Wondering if it’s possible to juggle a 9–5, a side business, and RV travel without losing your mind? 😅
Meet Michelle Coleman—a full-time educator, part-time RVer, travel content creator, group travel host, and now... RV designer!
In this episode, Michelle and I talk about how she and her husband Brian became anytimers (aka: not full-timers, but on the road every chance they get), how their brand Cruisin' with the Colemans was born, and how a simple rig tour turned into a partnership with Coachmen to co-design a brand new travel trailer.
🔑 Key Takeaways:
- How Michelle’s expertise in public speaking became a superpower in pitching and partnerships
- Her behind-the-scenes systems to stay organized as a full-time teacher and travel creator
- The design process of their new RV model with Coachmen (and why she had to advocate for a leg-shaving shelf in the shower 🤣)
- How she and Brian split tasks between short-form and long-form content
- Why leading intentional group travel experiences has become one of the most meaningful parts of her business
- PLUS Michelle opens up about how the RV Queens Circles community helped her ditch imposter syndrome and feel connected as a part-time traveler
This episode is a reminder that you don’t need to wait until you retire to start living your dream. You can build a brand, lead adventures, and work with your favorite companies right now.
🔗 Connect with Michelle Online:
→ Follow Michelle on Instagram: @cruisinwiththecolemans
→ Follow Michelle on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CruisinwiththeColemans
→ Learn more about their group travel: cruisinwiththecolemans.com
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—
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We should have that time that wedo nothing like, you know, we're
coming up on the weekend and I'mshutting it down and I will not
look at my, I mean, I'll, I'll see that I have e-mail and I
make glance at my e-mail, but I know I'm not dealing with it
until you know, that weekend is over.
Welcome back to the RV Queens Podcast where we are all about
(00:22):
women making money on the road. I'm your host Kate White and
today's episode is for anyone who dreams of RV life but isn't
ready to travel full time. I'm joined by Michelle Coleman
who is an educator, traveller and Co founder of Cruising with
the Colemans. Michelle and her husband are
what she calls any timers, whichmeans they hit the road anytime
(00:44):
they can, which for them means weekends, holidays and summers
off. They've built a brand and a
lifestyle around this flexibility.
In this episode we talk about how Michelle manages a full time
job and a travel brand. We talk about the mindset shift
that took her from thinking she'll travel someday to why not
now. We talk about what it's like
(01:05):
designing a new RV model with Coach, and we talk about how
she's turning her travel passioninto a group travel experience
that transforms lives. If you've ever felt like you
can't make the travel lifestyle work until you retire, Michelle
is living proof that you can start right now with whatever
time you have. So get ready to be inspired,
(01:28):
grab your coffee, and let's roll.
Michelle Coleman, welcome to theRV Queens podcast.
Where in the world are you this week?
We are in Chile, Dayton, OH at our home base so no RV looks
like this I don't think. Right.
(01:51):
Unless it's like one of those one of those called park models
that are very stationary ones. Yeah, OK.
Well, I'm excited. You know.
Yeah, that's right. You have a Google Meet
background on permanently. Yeah, Yeah.
My RV is like a 3000 square footspace.
So I'm, I'm excited to chat withyou today, especially because,
(02:14):
well, first of all, you're really inspiring person,
especially for listeners who want to live the RV lifestyle,
but they're still working a job that isn't really able to be
remote. And then also you're unique
among RV Queens because you are a self-proclaimed any timer.
(02:35):
So on this topic, like you just mentioned, you're you're at your
home right now. Describe for us how your
lifestyle works and how much time you and your husband spend
RV. Yeah, anytime we're not working
or as we say as teachers, anytime school's not in session,
we are on the road somewhere. And so I feel like, I feel like
when people say weekend warriors, they're really
(02:56):
limiting their focus. And I feel like it's more than
just a weekend. Everybody has, you know, there's
holidays with every job. So there's a holiday or vacation
time or whatever. So anytime, anytime school is
not in session, we are on the road.
Well, we've been traveling for 18 years and we were backpacking
(03:18):
across Spain one year, 2017. And I said I want to do this
more like I really like being outside and and being gone as
long as we were gone. I said we how can we do this?
Because a tent is kind of limiting for some people.
I'm a cool weather, warm weathertank camper.
(03:40):
The conditions have to be just right.
Otherwise I don't want to do it.And so we both kind of said well
what about an RV? And so while backpacking, we
kind of made our pros and cons list of everything that we would
want in an RV. And I literally found exactly
what we wanted online. And when we got off the plane
(04:01):
after being gone for two months wearing the same 2 outfits for
two months, we went to an RV store that will remain nameless
and the person wouldn't give me the time of day because I had it
was the first time we were looking in person.
Do you remember the movie PrettyWoman when she goes to buy
clothes and says, do you work onCommission?
Right. Big mistake.
(04:21):
Like that's how I wanted. That's where I was.
I was like big mistake, man, bigmistake.
That's how it started. And it's been 8 years with our
rig and I love it so much because it adds, it's just added
so much value to our travel experience.
You know what is super crazy? Me and my husband just watched
Pretty Woman last night. I didn't know.
(04:45):
I don't know the last time I talked about that movie.
And then of course, you bring itup in conversation there.
We just watched it. OK, that is bizarre.
I just had to say it. Was a classic.
Moment one of those little wings.
It is a classic and I, I don't think I had watched it as an
adult. I think I saw it like, you know,
20 years ago or something. So still still holds up.
(05:05):
For the record, if anyone's looking for a good 90s flick,
there you go. Got your movie, Willie Roberts.
You can't go wrong. I just watched you pray love
today, today, actually today, today, and watch today.
Well, and we were talking about,you know, Richard Gere and
Pretty Woman and then so while we're watching that last night,
(05:25):
we're like, well, we need to watch Runaway Bride again,
obviously see if that holds up. OK.
I think I think we just started at Julia Roberts Marathon for
ourselves and listeners, hopefully.
I mean, I feel like we could have a whole RV Queens night.
I love Julia Roberts, Like, comein your best Julia Roberts
outfit. Oh my gosh, I love this so much.
(05:48):
OK, so many good ideas going on here.
So I always think that, you know, I have a lot going on
until I meet Someone Like You because you work full time as an
educator, which we all know thatmeans you work more than 40
hours a week, right? So does your husband and you
love to travel and you guys started.
(06:12):
So in addition to working full time traveling as much as you
can, you guys started a social media brand and a YouTube travel
vlog to document all your all ofyour journeys and you lead group
travel experiences around the world.
Like you are freaking awesome. How did you get into a
(06:35):
specifically like leading the group travel?
Tell me about that. Well, I didn't really think
about cruising with the Coleman's in the literal sense
when we first started the brand,but my husband did.
And I, I, I, he's a sneaky little thing.
He's a Scorpio, you know, he hassomething always going on in the
(06:55):
back of his mind that he's thinking about that he could
sneak in somewhere. And he's like, well, of course
it's been in our brand the wholetime.
Like, like, oh, cruising with the Comans.
I, I'm slow to catch on. I feel like sometimes we have
led student experiences for his entire career, and I've been a
part of that journey for the last 18 years.
(07:15):
So we've taken students to London and New York and, you
know, throughout Ohio. But I didn't want to do that
anymore. I do not want to be responsible
for minors at all again, in my lifetime.
Except my granddaughter. I'm fine with that.
But other than that, no. And so I was kind of thinking
maybe after we retire, we might start leading some groups.
(07:37):
And an opportunity came up. Some friends of ours said, why
aren't you doing it now? And I said the phrase, we're
waiting till we until we retire.She looked at me and said,
really? And I and, and as the words came
out and as she gave me that weird look, I thought, crap, we
don't wait until we retire to doanything.
What are we doing? And so that conversation
(07:59):
happened. And by the end of the weekend,
we had a business plan together and we made the announcement and
we had the group, the first group filled within a month to
the day we announced, which was insane.
And we have two trips planned for next year already, and we'll
do even more once we do retire. I love it when something just
(08:21):
clicks and then it works right away.
You know, the fact that it was like filled, you know, within a
month, boom, seems like it's a good fit.
Let's go with that. You probably get this question a
lot as a human with 25 things going on.
Seriously though, like how do you fit all of this into your
schedule? Like are you just a really
(08:43):
organized person or what? Like what are your days and
weeks look like? What kind of strategies do you
have in place to keep it all together?
I love a good list very much. So I have to do lists for all
different categories of things that we're working on.
I do not procrastinate unless I intentionally am
(09:06):
procrastinating. You know, have you ever just put
something off because you're like, I can put that off.
I'm really good at that. But I'm the type of person that
the more busy I am, the more productive I am.
