When you tell someone that you live and travel in an RV full time you usually get 1 of 2 reactions. Either they think you are crazy and give you that all too familiar look of why would anyone in their right mind want to do that or they think it is super awesome. We’ve seen very few responses in between.
No mater what the reaction, it is usually followed up with the question, “How do you pay for that?” or “What do you do for a living?”
Sometimes the best place to start is with your current job situation. You may be surprised that your current job could be transitioned to work from home. More and more companies are allowing this as an option for their employees. If that is the case, then it may be that easy to hit the open road and take your employment mobile. It may not hurt to ask.
We have a friend that was allowed by his company to work from home. However, he didn’t mention he transitioned from a home into an RV until 6 months into his travels.
His employer could never tell any difference in his production.
By that point he had proved his job could be done in a sticks and bricks house or a home on wheels. Neither had any effect on his performance when it came to his location.
On the other hand, it may not be that simple. If your job requires a more hands on approach this may take some extra thought. In my situation, I am a Labor and Delivery nurse (which is about as “hands on” as you get). If you have ever been a part of the birthing process, you know what I mean.
But did you know there may be a need for your profession to be taken mobile by traveling? Nursing, as well as many other careers, have many great opportunities to perform travel assignments in different health care setting around the nation, or even opportunities to coach patients over the phone.
You may be surprised what can me taken mobile. We have ran into pipeliners, electricians, photographers, clothing designers, and a number of hands on workers who are able to travel with their profession.
One of the biggest benefits of following the work is it often rewards employees with an even higher income than if you stayed in one location. Many nurses for instance, make twice as much as a travel nurse. I don’t know about you, but for me, that would mean half the work for the same amount of income for even more freedom!
Another great way offset income on the road is an opportunity called Workcamping. This is a very popular way if you own your own RV to travel the country and offer your labor to manage a campground or perform certain duties in exchange for a free camping site and even additional wages. Workcamping gets you out on the road and allows you to travel to beautiful parts of the country while offering lots of great options for jobs that allow you to meet new people and be in nature. The downside is these jobs may be seasonal and even limited opportunities and openings.
You may be thinking none of those options would work for you and so the dream is now crushed.
Don’t lose the faith just yet.
If your dream is to live a life of adventure on the road and your current situation would never allow such a “Fantasy”, then why not work towards creating a source of income that can be taken on wheels. I know that can sound overwhelming and even IMPOSSIBLE at times, but I had those same thoughts and fears and here we are doing it!
One of our favorite ways of creating income is through passive income. This is not typically a fast approach.
Once we decided we wanted to chase our dream it took us a year of planning and we had already been setting our lives up for passive income. It can feel like watching ice melt at times and take a lot of upfront hard work, but passive income is a great way to get mobile and stay there! We invested in some rental properties and have even flipped a couple houses which has been a great way to generate this type of income.
If you own a personal business and you feel stuck, we have also been in this situation. My husband Nathan started a small computer repair company and hired an employee and phased them in as the main operator. Yes you will take a hit on income replacing yourself and paying someone to fill your shoes (Nathan makes about 20% of what he did when he worked in the business), but the amount of money you earn per hour will skyrocket with passive income.
The 20% Nathan makes is done with less than an hour a week. Compared to 100% of the income at 40+ hours a week, this was a no-brainer for us.
With a hands-on job, your income is fixed for the most part. Sure, you might receive a yearly raise that “might” keep up with inflation, but for many, the ceiling for income is pretty low.
We have used this same mindset to create multiple streams of income. Not only has this increased our income, but it has reduced risk of one of the sources hits a dry spell.
Our most recent form of income has been generated from creating a journal of our travels by vlogging and blogging our adventures on the road. We are passionate about this lifestyle, and we were actually motivated to follow it through by a video we stumbled upon of people actually doing this. I had never thought it would be possible and it is! That is why we love making our videos and writing our articles, because it was such a life changer for us, and we want to be that encouragement for others as well.
I would classify vlogging and blogging as a mix of hands-on income and passive income. They require quite a bit of up-front work and some hands on work as you go along, but if you build your brand properly, there could be passive income in store for you down the road. If you want to hear more on this topic watch Part 1 of our 2 part series on making passive income for the road.
There are so many great options to live a life on the road. It may take some work and downsizing, but I can personally say it has been an amazing adventure for our family and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I never thought this would be possible for us as a family, but with a lot work and faith we are living a life of Less Junk < More Journey every day!
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