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Diaries of a Lodge Owner
In 2009, sheet metal mechanic, Steve Niedzwiecki, turned his passions into reality using steadfast belief in himself and his vision by investing everything in a once-obscure run-down Canadian fishing lodge.
After ten years, the now-former lodge owner and co-host of The Fish'n Canada Show is here to share stories of inspiration, relationships and the many struggles that turned his monumental gamble into one of the most legendary lodges in the country.
From anglers to entrepreneurs, athletes to conservationists; you never know who is going to stop by the lodge.
Diaries of a Lodge Owner
Episode 100: The Hidden Costs of Lodge Ownership
Ever watched the sun rise over a pristine northern lake and thought, "I could do this for a living"? Before you mortgage your home and cash in your retirement savings, you need to hear the raw, unfiltered truth about what it really takes to run a fishing lodge.
Steve Niedzwiecki, former owner of Chaudière Lodge on Ontario's French River, pulls back the curtain on the reality behind the dream job. From the heart-stopping financial gamble of startup costs that can easily hit seven figures, to the exhausting cycle of staffing where relationship management becomes as important as business acumen. Steve reveals how he mortgaged everything he owned—even securing loans against his parents' property—to pursue a vision that most would call madness.
The logistics are staggering: varnishing 13 cedar-strip boats annually, navigating government compliance, managing romantic entanglements between staff members, and taking personal responsibility for every guest's experience. When a single bad water test results in skull-and-crossbones warning signs during your busiest week, or when your chef decides that frozen patties on hamburger buns are an acceptable substitute for authentic veal cutlets, the pressure can feel crushing.
Yet through it all, there's an unmistakable thread of passion that defies pure economics. As Steve puts it, "Passion must outweigh profit," because the moment you start cutting corners to save money, the entire experience unravels. The most successful lodge owners understand they're not just selling accommodation and guided fishing—they're orchestrating memories that guests will cherish for decades.
Would Steve do it all again? "Absolutely," he says without hesitation. Despite the missed family events, the 20-hour workdays, and the constant weight of responsibility, the relationships formed and experiences created made it all worthwhile. If you're contemplating this path—or simply curious about what happens behind the scenes of your favorite fishing destination—this revealing episode offers both caution and inspiration in equal measure.
and whenever you try to include everybody staff, guests, everybody in a, in in building something that's very special like a northern island retreat, um, all of a sudden you get people that care and want to show our guests an outstanding time.
Speaker 2:This week on the Outdoor Journal, radio Podcast Networks. Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 1:Stories of the North, with Willie and Krista frantically setting up their new lodge venture. I wanted to talk to you all about the physical, financial, emotional and environmental costs involved in running a fishing lodge and temper the idea that it is a dream job and replace it with real insight and respect for the craft. So, without further ado, welcome to the show. Folks, for over a decade, you all know, I owned the Chaudière Lodge and it was one of the most exciting, trying, frustrating, at times scary thing that I ever did in my life. And I wanted to talk to you all today about the true costs of running a fishing lodge. And why don't we jump right in at the beginning and with startup and capital and all of the things that you need to do when you start? And first you got to find the location. Like Willie had mentioned last week, you've got to find the location and there are creative ways that you can do this without laying out a whole lot of capital. Unless you have the capital to lay it out all on the line, or you can go to the bank and you've got the backing from a bank to do it yourself. You really need to either partner up with somebody who has the facility. Maybe somebody is retiring and they, for whatever reason, don't want to sell uh, but would rather um, would rather lease or partner up with you, uh, to do a um, a venture. That way, um, you could also there's a lot of um, of um, I don't know what you would call them rent to own uh, where you uh, you go in and you can put a small deposit up front and the owner of the place slowly sells it to you over a few years in transition, which is a great way to do it, and you keep that person working in that position for a little while as you transition into the new owner, that position for a little while as you transition into the new owner, or go to the bank, pull your, your balls out and and put them on the chopping block.
Speaker 1:Um, that's what I did. I mortgaged everything I had um, and I go into great detail, um, in the earlier diaries, uh episodes, you know in that first 10, somewhere in there we're at 100, so you're going to have to go back and look for that. But there's a lot to do with that. And if you're starting up front, like with a piece of land, and you have to build cabins, docks, figure out power permits, environmental assessments, insurance. You know, if you're doing that, the cost of all of that could easily hit seven figures before you open. And that's again like I mean, depending on your situation and how you want to set it up. If you've got a buyer group or you know it's possible, it's very possible. But the way I did it, I bought an existing place and I worked on that existing place. So once you get that lodge facility whether you buy it outright or you're building from the ground up then and just to give you an idea for cost of lodges right now I haven't checked lately Brian Dykstra is a real estate agent specializing in selling lodges. Google his name D-Y-S-T-R-A, I believe Brian Dykstra, and you'll see. But I I'm I'm sure that you'll find places in Ontario, from you know, as far South as as the French river to as far North as Canora and beyond. You'll find camps that range in price, from you know $150,000 for a small camp that is basically cabins and a housekeeping, to multi-millions. So once you get your location figured out, then you've got to start your staffing and that was one of the major areas that I did a shit ton of learning in, because your staffing is fairly seasonal.
