We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gregory Guido. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gregory below.

Hi Gregory, thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
Almost everyday our inner speech dreams up creative imaginations.

Some of these ideas make it to a collaborative conversation with friends, family or colleagues.

As these ideas come to light a more in-depth research comes to light as you gather more information and insight. I’d like to call these phases.

First phase: cognitive inner speech “dreaming up your business idea”.

Second phase: A collaboration of your ideas presented to your family.

Third phase: collaboration with your friends.

Fourth phase: collaboration with your colleagues.

Fifth phase: research competition and market what separates you from the rest.

Sixth phase: would be getting a Tax id, business license and insurance etc.

Seventh phase would be advertising and marketing.

Eighth phase: selling the actual goods or rendering services and getting that first customer.

Ninth phase: The final step would be reinvesting into your business to hopefully reach your desired end state.

Gregory, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have had a plethora of business ideas. Some are so huge drawn-out and cost so much money to actually take a foothold.

So focusing on achieving what you can do right now and executing that will eventually get you to that next step.

Rendering goods and services for people will always be a profitable business and if you can add your family into the mix it works even better.

Most business that we use or go into for the first time will determine if we go back. So customer service and first impression is huge in this aspect.

Since my tenure in the Military my family and I had the privilege of traveling across the country.

When I got orders to go overseas for my next assignment I wanted to take my family across the country to see places we didn’t get to experience.

We have timeshare, but we couldn’t really use it because Covid was just ramping up and we were limited to the places we could travel.

This is when we decided to get a RV and that would change our life from that day.

We decided to get an RV that could sleep all 5 of us and have room for our yellow lab.

Our first trip was a 3 hour drive from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to workout any issues before traveling across country.

A few weeks later we wrote down or trip itinerary and downloaded a few travel apps.

We were planning on traveling from Pennsylvania to California and we’re making overnight stops every 7-10 hours only stopping for 1 night and moving on.

Our trip got cut short twice. Once for the forest first in California so we had to stop in Colorado then I got a call saying my overseas orders got canceled and my leave got cut short so I had less than 7 days to make it back to work from Colorado.

When I received my new orders a few months later for Texas we knew we had to have a better itinerary.

We would only travel for about 5 hours or 200 miles and look for the best campground and stay for 2 days before moving on.
We planned to travel south down to St. Augustine Florida, then Texas on i10.

When we got to settled in Texas my wife and I started talking about sharing our travel experience. This is when our business plan started to come to light.

We wanted to in-compass everything in one place for everyone who likes traveling and share the best of the best.

That when we came up with The RV Marketplace. One place where people can come together and share all their experiences while traveling.

On our website/social media pages we collaborate with other people across the county to share experiences from the best generators to use or water filtrations, to best places to travel with kids or how full time living works and homeschooling kids.

We also have RVs listed for sale or for rent on our site so our community can pick and choose which RV would be a perfect fit for them before actually making that big purchase or just simply giving another family that cherished moment to create memories with their loved ones that might not have the mean to spend money on financing or buying a RV.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
It is hard for any business to solely run with one person. Being away from your loved ones can be hard while operating a business as well.

Trying to meet that 50/50 split can be challenging at times as well. So if your spending 8 hours working are you spending 8 hours with your family?

Finding that equal medium is tough. However, by making this our family business it’s not like actually working because we are doing what we love to do and we’re working as a family.

As a senior leader in the Military, unit cohesion, purpose and motivation are key. If you’re not excited about going to work, don’t see a purpose in what you are doing or just doing it for the money it might not be in the best interest for that business owner.

Building a team to succeed and having goals and recognizing the accomplishments of the individuals to achieve those goals will motivate them to reach the next goal.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?
I have started a few businesses with little to no money. The first step some people might do is write up a business plan and look for investors or apply for a business loan.

There are some government grants that you can apply for. However, they can be tricky to navigate because of the requirements.

I find it easier to operate within your means. For example if you open a restaurant that could cost $1000,000 to open up for your first customer and one or two bad reviews can tarnish that businesses reputation.

Starting small and working up was my saving grace. I had to figure out the monthly operating cost and make sure my job in the Military paid my living expenses and to see how much I could actually afford after that.

For my first business I wanted to start a landscaping company. A commercial setup for an enclosed trailer, zero turn lawnmower, tools etc. which cost around $20,000.

My first goal to work towards that. I started with a push mower then reinvested my money for a self propelled mower then finally a zero turn mower with a trailer.

You cannot build a business if you don’t reinvest into the business. You need to find a more efficient ways to get the job done at a cheaper cost with better results.

Delegating was one of the hardest, but most efficient way of running my business.

I had just enough work to do myself, but not enough time to add any more jobs or do more estimates. So eventually I had to hire more employees so I could schedule the influx of appointments.

The first encounter with a new customer is key you don’t want to think about a one and done job you should look into making a long lasting relationship with that client whether you are there for that one job or a contract.

It’s easier to creat steps towards your desired goal and start accomplishing. In the Military we call this the crawl, walk, run phase.

So when you think about starting don’t just jump into the run phase.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thervmarketplace.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075349327359
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-guido-920673a0

Image Credits
Mount Rushmore St. Augustine Florida Badlands South Dakota Texas