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Creating Niche Industry Online Education and Community with Sandy Ellingson
Manage episode 422703140 series 2284198
In this LMScast episode, Sandy Ellingson talks about her path from early childhood development to becoming a significant person in the RV business in an interesting conversation with Chris Badgett.
Sandy Ellingson is a vibrant professional with a broad background in technology, finance, early childhood development, and the recreational vehicle sector. Sandy describes how she moved from technology and banking to facilitating better collaboration between RV manufacturers and parks, particularly during COVID-19.
She highlights the need of providing correct information and fostering a sense of community, mentioning how she uses LifterLMS to create online training courses that are both scalable and effective. Sandy demonstrates how LifterLMS’s group and permissive user privacy features foster innovation and teamwork within the sector.
She also commends the platform’s help staff and the insightful conversations she had with other users during live calls. Sandy’s narrative demonstrates how she strategically used community development and technology to address industry issues and promote the expansion of the RV business.
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Episode Transcript
Chris Badgett: You’ve come to the right place. If you’re looking to create, launch, and scale a high value online training program, I’m your guide, Chris Badgett. I’m the co founder of LifterLMS, the most powerful learning management system for WordPress. Stay to the end. I’ve got something special for you. Enjoy the show.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of LMScast. I’m joined by a special guest. Her name is Sandy Ellingson. She’s from the outdoor hospitality hub. Dot com that’s outdoor hospitality hub. com. Also check out the hub for RVers. com with dashes between each word. Welcome to the show, Sandy.
Sandy Ellingson: Hey, thanks for having me, Chris.
I’m excited to be here.
Chris Badgett: I love meeting with people that are using LifterLMS, getting into technology, marketing, building community, and all these things. It’s always fun. And I enjoy these conversations and really those people that are making that impact and putting out a positive message and helping people in their careers and their industry, just being a force for good in the world it’s, a lot of fun and an honor to chat with you.
Let’s start a little bit with your story. How did you get from early childhood development into all this techie community building, RV industry, building online training and all this what was the story there?
Sandy Ellingson: I graduated high school at 16 and I graduated college at 18 and in Georgia, you couldn’t teach until you were 21.
Chris Badgett: Okay.
Sandy Ellingson: I couldn’t be a teacher. So I went in, I was already working in banking, so I stayed there for 10 years. Then my kids started coming along and I decided I wanted to stay home. And it was an accident that my brother called me one day and wanted some help. And he was running about a 2 million business on paper.
I said, I think I can figure this out. So I taught myself networking. I built the computers. I taught myself accounting, I brought in the accounting software. And basically it was just, that was the start of my career in technology. And so from there I ended up going and working for an accounting firm as a consultant, then starting my own firm.
Then a few years ago I retired and we were going to hit the road as RVers and just enjoy life. And we, I started helping campgrounds along the way because I did love what I was doing. Before you knew it, I was helping a hundred campgrounds. My husband said, honey, turn around. You’re not retired.
I was doing what I love, but not making any money at it. It’s just been a series of being at the right place at the right time. And I was very blessed to end up connecting with a lot of people in the industry side. So up until a few years ago, you had the industry side, which is the manufacturers who make the rigs and all those suppliers.
Campgrounds and they never really connected because one was manufacturing and the other was hospitality and because of what I had done with technology and building communities. I saw that there was this gap and there needed to be a connection. And so I basically spent the last 4 years. learning about each of the communities and then in my head, figuring out how we proactively connected them so that they were working together.
And that’s what the result of the outdoor hospitality hub is. It’s really a way of connecting the industry with campgrounds so that they can proactively make better decisions.
Chris Badgett: That’s it. There’s a saying that one of the hardest things to make is like a two sided marketplace. What were some of the challenges with getting campgrounds and RV manufacturers to sync up and help each other?
Sandy Ellingson: That was the biggest problem was they didn’t see what they had in common. And so I would talk to a campground and they’d say, why do I need to have anything to do with a manufacturer? They’re manufacturing, we’re hospitality and vice versa. And then COVID hit and COVID showed us that we had to work together.
There was so much going on and there were things that were innovating because of COVID that, but nobody was talking to each other and it could have worked better if we’d worked together. Yeah. That’s when I started getting involved. And there were about five industry challenges that we identified that I felt every one of those could be solved in a campground.
So I started saying, look, we can work with campgrounds to do this and solve this problem. And we started doing that. They said how do we it’s okay to do this 1 to 1, but that takes forever. And that’s, I kept thinking, I know I can do this. There’s got to be technology out there that I can use to build this bridge so that it’s not a one to one connection.
A couple of those is we have only 1 technician for every 4000 rigs on the road. And there’s an amazing school called that’s trying to train technicians, but then getting them out into the campgrounds are getting them out and getting them experience once they graduate. Was a challenge.
Now we can place them in a campground and they do what we call tech camping, where they work in conjunction with the campground. The campground can market that they have a tech, the tech gets the experience and everybody wins. And so there’s several all, five of those issues are that way. It’s a partnership where we all win.
Chris Badgett: That’s awesome. And as an RVer myself, I was always amazed at when I go look at a YouTube video, like how to winterize an RPOD 179 or whatever I had, there’d be this video with a hundred thousand views. Can you tell us a little bit about like the size and the scope of the RV industry?
Sandy Ellingson: It’s one company is over six billion dollars, and that’s just one of the major companies. It’s big and thousands and thousands of units sold every year. Actually, what we’ve done with the Outdoor Hospitality Hub is going to solve another one of those problems where we have on YouTube is like the wild West, right?
And we have a lot of new RV years that came into our ecosystem during covet. They don’t know a thing about camping. They’ve never been in a rig. And then they go to YouTube and they’re watching a video on how to do something that is somebody that has been camping for two weeks, but everybody wants to be a YouTuber, right?
So what we’ve tried to do is make sure that there’s, the social side of our site and then there’s the educational side and everybody that is providing any kind of education or acting as a subject matter expert has to be vetted. And we only have content inside of our system that we know is accurate.
There’s some actual dangerous stuff out there, especially when you start talking about propane and some of those things. If you don’t know what you’re doing and you think it’s you’re just doing this YouTube to try and get click clicks, or you do worse, do click bait. And, Mislead people that doesn’t help the industry overall. So we hope that by having this inside and that was 1 of the reasons we added on the RV portal is because we had such demand over the last 60 days with saying, we don’t know what to do. There’s videos out there, but how do we know if they’re accurate?
And so this will give them a place where they can go and know they’re getting accurate information.
Chris Badgett: That’s awesome. I like to use the phrase trusted advisor. Like people are looking for a trusted advisor. There’s a lot of content on the internet, but they, what they really want is that kind of brand that they know they can trust what you’re building.
