Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to Guided Legacy, where I make the legal side of life planning feel clear, human and doable.
I'm Dionne Tracy Duckett and today I'm sitting down with someone who thinks about legacy and in a way most families don't. Through land operations and the value of an experience, people come to relax and create memories.
Joining me today is Ed Brigman, founder of EOB Consulting and widely known for helping others design and scale outdoor hospitality destinations, RV destinations, glamping marinas and boat RV storage. He brings an mba, Six Sigma and PMP training and a background connected to early Six Sigma work at Motorola that earned national recognition through the Malcolm Baldrige Award era.
Thank you for being here today, Ed.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Well, thank you very much for having me. It's my honor.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: Okay, so today we're talking about outdoor hospitality. And in that area, the asset isn't just land, it's the guest experience, the operational systems, the permits, the brand, the staff knowledge and the cash flow rhythm and why that changes how I should think about planning, protection and succession.
So before we get into business structure and legacy planning, who are you off paper, Ed, what pulled you into this, into building in this outdoor hospitality world?
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Okay, so I joined the air Force at 20 years of age because I was broke and they were the only ones hiring back in 1980. And the air Force gave me a lot of background in electrical engineering, which I furthered later.
The Air Force was very, very, very good for me. I only served one tour, but it was really good. I came out of the Air Force with a top secret military clearance and electrical engineering background and I went on to school later to get my master's degree in business.
I was one of the original five CO authors of Six Sigma. Back in 1989 and 1990, we earned the first Malcolm Baldrige Award presented by Ronald Reagan. And so that got me out of the electrical engineering design room and put me in front of large corporations and small corporations. Ford, ge, General Motors, Exxon, Xerox, all these big companies. And I was asked to do consulting about how to implement Six Sigma. Six Sigma is all about reducing waste, reducing process steps, improving your product or service, increasing your customers expect satisfaction level by exceeding their customers expectations while creating a higher profit.
So I've been implementing those processes, those steps now, all my adult life and that has really taken me a great, a long way. I was at Motorola for over 10 years and I continued doing consulting that whole time. Motorola decided to no longer be in Austin, Texas where I was, where I had a ranch.
And so by that Time my consulting business had continued and grown to a point that I was. I could be able to support myself with the consulting business. And so I've been consulting since 1990.
And then in 2010, there was a big oil spill out in the Gulf. You probably heard about it, it was in all the papers. It was. BP was fined $24 billion.
And that money was supposed to be spent along 200 miles of the Gulf coast in marketing of tourism to return tourism to the area.
Now, I know what I don't know, and I know marketing to me is a big mystery.
I don't do marketing.
So I said, hey, if the federal government is going to take care of my marketing, I need to be along in the middle of that 200 miles along the Gulf coast, and I need to be doing something in a tourism industry.
So I did a bunch of research and I discovered that the outdoor hospitality or alternative living RVs, in particular, that industry is a 100-year-old plus industry.
Airstream celebrated 100 years in business in 2019.
So it's a very mature industry, but it's growing in double digit growth every year. And that growth is being fueled by younger, more diversified people. And I said, that's the industry that I want to be in. Let's get in the RV industry.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: Okay, well, you're clearly known for lean Sigma thinking. I've always heard of that. And so what would you say was one moment in your career that made you realize efficiency is really about protecting people's futures, not just cutting waste?
[00:05:42] Speaker B: So efficiency is all about understanding each process to the finite level of understanding the process steps required.
Doesn't make any difference if it's mowing the yard or cleaning the bathrooms or getting a room ready, a cabin ready for someone to rent. There needs to be certain process steps that you make certain you follow.
If there are an abundance of steps, steps that are not adding any value, each one of those steps provides an opportunity for failure.
So if you can reduce those failure opportunities, you can create a process that is sufficient and adequate to carry you into the next generation.
That's what's important about Six Sigma is the process steps.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Okay. And I never thought of Six Sigma in terms of legacy and generation. So that's very interesting how it ties in.
So when you walk a property for the first time, what are the top signs that tell you it can become a true destination versus just an RV park?
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Well, first of all, let's make sure we're using the terminology correctly.
In the outdoor hospitality destination industry, specifically RVs, there's glamping. There's cabins, there's RVs, there's boat and RV storage. All of this is in the outdoor hospitality arena. But specifically in RV destinations, there are five different RV destination types.
So parks have been around for over 100 years. So when someone was traveling across country to go to a national park and it took them two or three days to get there, they would pull over along the road at the nearest rest stop or park, and they would park there overnight to rejuvenate, go to the bathroom, eat something, sleep, wake up the next morning and leave.
