How Lodge Owner Adam Trainer Is Scaling His Backcountry Snowmobiling Lodge (#94) — Transcript
Updated: Oct 26
THE PICTURE OF WEALTH · EPISODE 94
Dustin Serviss speaks with Grizzly Lodge owner Adam Trainer about building and scaling a remote snowmobiling destination. They explore financing, guest experience and the demands of operating a business in the backcountry.
Listen to the episode
This transcript was generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability. It may contain transcription or speaker-attribution errors. Refer to the recording for exact wording.
Chapters
[00:00:00] The leap to owning the lodge
[00:04:18] From lodge employee to owner
[00:09:06] Making remote operations work
[00:13:28] Who comes to Grizzly Lodge?
[00:17:58] Growth, demand and capacity
[00:21:54] Digital advertising versus print
[00:26:45] Reinvestment and family priorities
[00:31:31] A snow-bike recovery story
[00:35:36] Money decisions with a spouse
[00:40:00] One day at a time
Guest & resources
Related episodes
Transcript
[00:00:00] Adam Trainer: I firmly believe God had put me there for a purpose and a reason. And I said, God, if this is to go, it's in your hands because I've done everything I can to get money together to make this go, and, it came through.
[00:00:10] Dustin Serviss: Welcome to the Picture of Wealth or TPOW as we call it. I am your host, Dustin Service. Listener, that is the voice of Adam Trainor, who is the owner of Grizzly Lodge, which is a snowmobile resort in the middle of nowhere, yet it has five star chefs, hot tubs. It is an amazing experience for many people in the snowmobile scene. Now, as you can imagine, having a, you know, he mentions it, fifty kilometers away from Pavement Lodge in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter, the infrastructure and running a business, its staff is close to eight to ten people, and managing the elements,
[00:00:45] Dustin Serviss: managing wealthy individuals, managing guests get there, from many places not close to British Columbia. This is a good episode. He's got a number of good tips and tricks and, for business ownership and, and yet he's not a process driven person. So I I encourage you to to have a listen and glean some of the nuggets he has. And for any of the snowmobilers listening who've been declined for life insurance or had trouble getting life insurance due to snowmobiling, I am a fellow, snowmobiler... Regular snowmobiler, and I also own life insurance and have had multiple applications
[00:01:17] Dustin Serviss: and negotiated my way through, different scenarios and worked with insurers. So I can help you with that. Send me a direct message. I'm happy to, help you. So without further ado, let's get into the episode. Alright, listener. I want you to imagine driving about thirty five kilometers into the forest and then unloading your snowmobile and snowmobiling about twelve kilometers, maybe fifteen into the forest. And coming around, you know, the last corner before you approach a massive lodge in the middle of nowhere, lights on, huge vaulted ceilings, the hot tub going. This is an oasis in the middle of nowhere.
[00:01:54] Dustin Serviss: I've personally been to this lodge a couple of times, and I now have the honor and and the privilege, and I'm super excited to have the owner of Grizzly Lodge on the podcast today. And, Adam, thanks a lot for being on the show today.
[00:02:06] Adam Trainer: Hey, you betcha, Dustin. Super excited to, chat with you about this, and also thank you for being a client many times. We appreciate the support.
[00:02:15] Dustin Serviss: You're welcome. And hopefully I can get back soon. But the parallel and what's important to, you know, I think we should go back, actually before I was gonna go somewhere and I'm tangenting because this is an important story of the origin of Grizzly Lodge. And, you know, again, this is a wealth podcast, finance, money, business, success. There was, I'll say a lack of success at the start of Grizzly Lodge. So bring us up to speed with what Grizzly Lodge is. And I wanna dive a little bit into the story of, you know, two thousand and four, somebody had an idea to build this, and it didn't work out so well. So fill us in in that backstory.
[00:02:56] Adam Trainer: Yeah. So I mean, Grizzly Lodge as today is, what we consider, Western Canada or Canada's only backcountry snowmobile lodge where we cater exclusively to snowmobilers our entire season. And, you can't drive to it in a vehicle, so it's snowmobile access only, which makes it pretty cool as you kinda described. But, it was originally built in two thousand four by, several German businessmen who had a vision of doing a skiing operation out of it. And, unfortunately for them, I'm not exactly sure what all went wrong. But, by spring of two thousand five, they'd went bankrupt, and they managed to get the lodge built as far as the timber frame
[00:03:39] Adam Trainer: structure and whatnot. But, by two thousand five, it was, it was bankrupt and sat empty actually for a couple years before some friends of mine bought it off the bank and kinda had, the vision for, you know, maybe picking up the ski side of things as well as snowmobiling. But as retired or semi retired millionaires, they realized quickly this was gonna be a long haul with a lot of work. So that's where they brought me on board in two thousand seven to just start, working on the place. Being empty for a couple years, it needed a lot of work. People have been in there partying and destroyed a lot of things, and I
[00:04:18] Adam Trainer: was just stoked, to get a job working at this lodge in the middle of nowhere, with snow everywhere because I've been an avid snowmobiler since I was about seven, eight years old, and that was my passion. So dream come true to even get a job doing something like that. So from two thousand nine, these businessmen decided, it was time to hang it up. They bit off more than they wanted to chew, and they pitched me a deal to buy the lodge from them and start the business as we know it today as Grizzly Lodge. So I was twenty four years old at the time, and I said, heck no. I don't have the money, and this is scary. It's a big undertaking.
