The Rv Entrepreneur With Heath Padgett

Brandon, his wife, and his two kids were house shopping when they took an unexpected hard pivot. Now they've been RVing full-time since 2015 and even added a third kid to the mix! It all started when Brandon was working full-time and building up freelance work as a graphic designer. He noticed people being let go and started working more and more hours on the side so that when he was eventually let go from his job, he could seamlessly transition to client work. How do you manage a full-time job and a side hustle and two kids at home? "It just came down to less sleep," say Brandon. (And every other parent ever.) In this podcast episode, Heath and Brandon talk about a lot of the changes that come with taking your family on the road and having a baby on the road. Things like: Why RVing has helped Brandon's daughter come out of her shell How much easier it is to make friends as travelers than in "normal life" Fulltime Families and how it's a must for any RVing family As well as diving into the business

This is uncertain times. It's a cliche to even mention that.  In this talk from our RVE Summit, Kathy Holcombe shares her lessons from building a thriving photography business during the Great Recession and how we can push forward with business (and life) amidst uncertainty.  Follow Kathy and Famagogo on Instagram here: @roadtriptough --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

Earlier this spring Alyssa and I had to cancel our in person conference and replan the entire event in 4 days. A week later, we sat down at a campground in Alabama and decompressed from the craziness of having to navigate the whole experience. In this episode I share:  How to communicate during a crisis moment (whether you’re talking to customers or attendees at a conference) Parkinson’s law and how our work tends to expand to fill the amount of time available for it Why hosting a virtual event was anticlimactic (for us) And some of the specifics of the tools we ended up using to host our virtual event (if you plan on hosting a conference) To leave a voicemail for the podcast, you can do so here. It's fun hearing from you through audio! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

As entrepreneurs sometimes we feel like we have to wait until everything is perfect to ship our product. No matter how many times we hear that "you should be embarrassed of your first prototype", we still push back bringing our idea into the market. In this episode I chat with Sarah and Kevin (co-founders of TheDyrt) about how they took the most simple version of their idea and brought it to market. They didn't procrastinate or over analyze, they just went with version 1.0 and got started. My hope for this episode is that it can be a kickstart for whatever idea you're pushing off into the future. About TheDyrt: The Dyrt has one of the largest and most reviewed campground databases, with over 40,000 campgrounds and 1m reviews. It is the #1 grossing travel app in the IOS store with a new user joining every 26 seconds and over 1.5m people who visit The Dyrt every month. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

I meant to take a week off of recording the podcast in March, but it somehow turned into six months. I've been incredibly grateful for all of you who have reached out this year and asked when/if the show was coming back. Tbh, I wasn't sure if it was.  However, I missed you and making these episodes. I'm so excited to be back to recording RV Entrepreneur.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

Today on the podcast I bring on my friend Cortni from the Flipping Nomad. Cortni's story is unbelievably inspiring.  Six years ago she was borderline homeless, struggling to take over her dad's businesses (who recently had a stroke), and moved into a fifth wheel as her only housing option.  Just six years later, Cortni has built a thriving RV renovation (aka flipping) business and recently partnered with Keystone to create a truly unique and never before seen fifth wheel. Some people even refer to her as the "Joanna Gaines of the RV industry". In this episode we talk about how: Cortni stumbled backwards into RV life and then made the most of a bad situation Pre-sold her RV renovations on Instagram Went from zero experience in renovations to making $5,500 in one week on her favorite flip ever She caught the attention of one of the biggest RV companies who extended a once in a lifetime opportunity for her This podcast was a blast to record. I hope you like it. If you do, give Cortni a shout on

This episode is all about how to stand out from the noise and stay front of mind when you're trying to attract and work with large brands.  I talk about: The one thing I believe is a disproportionate way to get in front of and actually win over potential brands/clients How we originally pitched Winnebago on partnering up and they said no (but ended up doing a lot more work together) Ways you can boost the odds of hearing back from brands you're interested in working with Brittany and Adam both left Voicemails in my Anchor inbox and I was able to pull both their questions into the show and answer them (best I could).  If you want to leave a question and be included in an upcoming episode for the RV Entrepreneur, you can drop a voicemail here. :)  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

Most of the people I bring on RVE are running a remote business from their RV. While Kim and Erran don't fit this bill, they have a really interesting story and something I've been wanting to talk about on the show for a while: being a traveling healthcare professional (related, but slightly different than travel nursing). What we cover in this episode:  What does it mean to be a traveling healthcare professional How much you can make How to handle things like personal health insurance and how to find travel jobs Connect with Kim & Erran on their: Website Podcast Facebook group --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

