MC Fireside Chats - May 14th, 2025

In a recent episode of MC Fireside Chats, host Brian Searl of Insider Perks kicked off the conversation by lightheartedly addressing his scratchy voice and acknowledging the absence of several regular panelists, including Joe Duemig, who was attending a conference in Australia, Scott Foos, who had a meeting, and Kevin Thueson, who was traveling. Despite these absences, Searl enthusiastically introduced the two featured guests: John Handy, co-owner of Treebones Resort, and Devon Towle, Founder and CEO of Global Glamping, also known as Sir Glamps-a-lot. John Handy shared the 20-year journey of establishing Treebones Resort in Big Sur with his wife Corinne. He recounted the serendipitous rezoning of their oceanfront property to commercial use and their subsequent decade-long exploration of creating a unique lodging experience. Handy explained that the concept of “glamping” didn’t even exist when they began, but their vision was to offer an experience that combined the closeness to nature of camping with the comforts of a hotel, leading them to discover yurts. He highlighted the significant financial risks they undertook with business and construction loans, contrasting their approach with the revenue-sharing models discussed later. Handy emphasized that the success of Treebones lies in its unique location, the dedicated on-site staff, and the array of amenities, including fine dining with a sushi bar and lodge restaurant, massage, yoga, a pool, spa, and jacuzzi, all while maintaining a low carbon footprint. Devon Towle, or Sir Glamps-a-lot, detailed his entrepreneurial journey, starting from a background in architecture and housing consultation to founding Global Glamping. He shared how his initial foray into glamping began with a single yurt on raw land in Montana, which surprisingly led to recognition as one of the best Hipcamps in the state. This experience highlighted the potential of the industry and the need for guidance, prompting him to establish Global Glamping. Towle proudly mentioned the company’s growth to 15 resorts with over a hundred short-term rentals and their specialization in eco-tourism development. He was particularly excited to be calling in from their Guardian Ranch location in San Diego, showcasing 3D-printed tiny houses from Azure Printed Homes, emphasizing the rapid construction and eco-friendly nature of these units made from recycled materials. The conversation then shifted to the topic of bootstrapping versus seeking investment capital. Towle shared his experience of creatively financing his ventures, including a “Glamping Rev Share” model that allowed him to partner with landowners and structure providers. He emphasized that the barrier to entry in glamping can be significantly lower than traditional real estate investments, allowing entrepreneurs to start with modest means and grow creatively. Searl resonated with this, sharing his own experiences of building his business without significant initial investment and highlighting the flexibility and potential rewards of a bootstrapped approach. Both Handy and Towle agreed on the importance of agility and the ability to pivot in business. Handy used a compelling ship analogy, stating that a ship in a harbor is safe but not fulfilling its purpose, and that forward motion is necessary for steering. He shared examples of unforeseen challenges like road closures and economic shifts that require constant adaptation. Towle echoed this, emphasizing that nothing ever goes exactly to plan and that perseverance and the willingness to pivot are crucial for entrepreneurs in the often unpredictable world of eco-tourism and glamping. The discussion touched upon the role of technology in their businesses. Handy highlighted how Starlink internet and advancements in battery storage systems have been game-changers for Treebones, especially given their off-grid location. He also spoke about their adoption of Azure 3D-printed homes as an eco-conscious lodging option.

Episode Transcript

Brian Searl (00:46):
Welcome everybody to another episode of MC Fireside Chats.
My name's Brian Searl with Insider Perks.
I got like a scratchy voice,guys, like when the intro was
playing, I was fine before Istarted like having this dry cough.
So that's what I have this, I don'tknow if you can even tell on the mic,
but I like to be transparent on myshows and talk about things that nobody
really cares about to start the show.
But welcome everybody.
We're missing like abunch of people today.

(01:07):
Joe Duemig over in Australia.
Congrats to him.
He's at a Australian CampgroundOwners conference over there,
bringing his apps into a new market.
So super exciting to see his success.
Scott Foos has a meeting.
Kevin Thueson traveling.
Kevin, there's mobile phones.
I just wanna point that out toyou, Kevin, like you can jump on.
Like look at Sir Glamps-a-lot,Devon, he's at a job site.
He's all up in this stuff helping us out.

Devon Towle (01:29):
Yes, sir.

Brian Searl (01:30):
And then Zach and Casey, like Zach and Casey basically
just said we accept your calendarinvite, we're gonna show up.
And sorry my dog is messing with me.
And we're just, then we're justnot gonna come on the show.
If that happens, here's my little dog.

Devon Towle (01:42):
Nice.
I got my one.

Brian Searl (01:43):
She's got lap dog.
She's gotta have all the attention.
So anyway, like I was listeningto you guys before the show.
I was telling these two gentlemenwe're gonna talk about the businesses.
So I wanna have you guysintroduce yourselves in a second.
And then we're gonna talk aboutGlobal Glamping, some of the
cool stuff they have going on.
Treebones Resort.
My eyes are better now, John.
I fixed that problem.
Thanks for correcting me.
We're gonna talk about that stuff and someof the cool things they have going on.
And then maybe we're gonna have a reallycool discussion on 3D printing because

(02:06):
both of these gentlemen are involvedin some capacity, which I'm sure they
will tell you during their intros.
So you guys wanna brieflyintroduce yourselves.
Let's start with John 'cause he doesn'thave a cool name, like Sir Glamps-a-lot.
No offense, John, but.

John Handy (02:18):
Yeah.

Brian Searl (02:19):
I don't have any.

John Handy (02:19):
My name's John Handy.
My wife Corinne and Iown Treebones Resort.
We built it and opened it 20 years ago.

Brian Searl (02:28):
Congratulations, John.
I'm looking forward totalking more about that.
Devon or Sir Glamps-a-lot, or.

Devon Towle (02:33):
Yes, sir.
What's up, MC Fireside Chats.
My name's Devon AllenTowle, AKA Sir Glamps-a-lot.
I'm the Founder and CEO of acompany called Global Glamping.
Started off as a architect andhousing consultant for Palm Harbor
Homes in San Antonio, Texas.
Free advertising for them about 15 yearsago, and ultimately wanted to do my own

(02:56):
little tiny home community before ecotours and glamping was even like a thing.
And so when I moved to Montana seven yearsago I have an entrepreneurial background.
One of my companies is calledElevate, which is a skateboarding,
snowboarding, lifestyle brand, outdooradventure travel, and wanted to build
a little indoor skate park for thelocal community for the wintertime.

(03:19):
Found out about glamping.
I thought it was a legit joke.
I didn't know it was like a real thing.
This was seven years, so it was stilla brand new industry here in the US.
Bought some raw land in Montana, hada warehouse, built a skate park needed
a way to cash flow the property.
So I put my property on Hip Camp andwas doing $25, $30 bucks a night.

