Building Community and Faith in Business with Fireside RV Rentals' Garr Russell

Are you navigating the delicate balance between faith, family, and entrepreneurship? Join us on this episode of Seek Go Create - The Leadership Journey as we dive deep into Garr Russell's transformative journey from personal strife to entrepreneurial triumph. Discover the spiritual insights behind homeschooling, the innovative RV rental business model, and the profound impact of faith on overcoming life's challenges. Tune in to get inspired by Garr's story of resilience, humility, and community building in the face of adversity. Don't miss out on practical advice for living a purpose-driven life that could change your path forever!

"The road to success in entrepreneurship involves community, faith, and relentless action." - Garr Russell

Access all show and episode resources HERE

About Our Guest:

Garr Russell is the founder and CEO of Fireside RV Rental, a rapidly growing company with nearly 60 locations across the U.S. Fueled by a transformative personal journey and deep faith, Garr has built a community-focused franchise model that emphasizes both entrepreneurial growth and spiritual connection. A dedicated homeschooler and advocate for Christian entrepreneurship, Garr shares his experiences and insights in his book "My Wheel Estate Story," and continues to inspire others to integrate faith and business for meaningful success.

Reasons to Listen:

1. Inspiring Homeschooling Insights: Discover Garr Russell's unique approach to homeschooling that emphasizes heart connections and practical life skills, offering new perspectives for parents considering this path.
2. Faith-Driven Entrepreneurship: Learn how Garr Russell turned personal challenges, including overcoming alcoholism and finding his identity as a "child of God," into the foundation for a successful business and a meaningful life journey.
3. Practical Franchise Wisdom: Get an inside look at the entrepreneurial lessons Garr learned while expanding his RV rental business during the COVID pandemic, with actionable advice on community-focused franchising and avoiding common pitfalls.

Episode Resources & Action Steps:

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

1. Fireside RV Rental Website: Offers RV rentals and business opportunities for those interested in RV franchises.
2. Book: "My Wheel Estate Story" by Garr Russell: Free download available, aimed at inspiring potential entrepreneurs by sharing Garr’s journey in the real estate and RV rental industries.

Action Steps for Listeners:

1. Explore RV Rental Opportunities: Visit the Fireside RV Rental website to learn more about renting an RV for personal use or exploring franchise opportunities, particularly for those interested in Christian entrepreneurship.
2. Engage in Emotional Introspection and Seek Support: Read "Resilient" by John Aldridge for guidance on managing emotions, especially those lingering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, seek a supportive community or friend to discuss these feelings and experiences.
3. Consider and Plan for Homeschooling: For parents contemplating homeschooling, use Garr Russell’s homeschooling approach as an inspiration. Focus on heart connections with children, incorporate practical life skills into education, and utilize resources like Danny Silk’s teachings on maintaining strong parent-child relationships.

Resources for Leaders from Tim Winders &...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Then once I came out of my COVIDslumber there, my COVID comeback,

(00:05):
when God shook me and told me,Hey, it's time to get serious.
Uh, that's when fireside really took off.
We went from 12 locations.
two years ago to, I thinkwe have under 60 now.
We're adding about five per month.
It's all about community.
People want community.
People need community, and sohe showed me that with fireside.

(00:27):
It's create a community.
So we call ourselves fire starters.
Um, uh,
Ever wondered how an RV can becomemore than just a vacation getaway.
Meet Gar Russell, founder andCEO of Fireside RV Rental.

(00:52):
Starting as a new RV owner himself,Gar transformed his personal
challenge into a groundbreakingbusiness, creating the nation's
first RV rental management company.
Having lived in an RV for over sixyears, myself, most people know that I'm
coming to you now from my RV, Theo, I'mparticularly excited to discover how Gar

(01:12):
has driven the RV rental industry forward.
Join us as we explore his journey frompersonal hardships to entrepreneurial
triumph, Gar, welcome to seek, go
Hey Tim, great to chat with you and hi Mr.
Theo.
Yeah, we we are in Theo.
I don't, do most people name their RVs?
You know, we started doing thatwith our rentals and we found

(01:32):
that it really helps our renters.
It helps us to keep our fleet straight.
It helps our renters to kind ofconnect with the unit and I named my
RV the M3, the mobile memory maker.
We're glorying it
Gloria and I will have a faith discussionabout things is, uh, we just finished up

(01:52):
and, and Theopolis or Theo or theology,of course, is basically the root word for
being in God or friend of God, et cetera.
And so we said, you know what,we're just going to be in God.
At all times, that's our home,our office So, so welcome to Theo
that are, uh, listening in here.
So, hey, before we get going toofar though, Gar, I want to kind of

(02:13):
give my First off is either an easysoftball question or it's a tough one.
So I'm gonna give you a choice Whichone do you want to answer first?
What do you do?
Or who are you?
I definitely got to gowith the who are you?
answer it.
Who are you
you know, that's one thing that the Lordconvicted me of a couple years ago as

(02:35):
I was putting so much weight in whatI do, especially as an entrepreneur,
I was really defining myself.
By my success.
And you know, I would alwayssay build scale and sell.
That's the model.
That's what I do.
and then finally God slapped meupside the head and he said, why
do you wanna keep starting over?
All you're doing is building, scalingand selling to prove to yourself and

(02:58):
the world how awesome you think you are.
and that's when really, he justtook me on this identity journey.
Of who I am, right?
And so, that's why I definitely gotto pick that question because, man,
I am a son of the Most High God.
And, when we know that all, everythingflows out of that, that it's in Him that
we live and breathe and have our being,then man, everything else is, is set up

(03:23):
in much more proper manner because we'reoperating out of we are as a child of God.
So yeah, that's who I am.
I'm a child of the King, man.
Yeah.
And then everythingflows out of that, right?
Because then it's, now that I knowthat, then I can say, okay, well, since
I'm a child of the King, all right,King, what do you got for me to do?

(03:44):
What's my purpose?
And then he can show me, okay,well, this is what you do.
And like we teach our kidsin our homeschooling, it's to
know God and make him known.
And I could go on and on and on.
So I'll leave that as my answer
right there.
So the cool thing, I know there's people,a lot of people listen to the audio,
there's people that are going to bewatching this video, you're wearing a
shirt that says definiteness of purpose.

(04:06):
Does that tie into who you are?
yeah, I grabbed this out of a NapoleonHill book that I read years ago.
this was actually a clothing line.
I started with it's called mission mindedmessages and it's just all messages on
clothing It's funny because I startedthis I don't know how many months ago

(04:27):
and I just had my first sale last night.
I was telling my kids I just sold a hatonline you know And it's funny because
the hat that I sold is a hat that says,Hey, y'all on it, you know, being down
in the south now, everyone says y'all.
So the first hat I sold out of allmy clothing was like the one that
had the least amount of missionbehind or purpose behind the
words.
But

(04:47):
Well, that.
to say,
Yeah, that might tell us somethingabout where culture is and where people
are that they, maybe not everyoneis into the definiteness of purpose
and identity and things like that.
But I want to, I think it's sovaluable to kind of have this
discussion before we go into businessand some of your entrepreneurial

(05:09):
and your leadership journey and howyou define success things like that.
And Gar, it's, youmentioned the word identity.
Which, when I hear that word, it'slike bells go off in my head, because
I've recognized in myself thatI've probably carried some of that
what you do pride for many years.

