From Healthcare to Real Estate: Key Lessons Learned

Stephen Schmidt (00:03.361)
Welcome back to the show where we interview the nation’s leading real estate entrepreneurs I’ve got a special treat for you guys today Welcome back if you’re joining us for a second third or hundredth time and welcome if it’s your first time This is about to be a regular on your podcast docket I’ve got Amy Schaal in the house and we are gonna be talking all things real estate today Amy and her partner David have a very colorful background

I would say in all different types of business ventures and primarily have been real estate investors for over the last 10 years, but they’re also in restaurants, commercial properties, Airbnbs, and we’re going to go all over today. just remember before we get started at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, and real estate entrepreneurs, two to five X their businesses, which allows them to build the businesses they’ve always wanted to allow them to live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. that being said, Amy, welcome to the show today.

Amy (00:54.921)
Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

Thank you

Stephen Schmidt (00:57.793)
I know. You bet. Did I get your last name right? is Schaal, right? sweet.

Perfect, all right. I realized as soon as I hit record, I was like, I should ask if I’m gonna pronounce this right or not, but we rolled with it. So Amy, tell us a little bit for our listeners sake, give us a little bit of background on you and how you got here.

Amy (01:09.837)
All good.

Amy (01:20.455)
Yeah, so I actually have a degree in math, which is not at all real estate related, but I used to work in the healthcare industry and data analytics and statistics and just got into real estate investing because initially had a house that I thought my mom

could live in, so rented it out before my mom was ready to move into it. And that kind of started the bug. Since then, my partner David and I have invested in various properties throughout Wisconsin. And I’ve taken over managing all the real estate. He manages all of the restaurants. And he also is a rock star. So he manages all of the rock star stuff.

And for investing for me, I’m always curious. I’m a constant learner. whatever books, podcasts, courses, master classes I can take on any of that, I do. So that’s kind of how I got here.

Stephen Schmidt (02:31.749)
That’s awesome. Now, so where are you at now with your portfolio? Let’s talk about some of the properties that you’ve got, because you’re super passionate about where you’re at in Wisconsin being a real big tourist zone during the summer times. And so you’ve got kind of a blend of your real estate on top of the businesses that you all own. so tell us a little bit about what you what you guys are excited about investing in, what you see for the future. And let’s just roll from there.

Amy (02:43.147)
Mm-hmm.

Amy (02:48.808)
Yeah.

Amy (02:57.778)
Yeah, for sure. So I’ll just start. We our first investment short term investment property was in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. So we live just outside of Lake Geneva in a cute little town called Williams Bay, Wisconsin. I’m from Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin. just I think it’s I think it’s the best state. I went to college in DC, but I love I love love love Wisconsin. So kind of

Bringing tourists into the places that we love has always been something that’s important to us. But our first investment was in Lake Geneva. There is a pizza restaurant that was opened. It was completely rehabbed. it was about four years ago that there was a building. It used to be a cabinet shop and a hairdressing studio. So it was zoned commercial. And we just decided to give that a shot and open an Airbnb.

And it’s been, was, you know, that first we had a property manager, I was working and it, just, it, we decided, I decided that I could take it over and learn about short-term rentals. had, at that point I had a couple of long-term rentals in Racine, Wisconsin, which is another town, which I’ll get into that I love. But we started here, was Zone Commercial and really became successful.

And one of the things that we just that really when when we opened our first short-term rental, we decided it’s very important to number one source as much as possible from the local community, you know, furniture, decor, any of that, any of that is really important for us to kind of infuse whatever is happening locally into that space. So that is called the Lighthouse of Lake Geneva.

It has a really big parking spot. You walk in, it’s coastal modern, it’s beautiful, it’s amazing. From there, we decided to, at that point, there was a restaurant in Monaco, Wisconsin, another, which is four hours north, it’s the Northwoods, and there was a restaurant there. We bought another building that was, it was an old hotel, and it needed a lot of rehab.

Amy (05:23.901)
So we made four upper units. One is for our J-1 visa workers who were working at the restaurant at the time. And then three short-term rentals. And then on the first floor, there are three commercial units. So we had a big investment in Managua and then those started to really do well. All the short-term rentals, they were doing well, except the restaurant wasn’t doing well at all.

