Incredible Day... | Trailer Rental Show | Trailer Hustle Podcast Episode 042

In this episode, Justin sits down to reflect on the very first Trailer Hustle Picnic and what an incredible day it turned into for the community. Dozens of members from across the trailer industry came together for great food, networking, games, and real conversations with people who live and breathe the trailer hustle every day.

Justin talks about why the community means so much, what it was like seeing everyone finally meet face to face, and how events like this prove that Trailer Hustle is more than just a Facebook group or an app. It’s a network of people helping each other grow in business and in life.

A huge thank you goes out to the sponsors who helped make the event possible and continue to support the Trailer Hustle community.

Thanks to all of our sponsors!
Big Rentals
Ride Dog GPS
Trailer Valet
Epoxy Warehouse USA
Red Pine Trailers
Precision Harness
Down2Earth
Maxx-D
Limitless Workshop

Your support helps keep this community growing and allows us to continue putting together events, giveaways, and resources for trailer owners across the country.

Justin also shares a little about what’s next for Trailer Hustle and why this picnic is just the beginning of bringing the community together in bigger ways.

If you’re part of Trailer Hustle, thank you for being here. If you’re new, welcome to the community.

See what Big Rentals has to offer https://calendly.com/ryan-keen/trailer-hustle-big-rentals

Get Ride Dog GPS https://ridedog.com/purchase/ride-dog-anti-theft-device?via=trailer-hustle

Check out Trailer Valet https://trailervalet.com/?sca_ref=9678865.QcPcv1iny7tCWk

Get Lonestar Tracking https://www.lonestartracking.com/?sld=119

👉 Join the Community:
 Be part of the movement at TrailerHustle.com — your hub for tools, resources, and the official Trailer Hustle App.

💬 Join the Conversation:
 Connect with thousands of other trailer owners, renters, dealers, and builders inside the Trailer Hustle Facebook Group — the biggest online community in the industry. https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BTu5MRv7a/

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 for updates, giveaways, and stories from real people in the trailer world.

