The Floto Family: Coming Home to Reinbeck, Iowa
We're James, Amanda, and our three kids, remote workers, entrepreneurs, and Midwest natives ready to plant roots where we belong.
We're James, Amanda, and our three kids, remote workers, entrepreneurs, and Midwest natives ready to plant roots where we belong.
The Floto name has been in the Midwest since the 1860s. Our ancestors settled in river towns and farm communities, and generations of our family built lives here. This isn't about tax incentives or remote work flexibility, though those help. This is about our daughter needing mental health care closer to family, our kids asking to be near family, and a loss that reminded us how much family time we've missed. It made us confront how important it is for our kids to grow up connected to people who know them, and to be part of a real community. We're coming home to Reinbeck because home matters.
The Floto name has been in Midwest soil since the 1860s, when our ancestor Louis Ludwig Floto left Germany and settled in river towns and farm country. Generations of our family built lives here, farming, raising families, and becoming part of the great Midwest fabric. Amanda's Neibert family followed their own path from Bohemia to the Midwest and Oregon, driven by that same pioneer spirit. These aren't just genealogy facts, this is home.
James spent 25 years with grease under his fingernails, building and running auto repair shops, towing companies, and fabrication businesses across multiple states. No business degree, just relentless problem-solving and the willingness to fix what's broken. Amanda went from managing books for family businesses to becoming ISO 9001 certified in quality management, coordinating production across five departments. We didn't climb corporate ladders, we built our own.
From Lucky 7 Towing to Abel Auto to Flotile Flooring, we've started businesses, learned hard lessons, and done it again. James taught himself web development and built platforms like QRCarShop and TruckersMile. We've dreamed bigger too, Holy Hal's, a restaurant concept that honors faith without judgment, has been years in the making. Some ventures succeeded, some didn't, but every single one taught us how to create something from nothing and serve a community that needs it.
When James landed remote work in Alaska pull-tab sales, something clicked. Suddenly we could live anywhere while maintaining stable income. Amanda's manufacturing quality work proved the same, skilled work doesn't require a specific zip code anymore. This flexibility didn't just open possibilities, it made returning home financially viable for the first time in years.
Our daughter needs mental health care that rural Georgia simply can't provide. Our kids asked us to move closer to family. A recent loss hit us hard and made us realize how much family time we've missed and how important it is to be rooted in a community. We found a place in Reinbeck with the kind of property potential that gets our entrepreneurial blood pumping. This isn't abstract nostalgia. This is our family needing something specific, and the Midwest being able to provide it.
We're not corporate relocators chasing tax breaks. We're bringing $69,455 in documented remote income, ISO-certified quality management expertise, 25 years of hands-on mechanical and business experience, and three kids who want to be part of a real community. We know how to start businesses, fix what's broken, and show up when work needs doing. Small towns need people who don't just consume, they build. That's who we are. Reinbeck isn't just where we're moving. It's where we're meant to build what comes next.
$69,455 Documented Annual Income
James works remotely in Alaska pull-tab sales managing 40 customers. Amanda coordinates quality and customer service for a manufacturing company. Our income flows into the local economy through housing, services, and local spending, without taking local jobs.
25 Years Mechanical + ISO 9001 Certified Quality Management
James: Auto repair, towing, fabrication, truck driving, web development. Amanda: ISO 9001 compliance, 8D investigations, cross-departmental coordination, QuickBooks accounting. We solve problems and get things done.
Multiple Business Ventures & Community Vision
We've started businesses, failed, learned, and tried again. Holy Hal's restaurant concept. Tech platforms for niche markets. We don't just talk about building community, we actually build things.
Explore our professional backgrounds, dive deep into our family history, or learn about our future plans for Reinbeck and the great Midwest.