Paul Tusting ⋅ Salt Lake City, UT Bond Arms Inc ⋅ 20 years experience

Here's a post from a few years ago related to a similar question:

https://acp-advisornet.org/questions/1841

Joe Engle ⋅ Indianapolis, IN Electrical/Software Eng. + MBA ⋅ 30 years experience

Hello Forrest.
The first thing I would do is talk with the local zoning board/commission. Tell them your plans and ask if there are any zoning issues or requirements. This is critical. You dont want to have started, and later find out, there are serious zoning issues. Same with any other local authorities, like building requirements, drainage, etc.

Contact another (non-competing) RV park/campground owner and they might be able to provide some excellent, real world advice. I suggest contacting one in the same state, as far away as possible, so the owner will not see you as a competitor. I would have a list of good questions to ask. For example, how many years before profits, expected revenue after N years, seasonality, problems encountered, and so on. If that does not work out, contact OK State run campgrounds/parks. They should be willing to give you advice and not see you as competition. State run campgrounds are not profit driven, but they still might have some good info for you.

Put together a business plan. These are invaluable in helping entrepreneurs map out their business. The business plan forces you to look at revenues, expenses, employees, location, competition, and so on. You should make the plan look three years down the road. The plan will help you see issues BEFORE they happen. The Small Business Administration has good business plan support on their website, as well as many other websites.

All the best of luck and thank you for your service.
Joe

Richard Byrne ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Intel Corporation ⋅ 53 years experience

I've added links to my EE webpage under these sections that might be helpful in starting your business:
http://eehot.com/ee.html#vosb
http://eehot.com/ee.html#va
http://eehot.com/ee.html#funding
http://eehot.com/ee.html#networking
http://eehot.com/ee.html#mentoring
http://eehot.com/ee.html#sba
http://eehot.com/ee.html#usaid
http://eehot.com/ee.html#grants
http://eehot.com/ee.html#usa