So it was, we decided to close the restaurant, put that gorgeous building on the market and it just wasn’t selling. wasn’t, you know, people, there were some lower offers, but this building, was built by the Masons. It’s a historic building. It is at the end of town, right on the lake. Anybody who’s been to the Northwoods, there’s crazy Northwoods magic. You see pine trees, bald eagles.

River Otters, it’s the most beautiful place. And we decided to that, you know, leaving a building like that, that’s so beautiful, really a pillar of the town. We can change the dynamic of a town based on what we do with this building. You know, if we let it sit, if we let it, you know, kind of come over, overgrow with weeds or, you know, have some broken windows or

Stephen Schmidt (06:39.717)
Hmm.

Amy (06:49.818)
you know, just kind of let people park and do whatever there. What does that, Monac was a very small island city with a, you know, really great downtown, but there’s, you know, we have a responsibility where we can change this city into a beautiful destination place. So we decided to, you know, we also have this line, fortune favors the bold. So we decided to just,

go for it and open a supper club on the first floor in the craziest lodge you’ve ever seen in your life on the second floor. We made that decision, I think it was two years ago. We were talking at home and over a bottle of wine and then we decided to drive up the next day and we sat and looked over the lake, the beautiful lake and decided let’s do this.

So that, so simultaneously, I always have had a love for A-Frames. And there was A-Frame that came on the market in Lake Geneva, so we bought that. so simultaneously, we were opening a supper club, this crazy lodge, an A-Frame, and then a Mexican restaurant in Kenosha, Wisconsin. So we kind of had all these things. And I forgot to mention that,

As I mentioned before, I have a love for the city of Racine, Wisconsin. That’s another place we wanted to invest. feel like that downtown needed some, needed some love. So we bought a building there where there’s two short-term rentals on the top and then one, one restaurant on, the, on the first floor, which is a beautiful restaurant. It’s not one that we operate, but it’s, it’s, it’s a delicious, amazing restaurant. So the past year.

we’ve been kind of pouring a lot into this Northwoods Lodge, into the A-Frame in Lake Geneva, and then the Mexican restaurant in Kenosha, and the Supper Club in Managua. And now the Mexican restaurant is open, the A-Frame is open, and the Lodge is open, and the Supper Club is gonna open next week. So we’re at this really exciting point where all of the…

Amy (09:09.006)
big investments, know, as investors, think certainly there’s times, you know, there’s times throughout the month where you’re like, my gosh, I feel like I don’t have any money. Like, where’s it all going? You know, and it’s, and it’s that scary moment. But when, when all of your dreams and passion are coming together and things are opening and people are getting excited and you’re seeing a change of, of dynamics and areas, it’s really exciting. So that’s kind of where we’re at now.

Stephen Schmidt (09:39.442)
So how did this all start? mean, David’s got a background in music. You’ve got a background in stats and math and working in healthcare. And now you guys are just full-fledged real estate entrepreneurs, business operators, the whole nine yard. Where did this all begin? Like, was there this conversation of like, maybe we should do this or where did all this passion come from?

Amy (09:59.96)
Yeah. You know, so David and I are, I would say we are the, we, our brains are constantly going. Like we are, we are those curious rabbit hole people where, you know, as it’s so funny because I like, so he went down the rabbit hole for Neapolitan stuff. And I, you know, with every single Airbnb that we have, I

developed computer coding apps for each of the places. And what I’m telling you, I developed these apps. They’re the most ridiculous things. I have like, which Northwoods animal are you quizzes, like personality quizzes. know, we just were the type of people who just have so much passion and fire and we’re so curious that it’s just, you know, I actually, for me, started, I drove

I always actually had a love of A-frames and tiny houses. And I drove past this street in Wisconsin and there was a hunting shack for sale. And it was like $5,000. And I looked at that and I was like, I bet I could make that the coolest little tiny house ever in the world. I’m gonna just pull over and buy this hunting shack. And I did. That hunting shack is not the coolest little tiny house in the world, in fact.

