A few weeks ago, I wrote a column, “So you want to be a VC” – and, sure enough I heard from a few venture capitalists.

In keeping with the series format, today’s column is “So you want to own a fishing lodge.”

I interviewed Mike and Laura Geary, who lived that dream at Healing Waters Lodge, in Twin Bridges, Mont. Herewith is their story and some entrepreneurial nuggets.

Laura: “We met in a doorway at the Fish and Wildlife Parks office in Helena, where I was working. Mike was on the Smith River corridor committee, and he was blocking the door. He said that he had seen me at the gym, and I looked at him, bald White guy, and I didn’t recognize him in street clothes. He says to me, “You look good in both.”

Now that is a classic pickup line. I think we should license that to the dating apps.

Mike: “I told her I was just enjoying the pageantry of life. If she knows the line from The Pink Panther movie, I am all in.”

Mike had been guiding trips on the Smith River, essentially working out of his home. The Smith is one of the most famous rivers in Montana. Getting a commercial permit to float it is a big deal. He was a one-room, one-man band with a paddle. No lodge, but his outfitter had eight permits for the Smith, and Mike needed to fill them.

Mike and Laura Geary (Laura Geary)

Laura: “His idea of a date was for me to come to the house and help him pack the commissary boxes for the Smith.

Laura had her own career at Fish and Wildlife, but Mike eventually prevailed, and they have been together for 14 years. Romance is nice, but a partner/co-founder with shared goals and complementary skills is even better. And as a bonus, Laura was an excellent fly fisherperson in her own right.

But before the Smith, before Laura, there was a past.

At 39, Mike was an alcoholic and a lousy poker player. He was broke. So driving home from the last float trip of the season, he decided to change his life. He stopped drinking overnight. And he decided to build his own destiny.

After a few more years of selling/guiding, he took the leap. He borrowed some money and made a deal to acquire those original eight Smith permits by agreeing to pay for them over a few years.

This is the classic entrepreneur moment. Ownership. Take control of your future.

Mike: “I had 10 years of experience. I couldn’t imagine a better life than being on the Smith River. I was the largest outfitter on the river. ARR, annual recurring revenue.”

He eventually bought 26 permits over the next 10 years, but those first ones nearly killed me, he said. I assumed that people would be knocking down my door to float the Smith. Nope, I had to learn how to sell trips. But I figured there was opportunity where there was a finite number of permits.”

He understood that scarcity would work in his favor, and the value would increase. They are not issuing any more commercial permits. Supply and demand are classic entrepreneurial concepts.

When hurricanes Wilma and Katrina hit in 2005, he went and volunteered with the Red Cross, ultimately doing a couple of tours, ending up in Kuwait and Bagram, Afghanistan.

This is the best part of being an entrepreneur — when he/she can see outside their own little world and add value to others. Bigger than just themselves.

So, now married to Laura, it seemed obvious that the next best thing would be to push all your chips into the middle, take on debt and significant risk and buy a fishing lodge. Why not?

“I looked at a lot of lodges, all over Montana, I even went to New Orleans. I could do redfish in the winter and trout in the summer. I wanted a lodge bad,” Mike said.

Of course, you are already thinking of expanding when you actually have nothing. You have never owned a lodge, but sure why not get bigger.

“The Smith trip is expensive, a few thousand for five days, Mike said. I learned I could talk to rich people.”

Now that is a skill set worth developing.

What happens next is again classic entrepreneurship. They put offers on a couple of lodges. Crickets. Finally, the perfect lodge comes up in Twin Bridges. It goes to an auction, minimum bid is $500,000. They offer $400,000. Bid rejected, but the lodge doesn’t sell.

Entrepreneurship favors relentless pursuit. They contact the seller personally, one more time, same offer, and this time the family says yes.

In many negotiations, you often think the issue is money, but in this case what the seller really wanted was someone to carry on the tradition of the lodge. Mike and Laura had a track record and domain expertise. The sellers liked Mike and Laura, and with a second bite at the apple, the family took their original offer.

Laura: “We had no indecision. No looking back.”

Mike: “2013. Healing Waters Lodge was the nicest thing we had ever owned.”

And like all entrepreneur stories, the first few years were challenging.

“I sold. Heads in beds, butts in boats, Mike said. It is a simple business. My first marketing material consisted of one those little View-Masters. I would go to a fly shop, someone would blow me off, then I would go to the next one. I owed money, and I needed people to say yes.”

The rest, as they say is history. Laura ran the back of the house, and Mike did the marketing, selling and charming fly rods from all over the country. The travails of running a lodge (or any business) are not unique. You have to deal with people. Suppliers, guides, kitchen staff, customers with unreasonable demands. And, one more item you can’t control — the fish.

During those 10 years at the lodge, Mike and Laura provided free trips for disabled veterans, increased women involvement in fly fishing, supported countless environmental causes and became beloved by the entire fly-fishing community.

I started going there in 2014. Every year. I became a close friend.

In 2022, he tells me he is ready to sell. By this time, there was significant annual profit, the reputation was impeccable, and the balance sheet was very strong. I gave him the Bernard Baruch quote, “I made all my money by selling too soon.”

Who wouldn’t want to own a fishing lodge? I said, give me the names of your 10 richest clients. I know I can make a deal here. Wrong. It turned out nobody wanted a fishing lodge. Nobody.

Except one guy from St. Louis. One offer. And now he owns the lodge.

And Mike and Laura are free and clear with a few million in the bank. But, like all true entrepreneurs, Mike still watches his “baby” from 5 miles down river, ready to give the new buyer advice on what he should be doing differently.

And like all new buyers, the St. Louis guy doesn’t want to hear from him.

Any second thoughts?

Mike: “No.”

Laura: “I don’t want to ever work again.”

Next month, they leave for two weeks in Italy.

Rule No. 830: The problem is always the same — people.

Senturia is a serial entrepreneur who invests in startups. Please email ideas to neil@unicornhunter.ai.