If I don't have anything on my plate today, for example, I had
nothing on my plate today. I watch eat, pray, love, because
why not? I, I can and so, but when I'm
(09:29):
very busy, I, my strategies comeinto play where I know how to
keep the ball rolling. If I don't, I get very stressed.
And as you get older, stress is our number one killer.
So I work really hard at keepingthat balanced.
I also schedule in me time, whatever that looks like.
(09:49):
Maybe it's, you know, a massage.It's a day to just do nothing.
And and that is important. That's you just you got to
figure out what strategies are going to work.
And lists are are first and foremost.
Are you are you a physical list type person I?
Used to be. I used to be.
(10:10):
And then my husband who is, he'sa Mac user, he introduced me to
reminds and notes. And I have a Google doc now
going all the time that has my weekly grading.
So it's just a list of everything I have to grade.
And I keep that open, that tab open all the time.
(10:30):
So I go, OK, before I can work on what I call my 5:00 to 9:00
job. So I have a 9:00 to 5:00 and
then I have a 5 to 9 job before I can work on the 5:00 to 9:00.
What do I have to work on for the nine to five job?
And I do that at the beginning of every semester.
I look at all the assignments that I've, you know, given to
the students and I write down what has to be graded every week
(10:51):
so I can look at where I have a slower work week and where I
have a busier week. And that helps.
If I were, if I were in the business of projects, I would
put down on that list like what things have to be done in order
to make that project complete. And then I have lists for
cruising with the Colemans and what we need to get done.
And that's a shared list with myhusband so that he can ignore it
(11:13):
properly and I can go, hey, you should look at that, you know.
OK so it sounds like you have two modes.
Very organized, lots of action taking everyday or shut down.
Veg out, let's chill. And we all should.
We should have that time that wedo nothing like, you know, we're
(11:33):
coming up on the weekend and I'mshutting it down and I will not
look at my I mean, I'll I'll seethat I have e-mail and I make
glance at my e-mail, but I know I'm not dealing with it until
you know, that weekend is over. That's important.
We have to have times that we shut down and on my phone, I
turned off most all push notifications.
(11:56):
So if any social, if there's anysocial media notifications, I
only see them if I intentionallyopen my phone and open the app
because I didn't want to be notified every minute of every
day. So every single one of my apps
are only the little badge that'son there.
That's the only thing so that I,I know that it's something's
(12:19):
there, but I have to be intentional about opening it.
And that's part of keeping a good balance.
We we should have that unless itdoesn't drive you crazy, but it
drives me crazy. My phone lights up.
I'm like, oh, what's on the phone, you know, and I, I had to
turn that all off. And then having time where
you're just doing nothing. And that's important.
(12:39):
This is fascinating because you are the first person that I've
talked to, I think ever that hasdone that with the notifications
because I, I did that probably four years ago.
I turned off the only notifications I get is like
texts and phone calls. If I open my phone and see like
a little red dot, like I can't, it makes me crazy because it's,
(13:00):
it's always there and it makes me feel like I always have
something going on, especially with Marco Polos and like the
the RV Queen circles. Oh girl, I had to turn those off
because my brain, I could just tell I was like constantly like
distracted by this. So I do the same thing.
I don't have any notifications and whenever I go in, it's with
(13:21):
an intent to be like, OK, I have20 minutes right now.
I'm going to do Marco Polo's or like I have time right now to do
social media. Like whatever it is, it just
helps me separate the brain spaces.
It's. Not all bleeding.
Yeah, it's important. And the little badge doesn't
bother me because I'm opening myphone with that intention
(13:42):
because I may ask you know who to, you know, text somebody.
So I don't even open my phone, right.
Or if someone calls, I'm not, I'm opening my phone with the I
have that time manage any posts that we're going to do first
thing in the morning. So that's done.
And sometimes, like if Brian is working on a YouTube video in
the evening, which is often whenhe's working on YouTube videos,
(14:05):
I may start working on three or 4 posts so that I get those done
because I, I really had to manage that time suck as well.
And then and accept that I don'thave to do it every minute of
every day or every day. And I especially in the winter
when I met like my, you know how, but like the body goes in
cycles and in the winter, I'm inmy calm reset cycle.
(14:30):
I don't post every day. If we're not traveling, if we're
not doing anything exciting, I don't post every day.
And I've had to. I've had to make that be OK.
So it sounds like you and your husband have kind of formed
these cadences in your even day-to-day life, like while he's
working on the long form video for YouTube, you're working on
the shorter form social media. And that's nice that you guys
(14:53):
kind of have that a partnership,like you're still working
towards the same goals together,but separate tasks and you
figured out how to make it work.He does not deal with anything
on Instagram or Facebook at all,and I don't deal with anything
in long format of YouTube. If I create a reel that I think
would be really good as a short,I'll upload it and say, OK, it's
your problem now. Meaning you need to decide when
(15:16):
it should be scheduled and put the description in there.
Make sure that it fits into whatever story you're telling
that disbursement of, of work has helped.
And then I manage in YouTube allof the comments because I want
that voice to be consistent, whether no matter what platform
you're talking to us on, the, the reply voice is consistent
(15:39):
all the time. And so I always manage that
unless it's like Brian makes some RV Hwy. 2 and somebody asks
a question and I'm like, hey, Brian, you got to answer that.
It's too technical for me. I don't know what the heck
they're asking. Which has happened more often
than not. So yeah, that you, you have to
delineate those duties in order to keep sanity.
And also not like step on each other's toes.
(16:02):
We could really step on each other's toes if if we did, we
tried to do each others job. Let's shift back to the RV life
topic and kind of like segue into what it's like for you to
work with brands with the content that you guys are
creating. Tell us about your brand
ambassadorship. And then also this this new
(16:23):
project that you have with Coachman and specifically, you
know, I'd love the general information about it, but also
for listeners to know how did that come in to place?
Did they reach out to you? Did you reach out to them?
And how can you know listeners shape up those deals for
themselves? We had gone on the Coachman
website several years to fill out like the brand ambassador
(16:46):
form and nobody, nobody was replying, nobody was saying
anything. And I was like, I know we're
small, but I mean, you don't have anybody.
So like we're small, but we're mighty.
And then I thought, well, maybe because our channel isn't all
about RV life, it's about traveland we, you know, do all this
backpacking. So maybe that's why they, they
don't like us. So I thought, well, maybe I can
(17:08):
make a good in person impression.
I'm, I'm pretty good in person. So I, I reached out to them and
said we would really like to do an, a tour of the factory.
And we really, we genuinely did.We thought that'd make a great
video. And we've seen that other people
have made tours. And so we went and we, I'd
reached out to the general manager for Apex, which is our
(17:29):
brand. We got there and we had set it
up and I said, now, just so you know, if anybody would like to
come and see our rig, you're welcome to.
We have completely redesigned the rig on the inside and they
said, Oh yeah, and it's OK. So they all came, a lot of the
higher ups, the general manager,the product designer, the person
in charge of marketing, all cameover to our rig.
And literally it was one of those moments where it was like,
(17:52):
I like you, you like me, let's be friends.
They knew who cruising with the Coleman's was were like who we
were and they were really excited to see everything that
we had done. And they were entering into an
area of like, we're interested in restarting brand ambassadors,
but we want somebody who just isa real RV.
(18:15):
Uh, that's really their highlight.
They're not, they're not, they just are real people using the
RV. And I said, well, that's us.
I mean, we're not going to, we're not in it full time.
We have a lot of other things welike to do.
We like to fly places, we love to travel to Europe.
So we are in the rig as much as we are.
And then times were not the relationship just kind of
(18:37):
happened naturally. It was a formal, you know,
signing of the documents, which took I think about six months to
get through all of that. Apex is Coachman has Apex and
above Coachman is Forest River. So there's a lot of layers and
Forest River had gone through a little phase of not having any
(18:58):
brand ambassadors and they're they're exploring that again as
well. So after that it was really
about, you know, come and take some RV tour videos, which we
were like, that sounds fantastic.
I mean, everybody loves a good RV tour, you know, come in and
have conversations with us, keepworking in the Facebook groups,
which we are members of several Coachman Apex video Facebook
(19:23):
groups. And then they introduced a new
line called the Coachman Remote,which is kind of under Apex as
well. And so they said, you know, you
can highlight that and tell everybody about that.
Come to some RV shows and they're really great about
saying, you know, when you can. So we're teachers, we can't take
(19:45):
that much time off. You get a spring break, you get
a Christmas break, you get a beautiful summer break, but you
get 3 personal days in a year and that's it.
So you got to be really careful about when you travel, but
they've been great about that. And then Brian and I were
backpacking last year. It was 2023, we were backpacking
(20:05):
again through Spain. And I said, Brian, I think I
want us to like create a whole new RV concept on a travel
trailer base. When we're backpacking, we're
walking like 13 miles a day every day.