Parks are the only one of the five destination types that are currently losing money.
Parks are for overnight stays, short term stays only.
And as vehicles improved and as we have autonomous vehicles and such now, the necessity for parks has gone down. It's the only segment that has gone down.
Once this person arrived at their location, say the Grand Canyon, and they want to tour the Grand Canyon for the next five days, they needed a place to camp.
So there are campgrounds next to attractions, amenities that are out there, Mount Rushmore, Disneyland, whatever, those are places that you camp while you're being entertained nearby.
So campgrounds have been around forever. Parks have been around forever. But in 2014, the average RV sold for $109,000. Wow. And people looked outside and they said, gee, many I speed. I paid a lot of money for that RV and I'm only using it a couple weeks out of the year. I want to use it more often, but I don't have time to travel clear across country. I need to make shorter trips, like on three day weekends. I want to use this thing like every six weeks. And I want to take off on Friday afternoon, get to my destination before dark, get set up, have hamburgers on the grill by dark, and spend all day Saturday, break down Sunday afternoon and be home and be ready to go back to work on Monday. So we created resorts.
Resorts popped up in between Dallas and Fort Worth. You've got 200 miles. Halfway in between, there are a bunch of resorts, okay? People can travel from these two different metroplexes and they can enjoy the resort for a cup for a short term.
And then people started living in their RVs longer. America is suffering from a low income housing shortage and people are buying RVs to live in for longer periods of time.
So we have communities and finally we have hybrids. A hybrid is something that was built, for example, a park was built to be an overnight stay, but it's being used as a long term community.
So these are hybrids, okay?
[00:10:29] Speaker A: And so before we go to our break, I have one more question. What's the most expensive mistake you see owners make before they ever break ground? Sometimes mistakes, sometimes that crushes return on investment later.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: So the biggest mistake that I see is that they didn't, the owner did not do their feasibility analysis and therefore they built, they developed the incorrect type to fit their land. All right, so if you build a resort, you're going to put a lot of money in amenities and pools and weight rooms and pickleball courts and basketball courts. You're going to put a lot of money in these amenities to entertain these people that are coming in for a short term period.
But if you should have built a campground because these people didn't come to you in order to be on your pool, these people came to you to go to Mount Rushmore nearby that you built a resort where you should have built a campground, or if you built a campground where you should have built a resort, if you built the wrong destination type that doesn't fit your land, you can make a huge mistake and you can cost yourself a lot of money.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Okay, I see.
So we're going to go to break right now and.
Okay, so they like us to pause.
So I'm trying to see where we
[00:12:00] Speaker B: are
[00:12:02] Speaker A: because it looks like there's one question I didn't get to ask you.
We're talking about legacy. Oh, I didn't do the outro.
When you think legacy for an outdoor hospitality owner, what are they really? This isn't being recorded. Trying to preserve cash flow, value, family control or reputation? Do you want me to ask you that question?
[00:12:30] Speaker B: You can ask me anything you want.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: Okay. All right.
Are the questions making sense?
Up next, let's talk about the risk owners don't see coming.
What can disrupt the business overnight, and how planning can keep the doors open even when life shifts fast.
Welcome back to Guided Legacy. I'm here with Ed Brigman, and in this segment, I want to connect two worlds that must talk to each other. Operational risk and legal life planning risk.
Because if the owner gets sick, becomes disabled, faces long term care needs, or even just wants to step back, this business has to keep functioning without chaos.
Outdoor hospitality is high touch and high liability. Guests on property, equipment, water, vehicles, docks, staff, and constant movement. I use this segment to translate risk into legacy language. Continuity, authority, decision making, and who can act when the owner can't.
So, Ed, in your world, what's the risk Stack the top three operational risks that can take a thriving destination from smooth to lawsuit. Fast
[00:14:12] Speaker B: failing to evolve is the Risk.
The biggest risk, as I mentioned in the last segment, the outdoor hospitality industry, specifically RVs, have been around for well over 100 years and continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We all know that's the definition of insanity, but some people don't recognize that that is an algorithm continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting the same results.
But applying that to a new customer is also the definition of insanity. And the customer in the outdoor hospitality industry has changed drastically in the last five, six years since COVID They have become younger, they become more diversified, and they're staying in their RV long term. So not only do we have people who are traveling with the seasons, say, from up north in the wintertime to down south and staying there for six months at a time, but we have millennials and Generation Z who can no longer afford the 571,000 average price of a brick and mortar home in 2024, and they can't afford the interest rate of 2024 and 2526.
