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Abby Beach, founder of The RV Social Lounge, joins us to talk about how she turned her random idea for a girls night into a full-fledged, successful business.

Abby shares her experience buying an RV and transforming it into a flexible social space, including the bumps she hit along the way.

We talk about how she funded her new venture, why doing too much research before diving in can be a bad thing, and she shares her favorite scrappy marketing tactics.

Enjoy!

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Episode Transcript

 Do you want to do our hello with us?

Okay.

Hel—

[laughs]

I said, hi. I did not understand that assignment.

That’s all right.

Okay.

We couldn’t even remember it last time.

Hello and welcome to Seriously Creative. I’m Gwen.

And I’m Jess, and today we have a third voice in our intro, and that is Abby Beach, who is the founder of The RV Social Lounge, a fun event space on wheels. It’s perfect for girls nights, birthday parties, slumber parties, and pretty much anything else that you can think of.

She’s based in Cleveland, Ohio, and she has a super interesting story. But before we dive into The RV Social Lounge, because Abby is a friend of ours, and we know her, we thought we would do a little more personal intro where we give a few fun facts about you.

And you guys actually have something in common that I’m curious to see if the rest of our listeners do too.

For once, I’m getting warm in here. I don’t know what she’s going to throw out there.

You never know.

Okay, so the first one, I just learned this the other day, and it’s one of my new favorite stories about you. You tried out for your high school musical. Do you want to tell us what happened there?

Alright, so I went through a little bit of a rebellious phase in high school, and quit all of my sports, which was a huge deal.

And then you joined the musical? That’s your rebellious phase? Okay. Huge rebel.

But if you know me, you know, I’m like a sports fanatic, my family’s sports fanatics. So, my senior year, I’m like, you know what? I’m going to try out for Peter Pan. No musical background. I’ve never taken a music class, really, unless it was forced. So, I get up on stage, and I sing my part… and I got the backup light tech as the role.

So they were like, not only do we not want you on stage at all, we want you as backup light tech…

I’m like Dwight, Assistant to the Assistant Manager.

You didn’t even make light tech. You’re like, I am going to be Peter Pan.

You have to earn the role as light tech.

Apparently. I thought it was rigged. So many politics out there in the world of showbiz.

Oh my god.

So needless to say, you did not go into show business.

No. Didn’t work out for me.

Does this say a lot about who you are as a person that that was your rebellious phase?

I’m sure my parents could talk about more rebellious things that I did, but yeah.

Okay, so my second one is that Abby’s current adult email address, do you want to tell us what it is?

AbbyMac1122. She wants to talk about emails?! That’s hilarious. Do you know how many email addresses she’s had in her lifetime?

Do you know how many email addresses we have just for our business of two people?

I don’t even want to know.

I think AbbyMac1122 is an AIM screen name. So is Gwenmo784.

See? It’s my first name and the first two letters of my last name, it just happens to sound like an AIM screen name.

What were your away messages? What was your favorite one?

I literally don’t even remember. I think I’ve like blacked out that point in my life.

I think we should bring it back.

I do too, man.

Away messages on Facebook? I have the name ready.

I also learned yesterday that your Pinterest name is Abbz — A B B Z — with a few numbers on the end. So, I now call you Abbz1122 in real life, and so do your children, which makes me happy.

Yes, yes. And your husband.

And my husband. Okay, so that brings us to our third fun fact: Abby and I actually co-mom a 12-year old named Carter. So, I was married to my son Carter’s dad for…

You’re gonna tell this to me now? I don’t want the cameras on.

And we got divorced, and Abby and Brandon got married. I am now remarried as well, and we are a big, happy, blended family, and we are making it work in a very unusually domesticated way.

I don’t know that any of us would be defined as domesticated, but sure.

But what you guys have is what they portray on like TV shows or movies, where it’s perfect, and everyone gets along, and I don’t think that really usually happens in real life, from what I’ve heard from other people.