And So what else do you have to talk about when all of your
experiences or shared experiences except.
(20:27):
Kind of brainstorming new ways to travel, new places to go and
well, a new RV design. So we got back from Europe after
being there for two months and Brian had drawn the whole thing
out on his iPad because he takesthe iPad for, for, for creating
videos. I went to like a bizarre store
and bought graph paper, like blind graph papers.
(20:49):
I didn't bring any of this with me and a compass.
And I was like trying to tractoror whatever math things and like
trying to create this concept and we pitched it to them and
they liked it, which was anotherone of those you like us, we
like you moments. And now we've been working on
(21:10):
for about just just about a year, about 10, 9-10 months on
the design and we're hoping we go see them again in a few
weeks. So we'll be revealing more about
the process. But we're hoping maybe by
December to be in our new rig and be able to unveil it at the
(21:31):
RV shows this this upcoming season like at Hershey and
Tampa. But they are loving it.
They're they're really, and they're taking it even bigger
than what we thought. They had a couple other ideas.
I was like, well, I like that fancy thing in there, you know,
And so it's been really fun. Everyone knows that Colorado is
one of the most beautiful placesto camp in the US, right?
(21:52):
OK, if you're heading there thisyear, you've got to check out
the Four Corners area near Mesa Verde and stay at the Cortez RV
Resort. By our journey, you'll enjoy
mountain views, a heated pool, and even a three acre dog park.
What click the link in the show notes to book now and start your
journey with our journey. Talk to me about like the
(22:13):
collaboration behind the scenes with your sketches.
And then I'm assuming you have like design team meetings with
they have engineers and something to the effect of an
interior designer plus like probably like a marketing sales
guy that knows what need, what features need to be in and in
(22:34):
order to sell. Am I assuming correctly?
Like what does that look like behind the scenes?
When we had the idea in our headof, OK, we want to present this
to you, but we said, you know, we want that.
We want these people in the room.
Like we actually told them who we wanted in the room because we
didn't want them to say, oh, well, we would love to do that,
but I'm sure the engineer would say that's a problem.
(22:55):
So we're like, I would like the engineer in here, the product
manager, the sales manager, the,the general manager, the, the
guy who's the manager on the line who can tell us some
practical ideas. And so we put all of those
people in the room and we, we literally sat in an RV and put
(23:15):
the Brian's computer up on the TV in the RV and, and pitched it
to them. And then since that day, there's
been a lot of, you know, emails or, you know, we've gone up to
Coachman I think three more times and where they've said
that's not going to work. What do you think about this?
And then in Elkhart IN which is where, you know, most all RV's
(23:39):
are made, there's a design studio.
And in that design studio, it's where I mean it.
Most all rigs get their decor from lighting to flooring to
wallpaper to all the accents from this one design studio.
So Brian and I just decided, let's go over there and we got
(24:03):
the blessing of Coachman Apex. And, and they said, yeah, reach
out to this person who actually before she worked at the design
studio, she worked for Coachman Apex.
And we knew her already. So it was great because she knew
our brand really well. And so she helped us to like
steer away from a few designs that weren't going to work, you
(24:25):
know, for that brand and helped us because imagine, I mean, you
know, you think about a house design, imagine all the choices
and all of those choices have towork together in a little tiny
box. That's a lot of pressure, you
know, from from just what I mean, the wallpaper and floor.
You can take chances in a house that you can't take in an RV.
(24:48):
And it has to be pleasing to more than just you, you know, I
mean, we're creating something that they have to sell.
So they have to say, they've said a couple of times, like
Michelle, nobody's going to buy that.
I would like to push back and argue.
When you're in a room full of men, sometimes it's hard to be
the person who says I promised you a woman would buy this.
That's fascinating. Good for you being the voice of
(25:12):
the. Women too.
You have to, yeah. Yeah, OK.
I mean, you have the things that.
Women want, I want a place to shave my legs in the shower.
Do you know how many times I hadto say that before someone went,
really? You shave your legs and I'm
like, yes, in the shower, I do like you, but you gotta have a
place to put your foot. I'm a woman of a certain age.
I don't bend in small spaces. I'm a certain size and a certain
(25:35):
age. I don't bend and snap in the way
some younger women do. Yeah, yeah.
Oh, I love it. Good for you.
OK, if you haven't had, like, a little sync up with Charlie
Grace about this topic specifically, you should do that
at some point. You know, Charlie Grace is
right. I've had her on the show maybe
two or three times and this topic always comes up like, why
(25:57):
isn't the woman's voice includedwhen you're figuring out the
layout and the design team details?
So love that topic. So you have a secret superpower,
which is, you know, you are an educator in interpersonal
communication and public speaking.
And I am sure that this has beensuch an asset to you as your,
(26:23):
you know, going through these this brand partnership and also
in how you create content and think about, you know, your long
term, your long form videos, you're already thinking about it
with regard to your brand voice and how you respond to comments.
Tell me about how you're taking that professional expertise into
(26:45):
all of these, this new, the new brands that you're developing
and even like your group travel too.
I'm sure it shows up there. Well, for the public speaking,
Brian teaches music, so he he teaches people how to use their
voice in a different way. So he teaches choir, right?
So, and the two of us have presented in front of large
audiences forever in our professional careers.
(27:06):
And so we knew that we wanted toevolve our brand into giving
presentations. It was a matter of figuring out
the right place and the right topics.
And that's taken us several years to figure out.
But we're we're finally there where we're comfortable with our
brand, we're comfortable with what we're doing.
And so this year, in 2025, we'regiving about 40 presentations
(27:33):
this year alone. Yeah.
And that's again, that 5 to 9 weekend job.
And that has been wonderful. We get presentations at REI
about hiking the Camino and we're doing a lot of
presentations at libraries, RV shows.
So, and, and that's what's greatabout how we, you know, our
(27:54):
topics. We have a variety of topics.
So we can come back again and again to talk about those
different topics. And so from a public speaking
standpoint, my, my main area of expertise, I'm a public speaking
coach. I help people tone their voice
and find what's, what is best for them professionally.
I, that's one area where Brian and I have been able to help
(28:16):
that merge into cruising with the Colemans.
But then also the interpersonal side.
I, I thinking about what you would connect with what you want
to hear as we're thinking about those long format videos.
That's definitely an area that I'm strong in, but also when it
comes to leading our group travel, when we're taking them
(28:38):
on these hikes, it's called the Camino.
We're walking the Camino de Santiago and the Camino.
It's not just a hike, like it's not like backpacking the
Appalachian Trail or the PacificCrest Trail or whatever, but
it's actually a pilgrimage whereyou're walking for religious or
spiritual purposes, where you'rethere's something you're, you're
(28:58):
really walking with an intentionof.
I'm trying to shed this piece ofmy life.
I'm trying to find this piece ofmyself.
I'm trying to let go of this trauma.
I'm trying to change this area of myself, whatever it may be.
And in the group travel experience, we are helping
people to find what that is. And that means every day setting
(29:21):
intentions and every day having someone there to help you
through the process of what it that may be.
And that's where where I, my strength really lies is being
able to have those one-on-one conversations with people that
say, OK, let's, let's talk abouthow we can work through this.
And when you're walking that much every day, you got a lot of
time to think. So you have two choices.
(29:43):
You can think about all your aches and pains because there
will be plenty, or you can thinkabout something else that you
really want to work on and keep your mind there.
And if you can do that, imagine the power you have when you get
back home and you're distracted by life, right?
You can go, Nope, this is my intention today.
This is what I'm working on. And you can do that when the
(30:06):
noise is out there. So the noise can be physical,
mental or emotional and the Camino really helps people and
being a guide help is what a wayto help someone through that
process. That is beautiful, and I bet the
people that go with you and these group trips just come back
completely changed because of the intentionality that you're
building into the experience. That is so meaningful and it's
(30:29):
so cool. I just had it.
We just did a because we all have a group chat.
So on the group chat today or yesterday, it was what's one
word of what something you want to let go of on this trip?
And I'm challenging everyone to summarize whatever it is they
want to let go of in one word. And it's been, it's been
powerful to, to read the vulnerability that it takes
(30:51):
right just to say that. But to hear what the word is,
it's very meaningful. And we'll use those words as we
are having conversations on the trip.
So I am excited to see where it goes.
You see the spark come back, seethe light come back.
So I would love to pick your brain about RV Queens
(31:14):
specifically. You've been a member of the RV
Queen circles. Thank you.
By the way, I love being in a group with you just last month,
that was super fun. I love Marco Polo groups.