So they're getting into RVs as a full time living opportunity, and so they're requiring a place to stay full time. This has changed the entire outlook of the outdoor hospitality industry.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Okay, so that's interesting that millennials are getting into it.
So my next question is, if an owner is Suddenly out for 90 days, what breaks first operationally? Staffing, cash flows, Guest experience, or vendor management?
[00:16:18] Speaker B: So I live on site at Homestead RV Community, and I have guests tell me that they can tell when I go to Lowe's, they can tell when I leave the property, even for a few hours.
I think I have a pretty good staff person.
I only have one. I'm able to.
Everything is automated, everything is virtual. The store is virtual, the office is virtual, and I only have one staff person.
But people can tell by the way my guest react if I'm on site or not. So we have an 8 mile an hour speed limit and my RV is near the entrance. When someone comes in and they notice that my truck isn't here, the eight mile an hour speed limit becomes a guide and no longer a rule. So people, people can tell when I'm gone Almost immediately. That's what they tell me.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. So that gives you no time for a break.
So what systems do you put in place so the business isn't dependent on one person's memory, especially around pricing, quality control, and customer experience.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: So Homestead RV Community was the very first to be able to meter and monitor both electricity and water automatically.
Five years ago. This is shot in March of 2026. Five years ago, Joe Biden was in office and he was telling us that everybody was going to be driving electric vehicles by 2030, and we were going to be much more dependent upon electricity than what turned out. But we are becoming more and more dependent upon electricity.
So when I opened up Homestead RV Community, I said we must pass the cost of electricity onto the guests. We have some traditional guests who are still using 10 kilowatt hours of electricity per day.
They're more camping, okay? And that's what they like about the RV lifestyle. But then we have other guests who are burning 200 kilowatt hours in a single day. They have electric heated floors.
They have three air conditioners on top. They have air fryers, washer and dryers, electric cars, electric golf carts, and they're sucking down electricity like it's free. And up until about five years ago, when Homestead RV Community was built, electricity was provided. With your site today, that is no longer the case.
You cannot give away free electricity. It's just not ethical to charge the same amount to two different people. One of them is using $2 worth of electricity a day, and the other one's using 35, $40 worth of electricity per day. It's just not ethical. So everyone must start charging electricity. We do it automatically. Our stores virtual. Our office is virtual. Those systems are in place so that nobody has to go around and read electric.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Okay? Okay. So when you hear the term asset protection, what do you wish business owners understood beyond insurance, like entity structure, contracts, and decision authority?
[00:20:01] Speaker B: Honestly, that's getting really deep into the legalities.
And the one thing that I tell my clients is don't try to do everything yourself, okay?
There are professionals who live, eat, and breathe this thing. And as passionate as I am about performing feasibility, analysis, and designs for, to create what is going to function and what's going to fit your land. As passionate as I am about that, I don't know anything about doing your taxes, and I don't know anything about doing your legal stuff.
So go to a professional to have those things done for you that.
Don't try to tackle that yourself.
I wear a hat, but if I still have some hair because I don't do my own taxes, okay?
I know what I can't do, and I can't do marketing and. And I can't do taxes and I can't do legal stuff. So I hire a professional.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: That makes sense. You spend. You end up spend up a lot of time or waste a lot of Time trying to do the things that you're not equipped to do.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: So I don't have the time desire.
I'm not, I'm not going to do it. Okay, so hire, you know, know what you're good at, stay in your lane and hire everything else that.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. And so thinking about families, what's the difference between my kids inherit land versus my kids inherit an operating business?
And why does that distinction matter?
[00:21:48] Speaker B: So I got this question before you ask it and I've had a moment to think about it and because I didn't know how I was going to answer, but if your children inherit raw land, then there are tons of options that come with that.
We can build our own house on it, we can create a farm, we can put a horse on it, we can create a four wheel track and do four wheel mudding out there or something like that. If they create an ongoing business, this has already been established. So you can't tear out the infrastructure and build a horse farm where you currently have 200 RV setting.
So the difference is your options are suddenly a lot different.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: Okay, that makes sense.
All right, so we're going to go to break soon. So for owners who want to learn more about feasibility, design, or how to upgrade an existing property, where should they start? With you, your site, your process, or a first step evaluation.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: So if you'll go to my website, eob-consulting.com you'll be able to get my contact information. My Phone number is 512-785-1379. And for free?
For free.
