M&G first presented this opportunity to us in the beginning of October. About three weeks into the month, we made the decision that we would go for it, and started put things in place to make it happen.
Our original plan was to put our B&B on the market and not make the move until the B&B sold. So, we listed the property on Viviun and a couple of other international FSBO sites, contacted everybody we could think of to tell them the property was for sale, and started making plans, both for the transition of the business, and for our start at the new job. We had lots of meetings with M&G and Dave, one of their directors who spends the majority of the year in Belize, and we spent a lot of time corresponding with the initial rush of property inquiries and showing the property to a number of potential buyers. And, of course, we spent a lot of time talking to each other, both about practical things like how we could transfer our email addresses away from the business and what we would take and what we would leave, and about less practical things like how we felt about selling the business and the business name, and moving away from the resort we had built from the ground up, and going to be employees. We were just coming into our busy season at that point, so we were spending a lot of time just doing our jobs and making reservations and working with guests when they arrived, but everything we did made us think about how we would be able to transition away from the business.
With the initial rush of interest, we thought we might sell quickly. so these were very pertinent topics. However, we knew from the beginning that property doesn’t sell quickly in Belize, and even though we thought we might be different because of so many quick responses to our ads, it didn’t take us long to realize that a lot of people were interested in the property and the business, but almost all of them had some mismatch to prevent a deal: lack of funds, too many people in the family to house them on the property and still have room for guests, a spouse unwilling to relocate to the middle of the jungle, a need for high speed internet and reliable phones, a desire to retire rather than continue to work fairly hard, or, in a couple of cases, just a desire to be closer to the coast even though they really liked our property. I’ll write a separate entry on the adventure of doing FSBO on a property and business in Belize, but suffice it to say, after about six months of having our hopes go up only to hear that it wasn’t going to work for some reason, we resigned ourselves to the fact that it was not going to be a quick sale and we would have to figure out what we wanted to do.
During this time, M&G were patiently waiting, and telling us not to get overly stressed about it. All of us have confidence that the matters of the universe work themselves out to everybody’s benefit, but, as we waited for the universe to settle things, M&G were doing the general managers’ job at the farm and getting tired, and Tom and I were continuing to work the B&B business with no real transition in sight. When the B&B business slowed down in end of May, Tom and I went away for ten days, in part to take care of some business, but in part just to physically get away from the Mountain Pine Ridge and think about what we should do.
As we were thinking, we thought back to Julio’s initial reaction when we had told him of our plans. He was understandably upset that we were, in his estimation, deserting the business, and him. We also told him that he could come with us, but as I’ve already explained, that is not an ideal solution for him and his family, where working for us at the B&B was good for him. He still didn’t like it, and after thinking about it for a week or so, he approached us and asked if we would consider continuing to own the business, and having him, with help, run it. He said he knew some people with hotel management experience who would be willing to do it, and that he would be willing to work harder, and that it could be a win-win situation. Tom and I talked about it, but at that point we still had hopes of a quick sale, and, for us, a clean break would be easier, for lots of reasons. Ideally the clean break would involve the buyer keeping Julio on at the B&B, and everybody who was interested in the property was also very interested in continuing Julio’s employment, so we weren’t worrying about it. Plus, we don’t operate the B&B at a huge profit margin, and hiring a management staff plus additional employees to do what Tom and I were doing was going to leave very little cash for the other operating expenses of the business, which we know are part of it but nobody really understands until they are faced with them. And, having somebody else manage it, but knowing that our checkbook and ultimately our time and effort were going to be on the line when things went wrong – which is inevitable – made that a very undesirable solution to us.
So, in our thinking-about-what-to-do off-site workshop in May, we started to think again about Julio’s idea. At this point we recognized that our property could take years to sell, and that M&G couldn’t put their lives on hold indefinitely to do the general managers’ job while they waited for us to get things sorted. We thought about just closing down the business and moving to the farm, and leaving Julio as a property caretaker. The benefits of that idea were that the upkeep costs on the property would be minimal, and our only real expense would be Julio’s salary. There were a number of downsides with this idea, including that we had been taking reservations all along, and we would have to do something about guest reservations, although that was not insurmountable. It would also leave Julio essentially trapped on the property, and having known him when he had a caretaker job before, we knew he wouldn’t be happy, and if he wasn’t happy he would (justifiably) probably start looking for another job, and then we’d be left with a property we weren’t living on and no caretaker, which just wouldn’t work. It also meant that we would have to significantly reduce the price of the property since the purchase price currently includes the business, and while a lower price could help attract a buyer, we still think that what we are asking is very reasonable and that someone will eventually see the value in the property/business combination, and we don’t need to cut off that part of the potential sale.