(05:32):
And what's interesting, and we don't needto go over my story, we're talking your
story today, is that I really do believethat Lord, We'll strip all that away.
Either we will take it awayor it will be stripped away.
pride?
I mean, do you do you have alittle bit of a, I don't know.
Do you notice I don't, I'll say your fleshor something, doing something when people

(05:54):
ask you about being an entrepreneur orbusiness owner, are there some things
that well up in you that you recognizemay not be super healthy at times?
yeah, you know, that's actuallythe biggest area of my life where
the Lord's working on me right now.
It's not so much in business, but it'smore in my walk with the Lord, I'm very

(06:17):
big into, I love to pray for people.
I love to see God touchpeople and heal them.
And I love to see the gifts of the spiritflow and just the power of the Lord move.
it's very easy to step into pride whenthe Lord uses you on something like that.
You know, you walk up and pray forsomebody and they feel God's power
or God heals them in that moment.
and the Lord just had us move churchesseveral months ago, and we were

(06:42):
very well settled in this church.
We were right acrossthe aisle from Pastor.
were and during prayer time, we knew thatpeople wanted to pray with my wife and
I because they knew that we knew how to.
claim the scriptures.
So anyway, the Lord's been taking methrough this process at our new church
Where I'm basically, I'm nobody now.

(07:04):
I'm all that, you know, credentialsand all the Whatever you call it.
It was stripped away.
And so it's even at my Ben's Bible studynow It's like I'm just waiting for the
Lord to Tell me when to share somethinginstead of me getting excited that
somebody said something and I'm like,oh man I know a scripture I could share
that I really Impress the group, it'sbeen a really stripping season for me

(07:28):
the last Maybe three months since we'vebeen at this new church and even for my
wife, you know, both of us It's been veryinteresting the lord is just keeps telling
me You just serve and do what you'resupposed to do And don't try to promote
yourself I'm a salesman I mean at theend of the day if you're an entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs, they can sell we can marketwe can close we can do all the things

(07:54):
but then not doing that inside the churchwalls just going in and just serving
people And even the people were invitingover After sunday service like the god
god's been showing me like hey, why didyou pick that person to invite over?
Why don't you invite thatsingle mom over with their kids?
You know, and it's like,you're right, Lord.

(08:15):
I think that's good.
It's interesting.
That's been part of myjourney for a while back.
The Lord told me he wanted me toshare and serve instead of sell.
And he, instead of trying to impresspeople, which is part of what's baked into
my flesh, I just want to impress and Ihave this desire for significance and be.

(08:36):
He said, I'd reallylike for you to inspire.
And he said, to do that,you've got to all that.
You know, there, there's an example threeof two or three of the disciples arguing
over who's going to be the greatest.
And, and it kind reminds me of kind ofthis And you know what, I think it's
easy for entrepreneurs, business owners,people like that to slip into that.

(08:57):
Would you agree?
So it really is, especially, whenyou're an entrepreneur, you're
typically just a natural leader.
And what I found is a kingdomdriven entrepreneur usually has
the gift of giving, because theyunderstand that God made you to be
an entrepreneur, to make money, tosow into the kingdom and build it.

(09:19):
there's so many opportunitiesto step into pride.
Or just to simply, let it be knownthe need that you just met or
the person that you just blessedor the seed that you just sowed.
And it's been a very interesting,last several months for us.
but glory to God, that's the next step.
You know, that's the next stepin sanctification for me and my
journey.
And

(09:39):
Yeah,
that to
thinking, thinking back, Iwant to get to your story.
I just finished reading my wheel estateuh, your book, you wrote from lawnmowers
to RVs, my entrepreneurial journeyfilled with faith failures and fun times.
It was a good It wasn't, it wasa it was, it was a good read.
So obviously like most.
We'll call it entrepreneurs.

(09:59):
You've had a lot of ups and uh, so whydon't we, especially in light of we're
talking identity, we're talking about theLord doing some work with you and just
in the last few months, which I back up.
Tell me some of the high points andlow points of Gar's journey, the things
you've been on, some things that youlook back on and go, you know, That
was significant for who I am today.

(10:21):
I think everything is, butwhat are some things that you
like know they were impactful?
Yeah.
Yeah.
The most recent, that the Lordwalked me through is, was alcohol.
it was giving up alcohol.
It, it had been, alcoholism,runs very heavy in my family,
not so much on my wife's side.
and, and that kind of played into it asfar as, you know, justifying drinking.

(10:45):
But COVID hit and when COVID hit and,uh, we weren't able to be as social
as we wanted to be, my wife and Ifound that we started drinking a lot.
the Lord convicted me of thatand it was, we quit drinking.
It was a year and a half ago,March, maybe like a year and eight
months ago now or so, give or take.

(11:09):
and, just, I didn't realizehow much of a hold it had on
me until the Lord showed me.
And I was actually listening to TonyRobbins, and he was talking about
change and the reason why people doand don't change is pain like pain
is the ultimate motivator in life.
We won't make a change until it's toopainful to stay in the current situation.

(11:31):
he said, a good way to dothat is to just simply.
up the pain to where our braincan make the decision to change.
So I'm sitting there one day, my wifeand I were arguing about something, and
it was probably because I was drinking,
It didn't go to an extreme.
And that's part of what helped mejustify it for so long, really was
I'm, Hey, I'm not beating my wife.

(11:52):
I'm not drunk driving, I'm not right,I'm not doing all these things.
I'm, you know, I'mentrepreneur, blah, blah, blah.
But then when, finally when I was like,okay, I want to be done with alcohol.
I just sat down and I started writingout all these pain points, and the
one that got me was, I have a teenagedaughter, she's just about to turn 16,

(12:13):
so she's got this social life now, right?
And that's part of the reason why westopped full time RVing, it's like,
okay, we gotta settle down for a coupleyears, let my daughter have somewhat
of a normal life until she goes off.
to YWAM.
She's going off to missionary trainingschool here in the following September.
And, the thing that I wrote down was,if my daughter was to be in a situation

(12:34):
where she felt uncomfortable and shecalled me to come get her, I wouldn't
be able to do that because I was drunk.
And so in an instant, I wasable to give up alcohol.
I gave that up, but then the Lordstarted showing us all the things
that I was doing while I was drinking,became very passive in my business.
I actually had a multiple seven figurereal estate portfolio that I'd built up.

(12:56):
That I'd actually built up and sold mostof it, not even realizing what I was doing
because I was just keeping everythingafloat through COVID and all that stuff.
And, Lord opened my eyes to realize.
you're literally selling off.
That wasn't my retirement portfolio.
You're selling off your retirementportfolio to keep everything
feel like it's still, youknow, moving along just fine.

(13:20):
And so man, the Lord just broughtme through this beautiful process
in that of, in hindsight, he showedme like, Hey, you, you just broke
alcoholism off your family bloodline.
You know, just the benefitsoutside of I can go pick up
my daughter if she needs me.
Me and my boy are standing outsidegrilling one day and he's like, dad, I'm
going to have a beer with you someday.

(13:40):
And I said, well, no, but heremembered me and mom quit drinking.
He's like.
Dad, I'm going to havea coke with you someday.
And God showed me right then howquickly we can literally change the
future for the generations ahead of us.
So that's one of the most recent thingsthat the Lord brought me through,
which was just so, so beautiful.
And there's so many thingsthat came out of it that I
Yeah.
What's interesting about that.

