Ten Things Running a 4×4 Club Has Taught Me

Several years ago I inherited being president of a medium sized 4×4 club. It was a situation where no one else was going to do it, so I volunteered. It was overwhelming at first, but the reality of it was that our club is easy to manage, and there was no shortage of people willing to help. Without them, it would have sunk long ago. I learned some lessons, and was reminded of some old ones.

1. The pay sucks

Maybe I’ll get free stuff from big companies! I’ll get a new bumper! Free tires! Maybe I’ll get a satin jacket with “Trail Leader” embroidered on it!

Then one day, as I was paying for club stickers out of my own pocket, I finally abandoned my silly ideas. In my entire presidency, I’ve gotten some free club t-shirts, stickers and a couple hats. From vendors, I got a hat and a pair of socks. Yes, socks. They said ARB on them.

You will get paid in a different kind of way, depending on the club. Every year our club does a charity run. The first year I was putting it together, the target for our drive was one of our own members who had lost his infant daughter to an ultra-rare disease. We asked him to say a few words at the raffle dinner where we were raffling off prizes donated by vendors. When he spoke to thank everyone, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. You can’t put a dollar amount on certain moments in life, and if anything paid for my troubles, it was this.

2. Grown adults are giant children

Of course I mean this in both the positive and negative ways. On the one hand, yes people can be giant crybabies. I’ve gotten flaming emails over potato salad. I’ve also seen straight-laced, uptight people in the morning turn into giggling teenagers by the end of the day. And vice-versa; I’ve seen cocksure tough-guys getting towed back to the parking lot with their head down after breaking something in the first hour of trail runs for no other reason than they were driving like cocksure tough-guys.

The trail is not level, but it will level you. It will put you where you need to be, and you can’t be ready for it. It will happen, you won’t realize how or from what vector it will come but it will happen. President or not, you see this sometimes. It’s just more entertaining when they’re “your” children.

3. Democracy? No.

Our club was lucky; it was a dictatorship in the past. We continued the tradition. To some, that might sound negative, but it’s been great. Sometimes I ask members for advice, other times I just do things. Make decisions, own the decisions, and make it successful. You won’t please everyone. You can’t please everyone. Don’t waste everyone’s time trying.

Lay down the law and make it happen. Arguing over details is easily quelled by making decisions, sticking with them, and doing everything you can to make them happen even when some people are doing everything they can to slow it down.

4. Drama queens come in all shapes & sizes

Everything you do is wrong. Everyone else could have done it better. They never do, but they could have. No one will talk to you and ask you about things, they will spew off what they think happened even if it’s not true to everyone else. Even when they weren’t there.

Everyone is watching you, everything you say and do and they’re judging you for it. They’ll gossip about it and talk about what you did wrong. How will you know? Because somebody will hear about it and come running back to you and tell you about it if you don’t hear it yourself.

When someone wants to make a stink, everyone is going to have to smell it. At the end of the day, never forget you’re the figurehead who takes all the heat. Once you remember your role in life is to have graffiti moustaches spray painted on your picture, then you realize how irrelevant and powerless these people are.

5. Own your mistakes

If you think you’re not going to make mistakes, you already made your first mistake. Take ownership of mistakes, and sometimes even taking ownership of the mistakes other people are helping you make. The best thing you can do is run damage control and do your best to fix things.

Admitting you made a mistake and working to fix it is worth more than blaming it on someone else or leaving it for others to clean up. You’re the fall guy/gal – bring a helmet!

6. Respect your sponsors

Sponsors give clubs gear, discounts, etc. They send you free stuff. What do you send them?

It’s a great thing to send a thank-you letter. If you can get a club shirt, sticker, etc. in there? Even better. To really make their day? Give them business! They will see it, and some will take the time to thank you for thanking them. It’s a good relationship to build.

Some larger companies have a budget, and know that some of the stuff sent to clubs never gets heard from again. Don’t be that club.

