WEBVTT	#Elemental Media Engine(TM) 2.17.1.0

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We long talked about owning
and operating a campground

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someday. Kind of one of
those things where we would

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be camping with our
families, sitting around the

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campfire and we would go,
Huh, this might be fun

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someday. We stayed at
campgrounds.

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We knew what it was like to
be a camper, but we never

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ran, owned, operated a
campground.

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So we were literally trial
by fire learning as we go.

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There was no breathing time.

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We both, I think, looked at
ourselves and go, Oh my

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gosh, what did we do?

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We realized we had sold
everything we own.

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We knew nobody, but we
owned a campground and that

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was terrifying.

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Hi, we're Mark and Karla
Lemoine, and we own the

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Coloma / St. Joseph KOA
Holiday here in beautiful

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southwest Michigan.

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We have now 15,000 people
every year that come through

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this property. And our data
says that they're from all

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50 states and as many as 15
international countries.

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I like to treat each guest
that comes in like a friend.

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You know, they're coming to
visit us.

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They're coming to stay with
us for the weekend.

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I would plan these epic road
trips where we would hook up

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the trailer and leave
Michigan and go all the way

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out to Yellowstone out West
or Boston and Maine to the

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east.

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And the kids look forward to
it.

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Every year they would say,
Where are we going next

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year?

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I asked a successful
business owner who I viewed

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as a mentor of sorts.

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I just told him I was
exhausted.

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I could not imagine doing
government affairs for

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another 20 years and asked
if he had any suggestions.

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He said, Number one, if you
could do anything in the

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world, what would it be?

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And before you answer that
question, fast forward to

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when you're 80 years old.

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Looking back at life, what
do you regret?

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Not trying. And the answer
needs to be the same.

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And I immediately said with
no hesitation, You're going

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to think I'm crazy. But
I've always wanted to own

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and operate a campground.

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He responded, Well, then
you got to do it.

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When you came home and said,
I think we're going to do

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this. I want to look at
owning a campground.

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It just felt right to me.

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I could see his passion,
but we had two kids in

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college and two kids at
home, so it was a big risk.

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Our entire marriage, we
largely lived beneath our

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means. We were very
intentional about saving for

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the future. We were five
years away from paying off

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our house where we would
have been completely debt

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free. So we said, Yeah, why
not?

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Let's leverage it all.

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It allowed us to leverage
that money without penalty

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ultimately to buy the
business.

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And that was the kicker.

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If we really wanted to do
this chips all in, we could

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make it happen.

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I think I said, let's just
drive through this property

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in St. Joseph. And as soon
as we drove in the driveway,

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it just felt like home.

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We realized that there was a
lot of deferred maintenance,

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there was a lot of
upgrading that would need to

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be done.

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It just needed some love.

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It needed us, you know, it
needed our attention to

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detail. It needed our
hospitality.

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Our total assets were about
$400,000 of liquid assets.

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That was the equity in the
house, our 401(k), some Roth

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money and personal savings.

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I presented our proposal to
four different banks and was

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able to get two banks
willing to partner with us.

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We ended up buying the park
for $1.6 million.

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The very first improvement
that we made was in our

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store. The store literally
became the engine through

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which we were able to then
begin reinvesting in other

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areas of the park.

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The business model of a
campground, first and

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foremost, people are paying
for their site.

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And then when our guests
are here, they often might

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need some supplies or want
to purchase a souvenir.

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We invested in creating a
pretty robust cafe.

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In 2022, the campground was
able to bring in $1.23

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million.

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For 2023 as a seasonal
business, 80% of our annual

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revenue comes between
Memorial Day and Labor Day

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weekends. So far, we have
brought in $390,000 and we

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have about a half $1
million that has been

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received as an advance
deposit for guests that are

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still yet to come. And
we're tracking about 15%

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over last year already.

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We added things like giant
chess, giant checkers,

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cornhole ladder toss.

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We actually took an old,
dilapidated tennis court

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that wasn't being used
anymore, and we ripped out

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the net and refigured that
into...

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What we now call the family
fun zone.

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Yeah, the family fun zone.

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We have reinvested more than
$1.5 million back into the

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campground in everything
from critical

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infrastructure, things like
sewer, electrical work,

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equipment, mechanicals, all
of our furnaces, all of our

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air conditioner units in
each of the buildings.

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Three years ago, we did a
pretty big expansion through

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which we took another loan.

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So the debt service is back
up to where we started, but

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it's still working and we
consider the interest

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payments as more just a
cost of doing business.

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I think we've just come to
terms with having a mortgage