RV Dealership
For more than 38 years, shifting from work to play for Art Newman meant changing seats.
Moving from the pilot's seat in the cockpit of a business jet cruising the skies to the driver's seat of a recreational vehicle cruising the highways became a regular pattern for Art. It also serves as a solid foundation for his family-owned business - RV Ranch in Valley View, Texas.
Today, Art is the president of RV Ranch and his wife Bonnie (the real boss, according to Art) is the vice president. With memories of his flying days and all the RVing he, his wife and their four children: Bryan, Debra, Cynthia and Janet have done together, their focus is now on their multi-million dollar business. Thanks to their experiences, Art and Bonnie are helping others live their dreams through the various recreational vehicles they sell and service.
Being a pilot was something that got into Art's blood early in life. Growing up in Biron, a small town in central Wisconsin, he saw an old time high-wing Piper Cub, one of the first popular civil aviation aircraft made.
"This was even before I entered grade school," Art said. I remember thinking that's what I want to do, just fly along with a feeling of freedom."
In 1957 Art was able to act on his dream of flying. He entered in the U.S. Air Force with his sights set on the Aviation Cadet Program. At that time, however, the military was more in need of mechanics than pilots. Art enlisted and became a jet engine technician, a step towards his dream.
In the 7 ½ years he was in the Air Force he was a jet engine technician and technical instructor. He also wrote student study guides on the topic. During this time he obtained his civilian pilot's license and ratings to fly several different civilian aircraft.
The next step in his aviation career came with the Diamond Shamrock Company, a multi-national top 100 corporation that is one of the largest independent refining and marketing companies in North America.
Leaving the Air Force with a wealth of mechanical knowledge and various aircraft pilot ratings, Art knew he wanted to fly for a living. For 17 years, he served as one of the Diamond Shamrock's key executive pilots, acquiring licenses to fly 10 different jet aircraft, and piloting corporate executives throughout the United States and around the world.
"I was living my dream," said Art. "It was a most rewarding and satisfying experience. I was flying and getting paid to do it!"
In the mid-1980s, however, the company began to downsize and was eventually spilt in half. Most of the aircraft were sold off, including the company's Boeing 727 aircraft, which Art piloted.
Released from Diamond Shamrock, Art decided to use some of this time and cruise along the highways in one of the several RVs he's owned over 38 years of RVing and become a freelance pilot. That plan, however, was to change quickly.
The aircraft that Art flew for many years was purchased and he was to become its pilot again, but not before earning the new position of Director of Aviation.
"One day I get a call from a friend who was looking for a 727-rated pilot to fly the aircraft that now had a new owner," Art said. "I didn't know who the owner was, but I was available so I stepped up and took the flight. That's when I met Donald Trump."
Trump is one of the nation's most grandiose and controversial builders, and in the late 1980s he was at the top with a multi-billion-dollar real estate empire.
Donald Trump had bought the ex-Diamond Shamrock aircraft, which Art had flown for years. It was now Donald Trump's private aircraft. Art picked up the aircraft in Denver and flew it into Aspen to take the Trumps from Aspen to New York the next day.
Aspen's airport is located about a half-hour drive from the exclusive ski village. Flying into it can be challenging, even for experienced pilots, because the airport elevation is high with limited runway area, surrounded by mountains and swirling winds.
"The next morning we picked up the Trumps and took off for New York," the veteran pilot explained, "It was nothing like the night before when we landed the 727 in a snowstorm. I've been in all sorts of weather and I know how to give the passengers a smooth ride and smooth landing, called 'painting' it on the runway.
"In New York, the crew and I helped unload the passengers' bags into the waiting limousines and then we waved good-bye to Donald and Ivana Trump as they drove to their New York home," Art explained.
The next day Art was called to the office and advised that he was the pilot selected by the Trumps to command their Boeing 727 aircraft.
For the next four years, Art continued living his flying dream. He piloted the Trumps on business and pleasure trips throughout the world.
Trump's real estate empire began to break apart in the early 1990s and Art's business career continued to evolve. He decided to take a break from flying and concentrate on what had become his favorite leisure activity, driving an RV throughout the country.
While RVing was fun for Art, he was soon looking around for more to do. At first he took a job with a large RV company. Then he started an RV dealership with a partner who owned an automobile dealership. With each successive step, Art was learning more about the business of RVs.
When his partner retired, Art retained the RV dealership and began to build it. He first relocated the business to a 10-acre field on I-35. He built a new facility complete with offices, five service bays, wash racks and a propane station. He then acquired additional RV franchises to complement the booming business.
In four years, his business - RV Ranch - has quadrupled in size and become a major RV dealership thanks to wise business practices and the practical knowledge that Art and his wife, Bonnie, learned in 38 years of RVing. Their daughter, Debra, serves as the administrative manager.
Today, RV Ranch is a dealer for some of the most prestigious names in RVing including Fleetwood, Airstream, Forest River and Aerocoach campers. Evidence of Art's skill in the RV business is the fact he is a dealer member of Fleetwood's elite Circle of Excellence.
"Being avid RVers ourselves, provided us with a perspective that has proven to be very valuable in setting up our dealership and providing sales and service to our customers," explained Art. "Thinking like RVers, we know our customers' interests and needs. We began the business that way and we continue to look at our business from the customer's viewpoint."
An example of their planning is the fact that Art Newman's RV Ranch is on Interstate 35, between Gainesville and Denton, Texas, north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"We learned that 34 percent of all vehicles coming to Texas enter on Interstate 35, right past our dealership."
Today, the current RV Ranch operation occupies three acres of a 10 acre plot that Art has plans for.
"With all the traffic coming and going on the highway, we're looking to expand our services and develop at least part of the property into a lakeside camping area," he explained.
Currently, RV Ranch has 13 employees and uses several temporary workers as the need arises. The main facility is a 6,400 square foot building that houses a 3,200-square-foot service center, two wash racks and dump stations. There's another 3,200 square feet of offices for the staff.
Like many business people, Art learned the business as he experienced it. While he had a wealth of practical knowledge and some experience through his previous work with an RV company and the auto dealer partnership, there was a lot Art was not satisfied with.
"About a year ago," Art stated, "we determined that we lacked the management infrastructure to continue to grow the operation the way we wanted. We had hired an accountant and that got our accounting on the right track, but it did not give us control mechanisms.
"We were lacking written policies and procedures, job descriptions, employee handbook, evaluation procedures, cost analysis, inventory control and budgeting," he said. "In short, RV Ranch needed a system of accountability and control for its operation. Money, time and materials were being improperly or inadequately accounted for, and this resulted in an insufficient bottom line."
Art explained that he selected the George S. May International Company management consultants to work with his operation because of the firm's aggressiveness and promptness. He said the May International team analyzed and implemented the needed written policies to enable the business to grow in a proper and orderly way.
"The management tools implemented by May International are already providing tremendous savings in the operations of RV Ranch, both on a day-to-day basis and on budgeted forecasts.
"Less than a year later, the management consulting services have already paid for themselves," Art stated. "In only three months the service and parts department was totally turned around. An area that was losing money is now making good profits.
"As business people, we knew generally what was needed, but didn't have the time or expertise to accomplish it ourselves. That's when we decided to call the experts in."
While Art Newman's RV Ranch is really a second-career business, in many ways he's been practicing for it for years. Being a corporate pilot for more than a quarter century with the lives of his passengers in his hands and owning RVs 38 years, Art knows the value of customer service and what it means to RVers like himself.
For more information about Art Newman's RV Ranch, see the Web site www.rvranch.com.
