Lots of questions rised back then. The fact of not having a house, a place that we could call our own, and a business that depended 100% of our energy. In my case, if I could not sing, I could not generate any income, if I could not teach singing lessons the same thing applied. Suddenly the 2020 circumstances gave a glimpse of reality I would have expected to have in my 60th birthday not in my 35th.

So what should we do?

“I want to have a bar,” Lucio said one morning over breakfast.

“A vegan bar. And our own stage to play our music. I’m tired of wishing music venues had better sound systems, better conditions… I just want our own place. Our stage. Our rules.”

“I’m not exactly a bar kind of girl”, I thought out loud. (I’m usually in bed by 11:00 p.m. I have a beer every now and then, and I never even finish it because my slow drinking turns it warm)

“I know, I am not either. But think about it. If we had our own place, we could play whenever we wanted. We’d have our own lighting, our own stage, our own sound. We could create our own universe and invite people in, somehow.”

(I do not remember exactly, but for sure I must have said no, cos’ my Taurus heart does not like new plans and changes in general)

“And it wouldn’t just be about us. We could invite other artists, have other bands play there, meet people in the music industry. Just having a band isn’t enough anymore. We’re swimming in an ocean thousands of new songs being released every single day. We need a networking strategy… and we need a place to play our music.”

Suddenly the idea was not THAT crazy.

When I was in my 20s, I had stayed at a hostel in El Bolsón, Patagonia, Argentina. Since then I had always thought that could be an alternative business for me, if I could not be a voice therapist anymore for whatever reason. And while discussing “out of the box thoughts” back then, suddenly having a hostel became an option.

I opened an Excel spreadsheet and began a business plan, just out of curiosity. Lucio did the same thing with his vegan restaurant/bar idea. The numbers looked good for the hostel, not so much for the restaurant, but if the hostel had a restaurant it had its personality and uniqueness, and the famous “niche” every marketing expert talks about, plus we would be having great food everyday (which my Taurus being also loves)

So we decided to give it a shot. Why not? The Universe seemed to tell us it was time to be bold and not stick to the plan.

A short time after this, we moved to Layla, a beautiful hotel close to the beach, who had the generosity of receiving us for a very affordable monthly rent.

This place became an inspiration and our classroom.

We began asking questions about the hotel and restaurant business to the owners, sharing estimates, business plans and so on. And a big opportunity knocked our door. They offered us to become managers of the place. They had been doing it for so long, and felt tired of dealing with all the issues that come with having your own hotel in Mexico.

We suddenly had the chance to test what we had been researching, see how it was managed from the inside and also have a source of income to navigate those uncertain times.

Big challenges came ahead. Lucio has a solid background in business management and entrepreneurship, he had his own food distribution company in Argentina for more than 15 years. Knew about sales, management, etc.

In my case, I had always been an independent voice therapist, vocal coach and singer, always figuring out challenges on how to support my career, but knew nothing about how to handle a business itself, how to manage a team, deal with customer service, payments and so on. But I trusted we could do it together.

I remember actually feeling an energetic shift inside my body during those months. An actual physical sensation that indicated our paths being re written by the new choices that were being made at that exact moment.

That feeling turned out to be right.