How We Used Hip Camp to Make Cash from Our Personal Land

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Final week we “opened” our campground property to friends utilizing Hipcamp—although we haven’t constructed out RV pads but!

Since we’ve shared our campground dream, many individuals have emailed us to share that they’ve an analogous dream. And fairly a couple of folks have mentioned “I’ve ## acres and would love to simply invite folks to camp on my property. How can I try this?”

I’ve at all times replied with the hyperlink to enroll in Hipcamp.

Hipcamp is a website that permits non-public landowners (or wannabe campground builders) to become profitable by charging nightly charges for campers. When somebody’s planning their subsequent tenting journey and need to keep on non-public land (versus the foundations that include free public land), they’ll keep in your property. It’s kinda like Airbnb for tenting. Plus it’s method much less concerned than a full-on campground or short-term rental as a result of nobody expects hook ups or dump stations or canine parks or playgrounds or paved roads.

(Which is sweet as a result of we don’t have any of these issues.)

Persons are merely in search of an out of doors expertise. Plus they’re typically in search of tenting close to nationwide parks which could be onerous to come back by! We’re solely about 20 minutes from Black Canyon of the Gunnison Nationwide Park right here in Colorado.

Since we aren’t a full-functioning RV park but, we determined Hipcamp was the proper place to record our property to open up boondocking for campers by means of the remainder of 2021.

We arrange our itemizing final Tuesday and shared the hyperlink with you all. Bookings began rolling in however we shortly seen one thing…

Solely about half of the bookings had been from folks on our e mail record.

The remainder had been from campers looking out the Hipcamp website simply in search of a campsite out right here on the western slope of Colorado.

And we had been like…

Somewhat bit shocked.

Somewhat bit nervous.

Somewhat bit like hey…this campground factor would possibly really work out. 🤯🥳

(Heath already requested me if we actually wanted to take the money and time to construct out RV pads as a result of organising our Hipcamp itemizing was really easy. Sure, Heath. Sure we do.)

This previous week of bringing in our first friends, getting paid (funds are direct deposited each Tuesday and we made precisely $22.50 for our first campers however IT FEELS GOOD), and determining how one can run a boondocking campground taught us a couple of issues.

1. Choosing the proper platform for constructing your small business issues.

Discover the platform that has the perfect performance to make your small business run seamlessly. It’s the identical cause we give the recommendation to promote a guide on Amazon versus in your web site. Hipcamp makes it ridiculously simple to arrange your profile and we had been up in operating in a day.

2. Go the place clients are prepared to purchase. 

Hipcamp has been round for lengthy sufficient to have an excellent repute amongst campers and a rising buyer base. Heath and I each nervous that nobody aside from individuals who double faucet our Instagram images would ever select to camp with us. Strangers reserving our campsite is unbelievably encouraging and thrilling. They’re rising in recognition, making it a no brainer to record the place campers are actively in search of websites.

3. Automation makes every little thing simpler.

We are able to settle for reservations, ship automated check-in messages, and tackle questions all from our telephones. Very helpful if you spend most of your day enjoying with a one-year-old.

4. Be okay with model 1. 

Heath and I went forwards and backwards a LOT on if we needed to divulge heart’s contents to campers in 2021.

It normally went one thing like this:

“We aren’t prepared. What if somebody drives over the leach subject and sinks and needs to be towed out? We haven’t even found out the place to order commercial-size bathroom paper but! We haven’t furnished our 4,000 sq. ft schoolhouse but. We have to purchase a washer-dryer set earlier than anybody camps!!” 😬

“We have now a totally renovated schoolhouse that’s prepared to be used. We have now big shade timber and a leveled, gravel space for RVs. No different boondocking websites have showers and fiber web and a kitchen so I don’t suppose folks will likely be mad about our lack of a washer. Persons are emailing us asking each week if they’ll boondock. Why not open up?” 🤷🏻‍♀️

After a stable month of forwards and backwards, we’re each feeling good about our choice—although it means giving folks an up-close and private take a look at our messy model certainly one of a campground.

Sure, there’s some buyer assist and we put in coded locks so folks can entry our constructing and loos. However nobody has complained as soon as about our messy model one and we’re persevering with to see extra reservations (and more cash) are available.

5. Most of all, it was reminder that taking motion is at all times scary and at all times price it—whether or not it’s beginning a brand new enterprise, shopping for an RV, promoting a home, or simply inviting somebody to camp underneath your timber.

We nonetheless have an extended method to go. Thanks for sharing this journey with us ❤️🏕

You’ll be able to uncover and guide websites in your subsequent tenting journey on Hipcamp 🙂

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Word: We’re under no circumstances affiliated with Hipcamp, though I’m biased that the founder Alyssa Ravasio and I share the identical first identify. It immediately made me like Hipcamp extra. But it surely additionally a very nice method to become profitable together with your property and primarily based on our expertise, we’d extremely suggest it!