[00:05:00] Adam Trainer: But, they coaxed me on and said, no. It's either we board it up or you take a kick at it. So in two thousand nine, December first, the deal was done, and I kicked off Grizzly Lodge as we know it today.
[00:05:12] Dustin Serviss: Well, that's... I... There's so many places I could go with that, but I I, you know, risk management is something that we talk to clients a lot about. And where where do you think... Like, do you know, like, after going through building it up, where where do you think the risk was in in that? You know, I can think of a few things, but you were our boots on the ground. Like, what was what was the most unexpected in the process?
[00:05:37] Adam Trainer: Well, I, my main concern when when, signing the deal on this, was, you know, it's one thing to buy a business with with a set of books and some revenue that's happening. You go, okay. I can I can kinda see some light here or at least a direction, and that's not what I bought at all? I literally bought an empty building in the woods. Gorgeous building, still needed a lot of work. But, so for me, I... And not really any business experience. I I just knew how to work hard, and that's kinda what it needed at the time. So from a risk perspective, I... The risk was there's nothing here to to jump from as far as business goes. So,
[00:06:22] Adam Trainer: I I struggled the first several seasons on on scraping enough money together to just put some diesel in the tanks for the generators and pay some insurance. So year three was kinda a bit of a pivot point where it was like make or break. And, I kinda got to a point where I, you know, I I I firmly believe God had put me there for a purpose and a reason. And I said, God, if this is to go, it's in your hands because I've done everything I can to get money together to make this go. And, it came through. So that, you know, little by little, it was like a little more light, a little more light.
[00:06:58] Adam Trainer: A few more people came, a few more people came, and, it started to put some wind in sales.
[00:07:04] Dustin Serviss: I think it's important that we spend a couple minutes just because I I I know we've talked to where people might have a vision, you know, listener, if you have a vision of a cabin in the woods, it might be a ten by twenty cabin, other people might have been to other lodges and seen bigger structures in Europe, but paint us a picture of the infrastructure and what goes into day to day to get this, like this business. Like, I think I once you explained, I think a lot of people are gonna go, Oh my God, this Adam Trainor, he's freaking crazy. But, let let us let us have a little sample of what it takes to
[00:07:39] Dustin Serviss: run day to day and what the infrastructure looks like up in the forest.
[00:07:44] Adam Trainer: Yeah. So we'll start with the lodge. It's, approximately twelve thousand square feet between the basement floor, which is a full basement, and then the main floor where the main hall is and your dining area and all your rooms. And then there's an upstairs with another, row of rooms up there. So we accommodate twenty nine guests at a time, and we usually have eight to nine staff on at a time. So there's roughly thirty five ish, thirty six people, thirty seven sometimes, people up there. And, we're fifty k from pavement. So the majority, in fact, everything that we have to survive on their food, supplies, you name it, comes up a logging
[00:08:27] Adam Trainer: road about twenty k, thirty k, depending on where they're logging. And then up the snowmobile trail it goes, and we have a we have a pickup truck with tracks on it. We've got a Haglands track unit, which is a military track unit. So it's day to day now, I feel like, oh, it's just routine. Right? But, it's overwhelming if you stop and think about all the moving pieces just to have food on the table every night for thirty five plus people. And the the what ifs of, you know, if this breaks down, how do we manage that with no access with vehicles? So occasionally, we've had to use a helicopter.
[00:09:06] Adam Trainer: Occasionally, you know, we've had a twenty foot trailer behind our snow cat, hauling big equipment in and out on a set of skis I had made for it. It just... It it does... Even even for me, sometimes I just shake my head and go, how does this place run every day? But, I've... I've really, what's what's put me in a in a position of success many times is break it down, do what you need to do in that moment, in that day, in that week, in that month. Because I... So many times I just get overwhelmed, but I just back up and I go, okay. What do I need to be doing right now? And do that. And little by little, it just...
[00:09:45] Adam Trainer: It it breeds success when you just stop looking at the massive monster in front of you and just put your put your put your hammer, to work and, keep hitting every nail in front of you.