I will spend some time with you over the phone. We'll do a Zoom call and I'll look at your property. We'll share our monitor. I'll look at your property over zoom and we'll discuss what your options are for free so that you can decide what direction you want to move forward.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: Okay, that's a great opportunity, y'. All. That's free. A free opportunity to talk to the man.
Okay, so. So coming up next, let's go deeper on succession.
How to transfer destination responsibility, keep quality high, and avoid a family fallout over a business that was supposed to be a blessing.
Welcome back to Guided Legacy. I'm still with Ed Brigman. And now we're going to talk about the moment no one wants to plan for, but everyone needs.
That's transition.
Whether it's retirement, a health event, a sale, or passing the torch to family, the question is simple. Can this business survive the handoff?
Succession isn't just a legal transfer. It's an operational Transfer. I use this segment to help owners see the inheritability of their business, documented systems, leadership readiness, repeatable quality, and clever clarity around roles.
So, Ed, what makes an outdoor hospitality business transfer ready?
What are the operational signals that it can survive new leadership without revenue dropping?
[00:25:19] Speaker B: That's a trick question.
That's not really something you can predict. 100% accuracy. If it was such a thing, everybody would be doing okay.
You can't. All right? One of the things that you can implement to help it maintain the reputation and the cash flow that it currently has is to contractually lock in the current owner through that transition period.
But the problem with this is that the previous owner did everything in their power to maximize value.
That's how you run a business.
The new owner is purposely purchasing this property or this business because they have ideas of how they want to improve it. If you were just going to buy it, keep it exactly the same way as it is, there's no reason to buy it. The reason why you buy it is because you know that these processes that you're going to implement are going to increase its value and it's going to be worth more than you paid for it.
So it's kind of a trick question.
You don't want it to go down, obviously, but you don't necessarily want it to be the same either. You want to improve it. So if you want it to maintain a lot of its old character, you can lock in the original owner. But most of the time, the new owner has their own set of ideas and their own way of doing things, and they're anxious to implement their own ideas.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: Okay. And so that may mean investing so that things might go down a little bit initially and then go back up.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
That's very likely that.
So say you inherit or you purchase an RV destination that is maintaining 90 plus percent occupancy.
Well, that's. On the surface, that sounds fantastic. In reality, that's not necessarily fantastic. Okay. I guarantee you I can make any RV destination 100% occupancy. Just charge a $1 a month. Okay. Charge $1 a month and it'll be full. Okay.
So oftentimes, just because you have a very high occupancy rate doesn't mean you're maximizing your profit.
You probably need to increase your price.
And that means that some people will move out. Okay. And they can't afford the new price.
But if you increase the amenities or increase the value by adding asphalt roads or a better service, then you can backfill those that moved out, even at the new price.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: Okay, that makes sense.
So I'm glad.
So where do you see family transitions go sideways? Is it ownership conflict, unclear roles, or the next generation not understanding the why behind the systems?
[00:28:57] Speaker B: So where I see the majority go sideways is the next generation doesn't hold the same passion that the last generation had. They don't want to be there. Okay.
My father owned a business when I was growing up, I couldn't get far enough away from it. Okay.
I grew up with that business and I didn't like it. I didn't want anything to do with it.
So.
And oftentimes that's true. Even in the outdoor hospitality industry. You can't force somebody to enjoy this industry if they don't have a passion for it.
They're not the right ones to secede. You.
[00:29:41] Speaker A: Okay, so if I'm planning to sell one day, what improvements would raise value the fastest? The guest experience, upgrades, revenue management, cost controls, or operational consistency?
[00:29:58] Speaker B: Well, we just talked about operational consistency and the reason why the people are purchasing it is to improve the operational consistency. So that's not it. Cash flow. You always want to maximize your profit, maximize your cash flow.
The things that people are doing today to existing outdoor hospitality destinations is, is implementing improvements. For example, being able to read electricity meters automatically.
So no conflict, no argument. Everybody agrees that America is suffering from low income housing shortage.
Most people who own a business would not argue that America is also suffering from finding workers.
Finding workers that will represent your company the way you want it to be represented at a price that you can afford to pay is impossible in America. It's just nearly impossible in America.
So by implementing, updating your business, whether it's outdoor hospitality or something else, if you can automate and reduce your dependency upon the worker, that's getting it ready for the next person.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: Okay, so you've built the Homestead RV community as a flagship example.
What did you design there that owners should think about if they want future value, not just quick occupancy?
