Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to K Pawley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

K, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I spent a couple years traveling from Oregon to Argentina in an old Chevy truck and camper I’d modified for the trip.
I’d used my experience growing up on a farm to make thoughtful modifications to the rig and it actually worked really, really well.
When I returned to the US, I couldn’t fathom going back to a regular job after the freedom I’d found on the road. I’d built up a small following online, offering advice to others looking to set up a truck for long term travel, so starting a shop felt like a natural progression.
I’d noticed that, even though there were a lot of overland and camper shops popping up around that time (2019), most of them didn’t have the same experience, or perspective as me.
I truly see the vehicle as a tool for a job, something to help facilitate travel and exploration. A majority of the shops in the industry, really see the vehicle as the whole point. For me, exploration is the point, and I think most of the customers who find their way to us, feel the same.

K, 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?

We sell and install high-quality truck campers and associated equipment for off-grid and international travel by vehicle.

We try to help customers put together a truck and camper that work for them… that meets their goals and specific requirements. We believe a well built vehicle can definitely enhance and expand the pursuit of off-grid travel, but are whole-heartedly invested in the philosophy of experiences over equipment.

We try to use our collective years of experience living and traveling off-grid and abroad to help our customers only buy and fit the things that truly work for them, to meet their stated goals.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I started out mostly installing electrical systems in vans that the customer was building out themselves. In my first year I was mobile, and would actually go to the customer’s house to perform the work. Later, this electrical specialty lead us to begin designing and installing retrofit electrical and solar systems into large RVs.

While this business was growing, and profit was good, I found it increasingly difficult to hire or train someone into the technical aspects of the role. I had a decent sized crew, but discovered I could never quite get procedures and training into place that would allow me to step back from day to day involvement in the technical side of operations.

My personal passion came from overland travel, and a specific skillset with full-sized trucks and campers. I had an opportunity to begin selling Overland Explorer Vehicles brand composite campers and chose to pivot to that as the main driver for business at Zero Declination.

We no longer do the large, custom electrical systems, focusing instead on a small, very specific set of high-profit installations and the sales of the campers, which makes training and organization much much simpler and considerably more scalable.

How did you build your audience on social media?

A great deal of my initial customers came from one, single Facebook group.

I’d been giving free technical advice for a long time on the group, based on my own personal experiences and lessons learned while traveling in a truck and camper internationally.

When I came home and decided to start the shop, a vast majority of my paying customers came to me because of the free, but helpful, advice I’d given on the facebook group.

I even wrote up a white paper describing and discussing solutions to common problems those in the group were having, essentially giving away my trade craft for free. This single write up still drives customers to the shop today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zerodeclination.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zerodeclination/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zerodeclination

Image Credits

KP Pawley