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Which brought up its own new set of worries. Not so much worries, I suppose. More nerves and a bit of the self-doubt and anxiety. These were things I usually associated with myself, but I also had never owned a bed and breakfast before, so it was a whole new world, and I was discovering all kinds of things about it.
That day, I was sitting in the office, staring at the computer screen. I didn't know exactly how long I'd been there, but it was long enough for my eyes to feel like they might be permanently frozen in place. Ryan was outside. He’d told me that morning he had a special project to work on in the backyard, which was fine considering how much work I still needed to do inside. I didn't realize at the time that would include sitting at the computer for an indeterminate stretch of time, just staring.
Somewhere in the edges of my mind, I heard him calling for me, but I didn't respond. A few seconds later, footsteps came toward me across the hardwood floor. That was one of my favorite discoveries of the house. The entire thing had breathtaking original hardwood floors that came to life once they were cleaned and refinished. They made the entire place seemed like it was glowing, so warm and welcoming.
He appeared at the doorway of the office, and when I glanced over my shoulder at him, he knitted his eyebrows together and cocked his head to the side.
"Is everything all right? What's wrong?"
He pushed away from the door frame and came toward me. Apparently, he had noticed I looked concerned. I didn't want to worry him. There wasn't really anything to worry about, anyway. This was just me letting questions and doubts press down on me. I shook my head.
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. I'm just nervous," I said.
"What are you nervous about?" he asked.
"This," I said, gesturing at the computer screen so he could see all the work I had done on the website for the bed and breakfast. "There's still some work to do on it. I have some other pictures I'm thinking about adding in, and a few of the descriptions don't feel quite right to me yet. But it's mostly done."
Ryan reached around me to scroll around the new website. I'd been working on it for a few weeks. Once we had gotten the bulk of the major repairs and improvements done on the bed and breakfast, I started turning my focus as much to getting the word out about it as to getting it ready. I knew this wasn't going to be a Field of Dreams situation. Just because I built it didn't mean people would come.
I needed to make sure they knew the place existed and that we were open for business. Possibly even more important than that, I needed to make sure the bed and breakfast looked appealing and like somewhere people would want to visit. I realized I thought it was gorgeous and looked like the perfect place to take some time off and recuperate, rejuvenate, or just celebrate with someone special. But that didn't mean everybody else would see the same thing. I needed to convince people we stood out from the countless other options for accommodations. We weren't just a hotel or an inn. We were a destination.
"It looks great," Ryan said.
"Really?"
"Absolutely." He straightened and looked down at me with a bright smile. "You know what? I think we should open it up for reservations."
"Already? We didn't intend on opening for another couple of months."
"And we don't have to," he said. "But we can start building up hype just by being available to book. People go after what is desirable, and if we open up reservations this far in advance, it's going to seem like we really are the hot ticket."
I laughed. "I'm not so sure that's the case."
"Why not?"
"Because until I put this website up, people don't even know we're here. I highly doubt there are a whole lot of people scouring the web desperately to find just the right spot to stay for a weekend getaway in Murdock, Texas."
"People around town already know about it, and a lot of them have asked to make reservations. And I'm sure they've told others about it. Word of mouth is often the most effective form of marketing. We know we will get exactly zero reservations if the system isn't available for booking. And if we do put it up for booking and don't get any bites, then we really aren't in any worse position, are we? Let's just see what kind of attention we get."
"I guess that's true," I said. I drew in a breath and thought about the possibility. It was terrifying, but at the same time, what Ryan said made perfect sense.
