The Online Education and Collaboration Hub Serving the Greater RV Community

How Sandy Ellingson Created a LifterLMS-Powered Bridge to Connect the RV Industry and RV Aficionados

Sandy Ellingson, The Hub for RVers

Success Story Highlights

Community forums 

Courses with RV industry experts

Future portals for event planning and training

“Necessity is the mother of invention” goes the proverb. Sometimes, however, it takes an innovative mind to identify an unmet need that has so far gone unnoticed. 

This is what happened when Sandy Ellingson saw an opportunity to improve the RV lifestyle that tens of millions of Americans enjoy, by bridging the gap between manufacturing and hospitality. Envisioning an ecosystem where suppliers, campgrounds, campers, and manufacturers could strategically collaborate, innovate, and learn from one another, she created The Hub for RVers.*  Using LifterLMS she can build the memberships, courses, and community that are central to her mission.

Some 12 million Americans are estimated to own recreational vehicles or motor homes, and ownership has increased by 62% in the past 20 years. As of 2023, there are over 15,000 campgrounds and RV parks, and businesses in the industry as a whole keep growing. At least one million RV owners live in these home-like vehicles full-time.

With this tremendous growth, it is increasingly important to improve the efficiency and quality of both equipment and campground facilities. But how can that happen if the industry side, the hospitality side, and the campers that utilize them, are not communicating?

Sandy Ellingson from RV Industry

“We needed a platform that could scale to potentially 100,000 users at a time while offering the flexibility and functionality our project demanded. After trying several options, we found LifterLMS through a Google search. The more we explored it, the more we realized it was perfect. It offered the balance of performance, scalability, and ease of use that none of the others could match”

—Sandy Ellingson, The Hub for RVers

The Road to Tech-Based Collaboration

Former career technology consultant Sandy Ellingson was enjoying retirement as she and her husband explored the open road in their RV. Along the way, Sandy, a born connector and innovator, started helping campgrounds, and when she found she had a hundred campgrounds on her roster she realized she was no longer retired. Already acquainted with people on the industry side, she was able to identify how campsite hospitality and manufacturing could collaborate to proactively make better business decisions. 

 

Screenshot of the Home page of The Hub for RVers by Sandy Ellingson

Our goal is to provide the technology platform that fosters success across all of the outdoor hospitality ecosystem. We do this by enabling meaningful connections, communication, collaboration, and innovation in a safe, commerce-free, distraction-free environment.

Sandy developed The Hub to bridge the gap between rig manufacturers, suppliers, campgrounds, and campers by fostering strategic collaboration and innovation via a unified technology platform. This new online ecosystem also brings in content creators, campground vendors and staff, state associations, and educators in the field. All content is vetted for accuracy, making it especially useful for campers who are new to RVing.

At first, each side did not recognize what they had in common with the other until COVID created both innovations and challenges that could be better addressed if working in concert. One example Sandy points to is the shortage of rig technicians––an average of one tech per 4000 RVs on the road––and the difficulty training schools have placing them in campgrounds to provide them with hands-on experience. 

Thanks to one of the new relationships built by The Hub, techs go through “tech camping,” where they are placed in, and work with, campgrounds. The technicians get the real-life experience they need; conversely, the campground can market that they have a tech on site.

Image of Course Catalog Page from The Hub for RVers by Sandy Ellingson

How LifterLMS Drives The Hub

While The Hub is newly launched, plans are in the works for courses, forums, and training portals. With a target of up to 100,000 users and 1,000 courses anticipated within the next year, Sandy set out to find the best platform to power her new site. 

Although already familiar with WordPress, she initially looked to the SaaS platform Kajabi. However, when she described her vision to them, it was clear they were unable to handle the number of users she aims to attract. When LifterLMS came into view, she and her team were duly impressed at its capabilities. The more they examined Lifter, the more they saw they had found the platform that could offer the features they needed. Also critical is Lifter’s integration with other apps they may be implementing, such as FluentCRM for marketing, BuddyBoss for expanded social functionality, and Twilio for message-based marketing.

LifterLMS is especially important for The Hub’s collaboration and innovation functions.  While LifterLMS add-ons like Advanced Videos, email marketing, and Social Learning are all important to the site, it is the Groups feature that is key to The Hub’s connection and communication functions. Called “Opportunities” on the website, it will offer members a way to create groups to address specific interests between various parties in the RV ecosystem that otherwise might not have a readily available communication channel.

Image of Course page by Sandy Ellingson from RV Industry

I found LifterLMS in a Google search and started watching your videos… We did the free trial. And the more we got into it, it was like, “This is awesome.” … Everybody on my team was raving.

Mapping Out Future Plans

For the courses planned for The Hub, thirty-one subject matter experts have been contracted so far. A number of industry CEOs will provide lessons once a month, and Sandy will interview an expert each week. 

What sets The Hub apart is its “no sales” approach that underscores its commitment to relationship building. The commercial participants understand this and share their passion for the topic as they connect with the other RV-related communities.

Looking to the future, Sandy plans on portals for topics like event planning and training that will be vetted by industry innovators. She may also add an e-commerce shop for merchandise like tee shirts and coffee mugs. The Hub will remain a no-commerce zone for connecting, collaborating, and learning. 

In the meantime, mobile apps are available for both iOS and Android, a logical offering for a user base that is largely on the move.

Sandy’s personal mission statement throughout her long career has been, “I want to make a difference with people who make a difference doing things that make a difference.” By creating The Hub, she is carrying out that very mission with a community that shares her vision.

This is a unique space. We’re trying to meet a larger need for campers and give them the ability to connect with the industry to get problems solved.

Sandy Ellingson and The Hub can reached at:


*The website URLs mentioned in the live interview, outdoorhospitalityhub.com and hub-for-RVers.com, are now redirecting to https://thehubforRVers.com/

To learn more, listen to our podcast episode with Sandy Ellingson on LMScast.