7 minute read
Mitten Getaways Update
By Mike Gast
Mike and Melissa Crowe now know it takes more than desire to get started in the glamping business. First and foremost, you need the right land.
The Crowes have considered themselves in the glamping industry since 2020, when they started pursuing their dream of opening the Mitten Getaways Glamping Company. Their vision included a small, five-structure “glampground” in Central Michigan where they could also live on the land, raising their family along with expansive gardens and a few farm animals for their two daughters and their guests to enjoy.
We could certainly get right back into it all if the right land opportunity came along. But it all would have to look a bit different financially.
This spring, the Crowes thought they had finally found the right spot – 100 acres on a private lake near Howell, Michigan, midway between Lansing and Detroit. (Read an earlier story about the Crowe’s glamping ownership journey on Page 31 in the July/August issue). They thought the location was perfect, surrounded by hundreds of acres of secluded-yet-accessible state land and a lake that could provide glampers with canoeing, kayaking and fishing. They quickly signed a buy/sell contract with the owner.
But perfect, it was not. A closer inspection by an excavator/contractor found the soil on a ridge where they planned to eventually add glamping units wouldn’t be suitable. Making the overall location work for their new glamping resort would take more wetlands studies, more permit requests, more money, and more time than the Crowes were willing to give.
Earlier this year, they were forced to give up on the Howell property. The young couple found themselves again in search of a location. They spent the rest of the late summer and early fall visiting other glamping locations in the region, learning from other owners about their operations and scouring the state for another place to purchase.
Time was also working against them. Mike Crowe’s career in pharmacy had been on the back burner, and finances were tight. Then, Mike and Melissa found out there was another baby on the way to join their two small daughters.
So, the glamping business that the Crowes had planned to open in the summer of 2020 is once again on hold.
“We’ve got some new priorities to take care of first,” Crowe said. “We’ve certainly lost some of our momentum because we aren’t working on a land deal like we have been for the past several months. Right now, there is no land we have a contract on.”
To pay the bills, purchase a new home, and make the needed adjustments for a growing family, Crowe has taken a new remote pharmacy job. “It came down to either getting a regular paying job or sticking with the glamping resort – whatever came first in order to get us into a new home,” he said. “In our case, the new job came first.”
The Crowes have also suspended their podcast about their glamping journey after they found themselves running out of pertinent material to talk about.
“We could certainly get right back into it all if the right land opportunity came along,” he said. “But it all would have to look a bit different financially.”
A Change Of Direction
The experience with their previous land contract has led the Crowes in an entirely new direction. They are no longer solely focused on land they can purchase. Now, they are in search of a landowner willing to lease them a parcel or partner with them in the glamping business.
“The ideal would be someone who has the land that meets the characteristics we require (at least 20 acres in a secluded area with other land nearby for recreation),” he said. “Maybe it’s someone who has land they hunt on periodically and wants to find a way to monetize it with glamping through either a lease or a partnership.”
So far, their new plan hasn’t had any takers.
“There was some interest and some progress at first, and we had a handful of people with land reach out to us right away,” Crowe said. “They were from different locations from within and without the state, but nothing was outstanding or the right fit.”
“The geography for us hasn’t changed,” Crowe said. “We still want to stay within range of our family, our church, and a job. Our feasibility study supports that this area of Michigan can well support our glamping plan. There is definitely a need for a glamping facility like ours.”
Some visitors to the Crowe’s www.mittengetaways.com website are surprised to learn that there isn’t already an active glamping resort behind their polished online presentation.
“Yes, we’ve had people reach out through the website asking how and when they can book a site,” he laughed. “I do regret that we don’t have a glamping resort behind it actively operating yet.”
What the Crowes do have are small, glampingassociated “side businesses” including an online accessories outlet called “The Glamping Store” and a consulting business called “The Mitten Marketer” that shares what the Crowes have already learned about starting out in the glamping business.
Crowe envisions The Glamping Store serving as a supply hub for glamping providers. The store has glamping-related apparel, bags, furniture, jewelry, books, pet supplies, mugs, hats and even educational courses for those thinking about entering the glamping industry. “We found that there really wasn’t anywhere out there for glamping owners to go to find goods and supplies to sell to their guests or learn what a glamping business is all about,” he said. Many of the glamping product designs were created by the Crowes. All of the products can be drop shipped from manufacturers directly to glamping owners.
Crowe also hopes to take what he’s learned in his entrepreneurial journey and pass it along to other aspiring small business owners through his new Mitten Marketer business. “I realized that I’ve had a lot of experience in setting up a glamping business and also in some of my other ventures,” he said. “I’ve learned – and am still learning – how to do it on a shoestring budget. There are a lot of tools out there. I wanted to package it all together and share it with other small business entrepreneurs.”
Back to Square One?
Although their three-year odyssey in the glamping business has yet to bear fruit, Crowe said he is far from giving up.
“I’m still an entrepreneur at heart,” he said. “I love the idea of bringing all of my skills together in this type of business.”
He said he doesn’t regret spending up-front time and resources on his Mitten Getaways websites and social media, even though the actual physical glamping location is yet to be created.
“We still have created an audience and subscribers who follow us out there,” he said. “We are going to keep going forward with this, but we’ve learned that it’s going to take a lot more time and financial resources than anticipated to do it right. We have to be very patient.”
“We do have a lot of boxes checked and a lot of things ready to go if the right people and the right land come along,” he said. “I’m comfortable where we are at, and I’m OK with not having the land right now. I think one of the things we have learned is that we need to OK with whatever the timing is.”
Mike Gast is a journalist and public relations professional with a career spent in media newsrooms as well as 20 years as the Vice President of Communications for Kampgrounds of America Inc. He now puts those decades of experience to work for glamping and camping operators as the President of Imi Ola Group, a public relations, marketing, and content production firm located in the heart of America in Omaha, Nebraska. You can reach him at mike.imiolagroup@gmail.com.
