Meet Michael Fellows | CEO Selah’s Acres Luxury Camping

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Fellows and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
We bought an RV for our Family in 2018. Our vision was to invest in our family, build memories and experiences. We come from military families, and have traveled frequently. As we began to travel with our kids and experience RV life, we realized there wasn’t a glamorous RV or Glamping experience in Huntsville. We prayed, and said, let’s build one ourselves! We sold our house (in an hour), packed our belongings in storage, and moved our family of 6 into our RV and lived on Redstone for 4 months. After much trial and error, we found suitable land (on FB of all places). Turns out, it was an old pig farm. It was overgrown, full of trash, and decrepit buildings. We spend a full year cleaning, clearing, and rebuilding the original house. We tracked down the original descendants, captured the family background and innovative pig farming history. We have woven elements of that history into our journey. We opened with 4 glamorous camping (Glamping) tents, are finalizing an amazing tiny house, and are planning the RV site infrastructure. Future improvements will include amenities, a handicap accessible tiny house, full service RV sites, and treehouses. From the initial concept, our focus is on community impact. We focus on education. As a home-school family, we find unique and innovative ways to educate our children. These same principles apply to our guests and visitors. We teach about nature, history, gardening, RV tips, cooking, and many other areas. We’re also partnered with home school groups, local universities, and have a tremendous support network in the community.
We’ve invested heavily on leveraging small businesses. We use local talent for food vendors, dirt work, septic, electrical, plumbing, and builders. We’ve used local vendors for septic, survey, title and closing, cleaning – the list goes on.
We’ve cleaned up the neighborhood. The site was vacant for many years, and invited vagrants and drug users. There were problems with theft. Now, our street is safer, and our curb appeal has transformed from a scary eyesore, to a beautifully landscaped entryway. We’ve added security to ensure a watchful eye. We’ve even partnered with the local sheriff office and have friends we can call if needed.
To develop a business, one must take risks. Our approach is to balance risk with Faith. Risk says, I’m taking a chance unsure of how this will turn out. Faiths says, I can do all things, and I’m relying on father God to guide me. Selling our house was faith. Buying land was faith. Our faith has increased through this journey, and I see my children growing in their faith as they continue this journey with us.
The most important factor in this journey has been God. He has carried us when it seems all hope was lost. We have done the impossible through Him.
There is no such thing as give up. The words give up are not in our vocabulary, however GIVE, has been critical. When we give, we get. The more we bless others, the more it comes back to us. We are not money focus, we are people focused.
Work life balance is very hard. I am still working full time. My wife was working on her PhD during this journey, and home schooling. The best way to balance is by having our family together as much as we can during this journey. This is what makes us happy, even during trying times. Family and faith.
I am an engineer by trade. It is totally different than being a business owner. This pursuit is defined by family, so it is VALUE driven. Therefore, when you we our heart into it, we are doing this for destiny, for generations to come.
Success comes from the peace of God, that passes our understanding. When you have peace in the midst of a storm, your family is developing well, and you know you’re doing God’s work, that is success. Success doesn’t mean that things are going well, doesn’t even mean that you are happy. Success doesn’t mean your bill are paid. It doesn’t mean you aren’t struggling. Your success comes from peace, in any situation. This journey has been the hardest thing I’ve even done. As a father, and leader of the family I had to make hard decisions that seem to put us at risk. When I look back, we are so much better for having stepped out in this journey. I have to give God the glory.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a system engineer and program manager. I started my career in the Air Force after graduating from Tuskegee University. I was in Nuclear Missiles, and stationed in the underground silos. I have spent the rest of my career in engineering and department of defense programs. I’ve done everything from radar, to missiles, to satellites, to laser energy. There are many stories of hard work and dedication, and that has served to prepare me for this small business journey. I’ve developed a no quit, no lose, never give up mentality. In the military, when dealing with Nukes, no mistakes are allowed. The simplest mistake equates to failure. You are taught to develop an eye for details. In developing and RV resort, you have to have an eye for details. You have to see what your customers will see. From the entry point, until the time they leave you have to ensure they see, taste, and smell excellence. You have to entertain them, heat and cool them, provide them with lavish comforts, and even the bathroom experience must be excellent! Some of our lessons learned are be open to feedback and seek it out. Fold that lessons learned into the site quickly before the next guests arrive. Also we’ve learned to trust others. We are too busy to do it all, and we’ve learned to rely on others to help us. We want the world to know that we are just getting started. We are building with them in mind. Our experience is world class, and will immerse them in nature so that they can reconnect with family, mend relationships, and experience the greatness of God’s nature while immersed in comfort.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
A visit to our site can include excursions to other local vendors. We frequent Scott’s Orchard where people can tour the orchard, apple pick, and other great activities. We’re not far from Huntsville’s main attractions including Madison’s new baseball field, the exciting new Orion Amphitheatre, our course the Space and Rocket Center. Huntsville big spring park provides amazing walking or bike rising tours, and the adjacent art museum and downtown are close!

Our favorite thing to do is eat! We have excellent local food spots like 2 Chicks on a Roll in Hazel Green (they cater dinner for us as well). We also love Snappy’s Pizza. We ate there so much, that our sons got part time jobs there! Snappy’s makes excellent pizza, Asian cuisine, and delectable chocolates by Julia.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We want to dedicate this shoutout to our families, and everyone who believed in us and supported us. This journey has been, and is, extremely difficult at times. We launched out in faith, and we have been shown a huge amount of support and love. We also would like to thank the Singing River Trail and the Launch Tank efforts. As the winner of the first Launch Tank, we recognize how much effort went into this competition. We continue to expand our network and receive benefits from this win. We’re partnered with the other competitors and continue to support their unique and innovative efforts. For our children, we couldn’t have done this without you. My sons who spent their summer on tractors and excavators, I thank you. To my daughter and younger some who spent days playing in the dirt, riding bikes, I thank you. TO my wife who has been by my side planning, crying, questioning, I appreciate and love you.

Website: https://www.selahsacresrvresort.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/selahsacres/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SelahsAcresRVResort

Image Credits
Mike Fellows and Joann Whisenant.