RV Education 101 provides RV educational videos, books, checklists, newsletters, articles and more
Many years ago Mark was concerned about the lack of safety awareness and RV education material available to you, the RV consumer.
To help improve on educating RV owners and RV enthusiasts he started RV Education 101. We produce RV education training content on every RV topic imaginable. We pioneered the first RV walk through in video format featuring recreation vehicle education. We are pleased to say that over the past 20 plus years we have helped educate millions of RV consumers on how to safely and properly use, maintain and enjoy their RVs through VHS, DVD, downloads, streaming videos, paper back books, electronic books, seminars, television shows and newsletters.
Who is Mark Polk and why is he qualified to teach RV technical content
Mark is an RVer and has a very extensive background in the RV industry. He began at age 15, washing RVs at a dealership in North Central Pennsylvania. It wasn’t long before he was working as an apprentice RV technician under the guidance of the RV service manager.
His maintenance plans were interrupted when he enlisted in the military. Mark completed airborne training in 1979 and served with some of the most elite U.S. Army Airborne units, including Service Company 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 82nd Signal battalion, 82nd Airborne Division and the 16th Military Police Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps. He spent the next 18 years with the U.S. Army eventually retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer 3 Automotive Maintenance Technician.
In the military, he managed large fleet maintenance operations, and had to teach young soldiers how to maintain and operate expensive vehicles and equipment. These soldiers came to him from very different backgrounds, and their prior experience with heavy equipment and mechanical skills were similarly varied. Mark had to learn how to communicate with all of them clearly, concisely, and effectively, and he found he had a talent for teaching. The Army agreed, and eventually he was asked to produce written instructional materials, including driver training manuals and operating procedures for motor pools.
When he retired from the Army in 1996, he went to work for an RV dealership in sales and service. He talked to customers about their needs and desires and helped them select the right RV for them. He inspected used RVs for trade-in, he serviced customer RVs, and he educated customers on how to operate and enjoy their vehicles. As an RV owner himself, throughout the years, he has owned and used all the classifications of RVs (travel trailer, motorhome, pop up, 5th wheel and truck camper). He even restored, from the ground up, a 1967 Yellowstone travel trailer. It was clear to him there were limited resources available to RV owners who wanted to learn more about how to operate and maintain their RVs. Owners’ manuals provide limited information, and most consumers find them confusing. Anecdotal information learned around campfires from other RV owners is incomplete and can be unreliable.
Mark realized he had the knowledge and teaching ability to fill that gap, and so in 1999 he began writing articles and books about how to choose, buy, maintain, repair, and operate a variety of RVs. To date, he has produced more than 500 educational videos, and authored 15 e-books, 3 paperback books, and more than 1,600 articles educating millions of RVers. His best-selling book, titled The RV Book, has sold over 53,000 copies to date.
Mark’s first priority is the safety of his audience. To Mark, this means anticipating the risks and challenges RVers will encounter when following his instructions, ensuring that the information he provides is complete and accurate, and providing enough information so his audience can make informed decisions about when to tackle maintenance tasks themselves and when to take their vehicles to professionals.
His second priority is his audience’ empowerment. He sends his students out on the road with confidence that they are equipped, prepared, informed, and ready to enjoy themselves.Producing material that achieves those goals is a very difficult thing to do. RVs come in a bewildering variety of different types, makes, models, and vintages, and when Mark writes about tasks such as winterizing an RV plumbing system, (as we know there are many ways to winterize an RV), his instructions need to walk his readers through the process regardless of what RV the reader happens to own.
Like his soldiers, his RV students come to him with widely disparate levels of expertise, experience, talent, and motivation, and his instructions must speak to all of them. Mark’s writing and video presentations are accurate and comprehensive. It is also clear, concise, and easy to understand. He breaks complex, intimidating tasks down to easy steps.
Chief Warrant Officer Three Mark J. Polk was awarded a first place US Army maintenance award from General Shelton.
Mark started RV Education 101 in 1999
- Writer/ Columnist/ Contributor for numerous RV consumer & RV trade newsletters and magazines (RVBusiness, FMCA, RV News, RV Companion, Pop-Up Times, RV Free Wheelin’, Trail Blazer, RV Executive Today and RV Magazine,)
- RV Technical Writer for several newsletters and blogs, (Go RVing blog, KOA Kompass Newsletter and Blog, Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA), RV Net Expert Blog, RV University This Week, Camping World e-newsletter, RV Travel, RV Trader, Rollin On TV website, HGTV and Geiko Insurance blog)
- Script and host television segments for Rollin On TV
- Scripted & hosted television segment titled RV Savvy for four seasons (52 episodes) with RVTV on The Outdoor Channel and three Canadian TV Channels.