This has changed so much about just the me time, You know, I
talk about, I have time for myself, sure.
And you know, I'll watch a movie, sure, but I don't get to
(31:37):
talk to other RV women because I'm not a full timer.
So I've never, I've never, I've always had that imposter
syndrome, right? Well, I'm not a full timer.
Is that OK? And in the circles, the Marco
Polo circles, in the RV Queen circles, I've always felt very
accepted and very loved. And I love the intentionality
(31:57):
that you add to the circle of every week having this topic
because it's a springboard, right?
So many of the groups we get into so much more than the
topic, which is great, but you have to have a place to start.
And so you're doing exactly whatyou know I'm doing in a
different form from our groups. Having that, here's your focus
for the week if you choose to accept it.
(32:19):
Well, thank you for that. I appreciate that and I love
that you took it in that direction.
I was actually going to ask yourexperience interacting with the
RV women like we're all, you know, starting building growing
brands or businesses. And from your perspective as
what I'm going to call a master communicator, like what advice
(32:43):
and kind of lived experience even do you have to share with
us that want to follow in your footsteps about how to create
meaningful experience for our our brand customers?
And have you made any notes, youknow, kind of mentally over the
past few months of I wish I could, I wish I could share this
(33:04):
with them as they're thinking about their brand offering.
I think the biggest thing is never be anybody.
You're not authentically right, So you have to be 100%
authentically yourself with whatever that looks like.
The bumps, the bruises, the awkwardness, you have to be
authentically yourself. That is number one.
(33:25):
Number two, I would never mold our brand into what someone else
wants. It was my biggest fear with
Coachman is that all of a suddenwe feel like we have to RV all
the time because, you know, Coachman wants us to be in, you
know, showcasing our RV all the time.
I'm not going to be that person.I'm never going to be the person
who molds our travels because a brand says we want this and then
(33:51):
believe in your brand enough to say no, I don't need all the
free crap in the world. I don't.
I don't care that I have a house.
I do not. I believe in a minimalistic
lifestyle and if it's not addingvalue to our life, I don't want
it. You're more than just free,
(34:11):
right? Free stuff is one thing, but I'm
creating a campaign that will bewill be something that will gain
you will get money out of it, whatever that business is
because of this reel I create orthis short format or long format
video or post these pictures or feature this brand in my in my
(34:34):
my reels. You're going to make money.
And so why shouldn't I make money?
So it should not be about just free.
And I think too many people don't have faith.
And I didn't at the beginning either.
I got just free stuff, but they need to be able to say I'm worth
more than that I'm worth. So I'm always about what's your
affiliate link? Like?
(34:55):
Am I going to get an affiliate link?
So if I do sell something, I geta percentage back.
That's first and foremost. And then don't ever give them
final say over your video. You're real or anything.
That's your content and, and youneed to be completely honest and
authentic with your, with the viewers.
(35:15):
So they know this is my honest opinion about this product.
And, and if, if the brand knows you as they should, if they're
going to ask, you know, give youfree stuff, they should know,
they should have faith in you. We've said no.
I really wanted a 12 Volt air conditioner because we have
solar and lithium and I I had tosay no because they wanted too
(35:39):
much. Thank you for that speech.
I think it was just a good reminder for all of us.
OK, Michelle, you are so inspiring.
Just thank you again for being on today.
So go ahead and share with everyone where they can connect
with you online and sign up for your group travel and all the
things. And then I will ask you my final
questions. So cruisin, there's no G cruisin
(36:01):
with the Coleman's on Instagram,Facebook, TikTok occasionally,
then let's see YouTube obviouslycruising with the Colemans.
And if you go to cruisingwiththecolemans.com,
there's a tab at the top that says group travel.
And we're actually pre registering for 2026 already.
(36:22):
We're doing a trip in Italy, kind of Florence to Rome area
where we're going to spend some time in Florence and in Rome,
which pizza and pasta baby, the best wine in the world.
And then we're. Also the art, but yeah.
It's really cool. I'm sorry.
(36:42):
I plan on Eat, Pray, loving my way through Italy once again.
We leave in two weeks for Italy,so I'm pretty excited about
that. And then we're also leading a
group in Spain again, but pre registration is just $50, fully
refundable. It's just helping us figure out
how many people are interested in what trips.
(37:03):
So we are at about 40% capacity on both trips already.
And that way before we even announce it to the public, if
people are interested, they'll be the first ones to sign up.
So yeah, cruising with the colemans.com, That's us.
OK, so this season I've been ending my interviews with a
round of 1 and one questions where I ask a question and then
(37:28):
we each answer it. So today I have to ask you
travel questions because you've been so many places.
The first question is what is the most surprising place that
you visited? I would say the Netherlands.
There were a lot of people that said don't go to the
Netherlands, what's there? And I loved it.
(37:50):
It was flat, first of all, whichI'm a Midwesterner, so flat is
good. Flat is easy walking, but the
bikes and the outdoor space and the flowers.
The Netherlands really impressedme if I'm Speaking of abroad, If
I'm speaking within the US, my answer would be Mesa Verde
National Park. That that National Park really
(38:11):
surprised me and I loved it morethan I thought I would.
OK. And that's Southwest Colorado,
ish. Sure.
Yeah. Whenever Brian says something
like that, I'm like just there'ssome text right there and I make
him put it in there so. But yeah, National Park, OK, I
haven't hit that one yet. I'm gonna have to look at that.
(38:33):
My my answer to this question isactually it's it's a little less
positive than yours. So the most surprising place to
me so far has been Eastern Washington because it's a
desert. Like what when we went to the
Pacific Northwest last year, I had the idea of like everything
(38:55):
in Washington and Oregon is going to be, you know, luscious
and green and like Olympic National Park.
I thought that was the entire state.
But there's definitely like a hot desert east side to
Washington. Didn't know existed.
And we booked three weeks there in the middle of summer.
So it was. It was definitely an eye opener.
(39:18):
In case anyone else is in my shoes and doesn't know anything
about it, there's that little tidbit.
In the future, before you go, you should try watching some
YouTube videos. I should research is not
necessarily my strong suit and I'm aware of that.
Maybe we need to lean into that a little more.
OK. So my last question for you is
(39:39):
what is a place that has captured your heart that you
would return to over and over and over?
Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal. I would move there tomorrow if I
didn't have a granddaughter. IA lot of expats go there.
So there are a lot of Americans,a lot of English speaking.
It's beautiful, it has history, it has culture, it has art, it
(39:59):
has character. So that would be abroad.
In the United States, where would I go?
Oh, I don't know. In the USI love so many places
and it's seasonal, right? Like I, we have a great
campground that we go to for ourwinter break, but I wouldn't
want to be there during hurricane season.
(40:19):
And that's the best part about RV life is you can go anywhere.
So my heart is where my granddaughter is because she's
4. She likes me, I like her.
It's a whole thing. Good, it works out.
That worked out, didn't it? Yeah, so my answer to this
question is way more lame than your answer.
I've I have been to Europe, but it's been 20 years ago now.
(40:40):
Oh my gosh. What the heck?
Yeah. We have group travel, you should
join us. I know, right?
My wheels are spinning when you're talking about these
trips. So I have several places in the
US that like have just captured my heart.
But one place, especially for our young family that's come to
be really meaningful is this tiny little town in Indiana.
It's called Santa Claus IN There's not a lot there.
(41:04):
Have you been to Lake? Rudolph, I know it.
Yeah. Yeah, I went when I was little.
Oh my gosh, it's, it's a sun outdoors campground, huge trees,
like amazing campground. And then right next door is of
course, holiday world, which is an amusement park, which is, you
know, so there's always something fun to do over there,
but we just love that little town.
(41:26):
It's kind of a quirky little town and it's a great camping
spot and so beautiful. I love finding those good quirky
towns. I mean, I think those are towns
with character are are really what you know, like classic
America's built on. And there's a reason for it.
And I love it when you find a small town that's still, you
(41:47):
know, got some, got some juice there.
It's like has something going onbecause, you know, the opposite
happens to and that's sad. Oh, man.
OK, Michelle. Well, that is a wrap.
Thank you for being on the show today.
Thank you for just being full you and bringing all your wisdom
to us. I feel like every time I talk
(42:09):
with you, I learn something new and and just like go a little
deeper. So I appreciate it and I've
really enjoyed our conversation.You're welcome and thank you for
having RV Queens. It's been a huge, it's made a
huge impact in my life this year.
It, it has and I really appreciate that.
I have, I absolutely love the women that I've met.
I love the energy that you bringand meeting those women have
(42:33):
given me inspiration to go and, you know, meet up with new
people And I'm, I'm so excited about that.
Women need connection. We need community.