(03:39):
Had a little skate park going,saved up, built the yurt.
And fast forward a year, we endedup getting nominated for the
best Hip Camp in all of Montana.
Out of 6,000 locations,I was in the top 10.
I ended up winning by the, and then gotForbes and then going through zoning
and permitting and all that other stuff.
I recognized that this industry was likethe wild west and the industry needed

(04:02):
some people to help, guide the industry.
And so I started Global Glamping.
Fast forward seven years now,we've been featured in quite
a few major publications.
The most recent big award wasfor business elites 40 under 40,
and I just turned 40 last month.
So literally barely madeit by the nick of time.
So that was super cool.
And now we have 15 resorts with overa hundred short term rental in the

(04:27):
ecotourism space, about 34 properties.
And we've literally helped thousands ofpeople with guests and also developments.
And so we specialize in ecotourismand developing locations.
I'm actually here at our Guardian Ranchlocation in San Diego, California, or
in Escondido in San Diego, California.

(04:48):
With the 3D printed tiny houses fromAzure printed homes as a world's
first ever, we've been able to getthree decks framed out plumbing
and water lines done in three days.
So all of you that weren't onthe call, there's no excuse.

Brian Searl (05:04):
That's true, man.
That's true.
Thanks for being here.
Like you're not toofar from me in Montana.
I know you're not in Montana right now.
We just covered that.
But I'm in Calgary.
I live here permanently.

Devon Towle (05:11):
Oh nice!.

Brian Searl (05:12):
So just North of you.
Not too far away.
Did I hear you say like youwere bootstrapped, right?
Is that what I heard?

Devon Towle (05:17):
Yeah, completely bootstrapped.
We've never had any ambassador.
I was just doing this to get peopleinto nature and do some tent camping
and it's become this thing now.
So it's been a really exciting.

Brian Searl (05:31):
So this is a super interesting question for me because
I am like, I'm also bootstrapped andthere's obviously a place for investment
capital for certain use cases, but Ithink this is an interesting conversation
to have simultaneously that willallow us to explore how your business
is built or businesses were built.
And that is you see a lot of people onLinkedIn, especially since the pandemic

(05:52):
who are, and not speaking negativelyfor or against whatever, but who are,
I'm an investor come investor withme putting money into my company.
We'll give you fractional shares ofthis or fractional shares of that.
Or like you can make so muchmoney in the RV park space or
the glamping space or whatever.
And that's a viable pathto success in some cases.
I don't know that I fully agree withthe fractional share thing, but that's
obviously just my opinion for sure.

(06:13):
There are definitely methodsof profit behind there.
But it's not the only way, and I thinkthat story gets lost sometimes, is that
there is ways that you can bootstrap from,all the way down to like you said you
started, and I want you to talk more aboutthis, but your $25, $30 a day, tent sites
or whatever on Hip Camp it's not as easyas like getting a check written for you

(06:36):
for 5, 10, 50, a hundred million dollars,but sometimes it's more rewarding.
What do you think?

Devon Towle (06:42):
Oh man, I, and I completely agree, and that's actually another reason
I started this company because I've beenable to get creative with financing.
And even my first deal, I did a,it's called Glamping Rev Share
to where we have five acres.
There was a gentleman that was in inMontana, in Florence, Montana, which is
the next little town to Stevensville.

(07:02):
It's where they, to filmto show him Yellowstone.
And I had, someone had told me thathe had a bunch of yurts and so I
called them and I was like, Hey man.
I heard that you have a bunch ofyurts that you're trying to sell, you
haven't really been able to sell them.
I could do a display model as wellas, share the revenue with you.
So I was like, I'll do themanagement, I'll do the listing.
I'll give you half of therevenue, help you sell your yurts.

(07:25):
And that's how we got the yurt.
I paid for the deck.
He supplied the yurt,place for $ 500 bucks.
Built my own little fire.
Only had a porta-potty.
I was afraid that people were gonnaleave bad reviews, but actually
again, people get analysis paralysis.
And I did add a desperation and sureenough, like we got good reviews because

(07:48):
the porta-potty was always clean, andagain, like I just had to generate
revenue and we were getting $75, ahundred bucks a night, and I knew if I
could do it, with one, I could scale it.
And that's how I've been able toscale my business was I do rev
share deals with people and thenthey would generate a cash flow.
They'd buy the structure, and thenI'd buy them out after a few years.

(08:08):
And so now we do that on prettymuch all of our locations and we'll
even invest in other sites dependingon, if it's feasible or not.
But we do 50-50 to where we'llsell the structure, we'll put
it up on our qualified land.
They get half of the rental incomeand then after five years they can
sell it to us at an agreed upon price.

(08:29):
We can broker a deal andthen, sell it to a commission.
They can sell it to another,structure partner or they can move
it to one of our other sites ormove it to their own location.
Develop their own sites because as90% of the people in the industry,
if they, have been in this industry,that's the biggest thing is finding
the capital to do the developments.

(08:51):
And so I've been able to find aworkaround 'cause I haven't, I didn't
have the best credit when I got started.
I didn't have it going, so I hadto get creative and this rev share
model has been a game changer for me.

Brian Searl (09:05):
Yeah, that's all that resonates with me, right?
I didn't, even to the last point,like the bad credit when I started
like in 2010, 2011 or whatever I nevertook a big loan from a bank either.
Like looking back on it, I'mlike, I can't believe I was that
stupid, but I had no other choice.
At one point, I think I had$150,000 in credit card debt,
like long time ago, right?
But that's how I was building my business.
And then I was turning it over, right?

(09:26):
Very quickly.
But that ability to just like, thatwould never fly with investors, right?
The kinds of things that, like I've doneover the years to build my business that
were like, I'm gonna just go all in this.
'cause I think it's right.
And an investor would look tothat oh my God, are you crazy?
You're never doing that with my money.
But it worked.
And so that's the flexibilityis what appeals to me too.

Devon Towle (09:45):
The barrier to entry for this type of real estate
investment is a fraction of thecost of your typical Airbnb or other
real estate investment where youneed 500,000 to a million dollars.
You could literally get started withsome raw land a bell tent, a little
solar battery bank, and two to $3,000.
And that's not the ideal way to do it,but where there's a will there's a way.

Brian Searl (10:09):
Yeah.
But that creativity isthe key to it, right?
And again, I'm not saying that youcan't be successful other ways.
Of course you can.
There's plenty of models proven out.
There's lots of great groups out there.
Kevin's is one, right?
They have a lot of great investorsbehind their company and they've been
extremely successful with KCN Campgrounds.
See, I even talked nice aboutyou, Kevin, when you're not here.
He's not gonna watch the show, but.
But like that, yeah, that stuff,the way that you can just.

(10:33):
It's harder for sure, I guessis what I'm trying to say.
It's harder, it requires morecreativity and innovation in the
beginning to a certain extent.
Especially because you have that abilityto be more flexible and thus and I think
it also takes longer, but the reward ofbut your boots into the mud and building
the things and doing what you're doing,standing at the construction site and
seeing it all come together, right?

(10:54):
Like you probably at this point inyour business, you probably don't
need to be the guy standing there,but I have a sense you maybe enjoy it.

