21 Superb Ways to Make Money When Living in an RV Full-Time

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If you are dreaming about living on the road full-time in your van or your RV, you might be wondering how to make money to support this kind of lifestyle. It might not always be easy, but the good news is that it is absolutely possible – check out some ideas below and get creative!

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1 – Monetize what you already have

If you enjoy your job you are doing at the moment and it’s something that could be done, at least partly, remotely, it never hurts to ask your employer. A friend of mine did, even though no one else in her company was working remotely and she thought it was very unlikely for them to accept it, but instead, they even gave her a company computer to work with!

Also, if you have any property left behind, like a flat, a car, or even a parking spot, rent it out.

When downsizing to live in an RV, take full advantage of sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist to get the best price for your stuff.

Start your own business

2 – Dropshipping

Start your own online store without having to store, package, and send your products. There are loads of different ways of doing this, for example, Amazon FBA (=Fulfillment by Amazon) allows you (or your supplier) to ship the products directly to Amazon warehouse where they take care of the rest. You can read more about it here. You can also put up a shop with a platform like Shopify, add an add-on like Oberlo where you can just pick the products you want to sell, or you can contact the suppliers directly yourself and organize them to ship the items to your customers.

3 – Create t-shirts and other products

One of my favorite companies, Printful, allows you to design your own t-shirts, backpacks, mugs, blankets, beach towels, stickers, flip flops – pretty much anything you can print on! They work with print-on-demand principle and do the drop-shipping for you, and its available internationally for your customers from almost every country. Check how your products would look like here.

4 – Become a Social Media Manager – for Facebook & Instagram, for example

If you are good with social media, consider becoming a social media manager. In nowadays world the social media presence is more and more important for the companies, both small and large. Dollarsprout has some handy tips for starting out here.

Another great money opportunity is with Facebook ads. Help local businesses to reach their target audience and you could earn thousands of dollars. See Neil Patel’s introduction here.

If you have more of an eye for Instagram instead, there are tons of businesses looking out for someone to build them a beautiful Instagram account to promote their products to customers.

5 – Become an online travel agent

If you love organizing and scrolling through travel sites anyway, consider becoming an online travel agent. WikiHow has a handy guide here.

Get creative

6 – Sell your services in Fiverr

When I first heard about Fiverr, I had this idea in my head that it was just a platform to earn a bit of pocket money making logos. How wrong was I! You can do basically whatever you are good at. From logo design to SEO optimization, from writing resumes to video editing, from scriptwriting to career advice, you can offer any services in your expertise. You don’t even have to have a college degree, you can do a variety of things – personalized birthday messages seem to be very popular, for example. I mean, heck, there is even a guy who makes $20,000 a year in Fiverr and with his Patreon , just by impersonating Jesus!

7 – Graphic and web design

This is a great creative outlet to make money. You can sell your services in a platform like Fiverr or start your own website. There is a big demand for business branding and beautiful but practical WordPress themes.

8 – Create a YouTube channel

Not only for vloggers – you could create anything from short films to cat video compilations. You could record your van build or the life on the road, for instance. Hootsuite has a post about different strategies on how to make money on YouTube.

9 – Sell your paintings and drawings

If you are good at painting or drawing, you could sell your paintings in public places like tourist spots, sell them on Etsy or eBay or upload them as instant download printables. You can also do personalized drawings in places like Fiverr.

10 – Sell on Etsy

Create your handmade products and sell them on Etsy. You could create things like jewelry, crafts, soaps, lotions, candles, accessories, and small decor items. Personalized drawings sell well here too and calligraphic lettering is popular for wedding signs and invites.

11 – Buy in flea markets, sell in Etsy and Ebay

If you are roaming around a country’s different flea markets like I do, keep your eyes open for valuable items and then sell them on eBay, or Etsy if they are vintage. Sometimes I like to buy some broken items or small furniture like footstools, fix and update them and then resell them.

Write

12 – Start a blog or a website

You can start a blog or a website in almost any niche close to your heart. It takes time to build your audience, but after a while, you can make money by advertising, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, and selling your own products like ebooks and courses.

