This post may contain affiliate links. See our affiliate disclaimer here.
Monday we bought a 2016 Winnebago Brave 31c. It’s retro, sleek, and four foot longer with a couple slide outs.
Buying a new RV was probably the craziest thing I did this year, other than sleep on a glacier in Alaska.
The road to buying a new RV has been a whirlwind of emotions, to say the least, but it happened. If you’ve been following our RV VS. Student Debt, you are probably wondering how in the heck we afforded to buy a nice, shiny motorhome while we are paying off all of our debt.
Why We Bought A New RV
View of our old 1994 Class C motorhome next to our 2016 Winnebago Brave
We loved Franklin, but we’ve been shopping for a newer RV all of 2015. Well, mostly I have been shopping for a new RV. Alyssa just rolls her eyes every time I bring up the subject. I think my most visited website is RVTrader.com. I love looking at new RV’s. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. I think they are so cool! Even before we were ready to buy a new RV, we’ve gone “RV shopping” at least 10 times. It’s my favorite kinda date.
But other than RV’s simply being “cool”, we had a couple reasons why we decided to upgrade and buy a new RV.
1. Workspace
Alyssa and I both work out of the RV and shared a smaller-than-Starbucks style table for 8-10 hours a day. This has been tough for us, especially with her editing footage. We wanted more room to work.
Below was our previous workspace in our 1994 Class C RV.
We pretty much had to fight over this little table or one of us had to go work outside. Our new rig has three different workstations.
The passenger seat.
The kitchen table.
And the front circle table, where I occasionally record my podcast.
2. Dependability
Even though our former RV only left us stranded once, we wanted to be in an RV that we could depend on for the long haul. A new RV means having access to the Winnebago warranty and service for the first year of owning our new RV.
Plus, a new RV will allow us to continue traveling and exploring the country, without the stress of a twenty year old RV.
How We Bought A 2016 Winnebago Brave 31C
Seeing as we’re still paying off student debt, we were able to make this purchase through a work agreement with Winnebago.
Update: We finished paying off all our student debt in 2017 while traveling through Maine in our Winnebago!
Our client work with Winnebago is that we’ll be writers for Winnebago’s GoLife website. We’ll share stories from our travels and RV lifestyle tips while exploring the country in our Winnebago Brave (such as 10 Things You Have to See When Visiting Alaska or our Brief Guide to Working on the Road).
In agreement for becoming contributors for Winnebago, they gave us a family and friend’s discount on our RV. Also, in exchange for our monthly blogging contributions, we’ll receive payments that cover all but $100 of our monthly RV payment. This will allow us to live and travel in a much newer RV, without breaking the bank.
Since we were buying it, we still had to put down a $10,000 down payment (which we did by selling Franklin).
How We Became Contributors for Winnebago
A lot of travelers are trying to figure out sponsorships or how to work with companies who can pay you to travel, so I wanted to outline the backstory of how we struck up this deal with Winnebago.
Last year Alyssa and I found a sponsorship with an online job board called Snagajob. That sponsorship helped me land a different hourly wage job in all 50 states and travel across the entire country. Beforehand, I had heard good and bad things about sponsorships and to be honest, I didn’t know much about them.
The sponsorship we had with Snagajob ended up being one of the best decisions we made during our travels. We still have a great relationship with them. After all, they helped finance our trip to all 50 states (including Hawaii and Alaska), sent us film equipment for our documentary, and helped me land a job in all 50 states (Note: Here I wrote a blog post about how we found that sponsorship and the cold email I wrote to get it).
So when Alyssa and I started having conversations with Winnebago earlier this year, we were definitely open to the idea of working with another large company.
However, we didn’t think it was a realistic possibility to get an RV sponsorship. As it turns out, almost every single person who buys an RV and travels across the country tries to get an RV company to sponsor them.
The conversation, from my understanding and part-experience, goes something like this.
