Today we’d like to introduce you to Anke Bodack.
Hi Anke, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
It all started out at a breakfast brunch I had for my Birthday, probably over 12 years ago. I had just gotten a beautiful Bale (a little hut made in Bali) and a few a of my friends wanted a picture taken in front. That somehow sparked the idea of having a retreat with huts to host guests and make breakfast. Then my journey of searching for the right property, business, and partnership began. I would have never imagined that the dream then would manifest back at my house and me running the business on my own. After having looked at various properties near my home my son, at that time 10 years old, asked me why I would not just build the B&B at my house? At that time Encinitas had already become a very popular travel destination so it made sense to actually be closer to town than in the local countryside. I then was able to refinance my house to take some money out and also took most of my retirement savings to being able to build my dream Retreat with all the finishes and details I was envisioning. I was lucky I was also making wonderful encounters, one was in the Valle De Guadalupe, with a wonderful couple who had built an amazing B&B, restaurant, and winery. They had left their careers and life in Los Angeles behind to building their new dream in Mexico. A very dear friend of mine was also moving her career into the travel space from the automotive industry. (Same as me, my background is Color & Material Design for Automotive & Products Design). I mentioned to her my second dream would be to be part of Designhotels, an incredibly well-curated group of boutique hotels around the world based in Berlin. She actually said contact them now and gave me a direct contact. she knew. That was amazing!!! I then was traveling to Germany that summer and was able to get a meeting at the headquarters in Berlin. That visit was so exciting, and they gave me great hope I could make it into the group of my dream hotels I had been looking at for decades when traveling and for inspiration. It then took a good 3 years to get the building permits with the city to convert my house into a B&B. I had great friends, who were in architecture and structural engineering, so I was able to have a wonderful group to help me manifest my dream. I ran into some hurdles with finding the right builders and ended up doing some very diligent research for almost 6 months, to then find out I was short of money. A dear friend mentioned I should ask my parents, who were believing enough in my dream, they took a loan on their home to loan me 100k. We then had a great building process with my dream building team, which was the Alliance Green Builders in town. Between Offset Design for the architectural realization of the project, my dear automotive friends and colleagues Stephen Moneypenny and Thokozani Mabena, we were able to get it built in less than 12 months! We were very close to budget, but I still ended up putting a good amount on my credit cards because we needed to add a nice roof deck bar and kitchen. Happily and gratefully, we opened I October 2018, with many helping hands of friends and family adding some last coats of paint, landscaping, and sewing curtains (my mom) to save money. We started getting great guests all the way from Europe, mostly through Designhotels, and had my first wonderful meeting with other hotel owners and travel agents at the Proper Hotel in Los Angeles organized by them. That was late February 2020. Shortly after COVOD 19 became prevalent and we had no guests for 2 months. Luckily the first guest came, and slowly more local travelers searched and found us, so the year was full of great encounters, and we were able to tune our processes and experiment a bit what was working well for the guests and us. I had fortunately still some design clients, a few through one of my best friends and longtime design partner in crime, Bryan Thompson. The consulting certainly had helped boost the hotel and support with all kinds of expenses and some additional debt I had to get rid of quickly. After 3 years now in business, I decided to take a second leap of faith and am now focusing my full energy and attention to the Retreat! So grateful I have my dream alive and running, certainly as challenging as it gets but with my wonderful network of helpers, healers, and friends the business will continue to thrive and grow in the next few years.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been for most part smooth, but I’ve had certainly some challenges most of financial nature. When I was into the project already about 2 years, I realized that I did not have 30% additional building budget, as a dear find of mine questioned me. I was about to potentially call the entire project off; just as I had placed the entire bathroom order though European Bath. I e-mailed my contact there wanting to cancel the order. She had become a great support and friend and also connected me to the right building team. She in a way was my guardian angel, as she said I have to build this project and she actually sent me a few thousand dollars back as a generous gift and discount to my order. I was blown away and took this as a sign from the universe to go ahead and I will make it. Second hurdle was that I needed additional money, which then miraculously my parents were Abel to loan me. Then the COVID times were challenging, but somehow, I was always able to round up the additional financial help and support I needed. Some other struggles were a bit the city permits, but we were a very good team with the Architects from Offset Design and the Green Alliance Builders, that made the permit after one year possible.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My background is Product Design, I studied in Germany and then did an internship at BMW/ Designworks USA. Then going back to finish my diploma I was envisioning to move to California. I was lucky that then I was able to get a position as a color designer at Nissan Design America in La Jolla. I had about one decade at the designstudio, where I learned the CMF from scratch with some amazing guidance by Brenda Parkin. I then moved to the start-up space and worked for Next Autoworks (V_Car), a great start-up in DT San Diego where we designed and prototyped a car from scratch. Since then, since the last 12 years, I have been consulting for ZOOX, Nuro, PPG Paints, Aptera, Airstream, and some more companies. My passion was always in the sustainable space so I enjoyed most developing materials and colors who could push the boundaries of current production. I think I am most proud of taking the leap of faith to converting (tearing down) 2/3 of my house to build the sustainable Retreat. As I feel I followed my heart calling and deeper purpose of taking care of gets, hosting, and possibly inspiring guests to be well and to take care of nature.
What matters most to you?
That I do things that I love and that I surround myself with friends, people, and family that bring joy to my life. And the same for others that I bring joy, love, and inspiration to them and hopefully well-being. That feels it is my purpose and it makes me feel well-balanced and fills my heart with joy. The Retreat embodies all that because I love to take care of opal, cook, and have everyone feel welcomed and happy at my place.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.twelvesensesretreat.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twelvesensesretreat/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twelvesensesretreat/
Image Credits
Kate Berry