[00:09:56] Dustin Serviss: One thing that that, impressed me, so correct if I'm wrong, you've got, you know, exquisite food, rooms are very nice, you got hot tub, you've got waitresses, bartenders. You know, this is it. This is quite an infrastructure. So for a lot of listeners who are business owners, managing staff, you know, getting people to be excited about their business. How are you able season after season to get staff to... And maybe break down how... Like, with the staff, are they on shift? Do they leave every night? How how does that work?
[00:10:29] Adam Trainer: Yeah. So, the staff, especially in a hospitality type business like this is which... I mean, it's all about snowmobiling, but at the end of the day, we're in hospitality. So your... Our staff is... Are so key in just having the right ones. So they... The majority of them work, two weeks on, and they stay at the lodge for two weeks straight. They have a staff room in the basement, and then they get one week off. So the majority of them are on a two in one rotation, and then our chefs and the massage therapists, usually do two weeks on, two weeks off. So there's two of them each, and they just back each other up.
[00:11:05] Adam Trainer: So as far as recruiting staff and maintaining them, it's it's it's kinda cool now because the lodge has become very popular, and we actually don't struggle that much getting staff because there's so many, especially young people that just have seen it on Instagram, have watched the videos, or into the snowmobiling sport and just want to work at a fun place with the environment that we kind of, create and keep there. So the culture of the business, really seems to attract the right people and and keep them. And fortunately now for me as a business owner, I've got several staff that have been with us for many years.
[00:11:48] Adam Trainer: Lodge managers, seven, eight years. Another one, six years. Other ones, four and five. So we're really getting some continuity on just consistent good staff, and I I attribute that to a lot of the culture of of how we operate.
[00:12:01] Dustin Serviss: Yeah. No. That's, that's super important. And paint paint us a picture so the guests that are coming to stay at at this, you know, retreat, like, who who are they? And is this, you know, young person's, you know, thing or is, you know, the... I assume maybe not, you know, due to price points, but at the same time, it's great value for... As a as a guest. But who... Like, help me understand some of the stories that you hear from, you know, these people who have, you know, spent their hard earned money to be in this amazing experience. Like, what... Is there a vibe you you notice? Is there a a a sentiment or is there a type of person that
[00:12:41] Dustin Serviss: you that you, you know, have have recognized that are coming to the resort?
[00:12:46] Adam Trainer: Yeah. So it's it's... It has evolved for sure over the years. I mean, in the early days, it was primarily local ish BC people. But as as the business kinda started to grow and we realized we needed to market, to, further away, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, out east to down into the states, primarily because if you're from BC, you you might be great people and you love snowmobiling and you love the lodge, but it's not unique in that... It's kinda like going for a holiday in your backyard. Right? Whereas we found people were more appreciative and, more interested in coming longer, and spending more money when we marketed to, further away.
[00:13:28] Adam Trainer: So right now, majority of our clients are from Alberta East. We do have lots of... Or some, I'd say, some good BC clients still, but a lot of people travel at least, you know, ten, twelve, fourteen hours to get to the lodge. And now many are flying from Ontario. They'll fly into Kamloops or Kelowna, and we'll pick them up there and set them up with rental sleds and whatnot. But as far as the demographic goes, you're looking... I would say eighty percent of our clients are between thirty five and fifty five. And out of those, I'm gonna say maybe sixty percent roughly are business owners themselves.
[00:14:06] Adam Trainer: Typically, if they're successful, they've got a little more disposable income, and they've got the time that they can get away and, come out and enjoy it. So, I get a a lot of opportunities to sit down with, other business owners, and just chat life, And that's pretty cool to see these guys in in a relaxed atmosphere where they're they're cutting loose a little bit, and they can share kind of from where they're coming from.
[00:14:30] Dustin Serviss: Well, it's it's an interesting point because, you know, if they go back to you at twenty four, you know, you're... There's a lot of career paths you could have taken and you chose to take one. Did you know it was going to be that hard? Like, you could have taken a different one, but obviously, you recognize that the business failed with two groups of business owners with lots of dough and you roll in without dough, with a better passion, you know, was was that something that always kinda sat with you or was that just, you know, shit ass luck that you just kind of took it on or were you always like, you know what?
[00:15:03] Dustin Serviss: I'm not really into this for the money. I'm into this for blank.
[00:15:09] Adam Trainer: Yeah. I I certainly would not have, in my wildest dreams, thought when I started at twenty four that the business would be where it is today as successful and popular. There's there's just no way. My drive to take on the business was was pretty much my passion for snowmobiling. So that's... I I leaned on that pretty heavy. If I didn't care for snowmobiling, there's no way I would have taken it on, but the sledding was great. So I was like, you know, my worst case scenario was I went bankrupt at the time, and I think I had seven grand in the bank and a two thousand two Dodge pickup.