(14:01):
Would you say, I mean, typicallysomeone who has what we'll call
that entrepreneurial gene, they'reusually sometimes, not always, but
they're usually have a pretty hard.
work ethic, you know, pretty strong.
I'm guessing that you do.

(14:21):
They also are quick to throw themselvesinto things when they do things,
they go all but but I have foundthat they also have what, what many
would consider an addictive nature.
But would would you say that in generaland i'm not saying this is a negative yet
I think it can be but would you say ingeneral you've got an addictive nature

(14:44):
that when you latch on to something?
It's somewhat addictive.
Is that accurate
Yeah, very much so.
I would say it's almost likewe teach our kids always about
the flesh and the spirit.
You know, and okay, is this my flesh?
Is this my spirit?
And you talk about being like all inand being addictive, it's like two in
the same, but they're different, right?
and I do agree with that.

(15:04):
Yeah, that addictive nature where, evenif it's something that's good, right?
Like working on my business isgood, but when I'm working on my
business 18 hours a day and I'mneglecting my family, that's not good.
There's no balance there, you know?
So I definitely would agreewith that statement that,
So
nature.
or the all in personality is partof what makes an entrepreneur

(15:25):
who they are and realizing, okay,what's what side am I on right now?
The all in or the addictive?
yeah, and one of the things I noticedabout myself and this was broken for
me and back in 07 08 when the realestate market crashed was that I,
I wasn't, I'm not really addictedto substance or anything like that.

(15:47):
I was addicted to more.
And so as a business person, asan entrepreneur, there isn't a
place that you ever arrive at.
It's just, you're always craving.
And wanting more.
So my journey has been attemptingto be content and satisfied,
which is not my nature.
so I mean, do you notice thatyou're around a lot of business

(16:09):
people, entrepreneurs, andyou might be that way too.
I mean, what's, when I say the addictionto more, what comes to your mind?
Yeah, very much.
So, you know, I feel like it'shonestly been about the last year
that I've started to step out of them.
more thinking more of thepurpose and the legacy.

(16:30):
And as an entrepreneur too, right,we're always seeing opportunities.
There's always, and, and as well, I thinkabout Ben that helps sell our franchises.
You know, he's 12, 13years younger than me.
He's on fire business throwingall these and this and that.
And he like, man, guards always it'sbecause, Napolean this, in his book,

(16:55):
he talks about when she h to 60.
It's almost like you hit your geniusyears where you, you start to get a
little more methodical, you're nottrying to prove everything to everyone.
You're not jumping on everyopportunity that comes your way.
And, I literally had 2 emails thismorning for investment opportunities.
And I said, let me, let me think aboutit for a little, let me pray about it for

(17:16):
a little, because it's, I'm not tryingto prove anything to the world anymore.
Uh, and it's not all about money really.
And you know, my definiteness of purpose,uh, which goes back to, it's really, it's
my children is my main, my main callingis homeschooling my children, raising them
to be like, we already know three of ourfour kids, like what their calling is.

(17:42):
already being prepared for that.
And that's where my focus is.
And it's very easy though, when we'rein the grind of the day and the kids
are stressing you out and they're notpaying attention during school to say,
man, I could just go in my office andwork and hear from all my franchisees
or people who, know, Gar, you're great.

(18:02):
You're this or that.
Instead of being in the grind, in thetrenches, really planting seeds for a
lot of things that I'm not going to see.
To come to fruition, you know, formy children and their children.
That's good.
I want to talk about the homeschooling,but I don't need, before we get too far
away from your, the addiction and whatyou mentioned with COVID, I, I believe,

(18:23):
and we're depending on how you'recounting, we're recording this to put
a timestamp on in November ish of 2024.
People may be listening intoit before the end of the year,
2024, maybe even early 2025, but.
Is there anything else?
I believe I actually, my wife andI realized that we were probably

(18:45):
suffering from some depressionduring the COVID period of time.
And we, we would like to think, I'm sureyou and your wife are this way, you know,
you're, you have a strong faith about youthat the Lord is with you and, you know.
You know, we were seeking theLord during that time, but we
were probably in a depression, youknow, we, we didn't think about it.
We probably drank more than weshould have during that time too.

(19:08):
I never, you know, identified it oranything like that, but, uh, you know,
that was probably the case, but I thinkwe were going through a lot of stuff.
And I think a lot of leaders, a lotof people were anything that the Holy
Spirit has for you to just share withpeople that might still be in a bit of a.
Uh, funk or malaise or, youknow, they haven't come out of

(19:33):
it, gotten their groove back.
I can't think of any other colloquialismsto use, uh, because I think COVID
did a number on culture and, andalso anything you want to say to
someone who might still be struggling?
Yeah.
You know, it, it really did.
And it really has.
And there's so many people that are stillbeing affected that literally their whole

(19:56):
lifestyle has changed and they don'teven, don't know to tie it back to COVID.
Because honestly, they're not even takingthe time to search their heart and say,
okay, why am I at where I'm at today?
What happened?
You know, and it made me think ofa book that helped me realize it.
I read this book called resilient by JohnEldridge, I'm reading through the book.

(20:17):
And I'm sitting there.
I can remember it perfectly.
I I can remember so perfect right now.
It chokes me up like I'm at, right.
Cause us guys, we're not as in touch withour emotions as our, as our wives are.
Right.
It's just, we're just not, wedon't, don't explore our emotions
as much as our, our wives do.
And I'm sitting at a breakfast restaurantwith her and I'm telling her about

(20:39):
this book that I'm reading and thenI just start bawling, like it's just
something finally, the domino finallytipped over my head I am depressed.
I am hopeless.
Like, oh, I'm having all these feelings.
And it just finally all came floodingout and, uh, and shocked my wife a
little bit because it literally was

(20:59):
just a floodgate just
are, are you a, are you a crieror a weeper or probably like me as
like, if my kids ever see a motion,they go, what's going on, dad?
I'm, that's not typical for me.
Is that typical for you?
So I am the odd duckwhen it comes to that.
I, one of my, on my mantra, one of mythings that I talk about that I repeat
to myself daily is I like to be moved byemotions to the point of tears once a day.

(21:25):
Okay, so I'm just weird like that.
Like I just want to experience lifeso fully that you know I look up at
the sunrise and it brings me to atear or my daughter says something
about something It brings me a tearand so yeah Um, yeah, I I cry a lot.
I cry probably I do I really do but butas far as I Identifying emotions and what

(21:47):
I was going through that whole processlike that for me I took this book and
as i'm reading it, and even just uh,you know Man, I've got a dear brother in
the Lord of mine that still is not backin church, it's weekly that him and I
are communicating, and I'm like, dude,it's not even about you at this point.
Like, you have a gift to minister to men.

(22:09):
There's men that are missing out.
the other day I'm reading inHebrews 10, 25, where it talks
about, you know, do not forsake thegathering of yourselves together.
And everybody knows that part of thescripture, but actually it goes on.
It's like, you know, several sentences.
And it says, even so more as the dayappears in and I realize that like
I'm hungry and I used to think, man,there's so many holy huddles out there.

(22:32):
Like, those Christiansget together way too much.
Like, we've got to actually go outand do the work in the ministry, but
God's been showing me an importantpart is actually, we need to be getting
together even more as the day appearsand man, COVID has done such a great
job of separating Christians, it is.
Of getting people tosocial media services.