And you brought that for us. So thank you.
You're welcome. It's absolutely my pleasure.
I love it. Such a good group, such a good,
good people up in here. So thank you and you're welcome.
(42:53):
All righty, Rochelle, I will seeyou on the road.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode and for being
part of the RV Queens community.Remember to hit subscribe on
whatever platform you're listening on.
And guess what? You can have conversations like
I had on this episode with your fellow RV women who are living
intentionally and making money on the road.
(43:16):
Head to rvqueenspodcast.com slash community to join RV Queen
Circles today. It's a totally unique online
space with a shared prosperity model that's all about community
over competition. I'd love to have you be a part.
All right guys, I'll see you next week or hopefully I will
see you on the road. You are freaking awesome.
We should have that time that wedo nothing like, you know, we're
coming up on the weekend and I'mshutting it down and I will not
look at my, I mean, I'll, I'll see that I have e-mail and I
make glance at my e-mail, but I know I'm not dealing with it
until you know, that weekend is over.
Welcome back to the RV Queens Podcast where we are all about
(00:22):
women making money on the road. I'm your host Kate White and
today's episode is for anyone who dreams of RV life but isn't
ready to travel full time. I'm joined by Michelle Coleman
who is an educator, traveller and Co founder of Cruising with
the Colemans. Michelle and her husband are
what she calls any timers, whichmeans they hit the road anytime
(00:44):
they can, which for them means weekends, holidays and summers
off. They've built a brand and a
lifestyle around this flexibility.
In this episode we talk about how Michelle manages a full time
job and a travel brand. We talk about the mindset shift
that took her from thinking she'll travel someday to why not
now. We talk about what it's like
(01:05):
designing a new RV model with Coach, and we talk about how
she's turning her travel passioninto a group travel experience
that transforms lives. If you've ever felt like you
can't make the travel lifestyle work until you retire, Michelle
is living proof that you can start right now with whatever
time you have. So get ready to be inspired,
(01:28):
grab your coffee, and let's roll.
Michelle Coleman, welcome to theRV Queens podcast.
Where in the world are you this week?
We are in Chile, Dayton, OH at our home base so no RV looks
like this I don't think. Right.
(01:51):
Unless it's like one of those one of those called park models
that are very stationary ones. Yeah, OK.
Well, I'm excited. You know.
Yeah, that's right. You have a Google Meet
background on permanently. Yeah, Yeah.
My RV is like a 3000 square footspace.
So I'm, I'm excited to chat withyou today, especially because,
(02:14):
well, first of all, you're really inspiring person,
especially for listeners who want to live the RV lifestyle,
but they're still working a job that isn't really able to be
remote. And then also you're unique
among RV Queens because you are a self-proclaimed any timer.
(02:35):
So on this topic, like you just mentioned, you're you're at your
home right now. Describe for us how your
lifestyle works and how much time you and your husband spend
RV. Yeah, anytime we're not working
or as we say as teachers, anytime school's not in session,
we are on the road somewhere. And so I feel like, I feel like
when people say weekend warriors, they're really
(02:56):
limiting their focus. And I feel like it's more than
just a weekend. Everybody has, you know, there's
holidays with every job. So there's a holiday or vacation
time or whatever. So anytime, anytime school is
not in session, we are on the road.
Well, we've been traveling for 18 years and we were backpacking
(03:18):
across Spain one year, 2017. And I said I want to do this
more like I really like being outside and and being gone as
long as we were gone. I said we how can we do this?
Because a tent is kind of limiting for some people.
I'm a cool weather, warm weathertank camper.
(03:40):
The conditions have to be just right.
Otherwise I don't want to do it.And so we both kind of said well
what about an RV? And so while backpacking, we
kind of made our pros and cons list of everything that we would
want in an RV. And I literally found exactly
what we wanted online. And when we got off the plane
(04:01):
after being gone for two months wearing the same 2 outfits for
two months, we went to an RV store that will remain nameless
and the person wouldn't give me the time of day because I had it
was the first time we were looking in person.
Do you remember the movie PrettyWoman when she goes to buy
clothes and says, do you work onCommission?
Right. Big mistake.
(04:21):
Like that's how I wanted. That's where I was.
I was like big mistake, man, bigmistake.
That's how it started. And it's been 8 years with our
rig and I love it so much because it adds, it's just added
so much value to our travel experience.
You know what is super crazy? Me and my husband just watched
Pretty Woman last night. I didn't know.
(04:45):
I don't know the last time I talked about that movie.
And then of course, you bring itup in conversation there.
We just watched it. OK, that is bizarre.
I just had to say it. Was a classic.
Moment one of those little wings.
It is a classic and I, I don't think I had watched it as an
adult. I think I saw it like, you know,
20 years ago or something. So still still holds up.
(05:05):
For the record, if anyone's looking for a good 90s flick,
there you go. Got your movie, Willie Roberts.
You can't go wrong. I just watched you pray love
today, today, actually today, today, and watch today.
Well, and we were talking about,you know, Richard Gere and
Pretty Woman and then so while we're watching that last night,
(05:25):
we're like, well, we need to watch Runaway Bride again,
obviously see if that holds up. OK.
I think I think we just started at Julia Roberts Marathon for
ourselves and listeners, hopefully.
I mean, I feel like we could have a whole RV Queens night.
I love Julia Roberts, Like, comein your best Julia Roberts
outfit. Oh my gosh, I love this so much.
(05:48):
OK, so many good ideas going on here.
So I always think that, you know, I have a lot going on
until I meet Someone Like You because you work full time as an
educator, which we all know thatmeans you work more than 40
hours a week, right? So does your husband and you
love to travel and you guys started.
(06:12):
So in addition to working full time traveling as much as you
can, you guys started a social media brand and a YouTube travel
vlog to document all your all ofyour journeys and you lead group
travel experiences around the world.
Like you are freaking awesome. How did you get into a
(06:35):
specifically like leading the group travel?
Tell me about that. Well, I didn't really think
about cruising with the Coleman's in the literal sense
when we first started the brand,but my husband did.
And I, I, I, he's a sneaky little thing.
He's a Scorpio, you know, he hassomething always going on in the
(06:55):
back of his mind that he's thinking about that he could
sneak in somewhere. And he's like, well, of course
it's been in our brand the wholetime.
Like, like, oh, cruising with the Comans.
I, I'm slow to catch on. I feel like sometimes we have
led student experiences for his entire career, and I've been a
part of that journey for the last 18 years.
(07:15):
So we've taken students to London and New York and, you
know, throughout Ohio. But I didn't want to do that
anymore. I do not want to be responsible
for minors at all again, in my lifetime.
Except my granddaughter. I'm fine with that.
But other than that, no. And so I was kind of thinking
maybe after we retire, we might start leading some groups.
(07:37):
And an opportunity came up. Some friends of ours said, why
aren't you doing it now? And I said the phrase, we're
waiting till we until we retire.She looked at me and said,
really? And I and, and as the words came
out and as she gave me that weird look, I thought, crap, we
don't wait until we retire to doanything.
What are we doing? And so that conversation
(07:59):
happened. And by the end of the weekend,
we had a business plan together and we made the announcement and
we had the group, the first group filled within a month to
the day we announced, which was insane.
And we have two trips planned for next year already, and we'll
do even more once we do retire. I love it when something just
(08:21):
clicks and then it works right away.
You know, the fact that it was like filled, you know, within a
month, boom, seems like it's a good fit.
Let's go with that. You probably get this question a
lot as a human with 25 things going on.
Seriously though, like how do you fit all of this into your
schedule? Like are you just a really
(08:43):
organized person or what? Like what are your days and
weeks look like? What kind of strategies do you
have in place to keep it all together?
I love a good list very much. So I have to do lists for all
different categories of things that we're working on.
I do not procrastinate unless I intentionally am
(09:06):
procrastinating. You know, have you ever just put
something off because you're like, I can put that off.
I'm really good at that. But I'm the type of person that
the more busy I am, the more productive I am.
If I don't have anything on my plate today, for example, I had
nothing on my plate today. I watch eat, pray, love, because
why not? I, I can and so, but when I'm
(09:29):
very busy, I, my strategies comeinto play where I know how to
keep the ball rolling. If I don't, I get very stressed.
And as you get older, stress is our number one killer.
So I work really hard at keepingthat balanced.
I also schedule in me time, whatever that looks like.
(09:49):
Maybe it's, you know, a massage.It's a day to just do nothing.
And and that is important. That's you just you got to
figure out what strategies are going to work.
And lists are are first and foremost.
Are you are you a physical list type person I?
Used to be. I used to be.
(10:10):
And then my husband who is, he'sa Mac user, he introduced me to
reminds and notes. And I have a Google doc now
going all the time that has my weekly grading.