[00:15:48] Adam Trainer: And I was like, I can live with starting over at twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, whatever. Right? So it was my passion for sledding and just the ability to work hard. And I remember that we we used to have people come for one night, three, four, five guys. And they would come, and sometimes I would cook for them. Sometimes we'd have somebody there to help cook. And these people would come one night. I don't know. We were charging fifty, sixty bucks, something like that. And they would have such a riot and just leave with huge smiles on their face. And I remember thinking to myself, if they love it here
[00:16:23] Adam Trainer: and it's such a great time, there has to be more people. And that's where the the momentum started to build. I went, if they love it more, have to love it. And then more would come and they love them going, everybody that comes has this amazing experience here. And it wasn't it wasn't, like, plush like it is today. There was no hot tub. There was no, you know, gourmet food, but they still loved it. So that kinda gave me some energy to go, man, there's there's something here. The money isn't here yet, but I think we can do that.
[00:16:49] Dustin Serviss: How how important are process and system for day to day activity around the lodge?
[00:16:57] Adam Trainer: You know, now it's it's fairly important. I naturally myself am not a super organized detailed guy. I I I do most things in my head, and that's a personal growth, thing I'm working on is becoming more organized, becoming more detailed, because as the business grows, it just requires that. So, as I was told early on from another business owner, he said never be afraid to hire up. Don't ever be afraid to hire somebody that's better than you in certain areas or smarter than you in certain areas. So I took that to heart, and, I've always been, really keen about hiring people for the positions, that I'm not great at.
[00:17:38] Adam Trainer: And, fortunately for me, I've got some really good staff on hand right now. Tom, my lodge manager, he's an ultra, you know, detailed system process type guy, and, he makes it happen. So that's that's big thing for me is surround yourself with, with people where you got some weak spots.
[00:17:58] Dustin Serviss: That's, yeah. It's such a good point to make. And I think that, you know, if you had to to narrow it down where, you know, obviously, businesses go in sort of a growth, then there's maybe a plateau, then a growth. What has been sort of one thing that sort of launched you guys into... Or maybe go back to the older days if it's slower growth now, but but that, you know, really sort of... You know, again, just for for listeners, to get into the to the camp, correct me if I'm wrong, Anna, but it's very hard to get in. You need to find a hole in the schedule, book your dates, and then
[00:18:28] Dustin Serviss: before you leave, you gotta book those dates for next year or else you're probably not gonna get in because it's full. So, you know, we're talking about significant bookings, but that didn't happen overnight. So was there a... There was one thing or one, was it the hot tub? Was it, you know, like, improving the trail? Like, what was it that got, you know, a bump up in sort of out of a plateau?
[00:18:51] Adam Trainer: Yeah. There's cup... Couple of things that that jumped to mind right away is first off, in two thousand ten, I had Snowmobiler TV come up, which is an outfit out of, out east. And, they shot a, it was like a three to five minute, promo video, of the lodge, kind of what we were doing there, the food, the sledding, what was going on, had some client, interviews. And, that also came with a front, cover page, ad in their magazine. And that was, I believe it came out in two thousand eleven when the show aired, and, we hit the front page of the magazine. That was a big launch that, I didn't anticipate how many people
[00:19:32] Adam Trainer: that covered and how many people were sitting Sunday morning watching their snowmobile or TV and went, hey, that looks cool. I wanna go there. So we got we got a good bump that following season of people that deemed that advertisement. They love the video, the interviews. That was the first kinda... First bump in in bookings and and popularity. And then it was a couple years later, world renowned, arguably still one of the best snowmobilers in the world, Chris Brandt, ended up up in BC here for a deal, with, Polaris dealership. And they brought him up to the lodge for a day ride to ride
[00:20:09] Adam Trainer: with some clients as it was kinda out of the way, and they didn't want, you know, hundreds of people chasing Chris Brandt around. So Chris and I met. We rode together a bit, and we hit it off right away. And Chris said, man, this is so cool. We need to talk business. So in the in the following year, we started, Brandt's Backcountry Adventure at Grizzly Lodge. And, if you know anything about Chris Brandt, the guy's got huge reach in the snowmobile community, and they started coming up and doing a couple weeks in December and a week in April. And through their social media and marketing, they were just hammering the content out for us.
[00:20:43] Adam Trainer: And that was another massive big bump, putting us on the kind of on the snowmobile stage per se where we've just seen so many people new new faces coming, because they'd seen us through that exposure.
[00:20:56] Dustin Serviss: Well, it's a ton of exposure. I actually sadly, was booked for two, years in a row to be riding with them, but due to COVID, it didn't happen, but we still
[00:21:04] Adam Trainer: Right.
[00:21:05] Dustin Serviss: Stayed with you guys. So,
[00:21:07] Adam Trainer: hopefully he
[00:21:07] Dustin Serviss: comes back at some other time. So, Chris, if you're listening, let's get it together.