Speaker 1:I had some really great people who occupied positions and come back year after year. Diane Restule was one. God rest her soul. She was my housekeeper, server manager and really the rock of Chaudière. But and and she worked there. She worked at Chaudière for um well, she passed at 72 and uh was working for me up until about uh six months before she passed and started when she was 16 at the lodge. So she was, there was nothing there that she did not know and having somebody like that is extremely important. So you know when and you know the, when I bought Chaudiere the owner that I bought it from Jerry Noel from Indiana he told me when I asked, is there any staff I should keep and believe it or not, he said no, no, there's no staff that you should keep. I would replace everybody when you've got and start with a clean slate and this and that. And I really didn't even know too much about Diane. But in my first year I run into some managing issues with staff and I really was green. I didn't know how to deal with, you know, younger staff members of the opposite sex in particular, and I went to Diane and hired or begged her to come back and she did and it was the best move of my business career.
Speaker 1:At that point, and when we're talking about staff, it's always important for you, if you're buying an existing business, to really I would say you need to bring on as many of the existing staff as you can, get to know them and then go from there and see who fits your vision and who doesn't, because taking the word of an owner who's jaded and tired, especially in this business, is not good practice at all. You need to make your own decisions for your vision and I'm so, so thankful that Diane came back and finished her career and really her life with me, because I wouldn't have been the success that I was without her. She was very key in the success of the show to Air Lodge. But, like I mean so, when you go in and you retain some good core staff, with this type of seasonal business you always have a turnover and you're always looking to hire new people and I had we're not going to talk about guides but for a staff for the lodge. For a staff for the lodge I was averaging, you know, 13 to 18 people at any one time to service 40 guests and I had usually on on a great year I would have my chef in place who would return.
Speaker 1:I had Phil Schampagee who was a. He was, he was one of the best man. I loved Philly Phil. I still do. We're going to have to get him on the podcast. But there was Philly Phil and Micah sous chef Micah and pastry chef Micah. I had those guys for about three or four years. And then Dave Quinney, who's still at Chaudiere another excellent chef. I had him for a couple of years. So really, that chef position is one of those positions that once you find a good one, you really want to try and hold on to them. And then I had Diane, who was my housekeeper, server manager and Coleridge Cole Beeden Cole come on after Aunt Beth passed and he became my bookings and office manager.
Speaker 1:And I had on the dock. I had Peter Bowles, who turned into a full-time guide, but Pete, he come back for three, four years as a dock hand, maybe more. So you know, I had one um, um great person in each of the um positions, uh, of management, like I mean. What I mean is I had one person on the dock, usually returning, one person in the housekeeping and serving area Another great returning staff member I had was Jen Tryon. She's married to Pat Tryon, who was one of my guides as well. So you know, thinking about it, I was very, very fortunate to have a great core of returning staff members, and then you know we're talking about six, eight of them at most, and then you got to plug in the rest of the holes, which is, at least, you know, eight more staff members. I would have um, um, five on the, uh in the in the dining room, uh, four on the dock, uh, three in the kitchen, and then all of your guides. You know and, and and.
Speaker 1:Then, once you put these people in place, you've got to really budget. You need to figure out how much you can pay, what is the going rate for the labor that you need and how do you maximize the production that you get from these people. And for me it was a lot about relationships and leading by example, and I just I don't know how I did it or I'm not sure I can describe the ways that I did it. I just know that for the most part, the staff respected me and respected the guests, and I made sure that there was not a job on the island that I didn't do, whether it be cleaning out the shit tanks, to jumping in at dinner service and serving, or cooking, or running the dock, or you know, there's just nothing that I didn't do. And when you do that, you build the respect of your staff. And it took me a while to really figure out how do you build the respect of a young staff. I was still fairly young. I was in my 30s when, for the most part, when I owned Chaudière still fairly young, I was in my thirties when, for the most part, when I owned Chaudière, but I was hiring um employees ranging in the age from, you know, 18 to 65, 70. Um, so it was.
Speaker 1:It was a tough I don't even want to say it was tough, but you, you lead by example and, above all else, respect your, your people, yourself and your guests. And one of the important things for me that I learned early on was was verbiage and how, how you use words, because I would never say to anybody my staff, my lodge, this is my way of doing. It ever is my way of doing it ever, ever, especially when it came to guests Like I, it was always our, this is our staff, this is our lodge and whenever you you try to include everybody staff, guests, everybody in building something that's very special like a Northern Island retreat. All of a sudden you get people that care and want to show our guests an outstanding time and the rewards If you can show your staff, the rewards that you get when you show guests an outstanding experience and you really feel like your part is as important as any. And that goes down to, again, the guys on the dock making sure the boats are ready and clean and when you can do that and people are so, so thankful for what you do and they thank you and show you their thanks Number one in financial gratuities, but number two just genuinely being happy and wanting to thank you and have gotten to know you over that time. And usually we were lucky enough to have people for anywhere from four to seven days, sometimes longer, and repeat staff year over year. So you build relationships with these people and that's key. But again, the turnover is exhausting. That's why it's important to have certain people in place in the different areas to help you train, because dealing with turnover and training cycles is a pain in the ass, like just training the same job year after year, over and over and, over and over again, and you know it's a lot. So that's one of those things.