How, do you get RV manufacturers or campgrounds or. Our viewers themselves onto the site. Like, how do you get traffic? How do you think about just growing the platform?
Sandy Ellingson: So it’s actually just in a soft launch right now. We don’t do our full launch until June the 15th, but what’s been interesting is.
I have been encouraged and even pushed by those entities to do this. So it’s not like I’m having to go out and do a lot of marketing. One of the things I like to do on the campground side is work with the state associations. A lot of people don’t really understand the value of their state associations.
So the first course that I created was called understanding the benefits of a state association. It even blew my mind. When I started doing the math, and so it was a lot of fun. So if I get the campground associations involved. Then all of their parks come in. So I’m not just going after an individual park.
And it’s the same thing with the industry side of things. There’s a lot of Hot buttons that they have needs they have and all I have to do is give them That opportunity and they’re ready. They’re jumping in and I just left a big national rally Last week that was in indiana And there were about a thousand people there, and I was inundated with requests for, can I download the mobile app yet?
And of course, it’s not ready, so I had to throw up real quick a page that said, here, give me your name if you’re interested in being notified. And before we left the campground, I had over 500 names on the list. It’s that part of it has been really easy because the need is so great.
Chris Badgett: I love that. I like to say you really got product market fit when they’re like the, your audience is like pulling the product out of you.
You’re not pushing it. And then also that kind of one to many approach you’re doing. If you get an association, they’ve got all their people, one campground, and they bring all the others and all that, stuff. It’s very scaled out way of thinking and tapping a river of demand and meeting the needs that they’re desperately looking for a solution for.
That’s, awesome. How did you get into WordPress?
Sandy Ellingson: Years ago, I thought I could be a web developer. Actually it was funny. I started playing with websites in Drupal.
Chris Badgett: Me too.
Sandy Ellingson: That is I thought when you learn that way, you don’t realize how much more complex it is than WordPress.
And so then I would hear people talking about WordPress and I go that’s the kindergarten version, right? If you can do Drupal, you can do anything. But then of course as WordPress took off and was so great for smaller companies and people that wanted to learn it themselves working with nonprofits, which is what I did a lot.
It became a superior option for me. And so I wanted to learn enough about it that I could talk the talk, right? Don’t I’m a functional girl. I’m not a pretty girl. Okay. I can make things sing on the back end, but I do not make things pretty. And so I learned my where my weaknesses were, and then I went out to find how I could to, could fill those gaps.
So I got involved in a design conference called Creative South. Every year I was got to be with thousands of designers and make friends and mama them. So I pulled in and found people that could do what I couldn’t do. Started partnering with them. And so that’s when I started really, a lot of them were using WordPress, right?
And so that’s when I started really loving WordPress. So I’m, I am maybe a hacker, but I can hack enough to get it going.
Chris Badgett: You sound like a lot like me. A lot of people think I’m a web developer, but I can’t write a single line of code I’ve, but I learned how to work with people and get on the mission vision and do the parts that I do well.
And, build the team around you. I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that. It’s a lot to where as an education entrepreneur, to be a technologist, an entrepreneur, a community builder. An instructional designer or teacher and do all these things like in one person, some of the most successful projects tend to have multiple people involved.
Why did you choose LFTR LMS for the learning management system? How did that happen?
Sandy Ellingson: I had worked with mighty networks for a while and so I knew they were out there. They are perfect for some of my small churches and some of my nonprofits, they were very easy for them to adopt. And I knew a sort of about the LMS is, and then I had a client that used can jobby and she liked that.
And she kept saying, you should try this, but I didn’t really have a reason for it. But then when this came up, I knew that the demand was going to be much greater and even in, in talking to them, they were like, we don’t think we’re going to be able to handle it. I really believe that. 18 months from now, we’ll have 100, 000 users hitting the system at any one time.
And so they just did not feel like they could scale to that. So then so nothing against them. I think they’re great, but not for this situation. And I built my career on not standardizing with just one thing. I would never represent software for commission. I wanted to make sure I was representing them because I believed in them.
And then we actually found another software. And we thought we were going to go with it. It was very complex. And we liked it, but then they had a limitation. They could meet the demand, but they couldn’t meet some of the other things. And I’m still searching and found Lifter LMS in a Google search and started watching you guys videos and stuff.
And I was like. Oh, my gosh, this is amazing. And the more we got into it, we did the free trial. And the more we got into it, it was like. This is awesome. And so it was just basically through trial and error and Google searches and we didn’t know anybody else using it or anything, but I do have a gift because of the last 10 years of my career, I worked with venture capitalists to see what they should invest in and what they shouldn’t.
So I look at things with a very critical eye and I can almost look at the front end of something and tell you what the back end is, what language it’s written in, what database they’re using. You look at so many, you just get used to it. Yeah. And I kept trying to find a flaw and I’m like, little things that I might tweak or do differently or functions that I would add, but for the most part, I couldn’t find one.
And everybody on my team was raving. So we knew this. We found the right one when we found Lifter LMS.
Chris Badgett: Awesome. What, do you know what, like Lifter LMS add ons that were important to you? I’m just curious, some of the stuff we have e commerce related or. Integrating with the email marketing or like advanced videos or groups, social learning, things like that.
Like what are you using or excited about?
Sandy Ellingson: All of those things were important to me. We’re not going to have a store right now, but in the future I do see that. So all of that was important. I loved that the integration with buddy boss for the expanded social side. So we my elevator speech is we do, we connect.
We communicate, we collaborate, and then we innovate, and it happens in that order. And for me, when we’re using, we connect and communicate first, and then LFTR LMS handles the heavy lifting, which is the collaborating and the innovating, because we use the groups extensively. And we’ve even come up with a really creative idea of how to use groups.
So we are using groups as what we call opportunities. So let’s say somebody in the industry wants to connect with some parks, then they create a group that’s a category of opportunity. And so those show up on 1 page. And then we notify the campgrounds that are within the parameters And so we can restrict the group by saying we only want 50 people in this group, but they can say, look, we’re looking for 50 parts who are interested in storing the most common failure parts that we we need and we want to have a conversation about it.
They can then permissively join that group because it’s really important to me that everything is permissive inside the hub. And and their name might be Sandy Ellingson, but it also might be Sparkle right from inside the hub. So when they join that group, they’re still not giving away their identity.
And then beyond that once they start communicating, if they choose to identify who they are and go outside the ecosystem, that’s fine. But I love all of that. The ability to protect and be permissive. I look for that a lot as an inbound marketing certification person. I want to know that we’re being permissive and that people aren’t getting spammed.
And so all of that was really important to us.
Chris Badgett: That’s awesome. What’s your experience with Lifter LMS? Support I’ve seen you on some live calls and stuff. What would you say?
