Meet Tom Schmidt, a retiree who is as busy as ever, despite his retired status. You see, Tom and his wife Barbara are running an RV rental business, and with two RVs to care for, they certainly stay busy. “We had bookings within days of listing our RVs,” Tom says. “Better yet, we made over $5,000 in just one season of renting through Outdoorsy.”
The Value of a Good Platform
Tom realized from the get-go that having a good platform behind you is always helpful when running such a business, and he knew what he was doing when he chose to utilize the Outdoorsy platform. “I wanted to have as much exposure as possible. I also feel safe with Outdoorsy, and having them do driver checks is very reassuring,” Schmidt tells us.
Getting the Word Out
Of course, while Outdoorsy is helpful in getting the word out about rental rigs listed on our site, owners who work on marketing their own RVs and making them available to customers will always be the most successful. Tom makes one of his RVs available year-round by sending it to a fellow Outdoorsy businessman and friend during the cold winter months. “Through Outdoorsy, I met J.D. Hill in Phoenix. He manages my Vegas there during the winter,” Mr. Schmidt explained.
Additionally, Tom worked with a local ski resort to market his rental units. “We live in a ski resort town with a huge winter tourist population. I struck a barter deal with the owner of the local resort channel for a 1-minute commercial that will run for 7 months, 12 times a day. It plays in all of the resorts as well as all of the short-term rentals here in town. Instead of payment, she gets to use my RV during the offseason.” This sounds like a win-win to us, and certainly was good thinking on Tom’s part.
Clearly, Tom is a savvy business owner, and we expect to see his business continue to grow in the coming months and years!
All About Tom
Favorite morning beverage: “English tea”
Favorite campsite meal: “Charcoal grilled steak”
Music you like to play on the radio: “‘60s”
Favorite season: “Fall”
If you could travel anywhere in an RV, where would you go? “New England”
