Today we’d like to introduce you to Anke Bodack
Hi Anke, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I moved to California from Germany in 1996 and was working in Color & Material design in Automotive and consumer products. I have always had a passion for sustainability & wellness and after 2 decades ion the design field decided top realize my dream of designing and building my own little sustainable Retreat, where I can host and make breakfast. As cooking has always has been my passion as well. I was bale to gte the B&B licence, oulled out my retirement savings and invested it in my dream. I already owned a nice property that then I tore down 1/3 and rebuilt the sustainable B&B portion with 4 rooms.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Its been a rocky road, but all those hurdles were great lessons! We opened Fall 2019, just before COVID19 hit, so had a very unusual first hosting year. In retrospective it worked out well though, because I still had some consulting business I was able to generate income and we are able to get the disaster loan and a bit of a grant. That slower year helped us to early refine processes and ways we started to host, which one was we became quite excellent in cleaning (we for example steam clean to sanitize all the floors), which we still do and it’s a great procedure we adopted during COVID. We also streamlined the breakfast process into room deliveries in baskets, which is mich better than a buffet style (too much food waste and actually more work). It also made myself stronger psychologically because I realized the B&B made it financailly through COVID, it will hopefully never get that challenged again! Like the quote I read in my Intelligent Change planner “the hard days are what make you stronger”. Along the way we have some challenging guest encounters, but usually when that happened, we added some details or changed something in our way to prevent this from happening again. The beauty in hospitality is, that it’s a quite fluid business where you can fine tune and adjust all the way. Especially we are so small.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I love doing designs that embrace the concept of full circle and mindfulness. Starting out with a human centric concept, then sourcing sustainable & natural or recycled materials to create that environment. The more handmade and natiral materials are used, the more rested and calm the environment will be for the guests. I have always had a strong interest and passion for sustainable design and practices and they continue to inspire me. I also love very timeless and minimal deisgn, yet with a warm human touch, so it is approachable and the guests or clients can relate and embrace it.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I believe I have taken some risks, but always have done some extensive soul searching and research around some steps that were to some extend risky. For example to tear down 2/3 of my house and to use up all my retirement savings, to build Twelve Senses Retreat. But at some point when some fear crept in, I realized that it was more risky for my soul and for my inner being, not to realize my dream.
That fear did not creep in until about 3 years into the project, mostly centered around budget and not knowing if the funds were enough to built it. In retrospective I am very grateful I acknowledged the fear, felt it, imagined what would I feel like if i did not realize the project and that made me feel very derpressed and depleted of my purpose.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.twelvesensesretreat.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twelvesensesretreat/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twelvesensesretreat
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankebodack?trk=public_post_follow-view-profile
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOlRbRGwNhw&t=70s
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/twelve-senses-retreat-encinitas-2
Image Credits
Firt Photo Justin Nunez (Anke photo) all others Ohiko Co & Austin John