Sandy Ellingson: Oh I, love the way you guys do things. I join, usually I try to join both the calls. There’s two every week.
But the Thursday call, I really enjoy. I have learned. You need to be prepared. Otherwise, we will have some fun conversations, but not necessarily learn as much as I want to learn. I’m the check every box kind of girl, right? And Curt and Will, they see me coming and they’re like, okay, Sandy’s already ready and posted all her questions, but I am also really impressed by the people that join the calls.
These people know their stuff. stuff. It’s amazing. And so I learned just from listening to the other people. And then anytime I’ve had to send in a support ticket somebody messages me back pretty much 24 seven. I’m hearing back within a reasonable amount of time. And it’s always, Hey very very polite.
When I’m asking a stupid question that I probably could have Googled and found the answer to. But I just didn’t see me. Here’s the reference. We’re so glad she contacted us. It makes me feel good about being a newbie in the system.
Chris Badgett: I appreciate that. Yeah. We’re, we know a thing or two about building community here as well.
And like you said, even just being in a community of other education, entrepreneurs, or service providers who are working in the industry, you just learn through osmosis, that’s one of the biggest benefits of community. What other technology is important to you? Like you mentioned a buddy boss. What do you use for web hosting or what do you see is like your super critical tools to pull off the outdoor hospitality hub?
Sandy Ellingson: I chose to work with 1 of the experts that you guys recommended for to find the right hosting. At some point, there is a data center when we get super large that I’ll probably move to that I’ve worked with in the past. And they’re, huge. They. And work with Homeland Security and all that.
So as we go international, I’ll probably move to that. But for right now, we’re really happy with the hosting company that he recommended and I do. I love the, expert that we’re working with. He’s really good about letting us do what we can do and then picking up the ball when we can’t. Can’t get beyond that, or we need it and just saying, I can do that quicker for you, or you can spend 4 hours pulling your hair out.
And I’m like, thank you very much. Take it right. But very respectful of our budget. So that’s important is to have those experts for when you need them, but somebody that will let you do as much as you can do. And not just run away with the budget. So we love that. And then I’m using several other CR in a plug ins here and there.
We’re just now getting ready to implement fluent CRM and so we haven’t gotten that yet. It’s not as important immediately. And I really want to implement an SMS system. So having something like that is going to be important because I still think email is Very difficult to get the responses you need.
And so for, especially in our industry, people really like the text messages. So we want to do that
Chris Badgett: on the text messaging front. Lifter LMS does have a Twilio integration, which does some cool SMS stuff. That’s awesome. And I go ahead of
Sandy Ellingson: the software companies that I work with that does prop property management.
He’s written this whole module for Twilio, which basically, It allows my parks to do marketing and use different telephone numbers so that they can even track the success of traditional marketing You know like a billboard or whatever because it has a unique number that they’re calling into And so i’m thinking there’s you know a future there with maybe looking at some of that as well
Chris Badgett: Tell us some more data points.
I’m just interested you mentioned you’re forecasting like a hundred thousand users in a future How many courses do you plan on? You’ve made some courses. Like how many we’ve talked a little bit about the scale of the RV industry and the campground industry and just RVers, what are some like what do you see in the data?
Like just around. The outdoor hospitality hub.
Sandy Ellingson: I think it’s going to be huge because we’re, we’ve already signed contracts with about 31 subject matter experts. These are the people that will be creating our, primarily our content. We haven’t started teaching them how to do it yet because I’m still playing around with it again.
I like to learn it myself first. And there’s some things that I want them to be able to do on their own, but a little bit easier. So we’re playing around. Like I messaged you guys about cloning and some things like that. How do I make it easier for them to create the different types of content? And because my background is teaching, I want to make sure that we’re using all the different kinds of learning.
And I really would like to have to create some templates, whether we do that with our The person that’s working with us, and we do it outside of what you guys have already done make it a little bit easier. But ultimately, I think that by the end of the year, we’ll have at least 1000 lessons.
I don’t know how many courses that will be. And then we’ve got some really great CEOs in the industry that they’re going to they’ve already given me 52. Lessons they’re gonna do once a month. Once a week, I’m gonna interview them like this. It’ll be an 8 minute in out kind of thing. And then the next 1 will drop the next week and then the next week.
But these are amazing. CEOs of big companies who having the ability to connect with somebody at that level for all of my parks and my other people is huge. And so we’re doing culture and leadership with one of them. We’re doing all these different types of things about financing and how to grow your park and, what, things should you be looking at for KPIs based on today, not Five years ago when the old content was written.
So that’s some of the things we’re like a thousand lessons is our goal. We hope to exceed it.
Chris Badgett: That’s awesome. And just to double click on the subject matter experts.
I’ve heard a lot of folks with goals to build the training platform that’s bigger than one individual. What are some tips you have and things you’ve learned on recruiting content creators to help make courses or other content on your site?
How do you make that happen?
Sandy Ellingson: I think that we’re a little bit different from a lot that I’ve seen in some of the case studies I’ve read in that. The hub is set up so that you cannot do commerce inside the hub. I don’t want it to be a place where people feel they’re inundated with sales pitches. But you can establish yourself as a subject matter expert and to teach others about doing that.
We, that’s why we have 50 that we’re bringing in as our initial subject matter experts and they are an extension of us and they sign an agreement that says we agree not to do certain things. What’s nice is that these 50 people are very passionate about what we’re passionate about. So they they’re doing this.
As themselves with no financial benefit to themselves. And so I’m very fortunate in that situation. Now, our 2nd tier, where we have other people that are suppliers and people that basically do sell to parks and things, they’re still coming in and they can establish themselves and get involved and have conversations and build relationships.
But if they want to start, if they. If somebody asks them, hey, can we buy your product? They have to give them a link inside. And then we give them a disclaimer that says you’re now leaving the hub to work with one of our premier providers, but we are capturing no data. And anything you decide to give to them is you’re, giving it to them because I think it’s really important for us to stay Switzerland and to not, I don’t want anybody thinking, oh, I’m getting a piece of the action.
I think in that situation we’re very different and it makes it easier to invite people and get them involved because everybody I am working with is about creating education and improving the ecosystem as a whole.
Chris Badgett: I love that. I’m a big fan and community building of giving before you get.
So if you have this real strong mission, like kind of value community, no pitch zone where it’s the focus is on the community, the sales will come later. And people get to know and trust you and that makes selling easy.
Sandy Ellingson: That’s why it’s taken me four years to get here because I had to earn, the trust of the people.
I really quick, funny story when I got introduced in the industry to all the big people, there was a gentleman that he’s known as the person that if in the industry, everybody listens to. So we’re at this nice dinner and he’s behind me with his back to me. And I hear him say, Oh, she’s just a flash in the pan.
