Intro! Howdy from Evergreen, CO!

[lstamatis]

Hey folks, just wanted to swing by and introduce myself! My name is Leon and wife Marla with sons Caden (5) and Collin (8 mos.) We own two hundred series Land Cruisers and currently live up in Evergreen. I say currently because our house is under contract as we've been selling most of our possessions for an extended journey around North and South America and Europe and maybe beyond! Our 1998 LC (Hermes) which we've had for about 10 years now will be our home on wheels. He's been pretty well built for quite some time now and has taken us on MANY adventures. We've recently had it mostly rebuilt and most moving parts in front of the dashboard are new or rebuilt. I'm not going to take the time to post a complete build thread here as you can see that on mud at this link: Build Thread We're trying to get it set up well for longterm travel and a lot of the "wheeling" parts have been swapped for "longevity" parts. For instance, we just replaced the 35's for 33's.

We have been a part of the MUD community for a long time and have owned more toyotas than I can count. Off the top of my head: Four 4runners (all 3rd gen) two of them were v8 (one was built); two Camrys; Celica gts; FJ Cruiser (built); and our current two Land Cruisers (1998 LC and 2002 LX). I also currently own a 2018 F150 Lariat that will be getting sold in the next month or two. One of my favorite vehicles that we no longer own was my Range Rover Classic that was built and a '68 beetle. I've also owned a built Jeep wrangler 4.0 that I hated and have owned many motorcycles (none currently but looking for another F800 GS for an upcoming spring trip.) I've spent a lot of time on adventure bikes and planning a spring trip that I'll need to pick up another f800 gs for soon. I tend to buy bikes for the trip I'm planning and then sell them.

I also wanted to say thank you for letting us jump on the call with Dan last night. He's provided some inspiration for some of our plans and it was nice to get some facetime with him.

Finally, our Colorado time is limited as we embark on our journey in June but I would like very much to spend some time with you guys on some trails as we test some of the modifications we've recently made and continue to make to Hermes. That said, Colorado is our home and there's a chance we'll be back after we get tired of the road.

-Leon

 

[MountainGoat]

Nice. I saw Hermes at the Costco on Quincy last week and wondered who it was. We live in Evergreen Meadows. Maybe we can get our families together for a little wheeling soon. We have a daughter 14 and a son almost 9.

 

[AimCOTaco]

Thanks for joining us last night and giving us some transcontinental travel cred. Nice to have you asking Dan pertinent questions about your upcoming adventure for sure.
Thanks for introducing your family and upcoming adventures, look forward to following along,

 

[Shuksan]

Welcome. Great looking 100

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

hi

 

[lstamatis]

We live in Evergreen Meadows. Maybe we can get our families together for a little wheeling soon. We have a daughter 14 and a son almost 9.

Hi neighbor! That’d be great! Sundays are usually best for us.

 

[3rdGen4R]

Glad to have you, jealous of the adventure that lies ahead... maybe we'll be talking to you guys soon about your adventures.

 

[lstamatis]

Glad to have you, jealous of the adventure that lies ahead... maybe we'll be talking to you guys soon about your adventures.

Thanks Phillip- We'll be documenting our journey to some degree but we haven't decided yet how public we want to make ourselves. Generally we are very private people.

Question: If you guys were taking a significant trip, how would you document it? Would you do the whole bit with youtube, instagram, etc?

My background is in photography and design so I do plan on selling some t-shirts and photography that I create along the way and was thinking that would be a good way to promote it, but like I said I'm not much of a spotlight type of person.

 

[lstamatis]

Also, a follow-up question: How would you promote t-shrits and art for sale? Being able to generate income on our trip will prolong our adventure, just as Dan said on the zoom call the other night.

 

[AimCOTaco]

That's an interesting question. It seems like you want to minimize personal exposure and maximize returns so without knowing jack about how it pays it seems like Instagram is indeed popular for this. Could be a fit if the money is there.

I follow some world travelers on insta... they achieve some huge followings. They don't share in real time and everything is curated so you'd only share what you want to and not compromise locations in real time.