Devon Towle (11:03):
Right now as I'm building out the construction crews and everything
it is a necessity for me to be on site.
I don't have to be with the guys all thetime, the responsible young gentlemen.
But yeah, it is, it's likeI like being out here.
I like being able to work remotely.
That's another thing I loveabout ecotourism and glamping is.

(11:24):
You have internet, you have all theamenities that you would normally
have at a hotel, but now, my view isoverlooking a 40 acre, horse sanctuary.
So it's a lifestyle man.
And, getting in God's creation,getting outdoors, being able
to, connect to community.
That's the reason why I'mso passionate about it.

Brian Searl (11:45):
For sure.
I wanna come back and look at, talkmore about your 3D homes and how
the business is going in a second.
I wanna get to John.
I don't wanna leave himsitting there too long.
John, how you doing?

John Handy (11:53):
I'm doing well, thank you.

Brian Searl (11:55):
Tell us about Treebones Resort and how you guys got started.
It's been 20 year journey, socan you think back that long?
And I know I just say that 'causeI have a short-term memory.
I can't remember what I hadfor breakfast yesterday, so I'm
trying, I'm counting on you.

John Handy (12:05):
It Treebones Resort actually is 20, 20 years old.
This past November.
But it got started when I was 27.
My wife and I were 26 and 27, and we webought a piece of land in Big Sur and
it was a, we did a really risky thing.
We bought it, it's on the ocean.
We had an interest only loan witha five year balloon payment at the

(12:29):
end, which is a very foolish kindof thing for any young person to do.
But we love the property.
We weren't buying itbecause it was commercial.
A year after we bought it, it got rezonedcommercial without our asking, and
it's called Visitor Serving Commercial.
So Big Sur actually picked outthat piece of land and said that
would be a good place for a hotelor a restaurant or store or both.

(12:52):
We changed our dream and we spent abouta decade just thinking about what we
would do, but this was all money that.
Was just a young couple was justputting together to do it five years.
After we bought it, we wereable to pay off the loan.
Good things happened at work for me.
I was a toy designer at Mattel Toys.
And I was hoping for, that kindof success, but I shouldn't

(13:15):
have been able to bank on it.
And then we startedexploring what we would do.
And the word glamping didn'texist when we bought the property
and it didn't actually come outuntil a year after we opened.
So glamping, the word came outin 2005 and we, but we basically
figured out what glamping was for us.

(13:36):
And I was traveling a lot from Matteland staying in hotels and they're like
little miniature versions of your home.
And it gets old after a while,it's you're not really the lodging
part wasn't an experience, so wewanted to make it an experience and
we did like to camp as a family.
And one thing led to anotherand we discovered yurts.

(13:56):
We bought our first testyurt from Pacific Yurts.
And we loved it on the site.
It worked really well.
And that's how we got started.
But we got business loans, small businessadministration loans, construction
loans, and we took a lot of risk.
I think what you guys were talkingabout earlier about rev shares and
other things are good ways to do it.

(14:16):
They're logical, smart ways of doing it.
We didn't have any of that kind ofthought process back in those days.
And in fact the Coastal Commission ofCalifornia and the Monterey County,
once they did approve our project ittook five years to get the approval.
But once they did, they wanted usto build a whole thing at once.
They didn't, they've had bad experienceswith, piecemealing something together.

(14:39):
So we didn't really have theoption of starting out small.
We had to build it out.
And then through the years we've countedon our staff our beautiful people that
come to work for us, and plus all thewonderful people that visit us, they
fill us with ideas and thoughts about howto improve and what to make it better.
And so over the 20 yearswe've evolved quite a bit,

(15:00):
but that's how we got started.

Brian Searl (15:03):
It's interesting how many different things have to happen
to have you end up where you are.
I was thinking about this, I dunno, acouple weeks ago because I'm reading a
book about it, but how many differentthings have to come together, decision
wise, to leave you where you aretoday from as small as like the land,
like you're not planning that tothe land being commercially rezoned.

(15:24):
Had it never done that,would Treebones exist?
Maybe not.
Maybe you would've owned amultimillion dollar hotel empire.
I don't know.
Or Right.

John Handy (15:33):
I think it is a series of minor miracles, or not minor,
some of 'em are major and blessingsthat come into making this happen.
And just having the rightidea at the right time.
There's a thing in, so my backgroundis product design, but there's
a concept called pent up demand.
And that's something that everybodywants it, but it doesn't exist right now.

(15:54):
And as soon as you make it andcreate it, they've always wanted it.
It's like the iPhone.

Brian Searl (15:59):
Yeah.
It's exactly what I wasabout to say, the iPhone.
Yeah.

John Handy (16:01):
We never had that, but we can't live without it.
And I think in the case ofglamping, ecotourism and Big
Sur, it really didn't exist.
And people were waiting for it.
They knew they wantedto come visit Big Sur.
And there was a lot of 'em that werelooking for the most unusual experience
or unique experience that was closeto the land that they could get.

(16:25):
But a lot of that didn't happen.
There was regular campingand then there was motels and
then there was luxury resorts.
But this was combiningall of those things.
And I think the elements that go intomaking Treebones successful is the site.
Number one is where we are.
We're in Big Sur.
We're looking over at the ocean.

(16:45):
We're on Cape San Martin.
So we have 180 degree views of the ocean.
Behind us are spectacular mountainsthat come right down to us.
But second would be ourstaff that live on site.
So 31 people live in this propertytoo, and it makes it so that
it's more personal for them.
And then the other part ofit is just the amenities.

(17:07):
So we have fine dining.
We have a sushi bar, omakasesushi bar with two fabulous chefs.
Yancy Knapp is the head sushi chef there.
And we have DJ is his assistantand those guys put out a great 14
course omakase meal five days a week.
And we also have the lodge restaurantwith Kyle Walker is our executive chef.

(17:31):
That's a price fixed dinner.
But we didn't start out with that.
We started out with barbecue andTrit tip and things like that.
But our guests that were coming fromSan Francisco, LA and from Europe,
were asking for a higher level of food.
And so we have those restaurantsand then we also massage and yoga
and other things that go with it.

(17:52):
Pool, spa, jacuzzi.
And so in our case Treebones Resortis really, yes, you are staying
in a yurt or you're staying in theautonomous tent or the Cove Azure home.
But you're not sufferingwhile you're there.
You're actually living luxuriously.
You're off the grid.
You have a low carbon footprint, butyou're enjoying your time and you're

(18:14):
enjoying your meals and your experience.
That's the essence ofwhat we've got going on.
But that was, it evolved.

Devon Towle (18:23):
Yeah.
We did something similar atour glacier resort because it's
literally an hour in all directions.
There's no cell phone signal, so we wereable to get starlink up and running.
We got a restaurant and a bar there,'cause there's nowhere to eat as well.
That's another, difficulty that you runinto with these types of locations is
not having those types of amenities.

