A Week in the Life of PinDrop® Founders: Much More Than Manufacturing Luxury Micro-Campers
- Ruth Ellen Elinski
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Some people say entrepreneurs think differently—and it’s true. Their minds tend to run in different directions all at once. They constantly juggle new ideas and plan future projects. They take risks most people wouldn’t, and push through challenges that stop others in their tracks. They innovate quickly, adapt to challenges, and often manage more projects than seems reasonable from the outside.
Tim and Ruth Ellen, the husband-and-wife team behind PinDrop®, are no different. They spend their days designing and fabricating award-winning luxury micro campers.
Headquartered in an historic 120-year-old poured concrete building, they are intentionally working to help bring it back to life through adaptive reuse and reinvigorate a town that was once one of Arizona's economic powerhouses.
With PinDrop®, you also find the team out on the road, product testing, capturing content and drone footage in remote areas, attending trade shows across the country, and providing factory tours and pop up movie nights in their headquarters to build relationships and strengthen ties to rural Arizona.
Bigger than PinDrop® manufacturing, the team sees value in other community based projects. They have restored an historic home and manage it as short term rental property to help drive tourism to Miami, Arizona. This project has led to other redevelopment projects and ideas for community sustainability.
A typical week is a mix of big things, a balance of projects, and lots of quick decisions - the constant steady steps forward to realizing the dream.
Curious about a week in the life?
Building Dreams, One Luxury Micro Camper at a Time
Much of their time revolves around the PinDrop factory in historic Miami, Arizona, where the couple has been steadily restoring an historic commercial building and turning it into a manufacturing hub. This is where each luxury micro camper begins: cutting and welding, wiring solar systems, shaping cabinetry, fine-tuning insulation, and designing the eco-conscious features that define the brand.
Tim is usually in the thick of fabrication, and always looking ahead on ways to innovate just a little more. Ruth Ellen flows between a day job where she consults and assists other small business owners with challenges she knows all to well, and, as Director of Communications for PinDrop®, where she reviews and creates content for marketing, writes articles, responds to customer questions, and product tests PinDrop.
PinDrop® is their anchor, even as everything else pulls them outward.
Revitalizing Rural Arizona: A Workforce Housing Project
One of their biggest commitments is a project beyond trailers: redeveloping the second floor of the PinDrop® factory into workforce housing.
This week's entrepreneurial activities included preparing for and pitching their project at the Arizona Sustainable Economic Development Learner Lab, where they presented their vision for sustainable, adaptive reuse–based housing in a rural community that desperately needs it.
The work is technical, emotional, and deeply tied to their belief that small
towns like Miami, Arizona thrive when historic buildings are reimagined rather than abandoned. It’s a project that blends economic development, historic preservation, and their personal mission to strengthen the Copper Corridor.
Marketing on the Move: Desert Shoots, Campouts, and Road Time
Marketing for PinDrop® rarely happens from behind a desk. Instead, it unfolds along dusty roads and scenic overlooks where PinDrop performs best.
In any given week, the newest PinDrop® leaves the shop and heads into the Arizona desert for a photo and video shoot with industry partners, friends, and brand reps. PinDrop® gets towed across winding highways, dirt roads, to state parks, and onto national forest land to meet collaborators and partners at selected remote off-road sites, to capture moments and experiencees that only come from being out in the wild.
The shoots often turn into overnight campouts— for footage and for product testing. Under the stars, the PinDrop® team talks business strategy, new features, and any upcoming trade shows. They might also just relax around a cozy campfire sharing stories and watching the stars. The work never really stops, but out in the wild, it's a reminder of why they build these eco-friendly, premium trailers in the first place.
Speaking Up for Rural Communities
In the same week, Ruth Ellen and Tim are invited to share their perspectives at the Arizona Association for Economic Development Fall Forum, joining a panel on historic preservation and adaptive reuse in rural towns.
As a lifelong tradesman and former general contractor working on projects in historic preservation, sustainable building practices, and adaptive reuse, Tim has years of experience in this space. He successfully secured funding and support in preserving an historic building while serving as a 19+ year council member and two-term Mayor for the City of Cottonwood. This project was highlighted to inform other economic development leaders of best practices and why these projects are so important to revitalize small towns.
The Invisible Work: Logistics, Materials, Supplies
Then there’s the unglamorous but essential part of manufacturing: pickups, supply runs, and sourcing. Rural entrepreneurship means driving long distances for the right materials—aluminum, electrical components, specialty hardware, most times somewhere hours away.
These logistical hoops are woven throughout the week, often squeezed between larger commitments. Even with all the strategic work happening, the physical process of building trailers must keep moving.
Preparing for the Next Trade Show: A Stage Much Bigger Than the Shop
Among the whirlwind, they carve out focused time to prepare for the next trade show—finalizing materials, refining displays, checking the newest build for perfection. It’s one of the biggest opportunities throughout the year, a chance to show the world what rural Arizona craftsmanship and innovation looks like.
More Than Award-Winning Micro Camper
Ruth Ellen and Tim are building more than trailers. They’re restoring a historic building, strengthening their rural town, raising children rooted in community, and proving that small-scale manufacturing can thrive in places most people overlook.
And it’s all just another week in the life of two rural Arizona entrepreneurs.
Learn more about how manufacturing in rural Arizona contributes to economic and workforce development as well as the revitalization of these historic towns and HOW YOU can support it too!
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