My Journey
In spring of 1993, fresh out of University Wisconsin Oshkosh, I went to a good friend by the name of Paul Klister who was an attorney and I pitched an idea of pre-made frozen ice cream drinks called “Duffy’s Delights” in homage to my mother’s maiden name and as a result of my upbringing at Van Abel’s of Hollandtown. See Van Abel’s below. In this convo, Paul pitched the idea of opening a Mini Golf Course. My quick response was I’m in! This was my first foray into entrepreneurship. Just a few months later we opened Badger State Mini Golf. We opened on the East Side of Appleton and suddenly I was a partner and general manager in my first business! Fast forward to 2006, we had the opportunity with a buyout from Festival food to move Badger Sports Park. to the north side of Appleton.
Badger Sports Park is now open year-round and has grown into a Multimillion Dollar Family Entertainment Center with over 50 full and part-time team members. We are very proud of this servant led company and our impact in the Northeast Wisconsin!
In 2000, we opened another 
family entertainment called Bogeys Family Park in Madison Wisconsin. That operated very successfully for 10 years until we were bought out by a regional hospital that wanted our corner lot location. From 2000 to 2010 and I worked in commercial real estate development for Commercial Horizons. We did single and multi-tenant commercial real estate developments.
In 2010, We started a company called Raising The Steaks Fundraising. We service high schools and youth organizations by helping them reach their financial goals and to hopefully build 
more young leaders. We are very proud speaking series called INFLUENCE Coaches Workshops.This is specifically designed to introduce and help coaches integrate Servant Leadership into their powerful roles as youth coaches. We are very confident the INFLUENCE events have changed lives of people ALL across the region!
In 2012, I opened Bubblefresh Laundry in one of our real estate holdings in Kaukauna Wisconsin. 
After a couple of tough years, BubbleFresh has blossomed into a very profitable and fun organization. I am blessed with a great team and awesome partner in Kyle Van Abel (nephew)!
May of 2016
May of 2016In 2016 we opened Green Bay Escape and TeamEscape 262 in Metro Milwaukee. What’s an escape room?..... Well we lock perfectly sane people in a room for an hour and they pay us to get out! Both of these operations have been incredible market leaders since we opened! No escape rooms in the Midwest can touch our thousands of ‘5 Star’ ratings on Facebook and Google. We believe this is because
of the incredible teams we have built on LOVE and our very specific and intentional efforts to create positive and sustainable cultures. October 2019 we added an Axe Throwing bar to our Escape rooms, which has been incredibly successful.
In April of 2019, I personally purchased a former Bar / Restaurant on the north shore of Lake Poygan. This 6,000 sf facility will be transformed into Canvasback Lodge. 
Canvasback Lodge will be the ultimate family and group destination sleeping over 25 people and offering incredible swimming, boating and fishing experience. This will be available for rent via VRBO sometime in 2020. Please stay tuned for more to come. To say the least, it has been an incredible journey with lots more to come. As I said before, if we surround ourselves with talented people who are heard and understood, we think we can do almost anything!
The Greatest Leader in MY Life!
Last but not least, Van Abel’s of Hollandtown – I was born into and raised within my parents’ large family restaurant, banquet facility and bowling alleys. This facility has operated since 1848 (yes that’s over 170 years now). We took the operation over from my father back in 2001. Since then this business has seen tremendous growth inspite of the many challenges that face Supper clubs in general. In 2002, we added a tremendously successful catering operation.
My 5 siblings and I were blessed with a
tremendous upbringing from our parents. They were both incredibly loving and disciplined having been raised in the great depression and lived through WWII. They knew commitment, hard work and the value of a buck! They ran Van Abel’s from 1946 til their retirement in early 2002. My father Wilfred (Willie) Van Abel was a P-47 fighter pilot and was shot down over Nazi occupied France captured and spent 21 months in Stalag Luft III prison camp.
Although my dad never heard the term Servant Leadership, he was a daily practitioner creating an incredible community within our restaurant and in our township of Hollandtown. He led by example that inspired many others to this day that still work for us. His commitment to the team members was never in doubt. His humility was evident as no job was too low for him (almost to a fault). For more information about Dad’s WWII experience please see a 30 minute interview at Timeless Voices of Aviation.
Thanks for reading a little bit about my personal journey This website and podcast are not about me. More importantly, I look forward to getting to better know the listeners of the ServantCultures.com podcast and helping organizations with our consulting business.