So it's just a list of everything I have to grade.
And I keep that open, that tab open all the time.
(10:30):
So I go, OK, before I can work on what I call my 5:00 to 9:00
job. So I have a 9:00 to 5:00 and
then I have a 5 to 9 job before I can work on the 5:00 to 9:00.
What do I have to work on for the nine to five job?
And I do that at the beginning of every semester.
I look at all the assignments that I've, you know, given to
the students and I write down what has to be graded every week
(10:51):
so I can look at where I have a slower work week and where I
have a busier week. And that helps.
If I were, if I were in the business of projects, I would
put down on that list like what things have to be done in order
to make that project complete. And then I have lists for
cruising with the Colemans and what we need to get done.
And that's a shared list with myhusband so that he can ignore it
(11:13):
properly and I can go, hey, you should look at that, you know.
OK so it sounds like you have two modes.
Very organized, lots of action taking everyday or shut down.
Veg out, let's chill. And we all should.
We should have that time that wedo nothing like, you know, we're
(11:33):
coming up on the weekend and I'mshutting it down and I will not
look at my I mean, I'll I'll seethat I have e-mail and I make
glance at my e-mail, but I know I'm not dealing with it until
you know, that weekend is over. That's important.
We have to have times that we shut down and on my phone, I
turned off most all push notifications.
(11:56):
So if any social, if there's anysocial media notifications, I
only see them if I intentionallyopen my phone and open the app
because I didn't want to be notified every minute of every
day. So every single one of my apps
are only the little badge that'son there.
That's the only thing so that I,I know that it's something's
(12:19):
there, but I have to be intentional about opening it.
And that's part of keeping a good balance.
We we should have that unless itdoesn't drive you crazy, but it
drives me crazy. My phone lights up.
I'm like, oh, what's on the phone, you know, and I, I had to
turn that all off. And then having time where
you're just doing nothing. And that's important.
(12:39):
This is fascinating because you are the first person that I've
talked to, I think ever that hasdone that with the notifications
because I, I did that probably four years ago.
I turned off the only notifications I get is like
texts and phone calls. If I open my phone and see like
a little red dot, like I can't, it makes me crazy because it's,
(13:00):
it's always there and it makes me feel like I always have
something going on, especially with Marco Polos and like the
the RV Queen circles. Oh girl, I had to turn those off
because my brain, I could just tell I was like constantly like
distracted by this. So I do the same thing.
I don't have any notifications and whenever I go in, it's with
(13:21):
an intent to be like, OK, I have20 minutes right now.
I'm going to do Marco Polo's or like I have time right now to do
social media. Like whatever it is, it just
helps me separate the brain spaces.
It's. Not all bleeding.
Yeah, it's important. And the little badge doesn't
bother me because I'm opening myphone with that intention
(13:42):
because I may ask you know who to, you know, text somebody.
So I don't even open my phone, right.
Or if someone calls, I'm not, I'm opening my phone with the I
have that time manage any posts that we're going to do first
thing in the morning. So that's done.
And sometimes, like if Brian is working on a YouTube video in
the evening, which is often whenhe's working on YouTube videos,
(14:05):
I may start working on three or 4 posts so that I get those done
because I, I really had to manage that time suck as well.
And then and accept that I don'thave to do it every minute of
every day or every day. And I especially in the winter
when I met like my, you know how, but like the body goes in
cycles and in the winter, I'm inmy calm reset cycle.
(14:30):
I don't post every day. If we're not traveling, if we're
not doing anything exciting, I don't post every day.
And I've had to. I've had to make that be OK.
So it sounds like you and your husband have kind of formed
these cadences in your even day-to-day life, like while he's
working on the long form video for YouTube, you're working on
the shorter form social media. And that's nice that you guys
(14:53):
kind of have that a partnership,like you're still working
towards the same goals together,but separate tasks and you
figured out how to make it work.He does not deal with anything
on Instagram or Facebook at all,and I don't deal with anything
in long format of YouTube. If I create a reel that I think
would be really good as a short,I'll upload it and say, OK, it's
your problem now. Meaning you need to decide when
(15:16):
it should be scheduled and put the description in there.
Make sure that it fits into whatever story you're telling
that disbursement of, of work has helped.
And then I manage in YouTube allof the comments because I want
that voice to be consistent, whether no matter what platform
you're talking to us on, the, the reply voice is consistent
(15:39):
all the time. And so I always manage that
unless it's like Brian makes some RV Hwy. 2 and somebody asks
a question and I'm like, hey, Brian, you got to answer that.
It's too technical for me. I don't know what the heck
they're asking. Which has happened more often
than not. So yeah, that you, you have to
delineate those duties in order to keep sanity.
And also not like step on each other's toes.
(16:02):
We could really step on each other's toes if if we did, we
tried to do each others job. Let's shift back to the RV life
topic and kind of like segue into what it's like for you to
work with brands with the content that you guys are
creating. Tell us about your brand
ambassadorship. And then also this this new
(16:23):
project that you have with Coachman and specifically, you
know, I'd love the general information about it, but also
for listeners to know how did that come in to place?
Did they reach out to you? Did you reach out to them?
And how can you know listeners shape up those deals for
themselves? We had gone on the Coachman
website several years to fill out like the brand ambassador
(16:46):
form and nobody, nobody was replying, nobody was saying
anything. And I was like, I know we're
small, but I mean, you don't have anybody.
So like we're small, but we're mighty.
And then I thought, well, maybe because our channel isn't all
about RV life, it's about traveland we, you know, do all this
backpacking. So maybe that's why they, they
don't like us. So I thought, well, maybe I can
(17:08):
make a good in person impression.
I'm, I'm pretty good in person. So I, I reached out to them and
said we would really like to do an, a tour of the factory.
And we really, we genuinely did.We thought that'd make a great
video. And we've seen that other people
have made tours. And so we went and we, I'd
reached out to the general manager for Apex, which is our
(17:29):
brand. We got there and we had set it
up and I said, now, just so you know, if anybody would like to
come and see our rig, you're welcome to.
We have completely redesigned the rig on the inside and they
said, Oh yeah, and it's OK. So they all came, a lot of the
higher ups, the general manager,the product designer, the person
in charge of marketing, all cameover to our rig.
And literally it was one of those moments where it was like,
(17:52):
I like you, you like me, let's be friends.
They knew who cruising with the Coleman's was were like who we
were and they were really excited to see everything that
we had done. And they were entering into an
area of like, we're interested in restarting brand ambassadors,
but we want somebody who just isa real RV.
(18:15):
Uh, that's really their highlight.
They're not, they're not, they just are real people using the
RV. And I said, well, that's us.
I mean, we're not going to, we're not in it full time.
We have a lot of other things welike to do.
We like to fly places, we love to travel to Europe.
So we are in the rig as much as we are.
And then times were not the relationship just kind of
(18:37):
happened naturally. It was a formal, you know,
signing of the documents, which took I think about six months to
get through all of that. Apex is Coachman has Apex and
above Coachman is Forest River. So there's a lot of layers and
Forest River had gone through a little phase of not having any
(18:58):
brand ambassadors and they're they're exploring that again as
well. So after that it was really
about, you know, come and take some RV tour videos, which we
were like, that sounds fantastic.
I mean, everybody loves a good RV tour, you know, come in and
have conversations with us, keepworking in the Facebook groups,
which we are members of several Coachman Apex video Facebook
(19:23):
groups. And then they introduced a new
line called the Coachman Remote,which is kind of under Apex as
well. And so they said, you know, you
can highlight that and tell everybody about that.
Come to some RV shows and they're really great about
saying, you know, when you can. So we're teachers, we can't take
(19:45):
that much time off. You get a spring break, you get
a Christmas break, you get a beautiful summer break, but you
get 3 personal days in a year and that's it.
So you got to be really careful about when you travel, but
they've been great about that. And then Brian and I were
backpacking last year. It was 2023, we were backpacking
(20:05):
again through Spain. And I said, Brian, I think I
want us to like create a whole new RV concept on a travel
trailer base. When we're backpacking, we're
walking like 13 miles a day every day.
And So what else do you have to talk about when all of your
experiences or shared experiences except.
(20:27):
Kind of brainstorming new ways to travel, new places to go and
well, a new RV design. So we got back from Europe after
being there for two months and Brian had drawn the whole thing
out on his iPad because he takesthe iPad for, for, for creating
videos. I went to like a bizarre store
and bought graph paper, like blind graph papers.
(20:49):
I didn't bring any of this with me and a compass.
