August 18, 2024 • 21 mins
In this episode of RV Rental Secrets, co-hosts Garr Russell and Stacy Maxon dive into the critical difference between working on your business versus working in your business. As summer winds down and things start to calm down, it's the perfect time to shift focus from the daily grind to big-picture strategies that will help grow your business sustainably.
Key Discussion Points:
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The Importance of Auditing Your Business:
- Stacy and Garr discuss how, after a busy summer season, it's essential to take a step back and audit your business. This involves identifying areas where you can increase revenue, reduce stress, and streamline operations. They emphasize the importance of making strategic changes that will set your business up for long-term success.
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Delegation is Key:
- Stacy and Garr share their experiences of learning to delegate tasks. They stress the value of finding someone who can do a task at least 80% as well as you can and handing it off. This is crucial for business owners who want to scale their operations or simply avoid burnout.
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Building and Documenting Processes:
- The duo talks about the significance of documenting your business processes. Whether it's cleaning RVs or managing social media, creating clear, replicable systems is key to maintaining quality while freeing up your time. Stacy shares practical tips, like using Loom videos and AI tools to create training materials efficiently.
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Avoiding the Race to the Bottom:
- They discuss the common pitfall of trying to compete on price alone. Instead, Stacy and Garr advocate for adding value to your offerings, such as creating an inclusive, luxury experience for renters, which allows you to charge premium prices and attract the right customers.
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The Value of Industry Events and Mentorship:
- Stacy emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and personal development. Attending industry events, seeking out mentors, and investing in business courses can provide new perspectives and strategies that help you work on your business rather than getting bogged down in daily tasks.
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Special Giveaway:
- As a thank you to their listeners, Garr and Stacy are offering their Firestarter Course for free to anyone who leaves a review for the podcast. This course, which previously sold for $1,000, teaches you how to start and operate an RV rental business. Listeners who leave a review and send a screenshot to Stacy@firesidervrental.com will receive the course at no cost.
Call to Action: Don’t miss out on this valuable opportunity! Leave a review, email your screenshot to stacy@rvrentalsecrets.com, and get access to the Firestarter Course for free. Plus, listen in for more tips on how to elevate your RV rental business by focusing on the big picture.
Join the Conversation: Do you have tips or questions about working on your business? Share them with us in the comments or email us. We love hearing from our listeners and helping you succeed in the RV rental industry.
Tune In Next Time: Stay tuned for our
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
.001Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of RV Rental Secrets Podcast. 2 00:00:06,890.001 --> 00:00:12,800.001 I'm Gar Russell here with my co host, business partner, friend, fellow zip liner. 3 00:00:13,450.001 --> 00:00:17,440.001 What else have we done together, Stacey? I don't know, countless number of things. 4 00:00:17,440.001 --> 00:00:20,570.001 Course creator, all kinds of fun stuff. 5 00:00:20,930.001 --> 00:00:21,800.001 Stacey Maxson. 6 00:00:21,800.001 --> 00:00:27,230.001 And today, Stacey, you don't know what we're even going to talk about yet, do you? No, I'm excited to find out. 7 00:00:27,880.001 --> 00:00:33,910.001 Today, we're going to talk about working on your business instead of in your business. 8 00:00:33,920.001 --> 00:00:46,40.001 So when you and I had our meeting the other day, we were talking about, Hey, how do we serve our franchisees? Like what do we do? It's we're through the end of summer, you know, things are starting to calm down. 9 00:00:46,60.001 --> 00:00:47,510.001 Kids are back in school. 10 00:00:48,60.001 --> 00:01:03,30.001 And we thought, well, what can we do to serve our franchisees? And we thought, why don't we go through and start auditing their businesses with them and just looking at, you know, ways to increase revenue, decrease stress, all the different things. 11 00:01:03,30.001 --> 00:01:06,820 So I thought, you know what, let's do that with our RV rental secrets. 12 00:01:07,280.001 --> 00:01:09,930.001 podcast listeners and talk about that a little bit. 13 00:01:09,990.001 --> 00:01:12,590.001 How's that sound? Yeah, I think that's a great topic. 14 00:01:12,690.001 --> 00:01:13,790.001 And so relevant. 15 00:01:13,790.001 --> 00:01:16,910.001 I think in this business, it's easy to get caught up. 16 00:01:17,350.001 --> 00:01:20,260.001 And all the little day to day things that are happening. 17 00:01:20,600.001 --> 00:01:32,340.001 You know, you get a renter phone call, something breaks on the RV and you're constantly like putting out little fires and you're never taking a step back and looking at what your business needs as a whole. 18 00:01:32,340.001 --> 00:01:32,800.001 Yeah. 19 00:01:33,610.001 --> 00:01:34,730.002 You know, I've heard it said. 20 00:01:35,200.002 --> 00:01:40,320.002 Find somebody who can do something 80 percent as good as you can, and then hand that off. 21 00:01:40,750.002 --> 00:01:56,640.002 And really, that's the only way, if you're looking to scale a business, or maybe not even necessarily scale, if you're looking to automate your business, if you're looking to have your business, you know, work for you, instead of you being an employee of it, part of that process is automation. 22 00:01:56,640.002 --> 00:01:59,670.002 Like, you have to hand responsibilities off to others. 23 00:02:00,360.002 --> 00:02:05,670.002 And if you don't, you're going to, you're basically you bought yourself a job and you're going to end up burnout. 24 00:02:06,100.002 --> 00:02:23,540.002 I mean, I've literally seen four companies here in the last 60 days, RV rental businesses that are for sale, and I've talked to two of them and they literally, the reason they're selling is because they're burnt out like they're, and I start to investigate and explore with them. 25 00:02:23,870.002 --> 00:02:28,20.002 They're doing all the things they're out there, cleaning, they're delivering, they're troubleshooting. 26 00:02:28,50.002 --> 00:02:28,890.002 They're this or that. 27 00:02:29,300.002 --> 00:02:30,970.002 No, no wonder why you're burnout. 28 00:02:30,980.002 --> 00:02:32,860.002 It don't even matter what kind of business you have. 29 00:02:33,440.002 --> 00:02:34,620.002 You're going to get burnout. 30 00:02:34,620.002 --> 00:02:36,190.002 If you're doing all the things. 31 00:02:36,900.002 --> 00:02:42,680.002 And doing all the work on the business and the work on the business, you're going to burn out. 32 00:02:42,730.002 --> 00:02:43,940.002 That's just, it's going to happen. 33 00:02:44,580.002 --> 00:02:56,220.002 Yeah, yeah, that's definitely how we ran our business the first year because we didn't know any better and if we continued running it like that there's no way we could have continued. 34 00:02:56,270.002 --> 00:03:02,740.002 It was definitely a learning experience and when we took a step back I think it helped us too because we were seasonal. 35 00:03:02,740.002 --> 00:03:12,680.002 So you kind of had that end in October and then you have like the winter to rethink and regroup and decide how to better run your business. 36 00:03:12,700.002 --> 00:03:17,250.001 And that's really what helped us because we were able to take a look and see what wasn't working. 37 00:03:17,550.002 --> 00:03:24,820.002 Like you said we were doing all the things and then we were able to, you know, take that time and be like, okay, we need to hire cleaners. 38 00:03:25,30.002 --> 00:03:27,20.002 We need to find drivers. 39 00:03:27,80.002 --> 00:03:29,660.002 We can't be doing all of this stuff all of the time. 40 00:03:30,25.002 --> 00:03:37,245.002 And that's actually when my husband too, because one of our kind of pain points was getting repairs done on the RVs. 41 00:03:37,475.002 --> 00:03:43,785.002 So then he got certified as an RV tech, so he could take that over and it was something he really enjoyed to do. 42 00:03:44,25.001 --> 00:03:47,815.002 So that was kind of the thing he decided to do in the business. 