No, people’s face when we tell them, they’re like, wait, are you serious? And we’re like, I know you have a lot of follow up questions, and we can address those later.

So, that is our intro of Abby. And now we want to dive into talking about the RV social lounge and learn more about it.

So, tell us how you got started, just about the RV, what it is, and how you came up with the idea.

Okay, so I have to say first that I have no background in camping, or in RVs, or any of that. Either does my husband. So this is such a random idea. So The RV Social Lounge is a fully renovated RV. So, we knocked down lots of walls, and I put up a lot of bright colored pictures and paintings, and it’s very Instagram-worthy for sleepovers and birthday parties, girls nights, really whatever you want it for.

It’s a travel trailer, 31 feet. So, we need about 35 feet of clearance. We bring it to your house, we set it all up, you party in it, we pick it up the next day and do all the clean up.

And tell us how you came up with the idea in the first place.

So very random, just driving home from work, wanting to hang out with some girlfriends, but not really wanting people in the house. But I don’t want to go out. I don’t want to get dressed and go to a bar. So I was like, it would be really cool if there was just a place that was like in my driveway, or something outside that I can hang out, but like not really go out

And so then I came up with this idea of the RV and renovating it.

I initially thought of it for more like a mom’s night, like kind of like our crowd, but it’s really actually been a lot more interest for teens and preteen birthday parties.

It is so clever. If you think about wanting your preteen, if they want to have a party, your options are go to one of those jump parks, which they’re not even into anymore and are terrible and so expensive, or to have a sleepover in your house. You have all of these girls, and then they want privacy.

And especially if you have other kids or other things going on.

So I think that idea that they have their own space to hang out in and it’s in your driveway, so you can keep an eye on them is like so amazingly clever. And obviously there’s been huge interest in it.

So, yeah, I think the ages, the real niche group would be 10 to 15, that’s actually the most popular.

That totally makes sense because they want the independence, and it probably feels amazing for them to be like, Oh, I get my own space.

They love it to do all their TikToks.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

So what was the process of renovating it and do you have a lot of experience in renovation? I say that sarcastically.

I know you do. No.

[laughs]

So yeah, I mean, people will look at the RV and be like, I can only imagine what your house looks like. And I’m like, it’s not that exciting. This is way better.

So even like for Halloween, my kids were like, why don’t you do this to our house for Halloween? This looks so cool. And I’m like. I don’t want to. I only like it for myself in the RV. So no, no renovation experience. My husband, he’s pretty handy for the most part. So it was definitely a labor of love.

Some arguments here and there, you know, some. Unexpected issues that would come up, but nothing crazy or serious. And we just kind of learned as we went again, like I said, we know nothing about RVs. So a lot of Googling, a lot of YouTube videos. I mean, anybody can lay a peel and stick floor. You know, it’s really not that hard. You just have to be motivated.

So we’ll post a couple of pictures of the inside of the RV. I mean, the outside actually renovated and it looks amazing, but we’ll post a picture because I think like just seeing, cause you actually like knocked walls down. And so actually seeing how even different it is.

Like when you first got it, I was like, they do not know what they are getting themselves into and it really has like, it’s completely different.

So I need to see it in person at some point. Yeah. So that’s why I do try to take it to events for, so people can walk in it because you just hear RV and you’re like, Oh, okay, that’s cool.

But it’s like, it’s, it’s. It’s not though. I mean, it looks like just a big living space. I think you get a really good sense from the photos of like what it looks like, but I still want to see it in person, you know, cause I’ve seen a million photos of it.

So you also, in addition to renovations and RVing and camping, did not have a lot of experience in marketing.

And I love this part of just learning more about business owners in general, because. What we have to do as entrepreneurs is never the thing that our business is actually about. It’s like you all of a sudden have to be like an accountant and a marketer and a salesperson and all of these other things.