The smaller businesses, just starting out, are hoping to promote their business. They’re working folks just like us. They hope for the support of clubs. Invite them to events. You’d be surprised who shows up!

Some people shop by price and price alone, but we encourage our members to stay loyal to our sponsors even if there’s a small price difference.

Make sure people mention the club name to vendors, too!

This fall, after sending a package of shirts, stickers, hats and a thank-you letter to each of our sponsors, several of them took the time to email, call or send a voicemail to me back — thanking me for thanking them. One even said it was the first time a club ever thanked them for a donation. Step up the game, clubs! Thank your sponsors!

7. Other clubs want to work with you

Yes, you read that right. Some want to compete, sure. Forget about them. It’s a 4×4 club, not a measuring contest. Let them sit in the corner and scowl. We’re not talking about them.

The rest of the clubs want to be a part of the larger scene. Always invite/include other clubs in your area when you can. Make sure club members always know that it’s okay to be a member of as many clubs as they want. I’ve never understood why some clubs are opposed to members being members of other clubs.

At the end of the day, it’s not the 1960’s with warring bike gangs and colors. Invite those Land Rover guys over! They might not show up, but invite them anyway. Invite that Toyota or Jeep or Hummer or XTerra club. We always did, and when those guys did come by, we always had great feedback. They came back again and again and some of them – don’t tell anyone – sold their rig and jumped on the bandwagon with our brand.

8. Set a good example

…and encourage your members to set a good example of the club as well. Encourage good looking vehicles in a good state of repair. Break stones about oil leaks until they are fixed. Discourage speeding & loud exhausts in public when events are going on.

Encourage Tread Lightly principles. To some extremely confused people, this seems to mean “no fun.” You don’t have to Tread Lightly in an off-road park (but it can’t hurt) – but everywhere else, set that example. Pick up trash. Wave to the locals. Buy local food when you’re out of town.

Your club image can’t necessarily break your club, but it will break the image of 4×4 clubs everywhere. Got that? You and I can pinpoint clubs who screw up – but the general public still lumps us all together. They aren’t going to differentiate a loud, speeding Jeep JKU from a speeding Suzuki Samurai. They see a bunch of 4×4 people being imbeciles – even if you’re doing the speed limit.

9. Become an amateur philanthropist

People like to do good in the world. They like to be involved in doing good, and sometimes all they need is a nudge of where to direct their kindness.

Finding ways to get your club involved in charity work is pretty easy. Selecting a program to apply the power your club has is the tough part. There’s some charities out there that are questionable, and often only a small fraction of donations make it to the people in need.

Do your homework! You owe it to your club and to people everywhere. Don’t just take recommendations from friends, or spend 5 minutes on Google looking around. Get deep.

A quick, easy way to get involved is the winter season. Food and toy drives are an important part of local communities – and local is a great start. It helps the guy up the street.

Find food drive info in local churches, Boy/Girl Scouts, and other organizations in your area.

The police and the Marines are great with Toys for Tots.

Gather your people, collect the stuff up, and drive out to drop it off. It’s a great club event and the smiles can shake off the cold.

10. You can’t stop a good thing

Our club is about to go on its 9^th year. Our largest event last year drew 162 trucks and drew in almost $10k in donations. We’ve had some trials and tribulations; we’ve had some laurels and stains as well.

The friends I’ve seen made, and the friends I myself have made, have turned into lifetime friends.

Now I’m seeing babies being born, people buying new vehicles, newbies who have turned into veterans, and new faces coming up all the time. Membership is steady – not that we count accurately – and participation is high.

If I had to do it all over again? I’d probably be insane enough to do it. Would I do anything differently? I have no idea, and I’d like to think not, but I’m just making this up as I go.

Our club is the FJ Northeasters, located in the Northeastern United States of America. Join us on the web at FJNortheasters.org or on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/fjnortheasters/. Come to one of our events, it’s likely you’ll go home smiling, fat, and hungover.

All photos courtesy of the FJ Northeasters