Speaker 1:Number one you've got to figure out how much you can afford to pay somebody. How many people can I put in that position? How many people can I put in that position? How many people do I need in that position to fulfill my vision? Right, I started Shodi or, mind you, I wasn't full. I thought I could do it with one chef, one server, one dockhand and myself, and that was a huge, huge miscalculation, to say the least. So you got to figure it out. But you know what you do, that you'll figure it out when you as you go. And it's, it's, it's, it's a staffing is something that you really need to put some time into. And the payroll side of things because you've it's not just, you know, $14 an hour or minimum wage or whatever, because you've got all the government stuff your CPP, your EI and and a lot of different costs associated with payroll and insurance your WSIB insurance or whatever you might call it, wherever your lodge is. So there's a lot of attention that you need to pay Once you have your capital and infrastructure in place. Now you're looking at seasonal staffing, full-time staffing and payroll.
Speaker 1:And one thing that people forget about a lot is maintenance and repairs. Some places I didn't have one, but generators you can go. I know that we've, uh, we've been on shoots where, um, um, we've got a lodge and they run on a generator and the main generator shuts down and you got no power. And I've been in a position where I've had no power before and, believe me, it is a shitty situation literally, because with no power your septic doesn't work and it doesn't take the effluent from the 45-gallon drum outside the cottage up to the system and there's no water to flush the toilets. And even if you put jugs of water for people to dump down the toilet after they're done shitting, it is not nice. So after experiencing that once or twice, I went out and bought a generator that at least run my essentials, my water system, my kitchen lights, so that would never happen. But again, it's part of the repairs and maintenance.
Speaker 1:You've got roofs. I did new steel roofs on all of the cottages. It was actually a grant. I'm so thankful for the NOHFC and the Young Entrepreneur 50-50 grant that put new roofs on all of my cottages and helped me build the dock to where it is today. You know you've got fridges and water heaters, and just imagine all of the things that you maintain in your house, um, and then multiply that for me in my case, uh, 15,. Uh, because I had 14 cottages, the main lodge 16, actually I had the staff quarters. You know so, and and then you've got. So that's just we're. We're looking at buildings painting. I put like 7 million gallons of paint on all of those buildings and and and.
Speaker 1:But it's gotta be done because if you don't, that preventative maintenance turns into necessary maintenance and necessary maintenance costs you way more money. There's all of the maintenance and upkeep for the infrastructure itself, for the facility. You know windows and you're often in remote areas and the buildings are typically older. So you know you've got foundations sinking or wood rotting and it's just constant. Now you've got maintenance and repairs on boats and motors. Because most of these operations supply boats and motors were a huge, huge source of, I'm going to say, pain and anguish. You know I always thought, wow, you really are big time when you own like one or two boats. I had like 20. And I, if I, if I, I wouldn't care to ever and I mean ever see a cedar strip boat again. They're beautiful, they're nostalgic, but I there's such a pain in the ass. It is ridiculous.
Speaker 1:You know, any high end lodge, you need to put three coats of varnish you might get away with two on those boats on the hall and on the inside of them every year, every year. And I, I had 13. So you're looking at varnishing every like 13 boats, two coats of varnish every year. Wow, I can tell you when you're opening, there's enough going on that you don't need to spend a week varnishing boats. And not only do you have to spend that week varnishing boats, it takes them, you know, a week to dry properly before you can throw them in the water. So it was a huge endeavor every spring to look after those boats.
Speaker 1:And then, inevitably, you know, a couple of years went by and the ice went out late and you know you think, okay, well, I did it last year, I don't need to do it this year. You throw them in the water. And I think I went two years without doing it. The first year was just that Ice went out late. I had no time. There was no choice. Boats in the water Bob's, your uncle, here we go. I put them away. They didn't look too bad. So the following year, to be honest, I probably just got lazy and um, and maybe didn't want to invest in, you know, 150 gallons of of um, spar varnish, um, but they went out and by the end of the summer the UV from the sun had, uh, had those boats in such rough shape that I had to, I, I took them all home to my mom and dad's. Um, dad just built a shop. It was empty, like totally empty, and I filled her right to the brim with with Cedar strips and um, I um fibered some of them and redid them all.
Speaker 1:And again, the maintenance on this kind of stuff is a lot. It's a lot, and to organize the maintenance on it is a huge job in itself. Right, because on the buildings you start at one end and by the time you're done the 14th cottage, you go right back to the other side and start again. And I'm talking with paint. Right, because in one of my very first years, in one of my very first years, when I said we put like 17 million gallons of paint on all of those places, we did it top to bottom, like every building, and that took that was I forget it must have been in the fall, because it took near three weeks and we just didn't have that kind of time in the spring to open. It was a fall project and I just stayed until it was done. And then after that, you know, you go in the springtime, you kind of set up, you do one or two, and then you do one or two more the following spring and you just kind of try and keep up on it.
Speaker 1:But organizing that and then budgeting for any kind of surprise breakdowns and when we were talking about boats on the Upper French River, I had a surprise breakdown like two or three times a week because the rocks on the river are ridiculous and although Navionics has done a good job mapping it out, inevitably there's people out there that don't know how to read GPS or don't care. Well, I don't think there's anybody that doesn't really care, that's for sure. But there's a lot of people that hit rocks I don't know what to say. They hit rocks. So you got to budget for those breakdowns and I actually, because you can't get insurance to cover rentals like that. So I created my own insurance policy and that's probably a whole other podcast.
Speaker 1:But you got to budget somehow for those surprise breakdowns, and then you know you're looking at at your fuel and your utilities when you're, when you're out in the wilderness, whether that be on an Island on the upper French river, or whether that's at the end of a of a logging road, um, in a Tamiskaming, or whether that's, uh, on a float plane out in the middle of Great Slave Lake. There's consumables that you constantly need, and fuel and utilities are one of them. Right, like my kitchen run on propane. You need gas for your boats, you need diesel for your generators if you run a generator, for your generators, if you run a generator, you know there's so much logistics involved with really fuel costs. Like I mean, gas for boats is huge and whether you're like I mean, I feel sorry for the guys that have to fly it in, because that is that's a whole different animal altogether.