But one of the things that I’ve seen come out in you that’s so interesting is you’re so good at marketing and you’re like a super scrappy marketer. You have these Ideas that I would never even think of. So what have you found to be most successful in terms of marketing and getting new clients?

Interesting. Cause I was listening to your guys’s podcast yesterday and I can’t wait, honestly, to get to a point where it’s just referrals like heard from a friend. Yeah. Because you do get in those lulls where you’re like, I don’t know. Like, and then you have to look back at your Instagram and you’re like, did I already post too much of that picture?

Maybe I need to switch up the color. That’s the worst is when you like. Like post like two pinks and then you’re like, it’s too late. I already came up with all the content. So sometimes we’ll post something and it’ll be two in a row. And so I’ll take it down and I’ll put another photo up and I’ll put it in the caption.

This is called a breaker photo. Yeah. The two things you want to post are the same color. Yes.

It’s like, it’s those little things that Honestly, I didn’t think would ever bother me in life. And now that I have this business and honestly, like watching you guys and you guys helping me with the brand and the logos and everything are now things that I’m like really paying attention to.

So I have a lot of groups that I’m part of. So mom groups on Facebook and there. Really strict about how you can post advertisements a lot of pages are yeah I found it challenging because it’d be like all right Mondays and Tuesdays are the days that you can post any Personal, you know any businesses any advertisements, whatever and then you know That would be North Olmsted and then in North Ridgeville You can post it on Wednesdays and in Strongsville you can post on Fridays and I’m like, this is I can’t manage all this Yeah, so I saw somebody selling a service on Facebook marketplace and I never thought to do that

So at first you’re talking about being in like Facebook groups that are just like the free groups, and then you’re, now you’re talking about actually going into Facebook Marketplace.

Yeah, Marketplace. So I’m on marketplace a lot because I’m always like looking for the next RV or just, I don’t know if I want to buy something. And then, so then I happened to see somebody selling their service. I actually think it was like a car detailer. And I’m like, well, that’s interesting. Cause there are no rules. There’s no rules on Facebook marketplace. Like people sell something for 1 and you’re like. A little key chain for like 1. So I’m like, all right, well, let me try it. So I posted it to Facebook marketplace and I got 15 leads, which were basically which is basically just, I put them on my, you know, email distribution list.

And then I got two bookings. That’s great. For zero dollars. For zero dollars. And a ton of, and like a lot of comments and a lot of like shares and likes, which is also what you’re looking for. Because a lot of times you put all this energy into like posting a carousel and you’re like, did anyone see it?

Did you guys see it? See that? Did you like it? And the only likes I get are like my friends and I love that for me and I love my friends but I’m like, sure, it’s so exciting when like strangers like it and share it and comment. So when you’re doing it on Facebook marketplace, then you can share it to those Facebook groups, right?

Because it’s a posting for something for quote unquote sale. Oh, that’s such a

smart way to like work around the system. There’s a workaround. So I was able to then share it. To those pages because Facebook Marketplace is open to anybody to any group and so then I wasn’t blocked That’s so smart.

So smart.

Thank you. I think you’re like you were like meant to be an entrepreneur. I

know right? Yeah, I I do think so Like I just never found that business idea that I really wanted to do And I never thought, I didn’t think it would be this, you know, there was, I, I, my background’s in healthcare, so I’m like, well, it must be like some sort of healthcare business, which sounds like an actual nightmare.

No.

So. But you’re like so scrappy about everything that you’ve done, like. You bought an RV with zero experience. Like I would have been like, I can’t do this. I don’t know how to tow anything. Yeah. That would have been just like, well, right

there. I’m out. Still don’t. So on

that you’ve actually said that you’re glad that you didn’t do too much of the legwork before you bought the RV.

