I have been co-host for more than four months now on The RV Entrepreneur podcast. I’ve had the chance to interview quite a few guests and have determined one thing. RV Entrepreneurs come from all walks of life. They are not all necessarily still RVing full-time. That’s okay, neither am I. Not right now at least. However, the RV life has played a big role in making them all who they are. And, being an entrepreneur has everything to do with what they all do. So really, who is The RV Entrepreneur? Well, I am. And so are many other entrepreneurial types working from anywhere. Let me explain.

For Starters, The RV Entrepreneur is the podcast that fuels nomadic ventures of all sorts. In addition, the RVE Community, events, and resources support anyone working from the road. And, it is all made possible by RV LIFE. Check out my detailed explanation of our RV LIFE Entrepreneur relaunch, to fully answer the question: Who is The RV Entrepreneur? In short, I’ve come to learn The RV Entrepreneur is much more than a podcast, or its audience. It is a thriving community and resource for content creators, authors, business owners, and other digital nomads building their own empire on the road. But Jim, you ask, what does that really mean?

Who Is The RV Entrepreneur?

I’m still looking for the answer to this question. And, it’s always different. I know, because I’ve been posing two questions to all my podcast guests. Have you heard? To kick off all my interviews, I ask everyone these same two questions. Therefore, it’s high time I answer them myself. Technically, our show is the RV LIFE Entrepreneur podcast. So, tell me Jim…

How were you introduced to the RV life, and what does that look like now?

Ha! One of my earliest, fondest RV Memories is traveling with my family in a rented Class C. (No, not the old Winnie pictured above.) Of course, I had no idea that’s what it was called as a tweenager. We took a few trips, usually to visit friends of my parents. I remember fishing with my dad, and mom making sandwiches while rolling down on the road. I distinctly recall one of those last trips. It was only me and my parents. I just got Give ‘Em Enough Rope by the Clash and was playing it nonstop in my Walkman. If you care to date me.

I was riding up top, in the bed above the cab. We were somewhere in Nevada, and my dad decided to take some shortcut. We ended up going down a very long, very dusty, dirt road. I’ll never forget the amount of dust that blew into the rig. For hours. Or, how my mom would keep nagging asking my dad how much longer we’d be driving down, “this godforsaken road.”

And Now…

I have flashed back to that scene many a time over the years. For instance, any time Rene and I found ourselves going down some similar road which god forsake. Right now, my RV Life is quite different. After traveling full-time in a fifth wheel for 16+ years. We have downsized in a big way.

Our Recreational Vehicle is now the new Project M truck topper which I’ve custom built to meet our needs. It is also sitting in the driveway since we’re not about to live in a truck through the Alaska winter. Though we did drive it up the long dusty dirt road that is the Alcan. However, we had no problems with dust whatsoever. And that is because I installed a Bedrug to keep out the dirt and grime. But I digress…I’m already looking forward to heading back down that dusty road and enjoying more spontaneous boondocking wherever we want.

And, what does being an entrepreneur mean to you?

Freedom. Being an entrepreneur is all about freedom to me. But having freedom comes at a price. And as RV entrepreneurs, we pay full price. For most of us, we’re going it on our own. I’m lucky enough to have a pretty awesome business partner. But even as a couple, when you’re working for yourself, you’re more or less on your own. Your success is up to you. Without a regular j-o-b, you do it all.

This is a common answer among the RV Entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed. We’re responsible for product development, sales, and marketing. We fulfill orders, do the social media, and send out the newsletters. And if you’re still reading this or commenting, it’s clear we’re also taking care of the content creation and customer support. And that, is how we balance the Live Work Dream.

So what…

So, the best thing about being an entrepreneur is we get to do things our way. And, the worst thing about being an entrepreneur is we have to do things our way. In addition, the best thing is we get to make our own hours. And the worst thing is, we make our own hours. Finally, the best thing is we get to be our own boss. And the worst thing is, we are our own boss.

So, I guess the big thing about freedom is…it comes with accountability. Like I’ve always said. Life is about give and take. And to be The RV Entrepreneur – at least a successful one – you gotta give a lot, to get what you wanna take.

For our 2012 MSNBC interview, I called us “location independent entrepreneurs” and to this date I still believe I coined the term. Not that it matters now. Today we have digital nomads, content creators, brand ambassadors, and influencers. But the label that is starting to resonate with me much more, is now The RV Entrepreneur.

Anyone know what year Chieftan this might be?

And yeah, that young Winnebego Warrior in front is me. \m/