Boho Camper Vans

Boho Camper Vans turns used cargo vans into custom homes on wheels. Buildouts started at $25,000 and eventually increased to a $40,000 minimum, with some custom projects reaching $135,000 or more—not including the van itself. Buying one was a months-long, deeply personal decision that required an enormous amount of trust.

Boho is where I learned to build a growth engine firsthand—not as a consultant looking in from the outside, but as a founder responsible for the positioning, marketing, sales process, customer experience, and systems behind it.

The idea began with a simple observation. On a trip to Maui, I rented a camper van and realized the experience didn’t exist back home in Arizona. A few months later, we had converted our first van and put it on the road. But an interesting idea and a good story don’t make a sustainable business. Turning early interest into predictable revenue required clear positioning, connected systems, and a team capable of executing.

Understand

The constraint was never a lack of interest in adventure. It was earning trust in an unfamiliar purchase.

Most customers had never purchased a custom camper van before. They weren’t simply comparing specifications—they were deciding whether they trusted us to build something they might travel or live in for months at a time.

That lesson applies far beyond camper vans: when a decision carries meaningful cost, risk, or complexity, growth depends on more than generating attention. The entire customer journey must build confidence.

Clarify — Positioning

We positioned Boho around a message that cut through: live more with less—mobile living made affordable, photogenic, and accessible to people who had never imagined themselves as “van life” buyers.

That positioning helped customers understand both the product and the possibility it represented. It attracted people who were ready to commit to the lifestyle, filtered out poor-fit inquiries, and made the value clearer before a sales conversation began.

Build — Demand & Conversion

The rental business became the top of the funnel. Thousands of rental trips and hundreds of reviews generated revenue, but they also created something more valuable: proof.

Customers could experience the product before committing to a custom build. A renter who loved the experience became a qualified buyer who already understood the value and trusted the company.

We built the marketing and sales process around that journey, moving people from curiosity about van life to confidence in a $40,000–$135,000+ conversion while reinforcing trust at every step.

That system is what turned national attention into sustained growth. Our 2020 appearance on Shark Tank—and a deal with Barbara Corcoran for $150,000 in cash plus a $150,000 line of credit for 10% equity—created a surge in awareness. But attention alone doesn’t build a business. The positioning, processes, and systems underneath it determined what happened next.

Improve & Transition

When the pandemic reshaped travel, the business adapted. We shifted the emphasis from rentals toward sales as more people looked for safe, self-contained ways to travel and live.

Because growth wasn’t dependent on a single campaign or channel, we could respond to the market without rebuilding the company from scratch.

The Result

Revenue grew from approximately $493,000 in 2019 to more than $18 million in lifetime sales by the time I exited the business in 2026. Boho became one of the most recognized companies in the custom camper van industry, built by a small team I helped lead from the beginning.

I experienced every stage firsthand—from validating the idea and earning the first customers to building a team, navigating rapid growth, and completing a founder exit. That operating experience now shapes how I help other founders make better decisions and turn those decisions into completed work.