I sold it to somebody else, we’re very visionary. And so when we sit together and we talk about things, we talk about… I think that for him, he’s really excited about music and restaurant stuff, but I just have a real passion for hospitality. And we both do, but also I love to create surprise and delight moments.

in the places that we operate. long-term rentals, you can’t really do the same. I mean, we have some, and I feel like we’re great landlords. I certainly try to always make sure people are okay. But in Airbnbs, think there’s two things. You can show off your personality, and you can also really make a cool experience for the guests.

Stephen Schmidt (12:20.731)
Mm.

Amy (12:21.077)
One of the other things you talked about is like what’s in the future for you guys. This year, again, the past year it was two restaurants and two pretty big Airbnbs. The rest of this year, we’re planning on mushrooming kind of the Airbnbs that we have. And then the next year is when we have some really exciting investment ideas. You know, we’re always thinking ahead, always thinking down the line, but mushrooming

you know, for the A-frame, it’s amazing how successful this little A-frame is. And we always look for what can make something different. So this A-frame, you know, gosh, I just love them. feel like it’s, I don’t like to sleep in tents, but I like the idea of sleeping in tents. So an A-frame kind of reminds me of that. But it’s really amazing. It’s tucked back in the woods.

in Lake Geneva, which you don’t even think there’s woods in Lake Geneva, but it’s, and then you can, you can see a lake view pretty, it’s, far away, but we have a hot tub on the deck, a little two person hot tub on the deck. We’re going to add, and so the way we’re planning a mushrooming mat is we’re adding a sauna and a cold plunge and kind of creating like a little wellness escape, you know, that, so that A-frame is called the Cozy Cardinal.

When we bought it, it was gray. I love infusing a piece of myself or a piece of my history in anything that we do. So the cozy cardinal, my mom passed away during COVID and she always had cardinals visiting her window and she lived with me. I just, I love the idea of like, you know, a pop of color and the

darkest of winters. You know, that’s kind of how I view Cardinal. So that building, our A-frame, was kind of done in that kind of spirit of love. So we painted it red, trim is black, and there’s a beautiful Cardinal mural right in the loft area. it’s just so special. There’s deer that kind of come in and visit. And then there’s a peacock.

Amy (14:43.052)
that escaped from a farm, peacock farm, and join the turkey club and go like, gallivants around this A-frame with a group of turkeys. It’s just, it’s the most magical place. It’s just crazy. So we want to do that. And then in Managua, we’re planning on mushrooming by building winter domes. You know, that we have the lodge there and it’s been amazing. We also

want to start thinking about doing weddings, micro weddings or larger weddings there next year, you know, this year. and then we’re also adding a 12, a boat slip for, for 12. So currently there’s four, but we’re expanding it to 12. Again, that brings a lot more traffic into the downtown Managua community because people can park their boats and then just walk to all of the, all of the shops right from, right from. So.

Stephen Schmidt (15:40.273)
Mm.

Amy (15:42.776)
for the next year where I don’t think we’re gonna build anything, but check with me in November because that’s usually when we get a little bored and decide to go little crazier. So we’ll see.

Stephen Schmidt (15:53.864)
So what is it? Let me ask you this because this is a term I’ve never out of all the people I talked to I’ve never heard of the term mushrooming. What does that mean?

Amy (16:02.351)
think it’s, I don’t, did I invent that then? Maybe I did.

Stephen Schmidt (16:07.109)
You might have, you said we’re gonna mushroom our Airbnb’s and I’m like, okay, is this like we’re gonna grow mushrooms in them or what does this mean?

Amy (16:16.439)
No, I just I think about mushrooms is just like, know mushrooms can grow and into areas that you already have, you know, they just kind of big and I also I just I think about You know, it’s just so I don’t and perhaps it’s not even the right way to describe it But it’s it’s just kind of growing on what you already have That’s that’s how I that’s how I say it

Stephen Schmidt (16:26.503)
Mmm.

Stephen Schmidt (16:42.095)
I love that. The Internet’s going to probably shred me apart and be like, no, dude, that’s a thing. But like, that’s definitely something you invented for sure.

