Blissiplined Chip Conley

We recently had a chance to talk to Chip about business and entrepreneurship.  Part of our on going discussions with real life entrepreneurs sharing advice and best practices . . .

Joie de Vivre Hotels is California’s largest boutique hotel collection. Founded in 1987 in San Francisco by Chip Conley, Joie de Vivre has built a reputation for creating some of the most innovative hospitality services and products and designing one-of-a-kind properties in the U.S. – from boutique hotels to Japanese communal baths to exciting restaurants and lounges.

What is your favorite part of a typical day? I love the early morning right before dawn.  A great time for meditating, writing, or going for a nice walk or run with my dog, Sugar Ray.

Which part of your job would you gladly give up? The part that is most frustrating is dealing with a variety of hotel owners or investors (as we don’t own all our hotels) during a difficult economy as each of them wants to know they’re the most important.

What is the best advice you have ever received? Have “blissipline” in life – be discipline in following your bliss.

What keeps you up at night? A bad interaction with someone in business or personal life in the evening will send my mind racing.

How has parenthood changed your life? I became the foster parent for a 15-year old boy when I was 33.  He’s now 33 and has three kids: 15, 13, and 5 and my “grandkids” stay with me all the time.  The best thing about this is that it gets me out of my tendency to be self-absorbed on my own problems or aspirations.  It’s nice to focus on the kids and their dreams.

What is your greatest extravagance? Building a Japanese-style writing cottage in my backyard right now since I plan to be spending more and more of my time writing.

If you had to do something other than Joie de Vivre, what would it be? Next choice (which I’m doing more and more of) is writing and speaking, but I’m not going to count that since I’m already doing it.  I guess my next choice would be something in the spiritual realm…being a preacher at the pulpit helping people transform the relationship with spirit.

How many times have you been thrown in the pool? I guess you’re talking as part of our Celebrity Pool Toss fundraiser which I started to raise money for Tenderloin kids at our Phoenix Hotel.  We’ve raised over $4 million and I’ve been thrown in three times in the past 17 years.

What advice would you offer a young entrepreneur? Beyond being “blissiplined”, surround yourself with smart, ambitious, team-oriented people who love the culture of the organization you’re creating.  And, more specifically, start by focusing a niche of customers that you can serve better than anyone else.

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