(22:52):
I just thought of that, that free socialmedia services and, and, and going
to church online and this and that.
And so, yeah, I, I share that often.
If you are not in fellowship, uh, ifyou know that you're not where you were.
Pre 2020.
It's time to get quiet, getwith the Lord and say, Holy

(23:14):
Spirit, where did this go wrong?
What lie am I believing?
What's going on?
man, you know, just like, uh, just likeus as men when we're when our wives
are, I call it empty in the teapotwhen the wife is empty in the teapot.
And you have all the answers, butthey just want to empty the teapot.
They don't want your answer.
They want their girlfriend to tell themthe answer the next day, and then you get

(23:36):
to say, Honey, I told you that yesterday.
Holy Spirit is just right there waitingtell you the lie that you believed,
the moment where it all changed.
And to step back, Christine Cain,if you ever heard of Christine
Yeah.
Out of Australia.
Yeah.
I
yeah, she did a message six, eightmonths ago about not looking back.

(23:59):
And it was about lot in his familyand how lots of wife look back.
Um, and she did, and it becamea whole Bible study and series
and book and everything.
And it was about COVID and it just.
Did a phenomenal job.
Google that for those of y'all whofeel like you're, I call it your COVID
comeback for those y'all who feel likeyou haven't made your COVID come back
yet, Google that message and listen to it.
And I believe that'll be tohelping you step into back

(24:23):
into life.
think the foundation of what Irecognize and I was like, you know,
I was crying out to the Lord andsaying, Lord, what's going on?
And all that.
I, I, I believe what was revealed to me,and I think everybody's got a personal
journey, was that I put too much stock,too much faith, too much belief in
what I'm going to call the Babyloniansystem instead of the kingdom of God.

(24:46):
And, you know, I would say, Oh yeah,I'm part of the kingdom of God.
I'd done a long study when I was ata Bible school on kingdom of God.
So I knew all about it.
But I wasn't abiding in it.
I was still hanging out in Babylon.
And so when you look around andyou see that system crumbling,

(25:06):
you go, wait, what's going on?
And you realize it was more a partof you than you really believe.
Because one of the things wehave as Christians is that we
still do have it pretty good.
You know, we'll, we'll yell, We'rebeing persecuted or prosecuted,
whatever we want to say, but I mean,come on, we still have it pretty good.
We can jump on and share ourfaith and all that kind of stuff.

(25:28):
So, uh, that was for me.
I needed to realize I had too muchBabylon in me and I needed to be,
you know, kingdom of God where,where I know I've got my citizenship.
I just wasn't reallyoperating out of that.
So Well, one thing Gar and, and Idon't know, Where all this story
goes, but I think a lot of peopleduring that time realized that they

(25:50):
wanted to homeschool and do somedifferent things with their kids.
Uh, it sounds to me like y'all mayhave been doing that before COVID
or went to, tell me a little bitabout your homeschool journey.
Yeah, we, we've been homeschoolingsince the beginning, uh, that something
I told my wife when we were dating, Iwant to homeschool, I want five kids.
else, I think I said, Iwant to travel, you know?

(26:11):
And so we, we just got our kid,quote unquote, a young girl.
That's my daughter's friendthat we just been loving on.
And that's part of the reason the Lordhas showed us why we moved churches.
Was literally we left to go get the oneand I was sure was sharing this yesterday.
Um, with our kids don't goto our old church for kids

(26:35):
university Wednesday nights.
And then our older kids go to the newchurch and and I'll share this with
1 of the sisters there about that.
And I said, man, God showed uswhy he had us move in and just.
It's beautiful, but yeah, we've beenhomeschooling since the beginning.
We've, we love homeschooling.
Uh, we have a really uniquehomeschool schedule for our kids.

(26:55):
Just fun stuff.
A lot of reading the word, writingthe word, memorizing the word we
serve at food drives, uh, together.
We just, just fun stuff.
You know, the biggest thing for me thatI always say with homeschooling is.
I care more about my kid's heartthan, than their head knowledge, know?
So once they get to a certain levelin math, then I teach them how to

(27:15):
use a calculator because that's whatthey're going to do in the room.
You know, once I get to it and I wantthem to fall in love with reading,
you know, if I can get them to fall inlove with reading and just the quest
for learning and, and, and seeingGod and everything, you know, then
I've done my job, uh, as a homeschool
parent.
Yeah, it says in the Word that we'reto train up our children as they

(27:37):
should go, I think in Proverbs.
And a lot of people have taken thatto mean we're supposed to correct
them and spank them and all that.
I actually think we're justsupposed to point them to the Lord.
We're supposed to get them in theplace where they're walking out their
journey, their assignment, whateverterm we want to use in God's kingdom.
And we homeschooled our kids.
they're they're in their thirties now.

(27:59):
And uh, we've got grandkids with ourdaughter and And I think she, she looks
like she's going to be homeschooling them.
And I believe, you know, and we don't, Idon't necessarily want to get political
here, but with a new administrationthat was just elected, I, I think
we're about to see a massive boomin the homeschool because it's going

(28:19):
to be not ostracized as much, it'sprobably going to be, um, elevated.
And, um, you know, kind of like Iasked you earlier, what, what, uh,
what thoughts, advice do you havefor someone who's wondering about it?
They might be fearful of it.
I remember when we first started, wewere afraid we might mess our kids up.
This was back in the nineties,by the way, a long time ago.

(28:41):
And, uh, and we said, man, Ihope we don't mess our kids up.
We were both products of public schooland, but it was public school in the
seventies, which was much different.
And go, are we, we, wehomeschooled for a year or so.
And then they went to a privateChristian school and we realized
how far ahead they were and wewere like going, no, we're good.

(29:01):
We're okay.
We we're, we're good here.
Homeschooling.
But any.
Anything encouraging that, uh, you couldgive to people that are considering it or
struggling with it, uh, and, but they knowthey need to, uh, consider homeschooling.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
And we actually triedthat with our 15 year old.
She went to private Christianschool for about nine weeks and,

(29:24):
uh, several of the classes, she wasnot doing that best Bible class.
She was the best kid in the class.
And then just through a coupleof situations, no, we're
doing, we're doing great.
And we brought her back home, but youknow, I w I would encourage somebody
that's considering homeschooling.
The same was.

(29:44):
is I would encourage somebody that'sconsidering starting a franchise with us
a lot of the, a lot of the families thatcome on and join the fireside family,
working at full time nine to five.
They know they were calledinto entrepreneurship, but they
don't know how it'll all work.
You know, cause startinga business is scary.

(30:06):
Um, and, and when I have my phonecall with them, we always end
it by praying that the peace ofGod that passes understanding.
would guard their heart and mind.
And so I tell the potential franchiseesthat I said, Hey, if you have God's
peace, but you don't understand howit's going to work, then perfect.

(30:29):
You're lining up with the scriptures,the peace that passes understanding.
So once you have God's peace, then itswitches over to, okay, God, we have your
peace that we're supposed to do this.
So that's been determined andnow you move into the faith over
fear portion of the process.
I call it where you step outin faith Because then all the
fears start to creep in right?

(30:50):
Well, what if we mess our kids up likeyou said and I tell people gonna mess
your kids up You're already messing.
You don't think you'remessing them up already.
We're going to mess our kids up, right?
But praise God That the Lord is goingto show them through their journey
where they got messed up and he'sgoing to bring them healing and
restoration and help them to be thatmuch better of a parent that we are.

