotten to know a family that has stayed in one of her properties seven times as they’ve needed to be in the area for their son’s medical care, and she is praying for their son’s health with her own community.
Did You Know?
Planning is incredibly important, especially when it comes to managing all the moving parts of a small business. Whether you’re trying to get your ducks in a row to start your dream business or are looking for ways to help keep that beautiful business going, Powerhouse has you covered. From starting your initial business planning, to preparing for conferences or team building, to refreshing and “spring cleaning,” we’ve got it.
Check out our Resources Page for lots of helpful tips and strategies to make planning one of your favorite things.
MARKETING BUZZ
Three Ways to Keep You and Your Business Organized When You Work from Home
By: Rheanna Bernard
Trying to keep yourself organized, especially when you work from home, can be tricky. Distractions come easier with family, kids, or just the house in general being right there. It’s easy to say, “Oh hey, let me just do this cleaning,” or, “Maybe I’ll just take a second to organize this.” On top of distractions, you have the organization factor that is a little different when you operate your business outside of the traditional workspace. Working from home can give you so much freedom, but sometimes you have to work a little harder. Here are three ways you can look at to keep yourself organized and less stressed.
- Use a scheduling system.
Finding ways simply your life can help keep you organized. Using a scheduling system like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule out social media posts can allow you to plan out a week or two ahead, saving you time in the long run. Buffer and Hootsuite both offer free options so that you can test out which set up works best for you. Both enable you to post to Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook all in one place. Setting aside a specific day of your month for scheduling can free up your other days to focus on interacting with your followers without worrying about what you’re going to post that day.
BUSINESS ETIQUETTE
Seeing 2020—A New Protocol for Strategic Planning
By: Julie Kirchner
As the last quarter of 2019 approaches, business teams the world over will turn to planning for the next full year.
We will dig out or print multiple copies of our calendar, annual strategic business plan, marketing plan, and budget. We will sit around big conference tables (physically, or virtually and metaphorically) with on-demand coffee and individually wrapped chocolates, surrounded by giant post-it papers on the wall and rainbows of colored markers.
Sorry to interrupt all that inspiration you were feeling just now. Umm…call me crazy, but I’m fairly certain this is not the magic fluff that wildly successful companies are made of. (Unless you’re in the business of giant post-its or colored markers, of course.)
It’s time we cleared things up with a 2020 prescription for our “Vision.”
We’ve always done it this way. We thrive on flexibility and new ideas.
POWERHOUSE SERVICE & SUCCESS
Client Profile
“Jessica and her team are willing to listen to our ideas and help us go in the direction that best serves our veterans! They are willing to help in areas that are beyond contractual need as well. The team’s communication is succinct, timely, and focus-driven. Thank you!”
– Adena Vaughn, Director of Human Resources, Operation: Job Ready Veterans
BUSINESS RESOURCES
Planning Tips
Business plans aren’t just for creating a business, securing business loans, and launching a business. Business plans remain one of the fundamental ways both to create and maintain a business. After all, according to a study published in the Journal of Management, “…companies that plan grow 30% faster than companies that do not.”
It’s a good idea to carve out some time toward the end of each year to evaluate what went right and wrong in the past calendar year as well as to determine which goals and growth aspirations you have for the coming year.
Constellation has a great blog with lots of tips and strategies for year-end planning. With several tips and easy-to-digest information, it’s worth checking out.
Small Business Trends has several articles with business planning tips and basic overviews of what a business plan is and how it can be utilized.
Whether we like it or not, it’s already time to start thinking about tax season. Check out this article on how to plan for tax season so that it’s as easy on you as possible.
Always check the Powerhouse website as well as we’re constantly updating and adding tips and tricks on a variety of subjects.