How it all Began
By Greg Gerber, founder of RV Daily Report
It’s funny how some of the smallest ideas turn into the biggest projects.
That’s how RV Education 101® was founded. Mark Polk was working as a sales manager for an RV dealership in North Carolina in the mid 90’s. The company took pride in guiding customers through a thorough walk through presentation on the RV they had just purchased. Staff members would explain how every system worked, and how every appliance operated — two or three times, if necessary.
They would explain the order in which things had to happen before something could work correctly. They would go through the location of critical switches and controls. By the time they were done an hour or so later, the beaming and confident RVers were chomping at the bit to take their new toy out for a weekend spin.
Without fail, the dealership would get one call, then another, and still another as the enthusiasm gave way to confusion. “Where is the power distribution box,” they’d ask one time. “My slide out won’t slide out,” they’d ask a few hours later. “What was it you were supposed to do before you could turn on the air conditioner,” they’d ask on the third call. “How come I don’t have any hot water,” the exasperated RVers would exclaim.
As much as Polk and the rest of his staff loved helping customers and wanted them to be comfortable with their new purchase, he realized the walk-thru orientations were mind-numbing to new RV owners simply because it was information overload.
It was as though the staff had to give two or three walk throughs with every purchase, plus answer dozens of phone calls before, during and after each of the first few excursions the buyers planned.
“As the sales manager, I came up with the idea of finding a video that we could give to customers as a courtesy gift from the dealership reminding them how to operate their system,” Polk explained.
Face it, when you look at a folding camping trailer, there aren’t too many things that are different from model to model. Even with travel trailers and motorhomes, they all have water pumps, they all have refrigerators, water heaters and most have one or more slide-outs. One thing is for certain, every RV has waste tanks that must to be dumped in the same manner — connect this hose from Point A to Point B. Empty the black tank first, then the gray tank.
“I looked everywhere and could not find a single basic instructional video on how to operate an RV,” said Polk. “I was shocked. There was nothing on the market.”
So, he stepped up to do it himself
A veteran — of the RV industry, too
Polk had worked in the RV industry since he was 15 years old washing RVs for the father of a high school friend who managed a dealership. That summer, when he wasn’t washing something, he was hanging out in the service department where he became fascinated with all the intricacies of motorhomes and travel trailers. The service manager took Polk under his wing and soon he was working as an apprentice RV technician.
“I really enjoyed working around RVs and going to rallies to help perform basic service on customers’ units,” he explained. “You could say I was bit by the RV bug early on.”
His maintenance plans were interrupted when he enlisted in the military. Mark completed airborne training in 1979 and served with some of the most elite U.S. Army Airborne units, including Service Company 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 82nd Signal battalion, 82nd Airborne Division and the 16th Military Police Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps. He spent the next 18 years with the U.S. Army eventually retiring as a maintenance Chief Warrant Officer 3.
Chief Warrant Officer Three Mark J. Polk was awarded a first place US Army maintenance award from General Shelton.
But, the moment he left the military, he was back in the RV industry working as a salesperson for a dealership in Fayetteville, N.C. Two years later he was offered the sales manager position and he eventually took over as the finance and insurance manager as well.
He was well grounded in the RV industry and intimately familiar with just about every make and model of RVs on the market.
It was in 1999 that he became frustrated with the lack of consumer educational materials and safety awareness information. One day, he shared his frustration with his wife, Dawn, who also worked at the dealership.
Tackling the problem
After suggesting he wanted to film a simple walk-through style video Dawn rounded up a few friends she knew who worked for a local TV station and did their own video filming and editing projects on the side. They hired the film crew to make the first walk-thru video for travel trailers — the most popular RV the dealership sold.
“They filmed me as I basically completed a walk through, capturing close-ups as I pushed buttons and operated appliances,” Polk explained. “We put the video into use at our dealership and I tried to market it to other dealers and consumers in the area. RV Education 101® wanted to be different from the standard “RV Dealer Walk Through Class” so they coined the term RV Orientation.
