Today we’d like to introduce you to Randy Middleton.
Randy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My daughter started a farm a few years ago. While visiting she talked me into buying the 5.46 acres next to her with a new house. (That’s my story and I am sticking to it.)
I figured it would be an okay short term rental and legacy add acreage to her farm. My youngest daughter took on the task of furnishing, decorating, and making it a unique “goto” place for families and work crews.
Since it is not exactly a tourist area we made it into a destination retreat.
If self promotion is allowed, check out abcderetreat.com or facebook.com/abcderetreat.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We are about 1.5 years in and not in the black yet. Part of that may be the extreme hospitality of what we provide, but mostly not enough bookings yet. A few have come back multiple times so we believe it will grow.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Jack of all trades, master of a few.
Semi retired as a Network Architect and then 10 years as a Security Director for a 28 campus K-12 school system.
Now dabbling in real estate investing.
I served as a church musician for over 50 years and as an associate pastor during some of that as well.
I am considering opening a group camp small groups like church, scouts, corporate etc. Just thinking about it…
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Pay yourself first. Put up 10% and don’t touch it. Do that for as long as you can, but the younger you are the better it pays off later. If you do that the first 20 years of your career you will have more than 5 times the retirement than if you do it in the last 20 years. Lesson learned the hard way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.abcderetreat.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abcderetreat