Speaker 1:I was on an island and that was bad enough. I had a steel barge with a fuel tank in it and I would drive across the river to Wajak Cottages and they were kind enough there to let the fuel truck come in their driveway because it was really close, so I just scoot across the river. I had to buy a special gas tank. Which the specialness of this gas tank was it was buoyant and double-walled and obviously sealed tightly with one-way check valves or vents. One-way check valves or vents Because if the boat went into the water, they didn't want a fuel tank sinking to the bottom of the river, which makes a lot of sense, honestly, and they didn't actually come up with that legislation until about my third or fourth year. Now, the cost of this double walled um tank was like four times what a normal tank was. So I'm pretty sure they were kind of taking advantage of the fact that, uh, the people were bent over a barrel and had to have it because it was required by law and stuck it to you. But anyway, I got one.
Speaker 1:So you know, know, there's those things to think about. And then you can, in today's day and age, you can start balancing the idea of a generator versus a solar or a hybrid system to cut down on those fuel costs, right? So once you got those looked after, now you've got food and guest supplies, and this was another area that was very difficult for me, and in the beginning I relied like 110% on the chefs. I would basically have them come in. I wanted them to make great food. I knew I wanted great food and I figured the best way to make great food was, when I was interviewing for the position, ask them what their favorite meals were and what their, what their favorite dishes that they love to make are.
Speaker 1:And, um, once I decided on a chef, I would bring them in and I would say, hey, uh, let's sit down, we'll do a, we'll do a menu. And, um, what are your specialties? You said you love to make chicken cordon bleu, you love to make duck confit, you love to make three or four different ones. And then I would say, okay, when we're opening, right, we would get the kitchen open and we would get our first food order in, um, and I would have him make all of those meals for our staff, cause sometimes the staff didn't get the same meals as as we were eating in the dining room, although I'm pretty sure that it did prove out that it was. Even though it costs a little bit more to feed your staff the same meals as the guests, in the long run I think it's just the same as if you had a separate menu for the staff, right? Anyway, that's a whole other topic. But so there's the food, and I really relied on the chefs.
Speaker 1:And then, as I got more seasoned I guess is a good word and later on in my tenure, I got good at seeing you know how good a chef was when it come to waste, how good a chef was when it come to judging the amount of food he needs to make, because these are all very, very important things, because a good chef can save you thousands of dollars, right? So it's important that you have a chef that is saving you money, not costing you money, because I've had both. I've had chefs that cost me money. And when you think about a chef costing you money, the first thing I'm sure that a lot of you think is oh well, he's buying way too much food and he's you know, he's making these big elaborate meals and everything else. No, no, no, that's not where a chef costs you money. I'll tell you where a chef costs you money.
Speaker 1:And this uh, I hired a um, a chef in particular. I don't even remember his name, I just remember he was in a um, uh, uh, ended up in a relationship with one of the uh servers and um, uh, she, uh, she decided that uh, I don't I'm. I think maybe he decided he was in a relationship with one of the servers and the server decided that she didn't want anything to do with it. Anyway, he punched a few holes in the wall and I had to get rid of him. But point of the matter is where a chef costs you money. Right, I was coming off of a chef. I actually I think it was Dave Quinney. He ended up getting a job in Nunavut or the Northwest Territories or the North Pole, cooking up there for way more than what I could afford to pay him. And Dave went up north and this would have been in June, and he helped me find a replacement. Well, this was the replacement. Crazy Dave, I think is what his name was. But so, crazy Dave.
Speaker 1:You know we already had a menu in place and there was veal on a bun right and veal on a bun right and veal on a bun to me. And you know you ask them can you do veal on a bun? You know, it's just wholesome, wonderful, great sauce, this and that, yeah, yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem. And the veal that we serve, the Chaudiere Lodge veal, is veal cutlets, pounded out, you know, breaded by hand by us, tenderized, cooked properly, put on, you know, a nice Italian bun done right, like the one that you would go to an Italian bakery in Woodbridge and buy. That's a viola on a bun. Okay, crazy.
Speaker 1:Dave went out and bought veal patties, breaded that were round like hockey pucks, and followed that up with Dempster's hamburger buns and that was and served it with. You know, you put ketchup and mustard on it and because it was a mid-season shift from one chef to another, I didn't again like. I mean I didn't have time to watch what he was ordering, I didn't have time to. I just assumed and when you assume you make an ass out of you and an ass out of me, and I was. I couldn't believe it. I was horrified when I walked into the dining room and I saw my guests eating a plate of McCain's French fries that were deep fried, obviously, because chaudiere French fries are cut from potatoes and cooked properly from fresh potatoes. We don't buy bags of frozen McCain's crinkle fries. You know what I mean. I was horrified and I had got a couple of complaints about the food and I knew I was already looking for somebody and I'll never forget.
Speaker 1:I went up to this guy about a week and a half into him working there and I said, dave, we got to figure this out because I've got three complaints about the quality of our food. And he looked at me and he said, huh, three. I said, yeah, three. And he said, well, we've had about 60 people in in the last week and a half, so three, that's pretty good. And I said no, no, no, dave, no, it's not good, not good at all. I don't get complaints, I don't get, we don't get complaints. Our food is outstanding and we don't get complaints. Complaints are not okay. And in his mind he was thinking that only three complaints was a good thing.