Song: Avatar

Artist: Kia

Music by: CreatorMix.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up guys? Welcome back to the Trailer Hustle Podcast. My name is Justin, and this is the Trailer Owners Network. I'm glad that you're here with me today. Today is Monday, uh, March 16th. This is um I am finally uh we are finally done with the trailer hustle picnic. I shouldn't say finally done, but the first annual trailer hustle picnic is in the books. Okay, that's what I'm trying to say. And um I'm feeling this sense of like, oh, we did it, you know, because I've been planning this thing for months and months and months and months and getting things set up and bugging people about it and all this kind of stuff. Um, and it was uh it was a success. Um, we had a lot of RSVPs that didn't show. You know, I think the weather might have scared some people, some people got called to work, you know, a few things like that. It happens, but it was the first event. I learned a lot from it. And um, I think the next event and the event after that, whenever or wherever that'll be, is gonna be a huge success. Um, just like this one was, um, but bigger, better. Um, you know, when people uh, you know, when we got the RSVPs, that puts your name in the um uh in the bucket for giveaways. That also lets us know how much food to bring. Being that uh like 15 people didn't show, um, it worked well, kinda that we we made it work because people were able to take a lot of food home, which was great. Um, we had a lot of extra food. Um, but also uh we got through all the names in the giveaway, and then we just put the names back at the bucket, did it again. So that was cool. A lot of people ended up with uh double prizes, which was really, really cool. Um we had uh um Bradley's spouse, his wife won the uh giveaway for the the spouse giveaway that I did. Um he is with Grace and Grit Trailer Reynolds. Um and it was it was pretty cool. We did a we did a uh spouse giveaway just to say thank you to all the spouses. If you were there, comment below, um, you know, and uh let us know if you if you won something. Let us know what you want and uh talk about it. But um, you know, we I did that because I wanted to really make sure that spouses understand that we really appreciate them and um we we know what it is that we put them through with all the trailer conversations and the the the the them sharing us with the general public and um you know with uh our customers and sharing them, sharing us with the business, whatever. You know, they do a lot, they put up with a lot, and we're grateful for them, and that's why I wanted to do that um giveaway that I did. And I'm I'm glad that um, you know, Bradley, shout out to you and your uh wife. I'm glad you guys got some great giveaways. Actually, um Radley got he got lucky. He won the down-to-earth cooler that we had for the um uh for a giveaway, and he also won, I think, a ride dog GPS, uh Lifetime GPS unit from Ride Dog. So man, you uh you you guys did well. So um, but anyway, um it was it was a great event, man. We um we got started a little later than um you know, people kind of was strolling in around till like two o'clock, um, which is fine. But um, yeah, we got started early, got everything ready, and um, you know, shout out to my family and to uh my my amazing uh girls' family, uh the Sabo family um for helping out, as well as everybody else that showed up, all my other friends and uh family that showed up to help out. It was really, really big. I really appreciate you guys. Um, you guys made it a wonderful event for everybody. So thank you so much for representing me well and for uh helping out with this thing. Um to everybody that showed up, man, I am so glad that you guys were there. It was really cool meeting everybody, putting faces and names. I'm really sorry to some of you guys, you're like, clearly he should know who I am. I I I knew who most of y'all were. I tried to even like study up like what do these people look like, what are their names, what are their company names? Sometimes it's hard because I said this to a lot of people, but if I'm talking to you on in the group and we're commenting back and forth or something like that, usually it's on like your business page, so I know the business page name. Then you tell me your name, and I'm like trying to place the name with the company name, you know. Sometimes it's kind of difficult, but in any case, I think it worked out fine. We had cornhole, a lot of people playing some cornhole. We had uh uh the horseshoes going, you know, we had that dock out there, everybody was enjoying. There was like these paratroopers or whatever you want to call it, pear jumpers. I don't know what you call it. People jumping out of helicopters and doing military exercises, which was pretty cool out over the uh the lake uh right there. So we were watching that. Um, and then just people hanging out, eating some really good food and talking shop. It was really, really cool, man. We had um, you know, Ryan and Pablo there from uh Big Reynolds, they were uh talking with everybody and um uh Adam with Ride Dog was talking with everybody, had a great display about you know all his stuff. And the biggest thing was everybody got together, had a lot of fun, and um, people brought their kids, brought their families, and it was just great, man. It was just great. Everybody loved the boiled peanuts, everybody loved the food, it seemed like it was it was it was great. So I'm very grateful that everybody got together with this. I learned a whole lot from it. I learned a lot of things that people um wished that was there. I learned a lot of things that people didn't really care that were there. Um, I learned a lot about the venue and location. A lot of people had an issue with the location, it seemed like, or they're like, why here? The the the venue itself was great. We had a nice big indoor area with a full kitchen, multiple bathrooms, you know, big area for the because it rained all morning, which was a bummer. But the and then outside of it, you had a big porch, another pavilion, picnic tables, big open area. You had an area for parking, and then you had the dock by the water. I mean, it was a beautiful place. But you had to drive, you know, I don't know, you know, once you hit O'Cal or hit that area, you know, you're waiting for some banjo music to start playing, you know, for like 30 minutes. So I think if that venue was like right outside of your your major city, you probably wouldn't have had much