The RV Entrepreneur

We often see questions in our Facebook group on how to RV to craft shows. What do you sell? How do you find shows? Are shows even happening right now? Shanna Wyatt of Chadwicks Naturals answers all these questions and more as she shares how she built a homemade dip business that supports her family.  In this episode, Shanna shares: What happens if she runs out of dips on the road Her average costs and earnings How she chooses which festivals and shows to attend (and it's WAY more complicated than you'd think!) How to stand out with customers What Shanna says to every customer who approaches her booth Why you can still kill it at small shows How Shanna and craft shows have adapted to COVID rules Other food-related products you can sell at craft shows The BIGGEST mistake you can make at a craft show One resource you'll want to check out if you're looking to dip into the craft circuit (sorry, had to) is Festivalnet. This is paid service (but only $50 a year) for finding festivals. You can also check out Shanna's Facebook group, Crafter Talk. Thanks to this week's unofficial sponsor: Personal Euphoria. 

The Dream: A Hospitality Business on Wheels Back when they first wanted to start RVing, Josh and Brittain bought and renovated an 88 Airstream. Then they picked up a rare '87 Airstream motorhome to renovate and rent on Airbnb. They dreamed of creating awesome unique glamping experiences for people who want to enjoy the outdoors. "We had the vintage camper, but we didn't have the land," explained Brittain. That's when they connected with a vintage campground in Tuscon to park one of their Airstreams on site. They worked out a 50/50 revenue split and all the fine details and continued traveling in the RV, making their Airstream rental almost completely passive income. Josh and Brittain are very open about numbers, so they share a ton of insights behind how much they paid, earned, and profited as they've built this business. I highly recommend listening to the episode to year all the nitty-gritty details on finances. Now they have four vintage trailers and recently found a new home for their rental business in Montana. What we cover in this episode: The average cost to buy and renovate an Airstream (all-in!) Why Josh and Brittain won't ever renovate another motorhome The ideal rate of return (and how much each rental makes a year) How they found a home for their RV rentals Setting up revenue sharing + covering expenses How responsibilities were divided between Brittain and the host Growing their business debt-free

Would you live in a 39-inch trailer? Check out photos and video of the trailer at heathandalyssa.com/hitch-hotel In March of 2014 while driving down the road, Geoff had an idea and immediately called his friend Gil. How could they build a collapsible (but stable), a lightweight (but sturdy) trailer for camping and mountain biking? But bringing a dream this big (or this little, really) to reality would take time. They had four things they need to do to get the first Hitch Hotel created: Develop prototypes Establish funding Patent their invention Find a manufacturer This process has taken seven years, but the amount of time and capital it's taken hasn't slowed Gil and Geoff down. Like everyone, they have bad days, but every morning they wake up excited to finally bring this product to market. What Heath and the guys cover in this episode: How Gil analyzed the opportunity in the 60-billion-dollar camping industry How Geoff built the first prototype on his own (and fixed it when he learned that he did it wrong) When they finally could introduce the product to consumers Funding their development on Kickstarter How many years it took to find a manufacturer When you can expect to see a Hitch Hotel on the road

When we ask people how they want to make money while traveling, one idea always comes up: making passive income through real estate investments. IT'S THE DREAM. You only work a few hours, you have a property to come back to when you're done traveling, and real estate is a great way to diversify your portfolio. It's a no brainer. But it's also a completely daunting and intimidating prospect. You have to buy a house. Get it ready for tenants. And then let strangers live in it. Heath and I have wanted to get into real estate investing for years, but the magnitude and upfront costs always scared us off. So today we're interviewing realtor Jordan Knoll on her experience renting and managing seven rental properties (while she was RVing in Mexico, no less!).

If you want to work on the road, you need RV internet.  Today we are bringing back experts Chris and Cherie of RV Mobile Internet to share the best options and updates on internet for RVers in 2021. Chris and Cherie are OG full-time digital nomads and have been traveling for nearly 15 years! They both work on the road and knew that this lifestyle couldn't work long-term without solid internet. After years of testing and experience, they've become the gold standard for understanding and finding gear for internet for RVers. In this episode, Chris and Cherie dive into the major changes internet for RVers has faced in the past few years and how to get internet on the road this year. They cover: How to stay connected for working remotely Creating redundancies so you always(ish) have internet How unlimited data options have changed Who the top 2 carriers are for data (and it's not who we thought!) How throttling works What 5G even is How close Starlink is to nationwide internet access To see the gear Chris and Cherie mention in this episode, check out our episode shownotes at heathandalyssa.com/internet. 