And I was like trying to tractoror whatever math things and like
trying to create this concept and we pitched it to them and
they liked it, which was anotherone of those you like us, we
like you moments. And now we've been working on
(21:10):
for about just just about a year, about 10, 9-10 months on
the design and we're hoping we go see them again in a few
weeks. So we'll be revealing more about
the process. But we're hoping maybe by
December to be in our new rig and be able to unveil it at the
(21:31):
RV shows this this upcoming season like at Hershey and
Tampa. But they are loving it.
They're they're really, and they're taking it even bigger
than what we thought. They had a couple other ideas.
I was like, well, I like that fancy thing in there, you know,
And so it's been really fun. Everyone knows that Colorado is
one of the most beautiful placesto camp in the US, right?
(21:52):
OK, if you're heading there thisyear, you've got to check out
the Four Corners area near Mesa Verde and stay at the Cortez RV
Resort. By our journey, you'll enjoy
mountain views, a heated pool, and even a three acre dog park.
What click the link in the show notes to book now and start your
journey with our journey. Talk to me about like the
(22:13):
collaboration behind the scenes with your sketches.
And then I'm assuming you have like design team meetings with
they have engineers and something to the effect of an
interior designer plus like probably like a marketing sales
guy that knows what need, what features need to be in and in
(22:34):
order to sell. Am I assuming correctly?
Like what does that look like behind the scenes?
When we had the idea in our headof, OK, we want to present this
to you, but we said, you know, we want that.
We want these people in the room.
Like we actually told them who we wanted in the room because we
didn't want them to say, oh, well, we would love to do that,
but I'm sure the engineer would say that's a problem.
(22:55):
So we're like, I would like the engineer in here, the product
manager, the sales manager, the,the general manager, the, the
guy who's the manager on the line who can tell us some
practical ideas. And so we put all of those
people in the room and we, we literally sat in an RV and put
(23:15):
the Brian's computer up on the TV in the RV and, and pitched it
to them. And then since that day, there's
been a lot of, you know, emails or, you know, we've gone up to
Coachman I think three more times and where they've said
that's not going to work. What do you think about this?
And then in Elkhart IN which is where, you know, most all RV's
(23:39):
are made, there's a design studio.
And in that design studio, it's where I mean it.
Most all rigs get their decor from lighting to flooring to
wallpaper to all the accents from this one design studio.
So Brian and I just decided, let's go over there and we got
(24:03):
the blessing of Coachman Apex. And, and they said, yeah, reach
out to this person who actually before she worked at the design
studio, she worked for Coachman Apex.
And we knew her already. So it was great because she knew
our brand really well. And so she helped us to like
steer away from a few designs that weren't going to work, you
(24:25):
know, for that brand and helped us because imagine, I mean, you
know, you think about a house design, imagine all the choices
and all of those choices have towork together in a little tiny
box. That's a lot of pressure, you
know, from from just what I mean, the wallpaper and floor.
You can take chances in a house that you can't take in an RV.
(24:48):
And it has to be pleasing to more than just you, you know, I
mean, we're creating something that they have to sell.
So they have to say, they've said a couple of times, like
Michelle, nobody's going to buy that.
I would like to push back and argue.
When you're in a room full of men, sometimes it's hard to be
the person who says I promised you a woman would buy this.
That's fascinating. Good for you being the voice of
(25:12):
the. Women too.
You have to, yeah. Yeah, OK.
I mean, you have the things that.
Women want, I want a place to shave my legs in the shower.
Do you know how many times I hadto say that before someone went,
really? You shave your legs and I'm
like, yes, in the shower, I do like you, but you gotta have a
place to put your foot. I'm a woman of a certain age.
I don't bend in small spaces. I'm a certain size and a certain
(25:35):
age. I don't bend and snap in the way
some younger women do. Yeah, yeah.
Oh, I love it. Good for you.
OK, if you haven't had, like, a little sync up with Charlie
Grace about this topic specifically, you should do that
at some point. You know, Charlie Grace is
right. I've had her on the show maybe
two or three times and this topic always comes up like, why
(25:57):
isn't the woman's voice includedwhen you're figuring out the
layout and the design team details?
So love that topic. So you have a secret superpower,
which is, you know, you are an educator in interpersonal
communication and public speaking.
And I am sure that this has beensuch an asset to you as your,
(26:23):
you know, going through these this brand partnership and also
in how you create content and think about, you know, your long
term, your long form videos, you're already thinking about it
with regard to your brand voice and how you respond to comments.
Tell me about how you're taking that professional expertise into
(26:45):
all of these, this new, the new brands that you're developing
and even like your group travel too.
I'm sure it shows up there. Well, for the public speaking,
Brian teaches music, so he he teaches people how to use their
voice in a different way. So he teaches choir, right?
So, and the two of us have presented in front of large
audiences forever in our professional careers.
(27:06):
And so we knew that we wanted toevolve our brand into giving
presentations. It was a matter of figuring out
the right place and the right topics.
And that's taken us several years to figure out.
But we're we're finally there where we're comfortable with our
brand, we're comfortable with what we're doing.
And so this year, in 2025, we'regiving about 40 presentations
(27:33):
this year alone. Yeah.
And that's again, that 5 to 9 weekend job.
And that has been wonderful. We get presentations at REI
about hiking the Camino and we're doing a lot of
presentations at libraries, RV shows.
So, and, and that's what's greatabout how we, you know, our
(27:54):
topics. We have a variety of topics.
So we can come back again and again to talk about those
different topics. And so from a public speaking
standpoint, my, my main area of expertise, I'm a public speaking
coach. I help people tone their voice
and find what's, what is best for them professionally.
I, that's one area where Brian and I have been able to help
(28:16):
that merge into cruising with the Colemans.
But then also the interpersonal side.
I, I thinking about what you would connect with what you want
to hear as we're thinking about those long format videos.
That's definitely an area that I'm strong in, but also when it
comes to leading our group travel, when we're taking them
(28:38):
on these hikes, it's called the Camino.
We're walking the Camino de Santiago and the Camino.
It's not just a hike, like it's not like backpacking the
Appalachian Trail or the PacificCrest Trail or whatever, but
it's actually a pilgrimage whereyou're walking for religious or
spiritual purposes, where you'rethere's something you're, you're
(28:58):
really walking with an intentionof.
I'm trying to shed this piece ofmy life.
I'm trying to find this piece ofmyself.
I'm trying to let go of this trauma.
I'm trying to change this area of myself, whatever it may be.
And in the group travel experience, we are helping
people to find what that is. And that means every day setting
(29:21):
intentions and every day having someone there to help you
through the process of what it that may be.
And that's where where I, my strength really lies is being
able to have those one-on-one conversations with people that
say, OK, let's, let's talk abouthow we can work through this.
And when you're walking that much every day, you got a lot of
time to think. So you have two choices.
(29:43):
You can think about all your aches and pains because there
will be plenty, or you can thinkabout something else that you
really want to work on and keep your mind there.
And if you can do that, imagine the power you have when you get
back home and you're distracted by life, right?
You can go, Nope, this is my intention today.
This is what I'm working on. And you can do that when the
(30:06):
noise is out there. So the noise can be physical,
mental or emotional and the Camino really helps people and
being a guide help is what a wayto help someone through that
process. That is beautiful, and I bet the
people that go with you and these group trips just come back
completely changed because of the intentionality that you're
building into the experience. That is so meaningful and it's
(30:29):
so cool. I just had it.
We just did a because we all have a group chat.
So on the group chat today or yesterday, it was what's one
word of what something you want to let go of on this trip?
And I'm challenging everyone to summarize whatever it is they
want to let go of in one word. And it's been, it's been
powerful to, to read the vulnerability that it takes
(30:51):
right just to say that. But to hear what the word is,
it's very meaningful. And we'll use those words as we
are having conversations on the trip.
So I am excited to see where it goes.
You see the spark come back, seethe light come back.
So I would love to pick your brain about RV Queens
(31:14):
specifically. You've been a member of the RV
Queen circles. Thank you.
By the way, I love being in a group with you just last month,
that was super fun. I love Marco Polo groups.
This has changed so much about just the me time, You know, I
talk about, I have time for myself, sure.
And you know, I'll watch a movie, sure, but I don't get to
(31:37):
talk to other RV women because I'm not a full timer.
So I've never, I've never, I've always had that imposter
syndrome, right? Well, I'm not a full timer.
Is that OK? And in the circles, the Marco
Polo circles, in the RV Queen circles, I've always felt very
accepted and very loved. And I love the intentionality
(31:57):
that you add to the circle of every week having this topic
because it's a springboard, right?
So many of the groups we get into so much more than the
topic, which is great, but you have to have a place to start.
And so you're doing exactly whatyou know I'm doing in a
different form from our groups. Having that, here's your focus
for the week if you choose to accept it.
