RV Renter Revs Up Recurring Revenue

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

The recreational vehicle industry has seen a huge spike in business over the past year. Stock in Winnebago, for example, has quadrupled and sales are high pretty much everywhere, which makes sense, right? Because just as millions of people discovered remote work, many of them also discovered the outdoors, along with the freedom that comes from being able to drive somewhere, anywhere, or at least, you know, anywhere that's not separated by large bodies of water and set up camp. So in today's story, by the way, welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau.

In today's story, we hear about a single mom who has a great experience after renting an RV. She likes it so much that she wants her own, but they're expensive. So she buys one and begins renting it out. This mom turns her recreational vehicle into a money-making machine, allowing her to own the asset and profit from it, unlike most RV owners who are constantly paying for their RV. So her way is better.

The story is called RV Rinter Revs Up Recurring Revenue. That story is coming up in just 30 seconds. Stay tuned. [Music]

Growing up, Darlene Miller loved camping, especially since she didn't have to do much for it. Once her family arrived at a campsite, she'd hop on her bike and go exploring.

When she got back, everything was already set up. After Darlene had grown up and had her own children, she took them camping so they could enjoy the same experience. And that's when she found out camping is a lot of work. She hated setting up camp, especially when the kids were young and she had to watch them at the same time. And because she works a full-time job in human resources, they usually showed up to camp after dark on Fridays, which made set up even harder.

It would then take over two hours on Sunday to pack everything up. Mondays at the office became her way to relax from the exhausting weekend, which is kind of backwards. Darlene made a deal with herself that she would only go camping once a year, but she'd make it count and do it for a whole week. She also decided to rent an RV to make it more of an adventure and less of a hassle. This experience was a game changer.

There was very little to set up so she could sit back and enjoy her non-breakable class of red wine. Watching her friends set up their tents nearby made her realize that she never wanted to struggle like that again. The idea of buying an RV of her own was attractive, but she was worried about the expense. It just seemed like the kind of luxury she couldn't afford. But as she learned more about side hustles, she realized she could rent out the RV to earn extra money whenever she wasn't using it, which of course was most of the time.

To get started, Darlene did her research. She called other RV renters to see which models were the most popular. Then she combed through countless ads from all over the country to figure out a fair price. To further ease her concerns, she watched the price for around six months to make sure she understood the market. Finally, in June 2020, she found a great deal on a secondhand RV at half the price it was going for as a brand new one a year earlier.

The wheels were in motion. Darlene used her RV over the July 4th holiday. Then she placed an ad to rent it out on RvShare, that's rvshare.com, where she targeted people like her who wanted camping to be easy. Before she went to bed that night, it was already rented. That was amazing, except the renters wanted to pick it up in two days.

Darlene panicked because she wasn't ready. She still needed to buy new bedding, stock it with dishes and more. She stayed up until 2 a.m. over the next two nights to get everything done. She wrote detailed instructions for the renters, including some rules like no smoking inside.

She also put together an inventory list so that they wouldn't overpack like she did when she first rented the RV for her camping trip. It felt strange to watch those first renters drive her vehicle down the street, but that sense of anxiety turned into a feeling of freedom once she realized that she didn't have to do anything for the next week and would still be making money. Speaking of money, the wheels are turning on this hustle. She paid a 10% deposit on the RV and took out a loan for the rest. She now pays $550 a month towards the loan and insurance and grossed almost $20,000 from rentals in the first six months.

Now that's not all profit because RV share takes a 25% fee on each booking. She also had to make a few repairs along the way. Still, she's making good money and she's doing it herself. Darlene has never before seen money added to her checking account without it being from an employer. And it feels great.

Unlike many other RV owners who see their initial investment rapidly decline, hers has produced a highly positive return. So what would she do differently? Well, she says if she had more time, she would create her own website to handle rentals herself and then get the renters to provide proof-in-writing showing that their car insurance covers them. This could save them a lot of money and would allow Darlene to keep the full rental fee. That said, she still considers RV share a nice service to have in case something does go wrong.

All told, the process has been more successful and more fun than she expected. Next up, she hopes to buy a piece of land and place a trailer on it to rent as an Airbnb and maybe even another RV as well. She's happy to go where the road takes her. [Music]

All right, before we wrap up, I got some words of wisdom and best practices from Darlene for the world of RV rentals. She says if you wanna stand out from other people offering a similar product or service, you gotta go beyond the functional basics of having everything work.

And she recommends renting an RV first, even using the same platform you're going to use to rent it out so that you can experience the process from the customer's viewpoint. And that starts with an owner who responds to inquiries quickly, who's flexible with pickup and return times, for example. Darlene says she's also generous when it comes to what she puts in the RV, including soap, shampoo, plenty of towels, a coffee maker, and other amenities that you would find in a hotel. By making it as easy as possible for people who just wanna get out of town for a nice holiday with their families, don't wanna mess with a lot of stuff, and by showing sincere interest in their trip, it's easier for her to ask for a positive recommendation, a good review on that platform, when they get back. I will leave you with that today.

Again, the story is called "RV Rinter Revs Up Recurring Revenue." And don't forget, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. I know somebody out there is gonna go and get an RV and start renting it. If you wanna find the show notes for today's episode, including links to everything I mentioned, go to sidehustleschool.com/1562. That's one, five, six, two. Everything with this program is completely free.

You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and I hope you'll come back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

from the Onward Project.