Byline Glamping Business Plan Made Easy

Byline glamping business plan

- I think nature and land teach us that we're a part of something bigger than just our story or our life that we're living. (calm music) - My name is Brad Otts. - I'm Aaron Ivey. - And we are the owners at Green Acres. (calm music) So we didn't actually choose the name Green Acres. When we purchased this property from some friends of ours that were living here, they named it Green Acres. And so when we bought the property it already had this kind of like brand ethos. And it already had a functioning business, and if I'm being totally candid, it wasn't like our favorite choice, but it was actually really warm and homey, now that we've been here. - [Aaron] It actually really fits for this place. - [Brad] It's stuck now. - I had been coming out to Green Acres because of the connection with our friends that used to own it, and I just loved it. I loved coming out here. I came out here for a live music show and just really enjoyed the element of hospitality and art being infused into the land that was out here. - We have these two different paths that ended at the same place. He came out here for the show. I came out here with a bunch of buddies. We all stayed and just cooked out and spent time together as we celebrated this guy becoming a father. And how perfectly appropriate that these two different things of life, community, and art kind of converging. And they were happening before us, and so we get to be kind of the caretakers for what this place turns into. - That's right. And our families have been friends for a really long time too. We aren't just co-owners of this place, but we're best friends and so we already care about hospitality and hosting people. That's why this place is so special to us. - The previous owners the Dickersons, Brandon and Kirsten Dickerson. They reached out to us, originally to Aaron and Jamie in December of 2016, and was like, hey we're looking to move to Fredericksburg, we wanna sale the property. - One of the things that they were really eager to talk about was selling this to friends that could help carry the vision of hospitality, hosting people, providing a place for rest and respite, which is what we both are incredibly passionate about. And so it's kind of got this cool history of we loved this place even before it was our own. - And immediately I was like, yeah for sure. This is something we've loosely talked about it with them, and nothing concrete. - We've talked about owning something like this for a while. - Though, we didn't know was season of life it would happen in. And it just went together quickly. And three months later, we owned the property. So when the previous owners had it, they lived here. So it was a business for them, but I would call it more of a side hustle. When it came to us doing this, we had a general idea of kinda how we wanted to see this. Really, our number one mission behind this is that we kind of reclaim what hospitality actually looks like, real hospitality. I think true hospitality is basically servanthood. Servanthood is providing a place for people to engage and to connect with themselves, with others, with the outdoors in respite, and just being that place that provides that. And it's not about us getting attention, but it's about us fostering an environment. - Different than a hotel or a resort. It actually being in nature. No matter where you go or what you look at here, you're surrounded by beautiful nature in East Austin. One of the things we were super cautious about going into this is because we're such good friends and our families are tied together, in such a great way, is entering into this with clear expectations. - So from the relational hurdles, we haven't really had any. The day to days, I mean there's plenty of those. Do you choose to get offended when somebody give you a bad review, or texts you at one in the morning saying that they hear dogs barking in the wilderness. Sometimes you get rain for two and a half weeks and you can't dig a trench to run a septic line and that's just the way it is. And so those hurdles in business, and getting a month behind your project, you can't work your way out of that or wish your way out of it. So just being accepting of those and learning how to have more strategic time approach has been, I would say for me, that's been a big challenge. But it's been a really good challenge. Technically speaking, in purchasing the property, this is a really unique space in the fact that it's hospitality and it's also land acquisition which is more real estate, and in terms from a growth and an investment point of view, it definitely presents challenges because if we want to grow, that's really challenging, because you have a certain type of investor or bank that want to give for this and then somebody who wants to give money for this. So it makes a really complicated scenario and you have to think really creatively. - I think a big lesson that we're both learning, both of us are future thinkers, we're both big dreamers and so we're thinking about this big scope for what we want this place to be but in reality that's gonna take several years, a decade to get there. And just being patient with what we have right now. And also not assuming that when it grows to a certain place, then it'll finally be something that we're proud of, but making sure we're proud of it right now