She won’t last. And I turned around and said hello. How are you? And his face was blood red because he knew I had heard him and I did not bring it up. I just had the conversation with the people that he was there. And then as everybody started to walk off. I leaned close to him and I said no he, said I was the flavor of the month.
And I said, you know what? I might be the flavor of the month. But I’m chocolate or vanilla because they can stand the test of time. He started cracking up laughing. What was funny was he became my biggest advocate. So that’s what I feel like. If you treat others the way you want to be treated, I’ve developed this with my hands wide open.
Everybody that’s involved, and there’s a lot of big organizations. I have gone to them and said, is this going to be in conflict with you, right? If it is, I’ll give it to you, right? You can have access to it for free, or if you’re not doing it, do you want to work with me? And because of that, I think that people understand my real motivation, which is to improve our industry.
If we do that, then You know, there may be money that comes along. And you know what? Honestly, if we don’t, I don’t care because I’m not motivated by money. I’m motivated by making a change. So
Chris Badgett: I love that. I have a similar story. I won’t get into where someone said, Oh, you shouldn’t get into software.
That’s really hard. And it’s just funny how it works out. So we were talking a little bit about like data numbers and figures, but qualitatively, I’m also Not I guess the word would be scared of retirement. Like I like working. I like community. I like helping people I like being creative.
But what do you see as like the kind of qualitative benefits of this project?
Sandy Ellingson: So are you talking about the long term kps? Is that what you mean,
Chris Badgett: Not non Data, but like just like more like sense of fulfillment or creativity you know meeting amazing people like more What what lights you up and what are the benefits of this project for you that have nothing to do with money or the eyes or anything?
Yeah.
Sandy Ellingson: Yeah. That’s exactly what I was saying. I established my personal mission statement when I was 26 years old and it has not changed. And it is, I want to make a difference with people who make a difference doing things that make a difference. And as a consultant, every new client I got, I said, can I make a difference?
Are the people I’m working with, can they make a difference? And then the last one was where everything would either rise or fall, because are they willing to do the things that make a difference? Because a lot of people are afraid of change. And I know when I can make a difference. It’s a gut feeling and I’m committed. I’m I am going to stick it out.
It might take me 10 years, but I’m going to succeed. I will not give up. And but there’s times when I’ve had to give up on others because they were not willing. To do those things, and for me at the end of the day, if I’ve established relationships with people, and I’ve been able to help them grow, and I’ve been able to ultimately help the industry.
That’s gonna be the reward for me. But the other thing, too, is, of course as my heart being teaching love mentoring. I was I’ve always been a mentor in the technology industry. So we have what we call we have. It’s called the hub, but we have spokes on the hub and you have to fill out an application to be a spoke on the hub.
And you have to tell us either what industry problem are you solving? Or how are you innovating? And so I’ve got 17 applications right now of people wanting to come into the hub after we launch that these are their businesses and they are for profit businesses. These are things they’re going to do and they are going to be changing the industry.
And so I love that model to think that I helped to launch something else with some young person, right? That sets them up for their life, doing what they love. That’s what’s going to motivate me to keep going.
Chris Badgett: Can you share your mission statement again?
Sandy Ellingson: I want to make a difference with people who make a difference doing things that make a difference.
Chris Badgett: I love that. I have a similar thing with where I, my life mission and my company mission are the same. to lift up others through education. That’s what lights me up in my personal life, my business life. And it’s fulfilling to have that peace of mind and that compass and being like a hundred percent alignment with it.
So I’m really happy for you that you found out and you’ve been, just, it hasn’t changed and you just, you found your calling.
Sandy Ellingson: Yep, I do too. I think it makes it so easy. And I can’t imagine having gone through life without it. Because then how do you measure up and know there’s opportunities everywhere, right?
How do you know which ones to go after if you don’t have something to measure it by based on what you want to do?
Chris Badgett: Said what? Like when you sat up in the RV and you were like. I guess, I’m not retired.
Sandy Ellingson: No.
Chris Badgett: How long? I think I know the answer, but how long before that moment and then this project that you knew it was going to work.
And I think you would say I knew I already knew at the beginning, but like, when did you really get the signal? Like how much time passed where it was like, you know what? My vision is coming true. This is going to work.
Sandy Ellingson: Wow. Really, the year before COVID hit. I started making some headway, but it was slow progress. But then when COVID hit, that created all of these opportunities. I had to work with new people. Because initially campgrounds weren’t seen as essential businesses.
So they were closed. And we had to fight to get get our campgrounds open again. And that’s when the industry side started going, Oh, wow, it is important for us to to be working with campgrounds. Obviously, if the campgrounds are closed. Nobody’s buying an RV, right? And so suddenly it was like, glaringly obvious we needed to do this.
Since COVID has, we’ve come out of that. And then now we’re in this recovery process that the doors are much easier to open. literally it’s just been in the last probably six months where I’m like, not only is this going to succeed, it is going to succeed above my wildest dreams and expectations.
And it’s not me, right? I’m just that vehicle that sticks it out there. It’s like you said. It’s the industry that is clamoring for this and wants this right now. And so I’m just super excited, but it has been in the last six months where I’m going, wow, this is going to happen. Am I ready for it?
Chris Badgett: Amazing.
Anything else you’d like to share about the project? Or just where you’re at and what’s happening.
Sandy Ellingson: You guys just keep an eye on me and watch out on the 15th. There might be a lot of support tickets that come in.
Chris Badgett: We’re ready for it. We’re ready for it. Awesome. Sandy. I want to thank you for coming on the show.
This has been an awesome conversation and talking to education entrepreneurs like you, you’re just a shining example of what lights me up. And I’ll see you next time. Helping people make a difference and all that stuff, create value in the world. It’s, really inspiring. So thank you for sharing your story with us today.
What are the best places for people to go check out what you’re up to?
Sandy Ellingson: So outdoorhospitalityhub. com is the industry side. So if you’re a campground or someone working in the RV industry as a whole. Then the hub for RVers with the dashes in there is a place to go for campers if you’re interested in connecting.
And the most important thing to know about that is this is a unique space. It’s, we’re not trying to replace Facebook and we’re not trying to replace YouTube. We’re trying to meet a larger need for campers and give them the ability to connect. With the industry and permissive ways to get problems solved.
Chris Badgett: Awesome. Sandy Thank you for coming on the show I can’t wait to do a follow up with you in a couple years and see where we’re at and Yeah, thanks for all the great work you do. I really appreciate it
Sandy Ellingson: Thank you so much, Chris. This was a lot of fun.
Chris Badgett: And that’s a wrap for this episode of LMScast. Did you enjoy that episode? Tell your friends and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode. And I’ve got a gift for you over at LifterLMS. com forward slash gift. Go to LifterLMS. com forward slash gift. Keep learning, keep taking action, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
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In this LMScast episode, Sandy Ellingson talks about her path from early childhood development to becoming a significant person in the RV business in an interesting conversation with Chris Badgett.
