Living a dream p1 - Military - Start Your Own Business - Military Times Edge

Wisconsin natives Tim and Angie Allen don’t get much time away from the Duluth, Minn., bed and breakfast they took over a year and a half ago, but they don’t mind one bit. They get to live in a 100-year old mansion, and the fact that A.G. Thomson House has climbed to the top of TripAdvisor’s Minnesota B&B rankings is reward enough.

Guests from the Twin Cities retreat to the Allens’ inn all year long. The couple say their clientele is surprisingly young, often professionals looking for an alternative to the typical hotel stay. The pair work long days and nights entertaining visitors, doing housekeeping and keeping up with repairs to the historic 9,000-square-foot house, plus preparing breakfast and evening wine for up to seven couples. And while mayhem may ensue behind the scenes, they can’t let their guests sense the stress.

The inn had been on the market for some time — “They’re notoriously hard to sell,” Tim said — when the couple discovered it in January 2007. It was listed for $1.5 million. They closed the deal at $1.25 million the next August thanks to a little cash they had saved, plus help from their parents and a loan officer who shared their vision.

“Luckily we scraped enough money together,” said Tim, who retired in 2007 after serving as an intelligence and missile officer. He eased his way back into civilian life by teaching Air Force ROTC at the University of Minnesota Duluth before retiring.

Now the business is making money, and the Allens are paying back what they owe to benevolent investors. By summer, Tim hopes they can hire someone to help with the workload, but for now, they’re managing fine.

A few lessons they learned along the way:

Choose a field you know

Tim takes care of many of the repairs to his historic home thanks to skills learned early on, when his father invested in an old house and put Tim and his brother to work learning something useful. Now when a pipe bursts after hours and he can’t find a plumber, there’s a chance he can solve the problem himself.

Go in with your eyes open

“I read every book I could get my hands on,” Tim said, in particular on the topic of opening a bed and breakfast. He also reviewed the inn’s financial records, so he was confident that it was a good investment.

Don’t put things off

It took seven months of negotiating to put together the deal that allowed the Allens to buy the inn. They needed to close on the loan before Tim retired because when his income dropped, banks would view him as a less attractive borrower.

Businesses are big responsibilities

“One big negative is that there’s no more spontaneity,” Tim said, so he and Angie can’t drop everything and head out of town for their own romantic getaway. He suspects that’s true for most small-business owners. He wouldn’t recommend innkeeping to families with young children because parents could end up missing a lot of school events.

Be persistent

“So many times I came back from the bank and said, ‘I’m done,’” Tim said. He estimates that 20 banks denied his loan request, often because it was complicated — a home loan and business loan rolled into one. But he kept asking until a lender finally agreed. Tim believes his and Angie’s enthusiasm and thorough preparation earned them that loan officer’s confidence, and that made all the difference.

— By Amanda Miller