The idea took off quickly enough that he could retire from the dealership in 2000 and pursue the business opportunity full time with Dawn at his side. The Polks enjoy a great partnership. Mark handles the training portion of the business by producing videos, writing scripts, overseeing filming and doing all the video editing himself. Dawn works behind-the-scenes overseeing order fulfillment, accounting and marketing.
Once he left the dealership, Polk pursued his own education by taking online courses offered by a community college in Florida. He’s not a master certified technician because to get the title, he would have to work at the direction of another certified technician — and he’s not planning on going to work for someone else any time soon.
Polk is a certified automotive technician, and he certainly knows plenty about RVs of every brand, model, shape and size. He’s also intimately familiar with the components on those units, whether it is an air conditioner, RV refrigerator, furnace or generator.
Eventually, he also filmed a walk through of a Class A motorhome, then a pop-up trailer, then a Class C motorhome. Pretty soon, they had a set of four videos and figured they had every aspect of the RV industry covered.
Then people started expressing interest in specialized RV training, like how to winterize their RV or tow a car safely behind a motorhome. Within 10 years, Polk had completed 20 different RV training titles — and wrote “The RV Book,” (also available as a downloadable PDF book) a basic instructional guide people could keep in the drawer of their RV and refer to it whenever necessary.
“These are simple-to-understand books and videos,” Polk explained. “Consumers can watch a video and be comfortable operating the RV afterwards. They won’t learn how to replace major components and diagnose electrical problems, but they will understand how to properly and safely use their RV.”
The big break RV Education 101 material started appearing on shelves at RV dealerships across the country. But the really big break came when Wal-mart noticed the company.
Actually, the Polks pursued Wal-mart’s corporate buyers for nearly four years until the company agreed to add three RV DVDs and The RV Book to their inventory.
“At the time, Wal-mart was aggressively promoting an RV section in many of their superstores where they had a dedicated section of basic RV related products, and our materials were a good fit for that market,” said Polk.
The Polks sold so many videos and books during the two and a half years Wal-mart carried the product line that they quickly owned the market for RV educational products.
Eventually, as the recession unfolded, Wal-mart discontinued carrying the product in stores and opted to focus more on consumable goods for RVs. But, by then, RV Education 101 had a strong national market and even stronger name recognition.
About this same time, Polk completed 4 seasons of television as the “RV Savvy Guy” on RVTV. The show was broadcast on the Outdoor channel and on several Canadian television channels. Since that time, Polk has completed 4 seasons with Rollin On TV – now known as RVing Today – where he continues to produce TV segments and provide ROTV with written RV content as well.
About the same time, the Polk’s realized technology was changing in a way that made it possible for them to take their entire RV training library and put the information online. The entire world was “going digital” and they wanted to lead the way for RV training material
They moved thousands of DVDs and videos out of their home office to a fulfillment company in Charlotte, NC that sends out large order to dealers and handles replication of the product. But, the couple hasn’t lost touch with RVers. Whenever a single RV or book is purchased, it is likely Dawn who is sealing the envelope.
In fact, at the time of this writing, the Polk’s along with their son Tyler are looking forward to spending five weeks this summer on the road taking a cross-country RV trip.
“We’ll pack up a cross section of the inventory and a stack of envelopes and spend the first hour of every day shipping out orders and communicating with customers,” Polk explained.
He admits to being surprised at the reluctance of many RV dealerships to embrace the product line. Of course Polk sells books and online videos to lots of dealerships who share his vision of providing quality basic education to new RV owners. But, there are thousands of other dealerships who don’t see a need to carry the book and online video training. That’s especially puzzling considering the heavy consumer demand for the product as evidenced by the firm’s exploding online sales among first-time RV buyers.
“Early on, I was told our material was too generic, but that’s exactly what people need to know when they are buying their first RV,” Polk said. “In their house, to get hot water, people need only turn on a faucet and it ‘just happens.’ But, in an RV, there are several steps people need to take to ensure a nice hot shower — and helping people understand those steps is what our product is all about. Our mission statement is “to be there for the RV owner until they don’t need us anymore.”
“We are very proud of our company and the quality of training products we produce,” Polk said. “Both Dawn and I like knowing that we are playing a part in helping families enjoy their RV experience a little more by understanding how to use their equipment properly. That allows them to spend more time relaxing and less time trying to figure out how things work.”
