Optimism about small towns and small-town businesses is rising. Small Biz Survival, the small town and rural business resource, cites that the pandemic-driven population shifts, the rise of remote work, improvements to infrastructure, and real estate developments revitalize and inspire the resurgence of America's small towns. There’s no doubt that the collective effort of community leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and the people who empower businesses and leaders are making an impact.
Our guest today, John Marsh, is one business leader who has made it his mission to redeem irreplaceable real estate in small towns across America. For the last 25 years, he and his wife, Ashley together with their team, have breathed new life into Opelika, AL, whose blueprint for development is now inspiring other small towns to achieve their own vision for restoration and revival.
Key Points From This Episode:
- John introduces himself and his beloved hometown, Opelika, Alabama.
- How have John and his wife Ashely helped restore and revitalize Opelika in the past 25 years?
- The formative experiences that shaped John and his career trajectory
- What’s John’s and Ashely’s secret to working well together in business as husband and wife?
- What is the key to John’s success in real estate and his other businesses?
- What roles do John and Ashely, respectively, play in running their businesses?
- John’s children’s involvement in their business
- John’s vision about Opelika and how it unfolded
- What other cities is John’s company working on to revive and flourish?
- How does John work with other patrons who have a similar vision for their cities?
- Unexpected lessons that John learned along his journey
- What is the greatest investment that John has ever made?
- What’s the key that helped John grow in generosity?
- The number one question to ask your loved ones to strengthen your relationship
- John answers the mentor-minute questions.
Tweetables:
“Our life is light shining through broken things that have been made whole again.”
“We believe that God has given us something incredible to steward which is the ability to save cities and small towns.”
“Money has never been our problem. Money follows vision, vision doesn't follow money.”
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Marsh Collective
Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman
Click to Find out more about our upcoming event: "Crafting Your Kingdom Investing Thesis"
About John Marsh
John Marsh is the co-founder of Marsh Collective, host of the Redemptification Podcast and investor helping steward over $1.5b in redemptive real estate in 12 small towns (with populations of 800-180k) around America. Over the last 25 years, John and his wife, Ashely, have guided over 60 startup businesses in various industries, such as hospitality, construction, real estate investing, advertising, and multiple restaurants. John and Ashely have renovated 280+ buildings within ten blocks of downtown Opelika to help save their city. Today, John's current focus is helping others make generational differences in communities and companies by helping patrons bridge the gap between redeeming vision, financial sustainability, and execution to pioneering a new asset class of real estate that they have dubbed as "Irreplaceable Real Estate." John and Ashely with their two sons and their families call Opelika, Alabama home.
