Property Stewards

By Mark Holloway

Retirement isn’t a life goal for me. I can’t speak for anyone else, but there’s too much ‘go juice’ bottled up inside. I’ve watched some folks leave their purpose behind when they walked out of the office for the last time. Some folks repurpose themselves. Some reinvent themselves. Some wilt.

Change freaks some folks right out of their minds. Change was written deep into my young soul when my officer father’s military promotions moved us all over the globe. Change meant new languages, new friends, new ideas. Years ago, we were very intentional about putting the word ‘stewardship’ in our company name. Our company would grow from Fresh Start of Rabun to Fresh Start Property Stewards. We added a South Georgia location managed by Rabun’s Zach Mathis, and our son Garrett started and owns his own Fresh Start Property Stewards of Oconee.

And now, we leap across yet another milestone.

We are franchising our company. Property Stewards is officially launched.

I thought at 61 I’d be coasting towards a slower pace. But change happened. In a future column of mine I’ll unpack how the surprise of franchising happened. But for now, simply know it’s an adventure the Lord invited us into. He does that… a lot.

Resisting change is as productive as holding back the tide. In 2007, we started our little company with some business cards and a humble pressure washer. Carol and I moved here with our two teenagers and began a new and wonderful life in these mountains. Our customer base began to quickly grow, assisted by the encouragement and mentoring of Mary Lou Falkenberry and Tracy McCoy. God’s kindness caused us not to participate in the coming recession.

Soon, customers turned into 600 clients and we were graced by a diverse group of kind folks who would call often for many reasons and ways to improve their homes.

By Spring of 2017, we had three clients whose homes we stewarded regularly. We had not pursued any of them. But we could see an even more financially stable future ahead. So I asked the Lord to send us a total of fifteen caretaking clients in His timing. By December of that year, fifteen families honored us with the trust of their homes. In eight short months, the Lord showed off his faithfulness.