Pursue an Alternative Career in Resort Management

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The author and his family have never regretted leaving their lives in the city to work on a country resort complete with orchards and cabins.
The author and his family have never regretted leaving their lives in the city to work on a country resort complete with orchards and cabins.
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Working as a resort manager/caretaker promotes a healthy lifestyle and days spent outdoors. 
Working as a resort manager/caretaker promotes a healthy lifestyle and days spent outdoors. 

My family and I had reached what appeared to be a dead end. We had spent years planning to move to the country, buy land, and build our own home . . . but found it impossible to save up enough money to finance our dream, especially since the cost of land here in California jumps yearly.

When we had just about given up on our back-to-the-land ambitions, however, some friends told us about an opening for a manager/caretaker of an older, 120-acre resort in northern California. Despite our lack of experience, the owners (who live 100 miles away) offered us the job.

That opportunity forced me to make a major decision: Should I quit my secure state job which had provided a livable income for 10 years to take a position that paid almost nothing? Even though most of my fellow workers thought I was crazy, I gave my notice, and two weeks later we moved.

Learn As You Go

Although my wife did have some business experience — and I could change a fuse and put a new washer in a faucet — we knew nothing at all about resort management. (We didn’t even own a pickup truck . . . and I was forced to haul away campground-sized loads of garbage in my VW bug!)

  • Published on Jul 1, 1979
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