Losing your money is never fun, but losing the money that is the seed investment to your company is even worse. This happened to Jess, but she didn't let it stop her from creating a company that has now donated over half a million headbands to kids all over the world. In this episode we cover a lot of awesomeness, we talk about: How Jess was able to recover from her initial investment loss and push past the "failure" Why business plans are overrated The power of "putting yourself out there" Changing your mindset from being "destination centered" to present-oriented Connect with Jess: Headbands of Hope Jessekstrom.com Jess on Instagram If you enjoyed today's episode, I'd love to hear from you in the Twittersphere OR better yet, drop a review in Itunes. :)  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

How do you build a business that supports your family while also leaving enough room to live the RV lifestyle? That's the question Dani asked when she saw other entrepreneurs posting Instagram photos of their laptops in pretty places but complaining about how overwhelmed they were with their business. After opening business after business, Dani realized the thing that she was best at, the thing that lit her up, was the process of starting, building, and streamlining a business. Now Dani helps entrepreneurs develop processes so they can spend less time working and more time living. This episode is a bit of a kick in the butt for anyone who feels like they are doing everything in their business and is maybe struggling to loosen the reins and let someone else pick up the slack (AKA Alyssa & I). If you've ever thought about outsourcing or finding ways to work fewer hours, this episode with Dani is a must-listen. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

A few years ago, I saw a tweet that has stuck with me. Someone asked what was the best way to fund a new company. The person replied “Customers.” There are a few routes you can go when you start a business. You can find investment, fund it yourself, fund it with presales, and so on. And each method will be different for each business you start. With Campground Booking, Heath had a few false starts. He tried going to an angel investor, partnering with an existing company to fund development, and ultimately landed on bootstrapping. In this final Startup series podcast, Heath shares why he decided to bootstrap the company and how that decision has affected the business and his personal life. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

When you're an entrepreneur, sometimes you have to do it all. Sales, marketing, IT, support—you'll wear every hat in a day. But as your business grows, you won't have time to do it all well. Once Heath hired Scarlett, he noticed an immediate improvement in customer experience. Support response times dropped, there were fewer support requests, and more resources to empower campgrounds to learn how to solve minor problems. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

Joel Holland bought Harvest Hosts in 2018 and in under two years he has grown it dramatically (I recommend going back to episode 157 before you listen to this one if you haven’t heard it). In this episode, we are diving into marketing strategies. When you buy or start a new company, it’s hard to know where you should focus your time and energy. For Joel, he spent a good portion of time spending thousands of dollars (willingly) testing marketing strategies to grow his customer base.

Alyssa here taking over the podcast for our fourth episode of the Start Up Series starring the one and only Heath Padgett (JK there are multiple Heath Padgetts according to Facebook, but mine is the coolest). So far we’ve covered product development, partnerships, and pricing. Now that we’ve got a product, a team, and a pricing model, it’s time to start selling. In this episode, we dive deep into sales and marketing strategies for Campground Booking.

"Pricing is hard." It's a sentence I've heard from many entrepreneurs including Heath. It's also a question you probably have before starting your first-ever business? How do you price your product? How do you price yourself? In today's podcast episode, there are so many nuggets of wisdom for Heath as he shares his own pricing mistakes. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

Last year right around the time we found out we were pregnant and trying to figure our lives out, Heath's partner decided to leave the company. It was a crazy stressful time for us made even worse by the fact that Campground Booking had an incomplete partnership agreement. In this episode, Heath dives into how the company structured a 3-way partnership agreement and why it was a terrible, terrible plan. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rve/message

In this first episode of the series, we're talking about product development. Softwares are massive, complicated products to build. Heath thought his experience as an RV would only help him build the best possible software for campground owners. But listening to RVers proved to be a mistake. This episode is filled with lessons on how to get feedback on your product so you can continue to improve it.

After dreaming of RV life for over 20 years, Jeff and Deb have been full-timing since 2015 working with big brands like Dometic. But the real story in this podcast is how they got there and how they took their previous experience—as a Walmart employee and a chiropractor—to create an awesome mobile business.

Mike made mistake after mistake with this rehab. There was a squatter living in the house who had to be paid to leave! They chose the cheapest contractor. They left the country during the renovation. No city permits were pulled for the renovation. They were robbed—twice. And then Hurricane Harvey hit. All the good contractors were snatched up and they were stuck living in a house with no heat or lights and a single electrical outlet.

Going onto grad school seemed like the next logical step for Nick and Hanna until one day Nick realized two things: He didn't really want to go into engineering People actually make money blogging That's when he got an idea: drop out of college and become a personal finance blogger. Together, Nick and Hanna created what is today called "Mapped Out Money", a blog and Youtube channel all about personal finance.