Speaker 1:So that is where chefs lose you lots of money.
Speaker 1:It's not where. It's not the. Yes, they can save you a little bit on being efficient and you know planning a menu that's properly planned so that you've got a few expensive meals as far as the product, and then some that aren't so expensive, but they're all great, they're all really really good, like you can have a cheap, really really good meal like lasagna or like spaghetti and meatballs. When it is done properly, it is delicious and you give choices all the time. You know pork chops Great, really good, cheap food. Buy pork loins from no Frills when they went on sale and Phil and Dave and the guys that knew what they were doing with it turned it into something beautiful when chefs lose you money and staff for that matter any staff, for that matter is when they're not doing a good job and people don't have a good experience and they turn around and they leave. They don't tell you anything because people, when they're pissed off unless they're really pissed off they just take their lumps and say, okay, I'm never coming back here and that's what happens.
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Speaker 3:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples all over the globe.
Speaker 3:After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people. That will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1:And next you know, after you get your food set up, you've got your marketing costs, the cost of booking and there's cost involved with that and customer service. I paid Cole to do most of my bookings and if you don't pay somebody to do it, you have to do it and that costs you. That costs you because you have to do it, you have to do it and that costs you. That costs you because you have to do the work. And then there's the hard costs of your marketing your website, which is huge. Social media, trade shows Trade shows is another big one I chose not to do. Trade shows is another big one. I chose not to do trade shows and that kind of thing. So that was a choice that I made and I decided that I was away from my family for six months and then when I got home and young family too, like Melissa and the kids were babies when I got home I just couldn't tell my wife, hey, I've been gone for six months and I got four months of trade shows booked, so catch you later. No, so trade shows wasn't one of those things that I did. I chose and all of you know I've talked about it a lot I chose television shows as my media and that's the way I went. But there's always cost involved with that, so you really got to watch your costs right. You've got your booking system set up. You know, trekkit is a great example, a wonderful system, but there's costs involved with setting it up, there's costs involved with maintaining it and you've got to be on point with a lot of this because you're competing for attention in a crowded tourism market. But I can tell you one thing if you do it right, you stand up above the crowd. And once you stand up above the crowd, you're rocking baby, and this can be a industry that is very, very lucrative for people that do it right. There's no doubt about it. And then another cost is is government regulations and compliance. You know I I chose to to sell fishing lodges. Well, I didn't choose. I was selling fishing licenses because the old owner sold fishing licenses and there was nowhere to get them. But it was a pain in the ass and you didn't get paid nothing for doing the service. So we really started educating our guests to just go online and get it themselves, and then I provided a computer for those who forgot and then, once they got to the lodge. They went online, got it themselves, worked way much better. But you've got things like waste disposal, water quality testing and that water quality testing. I and this is another story that I'm sure I've told, and this is another story that I'm sure I've told In my second year I thought to myself well, I was looking through a bunch of old papers that Jerry had left up in the office and I saw a water quality test from True North Labs for the water and it was 2007,.
Speaker 1:It was dated and I thought, geez, this is like 2010, because I bought it in 2009 and 2010 was my opening year and this was, like you know, august. I had no idea that I needed to get my water tested. Nobody told me. You're supposed to know, but I didn't. And I thought, when I saw that water test, I thought, geez, that's you know, I'm sure I need to get water tests.
Speaker 1:So I phoned. I phoned where the hell did I phone? I Googled water tests. Ah, I phoned the lab. I had the invoice in my hand.
Speaker 1:I phoned the lab and I said they were in North Bay. I said hi, I'm Steve, I'm on the show to Air Lodge now I need to get some water tests. And they said okay, what tests do you need? I said I don't know. And then right away the girl said okay, well, the health unit tells you what tests you need and then we'll do those tests. And I said, oh, okay. She said call the health unit. You need to talk to the health unit first. We don't tell you what you need, we just do what you tell us Makes sense.
Speaker 1:I phoned the North Bay Health Unit because I thought, well, maybe I'm North Bay. And they said no, we don't have you on file, you're not in our jurisdiction. I said, okay, they told me to call Sudbury. I called Sudbury. They said no, no, you're not on our file. You must be in North Bay. You're yeah, you're not in our jurisdiction. I said okay. I phoned back North Bay. They said no, you're not in our jurisdiction. You're you could be Parry Sound, but I doubt it. You're in Sudbury. It's Sudbury. So now I'm getting frustrated. So I just phoned the lab and said listen, I can't like these places, don't know where I belong to the health units. I phoned both Sudbury and North Bay. They're not helping me. So why don't you just go ahead, pull up the last water test, which ended up being the one that I was holding from 2007, which was a little unnerving. Just do the same tests for me, would you Okay? So they sent me some boxes with the test, their styrofoam boxes with the little bottles for the water, for the test samples, and everything went to the home hardware in Noelville, got it, took my water sample, sent it in.
Speaker 1:The next day I get a phone call from the lab and there the girl in the lab said have you ever had a bad test? And I said no, I was talking to you yesterday. You know I've never had a test. Oh well, we have a bad test here and I said okay, so what does that mean? She said well, we're immediately putting you under a boil advisory because you have one culture of coliform I forget what it was, but it wasn't good and she said the health unit is going to contact you right away. I'm like okay, whatever.