43 00:03:47,815.002 --> 00:03:51,625.002 And then we were able to outsource other things that weren't as important. 44 00:03:51,625.002 --> 00:03:51,915.002 Yeah. 45 00:03:51,975.002 --> 00:03:53,185.002 You know, that's the cool thing about it. 46 00:03:53,185.002 --> 00:03:54,95.002 You can find. 47 00:03:54,420.002 --> 00:03:57,960.002 What you like doing, and that's one of the things about being a business owner. 48 00:03:57,960.002 --> 00:04:01,970.002 We think nobody can do it as good as us, you know, well, nobody's going to clean as good as me. 49 00:04:01,980.002 --> 00:04:03,260.002 And guess what? They might not. 50 00:04:03,260.002 --> 00:04:08,350.002 You need to delegate, or nobody's going to deliver it as good as me, or nobody's going to answer their inquiries as good as me. 51 00:04:08,630.001 --> 00:04:14,650.002 You figure out where do you feel that you're most valuable to the company, and then you outsource the rest. 52 00:04:14,900.002 --> 00:04:34,185.002 And if you don't think somebody is going to be able to clean it as good as you, then you Well, how do you clean it right out how you clean it right out the process, even create a video or a checklist and hand that off and train and come in and audit every three to five cleanings and do inspections and stuff like that. 53 00:04:34,465.002 --> 00:04:38,505.002 You know, you can you can let go of things but still have control over them. 54 00:04:38,925.002 --> 00:04:46,825.002 Oh, I like that saying you could let go of things but still have control over them by having systems and processes and checklists and stuff in place. 55 00:04:47,265.002 --> 00:04:58,765.002 And at the end of the day, it's just it's not even a you should it's really it's a you have to Because you're going to burn yourself out if you don't do that and you're going to reach a ceiling. 56 00:04:58,945.002 --> 00:05:07,635.002 You know, most of the reasons why people start businesses is they want to determine their level of income and they want to determine their schedule. 57 00:05:07,715.002 --> 00:05:12,145.002 They don't want to be told when they have to be at work, when they can vacation or can't vacation. 58 00:05:12,765.002 --> 00:05:15,355.002 So with keeping those, you know, a couple of things in mind. 59 00:05:15,355.002 --> 00:05:17,335.002 you structure your business around that. 60 00:05:17,335.002 --> 00:05:21,285.002 Yeah, I think, you know, you said having systems and I think that's really important. 61 00:05:21,335.002 --> 00:05:27,815.002 What I've found you know, in my day to day at this point is I do a lot of loom videos. 62 00:05:27,945.003 --> 00:05:37,585.003 So recording just me doing the work of what I typically do in a day and then I'm able to download that video and create a training on it. 63 00:05:38,695.003 --> 00:05:44,545.003 You know, so in our business, like I was managing social media at one point, writing all the newsletters. 64 00:05:44,840.003 --> 00:05:54,910.003 And I'm able to record what I'm doing, then take that transcript and turn it into a training, and now I'm able to train other people on how to do that. 65 00:05:55,100.003 --> 00:06:02,480.003 Like you said, you know, even if it's 80 percent as good as I was doing it, so that can free me up to take care of the franchisees. 66 00:06:02,785.003 --> 00:06:06,265.003 And, you know, do some of the work that's more important in the business. 67 00:06:06,265.003 --> 00:06:08,395.003 Yeah, yeah, it makes me think of this quote here. 68 00:06:08,395.003 --> 00:06:11,825.003 I'm going to see if I can find it because I want to, I want to say it right. 69 00:06:11,825.103 --> 00:06:18,595.102 I'm not seeing it, but basically it talks about documenting and how important it is to document. 70 00:06:18,605.103 --> 00:06:23,825.103 And a lot of times, if we try to sit down and say, okay, well, I'm going to document how you do something. 71 00:06:24,420.103 --> 00:06:29,490.103 How I, how I clean an RV it's better to actually do it while you're cleaning the RV. 72 00:06:29,950.103 --> 00:06:38,560.103 It's easier to document while you're doing the thing instead of trying to look back and think of how to document, you know, when you're not doing the thing. 73 00:06:38,560.103 --> 00:06:42,780.103 So you can literally be integrating that because you say, well, I don't have time to document. 74 00:06:42,780.103 --> 00:06:44,60.103 I don't have time to this and that. 75 00:06:44,330.103 --> 00:06:47,120.103 Yeah, you actually do it while you're doing the thing. 76 00:06:47,180.103 --> 00:06:51,420.103 And especially with technology nowadays, man, you can use your voice recorder. 77 00:06:51,675.103 --> 00:07:07,855.103 Like when I wrote my last book, my real estate story, I literally would go on walks, turn on my voice recorder, record it, put it into our search software, it would transcribe it, I would send it over to my editor, they edit it, and then there's my book. 78 00:07:08,115.103 --> 00:07:10,305.103 Like, it was all done through voice text. 79 00:07:10,845.103 --> 00:07:21,885.102 And the same can be done with putting together systems and processes, find out what works best for you, whether it's recording something through voice, shooting a video and transcribing it, it can be done. 80 00:07:21,885.103 --> 00:07:25,575.002 It's just you taking the time to slow down and just do it. 81 00:07:25,605.003 --> 00:07:39,205.002 And then when you look back, man, like Stacey, if we look back at all the things that we've created together the last couple of years, I mean, we just have endless amounts of documentation and videos and it's just, it's amazing. 82 00:07:39,825.003 --> 00:07:41,55.003 Yeah, that's so true. 83 00:07:41,295.003 --> 00:07:45,625.003 And like you said about you know, documenting as you're doing it. 84 00:07:45,625.003 --> 00:07:46,865.003 That's really helpful. 85 00:07:46,885.003 --> 00:07:55,165.003 You know, you can pay someone on Fiverr to just give them that data and then they can create that video or training software for you. 86 00:07:55,425.003 --> 00:08:10,915.003 I know there's different AI, I I think it's train you all is a software where it basically just takes your, process and creates like a whole training system on it so that you could get to staff and kind of creates SOPs for you. 87 00:08:11,345.003 --> 00:08:14,275.003 So something like that, you know, you don't have to take the time. 88 00:08:14,295.003 --> 00:08:17,655.003 It's just paying a little bit of money and someone else can build it out for you. 89 00:08:18,285.003 --> 00:08:19,515.003 Yeah, exactly. 90 00:08:19,775.003 --> 00:08:25,835.004 There's a good software too, for cleaning hostfully, H O S T F U L L Y. 91 00:08:26,195.003 --> 00:08:27,775.004 It's built for Airbnbs. 92 00:08:27,775.004 --> 00:08:31,65.004 But you can go in there and tweak it however you want. 93 00:08:31,485.004 --> 00:08:37,355.004 And then literally your cleaner will check a box, take a picture, and it's just, it's another way to automate. 94 00:08:37,455.004 --> 00:08:40,154.904 You know, it's just a simple way to automate. 95 00:08:40,155.004 --> 00:08:59,945.004 You know, and on that note, One of our little secrets that we teach our fireside franchisees when it comes to finding cleaners a really simple way to do that is to go into your local Facebook groups there in your community and place a post that says, Hey, I'm looking for people that clean Airbnbs. 96 00:08:59,945.004 --> 00:09:05,655.004 And what's going to happen is you're going to get a bunch of comments, a bunch of private messages of people that clean Airbnbs. 97 00:09:06,185.004 --> 00:09:15,595.004 And then you're simply just not, now that you laid that framework out of, you know, you're looking for people that clean short term rentals, you're just simply going to say, hey, it's great that you clean Airbnbs. 98 00:09:15,635.004 --> 00:09:19,945.004 I actually own an RV rental company, and I'm looking for people to clean my RVs. 99 00:09:21,0.004 --> 00:09:23,450.004 But if you go on the Facebook group and you put in there. 100 00:09:23,640.004 --> 00:09:25,580.004 Hey, I'm looking for people to clean RVs. 101 00:09:25,630.004 --> 00:09:27,150.004 There's going to be some confusion there. 102 00:09:27,450.004 --> 00:09:37,780.003 Okay, like clean RVs for what like clean it when you get back from using it or like it's for a dealership, you know, how does that work? So if you frame it the proper way, then you're getting the right audience. 103 00:09:38,175.004 --> 00:09:44,85.003 Oh stacey that reminds me We need to give away a prize from our last podcast. 104 00:09:44,435.002 --> 00:10:02,55.003 Oh, that's right So our last podcast was about customer reviews And we asked everyone, to leave us a review for this podcast and we were going to give away our fire starter course that teaches you how to start and operate an RV rental business. 