(31:14):
So get over that fear, becausethat fear is going to come true.
You will mess your kids up,you know, and then really, it's
just taking that step of faith.
And, uh, I love that scripture wherefaith is being certain of what you hope
for and sure of what you do not see.
And if you hope for a child that'shead over heels in love with the

(31:34):
Lord and walking out there, God givenpurpose, and is prepared to do that,
no education system outside of youis going to prepare them better.
And why?
Because.
Your child learns in a specific way.
Like we have two kids, childrenwho are dyslexic, nobody is going
to teach our child better than us.

(31:55):
Nobody's going to know when it'stime to take a break and walk away.
and the thing I love about thiswith parenting, I'm up this book
right now called loving yourkids on purpose by Danny silk.
Uh, and, and it talks all about heartconnection and when you homeschool your
kids and you have that heart connectionwith them, the other stuff is going

(32:16):
to work itself out because it's veryrare for a child to go into a public
school setting or any other schoolsetting and get a heart connection.
With one, much less 10 differentteachers that they're assigned to.
It's just, it's not going to happen.
No, one's going to steward yourchild's heart better than you are
when you have their heart, theeducation piece that comes along easy,

(32:40):
I think a big thing for us is that we justwanted to be responsible for our children.
Children's growth for their challengesversus, and this sounds harsh.
If someone's got their kids in aschool system, I don't mean this
harsh, but turning your kids overand letting someone else raise them.

(33:00):
And Gar, this fits in real with thebusiness and entrepreneur, especially
your franchisees that you brought up.
We had our own business.
This was in the mid nineties.
And what we realized wasthat our kind of rut.
Schedule was the kids going to school.
I mean, you know, theywere, you know, 6 a.
m.
is when it kind of got startedour day and, you know, 7 a.

(33:24):
m.
They were kind of either gettingon the bus or getting to school.
And, and then 3 p.
m.
sometimes later they would come in.
And even at a young age, they werebringing homework home and we're
going, what are they doing all day?
What are they, I mean, thisis like a grind for us.
And so we realized it was kind offreeing up our, our, our, our time,

(33:46):
which is really important for.
I believe business, business people.
And also we just realized wewere starting to live a different
life than the masses were.
And at some point along the way,you, um, I think your story goes,
you got an RV, you, you, your wifewasn't super excited about it.

(34:09):
And then also, but then later youactually lived and traveled in an RV.
So.
Tell me about that because I believeit leads into the foundation.
I believe it's God leading you into havingan RV rental business now franchised with
54, I think 50 plus franchisees all over.
So let's start easing into that story.
you know, that's the Godturning pain into purpose.

(34:32):
Right from homeschooling, the pain ofsaying, Hey, what would my children look
like if I just handed them over or, andthat's the same scenario here, how my
first business started and then how thisbusiness started as well was literally,
yeah, I'd bought my wife a camper for a10 year wedding anniversary, went camping,

(34:52):
she was miserable, she said she was goinghome in her defense, we had a toddler and
one on the way was doing like two months.
And, uh, I threw it upon Craigslist for rent.
I thought, man, I owned realestate and, you know, and I
thought, Oh, throw it for rent.
So I threw it up for rent andwithin a couple of hours I'm
getting people that want to book it.

(35:14):
And so instantly the light bulb came on,you know, and, uh, I, one thing to the
next, I started reaching out to friendsand family and, Hey, I'm renting my RV.
You want me to rent yours for you?
And this and that, it was, uh,it was the Lord taking pain
and turning it into purpose.
That's really been.
My entrepreneurial journey, I had a creditcounseling company that I owned for over a

(35:34):
decade, that was the pain of having to fixup my credit after I gave my life to the
Lord, uh, and I had all this, you know,debt and credit issues and everything,
fixed up my credit, turned into me, gotfired from my job for sharing my faith.
started a credit counseling company andthen did that for over a decade and it's
just it's so cool How uh, I guess tomy quitting of drinking story, right?

(36:00):
Pain is the ultimate motivator
I do think God.
I don't know that he brings hardshipson us, but when they occur, he's
going to use them for his benefit.
That might be the way I'd like to word it.
And, uh, so, uh, so were youa, like an RVer growing up?
I mean, were you an outdoorsy guy?
See, because my wife and I, we havebeen in Bible school for a few years.

(36:25):
And when we finished up, we'dbeen traveling before that.
My wife said, I think she'd been praying.
She says, I think.
Think we're supposed to travel again, butI believe we're supposed to get an RV.
Well, the joke is I grew up kind of inand around the city in Atlanta, Gar.
I couldn't even spell RV.
Like I don't even know anything about it.
And so, you know, you know how thisworks out a month or two later, we bought

(36:47):
one sight unseen, not far from you downthere in Sarasota, Florida, went and
picked it up and gutted the inside.
I showed it to you herebefore we got started.
And so it's been ourhome now for six years.
Um, you know, this kind of waythose stories get, but were you a
camper outdoorsy guy growing up?
You know, I really wasn't didn't havemy first rv Well my wife and I first got

(37:09):
married we went camping with some friendsthat had a camper and we slept in a tent
And you know and it rained that night.
So you only need toexperience that once to know.
Okay.
I'm not definitely not a tenterYou And then we bought this
like class C, super old class C.
I think we paid like 5, 000 bucks for it.
then that started our camping journey.

(37:30):
And yeah, we just fell in love with it.
We just, my boy Noah, uh, yesterdaywas just saying, dad, why don't we
hit in the road because we've beenin this house for two years now
and, uh, he's, they're ready to go.
They're ready to get back
on the road.
How long were you living in an RV?
Give me, give me a littlebit of the RV life,

(37:52):
About five years.
We kind of cheated though, beingthat we have an RV rental company.
You know, we had an RV sittingup on a lake in Michigan.
Then we had an RV sitting atthis ranch down here in Florida,
like a big, huge 42DL park model.
And then we'd get in an RV and drivebetween the two and, you know, and this
and that, maybe we'd go stay at an Airbnb.

(38:13):
So, so we weren't the true, you know,hardcore full timers, uh, you know, but
but people, people get on, you know, yougo to some of these, uh, Facebook groups,
full time RVing and stuff like that.
People sometimes get ticked iflike we're in Arizona right now.

(38:35):
And you know what, we'll probablyhang out here until the weather
starts getting warmer, and then we'llmigrate north and we might stay in
the Black Hills for a few months.
So we're not like burning up the road.
We're not.
I don't like, you know, I see,see somebody come in, unpack the
grills out, everything like that.
And then I'm like, Oh, theylook like they're going to stick

(38:56):
around for a while, no guard.
And then the next day they're packingit back up and they're on the road.
I don't like that at all.
So, but, um, So what'd you learnabout yourself while y'all were RVing?
What's something that you likego, you know what, this is
something I like, or I don't like
Yeah.
You know, we, I love adventure.
I love the change of scenery.
Yeah.

(39:17):
And then on the other side ofthat, we learned, okay, with
homeschooling, like, we can't bepacking up and unpacking every day.
You know, we've got to setup somewhere for 5 days, 7
days, uh, so on and so forth.
And, uh, the first winter we went,we actually took my mother in law.
So that was an adventure doing that.

(39:37):
I think we took her the firstwinters maybe, and then she
didn't get invited anymore.
It got a little crowded, you know,but we did take her a couple summers
ago up to Maine and around Maine.
So that was fun.
But yeah, we learned we,you know, we love people.
We love exploring.
We love, you know, just the conversations.