[00:31:41] Speaker B: So I've already touched on it. We were the very first to be able to meter and monitor both electric and water automatically.
So nobody goes out and reads meters. We don't have to prorate. If someone comes in on the 13th of the month, we don't go out and read the meter and prorate it to the first so that we can all read the meters on the first. It's all done automatically. Whatever day they come in, that's their anniversary date. And a month later, if they're still there, they pay for Another month on the 13th or 13th or 13th. And all the water and electricity both are read automatically. We don't go out and read those meters. We don't transcribe numbers. We don't have trouble physically reading them because it's all done automatic.
We were also the first.
Actually, we were first in several different things. Our lift stations, we're the first in the nation to have two different indicators on our separate pumps for their lift stations. We have safety features that we have a patent on. Safety features for our tree swings.
That's kind of cool. We have patents on being the first to do several different things. Here at Homestead, we have a virtual store.
So I don't have any loss whatsoever to theft because everything is locked up in storage. And people go on their phone on the app and download that. They want to purchase a chair or firewood or something like that. We get a call on the business phone saying that certain site has already paid for their firewood and we go get it out of storage and. And deliver it to them within a few minutes. It's like Amazon on steroids. I don't pay for someone to sit there and fold T shirts and put them on the shelf and dust the shelf because all that is in storage. All those are locked up until they are purchased. We don't handle money. My camp workers don't handle. I only have one, but they don't handle money. Okay? Everything's paid for before they get it out of storage. I don't have any loss whatsoever due to spoilage because I don't sell eggs. Okay? I don't sell milk. All right? I'm not competing with the grocery store that's a mile away.
I'm not. I'm going to lose that battle. Okay, so virtual store, virtual office. We have no check in, no signing, no stopping at the entrance. We escort every guest to their site and nobody has to stop at the office. Most people don't come to the office ever.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: Okay, so everything's pretty much automated.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Okay, so what would you say is one lean principle you'd apply to successions? Something that reduces friction and makes the transition smoother for staff and guests.
[00:34:44] Speaker B: So believe it or not, I'm one of the original five co authors of Six Sigma and we originally had nine different process steps. It's been reduced down to five. Define, measure, Improve control, Automate.
Analyze. Define measure. Okay, let me start this question over.
We were not. I'm one of the original five co authors of Six Sigma and originally we had nine different states steps. It's been narrowed down now to define the make, define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. And they're all very, very necessary. There are no steps in Six Sigma that are frivolous, that are unnecessary.
So you define exactly what you are needing done and you analyze it and you improve it. You reduce any waste.
You can make certain that you are only doing those process steps that add value, because every process step adds an opportunity for failure. So you want to reduce those opportunities for failure.
[00:35:55] Speaker A: Okay, so up next is our final segment, and I want to bring it home emotionally.
We'll talk about what does legacy mean when your business is literally called a place, place to call home. And how do we protect both the people and the prosperity?
Welcome back to our final segment of Guided Legacy. We've talked about risk, community, continuity, and succession. But now I want to tie this back to what families feel, because these aren't just assets on a spreadsheet. These are places where people build memories and where owners pour their time, identity, and money.
This segment lands the emotional, practical takeaway. Legacy isn't only what you leave. It's what stays stable when life changes. We connect the guest experience mindset to family planning, incapacity planning, decision makers, values, and clarity.
So, Ed, when you say a destination.
Let me try that again.
So, Ed, when you say a destination should feel like home, what does that mean in design terms and what does it mean in leadership terms?
[00:37:38] Speaker B: Well, first of all, I explained earlier that there are five different destination types.
Parks, campgrounds, resorts, communities, and hybrids.
Communities are the one that feel like home because people are staying there long term, and we define long term by more than a month.
They're getting to know their neighbors. They're playing bingo. They're playing cards. They're playing pickleball.
They're getting to know the surrounding area, the churches, the schools.
That's what.
It's that sense of community that makes it more of a home.
Not every RV destination should feel like a home.
For example, a resort is where you're going to stay a week or less. You're going to enjoy the amenities, and it's going to feel more like a vacation. You don't want it to feel like a home.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: Okay, so then what is your advice to an owner who's successful but exhausted? How do they step?
[00:38:50] Speaker B: All of them?
[00:38:51] Speaker A: Yes, all of them.
How do they step back without losing quality or control?
[00:39:01] Speaker B: Well, first. First of all, you got to make certain. Again, you gotta check your definition. Okay, so you've got this person who has been pouring their heart and their soul and their Blood and their time and all their money into this business and making it successful.