Sandy Ellingson is a vibrant professional with a broad background in technology, finance, early childhood development, and the recreational vehicle sector. Sandy describes how she moved from technology and banking to facilitating better collaboration between RV manufacturers and parks, particularly during COVID-19.
She highlights the need of providing correct information and fostering a sense of community, mentioning how she uses LifterLMS to create online training courses that are both scalable and effective. Sandy demonstrates how LifterLMS’s group and permissive user privacy features foster innovation and teamwork within the sector.
She also commends the platform’s help staff and the insightful conversations she had with other users during live calls. Sandy’s narrative demonstrates how she strategically used community development and technology to address industry issues and promote the expansion of the RV business.
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Browse more recent episodes of the LMScast podcast here or explore the entire back catalog since 2014.
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Episode Transcript
Chris Badgett: You’ve come to the right place. If you’re looking to create, launch, and scale a high value online training program, I’m your guide, Chris Badgett. I’m the co founder of LifterLMS, the most powerful learning management system for WordPress. Stay to the end. I’ve got something special for you. Enjoy the show.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of LMScast. I’m joined by a special guest. Her name is Sandy Ellingson. She’s from the outdoor hospitality hub. Dot com that’s outdoor hospitality hub. com. Also check out the hub for RVers. com with dashes between each word. Welcome to the show, Sandy.
Sandy Ellingson: Hey, thanks for having me, Chris.
I’m excited to be here.
Chris Badgett: I love meeting with people that are using LifterLMS, getting into technology, marketing, building community, and all these things. It’s always fun. And I enjoy these conversations and really those people that are making that impact and putting out a positive message and helping people in their careers and their industry, just being a force for good in the world it’s, a lot of fun and an honor to chat with you.
Let’s start a little bit with your story. How did you get from early childhood development into all this techie community building, RV industry, building online training and all this what was the story there?
Sandy Ellingson: I graduated high school at 16 and I graduated college at 18 and in Georgia, you couldn’t teach until you were 21.
Chris Badgett: Okay.
Sandy Ellingson: I couldn’t be a teacher. So I went in, I was already working in banking, so I stayed there for 10 years. Then my kids started coming along and I decided I wanted to stay home. And it was an accident that my brother called me one day and wanted some help. And he was running about a 2 million business on paper.
I said, I think I can figure this out. So I taught myself networking. I built the computers. I taught myself accounting, I brought in the accounting software. And basically it was just, that was the start of my career in technology. And so from there I ended up going and working for an accounting firm as a consultant, then starting my own firm.
Then a few years ago I retired and we were going to hit the road as RVers and just enjoy life. And we, I started helping campgrounds along the way because I did love what I was doing. Before you knew it, I was helping a hundred campgrounds. My husband said, honey, turn around. You’re not retired.
I was doing what I love, but not making any money at it. It’s just been a series of being at the right place at the right time. And I was very blessed to end up connecting with a lot of people in the industry side. So up until a few years ago, you had the industry side, which is the manufacturers who make the rigs and all those suppliers.
Campgrounds and they never really connected because one was manufacturing and the other was hospitality and because of what I had done with technology and building communities. I saw that there was this gap and there needed to be a connection. And so I basically spent the last 4 years. learning about each of the communities and then in my head, figuring out how we proactively connected them so that they were working together.
And that’s what the result of the outdoor hospitality hub is. It’s really a way of connecting the industry with campgrounds so that they can proactively make better decisions.
Chris Badgett: That’s it. There’s a saying that one of the hardest things to make is like a two sided marketplace. What were some of the challenges with getting campgrounds and RV manufacturers to sync up and help each other?
Sandy Ellingson: That was the biggest problem was they didn’t see what they had in common. And so I would talk to a campground and they’d say, why do I need to have anything to do with a manufacturer? They’re manufacturing, we’re hospitality and vice versa. And then COVID hit and COVID showed us that we had to work together.
There was so much going on and there were things that were innovating because of COVID that, but nobody was talking to each other and it could have worked better if we’d worked together. Yeah. That’s when I started getting involved. And there were about five industry challenges that we identified that I felt every one of those could be solved in a campground.
So I started saying, look, we can work with campgrounds to do this and solve this problem. And we started doing that. They said how do we it’s okay to do this 1 to 1, but that takes forever. And that’s, I kept thinking, I know I can do this. There’s got to be technology out there that I can use to build this bridge so that it’s not a one to one connection.
A couple of those is we have only 1 technician for every 4000 rigs on the road. And there’s an amazing school called that’s trying to train technicians, but then getting them out into the campgrounds are getting them out and getting them experience once they graduate. Was a challenge.
Now we can place them in a campground and they do what we call tech camping, where they work in conjunction with the campground. The campground can market that they have a tech, the tech gets the experience and everybody wins. And so there’s several all, five of those issues are that way. It’s a partnership where we all win.
Chris Badgett: That’s awesome. And as an RVer myself, I was always amazed at when I go look at a YouTube video, like how to winterize an RPOD 179 or whatever I had, there’d be this video with a hundred thousand views. Can you tell us a little bit about like the size and the scope of the RV industry?
Sandy Ellingson: It’s one company is over six billion dollars, and that’s just one of the major companies. It’s big and thousands and thousands of units sold every year. Actually, what we’ve done with the Outdoor Hospitality Hub is going to solve another one of those problems where we have on YouTube is like the wild West, right?
And we have a lot of new RV years that came into our ecosystem during covet. They don’t know a thing about camping. They’ve never been in a rig. And then they go to YouTube and they’re watching a video on how to do something that is somebody that has been camping for two weeks, but everybody wants to be a YouTuber, right?
So what we’ve tried to do is make sure that there’s, the social side of our site and then there’s the educational side and everybody that is providing any kind of education or acting as a subject matter expert has to be vetted. And we only have content inside of our system that we know is accurate.
There’s some actual dangerous stuff out there, especially when you start talking about propane and some of those things. If you don’t know what you’re doing and you think it’s you’re just doing this YouTube to try and get click clicks, or you do worse, do click bait. And, Mislead people that doesn’t help the industry overall. So we hope that by having this inside and that was 1 of the reasons we added on the RV portal is because we had such demand over the last 60 days with saying, we don’t know what to do. There’s videos out there, but how do we know if they’re accurate?
And so this will give them a place where they can go and know they’re getting accurate information.
Chris Badgett: That’s awesome. I like to use the phrase trusted advisor. Like people are looking for a trusted advisor. There’s a lot of content on the internet, but they, what they really want is that kind of brand that they know they can trust what you’re building.
