Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tyler Sowards. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tyler , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Me and my brother came across people living ‘Vanlife’ on YouTube in 2018. We thought it was really cool and followed a few people building their vans DIY and loved the building and creative process. We couldn’t believe that people were living off-grid in a van with a full kitchen, bed, and shower setup, and going pretty much wherever they wanted! It was just the coolest thing to us. Fast forward to 2020 and all of a sudden we had a lot of time on our hands from being off work due to Covid, so we started our business, CT Vans. It started as a little side hustle with our first client, but we knew there was opportunity to grow very quickly. Two months later, we quit our other jobs and begin building custom vans full-time, and have been doing it ever since!
Tyler , 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?
Vanlife and Tiny living really exploded onto the scene in 2020 during Covid. We knew that it was becoming a big market so we jumped in head first. In November 2020, we started our first van in our parents driveway. Fast forward a few years and we now have a shop that can fit two vans, and we’ve completed 30 complete builds and dozens of side jobs. We’ve also converted several school buses, both small and full size, and even an old ambulance. We’re one of the only fully custom van builders east of the Mississippi and we’re very proud to have some many happy clients and vans on the road today!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When we began in 2020, we had immediate success. It turns out, that’s not always a good thing. Our first 3 years in business were booming. We never even had to do marketing, people just somehow found us. Then in January 2023, we finished our last build and had no more in the queue. It was terrifying to say the least. All of a sudden we felt unemployed with no idea how to market or get clients. We had a few side jobs during the spring and had a van we were renting that was just barely keeping us afloat. We hired a business coach in May, and he helped us with everything, including marketing, website design, financial records, and the discipline we needed to right the ship. We were 1 day from closing shop for good (I’m not kidding, it was a Friday and I was going to interview at a new job on Monday) when we sold our rental van and got a custom client. All of a sudden we were back in business and could survive another month. That was all we needed to get back on our feet. We learned lot in 2023 about running a business and what it takes to make it, and we believe those hard lessons will set us up from future success.
How did you build your audience on social media?
We don’t have a large following by any means, but we’ve learned in the past 6 months since really investing into our social media that people love to follow a story. For our business, it’s easy to post the normal ‘vanlife’ or van build posts with nice kitchens and layouts/designs, but we’ve found that people love to see the ins and outs from beginning to end. People want to follow a story, so we try to be creative with our posts and give them something to follow along with and even give input into.
Contact Info:
- Website: Ctvans.com
- Instagram: @ctvans