105 00:10:02,55.003 --> 00:10:02,925.003 Yes, yeah. 106 00:10:02,925.003 --> 00:10:06,735.003 So we've got Stacy, do we have a winner then you want to announce? Yes. 107 00:10:06,765.003 --> 00:10:08,255.003 Let me pull that up quick. 108 00:10:08,255.003 --> 00:10:09,995.003 So we had Bob Tull. 109 00:10:10,215.003 --> 00:10:16,275.002 He wrote, I've been renting RVs for over eight years and still learn things from this podcast. 110 00:10:17,355.003 --> 00:10:20,535.003 So thank you, Bob, so much for leaving this review. 111 00:10:20,565.003 --> 00:10:25,360.003 You can email me at Stacey at RV rental secrets. 112 00:10:25,600.003 --> 00:10:26,100.003 com. 113 00:10:26,450.003 --> 00:10:29,620.003 And I will get you a link to that free course. 114 00:10:29,620.003 --> 00:10:30,140.003 Awesome. 115 00:10:30,140.003 --> 00:10:30,720.003 Thanks, Mr. 116 00:10:30,720.003 --> 00:10:31,60.0025 Bob. 117 00:10:31,60.0025 --> 00:10:31,900.003 I appreciate it. 118 00:10:32,620.003 --> 00:10:45,175.004 And you know, in the spirit of generosity, why don't we do, what can we do that's just like outrageously giving, how about we just do this? How about everybody? else who left a review. 119 00:10:45,625.004 --> 00:10:53,25.004 If you want to send an email with a screenshot of your review, we'll send you a copy of the course as well for free. 120 00:10:53,195.004 --> 00:10:56,135.004 And let's go like above and beyond. 121 00:10:56,565.003 --> 00:11:08,385.004 And anybody that's listening to this episode that goes on and leaves a review today, whatever the air date is of this episode, you go on and leave a review. 122 00:11:08,395.004 --> 00:11:09,105.004 Shoot us email. 123 00:11:09,105.004 --> 00:11:10,275.004 We'll give you a copy. 124 00:11:10,670.004 --> 00:11:11,820.004 of the course as well. 125 00:11:12,610.004 --> 00:11:14,930.004 How does that sound Stacy? Yeah, that's amazing. 126 00:11:14,970.004 --> 00:11:19,310.004 I'm looking forward to getting all these emails so I can get them a link to the free course. 127 00:11:19,340.003 --> 00:11:27,190.002 And for anyone that hasn't started an RV rental business yet this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn how to get started. 128 00:11:27,300.003 --> 00:11:28,960.002 So make sure you leave that review. 129 00:11:28,960.002 --> 00:11:30,240.003 Yeah, most definitely. 130 00:11:30,380.003 --> 00:11:35,390.003 And basically we created this, we used to sell this course for a thousand dollars. 131 00:11:36,40.003 --> 00:11:41,519.903 And we basically created a course to show somebody how to rent out their RV. 132 00:11:41,800.003 --> 00:11:44,820.003 And I'll be honest, there was a selfish motive behind it, y'all. 133 00:11:44,820.003 --> 00:11:46,350.003 I'm going to confess before you. 134 00:11:46,780.003 --> 00:11:50,80.002 We were just talking to our kids yesterday about confessing our sins to each other. 135 00:11:50,80.003 --> 00:11:51,890.003 So, I'm going to confess to you guys. 136 00:11:52,140.003 --> 00:11:56,610.003 Our goal of creating this course was Not necessarily just to sell it. 137 00:11:56,640.003 --> 00:12:07,740.0025 Our goal was to find like minded entrepreneurs that rent their RV and they see like, oh my gosh, this could be a business and then try to walk them up what we call our value ladder into starting a fireside franchise with us. 138 00:12:07,740.0025 --> 00:12:09,520.003 So who knows, maybe that'll be you. 139 00:12:09,520.003 --> 00:12:11,820.003 You'll go through the course, you'll rent your RV, you'll love it. 140 00:12:12,280.003 --> 00:12:21,730.002 You'll see the massive amount of value that we're giving you for those of y'all listening and we're giving you for free, which remains 1, 000 and you'll say, man, I want to join the fireside family. 141 00:12:21,840.003 --> 00:12:24,920.002 I want to hang out Stacey and Gar, which won't be hanging out. 142 00:12:25,410.002 --> 00:12:38,130.003 In January, we do our yearly retreat at Tampa at Camp Margaritaville around the Tampa RV show so y'all could get y'all can jump on the fireside family and while be hanging out in January. 143 00:12:38,750.003 --> 00:12:40,690.003 I know I'm so excited for that. 144 00:12:40,810.003 --> 00:12:47,370.002 I've got some fun stuff planned that I'm getting to do all the research and get everything set up now. 145 00:12:47,410.003 --> 00:12:51,320.003 So I'm super excited to share details once I get everything finalized. 146 00:12:51,320.003 --> 00:12:52,130.003 Yeah, I love it. 147 00:12:52,170.003 --> 00:12:55,860.003 Community, us all just getting together, eating some s'mores together. 148 00:12:56,410.003 --> 00:13:08,10.003 I talked Stacey into ordering us a masseuse, because, I mean, when you think of camping, don't you think of masseuses? Masseuses, is that a word? No, it just sounded fun, you know, like, get massages. 149 00:13:08,575.003 --> 00:13:11,155.003 Yeah, I'm definitely a glamper. 150 00:13:11,615.003 --> 00:13:11,875.003 I am. 151 00:13:11,875.003 --> 00:13:12,445.003 Oh yeah. 152 00:13:12,835.003 --> 00:13:13,35.003 Yeah. 153 00:13:13,35.003 --> 00:13:29,665.002 When you talk about getting a massage while you're camping, it makes you think of coming back from a tent camping trip and needing a massage, but no, we get them while we're camping as we go into our AC 30 plus foot RVs and luxurize the camping experience. 154 00:13:29,755.102 --> 00:14:00,770.102 Back to our, our show topic of working on our business instead of in of our, in our business, one of the things that I'm huge on is there's this race to the bottom, you know, and the platforms are a little bit at fault for it, we're a little bit at fault for it, people coming in that are, don't realize that you need to properly price your RVs are a little bit at fault for it, and so you've got these people that are, 50 a night, you know, and a one night minimum and that are really making it making it hard on some sense. 155 00:14:01,40.101 --> 00:14:05,950.102 And so I'm a big advocate of don't join the race to the bottom add value. 156 00:14:05,990.102 --> 00:14:13,20.102 So instead of thinking, okay, do I need to lower my nightly minimums? Do I need to lower my price and offer free delivery and. 157 00:14:13,20.102 --> 00:14:13,150.102 Yeah. 158 00:14:13,635.102 --> 00:14:18,5.102 You know, you can bring your seven dogs and all those things so that I can get a rental. 159 00:14:18,155.102 --> 00:14:19,195.102 No, don't do that. 160 00:14:19,565.102 --> 00:14:21,355.102 Focus on showing more value. 161 00:14:21,875.101 --> 00:14:24,785.102 You know, there are value shoppers out there. 162 00:14:25,95.102 --> 00:14:27,125.102 There's people out there that want a great deal. 163 00:14:27,455.101 --> 00:14:27,805.101 Great. 164 00:14:27,835.102 --> 00:14:29,925.101 Let them go with the people that are offering a great deal. 165 00:14:30,285.102 --> 00:14:35,175.102 There's people out there that this is their summer family vacation and they're looking for value. 166 00:14:35,705.102 --> 00:14:37,415.102 They want a nice camper. 167 00:14:37,885.102 --> 00:14:41,185.102 They want to, they want to vision themselves inside that camper. 168 00:14:41,185.102 --> 00:14:57,625.103 So if you have a camper that's beautifully staged and all the lights are on and the blinds are up and there's pillows and it shows the setting at the table and you know, you got the cans of coke sitting out and the s'more kit sitting over in the corner that like you paint that picture for them. 169 00:14:58,65.103 --> 00:15:05,155.103 They're going to go with you and pay a premium instead of going with Joe blow who offers free delivery. 170 00:15:05,365.103 --> 00:15:18,635.103 So I just want to encourage you in that respect when it comes to working on your business, find ways to offer value instead of joining the race to the bottom, Stacey, what's your thoughts on that? Yeah, definitely. 171 00:15:18,635.103 --> 00:15:20,645.103 I mean, it's worked for us. 172 00:15:20,675.103 --> 00:15:23,755.103 You know, this past couple of years we worked on. 173 00:15:24,110.103 --> 00:15:29,80.103 Just having fist wheels and kind of having a more luxury experience. 174 00:15:29,100.103 --> 00:15:39,270.103 So, instead of doing more and more add ons, we've actually created a more inclusive package where we're giving them the camp chairs and the awning rug. 175 00:15:39,600.103 --> 00:15:42,110.1035 So they can have that luxury experience. 176 00:15:42,620.1035 --> 00:15:50,380.1035 And, we're charging premium prices for that and we're finding the right customer who values that experience. 