Speaker 1:So the health unit, within like five minutes, is on me and I said to the guy on the phone he's like you've got a bad test and you've got to go to this website and there's literature you need to print off and you need to put signs at every place that you can get water. And I said, okay, no problem. And he said, and I'll be there first thing in the morning. I said, okay, so I go onto the website, I print out all these signs. Well, these signs have skulls and crossbones on them. Like I mean, and I'm in my first year, it's my busiest week and I haven't had many busy weeks and now I have to post these signs saying do not drink the water, and it has a picture of a skull and crossbones, like I mean, holy, oh shit, balls. That's great for business now, isn't it? Anyway, I'm now traumatized. Aunt Beth thank God Aunt Beth and Uncle Barry were there. Aunt Beth thank God Aunt Beth and Uncle Barry were there. Aunt Beth talked me off the ledge and her and Uncle Barry drove to Noelville, sturgeon Falls and North Bay and picked up like 150 cases of water and brought them back because we were using water for like bottled water, for everything right.
Speaker 1:And then the next day the guy comes out and he is, he is, gets on my boat and he is lecturing me Like he is laying into me about how it's irresponsible, and blah, blah, blah and I lost it. I said listen, if you want me to turn this boat around and take you back to the dock, I will okay, but you don't talk to me like that. I've been phoning the Sudbury and North Bay health units for over a month and you guys didn't have the common decency to call me back. You guys left me in a position where I could have lost my business because of you. I was doing my due diligence, I was going out of my way to try and do things right. I'm the reason that you're here because I went ahead and, out of my own due diligence, did a test that I didn't even know was the right test. So if you want to continue down this road this way, I'll tell you what I'm gonna turn around, or you can get the hell out of my boat right now. Way to go, go, get out.
Speaker 1:Or and I looked at him, I took a deep breath and I said how you doing? My name's Steve, pleasure to meet you. I'd love to take you out to the island and show you my water system. And he looked at me and he was stunned, like I don't think anybody had ever talked to him like that and I never really talked to anybody like that, especially a person in authority in a position like that. But I was under so much stress and I, like I mean I was I was near in tears because this guy was telling me that I was knowingly trying to hurt people, like, anyway, his first reaction come off terrible. My reaction to him was not good, but he looked at me and he grabbed my hand and he said it's a real pleasure to meet you, I would love to go and look at your water system. And from that point on he was fantastic.
Speaker 1:And the conversation that we had in the boat on the way over after that point was you know, listen, I'm here to do things right. This is my life. I need your help. And he said thank you. He said there's not many people out there like you. Most people are telling me to go stick it where the sun don't shine and get off their property, and I have to be that guy, but I appreciate this anyway.
Speaker 1:So there's, there's, there's those, those compliance issues. Right, there's also all of your, your ministry of natural resources, compliance and and all of that stuff. You know, licensing and making sure your boats are legal and, um, making sure you educate your guests on, on limits and and things like that, um, you know. So there's a, there's a lot of that stuff. Um, there's also a cost, um, and that cost is personal sacrifice, you know, and loss of opportunities. And that personal sacrifice are things like you don't get any weekends, it's six months of the best season in this country that you're tied up at work and like I mean I could say long hours. But when you're the owner of a lodge, from the moment that you open your eyes to the moment that you close your eyes, you're working and a lot of the work is fun. Like I mean, I truly enjoyed all of the work that I did there. I loved, you know, building things and improving the infrastructure. There's a lot of pride that one can take when you put concrete paths with flagstone inlays at your place, you know, and there's a lot of satisfaction that goes along with it. But it's a lot of work, you know.
Speaker 1:Entertaining I would always feel bad because, you know, I'm leaving my wife at home with all the kids and she's working as a teacher and sometimes it seemed like I was playing guitar and partying with people and having a great old dandy time while she was at home, working very hard at home, working very hard, and to a certain extent, portions of that are kind of true. The fact that I was playing guitar and entertaining people, that's all true, but I wasn't drinking my face off. I wasn't actually even drinking. I went out of my way to make people think I was drinking so that they wouldn't push alcohol on me, because you can't drink in my position. But yes, yeah, I was entertaining, right.
Speaker 1:So the hours were long and a lot of times I could go three to five days in a week where I'm up at, you know five o'clock and I go to bed at two o'clock and that that's. That's that wears on you, right? You miss things. You miss weddings, you miss funerals, you miss holidays, you miss your kids' sports, you miss. You miss so much, um, where you're where when you're you're away. I was four hours away. Sometimes you can be a lot further than that, you know.
Speaker 1:And and it's not just lodge business, like I mean, there are a lot of businesses that take people away from from their family and it's a sacrifice, it's a personal sacrifice, and in lodge business you need to make that. There is going to be personal sacrifice, 1,000%, and if you don't make it, you will not be successful. It's as simple as that. And there were nights when Melissa was struggling, okay, and she would phone me the kids weren't sleeping, the baby is sick, there's something wrong and she would be in tears on the other end of the phone and I would just have to take the receiver of the phone and hold it away from my ear because my mind was already full. I was dealing with so much pressure up there. How am I going to make payroll? Did I get the pillow out to the Blue Jay cabin, like I said I did? Is the chef going to be in tomorrow? Is our food delivery going to be on time? And bring the phone back to my ear and say, I understand, sweetheart, but I'm four hours away and take the receiver away and let her cry and vent and, like I mean, there is sacrifice and you will make it to be successful. There is no other way.
