Nomadic Couple Starts Vintage Camper Rental Biz

Notes from Chris

Episode 1751

The spark for Brittain Kovač and Josh Schukman’s side hustle was a Pepto Bismol pink camper van in the backyard of a tiny home outside Nashville. Brittain had taken her mom to a taping of the Dave Ramsey show and was sleeping in the van as part of the Airbnb she’d booked. After getting to know the host who ran the accommodation as a side hustle, was inspired to do the same.

Brittain had always dreamed of owning her own hostel, and the Airbnb business model showed her she was sitting on a golden opportunity to start one. She had a 900-square-foot loft apartment in Kansas City that could sleep up to five people. She bought some more beds and linens and posted her new listing online. The first booking came within a week, and running the place was manageable around her job as a Marketing Event Manager for Harley Davidson.

For the next four years, Brittain ran the hostel together with Josh, who also became her husband. They welcomed over 900 guests and earned more than $40,000. They then set the hostel up to be self-sufficient and went to live out on the road in a 1988 Airstream camper. It was a great experience, but it presented a problem. They missed the community of hostel living, but also weren’t ready to give up their new nomadic lifestyle. That’s when a fortuitous trip to Germany gave them a new idea.

Attending a conference in Bonn, the pair stayed at a hostel in a warehouse filled with trains and camper vans and cars that you could rent out to stay in. It reminded Britt of the Pepto Bismol camper in Nashville years earlier … and it gave her an idea. What if they could combine their love of campers and the open road with their dream of owning and letting out accommodation? She even had a name: they’d call it Out Of Normal Properties.

Brittain and Josh started by renting out a single Airstream trailer on a plot of Brittain’s parents’ land to see if the model would work. They listed it on Airbnb. Once again, in the space of a week they had their first booking. Then another. And another. Until they’d earned $1,400 from these rentals.

They sold the Kansas City apartment-turned-hostel and looked for new opportunities in Montana, where they became managing partners of Flathead Lake Resort, based on the experience they’d been building up since 2014. They also purchased two more Airstream camper vans—an investment of around $37,000 all in—to use on the property.

Brittain and Josh measure the success of their side hustles and businesses based on the ROI. They aim to make a consistent 30% every year. For example, that first Airstream rental brought in $11,000 in one summer. They also recently bought a 2005 Honda Pilot and started renting it out. It brought in more than $5,000 over the past few months.

Looking to the future, the pair have just closed on a half-acre of land with access to the Flathead Lake Resort for tents and camper vans. Their plan is to own a full-on, full-service camper hostel!

 

---

 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Brittain and Josh and their out of normal properties at their website, OutofNorm.al.

SEE ALSO:

• RV Renter Revs Up Recurring Revenue: This mom turns her recreational vehicle into a money-making machine.
• Accountant Shifts Gears To Renting Out Cars: When an Atlanta accountant discovers the sharing economy, he wheels and deals his way to owning an entire fleet of cars.
• Remote Airbnb Host Automates Rental Process: An Australian living in the Caribbean uses software to manage Airbnb property rentals from 10,000 miles away.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,