Cause it may. Have scared you off. So talk a little bit about that because I do think it is interesting how many like unique hurdles come with owning an

RV Yes, and just owning a business as you guys know, so I had the idea I think in like november I was actually just looking back and my first post on the rv social lounge instagram page was like november 17th And of last year, it’s almost my anniversary and I

can’t believe it’s not even been a

year.

I know that’s insane. Yeah. And so by then I didn’t have the RV yet. I just was like, well, I’m going to secure the domain first and then I’m going to do my LLC and make sure that like no other company out there exists. Or at least in Ohio. And then I just went and then I was like, well, I’ll start looking for RVs.

So we looked at a couple and then I found one that was like, I started to understand the layout that I wanted. Cause I wanted this like open concept which RVs aren’t built like that because of. People that camp in them still want privacy like the parents still want their own bedroom and the kids still want their own little space But I didn’t want that because we’re sleepover.

Everyone wants to see each other, right? So I knew what layout I wanted So I found it bought it and then it was getting into the real stuff, right? What scared me the most was working with the lawyer

I feel like let me tell you all the things that might happen that could

go wrong so that and then the insurance was another obstacle because This is a brand new concept.

I couldn’t find anyone to insure me in the beginning. And I already had the RV, so I was like, cool, cool.

I really need to solve this

problem. Yeah. So I had to go into what’s called a high, a high risk market. So my insurance is a lot higher than most businesses because it’s a newer concept. But hopefully after a year I can go back into like a.

It’s like regular risk, if that’s a thing or low risk, you know, so back into like a bigger pool. So it’s like health insurance, right? But anyway, so those are like things that I didn’t really look into before I bought the RV, which I’m really glad I didn’t because I, I wouldn’t have bought the RV if I would have talked to a lawyer.

And one time and tried to call insurance. I would’ve called Allstate one time and I’d be like, oh, we don’t have insurance for that. And I’d like, well, you’re like, I’m out . Yeah. It was a good idea while it lasted, but I’m like, I have this rv, I have to find something. So it ki it pushes you to, to figure it out.

’cause there’s always a way to figure it out. Right. I love that like, lesson. So I have

a, a question since this was just a random idea that you had Mm-Hmm. while driving in the car. So obviously there’s. It’s a significant investment needed to like buy your RV, get insurance, all that stuff. Like did you have a budget that you were able to keep or did you have like someone who was helping with investments or get a business loan?

All me. All just personal loans. I’m sure there’s probably smarter ways to do it out there to apply for certain types of business funding. They don’t make it easy for small businesses to obtain funding. I can tell you that much. Unless you already have money. Unless you already have money. If you don’t have money, they don’t want to give you money.

No. And if they do, it’s a 20 percent interest rate. So that’s awesome. So I had this Excel spreadsheet that was updating like at nausea. I’m like, I’d be like, okay, if I have six bookings this month, if I have eight bookings, if I have 12 bookings. Before you even

bought the RV or like did anything. Yeah, I

still, you know, I still had some idea of like what the cost would be, but it’s that it was definitely more than I anticipated.

We had some surprises with some water damage. Things that I didn’t think of was like, I had to, I have to keep it heated in the winter time, like the water tank. So that. I don’t have to winterize it. Oh, yeah so these all these little things and then Had to buy a truck and then the truck broke down and then it’s like I can’t wait to get out of the startup phase which I can’t complain.

It hasn’t been that bad and and my husband and I have always said it’s not going to break The bank if this doesn’t work and we’re very fortunate for that. Yeah Not everybody has that luxury in life, but I’m really excited to pay off that loan because it does kind of keep me up at night. Yeah, I can understand that.

Would you mind doing us a super quick and helpful favor? Can you pull out your phone, open the Apple Podcasts app, search for Seriously Creative, and leave us a review for this show? It helps us to reach more people and it honestly just makes us feel super loved. Thank you. You’re the best.

What are the hardest lessons that you’ve had to learn in this process? To

not freak out over every little thing would be a big one. And I can be like that in my personal life too. Just the most minor thing, like, I’ll freak out about. And that happens with the RV, so, like, my husband lost the key one time.

