Postcard No.11
Let's start from the beginning
It’s been a minute! I failed to mail out Postcard No.11 due to a lack of time to finish writing it. And in true Katie fashion, instead of finishing the one I started, I decided to start over with a new postcard. We’re going deep, so grab a cup of coffee or tea, and settle inn (pun inntended).
How my the inn and my life as an innkeeper came to be.
In early 2020, I quit my job as a landscape designer. In 2019 I proclaimed to my family on Christmas that 2020 was going to be the year I quit my job. While I was unsure of many things, I was 110% positive I didn’t want to be in that field anymore. Coming to terms with losing a title, and taking a blow to the ego was way more difficult than I imagined. Quitting felt like starting from scratch all over again. Everything felt scary, but my gut was in the drivers seat telling me to go, and I was in no place not to listen.
And so, my “Saturn Return” began.
Quitting, the pandemic, an unexpected move back to my hometown in Ohio, unemployment and personal matters caused an unbelievable amount of stress. Continuing listening to my gut at this point felt a lot like trusting the heavy shelves I hung with 3M hooks — on the verge of giving out any day now.
While I had made arrangements post quitting my job to go to culinary school in NYC, all of that fell apart in the early days of quarantine. So now what, gut? Where do we go from here?
Private Chef-ing aka the Enjoy Zest Days
“Put an ad on thumbtack to see if someone would hire you to cook for them.”
So I put an ad up, and anxiously awaited to see if anyone would bite. Within a few days, I had my first request for a dinner party of 10 in Michigan for an anniversary celebration. Huzzah! After a first meeting via zoom, I got the job
After a few weeks, more and more jobs started to filter in. I couldn’t believe it. Complete strangers were paying me money to cook for them while I knew next to nothing about being a private chef or about pots and pans, or dishes. I did know I loved to cook and I was going to make this work, damn it!
I started driving longer distances to Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, and north of Detroit for jobs. Which meant longer and longer days. Starting at 6 am and getting home at 1 or 2 am. Cooking 6, sometimes 8 courses for groups of 2, 4, 8 and 20 people. I made friends with clients, and started to hit my stride and build recipes of my own.
But after awhile, doing 8ish events a month, my body felt the wear and tear. I had calluses from holding hot pants, scars from burning my arms. My neck and back would harbor all of the tension and pressure until the end of the meal, that the next day, I would feel hungover from the stress. I wasn’t making much, and I was getting burnt out. I hit a wall. Now what?
In March of 2021, I read somewhere about a journal prompt encouraging you to write your “dream life”. In the midst of burnout, and in the throws of a depressive funk, I thought, “why the hell not”. I sat down in my bed, and I let my imagination run wild. Nothing was off the table.
I wrote about being an innkeeper, and the bed and breakfast I wanted to own. I wanted to cook for people in my home, and exchange stories. Offering a safe and comfortable space was of superior importance to me. I wanted the experience I was curating in these dinner parties for guests, but in an overall stay. I closed my journal and went to bed.
The Federal Inn
A few weeks later in May 2021, while sitting with my parents, the house that would become The Federal Inn came up as a Zillow notification. We all had looked at the house’s Zillow listing weeks prior, but had an offer almost immediately after hitting the market. It appeared back on Zillow, after the first offer that came in March fell through.
This 4 bedroom home came with character, history and loads of quirk. A garden with peonies, roses and herbs in quaint little Maumee, with a spot for a separate living quarter for an innkeeper, aka me!
It was kismet. Meant to be. The Federal Inn was realized. The address is 219, which is the angel number for manifesting dreams, focusing on your purpose and career, and leading by example to helps other realize their own purpose. Pretty bananas, huh?
Innkeeping
We’re almost 2 years in to being a full time innkeeper, and nearly 5 years out from proclaiming I was going to quit my job to my family on Christmas day in 2019. Here’s what I’ve learned throughout the process of becoming an entrepreneur and innkeeper:
You won’t have everything figured out before you start anything in life. The process of figuring it all out as you go is half the fun. I like to reframing my “problems” to “riddles" I haven’t solved yet.
Trust the timing of your life. This was my mantra all throughout the trials and tribulations of 2020 and 2021. On the darkest of days, this brought an immense amount of comfort.
Following your dreams and passions is scary and incredibly hard, if it was easy, everyone would do it.
Trust yourself. This one is an ever-evolving lesson for me. I have it on a post it note next to my bed so I don’t forget. My trust muscle is one I’m always exercising and strengthening because it requires maintenance.
There are many, many good, wonderful people in the world. The media is riddled with sensational bad news. It’s challenging to not let this taint your view of the world, let this be your reminder that good people are everywhere.
Progress and growth is often invisible, and so gradual it can go unnoticed, but it doesn’t mean it’s not there!
Adaptability is everything. One more time, adaptability is everything. Change is inevitable.
Opportunities of all kinds present themselves every single day. Yes, every single day. It’s up to us to not only see but to claim such opportunities. Little opportunities do add up to big ones.
A scarcity driven mindset will always see the cup half empty.
There is enough success pie to go around for everyone. Everyone gets a slice. Someone else’s slice of success pie, doesn’t take away from yours.
That’s all I’ve got for now!
*Thank you for following along this adventure of innkeeping. I sincerely appreciate your love and support!