Meet Lisa & Michael Steedman | Teardrop Camper Manufacturer & Teardrop Rentals

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lisa & Michael Steedman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa & Michael, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
Take a seat I will try to keep this as short as possible, My name is Lisa and in 2020 I was forced to take leave from Costco after 16+ years as a Cake Decorator/Baker/Merchandising but not because of Covid (what most would expect) but bc of my Severe Back Pain it was and had been relentless and needed to be addressed. Well up to this point my family loved the outdoors we were avid campers (tent camping) we had a buggy a quad and went out often, well long story short a bad fusion later and facing disability tent camping was over for us. We explored our options and Teardrop campers were on our radar for sometime, so we narrowed down our list to our top favorites. Our love for the SoCal 5×10 off-road Teardrop model was our #1 favorite we visited a RMF here in AZ and saw his personal camper & a kit he was about to build (both Michael and myself were intrigued by the idea of a camper kit and the idea of a “RMF” Regional Manufacturing Facility) but our budget didn’t qualify us at the time. Our next Top favorite pick “Pindrop” Teardrop a local AZ manufacturer and so the Story began with “Millie” my love for the outdoors in a Teardrop with severe pain & disabilities was back to being able to enjoy the outdoors again. We loved it so much we decided to start a Teardrop Camper Rental business so others could get out and enjoy the outdoors without limitations physically and emotionally while getting outdoors is so healthy for your soul and our mental health and the rental income while modest it did help with bills and kept me slightly more active during peak seasons and it was so enjoyable to hear the fun adventures of our renters and one day our fleet grew to Two Teardrops yesss a (SoCal 511xs) that is another story answered in another question. But our Love for sharing our Fully Equipped Teardrop Campers with others and focused favorite gear and obviously renter tested and focused quality in different style campers and what feedback we received that really shaped our way into our love for wanting to build our Own Teardrop Campers (and we never forgot that RMF kit we saw in his garage for the SoCal)!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Our dream of building Teardrop Campers didnt start off on the greatest foot and definitely not how I pictured things going down, I know starting a business isn’t and wasnt going to be easy this isn’t my first rodeo but we definitely have had huge adversities out the start gates but we all have been vested and determined through it all to bring our “Dreams” & “Our Visions” to Life! Mark with ZigZag always said once you get your suppliers figured out it gets better but getting through suppliers, some that are not necessarily a good fit has honestly been the most challenging and difficult part of this journey. Nothing has been easy and sometimes we have had to pivot and go in a different direction completely bc of industry standard changes, but we have all learned and feel the same way collectively if its not good enough to be on or part of my own personal camper than it doesn’t pass GO! We the three of us have fought like crazy through out this insane, difficult, humbling but amazing journey to bring the best of The West Teardrop bc believe me we didn’t fight this hard to “Not bring it” and Im so proud of all of us for pushing through this it hasn’t been easy at times and staying positive is easier said than done but everytime I see our Teardrop Campers I feel so Proud! Adversities are just opportunities for the future, thank you for this opportunity to tell our story warm regards, Lisa Steedman

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is a tough one bc there is so much to do in Arizona if its the seasonal time of year for the migration of humming birds i would head south to Bisbee and spend a day visiting the Ramsey Canyon its stunning to see all the birds and wildlife and a day at Bisbee it has amazing little shops fun ghost tours and Most the Restaurants are very good and tour some historic places. Next we would head to Patagonia Lake Park the lake and nature walks are beautiful, there is also some fun 4×4 trails to take you on a beautiful scenic off-road trip. Tucson has some beautiful murals to drive through and see and some historical places on the way back to Phoenix. Heading North to Williams is a great spot to spend easily a week with the family take a train ride to the Grand Canyon City or just drive & park and walk through parts of the North Rim, you also have Bearzona drive through Zoo, if you have kids or just the kid in you they have a fun Gravity ran roller coaster, huge slides down the mountain ziplining and Williams is a cute quaint town with mom and pop shops and food and dont forget Flagstaff for all its historic places and downtown has great breweries and food.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our success has been made possible by so many different factors, I would definitely have to say first off that life-changing events like becoming disabled from Costco was a huge turning point in my life as difficult as it was and still is but diving deep into our Teardrop Rentals was a huge part of keeping me engaged and active and Our deep down longing desire to actually build our own Teardrop Campers never stopped after we saw that SoCal kit. But our biggest shout out is to Cody our Main Builder who brings with him 9+ years of experience of building Teardrop campers (SoCal Teardrops & Teardrops NW) we met Cody after hearing The RMF in AZ for SoCal Teardrops retired and we happened to be out in CA for my UCSF consultation for repairing my original failed fusion and we decided to stop by on our way back home and discuss becoming a RMF in 2023. This storyline turned in a direction We never saw coming or expected but long story short the Original owners sold the business after 16+ years and the “New Owners” took our monies and we were pumped and excited and scheduled to go out and learn to build our First of 3 Teardrop kits! Well let’s just fast forward a bit the Owner who took over the “Turnkey Operation” in less than 6-8 months they fired everyone who knew what they were doing before and during the time we were there to learn and build our Camper. Cody was the main reasons we left with our 511xs in partial completion and SoCal Teardrops shortly after was no more, we were determined to figure a way to continue what we started but fast forward to today. Without Cody joining us in this New Adventure and Dream we all 3 together have built and created into an Damn Amazing Teardrop Camper but Cody is really the main Ingredient!
And I cant say enough to Mark from ZigZag for always listening and hang in there conversation, he was probably the only supplier that honestly was Great from the beginning and family & friends moral support and my Damn “Rediculous Positive Determined Attitude” as the guys would say.

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