(18:44):
So a lot of 'em, youhave to build it on site.
So the fact that you have that sushi barand then all that other stuff, I'm sure
like people would love to have that,because we have simple food, burgers,
pizza, stuff like that, chicken wings.
But there's no other place to eat, so youhave to have that type of stuff there.

Brian Searl (19:01):
Yeah, I think that's interesting.
Like just we were talking about decisionsand I know you turned off your camera
for a second, I dunno if you werewalking around and listening to it all.
But we were just talking about thenumber of decisions that come into
play as you make and build a business.
And just the different directionsthat all those could take you.
And I think and I wanna see ifyou gentlemen agree with it, but.
I'm reading this fascinating book.
It's called The Midnight Library.
It's total fiction.
It's not about business but it's abouta woman who wants to die, and then

(19:26):
she goes and gets stuck in like thispurgatory place called the Midnight
Library that has like infinite numberof books with every possible outcome
of what her life could have been likeat every decision point, which is
basically an infinite number of, right.
It's a really cool book.
And I'm only in the, I don'tknow, 10, third or 11th chapter.
I was just reading it on a planecoming back from vacation yesterday.

(19:47):
But like just thinking about all thosedifferent things like you never know
where a decision is going to take you.
And yeah, that's one of the biggestthings that I try to tell people when
they come to me for advice on likeentrepreneurship or building a business
or whatever else is you think aboutyour decision, for sure, but don't
overthink your decision because you willnever know what the opposite impact of

(20:08):
that other decision could have been.
It could have been a lot better,it could have been a lot worse.
It could have been the same but you'renever going to know the outcome of that.
So there's no such thingas a perfect decision.
Would you guys agree?

John Handy (20:19):
Yes, I would agree.
I love the ocean.
I love boats and fishingand things like that.
I have a boat analogy though aboutdecisions and about going in a direction.
And I think it rings true to me.
And one of it is that thisconcept of playing it safe I
don't think you could really buildsomething if you're gonna be safe.
'cause the safe thingis to don't do anything.

(20:41):
So a ship in a harbor is safe, butthat's not what it was built for.
That always ran true to me.
And the second thing is that you'vegot this giant vessel with huge motors,
but you can't steer it, unless it'smoving forward you have to start moving
and then you can make adjustments.

(21:02):
But if you're just sitting there withoutany propulsion, you're not going anywhere.
You cannot steer that boat.
It's steered by motion.
And that's been true of our business wherewe didn't take the safe route, we took
the riskier route, but we thought about itbefore we did it, but we still took risks.
And then secondly, we started movingforward before we knew everything.

(21:26):
'Cause we didn't know everythingabout running a resort.

Brian Searl (21:30):
And you still don't do you?

John Handy (21:31):
And I don't.
And I have to keep myselfhumble and it's not easy.
It's not hard to keep myself humble.
It's easy to keep myself humblebecause I'm humbled every day by
things that I couldn't predict.
Like the global economy shifting rightnow and travel is shifting from Europe
and Canada that were coming here.
That's been really halted recently.

(21:53):
And also we have a road closurein Big Sur, North of us.
So all of the traffic that wouldcome down, highway one from the
north, has to come all the way arounda mountain and add an hour and a
half to their trip to get to us.
And you can still reach us from the south.
But that's something unpredictable.
It keeps you pretty humble when you'retrying to run a business 'cause you
don't know what next year brings,but you have to be agile and you

(22:17):
have to adjust and you have to makemoves, based on what's happening.
And also people will tell you.
Like I said, coming from the product area.
Our consumer was a child andthey had no brand loyalty.
They were fickle, and they wantedwhatever was cooled this year,
they didn't care about last year.
But you had to listen to the childrento tell you what they wanted.

(22:40):
And we always tease some of the designersin my group would be disappointed by a
bad focus group or a bad test result.
But I said, what happened?
Did the consumer let you down?
They will never let you down.
They'll always tell you what is going on.
And I think that's the thing ifyou keep yourself humble, you keep
your ear to your consumers, you canmake the adjustments you need to.

Brian Searl (23:01):
I love your ship analogy.
I would add one.
Stopped one, one other point to it, right?
Sitting in the harbor is definitely,not the death of a business, but the
death of major progress in a business.
I think there's another segment of peoplethat is much larger that probably start
the engines and head down the safestroute possible, like the trade route to

(23:22):
Europe that would had been done hundredsof thousands or thousands of times.
But they knew there was no piracy on thatroute and they knew there was no icebergs
and they knew there was no nothing.
And so you took that safe lane and thatmay lead you to a profitable business.
And you could do someinteresting things on that lane.
You could even steer just alittle bit left or a little bit
and end up at a different port.
But you're not gonna beChristopher Columbus.
And maybe Christopher Columbus isthe wrong, analogy to give 'cause

(23:45):
apparently he wasn't such a great guy.
But either way you understand my point.
And so I think that's interesting to me.
The ability of and I see that as, Idon't want to slight anybody, but like
I see that from the outside lookingin as what an in invest as a group.
Typical group, not all.
Typical group with investment capitalis almost required to do, in a lot of

(24:06):
cases, is to stay in not necessarily thesafe lane, but stay in the things that
have been proven to work before lane.
Or the things that at certain, andwe've talked about this on the show
before like electric pedestals atyour glamping resort or whatever else.
You get to a certain point where, theconsumer has demanded, X amount of
electric cars have been purchased, Xamount of campers own electric cars.

(24:28):
The math problem now addsup to me owning pedestals.
Instead of being the first mover to addthem, and then all of a sudden people come
to you because there's no other place likethe burger joint in the middle of Montana.

Devon Towle (24:37):
Yeah.
And back to, you know what Johnwas saying too, and what you guys
were, talking about is nothingever goes exactly to plan, right?
And you can plan all day, youcan run all the numbers, you
can do this and then that.
But there's engineeringpermitting, there's zoning,
there's, manufacture delays.
There's so many different things thathappen to where you just have to persevere

(25:01):
and you have to be willing to pivot.
Just don't quit, but pivot.
And that's something that I've had todeal with literally on a daily basis.

Brian Searl (25:10):
Yeah.

Devon Towle (25:10):
So when you go into whether it's, ecotourism, glamping
or any other business, especially asan entrepreneur, you have to be thick
skinned and know that, the only timeyou really fail is when you quit.
And if you continue just to moveforward and press ahead and go through
the difficult times and know that,you might have to move some things

(25:31):
around or pivot on some certain things.
And I go to that every day.
Knowing that hey, some materialsaren't available or whatever.

Brian Searl (25:39):
Yeah.

