Do you enjoy meeting new people and sharing experiences? Are you willing to open your home to others? Then you should consider a career as an innkeeper.

Clear, concise, proven startup advice: We consulted with scores of entrepreneurs already running successful B&B's, and collected their secrets, tips and hints for success to pass on to you in this step-by-step guide.

While no two B&B's are identical, they share certain basic startup and operating principles--and this guide covers them all.

If you already own a home, we show you how to convert it into an inn. If not, we show you how to find the right location and how to purchase property. You also learn about licensing and financing, how to run a restaurant, how to hire personnel and more.

There's even a section that walks you through a typical day at a B&B so you know exactly what to expect.

This guide makes an ideal homebased business.

A romantic room for two in a historic home, aglow with the patina of lovingly restored antiques, the luster of fine china and the sparkle of silver. A fire crackles in the hearth and the rich scents of fresh coffee and homemade cinnamon rolls waft up from the kitchen. It’s the picture most people conjure when they consider a stay at a bed and breakfast. And it’s an accurate portrait.

But not the only one. Bed and breakfasts lodging with a twist—are typically found in historic homes, from Revolution-era townhouses to Queen Anne mansions to Craftsman bungalows. But B&Bs also occupy such nontraditional buildings as colonial taverns, Gay ’90s schoolhouses, Roaring ’20s banks, Victorian lighthouses and a panoply of other structures steeped in history and romance. And you’ll discover wonderful bed and breakfasts in modern Manhattan highrises, on working dairy farms and cattle ranches, and in many a new home perched beside a river, lake or the sea.