(39:59):
The other side of that as well as welearned, Oh man, we got to watch out who
our kids are talking to, you know, causeyou're pulling into a campground and.
oh, hey dad, what does this word mean?
Or, you know.
Why is that person wearing that,you know, um, so little shocks of
life here and there, but for themost part, I mean, RVing and RVing

(40:20):
community, it's just such greatpeople, know, and yeah, it really is.
what's a,
said, I can't wait to
get back on the road
what's a,
what's a cool spot you went tothat you say, like, you know
what, everybody needs to go here.
Where, where would it be, man?
Give us a good recommendation.
Probably our top spot, um, IsLa Jolla beach in California.

(40:43):
Yeah, that was just and I don't eventhink we it's funny because most of
the spots We planned to go like outsideof the campgrounds like most of the oh
We'll stop and see this and that likewe never did that was my wife would plan
out this great route and then I would dosomething totally opposite But La Jolla
beach was just something we stumbled uponand there's the sea lions and all that.

(41:06):
It's just right there It's super natural.
There's no like and fences.
And it was almost a little too naturalbecause there's people from like, you
know, overseas and they're like hanging,they're like climbing down onto the
slippery rocks, trying to take a selfiewith, you know, a sea lion and stuff.
was just one of those moments.
Uh, Joshua tree was amazing.

(41:28):
Trying to think of this parkwe were at, it was my mother in
law was in with the two littles.
My wife and I were going to go with thetwo olders and hike up this mountain.
And so we go hike up this mountain, we'restanding at the top, and we're looking
down at the one lane in one lane out.
And all of a sudden I see thisRV go by and say, oh, look, that

(41:49):
RV, it looks just like our RV.
It's.
And then it goes by andI said that's weird.
It has the same exact coloredbike on the back That is crazy.
And then all of a sudden it must havebeen completely god my phone rings.
I have a signal all of a sudden It'smy mother in law I had parked like in a
tour bus Spot and they booted her out.

(42:10):
So here's my mother in law drivingthe rv around the side of the mountain
Going, hey, what do you want me to do?
I don't I don't know what i'mdoing right now And uh, so
that was a fun memory that was
made
So the, the cool thing about an RV rentalbusiness like you've got, let's, let's,
let's spend our last bit of time here.
Let's, let's really dive intosome business stuff here.
The cool thing about the RV rentalbusiness, you know, we post some stuff

(42:34):
and people were connected with, theyknow what we do and they, so many
people love the thought of what we do.
They love the thought of being ableto travel, get in an RV and go.
But it seems as if very few peopleactually take the step and do it.
The thing I love about.
RV rentals that you have is that youallow people to kind of try before you

(42:58):
buy or at least to try it out and testit, you know, do things to, to get into,
uh, get into an RV, go to the nearestnational park around you or do something
just to break their normal grind.
And, uh, and I just have alwaysthought that that is just

(43:18):
something that everybody should do.
Don't you agree?
I mean, I'm feeding right intowhat your business is, but
don't you agree with that?
You know, I totally do from a severalseveral different standpoints.
One is just getting out and connectingwith your family connecting with nature
uh, the other standpoint is People will gobuy an rv And then they realized, Oh man,

(43:41):
this isn't even the floor plan we wanted.
We actually wanted a drivable.
This is too big.
This is too small.
the case is, actually how we end up witha lot of RVs in our man, in our fleet,
because we're a management company.
So, uh, we don't own any of the inventory.
It's other people's RVs that werent out for them on their behalf.

(44:01):
man, you know, we literally get peoplewith a couple hundred thousand dollar
rv and they're like, hey, here'sthe keys We want to stay married.
We took a road trip together It was theworst thing where you know, and we can't
sell it because it was a zero down forespecially during covid I mean heck you
could buy an rv on a 20 30 year financingSo yeah, I think that's great from several

(44:22):
standpoints and when we first startedthe heart was really Helping other people
connect with the family and outdoors.
And then we realized, man,there's so many facets to it.
And that's part of why Icall it real estate because
really it's a house on wheels.
Right?
So we're renting RVs to people thatare going camping and going on road
trips, we're also renting RVs to duringCOVID it was mobile quarantine units.

(44:45):
It was mobile testing stations.
It was quarantine units forpower plants up in Michigan.
it's for races and music festivalsand equestrian events and.
The hurricane, we have a bunch of RVssitting in Asheville, North Carolina
right now for temporary housing.
You know, I mean, the listjust goes on and on and on.

(45:07):
It's, it's such a multifaceted purpose.
Uh, but yeah.
And especially today's, you know,uh, I don't know if they're, you
call it millennials, like theywant experiences over ownership.
So man, what a way to do that, right?
Like you think of it, it was, it wasAirbnb, but now you can go on Toro
and you can rent somebody's car.

(45:27):
You can go on a website called Swim Lee.
You can rent somebody's swimming pool.
You can go rent somebody's yardfor your dog to run around.
why not rent somebody's RV soyou can go experience RVing
and not have the ownership?
Yeah, I've, especially over the last12, 14 years, have gotten so in the

(45:48):
mindset, and it's also a spiritual thing.
I don't think I have to own everything.
It's not that importantfor me to be an owner.
In fact, I'm more leaning towards,I'm really a steward over most of
the things I have anyway, that justthe name on the deed or title or
anything like that is really notthat critical and I would almost.

(46:11):
Like to just stewardthings versus owning it.
And I think, I think yourmodel really feeds into that.
So give me though, I know I read itin the book, uh, my wheel estate story
here, but give me, give the audiencejust a brief, the get started story.
It's like, okay, you, you had an RV,you obviously have done some, but at
some point, and you had a, you havea background in real estate business,

(46:33):
which I do think helps, we've gota background in real estate also at
some point you said, hmm, and I knowthere's other companies out there that.
own fleets and ran out like thecruise Americas and things like that.
But, but, but you had a different thought.
Tell me about that and howthat came to be early on.
And give me a timestamp.
When was this?
Yeah, it was 2016 is when we started, andreally what it was, was with me having

(46:59):
started skilled and sold businesses.
of the things that God giftedme in is systems, processes,
automation, finding the rightperson, putting them into a role.
And so once my RV started renting and thenI reached out to a couple of friends and
they like, it was, it was on from there.
I'm like, okay, so I need,I need, my documents.
I need my website.
And so I built all that up fairly quick.

(47:23):
uh, and then it was test the model.
So we were in some Facebookgroups for this industry.
So just like there's Airbnbfor renting out your home.
For RVs, there's RVshare.
com, Outdoorsy.
com.
Those are the two major platforms.
And so they had Facebook groupsfor the owners to communicate.
So I was just giving value to thecommunity, talking about what I'm

(47:45):
doing, answering questions for people.
I met Kim in the UpperPeninsula, Michigan.
He's like, Hey Ed, why don'tyou start another branch?
I'll start it for you.
messaged Kim.
I said, yeah, let's, let's give it a shot.
I'll start it.
You'll launch a branch.
I won't charge anything and we'lljust I'll kind of practice on you.
we did that.
Kim's still with us today.
And then it went to, uh, justtraining others and showing others

(48:09):
and it was a business in a box.
Uh, well, back up a little bit.
Then what happened is, so right,my wife is, Miserably pregnant.
And that's how this all started.
Hot going home.
fast forward two months down the road,all of our kids are born by C section.
we go to check into the hospitalto have number four, Isabella,
and we're used to the process now.