Devon Towle (25:39):
So just knowing that you're gonna have to use
your outside the box thinking.
There isn't a, like we have, guideand roadmaps now, especially, that's
why we offer our consulting because wespent literally hundreds of thousands,
if not mostly, it's been millions ofdollars more over the past seven years
to help people expedite the process.
And I was looking for a company likeGlobal Glamping when I started because

(26:02):
I paid for real ed real estate educationwhen I flipped houses or all that
other stuff, 'cause the experts havedone it and they've made the mistakes.
So I'd be willing to pay some moneyupfront to negate that and collapse
my timeline because there's alearning curve with all this stuff.
So that's actually how Global Glampingwas born, because I was looking for a
company to help me with the renderingsand the site maps and the proformas

(26:26):
and the pitch decks and like thedifferent property manager software.
Unless you're in this business, peopledon't understand the whirlwind of
different verticals that you have to work.
John, you said you've had yourbusiness now for over 20 years,
so you've seen it before.
It was, like you said,even camping or glamping.
So I know what I've been throughthe past seven years, but I couldn't

(26:47):
imagine, over two decades of havingto pivot and figure out which other
ways to go and stuff like that.
So I'm sure you could tell us some storiesabout, having to pivot with your business.

John Handy (26:58):
Sure.

Devon Towle (26:58):
And would you agree, like that's probably one of the biggest
things is learning how to pivotand know that not everything works
out exactly the way you want it to.

John Handy (27:05):
I think agility is the advantage that a small company has
over big corporations that havemultiple hotels and businesses.
You're agile 'cause you're ableto move and change as needed.
And I think one of the thingsthat's affected us a lot is staying
on top of the latest technology.
And it was funny because TrevorNoah, on the late show parody

(27:30):
of Treebones at one time.
There in the morning, CBS news came andtalked about the unplugging trend and
they used the human nest at Treebonesand they said, no internet, no cell
service and you can just comment, unplug.
And he made fun of us.
But he was, you know how there'salways truth to it 'cause he's
saying, I get a load of these placesthat say, come prepare to unplug.

(27:53):
That's because they don'thave cell service or internet.
And it was true, it was a funnyskit that he did on his show.
But now we do, we have starlink andstarlink brings cell phone and there's
probably disadvantages to that inthat now people are reconnected again.
But it's really technology thatdidn't exist for us a while back.

(28:15):
We had satellite internet, but it hadwhat was called a fair access plan.
So it was real slow and youcould only use so much data.
So it was really difficult.
And over the last five years,starlink has changed everything for
us, but also we're off the grid.
We don't have a grid for us.
So the battery storage systems,the lithium iron phosphate battery

(28:37):
systems for us have been huge.
And it's allowed us to run off thesun and to use that battery power at
night and really, have seamless power.
And those are just some of thetechnologies that have come into, LED
Lights as an example, were amazing nowthat they're nice and beautiful and warm.

(29:00):
And even though our lodgingtechnologies we were talking with Sir
Glamps-a-lot about the 3D printed homes.
So Azure printed homes webought one of those because
we're an ecotourist location.
But one of the things that haunted me isonly 7% of the stuff that we throw into
the recycle bin actually gets recycled.

(29:21):
The something like the Azure Homeuses 60,000 water bottles in one home
and reinforces it with fiberglass andthen uses robotic arms to print it.
And I wanted to show our guests that'sa really comfortable place to stay.
It's very luxurious and modern.
But it's also good for the environment'cause it's a use for all these recycled

(29:44):
bottles here in the United States.
New technology staying on top of that.
The other one was the autonomoustents, which are really popular for
us, but that was invented by PhilParr, who was a partner with us.
But that's a rev share.
Like you guys were talking aboutearlier, I did a rev share with him
because it was an unknown type ofconstruction and he was gonna have to

(30:07):
supervise it and be really hands-on.
And so we did that and we formed apartnership and it's been a really
good creative partnership at Treebone.
So it's just like you say, it's pivoting.
It's watching for the technology,watching for the things that change
and don't hang on to the past.
Move on where necessary, but don'tlose the essence that I think that's
what we're trying to do at Treebones.

(30:30):
And one thing I'm gonna tellyou, I might lose power on this.
I might have to reconnect.
So

Brian Searl (30:34):
I thought you just said you had this robust solar thing going on, man.

John Handy (30:38):
Yeah, I know.
I'm not plugged in right now.
My iPad looks like it's got 4% left,so if I disappear, I'll come back.

Brian Searl (30:45):
All right, cool.
You could disappear now if you want.
We we'll talk to Sir Glamps-a-lotfor a minute if you just wanna
go run and get a charger.
So Sir Glamps-a-lot let's talk about3D printing for a second and then
we'll bring in John for his perspectivewhen he gets back in a second.
Tell us about what you have goingon first before I ask any questions.

Devon Towle (31:02):
That was another thing, I was looking for consulting
and assistance with, becausethere's so many options, right?
There's Safari tents, Tree Houses,geo domes, yurts, aircrete, cabins,
A-frames like, oh my gosh, there'sjust so many different units, right?
But again, the most difficultthing in this industry is the
funding and the financing.

(31:23):
And Jean, the, one of the co-founders.
Had seen my products andmy sites on Facebook.
I forget, Instagram somewhere.
And he called me and was like, Hey,we really love your business model.
We have an amazing product that, theworld's first 3D printed tiny homes.
And we would love to meet withyou in person to see if we can
figure out a way to work together.

(31:44):
So he flew out to our Murfreesboro,Arkansas location, diamond glamping,
and we met in person, fell in love withthe site and said, Hey I think that
there's an opportunity to work together,since we're not just selling trucks, the
building we work for, we have multipleverticals inside of our business.
And so he was actually able to find anequipment company to partner up with me

(32:09):
and I was able to get 25 tiny houses, 20of the X 180's and five of the X 360's.
And now over the past, two monthswe've been getting them delivered.
I've been bouncing around to ourdifferent locations and setting them
up and everything that I've doneso far and then like I said, we've
done domes, tiny houses, cabins, thesheds that you can finish out into,

(32:33):
little cabins and stuff like that.
We've done 'em all.
And as far as eco-friendly speedto market, cost effectiveness,
ROI longevity, these Azure printedtiny homes are absolutely amazing.
What John was saying is obviouslyit's made outta recycled materials,
but also they're plug and play.
I got the top tier unit, which hasthe full insulation, the full solar

(32:57):
power battery banks the full bathroommodule, the kitchenette, everything.
And they were roughly around a $100k.
Their base price was like, $ 59,000but we were able to rent them
out for $250 to $500 night.
I think Treebones even rents theirsfor $700 to $800 a night, and
they're booked out quite a bit.
They do get high returns, but again,like the speed to market, the energy

(33:21):
efficiency of them, the eco-friendlinessof them, that's another thing that
people love about this industry is it'sthey're temporary structures, right?
So being able to have a unit that's upand running with a matter of days is huge
for this industry because, the longer youtake to get your side up and running, the
more vulnerable you are to losing yourbusiness because you're not cash flowing.

(33:44):
So if you can get things up incash flowing right away and start
generating revenue it's a game changer.
And this has been a game changer for us.
This is our first season with allof these units, so we're excited to
see how they do, but already we'vebeen able to get up eight of these
things and literally less than twomonths and they're gonna be generating
a substantial amount of revenue.