“Dear giant RV company,
My wife and I are quitting our jobs to travel across America doing _______ project (or just seeing the country). We both have iPhone cameras and we plan on documenting the journey and starting a blog. Please send us a brand new RV at your earliest convenience so you can sponsor our travels and we’ll get you tons of publicity.
sincerely,
optimistic person”
I’m not going to lie, I sent out a couple emails that resembled this before we hit the road for Hourly America. Not until a year later did I find out… that basically everyone else sends the same exact emails. But here’s the deal, RV sponsorships are far and few in between. An RV company really has to see a ton of value in order to fork over a $100k vehicle for you. What kind of ROI can you provide in exchange for a $100k machine? You better have a million twitter followers– oh, you don’t? Sorry.
But against the odds, Alyssa and I find ourselves in a sponsored relationship with Winnebago (and we have far from a million Twitter followers).
Other than being on cloud nine as we have dance parties in our new RV, I wanted to share how this all came about.
Below I wrote down all the things we’ve done in the past year to attract attention from bigger RV companies, provide value for people, and eventually work with a company like Winnebago.
*** I just wanted to clarify once again that Winnebago did not GIVE us a new RV. We bought one at discount and agreed to become contributors for their GoLife blog for the next year in exchange for monthly compensation which will help us cover our monthly RV payment.
- We took a different route (no pun intended). When talking with the editor of GoLife for Winnebago, he told me one of the biggest reasons they wanted to work with us was because we were doing something different with our lives. We chose to quit our jobs, travel the country, work a job in every state, and film a documentary. They are betting on us to continue doing adventurous and crazy things over the next few years and attach the Winnebago brand to us.
- We’ve built a community of RVers. Over the past year, Alyssa and I have published close to 100 articles related to the RV lifestyle This year I also released a free 7 day course called “how to see America on $2k/month” which recently hit over 10,000 subscribers and an RV Facebook group with over 8,000 members. Because we’ve spent a lot of time providing value and bringing the RV community together, it made sense for a company like Winnebago to share their message through us.
- We focused on building relationships. Shortly after we started RVing, we discovered Jason and Nikki over at GoneWiththeWynns. We loved their quirky Youtube Channel, blog, and social channels. We interacted with them enough until we eventually became online friends and I even wrote a guest post on their site. When Nikki heard that we were RV searching, she made an introduction to the team over at Winnebago. This introduction eventually led to our sponsorship with them down the road. We, of course, couldn’t have planned all this, but building relationships with influencers with Jason and Nikki was a huge help in getting us working with Winnebago.
- We took advantage of small opportunities. Last summer we made the drive up to Alaska. Instead of taking our old RV Franklin, we drove my grandparents Minnie Winnebago. Throughout the entire trip, I took tons of photos and video. When we got back, I reached out to Winnebago and asked if I could share a guest blog about our drive to Alaska. They said absolutely. I spent a significant amount of time writing that blog post and it’s been one of their more popular posts. This proved that I could write quality blog posts for them, which opened the door for more work together. I’ve learned that you almost never start out with “the big” opportunity. Typically, you have to execute at something much smaller first, prove yourself, and then work towards large projects.
- We weren’t afraid to ask. Six months after the introduction to Winnebago, building a relationship, and writing a guest post for their site — we started the conversation about sponsorship. We happened to be getting ready to upgrade to a newer RV, I told them I loved the Brave and asked if there was anything we could do to work together.
A Beginner’s Guide to Living in an RV
Interested in traveling the country in an RV? Alyssa just published A Beginner’s Guide to Living in an RV! This book documents everything we wish we knew before full-time RVing.
What we did to attract a relationship with an RV Company
Buying a new RV this year while paying off student debt seemed like a pipe dream. Every time I looked at RV’s online or in person, I just told myself it would be years and years before we could buy one. I also thought the same thing about traveling to all 50 states or filming a documentary, yet those are things we’ve done in the past year too.
If I could give any advice for someone looking to find a company to sponsor your travels, I’d tell them to show up and provide more value for people than anyone else in your industry.
Remember, the goal in and of itself is not to be sponsored, but to do things worth sponsoring. How are you different? What makes your story unique? What makes your content, videos or blogs the most valuable?