177 00:15:50,390.1025 --> 00:15:52,320.1035 So it's definitely been working for us. 178 00:15:52,320.1035 --> 00:15:53,330.1035 Yeah, for sure. 179 00:15:53,520.1035 --> 00:15:55,430.1035 You know, and you'll find what's going to happen. 180 00:15:55,730.1035 --> 00:15:59,840.103 I know one of the things that Stacey and I joke about some of our other franchisees. 181 00:15:59,840.103 --> 00:16:06,410.1025 I finally just got Mike in New York to increase his nightly minimums for next year because he'd been running himself rigged. 182 00:16:06,620.1035 --> 00:16:09,220.1025 Mike said he's got two locations with us. 183 00:16:09,220.1035 --> 00:16:09,820.1035 He's a rock star. 184 00:16:09,820.1035 --> 00:16:14,0.1035 He's the number one account on RV share like they are crushing it. 185 00:16:14,0.1035 --> 00:16:32,34.53638889 But one thing Mike learned the hard way this year he's doing two night minim they're working rampant t And my advice had always minimum during the summer And I remember Stacy, I r that used to be with. 186 00:16:32,34.53638889 --> 00:16:44,210.1035 I r out about that when I, wh And like you Stacy, I mean you were like into May, right? And you had like no bookings, or only a couple bookings? Yeah, that first season. 187 00:16:44,970.1025 --> 00:16:45,990.1035 Yeah, and you were sweating. 188 00:16:46,40.1035 --> 00:16:48,340.1035 Tell, tell everybody how it ended up for you. 189 00:16:48,650.1035 --> 00:16:54,420.1035 Yeah, so it was the year of COVID too, and we, we signed up in September. 190 00:16:54,710.1035 --> 00:16:58,330.1035 We worked all winter to get all of our rental units. 191 00:16:58,330.1035 --> 00:17:04,450.1035 I think we started with about 10 and in may, we didn't have any reservations. 192 00:17:04,550.1025 --> 00:17:06,400.1025 Nothing for the entire summer. 193 00:17:06,700.1025 --> 00:17:14,10.1025 And, you know, we were scared at that point because it was like, okay, like we've done all this work and we're not getting any return. 194 00:17:14,460.1025 --> 00:17:15,170.1025 So. 195 00:17:15,770.1025 --> 00:17:19,780.1025 I think it was like the very first week in June, we got our first booking. 196 00:17:20,170.1025 --> 00:17:31,150.1025 And then after that, I don't know what happened but it just like blew up where we were just being found on RV share and through the fireside website. 197 00:17:31,500.1025 --> 00:17:34,750.1025 And we just were like fully booked for the entire summer. 198 00:17:34,860.1025 --> 00:17:38,860.1025 And by the end of the summer my husband, we were so busy. 199 00:17:38,860.1025 --> 00:17:44,60.1025 We kind of had to take a step back and he was working full time and we had to make that decision. 200 00:17:44,90.1025 --> 00:17:44,380.1025 Okay. 201 00:17:44,380.1025 --> 00:17:50,110.1025 We either need to scale back on the business because we can't manage all this on our own. 202 00:17:50,110.1025 --> 00:18:05,250.1005 I mean, I guess looking back, like we could have started hiring people so that we weren't working on the business, but we actually made the decision for my husband to quit his full time job and we went all in on the business the two of us, because we just had that passion for it and loved it so much. 203 00:18:05,700.1015 --> 00:18:05,970.1015 Yeah. 204 00:18:05,970.1015 --> 00:18:13,440.1025 And we were, you know, getting those weekly minimums, which we never would have thought possible if someone hadn't pushed us to do that. 205 00:18:13,440.1025 --> 00:18:13,700.1025 Yeah. 206 00:18:13,760.1015 --> 00:18:14,820.1015 You know, the thing about it. 207 00:18:15,460.1025 --> 00:18:27,430.1025 That's amazing is a lot of those bookings, they're going to be last minute with a higher minimum like that, because the owner that's renting their camper out to the weekend warriors for two nights. 208 00:18:28,0.1025 --> 00:18:33,320.1025 And the camper comes back trashed or damaged or whatever, they just, they can't get it turned around in time. 209 00:18:33,820.1025 --> 00:18:38,280.1025 They're now reaching out to you and you're filling your calendar with these longer bookings. 210 00:18:38,390.1025 --> 00:18:43,500.1035 I remember when I had just my location in Michigan, I had 55 units. 211 00:18:43,770.1025 --> 00:18:52,230.1035 And man, the amount of last minute bookings I got for seven nights and the people were only using them for four or five nights was incredible. 212 00:18:52,810.1035 --> 00:19:00,740.1035 Because basically my unit was the option that was left and they're like, Hey, you and you might think, Oh my gosh, what a crook. 213 00:19:00,740.1035 --> 00:19:03,310.103 You're taking advantage of these people right in their moment of need. 214 00:19:03,310.103 --> 00:19:03,580.1035 And they can't. 215 00:19:04,350.1035 --> 00:19:07,310.1035 Hey, guess what? I'm not trying to impress you. 216 00:19:07,310.1035 --> 00:19:09,110.1035 I was trying to take care of the customer. 217 00:19:09,110.1035 --> 00:19:12,710.1035 Guess what the customer was saying to me? Okay, now you just chewed me out saying I'm a crook. 218 00:19:13,70.1035 --> 00:19:16,280.1035 The customer was saying, Gar, you saved our vacation. 219 00:19:17,160.1035 --> 00:19:19,90.1035 Gar, I'm so glad this camper was available. 220 00:19:19,90.1035 --> 00:19:19,770.103 This is amazing. 221 00:19:19,770.103 --> 00:19:21,980.1035 My kids were looking forward to this all winter long. 222 00:19:22,230.1045 --> 00:19:24,840.1045 And now thanks to you guys, this is going to happen. 223 00:19:25,350.1045 --> 00:19:30,380.1045 So again, this is a business, you know, we're coaching a lot of y'all that. 224 00:19:30,630.1045 --> 00:19:33,850.1045 You're just running your one camper or maybe you've gone to two or three campers. 225 00:19:34,210.1045 --> 00:19:35,920.1045 You got to take the emotions out of it. 226 00:19:35,970.1045 --> 00:19:44,350.1045 This is the business at the end of the day, a business operates to create profit, to serve customers and to serve ourselves and our family. 227 00:19:44,880.1045 --> 00:19:46,840.1045 So just keep that in mind. 228 00:19:47,640.1055 --> 00:19:48,720.1055 Yeah, exactly. 229 00:19:49,10.1055 --> 00:19:57,830.1065 And one other thing I wanted to mention, you know, we were talking about the RV industry event and kind of going back to, you know, working on your business. 230 00:19:58,255.1065 --> 00:20:07,55.1065 And we've talked about it in another episode is, taking those business courses, finding those mentors, going to those industry events. 231 00:20:07,425.1065 --> 00:20:15,325.1065 That's how you can work on your business instead of in it and elevating yourself and that growth within yourself. 232 00:20:15,375.1065 --> 00:20:22,485.1055 Whether it be business or personal development is really gonna get you further in your business than doing those day to day tasks. 233 00:20:22,485.1055 --> 00:20:23,925.1055 Yeah, most definitely. 234 00:20:24,255.1055 --> 00:20:27,595.1055 You've got to take time to be mentored. 235 00:20:27,595.1055 --> 00:20:48,935.105 You've got to take time to learn and grow yourself personally and professionally and do all those things that for some reason, those become last priority in the heat of the summer when business is busy, when really those are the things that need to be first priority because they properly prepare us to be productive. 236 00:20:48,935.105 --> 00:20:49,115.105 Yeah. 237 00:20:49,415.105 --> 00:20:55,155.105 And to not burn out and to do things efficiently and effectively, you know, but it's so easy. 238 00:20:55,155.105 --> 00:20:58,585.104 We think, oh, this is the item that needs to get addressed. 239 00:20:58,585.105 --> 00:21:03,225.104 Well, it's not as important as the foundational things that we actually need to be doing. 240 00:21:03,225.104 --> 00:21:14,705.104 Yeah, I find that when I take a step back from the business, whether it's I go for a walk or we're on vacation and I just have that time to think and be creative. 241 00:21:14,715.104 --> 00:21:17,585.104 That's usually when I come up with some of my best ideas. 242 00:21:17,900.104 --> 00:21:19,370.104 To move the business forward. 243 00:21:20,690.104 --> 00:21:21,400.104 It really is. 244 00:21:21,410.104 --> 00:21:36,810.104 Isn't that amazing? Well, let's call this episode a wrap and how should we end Stacey? Anything special we should do? I think just a quick reminder to everyone to make sure they leave that review and go ahead and email me a screenshot at stacey at rvrentalsecrets. 245 00:21:36,850.104 --> 00:21:42,810.104 com And we will get you access to that free course and we're excited to hear what you think about it. 246 00:21:42,810.104 --> 00:21:43,200.104 Awesome. 247 00:21:43,200.104 --> 00:21:45,40.104 That sounds like a great, great way to end it. 248 00:21:45,320.104 --> 00:21:45,800.104 All right, y'all. 249 00:21:45,800.104 --> 00:21:46,260.104 Be blessed.