(34:04):
But yeah, being able to find the rightproduct, the right structure, finding
the right land that doesn't have a tonof restrictions, and have to go through
a two to four year zoning process.
I got one property right now.
The one that actually was featured inForbes and won of the best Hip Camp.
It's a good old boys club and they're verystrict when it comes to what they allow

(34:25):
and don't allow in their little towns.
Finding the right land thatit's unrestricted, un zoned.
And being able to set up yoursite quickly has been advantageous
to the success of our business.
'cause I wouldn't have,I wouldn't do the same
I went through, but again,you having to pivot and learn

(34:46):
what works and what doesn't.
'cause no one's ever reallydone this stuff before.

Brian Searl (34:49):
Yeah.
And that's the interesting part.
John, we have you back, butI think there's a little bit
of an echo coming from you.
We tried to unmute you and it's makingweird sounds, so we'll try, if you
want, I don't know what's happeningif it's just an echo, but anyway what,
yeah, what interests me is like youtalk about all the choices that are
available for people now, but like thechoices that you have available now
is vast seemingly, when you compare.

(35:11):
What was available even just a few yearsago, but I think we're just getting
started, especially with 3D printing.
And you talk about Azure having thiscompany that does a few different models.
I'm looking forward to whatwe're gonna see in 15, 20 years.
I think there's a way, Ithink there's a thing where

Devon Towle (35:25):
I'd say less than that man.
I'd say five.

Brian Searl (35:27):
I'm always the quick person that like, wants to jump forward.
So I try to be more conservative sometimeswhen I'm talking to shows like this.
I agree with you.
Like it just depends on thescalability of technology.
Like can they 3D print fullvillages in Mexico years ago for
$4,000 for a little hut, right?
So like these things are gonna get prettycheap, but imagine when designers like our

(35:48):
company, we do marketing and advertising.
Imagine when we get our hands onlike the 3D CAD designs and we
can design some of this reallycool stuff, or AI can do it right?
And then come up with one.

Devon Towle (36:00):
Yeah, I was actually gonna mention AI.
Pretty soon you're gonna be able tojust put in a design on an AI and then
it'll print it out with a 3D printer.
So that's where we're headed.

Brian Searl (36:09):
And that excites me because then Sir Glamps-a-lot,
you can go to I don't know, like aLA Raiders game or whatever else.
Is it LA Raiders or is it Oakland Raiders?
I don't know.
I think it's LA Raiders now.
Whatever, I just made up a team.

Devon Towle (36:21):
Las Vagas.
It's Las Vegas Ranger.

Brian Searl (36:23):
I'm a miserable Cleveland Browns man.
I dunno,

Devon Towle (36:24):
I'm not from California.
I just have a project out here.
So that's more probably John's.

Brian Searl (36:29):
All right so anyway, like whatever, a football team,
basketball team, college, whateverimagine just showing up like a night
before a playoff game or two nightsbefore a playoff game and renting like
a lot where you can put up temporaryfootball helmet style glamping, right?
And then you let people stay in it for$500, $700, a thousand dollars a night
and then you take it all and recycle it.
'cause NASA's been doing that onthe Space station for 10 years.

(36:52):
And then you just pack it all up, take itto the next place and print something new.
That's gonna be cool.

John Handy (36:57):
Yeah.

Devon Towle (36:58):
Yeah.
That's awesome.

Brian Searl (36:59):
John, welcome back.

John Handy (37:00):
Thank you.
Sorry for the technical difficulties,I guess Trevor Noah is correct.
We're making excuses.

Brian Searl (37:07):
It's a good problem to have I realized this the other day and I
don't wanna spend too much time on this'cause I don't like to talk about myself
too much 'cause we have you guys here.
But I realized that when Iwas on vacation, like I don't
take very many vacations.
I work seven days a week, 16 hours a day.
'cause I really love what I do.
But when I do take a vacation, I try todisconnect and it's been harder now that
like lately, 'cause I've been dealing withAI and like things are moving so fast.

(37:30):
That's just my little cornerof the world that I play in.
But I realized like walking alonga beach in Vancouver Island with my
girlfriend over the weekend, like thisis a whole different world out here.
Like it has such a huge benefit towhat you do normally in your day if
you were able to truly disconnect.
I think there's a huge benefit therethat so many people in our society,

(37:50):
because of the constant noise, don'trealize that they're missing until
they like actually experience it.

John Handy (37:57):
Yeah, that's right.
I got a call from the Wall Street Journal,like first year we opened and we put
on our website, come prepare to unplug.
And they wanted to know about thattrend and I said, no, it's not a trend,
it's just that's what's happening here.
And they asked me if we ever getany executives that come to stay at
Treebones and what's their reactionto no ability to talk on a cell phone

(38:19):
or the internet back in those days.
And I said to be honest with you,a lot of them get very nervous
about that and they get upset.
And I said, my personal experiencehas been that when I leave on
vacation, I go to a place like Alaskaor somewhere where I'm not gonna be
able to be in contact if I call theoffice and say, you're not gonna be
able to reach me on a regular basis.
I can call in maybe once a week ortwice a week, but just take care

(38:43):
of everything and just do the bestyou can and I won't criticize you.
And my team always rose to those occasionsand the world will work without us.
If you go and look at astronautsand go into outer space, that world
is just existing just fine withoutyour intimate little involvement.
And I think we get too connected toour devices and we need to unplug

(39:06):
sometimes, we need to get away andat least at Treebones, we focus
all the internet on the main lodge.
So that's the hub of activity.
But when you go back to your individuallodging units, with the exception of the
Cove, which is the Azure home and theautonomous tents, they have full speed
internet, but everything else doesn't.
And that way you have that optionjust to unplug and be away from it.

(39:29):
And, just even kids with video gameslearning that they can live without it.
It's amazing.

Brian Searl (39:36):
Can you live without video games?

John Handy (39:37):
I think so.

Brian Searl (39:38):
I'm kidding.
I'm kidding.
I don't even play video games.

Devon Towle (39:40):
I used to be a huge gamer and then I realized there
was more important things in life.
And I don't play video games.
I haven't played videogames in almost a decade.
I used to love Halo and FIFA and

Brian Searl (39:50):
I just played the builder ones, right?
So I'll still play like Fallout orsomething where you have to build
a city or make so many decisions.
'cause I like to do that froman entrepreneurial standpoint.
So I'll play those once in awhile to just de-stress at night.
But I'm far from a gamer.
Like I'll pick up a PS fivecontroller once every couple months.
For a couple hours.

Devon Towle (40:07):
Maybe later on when I have more time, again, I
might get back into video games.

Brian Searl (40:10):
You're never gonna have more time.
You're enjoying what you do Too much, man.
I used to say that to myself too.

John Handy (40:15):
The game is real life.

Brian Searl (40:16):
If I have more time and then I'm like, lemme do this other
thing that's gonna stress me out.
And then I.

Devon Towle (40:20):
Yeah, for sure.
I like John's, the game ofreal life, that's for sure.

