Work/life balance: how to achieve it

Are you achieving the work/life balance and income that you want? This was the dilemma faced by Barbara Drew and Christine Ryder.

Barbara is a freelance graphic designer and with husband John, a photographer, she set up five-star Gold Award Helm Bed and Breakfast (B&B), Askrigg in North Yorkshire, to supplement their income. "At first we did dinner as well, but that was too difficult to juggle," Barbara says.

"Now it’s simple. Bed and Breakfast (B&B) is my morning job while graphic design is my afternoon and, sometimes, evening job. We each have our own Bed and Breakfast (B&B) tasks – John is the main breakfast cook – and we cover for each other, say if I have a tight design deadline."

The Drews have also employed their design and photography skills to create their own Bed and Breakfast (B&B) marketing material, which reduces costs. Barbara’s usual graphic design work is for tourism clients, but she makes her own Christmas cards showing locally inspired scenes and sells any that are left over. Guests who see the originals displayed on the walls sometimes commission pictures – adding another source of income.

If she wasn’t so busy, Barbara says that offering painting holidays at Helm could be a further option. In getting the work/life balance right Barbara says, "It’s very important to have your own private space in the house, particularly, if like me, you run another business there." She uses pricing levels and a no-smoking policy to target the kind of (likeminded) guests they want.

Christine Ryder from Scaife Hall Farm, near Blubberhouses in West Yorkshire, agrees: she and husband Chris retain their privacy in one half of the house and they only take children aged ten or over – because it suits them and it means they don’t have to worry about having very young guests on a working sheep farm.

Their four-star Gold Award Bed and Breakfast (B&B) was a diversification 16 years ago. "You have to look at all kinds of opportunities, utilising what you’ve got," Christine says. "We borrowed money from the bank to make improvements to rooms. Today there are more grants available for diversification." She suggests Defra as a good starting point for information (www.defra.gov.uk/funding).

Christine admits that combining Bed and Breakfast (B&B) with farming at lambing time is particularly challenging when she and Chris have to share late-night and early-morning shifts. "No matter how tired you are, you have to remain jolly at breakfast." However, there are upsides. "Some guests love to watch lambing and it’s good for us to do some positive PR for British farming and food."

Along with this USP and serving the farm’s eggs at breakfast, they also offer guests lamb packs for the freezer, creating another market for their meat. "We’ve noticed that guests these days are far more likely to want to take home local produce – Wensleydale cheese, our lamb – than a souvenir like a snow storm scene of a town."

Lessons Christine has learned include: to control arrival times to fit in with the farming schedule by always sending written confirmation of a booking with a 4.30-7pm check-in time stated. "You are your own boss and if you need to slow down or want time out you can always let just two of three rooms, or say sorry, we’re full," she adds.