of an issue. But a lot of people were kind of like creeped out or weirded out by you driving through the country. The place was very centralized in in Florida, so I tried to just pick a place. This is why I picked it. What is that? Lip crud? Um anyway. I tried to uh pick a place that was pretty central to um in Florida, where everybody from north, south, whatever, everybody can get there pretty easily. And I think I think it was probably the best spot for Florida. Um more or less the best spot. I just again uh wish the venue was outside of like a major city, it would have been a little easier next to like a major airport or something because a lot of people flew in. Um but anyway, guys, thank you so much for everybody that joined. Another huge thank you to all the sponsors, everybody that got involved, man. It it looked like, I mean, I uh first of all, I put together a whole bunch of things and I put together a bunch of mystery buckets and stuff. Everybody seemed to like those. That was cool. Um, you know, just filled with a bunch of stuff like straps, pins, um tool uh or magnet uh parts holders, whatever, magnetic parts holders, zip ties, um, all kinds of stuff like that. Some of the strap sets were like the higher-end Vulcan straps, some were just the basic Husky straps. But either way, I put together some cool stuff. That seemed to be really pretty well received. Precision Harness gave away some stuff. People really liked that. They thought that was really cool. So shout out to Precision Harness for that. Um Ride Dog, he gave away, uh Adam gave away five GPS units with lifetime service, uh, which was great. He ended up selling a handful of them as well and was able to talk to a lot of people to show them all the features. And I know that a lot of people are gonna be picking up some ride dog in the coming weeks now that they know more about it and had an opp opportunity to see firsthand what it is and how it works. So that was really cool. Uh, and then of course, uh Ryan and Pablo, you know, you guys running around doing your thing, talking to people about their businesses and letting them know how Big Reynolds can help them out. Um, you know, I know I know you guys uh did really well, and I'm very grateful for you guys throwing in some giveaway items as well. That was really cool with the tool sets. Um so yeah, so thank you guys all around. Um and as well to some of the uh the gold sponsors being um Red Pine trailers, uh, thank you guys so much. We also had um uh Epoxy Warehouse USA Um chip in and help out. Thank you so much. Trailer Valet, uh those jacks uh coincidentally went to the perfect people. Um it worked out really, really well. Um so thank you guys so much for for kicking in giveaway items and sponsoring things, um, as well as Precision Artists for being a gold sponsor on top of the giveaways that they that they threw in. Very, very, very cool. Um, very happy to work with you guys. It's been uh it's been great so far. So um super cool guys. Oh, and uh sorry, I almost forgot uh Limitless Workshop. I need to take more notes so I don't forget things. Limitless Workshop, thank you guys so much too. Um, you know, you guys, they for those that weren't there, Limitless Workshop threw in a$250 gift card to their website, um, which was uh which is which is pretty big. I mean, they do everything from like decals on your trailers to shirts to hats to posters, promotion items, banners, whatever you could ever want. They can pretty much make it, it seems like. Um, but they do a lot of custom stuff, which is great. They've made me a lot of stuff as well. Um, so definitely check out Limitless Workshop if you're if you haven't yet. But thank you guys so much too for chipping in. That was really, really cool of you guys to do that. Um, but uh, but yeah, I don't know when the next one will be or where it will be. Um drop down, drop, drop your city and state in the comment. Let me know where you guys want it to be. If you couldn't attend or you thought it was really cool or whatever, drop it down below. Let me know uh who wants it. You know, I mean, if it might uh obviously I want to try and do it in areas where we have a high concentration of members. Um, and we got a lot of people. Um, but the I'd say Texas is probably a logical next move if I don't do it just in Florida again. Um North Georgia has quite a few because we can get all the Tennessee crowd there as well. There's a lot of people in Tennessee and the Carolinas. We could probably, if we do something in northern Georgia, that might be an okay spot as well. Um, and then of course, like, you know, your Phoenix, Arizona um area, Denver, Colorado. Like these places have a very high concentration of of uh of renters or people that are in the trailer hustle community. So um I might I'm I gotta consider it and figure it out. The big thing to think about is I'm gonna have to load up a trailer and drive to wherever this is at and coordinate it when I'm not there and all. So that takes a little bit, a little bit of work. So I'm gonna figure it out, but I want to make sure that I I do it in a place where you guys really want to see it, where you guys will want to attend and and have some fun. And these picnics, by the way, these aren't big events for companies to come and like really I mean, I know I had a lot of sponsors and that kind of thing to help out with things, and it was great. Everybody enjoyed having them there, it seemed, but this isn't a big thing where you're gonna go there, and it's like this big NATDA style thing where people are setting up trailers and doing all that. Who knows? Maybe one day trailer hustle can take part in that kind of thing, or maybe even um offer a uh a venue like that one day. I don't know, it just depends. These might be stepping stones to that. I don't know. Um, who knows what 60 months from now will look like. Um, but for now, um, this is just a way of for me to say thank you to the community for all your support. You know, you guys have helped grow the largest, the largest trailer rental group or community in the world. There is not another one that even touches the size of this thing. Um, and it's really, really, really awesome. You know, we're in all 50 states. Um, we are in 16 countries, and not just like, and I mentioned this at the picnic, but not just like one person in that country, like 25, 30, 40 people in these other countries that are telling more people about it. We're getting more people joining every single day. So that's really, really