Thanks to Bill Husted for speaking with LivMobil’s Bill Ward about Airstreams and the “vagabond life” in this May 2015 interview for the Denver Business Journal. Read the original here. We’ve republished it below for posterity:
Bill Ward, 41, is a youngish Denver entrepreneur with his fingers in a lot of pies. Most recently, he’s renting out Airstream trailers to western road warriors.
Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Ward went to the University of Colorado Boulder to study communications, something he said he’s never used “except to talk a lot.”
He graduated in 1996, and during and after college he kicked around a lot jobs: He worked in Aspen as a bicycling guide; went to Cape Cod to be a cook; dipped into jobs in stocks and commodities; started a matchmaking service; was a corporate recruiter in Denver; and started a marketing company, a credit card processing company and then nightclubs. He’s a well-known boulevardier, usually spotted with a beautiful woman on his arm.
In 2005, Ward had four clubs: Slim 7, Pi, and Below Bar on Larimer Square, and MiniBar in Cherry Creek North. After enjoying some initial hotness, they all closed. “I got hit pretty hard in the late 2000s,” he says.
He headed south to help some friends in San Paulo, Brazil, get a commodities business off the ground, traveled abroad, helped start a friend’s auto concierge business in LA and then, almost by accident, ended up in the business of renting Airstreams (made by Thor Industries Inc. (NYSE: THO), just as the retro silver bullets were becoming cool again.
Four years ago he bought a vintage Airstream as a goof, for fun, for parties and tailgating. Friends wanted to borrow it, and then rent it. “Hmm,” he thought. “This could be a real business.”
He bought a few more and leased some tow vehicles. Now he has 24 of the gleaming Airstreams and 11 tow vehicles. His company, Living Airstream ( website here), keeps rental offices in Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
He’s just back from a motorcycle trip through Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. He parks an Airstream on Third and Milwaukee in Cherry Creek one morning and we sit down to talk it over.
Bill Husted: What is it about Airstreams?
Bill Ward: They are cool and hip and retro. They are basically timeless.
BH: Is this Airstream business going to make any money?
BW: Son of a gun, it already is. There are a couple of streams of revenue. We buy and sell Airstreams. But the rental side is a great business model.
BH: What does it cost to rent one of these babies?
BW: It depends on the model and year, but for a week, let’s says the truck is going to cost you about $950 and the Airstream is about $1,750. So you’re looking at $2,700. And we’re building new party Airstreams for overflows, wine tastings and smoke rooms.
BH: How busy are you? What do you do with these things all winter?
BW: To give you an idea, we are fully booked with a 20-name waiting list for the end of August, beginning of September, for Burning Man [the annual counter-culture festival held in the Nevada desert].
The difficult part is moving them around. It’s a logistical nightmare. In one Airstream we had at Burning Man last year, the battery went dead. They got a jump and the electrical system fried. We had a guy from San Francisco show up and it took him two days to get the Airstream out of Burning Man. It was a nightmare. But there are always going to be issues like that coming along.
BH: How was the bar business?
BW: I hated it. It was brutal. I never want to get back in that industry again.
BH: You had a lot of friction on Larimer Square.
BW: We ended up selling two of them and then shutting the other two down. I realized that I am not a good owner/operator.
BH: The bars were failures?
BW: Well, not necessarily. They made some money. But ultimately, bars like this are going to close down and stop for whatever reason. It wasn’t the lifestyle I wanted to live. It wasn’t enjoyable. But without failures you’re not going to have true success. Everyone fails in one aspect or another.
BH: Have you ever been broke?
BW: I’ve been so broke I didn’t know how I was going to eat. I didn’t know how I was going to pay for a pizza. It’s not where I ever want to be again.
BH: What’s your idea of happiness?
BW: Travel and freedom and love and respect and success.
BH: Greatest extravagance?
BW: Food, by far.
BH: Favorite food?
BW: Sushi. I love sushi.
BH: Where do like to eat?
BW: Sushi Den, Carmine’s on Penn. You can find me two nights a week at Hillstone.
BH: What’s your current state of mine?
BW: I am at a great place in my life.
BH: Why is this a good time in your life?
BW: I have a good balance
BH: Have you ever had a broken heart?
BW: Of course.
BH: Have you ever broken a heart?
BW: I am sure I have, unfortunately.
BH: Are you a good breaker-upper?
BH: I am very respectful.
BH: Are you going to get married?
BW: Eventually.
BH: What talent do you wish you had?
BW: I always thought it would be fun to be in a play.
BH: Where would you most like to live?
BW: I love California and parts of Asia and parts of Europe. South America. I love Brazil and Medellin, Colombia.
BH: What do you regard as the lowest depths of misery?
BW: Accounting.
BH: What’s your favorite thing to do?
BW: I love a long motorcycle ride.
BH: What’s your most marked characteristic?
BW: I am very trusting. That has gotten me into some trouble financially.
BH: Do you have a sense that the universe will provide?
BW: Absolutely not. That’s the whole problem with being an entrepreneur. It’s either feast of famine.
BH: Reading?
BW: I love the Malcolm Gladwell books. “Tipping Point” is a classic. And I just read “Growth Hacker Marketing.”
BH: Why does it smell like incense here?
BW: It’s definitely not me.
BH: Do you smoke pot?
BW: No. It never stuck to me. I like my wine.
BH: Motto?
BW: It’s on the bottom of my business card. In Korean and Braille. Explore. Love. Happiness. And another one I always forget.