[00:21:14] Adam Trainer: Yeah. Let's let's
[00:21:14] Dustin Serviss: make it happen. One thing that's, that's new for business owners, and again, lots of people are, embracing it. Some people are still slower to the game. I would consider myself slower to the game, but social media for your business, it's a real thing. And, and how how are you guys using it or what... What's sort of been working to to get that that awareness, on social media and more... I'm asking, sort of, do you do it? But how much time it takes to create content that I hear a lot of business owners, oh, I know I'm supposed to do, you know, social media, but I'm just too tired to just keep shooting videos or I don't have
[00:21:49] Dustin Serviss: the knack or whatever. But what what do you guys do?
[00:21:54] Adam Trainer: Yeah. So we do use it a lot. I'm I'm kinda old school myself, but I I definitely recognize its value. And, I kinda started seeing the value in it, probably five, six, seven years ago when we were paying, you know, two thousand dollars for a print ad in a magazine. And, you know, the magazine would run once and that was that. Right? And then I discovered, you know, Facebook, ads and Google AdWords and for, you know, a couple hundred dollars, the reach you can gain, to very direct, demographic of people. I... We just seen immediate, bookings come from, you know, a couple hundred dollars investment versus a couple thousand. Right?
[00:22:36] Adam Trainer: So that that kinda got me on, okay, maybe I don't like social media, maybe I don't like doing the digital stuff, but you can't argue with the results. And as a business owner, dollars and cents. Right? So we've went that route primarily. We don't have a dedicated social media person, so it's kind of a conglomeration of of staff that contribute to it and honestly we could certainly improve because it it does consume time especially keeping the content fresh and, you know, interesting. But it's in this day and age for who you can reach and the cost it takes you to reach that potential client, hands down. You'd be crazy not to be doing it.
[00:23:17] Dustin Serviss: Yeah. I one hundred percent agree. One thing I wanna circle back to is, you know, you're... You've been... It's a decade of being immersed with wealthy people, having wealthy connections and visiting, you know, again, Fireside, Bierside, Scotchside, whatever you wanna say, you're visiting the people. What, you know, I ask it a couple of different ways, but if you think of like the five richest guests, you know, do you think or feel like they were the five wealthiest guests, you know, and if not, then where where... What do you see as a as a a picture of wealth?
[00:23:53] Adam Trainer: You know, I can't I can't say definitively, but I'm gonna talk a little more generally on some of the... What I would consider most, you know, the richest people I've met there, and there's been some very successful people there. And I hear a consistent theme from many of them, not all of them, but many of them say, man, I wish I would have spent more time with my kids when they were younger. I wish I would have had more time for my family over the last twenty years. And these guys are, you know, average fifty, maybe as old as sixty, some as young as forty, and money is no issue. They can afford anything they want in the world, basically.
[00:24:36] Adam Trainer: And I I hear them talk about their regrets as far as their personal lives and especially their families. So when I think about wealth, although money is great to have per se, I think about my family. I like my kids, my wife, and I wanna spend time with them. So for me, wealth... I've I've been taking the the benefits of my business. And over the past three, four, five years or so, I've really been working on hire more staff, hire the right people for the right places so I can be freed up more to have more time with my kids and my family. So I don't think, by any means I could say the
[00:25:17] Adam Trainer: richest people I've met coming through our business and wonderful people, but I wouldn't say they're the wealthiest by any means. And it's primarily a product of just chasing that that big dream of of a lot of money. And many of them when they've got there, I went, man, I've missed out on so much other valuable things that you can't necessarily buy directly with money.
[00:25:39] Dustin Serviss: Here's something that my wife and I have been talking about lately is, you know, if you're not stretching, you know, your your sort of mind to make... Let this make more money. But if you're not stretching your mind to sort of expand or grow, then, you know, if you didn't have those thoughts and feelings ten years ago, then you wouldn't have the program you have today. So I hear the same thing, you know, again, we deal with lots of wealthy people and, lots of people over fifty five It's older business and you'll look back. But what I think is hard to quantify is you're you forget certain
[00:26:12] Dustin Serviss: things along the way, and then you remember little pieces of what's kind of present at that moment. So when you're older, you know, maybe you're not seeing your kids as much cause they got their own kids and they're busy and so you're missing them. And so then you kinda have these thoughts creep in. So, I'm trying to quantify now, especially as a, you know, forty one year old go getter type person who has young kids that, you know, yes, you know, you know, doing that family time is, is super important and fun. And how do you get that balance is such an overused word, but how do you get that, that, that feeling if you're
[00:26:45] Dustin Serviss: an entrepreneur, that feeling of excitement and growth and stretching your mind, whether it's, you say, I'm gonna tic neck or I'm gonna do whatever, but then recognize, you need to be in touch with family. So you touched on a little bit that you're pouring money back into you know, the lodge and staff. You know, you mentioned you're not really a process person, but is it like very methodical of like this much goes for, you know, Adam and, and your wife, or is it more just like, oh, you know, we we got some extra money and the staff are all good. We'll invest a bit or we'll pay down debt or whatever your your ideas are.