cool. Um, the trailer hustle app, uh, eventually for the people that do watch this that are in these other countries, by the way, the trailer hustle app right now is just the United States. Um, however, there will be some expansion at some point where we can create, you know, it I don't I don't really know how it's all gonna work because I'm not I'm not a developer, but I will talk to the team about it. I know we have plans to get things going uh once we stabilize this version um uh to to expand it and make sure everybody can take part in it. Speaking of the app, guys, I'm gonna pivot to that really quick. If you have not already done so, now even if your phone has automatic downloads um or automatic updates installed, um, I don't care. Sign out of the app, delete it, re-download it. Okay. Um, we have another update happening probably next week, but the major update that I've been talking about for months has happened. A couple little bugs with the chat system, a couple things like that. We're getting all that worked out. Don't worry about it. We just added five new giveaways to it as well. So we've got some really cool giveaways happening. Shout out to uh Grizzly Transportation on winning last week's giveaway for the Steak Pocket D-Rings that we did. I already got that shipped out today. Um, but um, you know, definitely join the app. There is a free version. All right. So join the app for free before you have to pay for anything. If you like it and you want to get rid of a banner ad or you want to join giveaways, or you want to have more tools like maintenance logs, if you want to have more tools like documentation uploads, additional um product or excuse me, additional locations, showcase products, showcase services, whatever it is you want to do like that, look at the different subscriptions tiers and pick what makes sense for you. But if you just want to be on there and want to network with people for free, great. It's a free app. Go ahead. We finally got that done. Be sure to optimize your account. And one of the biggest things is I want to make Trailer Hustle, the Trailer Hustle app, the best national review system, the most in-depth trailer review system out there. Okay. So if you've got trailers, add them to your account. Add all the features, add it in there, the brand, the manufacturer, whatever. Add it to your account so people can see what kind of equipment you have, but then you can rate your equipment. When you rate your equipment, that lets everybody know truly how you liked it on you know, scale one to five on the five stars, whatever, five star scale. But also there's 10 categories that you're rated on, and that'll give people a really good understanding because we see it every day in the group, like, hey, I've never heard of this brand. I'm thinking about buying one. What do you think? And you know, nobody really answers the call sometimes. Well, with this, we're building up a national database of trailers. I mean, we've already got like 700 people on the app. It's pretty great. And if everybody has one trailer, well, that's 700 trailers that are on the app. If everybody can add them, add reviews, great. We're gonna start building up a real database of reviews here. And um, it's just gonna help people make better buying decisions. It'll help manufacturers fix things and make better quality trailers for all of us. Our impact as a community, our feedback, the things that we talk about, the things that we care about, these things are being, I mean, these are these are not going unseen by these manufacturers, you know, do little down-to-earth. I mean, like a lot of these companies have reached out to me saying, hey, we fixed an entire line of trailers based on the feedback we got from your community. So it's it's very important for us to continue making a difference in this industry. And um, what what a better way than add your trailers, all the details, and rate it and uh and comment, you know, what it is you do and don't love about your trailer. It's just gonna help people make better buying power or buying decisions, and it's gonna help manufacturers make things better. It's also gonna help dealerships make better decisions on what trailers they want to offer. Um, you know, versus like, oh, these guys are close, I'll just sell theirs. But then, you know, if they're crap, nobody buys them. Well, they might make a decision to get something better based on what you guys say, and then those manufacturers will see that and they can start making a better product. Um, or at least that's what my brain sees as a perfect world, something that could happen. So, uh, so anyway, I'd love to have you guys on the app. I think it's really cool. We do giveaways every single Friday. We've got amazing sponsors that help with that. I do a whole lot with it as well. We've got some new companies that are going to be coming on board soon offering giveaways. Um, but we do giveaways every single Friday. Okay. Every single Friday. So don't miss it. I think the next giveaway is going to be the Big Rentals uh giveaway. There they give away a set of Vulcan uh vehicle tie-downs. It's, you know, it's like$160 value, you know, for the Pro Series straps that they like to give away. Um and uh yeah, I mean, there's that, and there's a handful of other things happening, and there will be some trailer giveaways happening very soon. So be on the lookout for that. So uh so anyway, guys, thank you so much. Um I'm gonna have a uh a couple more episodes that come out soon talking about some pretty cool things that happened at the uh uh at the picnic. That was really, really neat. So I'll discuss that with you guys. Um, but more so I'll be talking about I've got a whole list of topics that you guys have been commenting and telling me what you want to hear about, what you want to see. And I got some great feedback from the community um uh at the picnic. Man, you guys were all over. Tell me what you did and didn't like about the podcast, the topics that you'd like to see. Thank you guys so much for all that feedback, man. It was really, really, really nice getting to meet all you guys and um and hang out with y'all and and um you know, pick y'all's brains a little bit, just like y'all picked mine sometimes. I mean, it was it was really, really cool. So I'm excited to do it again soon. Um, and uh yeah, so join the app. Thank you guys again. Quick episode. You guys have an amazing day. This is the Trailer Owners Network. I'm glad that you are here. Take it easy, guys.