(32:19):
Well, thank you for that. I appreciate that and I love
that you took it in that direction.
I was actually going to ask yourexperience interacting with the
RV women like we're all, you know, starting building growing
brands or businesses. And from your perspective as
what I'm going to call a master communicator, like what advice
(32:43):
and kind of lived experience even do you have to share with
us that want to follow in your footsteps about how to create
meaningful experience for our our brand customers?
And have you made any notes, youknow, kind of mentally over the
past few months of I wish I could, I wish I could share this
(33:04):
with them as they're thinking about their brand offering.
I think the biggest thing is never be anybody.
You're not authentically right, So you have to be 100%
authentically yourself with whatever that looks like.
The bumps, the bruises, the awkwardness, you have to be
authentically yourself. That is number one.
(33:25):
Number two, I would never mold our brand into what someone else
wants. It was my biggest fear with
Coachman is that all of a suddenwe feel like we have to RV all
the time because, you know, Coachman wants us to be in, you
know, showcasing our RV all the time.
I'm not going to be that person.I'm never going to be the person
who molds our travels because a brand says we want this and then
(33:51):
believe in your brand enough to say no, I don't need all the
free crap in the world. I don't.
I don't care that I have a house.
I do not. I believe in a minimalistic
lifestyle and if it's not addingvalue to our life, I don't want
it. You're more than just free,
(34:11):
right? Free stuff is one thing, but I'm
creating a campaign that will bewill be something that will gain
you will get money out of it, whatever that business is
because of this reel I create orthis short format or long format
video or post these pictures or feature this brand in my in my
(34:34):
my reels. You're going to make money.
And so why shouldn't I make money?
So it should not be about just free.
And I think too many people don't have faith.
And I didn't at the beginning either.
I got just free stuff, but they need to be able to say I'm worth
more than that I'm worth. So I'm always about what's your
affiliate link? Like?
(34:55):
Am I going to get an affiliate link?
So if I do sell something, I geta percentage back.
That's first and foremost. And then don't ever give them
final say over your video. You're real or anything.
That's your content and, and youneed to be completely honest and
authentic with your, with the viewers.
(35:15):
So they know this is my honest opinion about this product.
And, and if, if the brand knows you as they should, if they're
going to ask, you know, give youfree stuff, they should know,
they should have faith in you. We've said no.
I really wanted a 12 Volt air conditioner because we have
solar and lithium and I I had tosay no because they wanted too
(35:39):
much. Thank you for that speech.
I think it was just a good reminder for all of us.
OK, Michelle, you are so inspiring.
Just thank you again for being on today.
So go ahead and share with everyone where they can connect
with you online and sign up for your group travel and all the
things. And then I will ask you my final
questions. So cruisin, there's no G cruisin
(36:01):
with the Coleman's on Instagram,Facebook, TikTok occasionally,
then let's see YouTube obviouslycruising with the Colemans.
And if you go to cruisingwiththecolemans.com,
there's a tab at the top that says group travel.
And we're actually pre registering for 2026 already.
(36:22):
We're doing a trip in Italy, kind of Florence to Rome area
where we're going to spend some time in Florence and in Rome,
which pizza and pasta baby, the best wine in the world.
And then we're. Also the art, but yeah.
It's really cool. I'm sorry.
(36:42):
I plan on Eat, Pray, loving my way through Italy once again.
We leave in two weeks for Italy,so I'm pretty excited about
that. And then we're also leading a
group in Spain again, but pre registration is just $50, fully
refundable. It's just helping us figure out
how many people are interested in what trips.
(37:03):
So we are at about 40% capacity on both trips already.
And that way before we even announce it to the public, if
people are interested, they'll be the first ones to sign up.
So yeah, cruising with the colemans.com, That's us.
OK, so this season I've been ending my interviews with a
round of 1 and one questions where I ask a question and then
(37:28):
we each answer it. So today I have to ask you
travel questions because you've been so many places.
The first question is what is the most surprising place that
you visited? I would say the Netherlands.
There were a lot of people that said don't go to the
Netherlands, what's there? And I loved it.
(37:50):
It was flat, first of all, whichI'm a Midwesterner, so flat is
good. Flat is easy walking, but the
bikes and the outdoor space and the flowers.
The Netherlands really impressedme if I'm Speaking of abroad, If
I'm speaking within the US, my answer would be Mesa Verde
National Park. That that National Park really
(38:11):
surprised me and I loved it morethan I thought I would.
OK. And that's Southwest Colorado,
ish. Sure.
Yeah. Whenever Brian says something
like that, I'm like just there'ssome text right there and I make
him put it in there so. But yeah, National Park, OK, I
haven't hit that one yet. I'm gonna have to look at that.
(38:33):
My my answer to this question isactually it's it's a little less
positive than yours. So the most surprising place to
me so far has been Eastern Washington because it's a
desert. Like what when we went to the
Pacific Northwest last year, I had the idea of like everything
(38:55):
in Washington and Oregon is going to be, you know, luscious
and green and like Olympic National Park.
I thought that was the entire state.
But there's definitely like a hot desert east side to
Washington. Didn't know existed.
And we booked three weeks there in the middle of summer.
So it was. It was definitely an eye opener.
(39:18):
In case anyone else is in my shoes and doesn't know anything
about it, there's that little tidbit.
In the future, before you go, you should try watching some
YouTube videos. I should research is not
necessarily my strong suit and I'm aware of that.
Maybe we need to lean into that a little more.
OK. So my last question for you is
(39:39):
what is a place that has captured your heart that you
would return to over and over and over?
Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal. I would move there tomorrow if I
didn't have a granddaughter. IA lot of expats go there.
So there are a lot of Americans,a lot of English speaking.
It's beautiful, it has history, it has culture, it has art, it
(39:59):
has character. So that would be abroad.
In the United States, where would I go?
Oh, I don't know. In the USI love so many places
and it's seasonal, right? Like I, we have a great
campground that we go to for ourwinter break, but I wouldn't
want to be there during hurricane season.
(40:19):
And that's the best part about RV life is you can go anywhere.
So my heart is where my granddaughter is because she's
4. She likes me, I like her.
It's a whole thing. Good, it works out.
That worked out, didn't it? Yeah, so my answer to this
question is way more lame than your answer.
I've I have been to Europe, but it's been 20 years ago now.
(40:40):
Oh my gosh. What the heck?
Yeah. We have group travel, you should
join us. I know, right?
My wheels are spinning when you're talking about these
trips. So I have several places in the
US that like have just captured my heart.
But one place, especially for our young family that's come to
be really meaningful is this tiny little town in Indiana.
It's called Santa Claus IN There's not a lot there.
(41:04):
Have you been to Lake? Rudolph, I know it.
Yeah. Yeah, I went when I was little.
Oh my gosh, it's, it's a sun outdoors campground, huge trees,
like amazing campground. And then right next door is of
course, holiday world, which is an amusement park, which is, you
know, so there's always something fun to do over there,
but we just love that little town.
(41:26):
It's kind of a quirky little town and it's a great camping
spot and so beautiful. I love finding those good quirky
towns. I mean, I think those are towns
with character are are really what you know, like classic
America's built on. And there's a reason for it.
And I love it when you find a small town that's still, you
(41:47):
know, got some, got some juice there.
It's like has something going onbecause, you know, the opposite
happens to and that's sad. Oh, man.
OK, Michelle. Well, that is a wrap.
Thank you for being on the show today.
Thank you for just being full you and bringing all your wisdom
to us. I feel like every time I talk
(42:09):
with you, I learn something new and and just like go a little
deeper. So I appreciate it and I've
really enjoyed our conversation.You're welcome and thank you for
having RV Queens. It's been a huge, it's made a
huge impact in my life this year.
It, it has and I really appreciate that.
I have, I absolutely love the women that I've met.
I love the energy that you bringand meeting those women have
(42:33):
given me inspiration to go and, you know, meet up with new
people And I'm, I'm so excited about that.
Women need connection. We need community.
And you brought that for us. So thank you.
You're welcome. It's absolutely my pleasure.
I love it. Such a good group, such a good,
good people up in here. So thank you and you're welcome.
(42:53):
All righty, Rochelle, I will seeyou on the road.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode and for being
part of the RV Queens community.Remember to hit subscribe on
whatever platform you're listening on.
And guess what? You can have conversations like
I had on this episode with your fellow RV women who are living
intentionally and making money on the road.
(43:16):
Head to rvqueenspodcast.com slash community to join RV Queen
Circles today. It's a totally unique online
space with a shared prosperity model that's all about community
over competition. I'd love to have you be a part.
All right guys, I'll see you next week or hopefully I will
see you on the road. You are freaking awesome.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.