You know, end. That’s the end. That’s it. Shut it down. There’s no, there’s no turning back, right? And other things, like, we. Got a flat tire on dead man’s curve on the way to new day, Cleveland. And I’m, you know, like melting down actually

is, does seem like a

really big deal, terrifying, but it’s just horrible.

It was horrible. It was horrifying, but we made it and we got there and, but we had to spend like an arm and a leg to get the tire fixed while we were at new day, Cleveland. It’s just, it’s just going, trying to go along with the flow. I’ve never been an entrepreneur. I’ve never started a business. And so I just have to get over that not everything is going to work out how I envisioned it.

So that’s probably been the biggest hurdle. The other one is, of course, what’s next? I have so many ideas in my head and I know what people kind of want and people are looking for. Like I could buy another girls one and open up locations on the east side and have a storage unit out there and hire someone to kind of run that out there. I could, you know, buy another one and make it a boy’s one. I was talking to Jess last night about actually renting a space and turning it into like a sleepover space. So if people don’t feel comfortable with the RV, so people can sleep in a space like this and then it has like a separate bedroom for like parents.

Also like was just talking to my husband about maybe making it like. Tent camping, so like a glamping thing with tents in their backyard. So yeah, so lots. I love that. So that’s kind of where I’m also trying to find this passive supplemental income that can help pay off and build the RV social lounge.

Does that make sense? Mm-Hmm. . Yeah, of course. Yeah.

I know early on pricing was a really hard thing to figure out. Mm-Hmm. and probably. Especially with something that is a brand new concept. So it’s very hard to look around and be like, what are other people charging for this? What’s like the market? So talk about that a little bit and how you came up with your pricing.

Yeah, I, I think you came up with my price. But

I think I did drop the price. Did you permanently drop it? Huh. Oh,

interesting. Okay. Yeah. About, I was just like, so scared of that price point. Now I’m kind of like, I wonder if I would have kept it if people would have. Still booked it. Can you say

what the prices are?

So it was 6. 95 a night for a weekend evening overnight rental. Okay. And people would pay like 50 percent at the time of booking and then 50 percent two weeks prior. And I had just started out and so people weren’t really biting too much and some people were like, oh, that’s a bit more than I wanted to spend.

But I started to look into other price points. Like, all right, you had your birthday part. I have a birthday party, Dave and busters with 20 of your classmates. You are definitely spending 500 and that’s for two hours and some. Okay, pizza and like a 20 card game at Dave and Buster’s that gets you like five minutes of play is

the difference with that.

Do you not realize how much you’re going to end up spending like for that party until

the end? You’re like, Oh, shoot.

But Gwen, this is something you haven’t discovered yet that you will because you have young children. An average child’s birthday party at any of these places is 400 bucks. I know.

I already know this and it.

Like it’s my my four year old went to a birthday party last year that I was like, we’re not I’m not doing that I’m sorry, like maybe when you’re older and you can appreciate it, but at five no, yeah I’m a mean mom, but no, sorry at five. You’re not gonna get a 500 birthday party. You’re

not gonna remember it Yeah, yeah, they all do and that’s where I go back to like it’s like they invite their entire class You don’t know Sally that sits next to you, you know Why does she have to come?

But but we’ve done it, I think, too. I can… I can relate to it because I’ve also done it. Yeah. It’s

like, well, everybody else is doing it.

Yeah. Can we go to Ninja Warrior? And it’s like, really? I mean, come on to jump around and it’s 300. So so I started to look at that and while yes, The price seems higher.

You get it for 16 hours with your closest friends, right? So it’s like really quality time. So I think that’s why with that age group. Yeah. Am I gonna get 8, 7, 6 year olds? No, they’re still inviting their whole class to stuff and that’s fine But you get older 11 and 12 and especially with girls the clicks start to form, right?