Speaker 1:Environmental stewardship costs right. Those are things that make that are sustainable practices. They're supporting conservation in the area. You know, repairing and preventing fuel spills and littering and septic issues a ton of time to be a good steward of the environment, but it is so important that you look after your resource. It is like I mean, the resource is what your business is built on, whether that's the fish, whether that's the eagles that people look at and take pictures of, whether it's the forest. You know, the environment is something that needs to be looked after and it does have a cost, right.
Speaker 1:And then and then, lastly, there's the emotional and mental toll, um, the pressure of being responsible for every guest's experience, um, the fact that you're isolated and and burnout, um is is so real Relationship strains, like I say, I was just talking about it, like you want to talk about straining a relationship, try doing what Melissa and I did, you know, and why passion must outweigh profit, and that is somewhere that people they go wrong a lot. But let's just unpack that. That's a whole lot right there. But, first and foremost, the pressure of being responsible for every guest's experience, and that's something that I took personally. I needed, it was a must for me that every guest enjoyed themselves and had an experience second to none, enjoyed themselves and had an experience second to none, and that is why I always talked about walking through the heartbeat of my business, and that's the dining room, and I talked every day that I was there.
Speaker 1:For sure, at dinner and sometimes lunch and breakfast, I would walk the dining room and I would talk to everyone, but dinner for sure, 100%. Breakfast could be busy because I'm helping organize shore lunches and guides and a bunch of stuff. Dinner I'm there and I was always very good at feeling people. I was always very good at feeling people and I knew when something wasn't right, if somebody was a little bit off. And as soon as I felt that I would say, hey, how was your day? And they'd say, oh, it was okay. And I would say, okay, well, listen, I don't like okay. Would it be all right if after dinner I come out to your cottage and we sat down and talked about your trip so far? Maybe I'll bring a bottle of wine for you guys, and whether it was a couple or a group or whatever and inevitably I would convince them that this is a good idea and I would go out and I would take a notepad and I would sit down and I would say, once in the safety of a private area because the dining room is not the place to unpack that Once in the safety of a private area, I would take my notebook out and I would say, listen, it is my responsibility to make sure that you have the most outstanding trip ever, Like this trip needs to be something that is very special.
Speaker 1:It's your responsibility to help me get you there. So what? What can I do? Where are things going off the rails? If they're going off the rails, and you know, inevitably I would take notes. If they're going off the rails, and you know, inevitably I would take notes. You know the garbage wasn't taken out and it's overflowing in the bathroom and this and that and whatever the case may be, and I would write every one of them down on a piece of paper. I might not get to them all, but just the simple fact that I was writing them down was enough to, in most cases, make people feel better about the experience me, because we're together building an experience that's not just for them, it's for the next people that are coming in, it's for you when you come back next year and make them a part of the business as well, because that ownership is so, so useful, it's so genuine, and when somebody feels like they're part of something, that is when the experience turns into something that's great, because everybody has a hand in what we're doing right. So that pressure of being responsible for every guest's experience is very real and it was probably the biggest pressure for me and it's the one that I took it head on. And it's the one that I took it head on.
Speaker 1:It's very easy to sit up in the office and not go down and face people and just you know, see them in passing and say hi, you know, but you don't know what your business is doing, and that's not me and anybody that gets into this business. You can't be that person. You need to be a person that has your pulse on your business, which is in your dining room or in front of your guests, wherever that may be, and you need to understand what their desires are and how you can show them a wonderful experience. Isolation, man, that is a whole can of worms. I used to hire like two or three extra staff members at the beginning of the year because I knew I was going to lose two or three due to the fact that people don't understand what it's like to live on an island in the middle of the French river in tight quarters with this, the whole staff, um, it was a, a, a crazy dynamic. Um, you know, it's it, it just is what it is.
Speaker 1:And um, and the next was was burnout, and we called it the dog days, you know, like there's really. Once you get into, you know, opening in June and early July it's spring, and then you're into summer and you know the weather's changing, the water's getting warm, everything is new, you know. And then all of a sudden you hit mid to end of August and now you've been working for a lot of hours and you're starting to get annoyed with certain people because inevitably you're living with, you know, 18 people that you really don't know. It's just that burnout is a real thing and I had to manage burnout for myself, you know, and my staff especially, and giving staff days off and letting them go into North Bay or into town, getting away, making special meals for everybody. You know there were a lot of different things that we did to manage that burnout.
Speaker 1:And then there's relationship strain and I talked about it with me. But there's also a relationship strain between the staff members themselves and I used to have to have a talk at the beginning of the year and and basically tell like I mean, these are all grown adults that you're, you're working with young adults, but they're adults and, um, what happens in the staff quarters stays in the staff quarters and inevitably you would have young guys and girls hooking up and falling in love and breaking up and fights and crying and oh my God, I've said on a number of occasions I would have made as much money or more doing a reality television show behind the scenes. Like there was so much shit that went on back there. It was crazy, you know, and you know my staff handbook covered a lot of it. So there's relationship strain everywhere in a business like this, especially when you're isolated, especially when you've got a lot of people that don't know each other. They're young, they're full of love for lack of a better term and it's something that you actually, as an owner, have to manage. And I did that through the employee handbook. I did that through talking and educating staff before they got there, having a clear set out rules for situations. So that relationship strain thing is a big thing and it covers every aspect of every in every corner of the business, every corner of the business.