Amy (16:47.159)
I don’t know. It’s just, yeah, it’s, you know, for us, it’s like, we just, this year felt really crazy, you know, with all of these things. And it was, it was like, what can we do to kind of love on what we already have? And you know, the place, our other place in in like Geneva, it’s just a well oiled machine. Again, I have a background in math, I look at a lot

I look at a lot of things, what can we add to that to bring value? Not too much. It’s cool where it’s at, it’s great, it’s super successful, it’s booked most of the time. It’s good. And then also the same as in Ristine, it’s the same thing. like we have this, they’re great, I added a mural there.

We also love to support local artists and local, you know, any place that we have, we try to infuse as much with the local shops or local designers or local artists. So that is funny. It used to be when you pulled up, you pull up through a parking garage and it was like this gray, bleak, you know, bleak.

background and you go into this door it’s like what are you going into it looks kind of scary and Racine and those those lofts are right on Lake Michigan the last are like a block from Lake Michigan but it’s so beautiful like Racine has the most beautiful beach North Beach it’s it’s it’s so beautiful and I’ve always loved seagulls my mom used to read Jonathan Livingston seagull to me which is about this seagull who

you know, is afraid to fly and ends up flying and, you know, it’s a beautiful story. So we have this big seagull mural on there and I love that. Every time I walk in, just have so much pride over creating beauty in a city that I love. yeah, that was the long answer to mushrooms.

Stephen Schmidt (19:04.869)
Mmm. Wow.

Sure, I love that though. So is your is your guys’s eventual goal to own Lake Geneva or what does that look like for you guys as crazy visionaries who are always looking to expand?

Amy (19:15.423)
Hahaha!

Amy (19:20.597)
Yeah, you know, it’s funny. This is, I’m not going to get too much into this, but one of the crazy ideas. So at all of our properties in Managua, when we’re there, we always see a bald eagle. We saw these river otters, you know, in Lake Geneva at our A-frame there, we see a peacock, there’s deer, there’s a raccoon, there’s turkeys. Like it’s just feels like this magical animal sanctuary.

And I had an idea of writing children’s books because David’s degree is actually in art. I want, so I, with the Peacock story, I had, you know, I actually, we have one written. So that’s another idea. Like we’re gonna, maybe we’re gonna market and write books about all the characters at our Airbnbs. And that started from, wanted, I built this wildlife tracker and the apps.

So I built apps for all of our short-term rentals and selfishly I’m like, if somebody sees a fox at the A-frame, I want to go check it out because I love animals. But nobody was using the wildlife tracker. Nobody’s been using it. And I was like, well, maybe they just want to pin something on the wall instead.

And fast forward to, you know, David, I think we should write some children’s books and market all these animals and let’s give them all a name. So we’ll see about that. That might be something that we might get into. But yeah, that’s something that we might try to.

Stephen Schmidt (20:58.343)
So for somebody that, one of the things you talked about in the notes before the show is that you’re a big picture thinker, creative problem solver, and that you’ve learned your success depends on surrounding yourself with people who thrive in areas you don’t, right? So for someone that’s so big picture, and you also sound like you’re very detailed too, which I’m very big picture, not so much an integrator detailed individual. So like,

Amy (21:05.0)
Yeah.

Amy (21:14.568)
Yes.

Amy (21:23.828)
I am not, my gosh, that is everything. And David and I are very fortunate and I get chills thinking about this. We have an amazing team surrounding us and I am very detail oriented, but I also, we had a book of checks here.

Stephen Schmidt (21:25.585)
How important has been building a team around what you’re doing in order to accomplish as much as you have?

Stephen Schmidt (21:37.884)
Hmm.

Amy (21:53.852)
like a big book that we just got because we were all out of checks. It’s missing. We have no idea where it went. You know, we have, we have bills, we don’t know where they go. So we recently hired an operations, I call her the vice president of operations and she’s so incredible. like gets us so organized.