How, do you get RV manufacturers or campgrounds or. Our viewers themselves onto the site. Like, how do you get traffic? How do you think about just growing the platform?
Sandy Ellingson: So it’s actually just in a soft launch right now. We don’t do our full launch until June the 15th, but what’s been interesting is.
I have been encouraged and even pushed by those entities to do this. So it’s not like I’m having to go out and do a lot of marketing. One of the things I like to do on the campground side is work with the state associations. A lot of people don’t really understand the value of their state associations.
So the first course that I created was called understanding the benefits of a state association. It even blew my mind. When I started doing the math, and so it was a lot of fun. So if I get the campground associations involved. Then all of their parks come in. So I’m not just going after an individual park.
And it’s the same thing with the industry side of things. There’s a lot of Hot buttons that they have needs they have and all I have to do is give them That opportunity and they’re ready. They’re jumping in and I just left a big national rally Last week that was in indiana And there were about a thousand people there, and I was inundated with requests for, can I download the mobile app yet?
And of course, it’s not ready, so I had to throw up real quick a page that said, here, give me your name if you’re interested in being notified. And before we left the campground, I had over 500 names on the list. It’s that part of it has been really easy because the need is so great.
Chris Badgett: I love that. I like to say you really got product market fit when they’re like the, your audience is like pulling the product out of you.
You’re not pushing it. And then also that kind of one to many approach you’re doing. If you get an association, they’ve got all their people, one campground, and they bring all the others and all that, stuff. It’s very scaled out way of thinking and tapping a river of demand and meeting the needs that they’re desperately looking for a solution for.
That’s, awesome. How did you get into WordPress?
Sandy Ellingson: Years ago, I thought I could be a web developer. Actually it was funny. I started playing with websites in Drupal.
Chris Badgett: Me too.
Sandy Ellingson: That is I thought when you learn that way, you don’t realize how much more complex it is than WordPress.
And so then I would hear people talking about WordPress and I go that’s the kindergarten version, right? If you can do Drupal, you can do anything. But then of course as WordPress took off and was so great for smaller companies and people that wanted to learn it themselves working with nonprofits, which is what I did a lot.
It became a superior option for me. And so I wanted to learn enough about it that I could talk the talk, right? Don’t I’m a functional girl. I’m not a pretty girl. Okay. I can make things sing on the back end, but I do not make things pretty. And so I learned my where my weaknesses were, and then I went out to find how I could to, could fill those gaps.
So I got involved in a design conference called Creative South. Every year I was got to be with thousands of designers and make friends and mama them. So I pulled in and found people that could do what I couldn’t do. Started partnering with them. And so that’s when I started really, a lot of them were using WordPress, right?
And so that’s when I started really loving WordPress. So I’m, I am maybe a hacker, but I can hack enough to get it going.
Chris Badgett: You sound like a lot like me. A lot of people think I’m a web developer, but I can’t write a single line of code I’ve, but I learned how to work with people and get on the mission vision and do the parts that I do well.
And, build the team around you. I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that. It’s a lot to where as an education entrepreneur, to be a technologist, an entrepreneur, a community builder. An instructional designer or teacher and do all these things like in one person, some of the most successful projects tend to have multiple people involved.
Why did you choose LFTR LMS for the learning management system? How did that happen?
Sandy Ellingson: I had worked with mighty networks for a while and so I knew they were out there. They are perfect for some of my small churches and some of my nonprofits, they were very easy for them to adopt. And I knew a sort of about the LMS is, and then I had a client that used can jobby and she liked that.
And she kept saying, you should try this, but I didn’t really have a reason for it. But then when this came up, I knew that the demand was going to be much greater and even in, in talking to them, they were like, we don’t think we’re going to be able to handle it. I really believe that. 18 months from now, we’ll have 100, 000 users hitting the system at any one time.
And so they just did not feel like they could scale to that. So then so nothing against them. I think they’re great, but not for this situation. And I built my career on not standardizing with just one thing. I would never represent software for commission. I wanted to make sure I was representing them because I believed in them.
And then we actually found another software. And we thought we were going to go with it. It was very complex. And we liked it, but then they had a limitation. They could meet the demand, but they couldn’t meet some of the other things. And I’m still searching and found Lifter LMS in a Google search and started watching you guys videos and stuff.
And I was like. Oh, my gosh, this is amazing. And the more we got into it, we did the free trial. And the more we got into it, it was like. This is awesome. And so it was just basically through trial and error and Google searches and we didn’t know anybody else using it or anything, but I do have a gift because of the last 10 years of my career, I worked with venture capitalists to see what they should invest in and what they shouldn’t.
So I look at things with a very critical eye and I can almost look at the front end of something and tell you what the back end is, what language it’s written in, what database they’re using. You look at so many, you just get used to it. Yeah. And I kept trying to find a flaw and I’m like, little things that I might tweak or do differently or functions that I would add, but for the most part, I couldn’t find one.
And everybody on my team was raving. So we knew this. We found the right one when we found Lifter LMS.
Chris Badgett: Awesome. What, do you know what, like Lifter LMS add ons that were important to you? I’m just curious, some of the stuff we have e commerce related or. Integrating with the email marketing or like advanced videos or groups, social learning, things like that.
Like what are you using or excited about?
Sandy Ellingson: All of those things were important to me. We’re not going to have a store right now, but in the future I do see that. So all of that was important. I loved that the integration with buddy boss for the expanded social side. So we my elevator speech is we do, we connect.
We communicate, we collaborate, and then we innovate, and it happens in that order. And for me, when we’re using, we connect and communicate first, and then LFTR LMS handles the heavy lifting, which is the collaborating and the innovating, because we use the groups extensively. And we’ve even come up with a really creative idea of how to use groups.
So we are using groups as what we call opportunities. So let’s say somebody in the industry wants to connect with some parks, then they create a group that’s a category of opportunity. And so those show up on 1 page. And then we notify the campgrounds that are within the parameters And so we can restrict the group by saying we only want 50 people in this group, but they can say, look, we’re looking for 50 parts who are interested in storing the most common failure parts that we we need and we want to have a conversation about it.
They can then permissively join that group because it’s really important to me that everything is permissive inside the hub. And and their name might be Sandy Ellingson, but it also might be Sparkle right from inside the hub. So when they join that group, they’re still not giving away their identity.
And then beyond that once they start communicating, if they choose to identify who they are and go outside the ecosystem, that’s fine. But I love all of that. The ability to protect and be permissive. I look for that a lot as an inbound marketing certification person. I want to know that we’re being permissive and that people aren’t getting spammed.
And so all of that was really important to us.
Chris Badgett: That’s awesome. What’s your experience with Lifter LMS? Support I’ve seen you on some live calls and stuff. What would you say?
