Tag: RV

Nomadic Couple Starts Vintage Camper Rental Biz

What It’s About

A couple takes vintage campers and rents them for new profit.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Thinking about renting your space out? Online platforms are valuable as Brittain points out, “We’ve got to give 100% credit to Airbnb and Outdoorsy for ‘finding’ our customers. Without their platforms, we may not have this hustle or business. Once they bring us the customer, it’s up to us to keep them, earn their trust and keep them coming back.”

Fun Fact

Haven’t heard about Outdoorsy?! Check them out, especially if you own an RV you’d like to rent out. Outdoorsy has over 256,000 users, and says it’s growing by 21,000 users a month!

Notes from Chris

Episode 1751
The spark for Brittain Kovač and Josh Schukman’s side hustle was a Pepto Bismol pink camper van in the backyard of a tiny home outside Nashville. Brittain had taken her mom to a taping of the Dave Ramsey show and was sleeping in the van as part of the Airbnb she’d booked. After getting to know the host who ran the accommodation as a side hustle, was inspired to do the same.

Brittain had always dreamed of owning her own hostel, and the Airbnb business model showed her she was sitting on a golden opportunity to start one. She had a 900-square-foot loft apartment in Kansas City that could sleep up to five people. She bought some more beds and linens and posted her new listing online. The first booking came within a week, and running the place was manageable around her job as a Marketing Event Manager for Harley Davidson.

For the next four years, Brittain ran the hostel together with Josh, who also became her husband. They welcomed over 900 guests and earned more than $40,000. They then set the hostel up to be self-sufficient and went to live out on the road in a 1988 Airstream camper. It was a great experience, but it presented a problem. They missed the community of hostel living, but also weren’t ready to give up their new nomadic lifestyle. That’s when a fortuitous trip to Germany gave them a new idea.

Attending a conference in Bonn, the pair stayed at a hostel in a warehouse filled with trains and camper vans and cars that you could rent out to stay in. It reminded Britt of the Pepto Bismol camper in Nashville years earlier … and it gave her an idea. What if they could combine their love of campers and the open road with their dream of owning and letting out accommodation? She even had a name: they’d call it Out Of Normal Properties.

Brittain and Josh started by renting out a single Airstream trailer on a plot of Brittain’s parents’ land to see if the model would work. They listed it on Airbnb. Once again, in the space of a week they had their first booking. Then another. And another. Until they’d earned $1,400 from these rentals.

They sold the Kansas City apartment-turned-hostel and looked for new opportunities in Montana, where they became managing partners of Flathead Lake Resort, based on the experience they’d been building up since 2014. They also purchased two more Airstream camper vans—an investment of around $37,000 all in—to use on the property.

Brittain and Josh measure the success of their side hustles and businesses based on the ROI. They aim to make a consistent 30% every year. For example, that first Airstream rental brought in $11,000 in one summer. They also recently bought a 2005 Honda Pilot and started renting it out. It brought in more than $5,000 over the past few months.

Looking to the future, the pair have just closed on a half-acre of land with access to the Flathead Lake Resort for tents and camper vans. Their plan is to own a full-on, full-service camper hostel!

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Brittain and Josh and their out of normal properties at their website, OutofNorm.al.

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

Quote of the Day
"We’ve got to give 100% credit to Airbnb and Outdoorsy for ‘finding’ our customers. Without their platforms, we may not have this hustle or business. Once they bring us the customer, it’s up to us to keep them, earn their trust and keep them coming back."
—Brittain Kovač #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

RV Renter Revs Up Recurring Revenue

What It’s About

A new RV owner pays off her RV (and makes a little extra) by renting it out.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Darlene share’s some important advice about standing out from your competition; “If you want to stand out from other people offering a similar product or service, you have to find something that sets you apart beyond the functional basics of having everything work.

