Two whole years. Two years of imagining, creating, loving, and dreaming — not to mention the truly around-the-clock work — that came to a screeching halt just days before shovels were scheduled to break ground, turning our big dreams into our new reality! It was the 2020 pandemic that hit and brought with it a full stop to the construction of our dream business. To say that it was painful would be a tragic understatement. It nearly broke us in every sense of the word.
Working with your spouse is not for every couple, but for us, it’s all we’ve ever even known. In addition to running A Life Story Foundation, the nonprofit organization that I created 8 years ago when I was diagnosed with ALS, we knew we needed something that would not only give us something outside the world of ALS but something that would create a livelihood for us. And something that would allow us to move out of my parents’ house!
After we were engaged in November of 2017, we immediately discovered that there was a massive need for a great, stylish, and affordable venue in our area! We were not country club people and we were definitely not hotel ballroom people either. What about a beach wedding at any of the stunning sandscapes that are all over Sarasota, Florida? Umm, yeah, my 250 lb. power wheelchair would be a teeny tiny problem!
As they say, most successful businesses start with the solution to a painful problem, and the lack of the “ideal” venue for us sparked an idea. We spent our nights talking and searching for what would become Monroe Manor! A refined rustic barn, specifically designed for weddings and events. It would be the perfect blend of our two lives. My refined, city-loving style and her rural tastes that came from her childhood in Farmville, Ohio. Monroe Manor, named after our daughter, Elliott Monroe, was it! It was perfect!
Shay was actually a wedding planner before she was a charter captain on Lake Erie, and I had spent the majority of my twenties in the hospitality industry while living in NYC. She would oversee the construction and I would get to handle the design and brand creation.
We found a new venue in Texas that was exactly what we wanted. After a short period of online stalking — I mean research — we contacted the venue. We explained our situation and presented them with an offer to buy the architectural plans. After a little negotiating, we reached an agreement. The entire process moved swiftly, and we had our barn! Now, all we needed was the land!
Back to the Internet, we went! How many acres would we need? What does an acre of country land cost? And more importantly, how the hell were we going to afford it?
We quickly started driving and driving, exploring any viable option we found! We would find something online and hop in the van. Me, my caregiver, and my pregnant wife. What could go wrong?
After almost a year of looking, falling in love, and just as quickly, losing properties to cash buyers over and over, we found the perfect piece of property! It was closer to the interstate and hotels, which most of the previous properties were not. The sellers were a sweet retired couple that owned an adjacent parcel. We instantly connected with them and shared our vision. And they became our biggest fans!
Everything was coming together! We might just actually make this work. We were able to finance 90% of the purchase price of the lot with some help from my parents. We worked together day and night, coming up with the business model and the plan to make it a reality. Oh, I forgot to mention that during this time, I went into respiratory failure and flatlined on my way to the hospital. After nine days in the ICU and a tracheotomy, it was right back to work. That is until Elliott was born!
Looking back now, I don’t know how the hell we did it. But we just kept going. Once the business plan and the projects were finalized, it was time to raise the capital to actually build Monroe Manor. We talked to banks, finance executives, restaurateurs, really anyone that would listen. We had a really unique concept that was on paper, a cash cow!
We pitched the business to far more people than I can remember. It was an incredible life lesson on the daily. Somehow between pitch dinners in our home town to conference rooms in Detroit, we had raised enough capital to get a small construction loan.
This was going to be life-changing. It could create generational wealth. We would be cornerstones of the community and it would have nothing to do with ALS. We would most certainly spark the wedding industry and the world of entrepreneurs!
We closed on the construction loan. Permits were pulled, we could hear the wedding bells! But those sweet sounds started to sound like rumbling thunder off in the distance right around Elliott’s second birthday.
First, it was some strange calls from the sweet retired couple that still lived behind the property. They were actually selling their home. We had even talked to them about renting it for a year, after which point we would buy it.
The skies started filling with clouds that matched the thunder. But this time it was the Coronavirus pandemic! Was this thing really going to happen? Quarantine? No way! This is not a movie! It was almost mid-March. We were already getting requests to book dates for Fall 2020.
There were already stakes in the ground! We were so close!
Then, professional sports started to postpone games. Different parts of the country were exploding with new cases every day! The term “social distancing” became as common as handshakes used to be. We were glued to the TV. The cable news networks were on all day. The cases continued to grow, as did our doubts about building a 5000 square foot place whose sole purpose was to house large groups of people for social gatherings.
Remember the strange calls from our sweet neighbors? It’s important to mention that those calls weren’t to us. They were to our bank and the other surrounding property owners! For some unknown reason, they completely flipped their position from being our biggest cheerleaders to the quintessential mean girls. They were forming a coalition to block Monroe Manor! We were completely blindsided and crushed.
It was decision time. We were not under any type of legal obligation to stop, but they could make our lives a living hell. Plus, the pandemic was growing stronger every hour. It was a violent storm of emotions that were in every fiber of our lives. When you’re an entrepreneur, especially in a family business, there’s no such thing as operating hours. That fact was never more evident.
The decision to stop everything from moving forward was the right action. It bloody hurt! But the pandemic has been going strong for nearly four months in the United States. It has created change in every aspect of business and life in general. We are a couple that is full of faith and understand that sometimes it’s necessary to give in, and just ride out the storm to get to a better day. It turns out that it was truly a blessing in disguise that the “sweet” neighbors turned out to be Satan.