by Turo
posted on July 18, 2023
Cameron V. has travelled all over, but when he pictures his ideal future, he sees it happening right at home in beautiful Halifax. “I love the city. It’s very vibrant. We’ve been seeing a lot of growth in the last few years, and it’s a fantastic place to live.”
Today, building a business on Turo is helping him unlock exciting professional opportunities and shape his future in ways he might not have predicted at the start of his hosting journey.
When Cameron first found out about Turo, he was intrigued. As someone with previous experience in the hospitality industry and gig economy, he initially saw Turo as a potential way to supplement his income — and quickly realised it was a much better alternative to rideshare or food delivery side hustles.
“There’s more scalability with Turo and more opportunity for upward growth compared to other gig economy app work (…) Turo has been a good step in getting experience with running a profitable rental business and getting a good amount of income that I’m able to save for future goals.”
While hosting on Turo started as a side hustle for Cameron, it has since evolved far beyond his expectations.
First bookings came 15 minutes after listing
You could say that running a car sharing business is something that comes naturally to Cameron. Before joining Turo, he was already a car enthusiast who dreamed of one day driving an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio or a Toyota Century V12. He first learned about Turo while watching a car review on YouTube.
Initially, Cameron didn’t consider hosting on Turo as a viable option. He figured it was only for niche, luxury cars and that there wouldn’t be a big enough market for him in Nova Scotia, but when he did some market research in summer 2021, he quickly realised that wasn’t the case.
“I saw that there was a lot of demand for rental vehicles and at the same time, I’d managed to get a good deal on a [Toyota Sienna] minivan. I thought, ‘There’s a lot of family tourism here. We’re seeing some good numbers.’ and I thought, ‘I’ll take a chance on it.’ I couldn’t lose too much money on that vehicle. So I just took the plunge, listed it, and I was surprised by how quickly I was getting bookings.”
After listing it in mid-August, his minivan was gone for 13 days that month. In September, it was with a guest every day.
“I posted the listing on a Sunday evening and 15 minutes later I got a notification on my phone that I got a booking. I was shocked. I thought, ‘Okay, I did not expect that at all. Maybe it’s priced too low.’ Over the next couple of days, there were several more bookings coming in. That’s when I realised that there really was a good market here, specifically in Halifax.”
Excited by the influx of bookings, he decided to list his personal vehicle, which he’d originally kept off the platform. In September, he purchased a Hyundai Santa Fe for family bookings and a Fiat 500 convertible to serve more niche needs. In October, he continued with this philosophy by getting both a Toyota RAV4 and a Jeep Wrangler.
Since that first summer, Cameron has managed to scale his car sharing business up from one car to seventeen (and counting!). His impressive portfolio of vehicles continues to showcase a wide selection of vehicles that cater to different audiences, from families to gearheads alike.
His favourite car listed on Turo nowadays? A Fiat 500 with manual transmission. “I was hesitant since this was my first manual car listed on Turo, but it’s been really great! It’s not something anyone expects and it attracts a lot of car enthusiasts like me.”
How Turo helped Cameron forge a new career path
The flexibility offered by the platform, coupled with the growth of his business, has allowed him to focus on his studies. He recently went back to school to study business administration – the perfect area of study for his long-term financial goals.
His experience managing and scaling a successful business on Turo, along with his educational and professional background, caught the attention of a LinkedIn recruiter in the Transportation and Logistics industry – who reached out to Cameron with an exciting opportunity. He is now their Transportation Lead.
“My business experience with Turo (and the media experience I got from it) resulted in me getting recruited and starting a brand new career (…) I now have a job in the Transportation industry that I’m very happy about — as it’s very aligned with my interests. It’s also flexible, which allows me to still manage my business”.
The new full-time job has not slowed him down, on the contrary. Cameron — who is one of the top hosts in Nova Scotia — continues to go above and beyond to scale his business, recently starting a co-hosting program.
Leveraging his network and expertise to expand his Turo reach
Last summer, a friend reached out to ask for help getting started on Turo. He wanted to try hosting, but was unsure how to go about managing a car on the platform; that’s when Cameron stepped in to provide his support. It was a match made in heaven, and, with guidance from the Turo team, Cameron felt confident he had all the tools he needed to start advertising his co-hosting capabilities more broadly to the local community.
“My friend asked me to co-host with him and I said yes. That went really, really well for both of us, so I realised the potential of using my operational network and knowledge to help other hosts do the same thing.” Soon enough he started getting outreach from other people that have spare cars and/or no time to manage a vehicle on Turo, but would like to try.
Cameron’s commitment to providing a flawless experience to his guests and building lasting relationships proved to be fruitful, as — among those who were interested in his co-hosting offer — was one of his former guests, who had a great time booking Cameron’s cars in the past and wanted to try out hosting for themselves.
What’s next for Cameron? He’s excited to continue developing his Turo journey — not only continuing to grow his own business, but also connecting more with other members of the community to expand his co-hosting network.
“Eventually I’d like to get to a point where I have the flexibility and a variety of income streams to not have to work every day. To be able to manage my own schedule. I’ve been working for several years where I might be working six or seven days a week, so my goal is to be established enough where I can be able to manage my businesses and income streams and still have the flexibility to focus on other things in life.”
As far as Cameron is concerned, building a business on Turo has set him on the right course.
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