 

[Hulk]

Also, a follow-up question: How would you promote t-shirts and art for sale? Being able to generate income on our trip will prolong our adventure, just as Dan said on the zoom call the other night.

The problem with doing t-shirts for sale in the U.S. while you are in another country is that you'll need to partner with a fulfillment company, and they will take 2/3 of the money for printing and shipping. Might be worthwhile if you can sell a large volume of shirts, but probably not worth the effort at smaller volumes if you can't keep the money.

 

[AlpineAccess]

What do you do for work currently?

 

[3rdGen4R]

Thanks Phillip- We'll be documenting our journey to some degree but we haven't decided yet how public we want to make ourselves. Generally we are very private people.

Question: If you guys were taking a significant trip, how would you document it? Would you do the whole bit with youtube, instagram, etc?

My background is in photography and design so I do plan on selling some t-shirts and photography that I create along the way and was thinking that would be a good way to promote it, but like I said I'm not much of a spotlight type of person.

Sorry for the late response. I think documenting it can be something you figure out your own routine with. Not everyone loves having cameras out whenever something happens, or you are about to do something. Having a camera sometimes makes the whole experience different and trying to capture it somewhat hard. Not saying you can’t.

as far as T-shirt’s go... everyone is trying to sell merchandise these days because it has the most potential to be profitable. Hulk above stated this can be hard. If you have a family member that’s willing to do the leg work that may help, but before you have tshirts you may want to wait for the following of people.

 

[lstamatis]

Sorry for the late response. I think documenting it can be something you figure out your own routine with. Not everyone loves having cameras out whenever something happens, or you are about to do something. Having a camera sometimes makes the whole experience different and trying to capture it somewhat hard. Not saying you can’t.

as far as T-shirt’s go... everyone is trying to sell merchandise these days because it has the most potential to be profitable. Hulk above stated this can be hard. If you have a family member that’s willing to do the leg work that may help, but before you have tshirts you may want to wait for the following of people.

Thanks for the reply Phillip. I agree with you that grabbing a camera when you are in the middle of something seems unnatural. I definitely have mixed feelings about it.

The problem with doing t-shirts for sale in the U.S. while you are in another country is that you'll need to partner with a fulfillment company, and they will take 2/3 of the money for printing and shipping. Might be worthwhile if you can sell a large volume of shirts, but probably not worth the effort at smaller volumes if you can't keep the money.

Hey Matt- I'm assuming people would be willing to spend $25 plus shipping for a quality shirt since that's what I always spend for indy shirts. At that rate it is still possible to make a roughly 50% margin through fulfillment which seems reasonable. What do you feel is a reasonable cost for shirts? I'm by no means trying to get rich at this and not sure I agree that it has the most potential to be profitable. It's probably got the most potential to cost me money I'm looking at it as a hobby that will give me a creative outlet while traveling and hopefully pay for some fuel. If it does more than that I'll be thrilled!

What do you do for work currently?

I own a food truck business in Denver that will remain open; freelance graphic design and marketing; and invest in short term rentals. Hoping to get a couple more rentals going prior to departure with the funds from selling our home. My wife is in healthcare and will be leaving that behind for now.

 

[maxpowerzz]

I vote document it so we can live the dream through you. We came relatively close to selling it all and taking our teenager on the road for a year, somehow we're now saddled with a mortgage and bills. You are probably aware of this family who takes two jeeps and RTTs to fit their driving kids, they've been on the road for quite some time: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Az_80tfW-1uEQBlUGXnww I'd at least do instagram as others have said, you can choose when and what to post and don't live on camera. But a YouTube channel sure would be fun to watch the adventures, make it episodic like www.xoverland.com. It's getting easier and more accessible with today's editing software and small cameras.

 

[lstamatis]

I've been following a bunch of overland channels but haven't come across the family with the jeeps. I'll definitely give it a look! I'm very familiar with Expedition Overland. They've done a great job. I'm leaning towards starting a youtube channel but I don't know about the whole talking to the camera deal. That will take some getting used to.