Read Some of Mark Polk’s Published Articles:
How To Help Prevent An RV Fire posted on Geico Insurance
RV Living on 30 Amps posted on Go RVing
Five RV Storage Tips posted on Rollin’ On TV
How to Get More Life Out of Your RV Battery posted on Kampgrounds Of America (KOA)
Top 10 Tips For Using Your RV posted on HGTV
RV Education 101
Who is Mark Polk and why is he qualified to teach RV technical content?Mark is an RVer and has a very extensive background in the RV industry. He began at age 15, washing RVs at a dealership in North Central Pennsylvania. It wasn’t long before he was working as an apprentice RV technician under the guidance of the RV service manager.
His maintenance plans were interrupted when he enlisted in the military. Mark completed airborne training in 1979 and served with some of the most elite U.S. Army Airborne units, including Service Company 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 82nd Signal battalion, 82nd Airborne Division and the 16th Military Police Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps. He spent the next 18 years with the U.S. Army eventually retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer 3 Automotive Maintenance Technician.
In the military, he managed large fleet maintenance operations, and had to teach young soldiers how to maintain and operate expensive vehicles and equipment. These soldiers came to him from very different backgrounds, and their prior experience with heavy equipment and mechanical skills were similarly varied. Mark had to learn how to communicate with all of them clearly, concisely, and effectively, and he found he had a talent for teaching. The Army agreed, and eventually he was asked to produce written instructional materials, including driver training manuals and operating procedures for motor pools.When he retired from the Army in 1996, he went to work for an RV dealership in sales and service. He talked to customers about their needs and desires and helped them select the right RV for them. He inspected used RVs for trade-in, he serviced customer RVs, and he educated customers on how to operate and enjoy their vehicles.
As an RV owner himself, throughout the years, he has owned and used all the classifications of RVs (travel trailer, motorhome, pop up, 5th wheel and truck camper). He even restored, from the ground up, a 1967 Yellowstone travel trailer. It was clear to him there were limited resources available to RV owners who wanted to learn more about how to operate and maintain their RVs. Owners’ manuals provide limited information, and most consumers find them confusing. Anecdotal information learned around campfires from other RV owners is incomplete and can be unreliable.
Mark realized he had the knowledge and teaching ability to fill that gap, and so in 1999 he began writing articles and books about how to choose, buy, maintain, repair, and operate a variety of RVs. To date, he has produced more than 500 educational videos, and authored 15 e-books, 3 paperback books, and more than 1,600 articles educating millions of RVers. His best-selling book, titled The RV Book, has sold over 53,000 copies to date.
Mark’s first priority is the safety of his audience. To Mark, this means anticipating the risks and challenges RVers will encounter when following his instructions, ensuring that the information he provides is complete and accurate, and providing enough information so his audience can make informed decisions about when to tackle maintenance tasks themselves and when to take their vehicles to professionals.
His second priority is his audience’ empowerment. He sends his students out on the road with confidence that they are equipped, prepared, informed, and ready to enjoy themselves.Producing material that achieves those goals is a very difficult thing to do. RVs come in a bewildering variety of different types, makes, models, and vintages, and when Mark writes about tasks such as winterizing an RV plumbing system, (as we know there are many ways to winterize an RV), his instructions need to walk his readers through the process regardless of what RV the reader happens to own.Like his soldiers, his RV students come to him with widely disparate levels of expertise, experience, talent, and motivation, and his instructions must speak to all of them. Mark’s writing and video presentations are accurate and comprehensive. It is also clear, concise, and easy to understand. He breaks complex, intimidating tasks down to easy steps.
Chief Warrant Officer Three Mark J. Polk was awarded a first place US Army maintenance award from General Shelton.
Mark started RV Education 101 in 1999
- Writer/ Columnist/ Contributor for numerous RV consumer & RV trade newsletters and magazines (RVBusiness, FMCA, RV News, RV Companion, Pop-Up Times, RV Free Wheelin’, Trail Blazer, RV Executive Today and RV Magazine,)
- RV Technical Writer for several newsletters and blogs, (Go RVing blog, KOA Kompass Newsletter and Blog, Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA), RV Net Expert Blog, RV University This Week, Camping World e-newsletter, RV Travel, RV Trader, Rollin On TV website, HGTV and Geiko Insurance blog)
- Script and host television segments for Rollin On TV
- Scripted & hosted television segment titled RV Savvy for four seasons (52 episodes) with RVTV on The Outdoor Channel and three Canadian TV Channels.