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The idea of being a full-time RVer used to be something people dreamed about after they retired if they could save enough money and stay healthy. But they had very few opportunities to earn money once they retired. Today, opportunities to monetize a traveling lifestyle abound and younger people are enjoying the benefits of travel while they earn money along the way.
Only a few decades ago, work required your physical presence on the job, and of course, there are still many jobs that depend on you showing up every day to (hypothetically) punch a proverbial time clock.
After all, you can’t fly a commercial jet and not show up at the airport. You can’t be a grade-school teacher or bank teller and never go to work. But that’s not the whole story. There are many opportunities today to earn money remotely.
The digital age has opened doors that our parents could only dream about and it is this digital opportunity that allows people to realize their dream of becoming full-time RVers. It’s the same way people can choose to be stay-at-home parents and earn a livable wage, while others with limited mobility can still perform key roles in industry, education, and commerce.
In the world today, if you have an internet connection, own a computer, and have a skill, you don’t need to show up at a physical location to earn a living.
Both state and federal parks and campgrounds hire full-timers as camp hosts and on-site workers. Photo by Peggy Dent
How to work remotely
In fact, in today’s world of work, you don’t need to be employed by someone else. You can be an entrepreneur, own your own business, work in the gig economy, be a consultant or coach, photographer, writer, designer, musician, blogger, or stock trader.
Alternatively, you could work remotely; doing data entry, transcription, billing, be a virtual assistant, or even support yourself by answering someone else’s emails and correspondence. You could be a researcher or get paid to write reviews. I know of many RVers who create online content, earning money from written and video content and Amazon affiliate website.
Work camping
Additionally, there are many on-site work opportunities for full-time travelers. Amazon actively recruits campers for their distribution centers. The oil and gas industry hires full-time RVers to man security posts. Both state and federal parks and campgrounds hire full-timers as camp hosts and onsite workers. Private campgrounds employ RVers for office work or light maintenance work.
And every year, a small army of full-time RVers show up in many northern states from Oregon to Minnesota to harvest the thirty-two million tons of sugar beets grown in the US. It’s temporary and often cold, grueling work, but every year full-time RVers show up at the beet processing plants, like flocks of migrating geese, to get the work done. For a more comprehensive list of work opportunities check out these websites:
Traveling jobs
Finally, there are many medical professionals that enjoy all the benefits of a traveling lifestyle and earn money working as temporary nurses, radiologists, or other medical specialists. These people travel from one medical facility to another, where their specialized skills are needed for weeks or months, at a time. Additionally, some full-time RVers work on a job site, in the building trades. When the project is done, they take time off to travel, move to a new location, and begin earning money on a new project.
The days of working for the same firm for 30 years, then retiring on the company pension are from a bygone era. Back then, our parents could only dream and wait for retirement, to be full-time travelers. But money earning opportunities now are more fluid, short term, and variable. According to Career Change Statistics, the average person will change careers between 5 and 7 times during their working life. If you’re going to change careers anyway, why not incorporate full-time travel into your plans?
That’s what I did. In my lifetime, I have had three long-term careers, and now, my business and traveling partner and I, own our own thirty-year-old business which we manage from our RV. Additionally, I am a writer and author, and she is a designer. We earn money from all of these activities while traveling throughout the US and Canada.
Work wherever you travel. Photo by RVHive via Flickr Creative Commons
In conclusion, if you’re just dreaming about a full-time RV lifestyle but don’t know how you could earn enough money to pay for it, I suggest you start planning the steps you’ll need to make your dream a reality.
Every day, dozens of people trade in their big house for a mobile one and hit the road as full-time RVers. You may need to take care of some loose ends before you realize your dream; maybe you need to retire some debt, gain additional training, finish school, or get the last kid off to college, but be assured that you don’t have to wait until you’re 67.
There’s work to be had, opportunities to seize, and new adventures waiting. Come on out and join us!
See also: 6 Things You Should Know About RV Work Camping Jobs