And it’s like they’re like 8 best friends, 7 best friends. They all just want to have time together And so they literally get an entire together alone without parents bothering them. So, so it was 6. 95 and then I dropped it. It’s 5. 95. I don’t know why, but anything over 600, like, scared me. That’s fair.

Yeah.

I mean, it’s only 5, but… It, it, like, feels closer to 1, 000. Yes.

It does. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. There’s psychology around it, and, you know, there might be at some point in the future that you’ll feel better about that higher price point, which, there is a reason that that higher price point was chosen. Yes. But, you haven’t, like, stepped into that role yet, that you feel, like, comfortable with it.

Yeah. And I, I also… So two is flirting with the idea of do I raise the prices around Christmas time, which is valuable time for me. I didn’t, it was cause it’s already starting to book up. So I didn’t do it, but that’s something I might consider next year. You know, it’s is there higher demand? Yeah.

People like the themes. Okay. So I have the themed RV, so October was Halloween and then December will be Christmas. One of my

favorite, I guess, like hacks that you’ve done is you buy a ton of stuff on Timu, which everything on Timu is like a dollar. I didn’t ever go into the Timu world before you. So I loved the, when we were looking at your Halloween decorations.

And you were like, these are the really expensive ones. They’re from HomeGoods. It’s like, are we calling, are we calling HomeGoods expenses

now? This is the good stuff.

That’s like a really smart way though to, if you’re going to do these theme things, where it’s only going to be a month. Yeah. That you’re like, okay, I’m not going to.

I mean, maybe later on you would because it’s like, okay, this is what I bring out every year around this time, but you’re probably also going to want to change it with the trends. Exactly. So you’re not going to want to like invest

tons of money on it. Right. And plus it’s still kids. Yeah. That too. So things do break.

Yeah. And I also have found that I bought a lot more in the beginning just to stage it. So like I’ll get it all set up and ready. And then the kids. Start coming in and they have their blankets and they have their pillows, and they have their chargers, and then the mom’s coming in with like the cake and this, and then all my decorations get pushed.

Mm-Hmm. , you know, over. Yeah. Which is fine, but I’m like, well then why am I setting all this up? You know, they just, they really just want the space. Yeah.

Okay. So one of the things that we always talk about that. People don’t talk about in public enough is profitability and what it takes to get started in a business So we talk we’ve talked a lot about at the beginning of ours like we had to just jump right in We didn’t have full time jobs anymore So it was like we need a salary this month and every month after and that has its own challenges I know you’re still working full time so talk about like how this has worked as a side hustle and What your priorities are with the income that comes in?

That’s a tough one. So I am lucky to have a full time job and this is a side hustle for now, but luckily, you know, my husband’s a teacher, so he can help a lot in the summertime as much as it’s my business. It’s his business too. I mean, I can’t. A lot of times I can’t do it by myself, backing it up into a driveway, setting it up.

There’s a lot of like heavy leg work that can go into the actual like setup of it. It’s taken a lot of time off of my weekends. I can tell you that much. And so I really struggle with, gosh, do I pay myself? Do I pay back my loan? Do I keep it as a net income of some sort to roll it over for the next month?

Do I put it into savings? Like there’s, I actually don’t even have an answer for that yet. Cause right now I’m just. Kind of surviving month to month. I’m making enough money to do actually all those things. Pay off a little extra on the debt. Pay myself a little bit. Pay your, my kids. So I just paid them 20 bucks the other day for passing out flyers.

Which is, I, there’s a tax

benefit to that. Yep, tax rate up to 12, 000 you can pay your kids.

It might be a little over 12, 000 a year, but. Oh really? I think, yeah. Okay. I think it’s just over, but you have to be careful not to pay them more. Otherwise, yeah, I have

to fill out. I think, I think you’re good with 20 bucks.