At the beginning of the year, we got a voicemail from a listener asking for advice. How do you balance between doing the work you love and the work that pays? In this short episode, Heath & Alyssa share their very different answers to this question. Before we get into the podcast, I want to share some of the links and resources we mention since they are BIGGIES: Anchor - where to leave us a voicemail for future episodes Create an Etsy Printable Course - digital products are an amazing passive income source and Etsy is a huge marketplace! Get 25% off the course with the code RVE How to Self Publish Your First Book on Amazon - our complete course on how to self-publish with Amazon KDP

Paige loves the law. She's been working in the industry for over 20 years, but once she made it to the top—general counsel—she suddenly realized that she made it to where she wanted to be. And now she was free to pursue something else. She didn't hate her job, she just wanted something a little less conventional. Sitting in Italy eating cannoli and sipping a cappuccino, she had an idea...sounds like the perfect way to think up your new business idea, doesn't it? Wanting to find a way to spend more time in Italy, Paige came up with an idea: start a lawyer translation business. It's something I've never thought of before, but there's a need in the industry for reliable translations of legal documents. What if I decide to buy a campground in Iceland and need the contract translated to Icelandic? Paige at Online Legal Translations can handle it (from her van or from her home in Italy). But she didn't just jump into business on her own. She wisely started as a side hustle, finding other translation agencies and offering to do translations to Spanish and Italian. Then she started reaching out to her network and freelancing on her own. And then she had too much work and not enough time to explore (the RV entrepreneur's dilemma!). So she got advice from colleagues who encouraged her to start her own agency. So Online Legal Translations was born with its own unique selling point—all of her translators are lawyers. Now she could go beyond just Spanish and Italian to dozens of languages. Even Serbian. Albanian. Indonesian. Norwegian. In this episode, Paige shares her journey starting and growing her legal translation business over the past four years. Heath & Paige talk about: Why it's important that all Paige's contractors are attorneys What projects Paige loves to work on and what projects she has to turn away The one tool Paige needs to work from anywhere How to be a minimalist with your work How Paige has learned how to be flexible, outsource, and find freedom as an entrepreneur Being a lawyer is one of those jobs that I didn't think traveled well, especially when you need specific certifications and licenses for different states or countries. But Paige found a way to still do what she loves and travel the world. I love her business because it shows that with a little creativity, any business can be a work-from-anywhere business.

Sometimes you come up with a great business idea. It's something you know you would use. And when you get someone else to test it, you realize that it doesn't solve the right problem. This is what Reet faced when he launched Trip Outside, a platform to find and book outdoor adventures online. After a quick pivot, the marketplace serves outdoor outfitters by helping them rent and sell gear and acts as a one-stop-shop for adventurers looking to book rentals and experiences for their next vacation. But Trip Outside isn't the only company Reet runs with his wife, Julie. They also run Seva Stray, an e-commerce company with a big vision. After visiting India and volunteering and even adopting stray dogs, Reet & Julie decided to combine their love of dogs and their business knowledge. With Seva Stray, they sell beautiful, unique, ethically sourced, vegan products, and 20% of all sales go toward organizations in India that take care of stray dogs. These donations go toward vaccinations, spaying and neutering programs, and medical care. In this episode, Heath & Reet dive into: Bootstrapping versus raising capital (and the problems that come along with both) Prioritizing what to focus on as you scale a business Hiring and communicating with employees from abroad How to hire new employees (that will stick around) What metrics are worth tracking

Our annual year in review episode! These are some of our favorite podcasts to record. Alyssa joins me today to reflect on our past year.  In this 30-minute episode, we talk about the best parts of 2020 (because there really were some good things that happened), all of the hard moments, and some of the biggest life lessons we took away from 2020. 

How do you get Mindy Kaling to wear a sweater you knit in your RV? Krista has been knitting for years. After graduating college, she started teaching knitting classes at yarn shops. One day as she was working from home, knitting while watching TV shows about travel, she realized she could knit from anywhere. So she convinced her husband to retire early and travel the country with her. Most knitters go for a platform like Etsy when they want to start their own business. But everything on Etsy is so underpriced, Krista says. "I see a scarf that I know the yarn cost $7 and they are selling it for $8." Plus you need to carry tons of inventory to ship. She knew there was no way that could support life in the RV. She also made custom things for people who came into the yarn shops where she worked. But with the hours it took to make each piece, she still wasn't making much profit from each piece. Then a friend saw a posting on Craigslist for a knitter and shared it with Krista. She reached out and connected with a costume designer looking for a handknit piece for a little movie called the Hunger Games. This opened her eyes to a need in Hollywood for quality hand-knit costumes. Soon after, Krista saw an email for a conference for stylists. She had no interest in styling but knew that if she paid $350 to attend the event, she could get her card into the hands of costume designers. In this episode, we dive into how Krista has started making custom knit costumes for major TV shows and movies in Hollywood. Krista shares: How to follow up with potential clients How custom costuming works Why knitting can be high stress How she communicates updates with costume designers to get swatches and feedback on pieces How she quotes prices for pieces (and deals with new customers who don't want to pay her rate!) The crazy range of prices Krista has been paid for a single sweater