[00:27:22] Adam Trainer: Yeah. I would say it's it's definitely looser because I'm not that structured of a guy. But, it was about four years ago or so. I remember having, some drinks with a client at Christmas time, and him and his wife were there. And, he had said, so how many hours, you know, approximately are you working a day right now? And I said, well, roughly eighteen, sometimes twenty. It's just the, you know, busy time of year in December. We're just getting things rolling. It snows a lot. The road needs graded, snow capped, this, that. And they're looking at me like, you're crazy. Like, you can't do that forever. And I'm like, I know.
[00:28:02] Adam Trainer: It's just I don't have somebody to do these things, and I'm the capable guy. Right? But I remember it was kinda that moment where I'm like, I... It was a bit of a kick in the pants of, like, you you have to stop and think about this. It's got... Your business has to be sustainable because if it's not sustainable, I mean, you're just gonna burn out and it's not gonna be good for you or your family. So that was kind of a turning point for me where I was like, I know this business is making money. I know we're we're paying our debt down, but I, I need to invest more in additional staff to cover these hours in the
[00:28:35] Adam Trainer: day that I really shouldn't be working. So that's kinda where that started. And and with that over the past, say, four years or so, aside from the bumps with COVID, you know, hiring more staff hasn't actually affected my, you know, net income at the end of the year. In fact, it's grown. So that's that's been encouraging because I was I was worried about, like, man, I want my financials to look good. I really want my financials to go look good. One day, I might wanna sell my business and I I... In the back of my mind, I was like, I don't wanna screw up the books. Right? But I'm learning that, you know, just because you you spend more on
[00:29:11] Adam Trainer: staff or investments doesn't necessarily mean that's gonna, you know, affect your... The value of your business in in its books.
[00:29:19] Dustin Serviss: Yeah. I think we're we're still, and we're, you know, roughly the same age. I think in our age group, we're in such short increments. You know, I hear it from investment people. I wanna invest, but I wanna double my money next year. It's like, well, that's that's that's not usually how wealth, you know, is created, but it... It's the same with with numbers. And you don't really know, you know, I always like the analogy, like, well, like you said, if I am, you know, profitable, I'm saving a bit of money. If I saved none and we were still sort of net profitable, but we had two more staff, then those staff would
[00:29:53] Dustin Serviss: have to really not be doing much to make the business a bit better. Because someone would make a system better. Someone would make the experience better than more word-of-mouth. And so just kind of like, but you've got to take the plunge. Like I always say to people, why don't you just take Fridays off? And then they'll say, well, no, I couldn't like, there's this thing, all these different excuses. And then my next line is, there's never going to be an email that comes in and says, you are approved to take Fridays off. You just literally have to do it. And then everything else fills in, which it sounds like you're you're doing right now.
[00:30:27] Dustin Serviss: Because, yeah. Plus the the uncertainty of, you know, the risk of all the different moving parts. And, Yeah.
[00:30:37] Adam Trainer: Well, just to add to that quickly there, the other thing I've noticed it does is when as a business owner, you step back a little bit and you give your staff some room to do their jobs, as business owners, I think often we always think we're the best person to accomplish things, and that's part of entrepreneurs. That's part of who we are, but that's what makes us do what we do. But at the same time, I've I've witnessed it over the past several years now with me doing less and allowing my staff to do more and just trusting with some stuff. They take more ownership, and I... I've got a few examples of stories we...
[00:31:13] Adam Trainer: If we have time later of where, it's actually been better for the business to have them doing some of the work and, making some of the decisions than myself. And that's humbling, but, also very encouraging.
[00:31:27] Dustin Serviss: Well, let let a story rip right now. We got time. So what is the So three that stands out
[00:31:31] Adam Trainer: because Here here's a here's a quick, yeah. Yeah. Quick quick little story on, so I... Probably a couple years ago, something like that, some clients there on snow bikes. Snow bike breaks down. They managed to get it down off the mountain, dragging it on its side and trying to ride it out and whatnot. They get to the lodge. I'm not there. I have, one of my right hand men, Taylor. He's there, and then Lisa's working in the office. And they said, hey, can we, can we borrow a toboggan, and, haul our sled down to the parking lot and just leave the toboggan there. And Taylor said, well, you can't board. I can rent it to you.
[00:32:11] Adam Trainer: It'll be two hundred bucks. You know, go ahead.