Companies are devoting more and more dollars to working with micro-influencers, whether on Instagram, a blog, Youtube channel, or podcast. Brands want to reach their audience and if your audience happens to overlap with theirs, it could be a great fit. But you don’t build that audience without providing value or entertainment of some kind.
One last note: I’d also like to point out that until you have a ridiculously large audience, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to fund your entire travel lifestyle through sponsorship. Even though we’re working with Winnebago to subsidize the cost of our travels, we still run our video production business full-time and we’re constantly working to scale our blog income (learn how we’ve been doing that here).
Have any more questions about sponsored travel? Drop a comment below and I’ll try to be as helpful as I can!
Read Next:
How We Found a Sponsor for Our Documentary
The Difference Between Class A and Class C Motorhomes
Our 1994 Class C Motorhome Renovation
Should I Tow a Car Behind My RV?
11 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Used RV
DUDE!!!
This is great. I’m sure you love the new space.
Carrie and I went on several “RV shopping dates” when we were looking for our travel trailer. haha, so funny!!
See you around.
-Derek
We definitely do Derek. Where are you guys at right now? Hope all is well.
We are back home in Kansas City. Still living in Sherman The Travel Trailer.
Our plan is to stay in the tt through the winter, sell it in the Spring and move into a “normal” house.
But, we will probably buy another tt or RV in the future.
Once you catch the travel bug you can’t get rid of it.
I understand man, would love to catch up via a Skype call in the near future and just hear what’s next for you guys.
Excellent piece Heath, very well explained and key points communicated effectively. Congratulations on your new investment and rare relationship with Winny… What is the new Baby’s name? It is a boy or a girl? Ha! Have fun writing, driving and thinking outside of “the Box” (no pun intended!) -Cheers and Carpe Diem!
Hey Gil!
Thanks man. It’s a “she” and her name is Merica the Brave :).
Congrats on the new Winnebago RV! Looks great. Also great post 🙂
Thank you!
Great Story! Congrats on your new RV!
Thanks Karen!
I see this method paying off so often: provide value first, then Ask later. You guys really made this approach work.
Congrats on the new RV! Very exciting.
I 100% agree Janelle 🙂
[…] with Winnebago, which essentially allowed us to upgrade our motorhome to a 2016 Winnebago Brave. Read more about that here. Yay for no more […]
[…] year we upgraded to a 2016 Winnebago Brave. A retro throwback of the classic “eyebrow” Winnebago Brave […]
Hi! I’m so glad I came across your site! Honestly, I’m getting a bit of anxiety as I read through your blogs because I’m so excited! My husband and I are both veterans and plan to travel the US as well. Have you sold Franklin? We’ll be meeting you at the premier of Hourly America, I’m so excited!
Hey Cristina!
Yes, we sold Franklin just a couple months ago :). Ahh, I’m so excited that you guys are jumping into the RV life and that you’re pumped for it. That’s huge!
Also, glad to see you over in the Facebook group. Where is the first place y’all are going to?
[…] I honestly looked at buying a tiny house before we moved into the RV, but our style of travel was better suited for living in an RV. We like to move around a lot and while tiny houses CAN be mobile, they aren’t mobile like RV’s. The other reason I had originally looked into tiny houses was because of their sleek and modern design. But as it turns out we were able to renovate our older RV and our newer rig has quite the modern feel as well (see pictures here). […]
So glad I found your post. Unlike you My husband and I are 63 yrs old. For the last 15 years I’ve taken care of my dad, then my mom for 12 of those years. We are ready to travel even though we together only have about $2400 a month.So we need this.I’m ready!!!! I have been in turmoil trying to make the decision between home or RV or maybe 5th Wheel? But travel has for sure won out.
Awesome Sandra! Travel is always a great option. Wish you the best.
[…] The cost of our RV was $11,500. It was a 1994 Leprechaun Coachmen that we renovated and eventually named Franklin (because he was slow as …well, a turtle). At the end of 2015 we actually sold our 94′ motorhome for $9,700 and upgraded to a 2016 Winnebago Brave. […]
I really enjoyed reading your blog. And look forward to what you have coming up. I was wondering, when you contacted manufacturers – was that via email or did you send it regular mail and to which department were you addressing?