.001Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of RV Rental Secrets Podcast. 2 00:00:06,890.001 --> 00:00:12,800.001 I'm Gar Russell here with my co host, business partner, friend, fellow zip liner. 3 00:00:13,450.001 --> 00:00:17,440.001 What else have we done together, Stacey? I don't know, countless number of things. 4 00:00:17,440.001 --> 00:00:20,570.001 Course creator, all kinds of fun stuff. 5 00:00:20,930.001 --> 00:00:21,800.001 Stacey Maxson. 6 00:00:21,800.001 --> 00:00:27,230.001 And today, Stacey, you don't know what we're even going to talk about yet, do you? No, I'm excited to find out. 7 00:00:27,880.001 --> 00:00:33,910.001 Today, we're going to talk about working on your business instead of in your business. 8 00:00:33,920.001 --> 00:00:46,40.001 So when you and I had our meeting the other day, we were talking about, Hey, how do we serve our franchisees? Like what do we do? It's we're through the end of summer, you know, things are starting to calm down. 9 00:00:46,60.001 --> 00:00:47,510.001 Kids are back in school. 10 00:00:48,60.001 --> 00:01:03,30.001 And we thought, well, what can we do to serve our franchisees? And we thought, why don't we go through and start auditing their businesses with them and just looking at, you know, ways to increase revenue, decrease stress, all the different things. 11 00:01:03,30.001 --> 00:01:06,820 So I thought, you know what, let's do that with our RV rental secrets. 12 00:01:07,280.001 --> 00:01:09,930.001 podcast listeners and talk about that a little bit. 13 00:01:09,990.001 --> 00:01:12,590.001 How's that sound? Yeah, I think that's a great topic. 14 00:01:12,690.001 --> 00:01:13,790.001 And so relevant. 15 00:01:13,790.001 --> 00:01:16,910.001 I think in this business, it's easy to get caught up. 16 00:01:17,350.001 --> 00:01:20,260.001 And all the little day to day things that are happening. 17 00:01:20,600.001 --> 00:01:32,340.001 You know, you get a renter phone call, something breaks on the RV and you're constantly like putting out little fires and you're never taking a step back and looking at what your business needs as a whole. 18 00:01:32,340.001 --> 00:01:32,800.001 Yeah. 19 00:01:33,610.001 --> 00:01:34,730.002 You know, I've heard it said. 20 00:01:35,200.002 --> 00:01:40,320.002 Find somebody who can do something 80 percent as good as you can, and then hand that off. 21 00:01:40,750.002 --> 00:01:56,640.002 And really, that's the only way, if you're looking to scale a business, or maybe not even necessarily scale, if you're looking to automate your business, if you're looking to have your business, you know, work for you, instead of you being an employee of it, part of that process is automation. 22 00:01:56,640.002 --> 00:01:59,670.002 Like, you have to hand responsibilities off to others. 23 00:02:00,360.002 --> 00:02:05,670.002 And if you don't, you're going to, you're basically you bought yourself a job and you're going to end up burnout. 24 00:02:06,100.002 --> 00:02:23,540.002 I mean, I've literally seen four companies here in the last 60 days, RV rental businesses that are for sale, and I've talked to two of them and they literally, the reason they're selling is because they're burnt out like they're, and I start to investigate and explore with them. 25 00:02:23,870.002 --> 00:02:28,20.002 They're doing all the things they're out there, cleaning, they're delivering, they're troubleshooting. 26 00:02:28,50.002 --> 00:02:28,890.002 They're this or that. 27 00:02:29,300.002 --> 00:02:30,970.002 No, no wonder why you're burnout. 28 00:02:30,980.002 --> 00:02:32,860.002 It don't even matter what kind of business you have. 29 00:02:33,440.002 --> 00:02:34,620.002 You're going to get burnout. 30 00:02:34,620.002 --> 00:02:36,190.002 If you're doing all the things. 31 00:02:36,900.002 --> 00:02:42,680.002 And doing all the work on the business and the work on the business, you're going to burn out. 32 00:02:42,730.002 --> 00:02:43,940.002 That's just, it's going to happen. 33 00:02:44,580.002 --> 00:02:56,220.002 Yeah, yeah, that's definitely how we ran our business the first year because we didn't know any better and if we continued running it like that there's no way we could have continued. 34 00:02:56,270.002 --> 00:03:02,740.002 It was definitely a learning experience and when we took a step back I think it helped us too because we were seasonal. 35 00:03:02,740.002 --> 00:03:12,680.002 So you kind of had that end in October and then you have like the winter to rethink and regroup and decide how to better run your business. 36 00:03:12,700.002 --> 00:03:17,250.001 And that's really what helped us because we were able to take a look and see what wasn't working. 37 00:03:17,550.002 --> 00:03:24,820.002 Like you said we were doing all the things and then we were able to, you know, take that time and be like, okay, we need to hire cleaners. 38 00:03:25,30.002 --> 00:03:27,20.002 We need to find drivers. 39 00:03:27,80.002 --> 00:03:29,660.002 We can't be doing all of this stuff all of the time. 40 00:03:30,25.002 --> 00:03:37,245.002 And that's actually when my husband too, because one of our kind of pain points was getting repairs done on the RVs. 41 00:03:37,475.002 --> 00:03:43,785.002 So then he got certified as an RV tech, so he could take that over and it was something he really enjoyed to do. 42 00:03:44,25.001 --> 00:03:47,815.002 So that was kind of the thing he decided to do in the business. 43 00:03:47,815.002 --> 00:03:51,625.002 And then we were able to outsource other things that weren't as important. 44 00:03:51,625.002 --> 00:03:51,915.002 Yeah. 45 00:03:51,975.002 --> 00:03:53,185.002 You know, that's the cool thing about it. 46 00:03:53,185.002 --> 00:03:54,95.002 You can find. 47 00:03:54,420.002 --> 00:03:57,960.002 What you like doing, and that's one of the things about being a business owner. 48 00:03:57,960.002 --> 00:04:01,970.002 We think nobody can do it as good as us, you know, well, nobody's going to clean as good as me. 49 00:04:01,980.002 --> 00:04:03,260.002 And guess what? They might not. 50 00:04:03,260.002 --> 00:04:08,350.002 You need to delegate, or nobody's going to deliver it as good as me, or nobody's going to answer their inquiries as good as me. 51 00:04:08,630.001 --> 00:04:14,650.002 You figure out where do you feel that you're most valuable to the company, and then you outsource the rest. 52 00:04:14,900.002 --> 00:04:34,185.002 And if you don't think somebody is going to be able to clean it as good as you, then you Well, how do you clean it right out how you clean it right out the process, even create a video or a checklist and hand that off and train and come in and audit every three to five cleanings and do inspections and stuff like that. 53 00:04:34,465.002 --> 00:04:38,505.002 You know, you can you can let go of things but still have control over them. 54 00:04:38,925.002 --> 00:04:46,825.002 Oh, I like that saying you could let go of things but still have control over them by having systems and processes and checklists and stuff in place. 55 00:04:47,265.002 --> 00:04:58,765.002 And at the end of the day, it's just it's not even a you should it's really it's a you have to Because you're going to burn yourself out if you don't do that and you're going to reach a ceiling. 56 00:04:58,945.002 --> 00:05:07,635.002 You know, most of the reasons why people start businesses is they want to determine their level of income and they want to determine their schedule. 57 00:05:07,715.002 --> 00:05:12,145.002 They don't want to be told when they have to be at work, when they can vacation or can't vacation. 58 00:05:12,765.002 --> 00:05:15,355.002 So with keeping those, you know, a couple of things in mind. 59 00:05:15,355.002 --> 00:05:17,335.002 you structure your business around that. 60 00:05:17,335.002 --> 00:05:21,285.002 Yeah, I think, you know, you said having systems and I think that's really important. 