How to Build $7.5m in Net Worth by Buying a B&B

oday's story is a fun and unusual one.

Christine Traylor had built a successful career in international development, but wanted a change. (Impeccable timing — this was actually before DOGE took aim at her entire industry.)

Christine had always had a flair for hospitality, so she set her sights on buying a bed & breakfast.

The very first one on her list was Swann House in the tony Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC, where family had stayed a few times when visiting the area. When Christine called around, it turned out the owners were looking to sell.

Today Christine and her husband own the gorgeous $6m+ property and the bed & breakfast business that operates out of it.

Our conversation has 3 main themes:

First, the numbers and operations of a high-end B&B.

Second, the lifestyle of a B&B owner-operator — or innkeeper, in industry jargon. As you already know, buying a small business is a lifestyle choice if ever there was one.

But doubly so here.

Christine, her husband, and 2 kids moved into the innkeeper apartment, which is a 500-square-foot 2-bedroom in the basement of the property.

Christine works 11-hour days, 7 days a week, and pays herself only $60k/yr. That doesn't go very far in the heart of DC.

On the other hand, she's in the early days of an entrepreneurial venture, so of course she's working hard. And it's work that suits her; this story is one of business-buyer fit.

And her family uses the whole house. The small innkeeper apartment is mostly just where they sleep as opposed to their primary living quarters.

She can legitimately run a ton of the family's expenses through the business, so her effective salary is much higher than $60k. If nothing else, the family has no rent or mortgage, which in that neighborhood would otherwise cost them easily 5 grand a month.

And finally, she is building equity not just in a small business, but in real estate worth millions of dollars, which brings me to the final theme:

The property.

Even if Christine doesn't grow the B&B business, which currently generates only about $100k in EBITDA, after paying down her SBA loan at the end of 10 years she will own — outright — an exquisite, one-of-a-kind building in a blue chip neighborhood worth well over $6m.

So we spend time on how to think about this venture. Is this a real estate acquisition with a business attached, or vice versa?

Either way, it's a path to building real wealth over 10 years, all while controlling her own destiny. Which, lest the money blind us to the fact, is really the main thing.

Please enjoy this conversation with Christine Traylor, owner of Swann House.