This post may contain affiliate links. See our affiliate disclaimer here.
Today’s episode is sponsored by ID Plans (and it’s actually less of a sponsorship than it is an opportunity). ID Plans is a software and service company based in Tampa Florida that provides solutions for property managers. Over the past 20 years ID Plans has been able to hire a number of full-time RVers who help survey commercial properties and they are currently looking to hire 3-5 more additional RV teams.
I’ve seen a lot of companies who hire RVers, and this is one that you can make a near full-time income almost immediately. You’ll receive training for the software, be able to park your RV right on the job sites, and run the whole business from your RV.
You can request more information at [email protected]
“You can be the fastest, the best, or the cheapest. And someone is always going to be cheaper. So you better be faster and better.”
Tyler and Morgan bought their RV in 2019 and started RVing full-time in April this year.
COVID actually helped make the transition easier, according to Morgan. “Our church went virtual. Our friends started hosting virtual game nights.” So even while they were across the country, they kept that sense of community that so many new travelers miss.
To prepare for full-time RV life, they knew they wanted to run their own business. Tyler worked as an engineer, but engineering wasn’t something that Tyler could easily take on the road. Most engineering positions are in-person and even engineering consultants are expected to have offices.
So they tried something awesome: a startup bus.
They got on a bus and drove around the country for 72 hours. The goal was to start a business during the journey and meet up with other busses along the way. Together, they designed a product, got it 3D printed, and did really well in the competition. When they walked away, they realized that this was something they could actually do together.
But manufacturing products wasn’t the right path. They wanted something more mobile that they could take off-grid. So they decided to pursue one of the most common remote jobs options there is: digital marketing.
Okay, but what is digital marketing?
So many people label themselves as digital marketers, but marketing encompasses so many things.
For Tyler and Morgan, their agency covers SEO, websites, PPC marketing (pay-per-click marketing, like Google Ads), and email and text message marketing. They saw that most digital marketers have high churn because they only focus on what part of digital marketing. Their goal with Copilots Agency was to provide a full-service experience.
Finding the right business in the right niche
After landing on starting a digital marketing agency, their first thought was “Hey, we’re buying an RV. Let’s market to RV companies!”
But this was in the spring when RV dealers couldn’t even keep RVs on the lots because they were selling so fast. They didn’t have any products to market, so they didn’t need any marketing.
Back to the drawing board.
That’s when they connected with a friend of friend who ran a funeral home. And there they found their niche: the death care industry.
I’ve never heard the term death care before, but it seems fitting to talk about right after Halloween.
All of their clients are funeral homes, mortuaries, and death care related businesses which is the brilliance of their agency. As Tyler says, choosing clients in the same vertical means you can “see what actually works.” Because you’re not comparing what works for an RV company to what works for a blogger to what works for a funeral home. Specializing in on one small niche makes them better marketers as they learn what works and how to repeat those results for all their clients.
Other things we talk about in this episode:
- Pricing an agency model
- Profit margins and how ads may hurt your business
- How to sell any service (ROI!)
- Why having the lowest pricing is never going to set you apart from other business