(48:31):
Hour later, you're back in the room,you're settled in, and I'm saying this
to justify what I'm about to say next.
So we get settled back in the room.
I kissed my wife on the head.
I'm like, all right, love.
I'll be right back.
You'll be right back.
where are you going?
I'm like, well, remember whenyou left me at the campground?
No, I didn't.
I went to the RV dealershipand I bought four RVs.
That's where I was going.
And literally after I did that,the Lord me on the side of the head

(48:56):
and he said, other people's assets.
And so, praise God, I listened andI started renting other people's
RVs instead of buying a fleet.
man, fast forward to COVID when a lotof my competitors went out of business
because they had the payments and theinsurance and the real estate, all the
overhead, I didn't have that overhead.

(49:16):
So literally within the handful of weekswhere nobody knew what was happening, I
had competitors going out of business.
just sitting there.
I laid off all my staff.
Uh, just sitting there kind ofwaiting to see what happens next.
And then I get a phone callconsumers energy in Michigan.
Hey, we need 72 RVs for mobile quarantineunits for our electrical engineers.

(49:39):
So I'm right back to workand one thing to the next.
And then God told me after that,he said, you need to franchise now.
And, uh, I fought that one for alittle bit because that's a long,
arduous process cost you six figures.
I'm not, I'm a visionary.
I'm not a details person.
And, you know, so I, anyway, I did it.

(50:01):
Uh, we walked through that,learned a lot of lessons about
things not to do with franchising.
And then once I came out of my COVIDslumber there, my COVID comeback,
when God shook me and told me,Hey, it's time to get serious.
Uh, that's when fireside really took off.
We went from 12 locations.
two years ago to, I thinkwe have under 60 now.

(50:25):
We're adding about five per month.
And it just, uh, yeah, it, it and,and that's, God showed me kinda
like we were talking about earlier.
It's all about community.
People want community.
People need community, you know, andso he showed me that with fireside.
It's create a community.
So we call ourselves fire starters.

(50:46):
We have our mantra.
We get together tonight.
We have our weekly zoom and dowhat we call fireside chats.
And in January, we're getting togetherin Tampa, doing a big retreat.
And, uh, and that's a big thing.
When people even asked me aboutstarting a fireside franchise,
they're like, Hey, Gar, why wouldI, our franchise sells for 50, 000.
And then we usually do like a pay infull discount or in house funding.

(51:07):
Gar, why would I cut you a check for50, 000 when I could do all this myself?
well, for two reasons.
One is you can do it five years faster andprobably save yourself double the 50, 000.
Two is, is really the value.
It's community do life with abunch of faith driven entrepreneurs
are, that have the same dreamsand and purpose for your family.

(51:30):
That's the big value.
So it's obviously you're, you're,you're, you're seeing some real scaling.
Going on.
What's uh, what's the biggest strugglewhen you start growing business like this?
And I, you know, we could drill down.
You brought up, you werehesitant about franchising.
I, I have similar thoughts.

(51:51):
I work with leaders and leadership teams,and I've had the discussion of franchise,
don't franchise expand and all that.
And there's, there's pros and cons.
Give a couple of them real quickthat you went through when you
were going through the process.
Yeah, you know franchising once you'rethrough it and it's all set up properly.
It's great It it protects the consumerit it adds more accountability to the

(52:11):
franchisor so it's great in that aspect.
There's a lot of paperwork involved,which is Even to continue to with the
registration states and all that kind ofstuff um, thing I learned with franchising
is when I started talking to franchisebrokers You As I talked to one of the
top franchise brokers in the nation,and I said, Hey, why do franchises fail?

(52:34):
And he said, the reason whyfranchises fail is lack of
support to the franchisees.
So that became our top focus with Firesideis how do we support our franchisees?
Uh, and so I have, great staffof people and what we've really
been doing as we scale is.
bringing our franchisees in to assistother franchisees, uh, and it's

(52:57):
just, it's, it's been beautiful howwe're all able to assist each other.
have very in depth courses and quizzesto make sure they're understanding the
content they're consuming, and we're justconstantly, um, asking the franchisees,
okay, what's your biggest pain point?
You know, what's your biggest success?
How can we help you?
And just constantly getting thatfeedback so we can better serve them.

(53:19):
And so that's, that's been great.
Uh, I, I, 1 thing I learned, Iwas at a conference little about
3 years ago called click funnels.
Russell Bronson.
You ever heard of him?
Yes.
So, uh.
And there's a whole nother storythere of how I got to that conference,
which was a complete God story.
I'll quickly share a little bit.
Uh, I have reached out to 1 of mymentors in Texas, Josh Latimer,

(53:43):
phenomenal business guy, man of God.
And when I was going through allthis pain of trying, you know, the
drinking and the business and allthis stuff kind of collapsing, and
Josh is like, hey, get to Texas.
I can help you.
I was in such a bad spot.
I thought oh great He just wants me therebecause he's gonna sell me a coaching
program or something i'm the one whoreached out to him like god told me to

(54:04):
reach out to him I did it and I was ajerk and thinking he wants to scam me.
So anyway Excuse excuse I didn'twe're we're trying to collaborate
over zoom Long story short.
I go up to michigan that summer withmy wife to this little hotel We love to
stay at in luddington, michigan Well,josh actually has a summer home in
luddington, michigan You My wife and Iare sitting at this little restaurant

(54:26):
and who walks in, Josh Latimer.
And so I sent him a message, Hey,we're in Michigan, Ludington,
any restaurants you recommend?
And, you know, I was like,Oh my gosh, you're here.
We sat down, had thisamazing dinner together.
And he said, you need to getto ClickFunnels Funnel Hacking
Live in Orlando, Florida.
I signed up right then.
I got there.
Russell opened it with this whole,the hero's journey that we walk

(54:49):
on as entrepreneurs, and it just,I'm in tears in my hotel room.
I have a video of myself justcrying just in my beard at the time.
It was like this, I was a wreck.
I just looked crazy.
And, Russell said abusiness has two sides.
It has the attractive characterand it has the operator.
And I realized I'm theattractive character.
I'm the visionary.

(55:10):
I'm the one who can go out and talk andsell and do the videos and marketing.
I didn't have an operator.
I went and I got myself an operator andthat, that there in the franchising,
that's where things really explodedis when I was able to bring Stacey,
who was one of my successfulfranchisees on as our operator.
And she became my work wife andgot me organized and system and

(55:31):
all the things to where I wasn'tall over the board and just.
Exploded from there.
What do you, um, do you havelike a profile of what you
look for in a franchise owner?
And I know, I know the answer isoften it's hard to say, but there's
got to be with 50 plus almost 60.
There's got to be some trends you'restarting to notice with the type

(55:55):
people that step in and do well.
Yeah, most definitely First and foremost,we want to make sure that they know
question is Gar runs his business basedon biblical principles Do you agree with
this and it's and even our advertisinggod showed me About a year ago when we
started doing paid at well No It's onlybeen about eight months paid advertising

(56:16):
like putting out a lot of money inpaid advertising show me have such a
specific message you're not necessarilyattracting your audience You're just
you're repelling everybody else Soliterally if somebody sees your tagline
on your facebook ad that says attentionchristian entrepreneurs You That you're 90
percent of the people instantly disappear.

