In 2016, Nathalie and her husband Martin (pictured centre above) decided they wanted to change their lives. They had been living and working in Quebec City for many years, as a Nurse and an IT Director – but now they wanted to work together, and buy a business which they could build as a family.
As well as a change of career, the couple decided on a change of scenery that would allow them to spend more time with their daughter. “The weather in Quebec can be pretty tough, especially in the winter,” says Nathalie. “So we started looking in places like the Annapolis Valley, Southern Ontario and British Columbia. The valley regions are so much warmer, there are even vineyards and peach farms. That’s completely unthinkable in other parts of Canada.”
They kept a close eye on the real estate market for several years, and picked an opportune time to buy when the costs were comparatively low. Using BusinessesForSale.com for their search, they eventually settled on another province: Nova Scotia. “Houses that would go for $80,000 in Nova Scotia would go for $350,000 in Ontario,” says Nathalie.
The business they settled on buying wasn’t anything related to healthcare or IT, but a new challenge for both of them. They purchased Upper Clements Cottages Ltd, a holiday campground and RV park, and by July 2016 had moved their family to the site and installed themselves as the new owners.
Starting a New Life as a Business Owner
Upper Clements was founded in the year 2000 by another family, the Millmans, who operated it with their children until they sold the business to Nathalie and Martin. It is made up of seven holiday cottages for rent all year round, as well as 33 sites for RVs. It contains a playground, a swimming pool, and is situated close to the Bay of Fundy on the north west shore of Nova Scotia.
When they handed over control of the business, the Millmans presented its new owners with a giant key which they had made out of wood, and hosted a ceremony to celebrate the occasion. “It was on July 1st, which is Canada Day, so the whole country was celebrating,” says Nathalie. “It was such a nice way to hand over the business, and we’re still very good friends with the Millmans, almost ten years later.”
But starting a new life as the owner of a business isn’t all a celebration, and there was plenty of work to be done and challenges to overcome. As a hospitality business in a rural area, one of the biggest challenges Upper Clements faced was marketing. Nathalie and Martin spent a lot of time upgrading the business’ digital presence, and making sure they were discoverable on sites like Booking.com.
Going Digital to Compete with Airbnb
This was happening around the same time that Airbnb was on a meteoric rise, becoming a major competitor. “Many people in Nova Scotia have holiday homes which they rent out in the summer, and are uninhabited in the winter,” says Nathalie. “So we were also competing against them on Airbnb.”
The couple worked hard to make sure it was as easy as possible for customers to search, book and pay online. Martin’s experience in IT proved useful here, pulling data to find which online sources were bringing them the most customers, and focusing their efforts there. “We didn’t have the millions to spend on marketing which a company like Booking.com does, so we had to be smart about our investment,” says Nathalie. Every year, in January, they would thoroughly review the data and reevaluate their spending, making sure it always served the business best.
As well as upgrading Upper Clements’ digital presence, Nathalie and Martin built strong working relationships with their local tourist board, and other local businesses. They would advertise their cottages at nearby electric car charging stations, and make sure they were featured in local visitor guides with the best possible photos. “About 50% of our customers actually came from the tourism departments website and the local provincial website, so maintaining those relationships was very important,” says Nathalie.
Thriving During the Covid Pandemic
Upper Clements weathered the storm of Covid-19 better than most businesses. The rules in rural Nova Scotia were less strict than in some other parts of Europe and North America, so the business was still able to accommodate visitors.
Nathalie’s experience in healthcare proved extremely valuable here, too, as she fitted out Upper Clement’s cottages with hospital-grade equipment: “I knew all about sanitizing and medical protocols, so we were able to adapt the cottages so people could stay in them and isolate for two weeks. In the summer of 2020, we had a minimal loss of about 30% revenue, while some other businesses in the area unfortunately lost a lot more than that.”
Both Nathalie and Martin’s previous work experience ended up helping their business to succeed – in ways they might not even have anticipated. So much so that after eight years, when their daughter was grown up and getting ready to leave the nest, they decided it was time to sell the business in 2024.
Selling The Business in Just Six Months
Having successfully used BusinessesForSale.com to buy a business, it was the couple’s first choice when they decided to sell, too. “BusinessesForSale.com was a big part of our journey and it was so valuable for us, because the hardest part is finding buyers,” says Nathalie. “It was very easy to communicate with potential buyers and receive notifications quickly, because sometimes time is of the essence. Everything was very fluid which made it easy for us to buy and sell.”
The couple decided to list in November 2023, expecting the sale would take somewhere between two to five years. But they quickly found a buyer and by the summer had completed the sale, in just over six months – almost the same timeline as when they bought in 2016. Upper Clements was purchased by another family, the Kamals, who moved in with their daughter in July 2024. “We would never have found the Kamals without using BusinessesForSale.com, and its so nice that we can pass the business on to another family.,” says Nathalie.
Life After Selling
Upper Clement’s success was a combination of strong market research, smart use of data to inform spending on marketing and services, and finding the right time to buy and sell. Now that they’re no longer the business’ owners, Nathalie and Martin are semi-retired – but are still keeping themselves busy. In the winter after selling the business, they built a prefab house on some land they owned near the campground site. Nathalie is working part-time as an interpreter at National Parks Canada, giving tours of Port Royal, the first European settlement in North America which dates back to 1605. Martin is working at the local community pool.
Reflecting on the success of Upper Clements, Nathalie says: “It was hard work, but in the end we are so proud of what we achieved. I’m sure when my husband and I decided to buy a business together, some people were thinking it would cause arguments, but it honestly never did. We’ve always known we work very well together. And a campground was the perfect business to run as a family, because its big enough to have a sustainable living, but not too big that you don’t have a life outside of work.”
Upper Clements might not be under their care anymore, but Nathalie and Martin still provide support and advice to the Kamals whenever they need it. And when they completed the sale, they made sure to continue the tradition which the Millmans started back in 2016. The ceremonial key was passed down between all three generations of the business, ready for its new owners to take it into another chapter.