61 00:05:21,335.002 --> 00:05:27,815.002 What I've found you know, in my day to day at this point is I do a lot of loom videos. 62 00:05:27,945.003 --> 00:05:37,585.003 So recording just me doing the work of what I typically do in a day and then I'm able to download that video and create a training on it. 63 00:05:38,695.003 --> 00:05:44,545.003 You know, so in our business, like I was managing social media at one point, writing all the newsletters. 64 00:05:44,840.003 --> 00:05:54,910.003 And I'm able to record what I'm doing, then take that transcript and turn it into a training, and now I'm able to train other people on how to do that. 65 00:05:55,100.003 --> 00:06:02,480.003 Like you said, you know, even if it's 80 percent as good as I was doing it, so that can free me up to take care of the franchisees. 66 00:06:02,785.003 --> 00:06:06,265.003 And, you know, do some of the work that's more important in the business. 67 00:06:06,265.003 --> 00:06:08,395.003 Yeah, yeah, it makes me think of this quote here. 68 00:06:08,395.003 --> 00:06:11,825.003 I'm going to see if I can find it because I want to, I want to say it right. 69 00:06:11,825.103 --> 00:06:18,595.102 I'm not seeing it, but basically it talks about documenting and how important it is to document. 70 00:06:18,605.103 --> 00:06:23,825.103 And a lot of times, if we try to sit down and say, okay, well, I'm going to document how you do something. 71 00:06:24,420.103 --> 00:06:29,490.103 How I, how I clean an RV it's better to actually do it while you're cleaning the RV. 72 00:06:29,950.103 --> 00:06:38,560.103 It's easier to document while you're doing the thing instead of trying to look back and think of how to document, you know, when you're not doing the thing. 73 00:06:38,560.103 --> 00:06:42,780.103 So you can literally be integrating that because you say, well, I don't have time to document. 74 00:06:42,780.103 --> 00:06:44,60.103 I don't have time to this and that. 75 00:06:44,330.103 --> 00:06:47,120.103 Yeah, you actually do it while you're doing the thing. 76 00:06:47,180.103 --> 00:06:51,420.103 And especially with technology nowadays, man, you can use your voice recorder. 77 00:06:51,675.103 --> 00:07:07,855.103 Like when I wrote my last book, my real estate story, I literally would go on walks, turn on my voice recorder, record it, put it into our search software, it would transcribe it, I would send it over to my editor, they edit it, and then there's my book. 78 00:07:08,115.103 --> 00:07:10,305.103 Like, it was all done through voice text. 79 00:07:10,845.103 --> 00:07:21,885.102 And the same can be done with putting together systems and processes, find out what works best for you, whether it's recording something through voice, shooting a video and transcribing it, it can be done. 80 00:07:21,885.103 --> 00:07:25,575.002 It's just you taking the time to slow down and just do it. 81 00:07:25,605.003 --> 00:07:39,205.002 And then when you look back, man, like Stacey, if we look back at all the things that we've created together the last couple of years, I mean, we just have endless amounts of documentation and videos and it's just, it's amazing. 82 00:07:39,825.003 --> 00:07:41,55.003 Yeah, that's so true. 83 00:07:41,295.003 --> 00:07:45,625.003 And like you said about you know, documenting as you're doing it. 84 00:07:45,625.003 --> 00:07:46,865.003 That's really helpful. 85 00:07:46,885.003 --> 00:07:55,165.003 You know, you can pay someone on Fiverr to just give them that data and then they can create that video or training software for you. 86 00:07:55,425.003 --> 00:08:10,915.003 I know there's different AI, I I think it's train you all is a software where it basically just takes your, process and creates like a whole training system on it so that you could get to staff and kind of creates SOPs for you. 87 00:08:11,345.003 --> 00:08:14,275.003 So something like that, you know, you don't have to take the time. 88 00:08:14,295.003 --> 00:08:17,655.003 It's just paying a little bit of money and someone else can build it out for you. 89 00:08:18,285.003 --> 00:08:19,515.003 Yeah, exactly. 90 00:08:19,775.003 --> 00:08:25,835.004 There's a good software too, for cleaning hostfully, H O S T F U L L Y. 91 00:08:26,195.003 --> 00:08:27,775.004 It's built for Airbnbs. 92 00:08:27,775.004 --> 00:08:31,65.004 But you can go in there and tweak it however you want. 93 00:08:31,485.004 --> 00:08:37,355.004 And then literally your cleaner will check a box, take a picture, and it's just, it's another way to automate. 94 00:08:37,455.004 --> 00:08:40,154.904 You know, it's just a simple way to automate. 95 00:08:40,155.004 --> 00:08:59,945.004 You know, and on that note, One of our little secrets that we teach our fireside franchisees when it comes to finding cleaners a really simple way to do that is to go into your local Facebook groups there in your community and place a post that says, Hey, I'm looking for people that clean Airbnbs. 96 00:08:59,945.004 --> 00:09:05,655.004 And what's going to happen is you're going to get a bunch of comments, a bunch of private messages of people that clean Airbnbs. 97 00:09:06,185.004 --> 00:09:15,595.004 And then you're simply just not, now that you laid that framework out of, you know, you're looking for people that clean short term rentals, you're just simply going to say, hey, it's great that you clean Airbnbs. 98 00:09:15,635.004 --> 00:09:19,945.004 I actually own an RV rental company, and I'm looking for people to clean my RVs. 99 00:09:21,0.004 --> 00:09:23,450.004 But if you go on the Facebook group and you put in there. 100 00:09:23,640.004 --> 00:09:25,580.004 Hey, I'm looking for people to clean RVs. 101 00:09:25,630.004 --> 00:09:27,150.004 There's going to be some confusion there. 102 00:09:27,450.004 --> 00:09:37,780.003 Okay, like clean RVs for what like clean it when you get back from using it or like it's for a dealership, you know, how does that work? So if you frame it the proper way, then you're getting the right audience. 103 00:09:38,175.004 --> 00:09:44,85.003 Oh stacey that reminds me We need to give away a prize from our last podcast. 104 00:09:44,435.002 --> 00:10:02,55.003 Oh, that's right So our last podcast was about customer reviews And we asked everyone, to leave us a review for this podcast and we were going to give away our fire starter course that teaches you how to start and operate an RV rental business. 105 00:10:02,55.003 --> 00:10:02,925.003 Yes, yeah. 106 00:10:02,925.003 --> 00:10:06,735.003 So we've got Stacy, do we have a winner then you want to announce? Yes. 107 00:10:06,765.003 --> 00:10:08,255.003 Let me pull that up quick. 108 00:10:08,255.003 --> 00:10:09,995.003 So we had Bob Tull. 109 00:10:10,215.003 --> 00:10:16,275.002 He wrote, I've been renting RVs for over eight years and still learn things from this podcast. 110 00:10:17,355.003 --> 00:10:20,535.003 So thank you, Bob, so much for leaving this review. 111 00:10:20,565.003 --> 00:10:25,360.003 You can email me at Stacey at RV rental secrets. 112 00:10:25,600.003 --> 00:10:26,100.003 com. 113 00:10:26,450.003 --> 00:10:29,620.003 And I will get you a link to that free course. 114 00:10:29,620.003 --> 00:10:30,140.003 Awesome. 115 00:10:30,140.003 --> 00:10:30,720.003 Thanks, Mr. 116 00:10:30,720.003 --> 00:10:31,60.0025 Bob. 117 00:10:31,60.0025 --> 00:10:31,900.003 I appreciate it. 118 00:10:32,620.003 --> 00:10:45,175.004 And you know, in the spirit of generosity, why don't we do, what can we do that's just like outrageously giving, how about we just do this? How about everybody? else who left a review. 119 00:10:45,625.004 --> 00:10:53,25.004 If you want to send an email with a screenshot of your review, we'll send you a copy of the course as well for free. 120 00:10:53,195.004 --> 00:10:56,135.004 And let's go like above and beyond. 121 00:10:56,565.003 --> 00:11:08,385.004 And anybody that's listening to this episode that goes on and leaves a review today, whatever the air date is of this episode, you go on and leave a review. 