(56:38):
so that was one thing he showed me.
And then on the, our franchiseapplication, it's, we got to make sure
that they're coachable, uh, flip side ofthat, make sure they're not a no at all,
which the two kind of go hand, you know,cause you, someone's like, oh yeah, I'm
coachable, but then the next question,you know, they're kind of a know it all.
And then if they're super analytical,that the faith over fear, like there's

(57:02):
a spiritual side of this, right?
So if you feel like you have tounderstand everything before you take
a move or make a move, analytical,then I'm probably not the person that's
going to serve you because I'm notgoing to give you all those answers.
Uh, know, I'm going tosay, Hey, this one thing.
And then let's see what happens.
And so those over analytical, literallywhen I started franchising this, uh,

(57:27):
I had an investor who had three RVswith me at my location in Michigan.
He bought my location from me, but thisis where I learned the analytical side.
Uh, he worked for Herman Millerin Michigan and he was a project
manager and he ran this division.
It was super smart.
Did a great job.
He interviewed me for monthsand months and months, and

(57:47):
then he bought my franchise.
just about put it under, just about losthis wife and I bought it back from him.
Because he came in and he tore everythingdown and he started from square one
and tried to rebuild and re and, andhe worked himself into this horrible
situation because he was so analytical.

(58:08):
And didn't trust the process, andthat's one of Russell Bronson's sayings.
Trust the process.
Do what Russell says isone of his famous sayings.
Do what Russell says.
Like, you don't have to know, and right,and it, I love how it intermingles with
the spiritual and the natural there,because isn't that how the Lord is?
Like, walk by faith, not by sight.
Send the 5, 000 check to thisperson or whatever it is.

(58:32):
You know, it's, it's,it's faith over fear.
And, uh, and I, and it's socool to be able to coach people
on the spiritual side, right?
Because you can just say, Hey, didyou do the one thing I told you to do?
Go do it.
And then, uh, and then the Lord, becauseone thing that God has really shown me
in entrepreneurship that I love aboutChristian entrepreneurship is when you're,

(58:53):
when you take that step, just like inmarriage or parenting or anything else.
Then the Lord says, okay,you're taking that step.
Hold on a second here.
There's something inside of you.
There's a lie.
There's a hurt.
There's a pain.
There's a wound.
Let me bring that to surface and healit change the way that you think then
I can bring you on to the next step.
And that's the beauty of entrepreneurship.

(59:14):
It like sucks all of that allinto one pretty little package.
Yeah, the, I mean, there's so manycool things I love about the story.
Number one, that you're just inthe RV industry and I'm sitting
here broadcasting from an RVand have RVs all around me here.
And then secondly, that you'rein the entrepreneur space where
you're helping other people.
I love, I love The community aspectthe way you speak about that because

(59:36):
not everyone does that with franchisesSometimes it's a you sell it.
Here's our system, you know thebusiness in a box, but there's not the
community around it And I really believethis is something that I believe is
coming out of Covid more people wantto be part of a community and you you
brought up church and all earlier.
Yeah It is the, that physical building,but we also saw some stuff with churches

(59:59):
that were a little bit bothersomeback during COVID that it could be
that the future are communities likeyou're creating with fireside people
that are, yeah, they're independent.
They're, they own their own business,but they're part of a system,
but yet they're all faith driven.
They can come together.
They can pray together,support each other.
I, I love that.
Hey Gar, if someonewants more info, either.

(01:00:24):
Let's encourage if they need togo rent an RV and just get out of
the city, wherever they're in orsomething like that, give that info.
And then secondarily give info.
If they are saying, you know what,I'm kind of intrigued by the business.
Uh, give that info right now.
We'll include it in the notes.
And then I've got one morequestion before we wrap up.

(01:00:44):
Yeah, go to fireside rv rental.com.
You can click on Rent an rv, rentOut Your RV, or Start a Fireside.
so you can get all three options fromthat website, fireside rv rental.com.
And then the other website I'd love tosend people to is my realestate story.com.
So that's my book where you canjust go download a free copy of it.

(01:01:05):
you can get it on Amazon as well if youwant to hold something in your hands.
But if you want to download acopy, I believe we have the audio
version on there as well for free.
I just love sharingChristian entrepreneurship.
And one of the things I love doing istalking to what I call entrepreneurs.
You think you're an entrepreneur,you're not sure, you want to.
There's some things in the book thattalk about helping you seal the deal

(01:01:27):
of, uh, Yeah, I'm an entrepreneur.
Now, what do I do?
Yeah, that's good.
We'll make sure we makesure people have the links.
I popped up for those on the video on myKindle here, the, my wheel estate story.
And so, yeah, I think it's a, it's agood read and it's a good glimpse into
if someone's considering doing businesswith you, they get to know you a little

(01:01:48):
bit more, this has been helpful here,but I think the book helps with that too.
So, Hey Gar, we are Sikh.
Go create those three words.
I'm going to allow you to chooseone of those over the other two.
That just means moreresonates with you, whatever.
Seek, go or create.
And why that's my last question.
Oh man, def create for sure.

(01:02:09):
I've really been studying this herethe last several months about, um,
being, being created in God's image.
And then to even take it astep further, when we create,
we use our imagination, right?
And I just got done reading thisbook by Andrew Womack called
the power of our imagination.
And he talks about in Genesis six, whenthey're, I believe it's Genesis six,

(01:02:32):
when they're building the tower of Babel.
And God's like, Hey, we gotto do something about this
because if people come together,there's nothing they can't do.
one of the words in there that heuses, it's the same word when it
says, when faith, when it says faithis being certain of what we hope for.
So the word hope imagination comesfrom the Hebrew word yet sir.

(01:02:54):
And it's just the beauty of ourimagination, how we can literally.
just create from ourimagination and anything.
My daughter was just, my seven, eight yearold was just talking about this yesterday.
Like, so dad, anything I think of in mymind, like I can, I could probably do it.
Like I could probably make ithappen if I'm imagining it.
And, and I'm like, yeah, honey, you can.

(01:03:15):
And so, yeah, create, it's gotta be
Yeah, that's good.
Kind of reminds me, you broughtup Napoleon Hill a few times,
whatever the mind can conceiveand believe it can achieve.
So that's good.
Um, man, what a great conversation, Gar.
I knew I'd love it.
Cause there's so many parts of yourstory that resonate with me personally.
Make sure that you goget a copy of the book.

(01:03:35):
Uh, either via his website, but, mywheel estate story from lawnmowers to
RVs, my entrepreneurial journey filledwith faith failures and fun times.
I appreciate Gar having the conversation.
Go check out some of hisstuff, go check it out.
And especially if you're interested inthe RV rental, I think that's something
that everybody, if you haven't done it.
Uh, check it out.

(01:03:56):
Go rent an RV and getout, just go do stuff.
And, uh, of course, if you're interestedin the business, check with them on
that too, we're seek go create here.
We've got new episodes every Monday.
We're on YouTube on all the platforms.
I highly encourage you, especially ifyou're on YouTube, jump down, make some
comments, uh, let us know you listened,questions, whatever we love to hear.

(01:04:18):
If you disagree withanything, I'm okay with that.
Had a, Had an eschatology, uh, onerecently that it kind of blew up on
all the background because peoplewant to argue over that kind of stuff.
So anyway, love to hear from you.
Please share these episodesis how we get the word out.
thanks for listening inhere until next time,