13 – Transcribe and Proofread

There are so many transcribing jobs out there, that if you are a quick writer, give a go for sites like Transcribe Me, Go Transcript and UpWork. You can also offer your proofreading services in UpWork or Fiverr.

14 – Other ways to make money writing

You could write an eBook, send your travel stories to travel magazines, or write personalized texts like speeches as a freelancer. Check out some good examples here.

Take photographs

15 – Sell stock photos

If you are traveling, you are probably taking some photos too. Take the advantage out of something you do anyway and sell your photos to stock photo sites to create some passive income. Check sites like Alamy, iStock, and Shutterstock.

If you have an eye for photography, your kit doesn’t have to expensive. Just a cheap SLRs camera like Canon 800D and cheap fixed focal length lens like 50mm/1.8 is a good start.

16 – Do wedding photography

Wedding photography is a lovely way to gig around the country, especially as you have your own home with you.

Seasonal/short-term work

One of the most common ways for van lifers and RVlifers to make money on the road. You could find seasonal work especially in harvesting, fruit picking, farming, tour guiding, bars, and restaurants. RV parks often look for workers in season too. Cooks are always needed. Check your local Craigslist for odd jobs or if you are a good musician, try some busking.

17 – Amazon CamperForce

A quote from the Amazon CamperForce website: “As a CamperForce Associate, you’ll be able to choose from seasonal assignments in a variety of locations depending on your availability.
We hire campers for a variety of seasonal opportunities. Your responsibilities will be in the areas of picking, packing, stowing, and receiving.” Check on their website if they do this in the area you are traveling to.

18 – Get a little cart

If you have space in your van or RV, get a small cart and sell small items like sweets close to big events or markets.

Other online gigs

19 – Search engine evaluator, virtual assistant and other online jobs

There are several companies like Appen and Lionbridge which offer jobs like search engine evaluators (basically you will be fixing Google’s mistakes). Appen works with 180+ languages and Lionbridge offers also translation, localization, performance testing, technical writing, etc. jobs.

You can become a virtual assistant by starting on sites like Upwork, TaskRabbit, and Freelancer, and after you have gained some experience and a good portfolio, you can expand your services to higher-end customers.

20 – Tutoring and teaching English

If you want to share your expertise, you could try tutoring. Good sites to start with could be Chegg Tutors, SuperProf, VIPKid, and Wyzant.

English teachers are always needed, especially in China. You could check places like EF Tutoring, Teach Away, and Preply.

21 – Get some extra pocket money

These gigs may not provide you a full-time income but may come handy if you need a few extra bucks.

Good examples are Amazon Mechanical Turk or Clickworker, where you complete small, simple tasks which are still too difficult for a computer to solve, or you can fill out surveys in sites like Swagbucks.

How other vanlifers make money on the road?

To give you some inspiration, I have listed some full-time vanlifers and RVlifers who live and work on the road.

Pete and Taylor from Always the Road make money by working remotely for a company, sell their ebook and music album, with some seasonal work and social media. Read their story here.

Guys from Dynamo Ultima run their own design studio and sell their own digital products and courses. Read more here.

Giddi from Our Home on Wheels runs her own jewelry shop Carteo.

Aubry and Christian, also known as The Matneys live with their YouTube income.

The American Field Trip Family live on their savings and the rent from their old house, as well as with some investments, freelancer work and photography.

Finally

There are even more options out there, just keep your eyes peeled and take any opportunities you’ll find. Just make sure the pages you sign up to are legitimate and google reviews. If any survey site asks you payment, they are most likely a scam. Also, be cautious with all get rich quick schemes – you are just going to lose your money.

Invest for the long term, little is better than none. Some people have decided to buy an investment property while they live in a van themselves.

You Might Also Be Interested In
► Our $140 Budget Rv Reno – Before & After
► 80 Jaw-Dropping Rv Bathroom Renovations
► 15 Fresh And Easy Rv Bathroom Makeover Ideas

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