[00:32:14] Dustin Serviss: And I
[00:32:14] Adam Trainer: said, two hundred bucks? Like, are you crazy? Like, we just need to use it to go down the trail thirty k to their trucks. And he said, well, you know, here's the deal. I've got x amount of staff here, and I gotta send one of them back down the trail later to pick this toboggan up. There's fuel in the sled. There's time. He's gone. Who knows if the sled's gonna get broken on its way down there because it's not really meant for hauling a snow bike. Here's the price, and we'll help you, like, by all means, we'll help you, but it's gonna cost you something. And the client said, okay. Yeah. No. Not a problem.
[00:32:45] Adam Trainer: They got their bike down, they were thrilled, they were happy, and we got our toboggan back, nothing was broken. The client was happy, and we made a couple hundred bucks that I would have never done myself because I went, oh, Jim or Bob or whoever it was, yeah, don't worry about it, go for it. We'll figure it out later, we'll pick up the pieces wherever it gets left, and, you know, I would just suck it up. And my staff, they're like, this is a business, we'll help people, and sometimes they make, you know, generous, gestures to help people out without charging, but when it... When they see necessary that, like, hey, no, we we have to run this
[00:33:20] Adam Trainer: like a business. They do a fabulous job, and sometimes I'm weak in that going, oh, we'll just help them. But I'm like, man, these staff see that like, they gotta make a paycheck and they see how that paycheck's made. So it's cool to see them take some ownership and go, no, no, we we can handle this and we can still keep the customers happy without always cleaning up the mess later on the boss said, oh, just let it go.
[00:33:44] Dustin Serviss: Well, I think that is, and and the snow wheel industry is a bro, thing and we, you know, we help each other out, you know, fresh off last weekend, you know, AST two, Avalanche course, and you know, everyone just, you know, that industry, the the other company I went with, it was great, but it was very... Somewhat loose. But if you think of what it's like, this... These are businesses, you know, where it's not suit and tie businesses, but at the same time, there... There's... People are are willing to pay, and it's, you know, that line of, you know, not... You're not part of the bro club because you're not helping me out.
[00:34:15] Dustin Serviss: But at the end of the day, if a person can articulate, hey, like, you're probably a business owner. You understand? I I can't I can't do that for free. And you have limited staff. So it's Yeah.
[00:34:28] Adam Trainer: You know,
[00:34:28] Dustin Serviss: it's totally, a balance. What, one... Give us a snapshot just as a a closing sort of comment. You know, you and your wife work together. Correct?
[00:34:40] Adam Trainer: Actually, she doesn't work in the business per se at all. We have, three little boys, two, four, and six. Actually just turned seven. So she's a very busy stay at home mom and actually homeschooling as well, one of them. So, there's no extra time per se for work outside of the home.
[00:35:00] Dustin Serviss: So if you know, you as a hard charging business owner, some of the concepts we talk about as spouses and your partner, money and yourself is a is a dynamic and, interesting three way. But for you guys, you know, you're running, you know, the business. How do you manage or attempt to try and keep the family life happy and also stay focused on the business. Is there any tools, tricks, hacks, books you've read, anything that sort of has been a breakthrough on, you know, managing, you know, the... It could be the business. It could be, you know, you wanna get a new snow cat and she's more conservative on the money side.
[00:35:36] Dustin Serviss: And she says, can't believe you're gonna spend two hundred thousand on that. How do you work and stay fluid and efficient with your spouse and the business and your money?
[00:35:50] Adam Trainer: Yeah. So in in our marriage and our business, we weren't married when I started the lodge in two thousand nine. We met later and we're married in twenty fourteen. So the business was semi under underweight when we got married. And fortunately, through our relationship, she has trusted me to handle all business, transactions and decisions as far as money goes. We talk about it, but, she always supports me in any of those type of decisions. So we never, that I can think of, have any arguments about how we're going to operate the business on a financial side. And it's worked...
[00:36:35] Adam Trainer: Honestly, I think it's been very good because I have business owner friends that, are not able to operate like that. And it's challenging because, it's your wife and you obviously wanna keep that relationship good. So we've kept that separate, and I think that's really helped, me as a business owner to just make confident decisions without second guessing myself on, you know, is this gonna cause a a fight with my wife because I know she has my back and she trusts my decisions. So that's that's kinda how we've managed to keep that side of it. And then on the the time side, the struggle for me is... And I've said it.
[00:37:07] Adam Trainer: We've discussed it, several times, me and my wife is. Sometimes I wish I just had a a nine to five job because, at nine o'clock, daddy's supposed to be at work. If he's not at work, he might lose his job. When you're a business owner, there's no nine to five. There's no, well, I have to be gone. So that's a... That's been a struggle for me as far as managing that side of it where it's like, well, can you stay home an extra day? Well, yeah, I can. Will it end the business? No. But... So that's that's been a real challenge for me just personally, and she's very good about it. But it's always hard to...