122 00:11:08,395.004 --> 00:11:09,105.004 Shoot us email. 123 00:11:09,105.004 --> 00:11:10,275.004 We'll give you a copy. 124 00:11:10,670.004 --> 00:11:11,820.004 of the course as well. 125 00:11:12,610.004 --> 00:11:14,930.004 How does that sound Stacy? Yeah, that's amazing. 126 00:11:14,970.004 --> 00:11:19,310.004 I'm looking forward to getting all these emails so I can get them a link to the free course. 127 00:11:19,340.003 --> 00:11:27,190.002 And for anyone that hasn't started an RV rental business yet this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn how to get started. 128 00:11:27,300.003 --> 00:11:28,960.002 So make sure you leave that review. 129 00:11:28,960.002 --> 00:11:30,240.003 Yeah, most definitely. 130 00:11:30,380.003 --> 00:11:35,390.003 And basically we created this, we used to sell this course for a thousand dollars. 131 00:11:36,40.003 --> 00:11:41,519.903 And we basically created a course to show somebody how to rent out their RV. 132 00:11:41,800.003 --> 00:11:44,820.003 And I'll be honest, there was a selfish motive behind it, y'all. 133 00:11:44,820.003 --> 00:11:46,350.003 I'm going to confess before you. 134 00:11:46,780.003 --> 00:11:50,80.002 We were just talking to our kids yesterday about confessing our sins to each other. 135 00:11:50,80.003 --> 00:11:51,890.003 So, I'm going to confess to you guys. 136 00:11:52,140.003 --> 00:11:56,610.003 Our goal of creating this course was Not necessarily just to sell it. 137 00:11:56,640.003 --> 00:12:07,740.0025 Our goal was to find like minded entrepreneurs that rent their RV and they see like, oh my gosh, this could be a business and then try to walk them up what we call our value ladder into starting a fireside franchise with us. 138 00:12:07,740.0025 --> 00:12:09,520.003 So who knows, maybe that'll be you. 139 00:12:09,520.003 --> 00:12:11,820.003 You'll go through the course, you'll rent your RV, you'll love it. 140 00:12:12,280.003 --> 00:12:21,730.002 You'll see the massive amount of value that we're giving you for those of y'all listening and we're giving you for free, which remains 1, 000 and you'll say, man, I want to join the fireside family. 141 00:12:21,840.003 --> 00:12:24,920.002 I want to hang out Stacey and Gar, which won't be hanging out. 142 00:12:25,410.002 --> 00:12:38,130.003 In January, we do our yearly retreat at Tampa at Camp Margaritaville around the Tampa RV show so y'all could get y'all can jump on the fireside family and while be hanging out in January. 143 00:12:38,750.003 --> 00:12:40,690.003 I know I'm so excited for that. 144 00:12:40,810.003 --> 00:12:47,370.002 I've got some fun stuff planned that I'm getting to do all the research and get everything set up now. 145 00:12:47,410.003 --> 00:12:51,320.003 So I'm super excited to share details once I get everything finalized. 146 00:12:51,320.003 --> 00:12:52,130.003 Yeah, I love it. 147 00:12:52,170.003 --> 00:12:55,860.003 Community, us all just getting together, eating some s'mores together. 148 00:12:56,410.003 --> 00:13:08,10.003 I talked Stacey into ordering us a masseuse, because, I mean, when you think of camping, don't you think of masseuses? Masseuses, is that a word? No, it just sounded fun, you know, like, get massages. 149 00:13:08,575.003 --> 00:13:11,155.003 Yeah, I'm definitely a glamper. 150 00:13:11,615.003 --> 00:13:11,875.003 I am. 151 00:13:11,875.003 --> 00:13:12,445.003 Oh yeah. 152 00:13:12,835.003 --> 00:13:13,35.003 Yeah. 153 00:13:13,35.003 --> 00:13:29,665.002 When you talk about getting a massage while you're camping, it makes you think of coming back from a tent camping trip and needing a massage, but no, we get them while we're camping as we go into our AC 30 plus foot RVs and luxurize the camping experience. 154 00:13:29,755.102 --> 00:14:00,770.102 Back to our, our show topic of working on our business instead of in of our, in our business, one of the things that I'm huge on is there's this race to the bottom, you know, and the platforms are a little bit at fault for it, we're a little bit at fault for it, people coming in that are, don't realize that you need to properly price your RVs are a little bit at fault for it, and so you've got these people that are, 50 a night, you know, and a one night minimum and that are really making it making it hard on some sense. 155 00:14:01,40.101 --> 00:14:05,950.102 And so I'm a big advocate of don't join the race to the bottom add value. 156 00:14:05,990.102 --> 00:14:13,20.102 So instead of thinking, okay, do I need to lower my nightly minimums? Do I need to lower my price and offer free delivery and. 157 00:14:13,20.102 --> 00:14:13,150.102 Yeah. 158 00:14:13,635.102 --> 00:14:18,5.102 You know, you can bring your seven dogs and all those things so that I can get a rental. 159 00:14:18,155.102 --> 00:14:19,195.102 No, don't do that. 160 00:14:19,565.102 --> 00:14:21,355.102 Focus on showing more value. 161 00:14:21,875.101 --> 00:14:24,785.102 You know, there are value shoppers out there. 162 00:14:25,95.102 --> 00:14:27,125.102 There's people out there that want a great deal. 163 00:14:27,455.101 --> 00:14:27,805.101 Great. 164 00:14:27,835.102 --> 00:14:29,925.101 Let them go with the people that are offering a great deal. 165 00:14:30,285.102 --> 00:14:35,175.102 There's people out there that this is their summer family vacation and they're looking for value. 166 00:14:35,705.102 --> 00:14:37,415.102 They want a nice camper. 167 00:14:37,885.102 --> 00:14:41,185.102 They want to, they want to vision themselves inside that camper. 168 00:14:41,185.102 --> 00:14:57,625.103 So if you have a camper that's beautifully staged and all the lights are on and the blinds are up and there's pillows and it shows the setting at the table and you know, you got the cans of coke sitting out and the s'more kit sitting over in the corner that like you paint that picture for them. 169 00:14:58,65.103 --> 00:15:05,155.103 They're going to go with you and pay a premium instead of going with Joe blow who offers free delivery. 170 00:15:05,365.103 --> 00:15:18,635.103 So I just want to encourage you in that respect when it comes to working on your business, find ways to offer value instead of joining the race to the bottom, Stacey, what's your thoughts on that? Yeah, definitely. 171 00:15:18,635.103 --> 00:15:20,645.103 I mean, it's worked for us. 172 00:15:20,675.103 --> 00:15:23,755.103 You know, this past couple of years we worked on. 173 00:15:24,110.103 --> 00:15:29,80.103 Just having fist wheels and kind of having a more luxury experience. 174 00:15:29,100.103 --> 00:15:39,270.103 So, instead of doing more and more add ons, we've actually created a more inclusive package where we're giving them the camp chairs and the awning rug. 175 00:15:39,600.103 --> 00:15:42,110.1035 So they can have that luxury experience. 176 00:15:42,620.1035 --> 00:15:50,380.1035 And, we're charging premium prices for that and we're finding the right customer who values that experience. 177 00:15:50,390.1025 --> 00:15:52,320.1035 So it's definitely been working for us. 178 00:15:52,320.1035 --> 00:15:53,330.1035 Yeah, for sure. 179 00:15:53,520.1035 --> 00:15:55,430.1035 You know, and you'll find what's going to happen. 180 00:15:55,730.1035 --> 00:15:59,840.103 I know one of the things that Stacey and I joke about some of our other franchisees. 181 00:15:59,840.103 --> 00:16:06,410.1025 I finally just got Mike in New York to increase his nightly minimums for next year because he'd been running himself rigged. 182 00:16:06,620.1035 --> 00:16:09,220.1025 Mike said he's got two locations with us. 183 00:16:09,220.1035 --> 00:16:09,820.1035 He's a rock star. 184 00:16:09,820.1035 --> 00:16:14,0.1035 He's the number one account on RV share like they are crushing it. 185 00:16:14,0.1035 --> 00:16:32,34.53638889 But one thing Mike learned the hard way this year he's doing two night minim they're working rampant t And my advice had always minimum during the summer And I remember Stacy, I r that used to be with. 186 00:16:32,34.53638889 --> 00:16:44,210.1035 I r out about that when I, wh And like you Stacy, I mean you were like into May, right? And you had like no bookings, or only a couple bookings? Yeah, that first season. 