Speaker 1:And why passion must outweigh profit. That's very easy, because if profit all of a sudden takes precedent, then inevitably you are going to cut corners on everything else to meet those goals. And for me, in whatever business it was whether it was a sheet metal business and I gave a quote. Once I gave a quote, I didn't think about the cost of anything anymore. The job was now to do the job, and whether I made money or not wasn't the responsibility of the person that was paying me to do the job.
Speaker 1:I never went back and said, oh my God, material went up. This that I'm going to have to charge you extra Doesn't happen. Same with the lodge. I have a vision of the experience that I want to bring to the table, and that experience is subject to change depending on the person, but the price is the price. Whatever the week is, you set it up and you learn, so that the price is the price. I never thought about how much money I was making, who was paying what? Never, it was always experience Number one, and that it'll lead you to the promised land. It will lead you to the promised land. It will lead you to the promised land. You just need to be smart in your business. So there's some of the costs right there, and I'm just going to wrap this up with a few final thoughts and some reflections.
Speaker 1:The question that comes to mind, and a question that I fielded from a lot of different people, is would you do it again? And for me that's a great question Would I do it again the way that I did it? Would I do it again as in, I'm 33 years old again and I have to make that same decision again and I have to live the last two decades the way that I have? Absolutely, absolutely. It was, without a doubt, the best decision that I ever made. It was a very difficult decision. It was fraught with hardship in a lot of ways, but with that hardship comes extreme gratification and the people that I met and the experience and I'm going to be selfish the experiences that I had with all of you people out there who may be listening as Jodier guests were some of the best times of my life, having my family up there and my kids, and that's really what saved me and the business was the fact that the kids come up and and they loved it as young kids, you know, from the age of one.
Speaker 1:Violet was born after, after we owned the lodge um and and to to, when I sold it. They loved it. They loved coming up, being with the people and I loved it. I loved exposing my children to a business that they could see dad work, they could meet people. And, yes, 1,000%, I would do it again, even though a lot of things had to go right.
Speaker 1:Like I mean, financially, I was as strapped and stretched and it really shouldn't have been possible, have been possible. Like I, I went to extremes to to make it happen, um, and not only putting my, my home on the line. I had, um I, I had, um a loan against my parents' farm as well, or their house, um, so, like I mean, there it was, um, it was an experience that came with a lot of different emotion and I think that making it work and learning that when you set your mind to something and you don't give yourself another option other than to be successful, and seeing how that can unfold and seeing how the, the law of attraction, really works, um, that in itself was, um, was, was an amazing, was an amazing accomplishment, something that I am so very proud of to this day, and I'm so, so thankful and proud of all of the people that helped me do that, and that's everybody, from my wife and kids to my staff, aunt Heather and Uncle Barry and Grammy, and my mom and dad. Like they were there whenever I needed them to be there and they helped me unbelievably my so many friends, scotty Hamp I can't name them all, but that experience brought me so much closer to people like Aunt Beth and Uncle Barry and my family and my friends and all of the guests. 1000%, 100 million percent.
Speaker 1:I would do it again Now. Would I do it again now? It's a great question and I'm the way that I just don't know if, if, maybe when violets going to university, and if I could talk Melissa into doing something like that, maybe. But the one thing that I did learn is a lot of people, including myself, before I, before I bought a lodge. Always I heard you know I'm going to retire and buy a fishing lodge. I've been there, done it and I thank God that I didn't do that as a retirement job, because it's not for someone who's retired. I know the business now and I know variations of how I would do it so that it would be something enjoyable in retirement, not as labor intensive. A little bit more capital to put into something. Know the right thing, you know. So maybe, maybe in the future we may have, we may, you know, we may do something like that again, but you know what? That's just the way it is. Maybe maybe not, and I want to thank you all for listening up until this point Because you know, like the lodging business, um, where it's not all costs, I talked about the rewards that you get.
Speaker 1:Um, you guys are the same and just giving me, uh, a platform to reflect on a lot of this stuff is amazing and I really really appreciate each and every one of you. And if you enjoy diaries, leave a review. We really appreciate that. Share this with somebody. Someone may be dreaming of buying a lodge, you know it's something that is interesting to people. And thanks again, I really, really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:And, as always, head on over to fishingcanadacom. You can get in on all those free giveaways. Thank you to Anthony Mancini, our wonderful producer. I appreciate the magic that you make, anthony, and how well you make me. Sound and safe travels to Ange and the boys who are on our first shoot. I'm sitting this one out and looking very much forward to the next one, but they're headed up to Hawk Lake Lodge and stay tuned for an episode from Hawk Lake on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast. It's always wonderful. Thanks again, willie. Krista, I hope you get that Two Rivers Lodge all set up and ready to go. We know the costs now. Catch you later. Folks Love y'all. And thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 2:Stories of the hog. Since the day I was born, Bending my rock, stretching my line. Someday I might own a lodge and that'd be fine. I'll be making my way the only way I know how Working hard and sharing the North with all of my pals. Boy, I'm a good old boy. I bought a lodge and lived my dream. And now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems. Yeah, and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems.
Speaker 4:Yeah, back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision To amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
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Speaker 6:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast that's right. Every Thursday, Ange and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know, there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 4:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them. Where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 6:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors from athletes.
Speaker 4:All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing. To scientists. But now that we're reforesting and letting things freeze, it's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 5:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
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