I realized I've never explained Bella Casa.
About a million years ago {2004}, I decided I wanted to start a home staging business here in the Valley. I marched myself down to the City offices, applied for a business license, registered my fictitious business name and VOILA, I had a business. Except, I never did anything beyond that. Which meant I didn't really have a business so much as a business license. Turns out, you actually have to do work in order to get paid ~ the license isn't enough.
Then in 2005 a co-worker of my husbands suggested me to a professional colleague of hers who was looking for someone in Napa to manage a home. It was going to be very part time which was perfect for me since I still had little kiddos and they were where I really wanted to focus my attention. I interviewed and got the job in March of 2005. I was an Independent Contractor working as the host for a home in the Valley that was used by a destination club {are you familiar with these clubs? I explain them as a hybrid between a country club and a time share. You pay an initiation fee and annual dues which then gives the chance to stay at the homes around the world owned by the club. The homes are valued between $3 million and $7 million}. In order to be a legitimate independent contractor, I needed to establish a business....Well guess what?! I had already done that the year before!! And the name, Bella Casa, Italian for Beautiful House, {I know, Spanish too, but our family has Italian roots so in our case, this is Italian} was perfect!
So ~ as it turned out, this was NOT a part time job. It was a very full. time. job. and soon it took over our family. My hubs left his job in the high end hotel industry after nearly 20 years and we took care of these homes together. What started out as one home quickly grew into four destination club homes and multiple homes owned privately. The time commitment required by the destination club homes began to take a toll on our family. The hubs and I were both very busy which meant we didn't have much time for our kids {or each other} and when we did have time together, I was often tired, cranky and short tempered. Bad combination. Real, real, bad.
Then, in 2009, the hubs and I talked and talked and decided we would discontinue our relationship with the destination club homes and focus our attention on our private clients. Although it was scary, it was a great decision ~ I now spend a lot of time with our kids {happy time} and can focus again on our family. Our private clients are fabulous people and the hubs focusses his attention on the business. I still 'work' but without much of the stress I previously had and ultimately our own house runs more smoothly and our kids are better humans. And let's face it, raising kids up to be good humans is the most important job I've got. I need them to take care of me when I'm old and yelling and screaming at them all the time is not a good means to that end.
We manage our clients vacation homes as if they were our own. We ready them for arrivals, close the homes after departures, maintain vehicles, grocery shop, plan parties, manage projects {big and small} and generally keep everything in prefect running order so that when our home owners are here, their time is relaxed and easy. It's a bit more complicated than it sounds most of the time and it's incredibly busy ~ particularly during the high season ~ but it's rewarding and ever changing which keeps it exciting.
We like to think of ourselves as professionals in hospitality and home keeping which is why I started this blog. I love reading blogs and often refer to things we do as being 'blog worthy' when the hubs and I are working on things. Of course our clients trust is of the utmost importance and keeping their privacy ensures that trust, so you won't see their names here. But hopefully you'll read things that are helpful, funny or somehow inspiring.
So there it is ~ the cliff notes version of our business.... Although Bella Casa has been good to our family and provides a comfortable life, I dream of other things. Often. Maybe I'll get brave enough to share those dreams here in the future.
Hugs,
I wish all your dreams come true! Thanks for joining my newbie party. Please add my link or button to your post. Thanks.
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