In their definition of what success is, success is easily measured by profit margin. Okay, we're making money or we're not making money. I get that. But there's a whole group of people who define success as having a positive relationship with their client or having a wonderful reputation, and they value that even more than they value profit.
So just because the next person that is managing this operation, they might have a different definition of what success is.
So just because they have changed how they're going to measure and therefore they're changing how they're going to get to that successful state, doesn't mean you're losing quality, doesn't mean you're losing what is important, because maybe it's just changing with the new relationship. And the person who takes the risk, the person who puts their money up, the person who puts their time in, they get to define what success is.
So if you've passed your responsibility of paying the bills or managing, just because you drive by a year later and it doesn't look the same as what you left doesn't mean that it's worse.
It just means that somebody else has changed the definition of success.
[00:41:13] Speaker A: Okay? Okay.
So if a family wants to keep the business in the bloodline, what hard conversation do they need to have next before a crisis forces decisions?
[00:41:30] Speaker B: So, again, that's a very vague question. The family wants to keep it in the bloodline, does that mean that the successor, the children, want to keep it in the bloodline, or does that mean that the parents, the current owners, want to keep it in the bloodline? That's two totally separate things and two totally separate conversations.
Sometimes the parents say, I want to keep this in the family name and I want to make this my legacy. And the kids say, I don't even want to live in this same state. Okay? I went to college, and I've got a degree in something completely different. And I am passionate about what I'm passionate about, and I'm not passionate about the same thing that the parents are passionate about.
So you have to.
Again, you have to go back to your definition, who is passionate about the business, because this is where you're going to be pouring your heart and soul and blood and money for the next bunch of years. Okay? And if this isn't where you want to be, don't force it.
[00:42:44] Speaker A: Right. And you were mentioning that before about children who don't want to do what the parents had in mind. And I think that may happen a lot so then what's the one metric you track that quietly predicts long term success?
Something that viewers can start monitoring this month.
[00:43:08] Speaker B: Probably going to surprise many of your viewers.
It's not cash flow. You can have a very healthy cash flow this year, and that doesn't mean you're going to have a healthy cash flow next year. You can have a very healthy occupancy rate this year. That doesn't mean you're going to have a healthy occupancy rate next year.
So what I thought about this question quite a bit and what I came up with is the ability to be flexible, the ability to evolve, okay?
The ability to recognize industry trends and see how those industries trends are changing.
The people who are going to be around five years from now and be successful are the people who are laying the foundation today that is going to be implemented tomorrow, that is going to satisfy tomorrow's customers.
Not today's customers, tomorrow's.
[00:44:09] Speaker A: And how easy is that to do?
Just trying to keep up today?
[00:44:21] Speaker B: If it was easy to do, everybody would be doing it. We all know that that's not true. Okay? We all know, we've all seen businesses that have been around for 40, 50 years and they go bankrupt. All right?
We've all seen that happen. Okay? So, so that's, that's, that's not easy. But you know what? It's not supposed to be easy, okay? Because this isn't. Life is not a participation sport, okay? You don't get a trophy for just breathing, all right?
If the people who are successful deserve to be successful because they, they worked at it, all right? They, they saw what the industry trends were headed and they pre. They prepared themselves to be at the right place at the right time with the right tools to satisfy the customers or exceed the customer's expectations.
And if, if you don't do that, you're not going to be successful. But if you did do that, you should go have some cake, okay? Drink some champagne, all right? Because there's a lot of people who fail to do that.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: Yep, you're right. You're right. You're absolutely right.
So my last question.
If you could give owners one legacy rule, one principle that protects both profit and peace, what would that be?
[00:45:46] Speaker B: Your integrity, your honesty.
Be honest.
Be honest with yourself.
Be honest with your business. Be honest with your customers.
And that's really all people want, is just, just to be treated with honesty and fairness.
And, and people want that today, they're gonna want it tomorrow, they're gonna want it from now on.
[00:46:13] Speaker A: Be honest Yeah, I agree with you there. I think people definitely, I think it makes them feel more comfortable.
So I really appreciate your taking time to be with us today, Ed. And what I want to know for our audience is where can people connect with you, learn about your consulting process and follow your work, especially owners exploring RV destinations, glamping marinas or storage facilities.
[00:46:45] Speaker B: My website is www.
My initials, EOB echo Oscar Bravo consulting dot com. It's not the underscore, it's EOB consulting dot com my phone number is 512-785-1379.
I'll talk to anybody in the outdoor hospitality industry, anybody who has a question.