Sandy Ellingson: Oh I, love the way you guys do things. I join, usually I try to join both the calls. There’s two every week.
But the Thursday call, I really enjoy. I have learned. You need to be prepared. Otherwise, we will have some fun conversations, but not necessarily learn as much as I want to learn. I’m the check every box kind of girl, right? And Curt and Will, they see me coming and they’re like, okay, Sandy’s already ready and posted all her questions, but I am also really impressed by the people that join the calls.
These people know their stuff. stuff. It’s amazing. And so I learned just from listening to the other people. And then anytime I’ve had to send in a support ticket somebody messages me back pretty much 24 seven. I’m hearing back within a reasonable amount of time. And it’s always, Hey very very polite.
When I’m asking a stupid question that I probably could have Googled and found the answer to. But I just didn’t see me. Here’s the reference. We’re so glad she contacted us. It makes me feel good about being a newbie in the system.
Chris Badgett: I appreciate that. Yeah. We’re, we know a thing or two about building community here as well.
And like you said, even just being in a community of other education, entrepreneurs, or service providers who are working in the industry, you just learn through osmosis, that’s one of the biggest benefits of community. What other technology is important to you? Like you mentioned a buddy boss. What do you use for web hosting or what do you see is like your super critical tools to pull off the outdoor hospitality hub?
Sandy Ellingson: I chose to work with 1 of the experts that you guys recommended for to find the right hosting. At some point, there is a data center when we get super large that I’ll probably move to that I’ve worked with in the past. And they’re, huge. They. And work with Homeland Security and all that.
So as we go international, I’ll probably move to that. But for right now, we’re really happy with the hosting company that he recommended and I do. I love the, expert that we’re working with. He’s really good about letting us do what we can do and then picking up the ball when we can’t. Can’t get beyond that, or we need it and just saying, I can do that quicker for you, or you can spend 4 hours pulling your hair out.
And I’m like, thank you very much. Take it right. But very respectful of our budget. So that’s important is to have those experts for when you need them, but somebody that will let you do as much as you can do. And not just run away with the budget. So we love that. And then I’m using several other CR in a plug ins here and there.
We’re just now getting ready to implement fluent CRM and so we haven’t gotten that yet. It’s not as important immediately. And I really want to implement an SMS system. So having something like that is going to be important because I still think email is Very difficult to get the responses you need.
And so for, especially in our industry, people really like the text messages. So we want to do that
Chris Badgett: on the text messaging front. Lifter LMS does have a Twilio integration, which does some cool SMS stuff. That’s awesome. And I go ahead of
Sandy Ellingson: the software companies that I work with that does prop property management.
He’s written this whole module for Twilio, which basically, It allows my parks to do marketing and use different telephone numbers so that they can even track the success of traditional marketing You know like a billboard or whatever because it has a unique number that they’re calling into And so i’m thinking there’s you know a future there with maybe looking at some of that as well
Chris Badgett: Tell us some more data points.
I’m just interested you mentioned you’re forecasting like a hundred thousand users in a future How many courses do you plan on? You’ve made some courses. Like how many we’ve talked a little bit about the scale of the RV industry and the campground industry and just RVers, what are some like what do you see in the data?
Like just around. The outdoor hospitality hub.
Sandy Ellingson: I think it’s going to be huge because we’re, we’ve already signed contracts with about 31 subject matter experts. These are the people that will be creating our, primarily our content. We haven’t started teaching them how to do it yet because I’m still playing around with it again.
I like to learn it myself first. And there’s some things that I want them to be able to do on their own, but a little bit easier. So we’re playing around. Like I messaged you guys about cloning and some things like that. How do I make it easier for them to create the different types of content? And because my background is teaching, I want to make sure that we’re using all the different kinds of learning.
And I really would like to have to create some templates, whether we do that with our The person that’s working with us, and we do it outside of what you guys have already done make it a little bit easier. But ultimately, I think that by the end of the year, we’ll have at least 1000 lessons.
I don’t know how many courses that will be. And then we’ve got some really great CEOs in the industry that they’re going to they’ve already given me 52. Lessons they’re gonna do once a month. Once a week, I’m gonna interview them like this. It’ll be an 8 minute in out kind of thing. And then the next 1 will drop the next week and then the next week.
But these are amazing. CEOs of big companies who having the ability to connect with somebody at that level for all of my parks and my other people is huge. And so we’re doing culture and leadership with one of them. We’re doing all these different types of things about financing and how to grow your park and, what, things should you be looking at for KPIs based on today, not Five years ago when the old content was written.
So that’s some of the things we’re like a thousand lessons is our goal. We hope to exceed it.
Chris Badgett: That’s awesome. And just to double click on the subject matter experts.
I’ve heard a lot of folks with goals to build the training platform that’s bigger than one individual. What are some tips you have and things you’ve learned on recruiting content creators to help make courses or other content on your site?
How do you make that happen?
Sandy Ellingson: I think that we’re a little bit different from a lot that I’ve seen in some of the case studies I’ve read in that. The hub is set up so that you cannot do commerce inside the hub. I don’t want it to be a place where people feel they’re inundated with sales pitches. But you can establish yourself as a subject matter expert and to teach others about doing that.
We, that’s why we have 50 that we’re bringing in as our initial subject matter experts and they are an extension of us and they sign an agreement that says we agree not to do certain things. What’s nice is that these 50 people are very passionate about what we’re passionate about. So they they’re doing this.
As themselves with no financial benefit to themselves. And so I’m very fortunate in that situation. Now, our 2nd tier, where we have other people that are suppliers and people that basically do sell to parks and things, they’re still coming in and they can establish themselves and get involved and have conversations and build relationships.
But if they want to start, if they. If somebody asks them, hey, can we buy your product? They have to give them a link inside. And then we give them a disclaimer that says you’re now leaving the hub to work with one of our premier providers, but we are capturing no data. And anything you decide to give to them is you’re, giving it to them because I think it’s really important for us to stay Switzerland and to not, I don’t want anybody thinking, oh, I’m getting a piece of the action.
I think in that situation we’re very different and it makes it easier to invite people and get them involved because everybody I am working with is about creating education and improving the ecosystem as a whole.
Chris Badgett: I love that. I’m a big fan and community building of giving before you get.
So if you have this real strong mission, like kind of value community, no pitch zone where it’s the focus is on the community, the sales will come later. And people get to know and trust you and that makes selling easy.
Sandy Ellingson: That’s why it’s taken me four years to get here because I had to earn, the trust of the people.
I really quick, funny story when I got introduced in the industry to all the big people, there was a gentleman that he’s known as the person that if in the industry, everybody listens to. So we’re at this nice dinner and he’s behind me with his back to me. And I hear him say, Oh, she’s just a flash in the pan.