And then keeping some sort of money to continue into the next month. Should it be a slow month? Right now? Yeah, I don’t. I don’t have an answer. I hope maybe this time next year I have some sort of better stability, but I think that’s probably what a new small business always looks like. So my husband’s in laws were like, well, what’s your, what do you think your ROI is?

And I’m like,

what? I don’t know. Like, I, I mean, so I hope one day I can answer that question, but right now I’m just flying by

you’re getting a year in and you have done all of these renovations and there’s things that you’ve had to fix and stuff, it’s like probably not the time that you’re stopping to be like, how can I get 10 more ROI on this,

all year, whatever, yeah.

And it’s scary too to think, cause I, I want to keep growing because you shouldn’t wait to be profitable. Pay off everything to then grow, but it’s also scary to think about incurring more debt because right now Like I said, it’s not easy for small businesses. This is just all in my personal name I mean, I yeah, I mean, they won’t give me really much credit yet So I have a little bit of credit, but I still have to be the cosigner on everything same.

Yeah Yeah So they’re like start a business support local small businesses and the banks all promote like funding It’s really not that great, right? It’s still on you personally. Oh, for sure. Yeah, so it’s a little terrifying

I appreciate you talking about that though Because I do think it’s something that people don’t talk about and there is in the background of most businesses Especially if they are growing or expanding there is some debt and it can feel really like oh I’m the only one with this and everybody else is like, you know making all this Profit or whatever.

So I appreciate you talking.

Thank you, too. I think our audience will also appreciate

I think we’re all small businesses have to be in this Place even if you have a great like personal income. You still have the fear of this not working out and Now I had to take all my personal savings and dump it in so I don’t file for bankruptcy or whatever It’s just yeah.

Yeah, it’s it can keep you up at night

One of the things that we have in common with our businesses that I do think is helpful is like a higher price point So if either of us make a sale we get a new client that comes in or you get a booking it’s not like Like if you’re selling a product and it’s like, I just made 12.

Oh my God. I need like hundreds of people to buy my thing in order to make any. Actual sustainable amount. You have to get so many customers and it is nice to like, you can really focus on the needs of these individual people. And one booking is a

big deal. It is. It’s so, every time I hear I have a separate little jingle for when I get an RV email I mean, obviously sometimes it’s spam, but when I see like a new event’s been scheduled, there’s still that dopamine hit that we talked about.

A new lead coming in through Dubsado. Yeah. Love those emails. And then sometimes Dubsado will just send some like. Maintenance email and I’ll get the little like, and then I’m like, gosh, darn it.

Don’t give me that dopamine, but I’ll take it. I

guess, how has it been with parenting and the RV? What did the kids think about it?

And how have you like involved them?

I like it. I think In the beginning, they really didn’t understand what it was. They’re like, cool, you got an RV. Can we come hang out? And I was like, well, it’s not really like that. I’m going to rent it out for businesses. And they’re like, oh, can we sleep in it? I’m like, no, it’s not for boys.

But I mean, I’ve been involved them. They’ve come and they’ve helped paint. And like, I think one day Carter took out all like a ton of garbage out of there and helped us like throw in the truck. And it’s honestly been a huge group effort with. All of my friends and all of my family, it’s really truly takes a village.

And I was not, I’m not able to do this on my own, but now I think, but the kids, what I want the kids to take away from this is like. You can do it, you know, like you can, you can work hard and, and you can have nice things if you work hard though, you know, and you can, if you have an idea, go for it. Don’t be afraid and, and as much as I hate having to sacrifice some of my time with them and especially like not this weekend, I can’t go to a wrestling tournament because I have our rebookings all weekend and that, and that.

Kills me inside because I just love watching them so much, but it’s also, this is part of life and you know, and I, we want that extra money or maybe one day I can pass this down to you guys or, you know, and actually my oldest and I were just talking yesterday that when he turned 16. Teach you how to drive the RV and back it in and now you’re an employee and I can pay my kids again that tax benefit.

