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CEO cashes out to become a farmer

In 2011, Bill Bumbernick had a decision to make. He’d just sold his Philadelphia-based technology company for $17.3 million. He could stay in the industry, continue making six figures, working long hours and rarely being home – or – he could leave it all behind. He chose the latter.

Shortly after the sale of his company, Alteva, Bumbernick and his wife Megan had a long conversation. They’d come to a conclusion – sort of. “We didn’t know what the future was going to be,” he says, “but we knew what it wasn’t going to be and it wasn’t going to be the corporate life.”

At first it was exciting for him to be home. He was able to spend more time with Megan and his three children – but it wasn’t always easy going. He says they had to “re-learn how to operate with one another again” and readily admits that a lot of his self-worth had come from his life as a CEO. “Trying to figure out who I am now wasn’t easy,” he says.

With newfound resources his family lived a lavish lifestyle. He bought a sports car and a boat. They bought a motor home, packed up the kids and dog and took a six-month, 26-state tour of the U.S. They’d often stop at local farmers markets to meet people and test out the local cuisine.

During one of these visits in California, Bumbernick casually grabbed for some produce and the farmer told him he couldn’t take it, explaining it was for CSA members only. “I said, ‘What’s CSA?’” Bumbernick recalls. The farmer explained the basics – CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Members pay an annual fee for a share of the farm, covering anticipated costs throughout the growing season. In return, they receive some of the farm’s bounty throughout the season. Many CSA groups encourage their members to visit the farm often and participate in some of the growing and harvesting process. “Right at the moment when [the farmer] started talking about that CSA it hit me… and we were excited to get home and start that new journey.”

Shortly before the Bumbernicks left for their U.S. tour they’d bought a 43-acre plot of land near where Megan had grown up near Mickleton, N.J. They didn’t have plans for it at the time – but after their conversation with the farmer, it now had a purpose.

And then came the farm

Bill and his family got to work immediately on Cecil Creek Farm. Although Bumbernick didn’t have any farming experience, he did know how to run a business. He began talking to CSA experts and hired experienced professional farmers and workers who could teach him what he needed to know.  

Some doubted Bumbernick’s plans. His financial planner didn’t think opening the farm was a good idea. “There were a lot of questions, a lot of silent moments on the telephone. ‘You’re doing what?’” he recalls a few people asking him.

His farm grows 65 different varieties of produce, has four cattle, 58 egg-laying chickens, 56 meat chickens and 15 pigs. “It’s quite the operation,” Bumbernick says. “It’s a giant garden with a giant livestock operation with a giant restaurant operation with a market all kind of layered into one business.”

What’s his daily life like on the farm? “There is no answer to that question because it changes every day,” he says. Sometimes he’s fixing equipment, other times he’s taking care of injured livestock. He says the hours aren’t that different than when he was in the corporate world – but his new lifestyle is more spontaneous. He never had to worry about a freak hailstorm ruining his strawberry crop in the corporate world.

This year, Cecil Creek Farm has 390 CSA members. The market has hosted everything from birthday parties to weddings and offers weekly 8-course dinners where Bumbernick explains the “farm-to-fork” experience. “It connects them completely from their dinner table all the way back to where the food comes from,” he says.

The quaint farm and fairy tale story of following a dream are nice, but is the farm even turning a profit? Bumbernick hopes to make the farm financially self-sustainable within a decade, saying, “Do I think it will ever make money? Maybe.  But we’re talking pennies to dollars.”

Bumbernick notes that he hasn’t put all his eggs in one basket. Of course, he still has money from selling his company, and plenty of savings and investments to protect his family’s financial future. He traded in his sports car for a truck. The $10,000 bottle service he once spent on a client in Miami would now go toward equipment for the farm.

As Bumbernick’s interview with Yahoo Finance came to an end he became emotional as he told us a story. He’d recently had a father-daughter day in Philadelphia. They set up a picnic in the shadow of his old corporate building. “I’m sitting in this park with her, looking at the building … and I missed it,” he explained, “but then I looked at her and I didn’t.  Until you’re there and until you absolutely know it was the right decision, you have some uncertainty. That day I knew.”

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