Chelsea knows onboarding sounds technical. But to her, it’s always felt personal.
As one of CampLife’s Onboarding Coordinators, she spends her workdays guiding campground owners through a big transition. New software can feel overwhelming. Chelsea’s job is to make it feel doable.
And during busy seasons, she gets plenty of practice.
“This is the busiest time since I’ve been here,” Chelsea said. “It’s good to be busy, though. Everyone is coming back after the holidays. The parks are in different phases, and they need different things. You have people testing their new builds. You have people just getting started and getting their information in. Every week looks different.”
Her role requires triage. Some parks need quick answers. Others have big deadlines. Chelsea and the rest of the Onboarding Team sort through it all and decide what comes next.
“We look at priority as in deadlines and also reciprocated communication,” Chelsea explained. “If a park has a deadline and they’re also getting back to us, we know they’re ready to move, so we’re going to make sure they’re taken care of.”
Then there are the unexpected moments that reshape the day.
”Sometimes a fire pops up in the middle of the day, but you know it’s something you can get knocked out,” she said. “So we’re taking care of them, too.”
For Chelsea, that steady rhythm of problem-solving is one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
“I get so satisfied when I can get something done,” Chelsea shared. “It’s like a sense of relief and accomplishment. I like knocking out those tasks and then saying, ‘Ok, what’s next?’ “
Even with a long to-do list, Chelsea never feels like she’s facing it alone.
“Lisa, our Onboarding Team Lead, I call her my mentor all the time,” Chelsea said. “She’s a book of knowledge, and she will think through every possible solution. There’s also the Rules Team, who will do the same thing.”
That teamwork has become essential as CampLife continues to grow. The software changes. New features roll out. And as a result, Onboarding processes expand.
“In the time that I’ve been here, I’ve seen CampLife evolve so much,” Chelsea admitted. “We have updated rule patterns. We have new features to offer. It’s something new all the time, and in Onboarding, we have to keep up with those, too.”
That may sound exhausting, but Chelsea sees it as an opportunity.
”Ultimately, these are new steps and new things we can offer the parks.”
Working with campgrounds every day has helped Chelsea grow in new ways.
“My communication skills have grown because we talk to these parks all the time, and they all have different personalities,” she said. “I’ve learned how to relay information professionally and build those relationships in what was a new field for me.”
She has also developed her technical skills.
“I’ve definitely learned new skills like how to tie software rules together,” she added.
However, Chelsea believes some of the most significant changes have occurred in her personal life.
“I’ve grown as a person since being here, too,” Chelsea confessed. “It’s just because I work with such wonderful people. To be with this team 40 hours a week, it rubs off on you.”
Onboarding involves a lot of checklists and configuration screens, but Chelsea never loses sight of the people behind the projects.
“I really like when I get a park who is so proud of who they are and what they do,” she shared. “I love hearing about their parks. They’re so excited, and that makes you appreciate what we do even more.”
From the initial welcome call to the day a park officially goes live in the system, Chelsea guides them through the entire process.
“We’re talking to them throughout their time in Onboarding,” she explained. “Some of the parks are not as talkative, but for the ones that are, we really are building that relationship. I have some parks that I talk to so much that you get to hear about other parts of their lives, too. We talk about their families and lots of other things besides just the park build.”
And when a park completes their time in Onboarding, she feels it.
“I really want the park to do so well and enjoy CampLife, and I just like to hear how they’re doing.”
Even the most challenging customers leave an impression.
“Some of the parks are really demanding, but they just want us to work together to get their setup built the way they need it,” Chelsea admitted. “And that’s great. I still miss them when they graduate from Onboarding.”
Those relationships matter to Chelsea, but so do the practical results. One example she points to involves helping parks fill small gaps in their calendars.
“We often see parks with nightly minimum timeframes,” Chelsea explained. “This could be holidays, high season, etc. If there is a site with a one night gap available during the middle of those timeframes, we have a custom rule that will allow it to be booked for one night, maximizing park profit and benefitting the guest. Maybe the next year that guest returns and wants to stay for the whole holiday.”
Another project that stands out was working with Girl Scouts Peaks to Piedmont, an organization with multiple camp locations.
“They wanted all three locations to be controlled in one hub,” Chelsea recalled. “We got them all set up internally to do so (rates, different date groups/seasons throughout each location, etc) and a map to go along with it. I thought it was cool that we would do that for them. I am a person who likes seeing things compacted, and it made sense if they needed their revenue in one place.”
That’s the kind of help Chelsea wants every park to experience.
Chelsea understands why campground owners care so deeply about their businesses. She feels that same pride in CampLife.
“This was a labor of love for Jackie and Tyler Duffy and for some of the team members who go way back,” Chelsea shared. “At CampLife, being family-owned, feeling pride in our company, and wanting quality service for the people we serve, we can relate to some of those owners and how they feel about their campgrounds.”
This sense of pride extends to the support that the entire team gives each other.
One of Chelsea’s most meaningful experiences happened far from her desk.
CampLife provides opportunities for employees to go on mission trips to serve communities in the U.S. and abroad. Chelsea joined a team that traveled to Peru.
“It was a new experience,” she said. “You’re on a schedule. You worked hard and played hard. We had early mornings. Some of those days you weren’t feeling too well. But the neat thing was seeing the people I work with and how hard they worked. The teamwork was still going on down there in a whole different environment.”
For Chelsea, that trip reflected what she sees every day at CampLife: people who care about their work and the parks they serve.
Every park is different, and the way onboarding unfolds is unique, too. That’s why CampLife pairs you with real people who care about getting things right. Someone like Chelsea will be there to guide you, answer questions, and help your team feel ready from day one. Want to talk more about how onboarding would work for your park? Let’s start the conversation.
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