 

[AlpineAccess]

There's also this guy and his wife who drive separate Toyota's and sometimes tow a trailer. I haven't watched more than two of their videos so I missed the explanation on why they need two vehicles for the three of them. They seem to mostly wheel in the CONUS, almost always in CO/NM/AZ/UT.



When I was looking at backpack setups for my truck awhile back I also came across these guys.

 

[gungriffin]

Welcome to the group! I was really interested to hear you talk about what you have in the works during the meeting. I would really enjoy talking more around the campfire sometime.

The item I see to pay attention to with YouTube is that content creation is rewarded by volume and not quality. If you enjoy making video then YouTube will be your platform, but perhaps think how you could put out a high volume of 3-20 minute videos. Pictures will be Insta, but be aware that posting links is really really hard on Insta. Both YT and Insta can have value, but the real long term value will be with the ownership of a personal website and email list. This is something that I have talked about with @Inukshuk several times. One other thought is that people love to feel they are a part of the planning and implementation of a long trip. I think videos of you selling your home and all of your possessions would probably do quite well for getting an initial audience. In the videos, reveal the process and the unanticipated challenges that occur. Videos like this would also make it rather easy to start posting a 3-20 minute video a day that wouldn't require much editing. Just my .02 though.

 

[lstamatis]

That's great insight Ryan! I'd love to pick your brain more!

 

[Hulk]

Hey Matt- I'm assuming people would be willing to spend $25 plus shipping for a quality shirt since that's what I always spend for indy shirts. At that rate it is still possible to make a roughly 50% margin through fulfillment which seems reasonable. What do you feel is a reasonable cost for shirts? I'm by no means trying to get rich at this and not sure I agree that it has the most potential to be profitable. It's probably got the most potential to cost me money I'm looking at it as a hobby that will give me a creative outlet while traveling and hopefully pay for some fuel. If it does more than that I'll be thrilled!

Scenario:
I design a t-shirt, select a garment type/brand/color, order 100 shirts in various sizes (paying a vendor for both the blank shirts and the printing of my design), take delivery and put them in my basement, take photos, put the product on my online store, do a bit of marketing to get the word out, take orders, package each order and ship it out, and send the tracking number for the shipment to my customers -- you can certainly keep at least 50% of the $25 for each shirt sold. You could potentially make even more if you can print the shirts yourself, but that requires an investment in equipment. If you make $12.50 for each shirt and sell 100 shirts, that's $1250 in your pocket.

The more of these tasks you delegate to someone else, the less money you will make. This is especially true if you want to use an on-demand t-shirt printer like Spreadshirt or CafePress. In this scenario, you design the shirts and upload them to your store on one of these vendors. You do a bit of marketing to get the word out. The vendor collects the money, prints the shirt as a one-off every time an order comes in, packages each order & ships it out, and sends the tracking number for the shipment to your customers. You get $2 for each sale; the vendor keeps the rest to cover their costs. They are in business to make money, and they charge you for every step. They are a reputable company and their workers even get health care benefits. You sell 100 shirts and make $200. Was it even worth your time? That's the on-demand model.

Maybe you prefer to print all the shirts at once and have them delivered somewhere that can take care of fulfillment. Yes, there are fulfillment houses that could store your shirts and ship them out every time you receive an order. They will charge you a handling fee and for the box or envelope that the order gets shipped in, and they will mark up the price of the box/envelope. They probably won't mark up the shipping cost, and maybe they get better rates than you would yourself. Maybe. Oh, and they charge you a monthly rate to be a customer, and also a monthly fee for each shelf you use in their warehouse. You make money the first month, and during months 2 and 3, you go negative because you are paying to store the small and 3X shirts (that didn't sell) at the warehouse. Eventually you tell the company to throw away the unsold shirts because you don't want to pay for storage anymore.

You may have a better plan. I'm sure there is one. I just haven't found it yet. If you do, I'd love to hear about it!