Hey Socal!
Always email :). Snail mail is a bit more difficult when you’re on the go. Also, all the contacts were essentially marketing contacts. I found one of them who had subscribed to my email list and the others were folks who I had a mutual contact with that made the introduction.
However, you could easily google search “LinkedIn Marketing for (insert whatever company)” and find them that way.
Heath
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Great helpful info. Have fun on the road !!
Thank you for all you both have shared! Can’t wait to see your doc… When and where can we see your documentary? #joiningtheclub #homeIsWhereWe’reGonnaParkIt
Hey Jolene! We’re premiering our film in Portland and Austin in the next month and then will be releasing here on my blog/online :).
Have you already been to Portland, OR? I’d love to see the documentary and talk to you guys about RVing full time, it’s something that I’m really considering.
Hey Chrissy! We did the Portland premier in August. But you can watch the doc here: http://heathandalyssa.com/hourly-america
[…] A’s are your classic motorhome. Heath and I have owned and loved our Class A Winnebago Brave for almost a year. When it comes to motorhomes, Class A’s are your largest option. Generally […]
Some great advice on life in general in this post, not just rv’ing. Thanks!
Thanks Iain! 🙂
Hi Heath, I found you through your episode of “Going RV” on the GAC network. It seems like the entire premise of that show was fake, that you guys were already going in buying a Winnebago. Did you already have the sponsorship deal with Winny before you did the show? It doesn’t seem like you could have purchased the Brave without it.
As budding entrepreneurs do you worry about attaching your name to things that might be perceived as inauthentic?
I am definitely attracted to your content and podcasts. It just seems like there are downsides to sponsorship and having to put your name on a lot of things to support yourself on the road.
Hey Keith!
So, as we found out in the process of filming, in most all of house buying or RV buying shows the buyers have already made their purchase. It’s kind of lame, but has to do with liability of people backing out on a big purchase after the production company has spent lots of money on sending people to shoot for 3+ days.
Personally, in this particular instance. I don’t mind attaching my name to GoingRV (for a couple reasons).
1) We have multiple media outlets of our own, such as my RV Entrepreneur podcast and our social media communities, where we can easily and authentically communicate the entirety of the situation with our community. In other words, we never hid any of this with people :).
2) The point of the show is really to walk people through buying process of RV’s and to show them off, which it does quite well.
3) I like to say we were playing semi-fictional characters of ourselves. The situation was false (as we’d already bought our RV), but everything else was unscripted and we kinda just did our own thing and looked at RV’s.
As far as your other questions, we did have a relationship with Winnebago at that point. However, they were one of many companies we had talked to before we bought our RV. We haven’t entered in any sponsorship without actually researching + sourcing potential options and then choosing them. In this way, it’s never been a worry of what we should or shouldn’t say.
I think most companies know in 2017 that if they tried to inhibit what people say about them, it would backfire.
Also, you’re 100% correct. We wouldn’t have bought the RV if we didn’t have the option to contribute content to Winnebago on an ongoing basis after the show. Again, this is something I’ve outlined in this post and several times throughout our other content (which is again, why I don’t mind supporting the show b/c we are still able to share our own story in a real way).
I would also be skeptical of “reality” shows, because as most people know they aren’t true reality 99% of the time.
All this aside, looking at RV’s is something I love doing any day of the week. So when we had the chance to do it with the GoingRV team we were pumped.
Hope this answers all your questions. Sponsorships aren’t bad and don’t think they should be perceived as someone having to say or do things they don’t believe in. Most of the people we know who work with brands are extremely particular on who they accept and work with.
Thanks for taking the time to read Keith!
Heath
Thanks for the thoughtful and detailed response Heath. I’ve already listened to one of your podcasts and enjoyed it.
My problem is more with the production company of Going RV because the premise of the show is very clear that it’s married couples trying to choose an RV. I appreciate that you are upfront about it to your audience. You seem very genuine and sincere. Thanks for taking the time to address a difficult subject.
[…] How and Why We Bought a 2016 Winnebago Brave […]