We decided to talk to Julio and see if we could rework his original suggestion in a way that would make all of us comfortable, and that would make business sense financially. We talked to Julio and made it clear right upfront that we could not afford to hire a staff. Part of this is that we simply can’t afford to hire a staff, and part of this is that Julio is perfectly capable of doing what he envisioned hiring another manager to do, and we have complete confidence in him even if he doesn’t have complete confidence in himself. Another factor is that over the past few years, we have formed a very good working relationship with Julio, and he understands how we work, even if it’s different than how other expat-run businesses operate, and different from how Belizean-run businesses operate. We’ve had a few rather tense discussions about my role in the business, and the fact that Tom and I are equal partners, and the fact that I’m female doesn’t make me a lesser partner. I don’t think I play the part of the strident my-way-or-the-highway, give-me-what-I-want-or-everybody-suffers shrieking gringa bitch, but I also don’t tolerate having my decisions ignored or changed behind my back because of the assumption that I don’t know what I’m doing because I lack a penis. And, I think more Belizean women should be in decision making positions, especially about things that they know more about than the men…like the kitchen and feeding people.
Part of Tom’s and my vision of how Julio could manage the business was that his wife, Janeth, would manage the kitchen. Janeth has been cooking for both us and for our guests part-time for a few years, and she is an excellent cook. She was trained at Blancaneaux and cooked there before she and Julio started a family, so in addition to being a great Belizean cook, she has training in how to cook for international resort guests. She understands dietary restrictions, she understands good food, and she understands that making people happy with food is a big part of making them happy with their stay. In our initial presentation of this idea to Julio, we explained that we wanted him to be the general manager, and we wanted Janeth to manage the kitchen. He talked to Janeth, and she said that she would like to do it. Their kids are old enough that they don’t need a fulltime, stay at home mom anymore, and Janeth has been talking about getting a job for a couple of years. However, there are limited job opportunities in the village, and despite the fact that the kids are getting older, they still need some support at home, so she hadn’t yet found the ideal job. With this job, she understood that she would only be working when guests were there, and as far as we’re concerned, it’s a benefit if the family comes along.
All of this matters to the story because it became a key point in making Julio understand why another manager wasn’t needed. Julio was still worried that he lacked some of the skills needed to do the job, and mentioned that he has a friend who works in the cayes and who would like to move inland. We explained that we can’t afford another fulltime management position, and Julio said that he would consider job sharing with this man. We were uncomfortable with this because part of our motivation to do this is to financially help Julio’s family, and if he decided to give up part of his salary for his friend, that wouldn’t be happening. The coup-de-grace happened when, in an effort to sell this man’s qualifications, Julio told us that in addition to managing reservations and guest services, this man had experience cooking and in the kitchen, so he could manage that too.
Okay, Julio, why don’t you just light a match and put it to my fuse? Even knowing me as well as he does, I think he was a little surprised when I dismissed the idea immediately (with Tom’s support), and made it very clear that my expectation was that Janeth would be managing the kitchen, not some man I don’t even know, and who would probably not only screw up the good things that Janeth was doing, but who probably would also do what every other Belizean man has done and ignore me. Since Tom and I still own the business, we are still quite involved in its day-to-day running, and part of the reason I wanted Janeth to run the kitchen is because I know she and I work well together. I’m a very hands-off manager, but I know that if Janeth has questions or problems or needs help with anything, she’ll contact me. And if I hear or see something that worries me, I can ask about it and get a direct and honest answer. And if I ask her to do something and she sees a problem with it, she’ll tell me, and not just do it because boss lady says so. In six plus years of working with Belizean men, I felt it was unlikely that I could develop this type of working relationship quickly with a Belizean man. And, when I put it like that to Julio, he admitted that he hadn’t understood how important it was to me to have Janeth manage the kitchen. He pointed out that in most Belizean relationships the husband is the ultimate decision maker, but he smiled when I pointed out that Janeth and I have been friends for a while, and I know that if she feels strongly about something, Julio isn’t going to put up much of an argument (because Janeth is always right!). That, to date, has been the end of the additional manager discussion. We’ve left it open so that when the B&B gets very busy a part time worker of some sort may come in to give Julio a break, but at this point it is very clear that Julio and Janeth, as a team, are running the business on-site.
Having come to an agreement in principle with Julio and Janeth, Tom and I had to talk to M&G. We needed to see if they could make the allowances necessary for us to start the new job, and we needed to set a date. Our original clean break vision of starting and focusing 100% of our efforts and energy on the new job wasn’t going to work because we would still be handling all of the inquiries and reservations for the B&B, as well as the business and accounting side. Plus, some of our resources – most significantly our vehicle – would still be needed by the B&B, so we would be starting the new job with a few restrictions. M&G also needed enough time to get our house done, since a few minor changes had turned into a thorough overhaul for parts of the house. More on that later, but the bottom line was that M&G (again, very generously) said they were okay with what we needed time and resourcewise for continuing to be involved with the B&B, and that an August 1 start date would give them enough time to get the house in shape. The countdown was on.
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