today with the things that we have on this property, with the people that are present here. Being super proud and being able to say we're doing everything we can right now in this season with this piece of land. - Right now the dream is happening. We actually had talked about maybe we own something one day and that's actually happening. And that in and of itself is special. Whether this goes on for 30 years or if it goes on for six more months, or whatever. It's actually happening and it's been a really healthy thing. We got to host a wedding out here in December. It was the first wedding and only wedding we've hosted to date. My wife and I actually got to perform the ceremony. The energy was palpable. It was so special in every regard. And that I think was the first time that I truly recognized how meaningful this place was for their memory. That we got to foster a place that was a new beginning in their life. That's really what this thing is about. - We feel really grateful that this specific dream did come true and we also realize that this land is not ours. We're trying to be stewards of this place, to be good caretakers of this land so that others can experience it. And the fact that it was a dream that came true, I think produces this gratitude and this want to steward it well for other people. - So of all of our accommodations that people come to, I'd say people gravitate towards our yurts and our cabin the most. And they do that because I think it allows them to feel more connected with the land, and it's not a separated space but they can feel the wind beneath their feet from the decks, and they can hear an owl outside, or a coyote off in the wilderness. And so it connects them to that land space. - The thing about, I think, human nature is to just plow through work and just kind of do that and forget that we all need a break, we all need space, we all need to enjoy what's right here around us. I mean, the average attention span of an American is less than eight seconds, so every eight seconds you're thinking about something totally different until you get into a space that almost forces you just to sit and be still and enjoy the people that are around you in the space that you're in. - I mean, I have a goal that people would come out here and develop some sort of contemplative practice. They can be in nature, they can bring their kids out here. They can come out here with a loved one. They can come out here by themselves. And maybe it's just like starting a campfire, or cooking over a grill, or going for a walk, or going to a State Park and hiking, or feeding an animal. All of those things are really beautiful contemplative practices that set into this place within all of us of just rest, slow down. You don't have to have the next word. You don't have to have the next picture. You don't have to have the next experience. Being out here is the experience, and there's something beautiful in that simplicity. - When you're in nature and you're on a piece of land, you're literally around things that existed before you did. If you're looking at a 100 year old oak tree, just kind of brings a sobriety to your life. - All of these things here need us in no particular way. That tree is going to grow and continue growing and then die irregardless of me. And there is something beautiful and humbling about the fact that you get to be a part of this. You don't control it, it doesn't control you. You get to be a part of it. And it's this symbiotic relationship which I think is just so beautiful and humbling. - I crave coming here to Green Acres because I need that nothingness to remind me of what things in my life really count, and really matter. And it's not my to do list, it's not my calendar, it's not most of the things that I just kind of fill up my schedule with. It's people, it's relationships, it's family, it's conversations, it's all those things. I think nature and beauty teach us that. - I would say for people that are looking to do this as a business, exploring a dream, or exploring a business, any of those things, there's a certain amount of respect that comes with doing your due diligence. There's also just something really great about jumping into something. You can't figure out every detail in life. There's lot of, things are out of your control. And you have to just go into something and work really hard and understand that it's okay for things to not work out. There's actually beauty in that. - There's tremendous blessing and value in owning a piece of land and then sharing that with people. Think about what kind of legacy you leave even for your own family members, your own kids, grandkids, whatever, to be able to share that piece of property with them. For them to grow up going to and enjoying it. - And the memories it creates. So in many ways, us being able to acquire this land, it's given us the opportunity to not just pursue this dream, because it's given us the time and space to do it from a practical point of view that we wouldn't have had elsewhere. We couldn't have done this business in Austin. We couldn't have bought six houses on the east side and done this same thing. Having land and having this space actually provides you opportunity because you have this space where it can expand out, grow, and there's something really, really cool about the growth of an area and how land actually affects that. (inspiring music) (upbeat music)