There have been wonderful reports and reflections on the weekend of February 24-26, The RV Entrepreneur Summit. All of these summations have been beautifully written and informative, and delightfully funny! The photos have been nothing less than amazing, especially the night photography sessions with Joe Hendricks!
Rather than just review my take on the sessions, we’re just gonna share our reflections overall.
Our expectations were different than many of the attendees — we came to the Summit more to hear WHY this lifestyle might appeal to people who are of working age. Being at the upper end of the age group (55+), we almost didn’t attend because the coordinators and speakers were all remarkably younger. But we also don’t fit into the ‘retired and traveling’ population, because we still work in our business, so we decided to see if we fit better here.
We found many other attendees to be closer in age to us than we expected, although certainly the majority of attendees were under 40. There were veteran traveling entrepreneurs; some who had been on the road for only a few months; and even those who were not yet traveling but looking to learn from others.
The majority of the attendees seem to be looking for ways to support the lifestyle they wanted to live, rather than being entrepreneurs who already were working and just decided to add travel to their life.
And we think there is a difference.
Entrepreneurs have a mindset that is different than others – and not as many people have the mindset as you think.
Entrepreneurs always have a ‘looking for a solution’ mindset. In other words, an entrepreneur looks for a problem that needs to be solved, then sets about to find the solution that will help others, as well as themselves. They want to make money, but not to the exclusion of serving the needs of others.
Many of the attendees do have that mindset. And others are on the road to discovering that for themselves.
It will be intriguing to watch many of these folks moving and shaking their own world in the next year, and what that will look like in 2018.
Three other short favorites of the Summit:
Watching the rising stars of the RV future. All these up-and-coming-phenoms, including Heath and Alyssa Padgett, are changing the way the RV industry will be addressing future design and function. Just check this Winnebago post.
Touring many versions of ‘tiny homes.’ Strangers (now friends) eagerly opened their doors to let us peek into their personal spaces and work stations, giving us all a better idea of how little can be mighty big.
The still-amazing softness of a tiny baby’s skin. Caspian (#babynomad) you swelled my heart, and helped me once again have faith that the next generation will be the best to come.
Hasta la vista and bon voyage, travelers! We’ll see y’all down the road!