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What It's About
A newlywed couple traveling with their RV drive into a helpful solution for booking campsites.
Business Model
Service
Skills Required
Observation & People
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
High
Words of Wisdom
A few years ago, Heath told his friend Kevin that he was ready to go all-in, but Kevin responded with some advice that Heath has never forgotten. He said, “Companies don’t run out of money, but founders do.” It took 3x longer than they expected to start generating revenue and if they hadn’t had multiple revenue streams outside of the business, they could have run out of funding.
Fun Fact
Although many people associate owning an RV with people well into their 60s and 70s, the average age of an RV owner is 48. In fact, more RVs are owned by people aged from 35 to 54 than any other age group!
Notes from Chris
Episode 1017
As a newly married couple, Heath and Alyssa Padgett were looking for somewhere to call their own. There were many places across the U.S. that they could see themselves living in. Any one of those places might be the perfect spot for their honeymoon. But, when they began to map it out, they noticed that their dream destinations formed a huge zig zag-like pattern all across the country. The more they thought about it, the more it made sense to take the trip in an RV. If they were going all over the country, why not drive it and get to sightsee along the way? They also had an idea about creating a documentary centered around hourly workers. From there, the idea evolved into Heath working an hourly job in each of the 50 states. Not only was it the perfect chance to see the country and bring their documentary to life, the couple was also unsatisfied with their current jobs and ready to try something new. With that, they decided to drive into it head first, only four days after their wedding in May of 2014. As they moved from campsite to campsite in their RV, they began to notice a problem. At many of the campgrounds, they couldn’t reserve their spot ahead of time. Heath and Alyssa couldn’t believe that in this day and age, there wasn’t some kind of online booking tool available. Instead, they had to drive hours to a campsite and hope that there would be a spot left for them. For a while, this was just a nuisance. But it turned into an opportunity when Heath met up with a friend he had made through a Facebook group called The RV Entrepreneur. Another member of the group, Bob, just happened to be passing through the town Heath and Alyssa were parked at, so they decided to meet up. They ended up having a long conversation about the difficulties of booking campground spots and the potential to create a solution. They let the idea sit for six months while they were finishing up the documentary. Then in the Fall of 2016, they decided to really get the wheels turning. Heath and Bob envisioned an app that campgrounds could use to allow customers to book online. They purchased the domain name CampgroundBooking.com and began to draw up some prototype sketches—but they soon ran into some technical challenges. They knew that they wouldn’t be able to move forward with the design unless they got some help. So, going back to the RV Entrepreneur Facebook group, Heath made a post asking around for people who had strong backgrounds in tech. They got a lot of responses, and they ended up bringing someone named Paul onto the team. With Paul on board, they were really able to start developing their idea. They spent most of 2017 working on the beta version of the software and performing some test runs. Finally, in January of 2018, they were ready for their first client. Since the launch of Campground Booking, they have processed over $1.5 million dollars in bookings. Last summer they processed $200,000 worth of bookings per month. You could say it’s the wheel deal. Heath and Alyssa achieved all this while working on other projects, from starting the RV Entrepreneur Summit, which evolved from the Facebook group, to Alyssa publishing a book, to welcoming their first child, a daughter named Ellie, into the world last May.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- CampgroundBooking.com: Learn more about Campground Booking's software and business at their website.
- A Beginners Guide to Living in an RV: Looking into the full-time RV lifestyle? Check out Alyssa's book, a #1 Best Seller on Amazon.
- Are you an RV Entreprenuer (or want to become one)? Join the RV Entrepreneur Facebook group or register for Heath and Alyssa's annual RV Entrepreneur Summit.
- Stripe.com: The payment processor that Campground Booking uses.
- Rehearsal App for Actors Earns $500,000: Not satisfied with the iPhone’s built-in Voice Recorder, a radio host and acting coach creates his own app to help actors rehearse. It goes on to earn more than $500,000.
- Construction Company Owner Creates Gig Platform for Contractors: When he can’t find someone to help him install a TV, this former construction company owner sets out to create a platform that connects homeowners and contractors.
- “Netflix of Restaurants” Side Hustle Earns $50,000/Year: A contest idea turns into a restaurant recommending algorithm, earning its creator an extra $50,000/year.
Quote of the Day
"What we were doing wasn't for the faint of heart and that if you want to build a great software solution, you will have to go through really challenging moments."
—Heath Padgett #SideHustleSchool