Fun Fact

According to a study by the RV Industry Association, the RV industry had an overall economic impact to the US economy of $114 billion, supporting nearly 600 000 jobs, contributing more than $32 billion in wages, and paying over $12 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. RV shipments in 2020 totalled 430 412 units, up 6% from 2019 and on par with the third best annual shipment total on record.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1562
Growing up, Darlene Miller loved camping—especially since she didn’t have to do much for it. After her family arrived at a campsite, she’d hop on her bike and go exploring. When she got back, everything was already set up. Once Darlene grew up and had her own children, she took them camping so they could enjoy the same experience. That’s when she found out camping is a lot of work!

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 that she could rent out the RV to earn extra money when she wasn’t using it—which was most of the time.

To get started, Darlene did her research. She called other RV renters to see what models were most popular. Then she read 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. Eventually, in June 2020, she found a great deal on a second-hand 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 RV Share, 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 much more.

Speaking of money, the wheels are turning on this side 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. That’s not pure profit, because RV Share takes a 25% fee on each booking and she had a few repairs along the way.

Still, she’s making good money, and she’s doing it herself. Darlene has never before had 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.

Darlene says if she had more time, she’d create her own website to handle rentals herself, and have the renters provide proof in writing showing that their auto insurance covers them. This could save them a lot of money and would allow Darlene to keep the full rental fee. But 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 in a desirable vacation spot, 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.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about the possibility of listing your own RV or book your own RV rental through Darlene’s listing.

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE

Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.

Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today! Learn More

Quote of the Day
"If you want to stand out from other people offering a similar product or service, you have to find something that sets you apart beyond the functional basics of having everything work."
—Darlene Miller #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Learn More With Skillshare!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Skillshare. 📷

Skillshare is giving Side Hustle School listeners 2 months of unlimited access—for $0.99! Join the 2 million students learning everything from street photography to SEO on Skillshare today!
Get Started Here!

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.


Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Busy Mom Flips RVs for Fun and Profit

What It’s About

You’ll flip over this story of a mom who renovates and sells RVs.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

We love stories where busy parents prove time and time again that it’s not impossible to run a successful hustle. Hear from Sarah, “With any side hustle, there is the struggle of finding a balance. I don’t clock in and out of being a mum or for working on my blog or RV renovations.”

Fun Fact

The first RV that Sarah bought was in horrific condition. In fact, she bought something that she now warns others against. Being able to still turn a profit after renovating it was what drew her to start this side hustle.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1130
Stay-at-home mom Sarah Lemp has many irons in the fire. With her time split between caring for her five children and running her DIY blog, she often tries to take care of both responsibilities at once. Many of her activities involve making handmade items with her children and sharing the process with her readers. Over the years, she’d built a loyal following of readers.

One day, Sarah took things to another level. Her family had purchased their first RV and found that it was in horrible condition. Their first thought was that the $1,700 they spent on this 1956 vintage trailer was a bad financial decision. But, determined to make the most of it, they renovated that RV and started going on road trips—the very purpose for which they had bought it.

A few years later, this RV having served its purpose, Sarah listed it for sale on Facebook Marketplace. To her surprise, it sold that very same day … and for a significant profit. This discovery opened up a new whole world.

If she could sell her handmade products, Sarah wondered why she couldn’t sell refurbished RVs. Having lived on a tight budget, she had plenty of experience—and fun—fixing things up and making them look a lot nicer.

Her first intentional reno project took three months, and since then, Sarah has only gotten more efficient. Today, she’s able to flip at least one RV a month. On average, each RV sold brings her $6,000 of profit. How about that?!

Throughout the process, Sarah documents the journey on her blog, AllThingsWithPurpose.com, allowing her to keep her readers engaged as well. She’s found a whole new wave of readers with this series.

With increasing expertise and experience, Sarah is also able to share the best tips with her readers—everything from pricing an RV to knowing what to look out for when inspecting the vehicle before purchase. She knows that she would have saved a lot of time and money if she had this knowledge when she first started out.

The best part of the experience has been the chance to make real money without sacrificing quality time with her children. Sometimes she’s able to involve them with the work; other times she tackles her tasks while they’re otherwise occupied.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Sarah and her projects at her blog AllThingsWithPurpose.com.
  • Want to learn more about how Sarah flips RV? Read this awesome post she wrote about the process and cost.

