Q&A with Rebecca Wolkenstein of Caravan

In this interview Rebecca Wolkenstein, the driving force behind what has been dubbed the ‘Craigslist for Creatives’ – Caravan, chats about what Caravan is, how it came about, where its heading and getting things done.

There is some great advice within and plenty of interesting tid bits on Caravan, enjoy and please share your thoughts on what Rebecca has to say in the comments.

Highlights

• “My core businesses are obviously my agencies, but I lack a fear of failure, so I probably try more new things than the average Joe.”

• “It’s a housing and house swapping facility for creatives only, moderated by me. It came into being after years of traveling for work and pleasure with my husband and kids.”

• “There’s a risk and you have to be prepared psychologically to lose money exactly the same as you would with shares. The biggest obstacle to getting stuff done is fear of failure.”

1. Rebecca, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us, could you please give us a quick introduction on yourself.

I am a creative rep (rebeccawolkenstein.com and Rock of Eye) and I am dipping a toe or two into online and publishing (Creative Caravan and SoHi Magazine) I am under 35 years old and I feel like now is a good time to experiment with income sources and see what’s profitable and what isn’t. My core businesses are obviously my agencies, but I lack a fear of failure, so I probably try more new things than the average Joe.

2. You are the ‘Creative housing resource facilitator’ at Caravan, can you talk a bit about what Caravan is and how/why it came into being?

Caravan has received a lot of press and the comment that received the most retweets would have to be ‘Craigslist for Creatives’. It’s a housing and house swapping facility for creatives only, moderated by me. It came into being after years of traveling for work and pleasure with my husband and kids. When we returned to Australia for visits we would always have penniless assistants and make up artists and the like stay in our place to look after our cat, Bunny. It worked for all of us as the newbies would get a leg up in London living rent free in our flat, and we would have a house sitter. The fact that they were in our industry accounted for a lot of the trust that we had in them to do the right thing and look after our place and our creature. And vice versa, whenever we went back home we would find it really difficult to find places in Sydney that could accommodate us, where we could home cook meals and just chill instead of being in one of those boxes they call hotel rooms. I felt there was a need out there and making it exclusive made it feel so much safer and easier.

3. Why do creatives need their own house swap & sublet site?

I don’t believe they NEED their own site per se, but I do think it’s a good form of social filtering. If I tell you someone is, say, an architect. You have a pretty good mental picture of what kind of person they are, what kind of person you’re letting into your house. Same as if I tell you they’re a make up artist, or a photographer (Terry Richardson aside).

4.  How does this house swap things work anyway?

So, you can browse freely all you like and search by country and type of arrangement (swap, sublet or a wanted ad). When you see something you’re interested in, you register, wait for your membership to be approved by me, then the contact details on the site of all the listers are opened up and you can make contact with whoever you like and sort yourself out directly and one-on-one from there. If you’re swapping, it’s just a matter of sorting out mutually suitable dates and arranging somewhere to leave the keys. I swapped recently with Chris Searl and some good tips I have from that (wonderfully easy) experience are these: His wife and I both cleaned the house before the swap, we all put clean sheets on our beds, took the sheets off when leaving, and left the keys in a secret place. (You can leave them with a neighbour even). It was good to just establish expectations in a really casual way before swapping. We swapped for a few days but if you wanted to swap for longer you might want to charge a cleaning fee or ask the tenants to clean before they leave. No money swapped hands with in our case, and Chris and family had a wonderful time and we saved loads on hotels and got to see all our Sydney friends.

5. What is the ultimate vision for the site?

Well, at the moment I am looking for a financial partner to sponsor an upgrade that will allow me to add dating, office space and jobs, again for creatives only. I literally only came up with the dating idea in the last 48 hours as I have an art director friend here in London (I am currently on vacation) who is working on a campaign for one of the major dating sites. His research has been enlightening and I think there’s a market for social filtering of dating as well. The creative space was kind of an obvious one, and the jobs section is a crowded market but I think essential if I want Caravan to expand and become full service. I have a lot going on in my career and having kids has taught me patience so I am seeing Caravan as a slow evolution. I also read an article on Craig Newmark in the latest ‘Wired’ and it’s inspired me to chill even more about it and watch it grow. I think a position of encouraging and listening to the market and taking things easy is my strategy. I have listened to my gut every step of the way and Caravan has really expanded my knowledge of the online medium. I’m finding it a fascinating ride.

6. What are some of the unusual locations for properties that have been listed on Caravan?

Well, it’s not so much unusual as gorgeous! I had an inkling when I started Caravan that there would be some stunners listed. After all, most creatives are quite conscious that their houses say something about them and they tend to have an innate flair. Just look at Design Sponge. I reckon about 70% of the homes they post on Sneak Peeks belong to creatives. And I was right.

As you can see, in the images in this article and on the Caravan site, there really is a kind of visual pride coming through.

7. Apart from you, who else is currently involved in running Caravan?

It’s just me. I read something also in Wired about eBay having 20,000 staff. That’s not really me. But I do have a few people who allow me to do what I do in general and without them, I would collapse. My producer Cameron, my assistant Lucy, my husband, who supports me in all my follies, and my co-editor of my micro publication, SoHi, Sarah King. My shit would literally fall apart if one of those people left me to fend for myself.

8. Caravan is relatively young, what is on the immediate horizon for Caravan?

Immediately, my main concern is trying to get creatives to think of Caravan automatically when they’re planning a trip or trying to make some spare change on their own flat when they go abroad. So, it’s getting the word out and trying to get people on the site again and again. I’ve had some quite major publicity recently and that’s about to be stepped up, so getting the upgrades sponsored is going to be my main focus. I think once they’re done, it’s going to explode, especially the dating section! I spent my own money developing the site and at first I felt a real pressure to recoup that money but I have since become really zen about it. I want to make the site the best it can be, keep it evolving and changing as much as I can possibly afford. Only then will I feel like I have a product.

9. Rebecca, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

My advice is to experiment and use your own money to do it if you have to. Look at it like you would look at shares. There’s a risk and you have to be prepared psychologically to lose money exactly the same as you would with shares. The biggest obstacle to getting stuff done is fear of failure. I joke to my friends that playing orchestral french horn really badly for the past five years has made me fearless! People often say to me “wow, you’re involved in all these creative things, how do you do it?” They never ask me how much I earn or whether I make a good living out of it. So that pressure to be text-book successful doesn’t really exist. It’s all in your head. Be proud of what you do and what you make and be prepared to fall flat on your face. Get up, brush yourself off and try something else. Success or failure are equally no big deal. It’s making something you can show your mum that’s important.