In March of 1969, the old Beebe schoolhouse in Afton, Michigan lay under nearly a foot of fresh snow (not to mention the accumulated inches below the latest onslaught of white stuff). Northern Michigan had experienced record snowfall that year and the one before; much of the state was primarily occupied with staying indoors, staying warm, and, eventually, digging out.

The old schoolhouse was largely impervious to the historic weather events going on at that time, although not because it was winterized or even slightly warm. It had been closed for nearly 15 years at that point. The door had been left wide open for over a decade as local wildlife, porcupines and rabbits, among others, made their way in and out of the moldering structure. Behind them, these visitors had left a full three feet of dung and debris. The old schoolhouse was impervious because it was returning to the earth; it seemed unlikely anything would stop it from eventually sinking back into the soft, sandy Kalkaska soil as the power of the elements reduced it back to, well, its elements. Then, another element, a change, walked through the door in the form of a hungry 10-year-old boy with a shovel.

There was no plumbing or even the remnants of plumbing in the schoolhouse, but there was an old Ben Franklin potbelly wood stove still capable of putting out powerful waves of heat that partially beat back the cold assaulting the thin walls. 10-year-old Dana Nutt was sure hoping the stove could handle the weather, because in March of 1969, Dana and his family moved into the Beebe Schoolhouse with no electricity, no running water, and only plastic, cardboard, and the old Ben Franklin between them and the winter weather.

“Who I am, what got me to where I am today, is that my upbringing was very different than most,” Nutt euphemistically explained in a 2022 interview with REI-INK magazine, a national print publication for real estate investors. Nutt, who was featured in the August issue of that publication, has come a long way from shoveling rodent dirt out of a frigid, one-room building. Today, he owns dozens of investment properties, multiple businesses, and has flipped more than 200 houses. Back in 1969, however, his family was just excited to have a home of their own.

“We got evicted in December 1968, and by March, we were moving in. The place was in really bad shape. There were one-inch boards, cracks between the boards, and there were cold, blowing winds,” Nutt said. “We took shovels in, cleared out the animal shit, sanded down the floors, and moved in. I remember how tickled my mom and stepdad were that we had a home of our own.”

Nothing about living in the Beebe Schoolhouse was easy, but the Ben Franklin hung in there, and so did Nutt. This is the incredible story of innovation, determination, and pure grit that ultimately taught him, as he likes to put it, “Lessons from the Old Schoolhouse,” and helped make him the successful entrepreneur and investor he is today.

From Lessons from the Old Schoolhouse, Forward (by Carole VanSickle Ellis)