187 00:16:44,970.1025 --> 00:16:45,990.1035 Yeah, and you were sweating. 188 00:16:46,40.1035 --> 00:16:48,340.1035 Tell, tell everybody how it ended up for you. 189 00:16:48,650.1035 --> 00:16:54,420.1035 Yeah, so it was the year of COVID too, and we, we signed up in September. 190 00:16:54,710.1035 --> 00:16:58,330.1035 We worked all winter to get all of our rental units. 191 00:16:58,330.1035 --> 00:17:04,450.1035 I think we started with about 10 and in may, we didn't have any reservations. 192 00:17:04,550.1025 --> 00:17:06,400.1025 Nothing for the entire summer. 193 00:17:06,700.1025 --> 00:17:14,10.1025 And, you know, we were scared at that point because it was like, okay, like we've done all this work and we're not getting any return. 194 00:17:14,460.1025 --> 00:17:15,170.1025 So. 195 00:17:15,770.1025 --> 00:17:19,780.1025 I think it was like the very first week in June, we got our first booking. 196 00:17:20,170.1025 --> 00:17:31,150.1025 And then after that, I don't know what happened but it just like blew up where we were just being found on RV share and through the fireside website. 197 00:17:31,500.1025 --> 00:17:34,750.1025 And we just were like fully booked for the entire summer. 198 00:17:34,860.1025 --> 00:17:38,860.1025 And by the end of the summer my husband, we were so busy. 199 00:17:38,860.1025 --> 00:17:44,60.1025 We kind of had to take a step back and he was working full time and we had to make that decision. 200 00:17:44,90.1025 --> 00:17:44,380.1025 Okay. 201 00:17:44,380.1025 --> 00:17:50,110.1025 We either need to scale back on the business because we can't manage all this on our own. 202 00:17:50,110.1025 --> 00:18:05,250.1005 I mean, I guess looking back, like we could have started hiring people so that we weren't working on the business, but we actually made the decision for my husband to quit his full time job and we went all in on the business the two of us, because we just had that passion for it and loved it so much. 203 00:18:05,700.1015 --> 00:18:05,970.1015 Yeah. 204 00:18:05,970.1015 --> 00:18:13,440.1025 And we were, you know, getting those weekly minimums, which we never would have thought possible if someone hadn't pushed us to do that. 205 00:18:13,440.1025 --> 00:18:13,700.1025 Yeah. 206 00:18:13,760.1015 --> 00:18:14,820.1015 You know, the thing about it. 207 00:18:15,460.1025 --> 00:18:27,430.1025 That's amazing is a lot of those bookings, they're going to be last minute with a higher minimum like that, because the owner that's renting their camper out to the weekend warriors for two nights. 208 00:18:28,0.1025 --> 00:18:33,320.1025 And the camper comes back trashed or damaged or whatever, they just, they can't get it turned around in time. 209 00:18:33,820.1025 --> 00:18:38,280.1025 They're now reaching out to you and you're filling your calendar with these longer bookings. 210 00:18:38,390.1025 --> 00:18:43,500.1035 I remember when I had just my location in Michigan, I had 55 units. 211 00:18:43,770.1025 --> 00:18:52,230.1035 And man, the amount of last minute bookings I got for seven nights and the people were only using them for four or five nights was incredible. 212 00:18:52,810.1035 --> 00:19:00,740.1035 Because basically my unit was the option that was left and they're like, Hey, you and you might think, Oh my gosh, what a crook. 213 00:19:00,740.1035 --> 00:19:03,310.103 You're taking advantage of these people right in their moment of need. 214 00:19:03,310.103 --> 00:19:03,580.1035 And they can't. 215 00:19:04,350.1035 --> 00:19:07,310.1035 Hey, guess what? I'm not trying to impress you. 216 00:19:07,310.1035 --> 00:19:09,110.1035 I was trying to take care of the customer. 217 00:19:09,110.1035 --> 00:19:12,710.1035 Guess what the customer was saying to me? Okay, now you just chewed me out saying I'm a crook. 218 00:19:13,70.1035 --> 00:19:16,280.1035 The customer was saying, Gar, you saved our vacation. 219 00:19:17,160.1035 --> 00:19:19,90.1035 Gar, I'm so glad this camper was available. 220 00:19:19,90.1035 --> 00:19:19,770.103 This is amazing. 221 00:19:19,770.103 --> 00:19:21,980.1035 My kids were looking forward to this all winter long. 222 00:19:22,230.1045 --> 00:19:24,840.1045 And now thanks to you guys, this is going to happen. 223 00:19:25,350.1045 --> 00:19:30,380.1045 So again, this is a business, you know, we're coaching a lot of y'all that. 224 00:19:30,630.1045 --> 00:19:33,850.1045 You're just running your one camper or maybe you've gone to two or three campers. 225 00:19:34,210.1045 --> 00:19:35,920.1045 You got to take the emotions out of it. 226 00:19:35,970.1045 --> 00:19:44,350.1045 This is the business at the end of the day, a business operates to create profit, to serve customers and to serve ourselves and our family. 227 00:19:44,880.1045 --> 00:19:46,840.1045 So just keep that in mind. 228 00:19:47,640.1055 --> 00:19:48,720.1055 Yeah, exactly. 229 00:19:49,10.1055 --> 00:19:57,830.1065 And one other thing I wanted to mention, you know, we were talking about the RV industry event and kind of going back to, you know, working on your business. 230 00:19:58,255.1065 --> 00:20:07,55.1065 And we've talked about it in another episode is, taking those business courses, finding those mentors, going to those industry events. 231 00:20:07,425.1065 --> 00:20:15,325.1065 That's how you can work on your business instead of in it and elevating yourself and that growth within yourself. 232 00:20:15,375.1065 --> 00:20:22,485.1055 Whether it be business or personal development is really gonna get you further in your business than doing those day to day tasks. 233 00:20:22,485.1055 --> 00:20:23,925.1055 Yeah, most definitely. 234 00:20:24,255.1055 --> 00:20:27,595.1055 You've got to take time to be mentored. 235 00:20:27,595.1055 --> 00:20:48,935.105 You've got to take time to learn and grow yourself personally and professionally and do all those things that for some reason, those become last priority in the heat of the summer when business is busy, when really those are the things that need to be first priority because they properly prepare us to be productive. 236 00:20:48,935.105 --> 00:20:49,115.105 Yeah. 237 00:20:49,415.105 --> 00:20:55,155.105 And to not burn out and to do things efficiently and effectively, you know, but it's so easy. 238 00:20:55,155.105 --> 00:20:58,585.104 We think, oh, this is the item that needs to get addressed. 239 00:20:58,585.105 --> 00:21:03,225.104 Well, it's not as important as the foundational things that we actually need to be doing. 240 00:21:03,225.104 --> 00:21:14,705.104 Yeah, I find that when I take a step back from the business, whether it's I go for a walk or we're on vacation and I just have that time to think and be creative. 241 00:21:14,715.104 --> 00:21:17,585.104 That's usually when I come up with some of my best ideas. 242 00:21:17,900.104 --> 00:21:19,370.104 To move the business forward. 243 00:21:20,690.104 --> 00:21:21,400.104 It really is. 244 00:21:21,410.104 --> 00:21:36,810.104 Isn't that amazing? Well, let's call this episode a wrap and how should we end Stacey? Anything special we should do? I think just a quick reminder to everyone to make sure they leave that review and go ahead and email me a screenshot at stacey at rvrentalsecrets. 245 00:21:36,850.104 --> 00:21:42,810.104 com And we will get you access to that free course and we're excited to hear what you think about it. 246 00:21:42,810.104 --> 00:21:43,200.104 Awesome. 247 00:21:43,200.104 --> 00:21:45,40.104 That sounds like a great, great way to end it. 248 00:21:45,320.104 --> 00:21:45,800.104 All right, y'all. 249 00:21:45,800.104 --> 00:21:46,260.104 Be blessed.
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