She won’t last. And I turned around and said hello. How are you? And his face was blood red because he knew I had heard him and I did not bring it up. I just had the conversation with the people that he was there. And then as everybody started to walk off. I leaned close to him and I said no he, said I was the flavor of the month.
And I said, you know what? I might be the flavor of the month. But I’m chocolate or vanilla because they can stand the test of time. He started cracking up laughing. What was funny was he became my biggest advocate. So that’s what I feel like. If you treat others the way you want to be treated, I’ve developed this with my hands wide open.
Everybody that’s involved, and there’s a lot of big organizations. I have gone to them and said, is this going to be in conflict with you, right? If it is, I’ll give it to you, right? You can have access to it for free, or if you’re not doing it, do you want to work with me? And because of that, I think that people understand my real motivation, which is to improve our industry.
If we do that, then You know, there may be money that comes along. And you know what? Honestly, if we don’t, I don’t care because I’m not motivated by money. I’m motivated by making a change. So
Chris Badgett: I love that. I have a similar story. I won’t get into where someone said, Oh, you shouldn’t get into software.
That’s really hard. And it’s just funny how it works out. So we were talking a little bit about like data numbers and figures, but qualitatively, I’m also Not I guess the word would be scared of retirement. Like I like working. I like community. I like helping people I like being creative.
But what do you see as like the kind of qualitative benefits of this project?
Sandy Ellingson: So are you talking about the long term kps? Is that what you mean,
Chris Badgett: Not non Data, but like just like more like sense of fulfillment or creativity you know meeting amazing people like more What what lights you up and what are the benefits of this project for you that have nothing to do with money or the eyes or anything?
Yeah.
Sandy Ellingson: Yeah. That’s exactly what I was saying. I established my personal mission statement when I was 26 years old and it has not changed. And it is, I want to make a difference with people who make a difference doing things that make a difference. And as a consultant, every new client I got, I said, can I make a difference?
Are the people I’m working with, can they make a difference? And then the last one was where everything would either rise or fall, because are they willing to do the things that make a difference? Because a lot of people are afraid of change. And I know when I can make a difference. It’s a gut feeling and I’m committed. I’m I am going to stick it out.
It might take me 10 years, but I’m going to succeed. I will not give up. And but there’s times when I’ve had to give up on others because they were not willing. To do those things, and for me at the end of the day, if I’ve established relationships with people, and I’ve been able to help them grow, and I’ve been able to ultimately help the industry.
That’s gonna be the reward for me. But the other thing, too, is, of course as my heart being teaching love mentoring. I was I’ve always been a mentor in the technology industry. So we have what we call we have. It’s called the hub, but we have spokes on the hub and you have to fill out an application to be a spoke on the hub.
And you have to tell us either what industry problem are you solving? Or how are you innovating? And so I’ve got 17 applications right now of people wanting to come into the hub after we launch that these are their businesses and they are for profit businesses. These are things they’re going to do and they are going to be changing the industry.
And so I love that model to think that I helped to launch something else with some young person, right? That sets them up for their life, doing what they love. That’s what’s going to motivate me to keep going.
Chris Badgett: Can you share your mission statement again?
Sandy Ellingson: I want to make a difference with people who make a difference doing things that make a difference.
Chris Badgett: I love that. I have a similar thing with where I, my life mission and my company mission are the same. to lift up others through education. That’s what lights me up in my personal life, my business life. And it’s fulfilling to have that peace of mind and that compass and being like a hundred percent alignment with it.
So I’m really happy for you that you found out and you’ve been, just, it hasn’t changed and you just, you found your calling.
Sandy Ellingson: Yep, I do too. I think it makes it so easy. And I can’t imagine having gone through life without it. Because then how do you measure up and know there’s opportunities everywhere, right?
How do you know which ones to go after if you don’t have something to measure it by based on what you want to do?
Chris Badgett: Said what? Like when you sat up in the RV and you were like. I guess, I’m not retired.
Sandy Ellingson: No.
Chris Badgett: How long? I think I know the answer, but how long before that moment and then this project that you knew it was going to work.
And I think you would say I knew I already knew at the beginning, but like, when did you really get the signal? Like how much time passed where it was like, you know what? My vision is coming true. This is going to work.
Sandy Ellingson: Wow. Really, the year before COVID hit. I started making some headway, but it was slow progress. But then when COVID hit, that created all of these opportunities. I had to work with new people. Because initially campgrounds weren’t seen as essential businesses.
So they were closed. And we had to fight to get get our campgrounds open again. And that’s when the industry side started going, Oh, wow, it is important for us to to be working with campgrounds. Obviously, if the campgrounds are closed. Nobody’s buying an RV, right? And so suddenly it was like, glaringly obvious we needed to do this.
Since COVID has, we’ve come out of that. And then now we’re in this recovery process that the doors are much easier to open. literally it’s just been in the last probably six months where I’m like, not only is this going to succeed, it is going to succeed above my wildest dreams and expectations.
And it’s not me, right? I’m just that vehicle that sticks it out there. It’s like you said. It’s the industry that is clamoring for this and wants this right now. And so I’m just super excited, but it has been in the last six months where I’m going, wow, this is going to happen. Am I ready for it?
Chris Badgett: Amazing.
Anything else you’d like to share about the project? Or just where you’re at and what’s happening.
Sandy Ellingson: You guys just keep an eye on me and watch out on the 15th. There might be a lot of support tickets that come in.
Chris Badgett: We’re ready for it. We’re ready for it. Awesome. Sandy. I want to thank you for coming on the show.
This has been an awesome conversation and talking to education entrepreneurs like you, you’re just a shining example of what lights me up. And I’ll see you next time. Helping people make a difference and all that stuff, create value in the world. It’s, really inspiring. So thank you for sharing your story with us today.
What are the best places for people to go check out what you’re up to?
Sandy Ellingson: So outdoorhospitalityhub. com is the industry side. So if you’re a campground or someone working in the RV industry as a whole. Then the hub for RVers with the dashes in there is a place to go for campers if you’re interested in connecting.
And the most important thing to know about that is this is a unique space. It’s, we’re not trying to replace Facebook and we’re not trying to replace YouTube. We’re trying to meet a larger need for campers and give them the ability to connect. With the industry and permissive ways to get problems solved.
Chris Badgett: Awesome. Sandy Thank you for coming on the show I can’t wait to do a follow up with you in a couple years and see where we’re at and Yeah, thanks for all the great work you do. I really appreciate it
Sandy Ellingson: Thank you so much, Chris. This was a lot of fun.
Chris Badgett: And that’s a wrap for this episode of LMScast. Did you enjoy that episode? Tell your friends and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode. And I’ve got a gift for you over at LifterLMS. com forward slash gift. Go to LifterLMS. com forward slash gift. Keep learning, keep taking action, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
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