Brian Searl (40:24):
It is and it's interesting, like you can, and I think we're
blessed, at least I consider myselfblessed to be in this industry of
glamping, camping, RV parks, all that.
'cause there's a subset of many morepeople in this industry who have already
experienced that disconnection, eitherthrough their own parks or through
traveling to other people's parks, orjust having a love of the camping glamping
industry and coming into it and purchasinga property to do that same thing.

(40:48):
But for sure, I can tell, like when Italk to a client, like you talk about
going on vacation and disconnecting,there are clients who, and most of them
are this way who are like totally fine.
Like I understand youneed to take a vacation.
Your team is there, I have35 people or whatever.
Like they're not gonna be thesame as you, but we can deal
with that for a week or two.
We're not gonna die.
But there are some clients who like feellike they are gonna die for that week or

(41:12):
two weeks that they can't talk to Brian.
And I think those are the people whoare generally speaking stereotypically,
are nearer to the business, haven'tlearned how to disconnect, are involved
in too many things that are stressfulat their business and haven't sorted
some stuff out, but they'll get there.
But I think we're at a great advantage ofbeing in this industry from the get-go.
Would you guys agree?

John Handy (41:31):
Yeah, I think so.

Devon Towle (41:32):
Yeah.
It's so untapped still.
People like us are the ones forgingand pioneering the entire industry.
So.

John Handy (41:39):
It's easy to think of yourself as absolutely critical to your business.
And I'm sure there's anelement of that's true.
But what I've discovered too is ifI delegate things to my other family
members and to other people that I'vehired, we have a great general manager
at Treebones and if I delegate to themand give them the proper amount of

(42:00):
instruction and maybe some learningahead of that great things happen and
I'm ready to expect the unexpected.
And that's how we're gonna get tothe next wave of whatever's happening
at Treebones is through the nextlevel of teamwork and staff members.

Brian Searl (42:16):
Yeah.
And the only way you figurethat out is to fail, right?
So what I think John is saying isif you're an entrepreneur out there,
the more vacations you take, the moreways you realize your business fails
without you, the more things you canfix, the better you are and the calmer
your vacations will be in the future.
So just take a vacation every other week.

Devon Towle (42:36):
That's not the best advice, guys.
In case people are outthere that was sarcastic.

Brian Searl (42:40):
They know if they watch this show, they should never listen
to anything that comes outta my mouth.
But yeah I mean where do you guys'businesses go in the future, John?
Like what are your futureplans for Treebones?

John Handy (42:49):
It is interesting that we have had lots of investors come and ask
if they could buy or buy into Treebonesor have us franchise it and move it other
places we haven't been wanting to do that.
Right now there's nothing againstthat, but there's a lot of movement for
people to invest in ecotourism becausethere's a lot of people that they only
wanna put their money into somethingthat is environmentally friendly.

(43:13):
And so I've noticed that trendhappening in the last few years.
We've been a approached a lotof times, but for now, I talked
to my whole family about it.
And we don't have any other partners.
We own it fully.
We've paid off our loans.
But I think we're gonna keepit as a family and let the
next generation take it.
My wife, Corinne and I havebeen very hands-on for 20

(43:35):
years while we're running this.
And then, all the years that wentinto planning it and building it.
But now we're ready to let that nextgeneration start to step up and move on.
And our kids have said they'd ratherhave Treebones than the money,
'cause in the end it's theirs.
But we're gonna keep it going.

(43:56):
And then our guests have told us,please don't ever lose the essence
of what Treebones is, even though weare improving and changing things.
And the essence of Treebones isn'tyurts and or anything like that.
It's the idea of perchinglightly on the land.
And it's the idea of living simply.
And being close to nature and being ableto hear nature and see nature and touch it

(44:20):
and feel it, but also be safe and warm inyour own place to, to go to bed at night.
So if we add anything, it's gonnabe with that essence in mind.
And we're gonna keep it family oriented.
I'm not saying that's the only wayto do things, but there's a lot of
corporate hotel chains and there's fewerand fewer family run businesses that

(44:41):
the owners and you know the family,and we know our guests, and I think
that's what's working for us right now.
So that's what we're gonna stickwith for the future of Treebones.

Brian Searl (44:51):
That's awesome.
Beautiful.
I think there are certainly differentpaths you can take as, we'll just call it
for the sake of argument, a regular smallbusiness owner outside of our industry.
Not sliding at all, but we'll just call'em regulars for the sake of argument.
But if you're in the glampingbusiness, there's so many different
ways you can take it and allof them can be right for you.

John Handy (45:08):
Sure.

Brian Searl (45:08):
It depends on your audience and who you're
targeting and what you want to be.
And if you want to be family owned oryou want to be investor driven or you
wanna be something in the middle, whichwe talked like Kevin is one of those
groups, I think I can say that I wouldsay he's in the middle right where he is.
We have to focus on theinvestment side of it.
We have to give an ROI to ourinvestors, but also like we care
about the people who are here.
We care about their experiences,we care what they're seeing,

(45:30):
doing, touching, tasting, whatever.
And those things are like builtinto our, like you can come invest.
And I don't know that this is trueabout Kevin, just to be clear,
but you can come invest in us,but these are our ground rules.
We're gonna provide good experienceswhere people were gonna do that.
And I think that whether that'sKevin's property or like we've
talked to dozens of others that we'veentered that've interviewed on the
show, who all have their differentphilosophies of things they're gonna do.

(45:51):
There's no wrong way to do itunless you're not understanding your
market and you don't have a plan ora vision that you're going after.
Is that fair?

Devon Towle (46:03):
Fair.

Brian Searl (46:04):
So what's, yeah, I was just gonna ask you Devon,
what's the future for you too?

Devon Towle (46:09):
Yeah, so I saw this happening about 15 years ago when I was doing
the tiny houses and the market, I justturned 40, like I said, and if I didn't
have this business, I still wouldn'tbe able to afford a home like this.
Being, getting creative with financingand working deals and stuff like that is
the only way I've been able to purchaseunits is because mortgages are insane.

(46:31):
The prices of houses are insane.
The median income price of the UnitedStates home right now, is over now
eclipsing some places over $500,000.
People can't afford places tolive, so offering affordable.
Eco-friendly, available structures incommunities that are, escaping the Matrix.
Being in the outdoors has beenthe most rewarding thing for me.