[00:37:43] Adam Trainer: Like, when you say no, could have you said yes? Well, in many times, I could have. So I'm still working on, my personal growth on that side of things as far as managing, you know, when is it key that I I have to be gone and when can I be flexible? And I... I'm... I imagine a lot of business owners maybe feel that same weight of just, it's... You're the you're the boss. You... All the decisions run through you. So when you're having to say yes or no to your wife and kids, that's that's tough because they know that there's not somebody telling you that you have to be somewhere doing something.
[00:38:15] Dustin Serviss: That's right. Yeah. It's very hard to articulate, or or quantify, you know, well, if I didn't work today, then three guests aren't gonna come next month. You know? Exactly. You can't really do... You know, if you don't come forever, then, yeah, it would go negative. But, yeah, I I think I just... I'm just doing my twenty twenty three calendar. It's stuck up on the door, you can't see, but it's basically I've blocked out, you know, everything, right down to kids hockey games and hockey practices. And, you know, I've realized I can't go to every single one. You've got sometimes you got meeting and so coming to grips with okay, being
[00:38:56] Dustin Serviss: aware of that, if I can't go to everyone, well, if I drove him to school for five days in a row, can I make up some of that time? Or, you know, really utilizing... Because again, as a business owner, you you maybe don't make time for family trips or you don't, allocate, but, you know, you can. And if you think about it far enough in advance, you know, it's it's easier to do than... So now is it, this podcast is coming out in December, now's a great time to start mapping out twenty twenty three and looking at what are the things that that are important to you? What are the things that are of value to you?
[00:39:32] Dustin Serviss: What are the things that, if you looked at back and said, man, that was such a great year, I did X. And putting them down and tracking them. So, Adam, thanks. Thanks a lot for being on the show. Is there any, any other things you'd wanna, you know, teach the business owner community or the SLED community that you're excited about, or that has been a breakthrough, or for anyone who wants to start a lodge?
[00:39:57] Adam Trainer: You
[00:39:57] Dustin Serviss: know? Any parting comments?
[00:40:00] Adam Trainer: I I I think my my mantra over the years, and I may have highlighted this a little bit as we chatted here, has been one day at a time. And and that can be for business owners, that can be for your personal life. But in in in the business world, many days are overwhelming. But I've always woke up in the morning, and I think to myself, what do I need to do today? And it doesn't mean I don't have long term plans or think about, like, planning ahead and those type of goals, but many times to keep mentally strong and on point, it's what do I need to do today. And then I go to bed, and I wake up the next morning, and I say the same thing.
[00:40:38] Adam Trainer: And that, that's that's got me through. So yeah, chase chase your passions and take it one day at a day... One day at a time, and you'd be amazed what can happen. Tony Robbins says, most people underestimate what they can accomplish in ten years, but overestimate what they can accomplish in one. So be patient. You'd be amazed where you can be in ten years.
[00:41:02] Dustin Serviss: Well, the lodge is definitely a testament to that. And, you know, where can people find more information on the lodge, on the things you guys are offering, where do we find you?
[00:41:13] Adam Trainer: You betcha. So w w w dot grizzlylodge dot ca is our website. And then at grizzly lodge on Instagram, and Grizzly Lodge Buki Ashen Mountain on Facebook. Those are kind of our primary channels. If you haven't been to the lodge, you need to give it a shot. It's a once in a lifetime experience, and snowmobiling is what gets you there, but you come back for the experience. That's what many many of our guests find. They... After after a couple trips there, they go, we don't even care about the sledding. That's why we're here, but we just love the experience of the lodge, the food, the staff, and we love hosting people. So we'd love to have you.
[00:41:50] Dustin Serviss: It is, very, very true and, definitely a bucket list item. And you'd say, okay. Well, if I was, you know, you went to Grizzly Lodge a couple times and you had, you know, x amount of dollars less in your bank account, at the end of the day, would that have been a great experience instead of having more money in your bank account and no experience? That's a great, great way to finish on what is wealth and, I look forward to our next podcast, Adam, and maybe, we could do problem solving one on one with equipment and sleds, and I'm sure that you got lots of stories, there as well.
[00:42:22] Adam Trainer: Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks for your time, Dustin.
[00:42:25] Dustin Serviss: You're welcome. Cheers. Thank you for tuning into this episode. If you enjoyed the show, please like and rate the show. Share with a friend or use your new knowledge in your next conversation. If during the show something gave you a pang of inspiration, motivation or sense of uncertainty, act on it now. Get the clarity you're looking for. Find the permission you seek. Go to service wealth dot com to discover how others are learning how to take Fridays off or buying a recreation property or spending more money. If you're an organizer of an event where you believe my philosophy on finance
[00:42:56] Dustin Serviss: lifestyle design would be applicable, go to service wealth dot com and book me as a speaker at your next event. If you want a copy of our new book coming out soon, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook and we will be sure to get you a first copy.