And now you’re actually working for me and you’re learning a skill. You’re learning like a CDL driver. You’re learning a little bit maybe of marketing and customer service.

That’s like a fun job. And it’s fun. That

sounds like a fun job for a six year old. You’ll make the easiest money in one hour. Yes. To back it up into a driveway.

I just hope that they look back one day and say like, wow, my mom worked really hard. If

there are people listening who are they have an idea and they haven’t made it a reality yet and they’re listening to you, what advice would you give?

Stop thinking about it and just do it. Overthinking is gonna kill you and it’ll stop you from probably following your dreams. So just go and do it Yeah,

I love that. That’s at the beginning of our business, too It was like we tried to put as many fail safes in place as we could of what we would do in different situations But then at some point it’s like, all right, we just got to do it and several different times I know things have Sort of fallen apart or not gone exactly as we planned, but you do figure it out And you just get scrappy or you get creative and sometimes it like ends up being for the best like a thing that you Thought you wanted something else ends up being better

So I think it once you take that investment to you’re like now I have to do it.

Mm hmm. It’s like a good motivator Yeah, like just just invest like obviously don’t up and like You know, sell your house or whatever. Well,

like we did just, I mean, I just like quit my new job.

Yeah.

That was a good move though. Obviously.

Yeah. We didn’t talk about it. Like I had just

started a new job.

Really? I,

maybe two or three. I literally have been there for two or three weeks and Jess was like, I’ve got a client for us.

This is it. We have a retainer client that wanted to pay us enough per month to support both of us. And she’s like, are you kidding me? First of all, it’s like embarrassing to go back into somebody we just

started like three weeks ago.

I was like,

are you serious? I worked there for a total of I think six

weeks. Luckily for them though, we did do some work for them afterward that is kind of like, was a nice transition because you were the only design and marketing resource and so we were like, well we’ll still help you out with like the things that you need just on a freelance basis.

But, yeah.

See, you guys just did it. Yeah, we did. I mean. Sometimes you just have to take that risk. I mean, at the end of the day, you can just go out and find another job, right? Exactly. If it didn’t work out, it’s like, Hey, so guys, it didn’t work out. Right. But that’s what we’ve talked

about. I mean, like.

That’s like the worst case scenario to have to go and find a new job, but at the same time, like, I mean, if I had to, I’ll go, like, flip burgers.

Right. Like, if that’s what I need

to do for my family, but I don’t ever see that happening. Right.

Hopefully

not. God, if you’re off flipping burgers, I’m off doing something different.

That’s a joke. I do not want that. That’s

a joke because I’ve never flipped burgers ever, so it’s not even like a, that’s my

backup plan. You’ve never flipped a burger? On the grill. You’ve never flipped a burger? No, for money. Oh, got it. You’ve never actually flipped a burger? What are you doing this weekend?

Come on over, we’re going to flip some burgers, okay? It’s really easy.

There you go. Abby’s, Abby’s class in grilling. Huh. There you go. If people want to find out more about the RV and if they’re in the Cleveland area and they want to book it, where should they go?

Thervsociallounge.com. So in there you can see some party ideas that we’ll give you. You’ll see different packages, which is really just the overnight rental. And then you can do hourly and then we can do weekday or a weekend as well as a different theme. So you can see the Halloween pictures, you can see kind of the everyday RV, and then And soon will be the holiday RV. And then of course on Instagram and Facebook as well, the RV Social Lounge.

Thank you so much for being here with us. Thank you for having me. Thank you for telling us so much and letting us make fun of you about your musical theater background.

I still can’t believe I didn’t get it. I was at a murder mystery over the weekend and I did win best actor, so I should probably go back to that music

teacher.

Oh, you probably should. Yeah. Yeah. Tell him that he really missed out. He did. My goodness. All right. Well, thank you for being here and we will see everyone next time.

Bye. Yay.

We did it on one take. We did it.