(46:55):
And people have gottenengaged at our properties.
They've had weddings, they'vecame back for their honeymoons,
connecting people to nature.
Just like John said, that's been themost rewarding part of the business for
me and our business has really becomea ministry of TLC man togetherness,
love community, connecting people tooutdoors, showing them more affordable

(47:17):
options for, midterm and long-term living.
Right now my goal is to get enoughcash flowing assets so I could get
like a 25 50 million, a hundred milliondollar capital raise or funding.
'cause I want to open up legitcommunities like this for
midterm and long term living.
And ultimately, not like a timesharewhere you buy a couple weeks and then

(47:39):
you go to a location or another location.
But I wanna sell.
Ecotourism, long term and midterm livingmemberships to where they can buy into
our different developments, and thenthey could actually travel around the
world and become digital nomads, andthen we'll help with entrepreneurship.
We'll, be able to have all of the onsiteamenities from internet to spa stuff, I

(48:02):
know health and wellness is huge for GenZ and younger generations these days,
people don't want to drink as much.
I'm six years sober now too, so I've.
Nature and this industry hasbeen huge for me as far as
mental and health wellness stuff.
There's just so many different checkboxes that ecotourism and glamping,

(48:22):
check for not only myself, but for peopleand wellness and lifestyle in general.
That makes me so passionate about it.
And that's really what I want tobe able to do is offer communities
for people that they can actuallylive in these types of sites.
It's more than just a short-termrental for me at this point right now.
That's what I'm doing to beable to get the cash flow and

(48:43):
show the business model works.
But I wanna open up, longsustaining communities for people
to be able to live in full time.
That's my main goal.
And then also we're developing an appthat almost gamifies, ecotourism because
each location has unique things to do.
So I know, I'm sure John, hislocation has, some cool stuff in the

(49:03):
area that is only specific to them.
Same thing with Glacier National Park.
We have the Glacier Mountainsand then and Diamond Glamping.
We have Murphysboro, Arkansas,which is a creator of diamonds
where you can go mine diamonds.
So finding locations that have cool,unique experiences showing affordable
housing, building communities.

(49:23):
And, being eco-friendly is really themission of Global Glamping, and it's
an exciting time for the industry.

Brian Searl (49:30):
I think my hunch is, and just call this a prediction.
We'll see how this ages that I thinkeven if you don't get a hundred million
dollars investment, you're gonnabuild something pretty fucking cool.
Wait, I'm sorry, that's, I can'tswear that's on the leader show, I do.
Just kidding.
Sorry.
Like we have another podcast calledOutwired that I'm gonna do in like
an hour that's more of a Joe Roganstyle where we actually drink

(49:52):
whiskey and let a few swear words go.
But really I think you're gonna,and I think you know that, I don't
think you need me to tell you that.
But I think that slow burn of the patientsthing that you've already experienced
and you already know how to handle isgonna make a more rewarding company.
And I think also, like you're gonna beable to turbo that anyway with robots
and AI to where you won't even need thatinvestment at the scale that traditional

(50:13):
people would need capital at, but.

Devon Towle (50:16):
A hundred percent.

Brian Searl (50:16):
Yeah, I'm excited to see what, both of you guys continue building.
I'll be building here on myside too with AI and marketing.
It's definitely gonnabe an interesting world.
But the disconnection piece, thetechnology that blends with nature the
ability for people to still disconnectwhile being connected in some ways
to their own choosing, I think makesfor a really fascinating future.
Any final thoughts, John?

John Handy (50:36):
No, I think that the future is bright for
ecotourism, glamping, and camping.
I think it's one of the things that,it's written into our vision is to
make sure we are inspirational tothe people that come and visit us,
as well as being inspired by them.
But I think that when they come andthey stay in a an Azure home or a yurt

(50:56):
and they're comfortable and they'reliving off grid, there's also ideas
that they can take home with them.
I think nothing better than goingon a trip somewhere and then
coming home feeling inspired.
And I think that's our big thing is howdo you inspire people to have their own
organic garden, to compost their waste,to get their electricity from the sun?

(51:16):
To live in a recycled home.
And even when we were off air, Brian,you mentioned something about going
beyond the Azure home and makingthings you could buy in the store.
That's an exact vision we've had wherewe recycle our own waste on site and
turn it into products you can use.
That part of that isn't that the10,000 people, that's about what we

(51:38):
get a year coming through Treebonesto stay, that's not gonna in itself
change the world to take those people'srecycles and turn 'em into products.
But if they're inspired, if you takeeven a percentage of those people
and they've gone and implementedsomething of that on their own,
it makes the world a better place.
And that inspiration gets passed on.

(52:00):
And I think that's the big visionthat we would all like to, at
our place, would love to see.
We'd love to feel like someonewalked away and had a new idea.

Brian Searl (52:09):
And they are.
And I think that's the point, right?
Is that the way you inspirepeople to do all that is to
show them that it's possible.
Whether it's a 3D printed homeor through off the grid living
that's just as comfortable ashome or whatever it is, right?

John Handy (52:22):
It's possible, but not painful.

Brian Searl (52:25):
Yeah, exactly.

Devon Towle (52:26):
And it exists already.

Brian Searl (52:27):
Yeah.

Devon Towle (52:27):
Because it's in our DNA to be in nature.

John Handy (52:30):
Yeah.

Devon Towle (52:30):
To be connected to the outdoors, to be in community.
And that's like the biggest draw forpeople that are just sick and tired
of living in the city and, beingcontrolled and all this other stuff.
And this is that opportunity and thatoutlet to be able to experience that now.
'cause before it reallydidn't exist, now it does.
So it's like John was saying, we wantto pave the way, give people a visual

(52:53):
and be immersed in the outdoors.
And it's gonna take people likeJohn, myself and you, Brian, just
to continue to share the vision andget people outdoors connected to
nature and escape the matrix, man.

Brian Searl (53:07):
Yeah.
And all it takes is that experiencelike just on Vancouver Island,
and I still have them, right, Iappreciate this just as much as
you guys do, but I still have them.
We were in Vancouver Island, took a boattour out eight hours, two hours into
the middle of nowhere, up into the NorthIslands, and we did a grizzly bear tour.
And just sitting off the shore, like wegot to be the first people to see it,
the bear was named Thimble, come outwith her two cubs that were like in their

(53:30):
second year of life and just playing andwrestling with each other on the shore.
Like you just can't, likethat's a whole different world.
And if you can, there's so manypeople I'm sure who take that
tour who will be on their phonestaking pictures and I like, sure.
I took some pictures too, of course.
But really won't see the bears.
When you see the bears.
And imagine what it's like to just bethem and their simplified nature and

(53:52):
walking through the forest and pickingberries and if you can identify with
that's when you truly get the inspiration.
I think.

Devon Towle (53:59):
A hundred percent.

Brian Searl (54:00):
Cool, guys, I appreciate your time.
It was a wonderful show.
If you guys wanna hear more of me,not you two, I know you guys are
busy, but everybody who's watchingus wants to hear more of me talking.
In about an hour, we'regonna do a show on Outwired.
We're gonna talk about niching down intoyour different groups of people you wanna
target, figuring out who your audience isthrough marketing with a lot of different
data and insights and things from ScottBahr and Greg Emmert, my two co-hosts.

(54:21):
So other than that, we'llsee you next week for another
episode of MC Fireside Chats.
Thank you, Devon.
Thank you, John.
Really appreciate it.

John Handy (54:26):
Thank you.
Enjoyed it!

Devon Towle (54:27):
Thanks, Brian.

Brian Searl (54:27):
Take care guys.