You know, and she’s just supposed to start with the real estate. You know, she’s she’s my operations manager or VP of operations. But, you know, David, he was in a band. You’ll have to hear his story another time. But he gets these royalty checks. You know, they’re not much. But I found one in our in the in our car. And it was it was like coffee was spilled on it. There’s no way this check is going to be able to be deposited. And I was like, we have to get

Her name is SACE, so we have to get SACE involved. it’s like one thing that I have always been able to do is identify my weaknesses very well. I am detailed in that when I build an app, everything is very detailed. I go down crazy rabbit holes, but I am not organized. don’t like to deal with permits. I don’t like to, you know,

just set things up. It’s just, I want to be thinking, I want to always be thinking ahead. I don’t want to be like, I have to set up this health department inspection. having, having all of these people, it’s just, it’s so, it’s so important for us. We have, so our cleaning team in Lake Geneva, I got the sweetest note.

actually from her yesterday and it was like you have been such a blessing for me and the people in my life. You you’re the best person I’ve ever worked for and it’s finding those people who will be loyal to you and we can ask them to do anything, you know, which gives us flexibility. you know, we have to go to Managua a lot. have, you know, we’ll go to Racine.

Amy (24:17.183)
I, if something happens in Lake Geneva, I know I can always call my cleaning manager. And then we had, there was some messiness when we bought the building in Racine. We took over their cleaning team. They were being paid under the table. We don’t pay under the table. And we had a mass exodus of the entire cleaning team walking out and everybody from Lake Geneva just.

stepped up and went, you know, drove an hour to Racine to clean and, you know, it’s now now we’ve settled things but and we have people in Racine but it’s just having that type of loyalty. The other thing is, you know, we found this, these two women that we were using for the lodge, I have ideas on how like I can picture exactly how I want things to look.

but I need help, you know, kind of getting to the finish line. Like I, you know, I have 10 wallpapers that I love. don’t know which one I should pick. I don’t know where it should go. So we found, we were using a really big interior design company at first for the lodge. I, they,

None of them had ever been to Wisconsin and there was a I really wanted the lodge to have a note You know, there’s this thing called Northwood’s magic and I really wanted the lodge to have that Northwood’s magic and they were just missing there We just kept missing and I also wanted authenticity in there So if there’s if there’s a mount on the wall or a picture I need to be able to see it somewhere in Managua, you know I’m saying so they

they were like, okay, well, Wisconsin cows, they gave me a lot of pictures of Longhorn Texas cows. And I was like, no, those are not the right cows. And there’s not a lot of cows in the Northwoods. anyway, as I was looking, searching for them, I found, I was looking on Pinterest and I was like, my gosh, here’s this woman. This is exactly what I want the lodge to look like. my gosh, she’s located in Monaco.

Amy (26:36.634)
And I was like, I reached out to her and she was like, yeah, be, you know, I don’t really do that, but I’d definitely be interested. And now we have this team, Diana and Kristen, and they are the most amazing decorators. you know, they find, they’re such, it’s like the people who come to our team are like magically appear. And then, and they’re the most amazing people.

So I think for us, it’s recognizing what our weaknesses are. And then also, through the interview process, I’m very open. I say, all right, here’s the thing. I’m not organized. And even in Lake Geneva, what I need you to do is manage the calendar. need you to manage what you order. You are the cleaning manager for this place. I don’t want to go into Amazon and order you.

Stephen Schmidt (27:10.791)
Mm.

Amy (27:36.239)
dishwasher pods, you know, I cannot keep inventory on this. cannot, you know, that’s just not anything that I need to do. So just setting those expectations from the beginning and also giving them, you know, a sense of ownership. We also try to be very generous, you know, if any time that we hit Superhost, you know, which is like a quarterly thing for Airbnb.

Everybody who’s on our team gets a bonus. It’s just a small little thing, surprise and delight moments where I think that helps them feel a sense of ownership too. Like, okay, super host, it’s coming July 1st. Am I cleaning well? Am I getting the right permits in place? So having that team, setting their expectations of what we need from them also helps.

Stephen Schmidt (28:30.135)
Well Amy, thanks for joining us today. If anyone wants to learn more about you and what you’re working on, where should they go for that?

Amy (28:36.529)
We have an Instagram page, Lakelifegetaways. You’ll see all sorts of crazy adventures from peacocks in the trees to otters in the north woods. You can see all of our fun and unique properties. That’s probably the best place to go. We also have a YouTube channel, Lakelifegetaways.

Stephen Schmidt (29:00.069)
We’ll go drop I’m a follow y’all and everybody I hope you enjoyed today’s show and we’ll see you in the next episode