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Bed & Breakfast Owner

Hospitality: Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, Williamston, NC
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Do you want to be a Bed & Breakfast Owner?

Would you like the chance to entertain new and interesting people every day?  Are you a high energy, flexible person who can be a gracious host, meticulous housekeeper and, when necessary, mender of leaky faucets?   Are you looking for a career change that will bring your office within steps of your home?  Chloe Tuttle, owner of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, knows the art of southern hospitality and what it takes to run a successful bed & breakfast.  Join her in Williamston, on the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina (only 105 miles east of Raleigh), for a VocationVacations® dream job holiday that will help you decide if you are ready to “check in” as a bed & breakfast owner.

The Big Mill Bed & Breakfast is located in the original house built on the 200-acre family farm in Williamston, which has been in Chloe Tuttle’s family since 1920. “I literally was born in the house, no doctor was there to deliver me,” laughs Chloe. Even though Chloe’s roots were deep in this beautiful, historic area of North Carolina, adventure called. After earning an undergraduate degree in art at the University of North Carolina and a master’s degree in art and design at East Carolina University, Chloe signed on as cook and first mate for a private sailboat.  For seven years, she sailed between the ports of Boston and the Bahamas.  However, when her parents passed away, Chloe inherited the family farm, and she knew it was time to return home.

Chloe decided the family farm would be a great place for a bed & breakfast. She had gained valuable experience in entertaining, cooking, and the importance of ingenuity and flexibility during her time sailing, and she was ready to apply this experience to a whole new venture.  “When I first opened Big Mill Bed & Breakfast, I started out with just one room in the house,” explains Chloe.  She eventually added three more, expanding into the old pack house on the property. “This is where mules were housed and corn stored. The room named ‘Corn Crib’ is now my most popular,” says Chloe.

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast is a one-person, eco-friendly operation with no other full-time staff.  “I have great friends who come to help me if there is something I can’t do or fix myself.  Then, I watch them and, if possible, learn how to do it.” Chloe’s day is a whirl of staying on top of her emails, housekeeping duties, gardening, shopping, baking, and being ever ready with a smile for her guests. “There’s a lot of hard work in this business, but certainly no boredom, and I love it.”

Over the sixteen years Big Mill Bed & Breakfast has been in business, guests have come from all over the world – South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, Ivory Coast, just to name a few home countries of her guests.  “They range from business travelers, to people who just want to escape the horns and road rage of the city,” explains Chloe.  “Many guests say they ‘feel a glow’ when they visit.”

Chloe is always looking for ways to market her property and build her business.  During the off-season, she offers extended stay options for business travelers. She continually looks for opportunities to increase visibility for Big Mill Bed & Breakfast.  Chloe is a member and district representative of the North Carolina Bed and Breakfast and Inns Association and writes an innkeeper’s tips column for its publication.  Additionally, Big Mill has been featured on WRAL-TV; Our State magazine, Down East magazine and in The Washington Post. “We even had a photo crew from Playboy on site to photograph some East Carolina University coeds for a story in the magazine,” laughs Chloe.
 
Big Mill Bed & Breakfast provides guests a quiet, relaxed environment in the country.   It has provided Chloe a wonderful career change.  “When I opened Big Mill, no one around here knew much about bed and breakfasts and were skeptical,” remembers Chloe.  “I showed them I could make it work, and I am so proud of what I have achieved….and now they are proud of what I have accomplished, too,” adds Chloe. 

While on your bed and breakfast owner VocationVacations® dream job holiday with Chloe Tuttle, activities will include some or all of the following:
  • Starting a bed and breakfast from scratch
  • Creating signage, logos, brochures, domain name, etc.
  • Finding your niche
  • Developing advertising, marketing, public relations and community relations plans
  • Setting up reservation and guest relation policies and determining services  
  • Decorating and upkeep of the property
  • Identifying staffing needs
  • Understanding occupancy rates and alternative sources of revenue
  • Avoiding burnout
The bed and breakfast owner Vocation Vacations® holiday with Chloe Tutttle includes:
  • Two days of one-on-one mentorship in your dream job as a bed and breakfast owner
  • The opportunity to participate in a total of one hour of pre- and post-VocationVacation career coaching from an accredited, affiliated VocationVacations career coach
  • A pocket-size VocationVacations journal so you can document your dream job becoming a reality
  • Light lunches with your mentor

Available: Based on mentor's availability

Price: $899 Per Person

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Required Accommodations

Big Mill Bed & Breakfast

Minimum two-night stay required (Not included in the price of your VocationVacations holiday)

Other activities and tourist destinations while on your VocationVacations® adventure:
Reservation, Cancellation and Rescheduling Rules and Conditions:

Full payment of the VocationVacations dream job holiday is required to make a reservation. A $100 non-refundable fee is assessed if a VocationVacations experience is cancelled or rescheduled prior to 14-days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday, based on the approved availability of the mentor to reschedule. A VocationVacations adventure cannot be rescheduled and is non-refundable if cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday. Written notification of cancellation or rescheduling is required in all cases. In the US, Grounded Nomads, LLC and VocationVacations holidays encourage all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling. In the UK, Grounded Nomads, Ltd and VocationVacations holidays must require all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling and provide verification of such travel insurance to Grounded Nomads, Ltd.