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"With any side hustle, there is the struggle of finding a balance. I don’t clock in and out of being a mum or for working on my blog or RV renovations."
—Sarah Lemp #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

RV Nomads Help Fellow Travelers Get Online

What It’s About

On the road for over 13 years, this nomadic couple teaches others how to start their own adventure.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Really assess what your unique ‘thing’ is. What do you enjoy doing that could be turned into an income earning pursuit? In our case, we had stumbled into a niche – all we needed to do was decide to make it a priority. We tapped into an existing and proven demand out of something we were already doing for free.

Fun Fact

It’s estimated that 1 million Americans now live in RVs and call the highways and byways of the USA home. This number should only grow higher as more people turn their back on conventional society for a more simple life. There will be plenty of opportunities for those wanting to enter this market in the coming years.

This nomadic couple are proof that you never know where the road will take you. If you follow it, you might just end up somewhere great that you never expected.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1001

When Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard packed up an RV in 2006, they traded their homebound lifestyle for the open road. They both worked remotely, and without ties to a traditional office they figured it could be a fun way to live … at least for a while. It turned out that they were embarking on what would become at least a thirteen year adventure.

They took to the lifestyle right away. Without the constraints of a daily commute or office politics, they found themselves with extra time and headspace … so they decided to start a travel blog. They called it Technomadia and they wrote about their road trippin’ ways across the country while working full time. Much of the content centered around RV specific items like solar power, batteries and accessing the internet while on the go.

Over time, Chris and Cherie built up some solid traffic and with it, an audience. That audience loved to ask questions, especially about that last topic, mobile internet. How to access it? Which plans were best? What did they do when something went wrong? The questions often came in so rapidly that responding to them all was a part-time, unpaid job!

This went on for several years until, in 2013 they received some terrible news. Cherie’s father—and business partner—had passed away. It was a trying time for the couple. Cherie found the best recovery was to keep herself busy, so she took on a side project.

She went through their existing blog posts, as well as all the questions they’d received from their visitors, and compiled them into a guide entitled The Mobile Internet Handbook.

Taken on as a pet project, neither Chris nor Cherie expected much from it. They listed it for sale on their site and continued life as RV nomads on the open road. A few sales rolled in … but then their RV stopped rolling shortly thereafter courtesy of an engine break down.

Interestingly, during that time their book began to take on a life of its own and sales revved up. Simultaneously, the questions they received from readers only increased. Many of the questions were the same—which sometimes felt like driving around in circles.

In response, they opened a Facebook group targeting RV nomads who were interested in mobile internet and working from anywhere. The idea being, with a community behind things, it might take the pressure off them to answer questions. The community as a whole could help each other out. But, this plan turned out to be a dead end. The questions kept coming, even faster than before.

Expressing this dismay with members of the group led one of them to make a suggestion. Their idea was for Cherie and Chris to consider a premium membership. Members could pay in exchange for more content and advice. At least then they’d be getting paid for all their efforts.

It seemed like a ridiculous idea, but they decided to give it a try. By now, the handbook needed updating so they put up a crowdsourcing campaign to fund a rewrite. One of the reward tiers included this premium membership. To their surprise, one hundred people signed up and prepaid for The Mobile Internet Resource Center.

At first, they had a modest goal to make a hundred dollars per day. Three thousand per month would be plenty of cash for them to stay afloat, especially with their frugal lifestyle… but they drove past that goal in two months flat! They kept adding content, and memberships kept increasing.

That resource now pays the couple an equivalent salary to working in a major tech hub like San Francisco or New York—but instead of living in those high cost cities, they’re able to earn it while travelling the country in their RV.

 

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

 

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

RELIABLE WEBHOST FOR $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for my past 5 websites. It's cheap, flexible, and you can get support 24 hours a day.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Really assess what your unique ‘thing’ is. What do you enjoy doing that could be turned into an income earning pursuit?"
—Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Don't Do Business Without It

Side Hustle School is brought to you by American Express.

No matter what you do in business, from working nine-to-five to working five-to-nine, it’s easier when you don’t go it alone. Get the powerful backing of American Express—don't do business without it! 💳 Visit American Express

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau