Introduction
One of the most common questions and concerns that arises when an enthusiast considers living the van life is how they will financially support such a lifestyle.
Let’s face it, we all want the freedom to travel when and where we want. But it all sounds unrealistic and the question about money is the most daunting and difficult one to answer.
Well, luckily for you, being a trust fund baby isn’t the only way to fulfill your adventurous dreams.
And in hopes to prove this, we interviewed 21 of the biggest and most well known nomads and asked them…
How do you make money while travelling the world in your home on wheels
They all got back to us with extremely in depth articles filled with answers including:
- How and when they got started
- Details about their jobs/businesses and income
- Challenges they face
- Advice and suggestions they have for you
- and much more!
So without further ado, let’s get started.
If you have any additional questions or concerns, feel free to ask on our community Forum
Navigation
You can easily navigate through each article submitted by nomads by using the drop down menu or the ‘Next‘ & ‘Back‘ arrow keys/buttons
Gnomad Home
Hey there! We’re Jayme and John from Gnomad Home – living the van life with our two pups Nymeria and Delilah out of our self-built 1996 Chevy Express van.
We tend to travel wherever the wind blows the cool kind of air our pups enjoy and we spend time exploring all the great scenery this country has to offer. We make our living by running and managing websites.
Getting Started
We had been gradually learning and researching the idea of creating informational websites as a business for several years, but we didn’t actually start doing it until the spring of 2016. That’s when John landed an internship helping develop the content for a large website, which encouraged us to start our own that July.
Inspiration
We started our van life blog Gnomad Home in October 2016. Even before we got our van, we decided to document the whole process. Even if it was just for our own amusement.
We put a lot of thought and research into all aspects of our van build, and we very quickly realized that it was tough to find useful information on building a van – there was a lot out there, but it was scattered, or outdated, or only applied to one specific build.
Creating Our Website
So we decided to create our own resource that answered all the questions we had before we started our build – and we’ve been researching, thinking and writing about building vans ever since.
What exactly we do to make money
We build, manage, and create content for our own blogs and websites – the main one being our van life blog ‘Gnomad Home’.
Gnomad Home is our true passion project, and it’s where we like to spend as much of our work time as we can. We write detailed articles about van life and every aspect of converting a van into a mobile home.
Aspiration
Our goal is to answer all the questions we had when we started building our van, and make it easier and less intimidating for enthusiasts to jump into this lifestyle.
Main Source of Income
Our websites generates income mostly through Amazon affiliate links. If you get to Amazon through our sites and buy something (anything), we get a small commission at zero cost to you. And since Amazon carries pretty much everything, it’s a great way to monetize without being bias toward a specific product or brand.
When we first hit the road, we were also freelance writing through upwork.com, and we lived off of a combination of freelancing, website income, and savings. Now we’re able to completely support ourselves financially, with our websites.
September of 2017 was the first month our income was higher than our expenses, and it has kept rising since then. We started our first website in the summer of 2016, so it took well over a year for our income to support our lifestyle.
How much money are we making?
This is a tough one to answer because our income changes every month, and it’s been increasing rapidly for the past several months. Most of last year, we were living off savings and only bringing in a few hundred dollars a month.
September was our first month cracking the $2,000 mark and covering expenses, but last month (March 2018) we made almost double what we used to make in a month of working our old 9-5 jobs.
Our daily work life
It varies. We are our own bosses and we are in charge of what we do each day. Some days we play music and swim and run with the dogs and do yoga and eat around the fire. Some days we’ll work from 5:30am until 2am with very minimal breaks.
Other days we’ll work just in the morning, or just in the afternoon, depending on what’s going on. We work A LOT – more than we did in our 9-5 jobs – but we have the freedom to choose when and where we work with van life.
Then we’ll settle in to our computer work around 9, and work until about two hours before sunset. That’s when we’ll take the dogs for another walk, hang out and relax a bit, and start cooking dinner.
If we’re working on a big project we might return to work after dinner, but otherwise we’ll play Yahtzee, or jam, or sit around a fire. Then it’s to bed for some light reading and much-needed sleep!
Challenges we face while working on the road
The biggest challenge for us is finding reliable cell service.
We need internet to work, and we rely on Verizon’s unlimited data plan for our internet needs.
It just so happens that the most beautiful wilderness spots are usually in dead zones, and too many times we’ve had to leave an awesome campsite because we needed internet. But we’ve learned a lot of wicked tips to finding beautiful wilderness campsites with cell service – it can be a bit of work to find them, but it’s worth it!
Tips for enthusiasts
It takes a lot of work. You don’t realize that until you begin, but it really does. We fear that some people dive into van life without much of a financial plan – and you really need some sort of plan before you hit the road.
We had a nice savings cushion from selling all of our belongings that helped us get started, and we were betting on our businesses supporting us before we ran out of money. But we also knew we could fall back on freelance work if we had to.
That said, don’t let the idea of a lot of work scare you. Even though we work a ton, what we do is so fulfilling for us that it’s more fun than anything.
We honestly have “work meetings” for FUN sometimes. And the freedom that comes with van life makes everything worth it. So just know – whatEVER your dream is – if you want to make it work – you have to hustle. We firmly believe that if you want it enough then it’s within your reach – but you need to WORK for it.
You can find us on:
GnomadHome.com
ProjectVan Life Forum
Blue Bus Adventure
Nick and Jessica opted to take their romance in a different unconventional direction and hit the open road.
Four years ago they purchased Thomas for $1,000, which was their first joint purchase and big commitment to each other.
Living the Bus Life
They’ve been living in their bus full-time for almost one year and didn’t have much money saved to embark on their adventure.
Explore 15+ ways you can financially support your nomadic lifestyle
The money that was spent prior on rent for a house, has now been allocated to gas and grocery shopping as those are the highest expenses incurred, aside from the mechanic hiccups that occur every so often.
They may not be rich financially (yet), but their life has been more rich and rewarding since taking the leap of faith and moving into their bus. Nearly every day they hear:
Good for you, do it while you’re young! You can always go back to the life you left…
Financial Journey
They wear many hats to make bus life work for them and they’re constantly finding creative ways to earn income.
Being on the road has helped reignite Jessica’s passion for photography and videography – growing up she wanted to be a music video director and with the helpful guidance from Nick, she’s learning to fine tune her skills.
Both Nick and Jessica’s images were published in Foster Huntington’s latest #1 bestselling book, “Van Life,” bringing them exposure points and credibility in the nomadic tiny home on wheels community.
They’ve dipped into the marketing arena and have helped create marketing content for businesses: such as producing high quality images and videos for them to use on their websites, printed brochures, and social media channels.
Looking for helpful insights for marketing your brand? send them an email at BlueBusAdventure@gmail.com
The hardest part for Nick and Jessica is convincing folks of their dollar worth; not all of these gigs may pay bills, but they usually help offset expenses and create future potential opportunities.
About Nick Cahill
Nick Cahill is an incredible adventure sports and landscape photographer who’s landed the cover of National Geographic’s special issue, “Guide to the Night Sky.” It is amongst the fan favorites which helped catapult Nick’s photography business and credential him as a photographer to be on the lookout for.
His passion is photography and videography, and he is an adrenaline enthusiast at heart – seeking to capture breathtaking moments for others to experience and enjoy from the comforts of their home.
How Nick makes money
He runs his own business Cahill Films and sells his artwork to selected galleries in Lake Tahoe, NV and the San Francisco Bay Area, CA.
Aside from his side passion work, he also has a full time day job as the Media Director for Hurricane Group – the leading online military news and men’s entertainment website – where he oversees and produces all video production ads, documentaries, videos, and photographs.
This job currently is what funds most of the fuel in their gas tank and pays the bills, however his artwork sold in galleries also brings significant cash flow to their bus travels
About Jessica Perez
Jessica Perez is business savvy at heart and has a keen eye for detail, which helped her succeed in the corporate world.
She worked as a consultant for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Silicon Valley where she gained experience with very successful businesses and sat amongst the C-suite level and top managers, learning more in those meetings than any college course provided.
She took a slight shift in her career path and instead of being in front of the client, she knew she could better help other consultants, “behind the scenes,” with preparing them for their meetings with clients.
She is a PowerPoint wizard and can finesse any boring deck of slides into a stellar presentation, making the consultant look incredible in front of an audience.
How Jessica makes money
She is an independent contractor taking on clients and work as it flows to her, and she now refers to herself as a Virtual Administrative Assistant – able to complete the tasks and duties of any executive admin assistant remotely, from an office.
Working remotely
Both Nick and Jessica are able to manage their workload remotely as long as there is solid Wi-Fi connection. Most business is conducted over email and Skype and they dedicate 2-4 days each week to focus and be “connected” to their computers.
This dedicated work time limits their adventuring and can put a burden on fun when they have quick deadlines to meet. It can be quite stressful as good internet isn’t guaranteed in most remote destinations they often prefer to visit.
However with tethering from their phones and a Wi-Fi jetpack they’re able to have decent reception to respond to any urgent emails and send files. Otherwise you can find them at coffee shops and small markets where internet is provided.
You can find BlueBusAdventure on:
BlueBusAdventure.com
Minimal Millennials
How we’d continue to bring in income was a very important problem to solve, before we even started living the van life.
We didn’t want to be those travelers who had to skimp and save just for a few months of traveling. We wanted our lifestyle to be sustainable because we knew we’d want to live in a van for a long time.
Thankfully, when we first moved into the van, we were both working remote jobs (I had a full-time salaried remote job and Christian had a 6-month contract).
We have a video on how we were able to land these remote jobs here.
We felt comfortable moving into the van since we had these jobs and on the side, and started building what would soon become our full-time gig.
Fast-forward to just a couple of months ago when we both quit our jobs and jumped in full-time to growing our social media brand, Minimal Millennials. Getting to the point where we were making enough mullah to live on took a little over a year.
YouTube and Instagram was 100% our side-hustle up until just a few months ago. Keep in mind, living the van life requires very little income to live on.
Income
We are confident that we’ll bring in $1,500 USD every month from YouTube ad revenue, but with unexpected brand deals, we might bring in a little bit more. (We also like to diversify our income by picking up small jobs from friends, building websites for small businesses, and more.)
Monthly Expenses
If you want to check out what our monthly expenses are living in a van, check out this video:
Making money on the road can be tricky to navigate, but the good news is, with the internet, there are so many options for those looking to live a lifestyle of freedom.
Learn more about Van Life and EVERYTHING you need to know about it
We’ve found several ways to make income on the road and I’m confident you’ll be able to as well!
Roll With It Bus
Scott and Kayley, along w their two dogs make a travel vlog series about touring America. The series revolves around their 40′ Bluebird All American school bus conversion they built themselves. Their popular conversion series is an honest depiction of what it takes to make this dream happen. Hint; a lot of friends and generosity.
How we afford Bus-Life
My boyfriend and I are full-time YouTube travel vloggers.
As a former reality T.V. producer and YouTube executive, Scott spent his entertainment career producing shows for other people.
When we decided to buy a school bus to convert into our tiny home on wheels, we discovered there was a growing skoolie niche on YouTube that we could potentially stand out in. Scott was eager to turn the camera on himself, and to create his very own content for the first time.
YouTube Career
Our channel began with making “practice videos” about our daily life in Venice Beach, several months before we bought our bus.
In order to be successful on YouTube, we needed to be entertaining, different, and consistent. While we set out to be the most informative, comprehensive bus-conversion series on YouTube, we ended up winning over our audience with our humor and endless mistakes made on camera.
It wasn’t until six months later when we were crying on camera with a crowbar in hand that we started getting thousands of views on our videos. Our bus-conversion series built our YouTube audience, and continues to bring our current travel vlogs new viewers every day.
Income
We make just enough money to stay on the road, averaging between $1,800 and $2,200 from YouTube. We also generate $1,000 – $2,000 a month from Patreon, merchandise sales, and sponsored partnerships.
Challenges
Some days are spent exploring hidden waterfalls and towns, while others days are dedicated to doing chores around the bus. Either way, our cameras are always rolling, enabling us to post every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.
Nate Murphy
Getting Started
When I was preparing for the trip I told myself that I would give it three years, try to work out a way to make money as I travelled or just go back to the UK and work on a new start-up. I made YouTube videos for fun – the idea of making money from it was there, but I did not really consider it very realistic. I had some viral success and I have been pushing it from there.
In a way, I am a crappy YouTuber – I never set-out to become one so it is sometimes difficult for me to really work hard at it (hence I am bringing on a small team to help this process).
Financial Stability
It took one year and four months to be breaking even on my costs, this could have happened faster if that was the main aim. After 2 years and 8 months on the road my savings were the same as the day I left. This felt pretty good.
That said, even though I do literally everything I want my costs remain pretty low.
This year I spent a month in Spain, a month in Thailand, two months in Yosemite (California), a summers season in the French Alps, another Yosemite season, a month in New Mexico and finally a couple more months in Asia) and on average probably spent about $1500 a month.
Join us on our Forum to connect with the nomadic community!
Sources of Income
I have built (and am building) a variety of revenue channels with the aim to not just ‘survive’ but do financially well while I travel.
The key ways I am currently making money are as follows:
1. My YouTube channel
through Ad-revenue this delivers enough (plus some) to live on but the revenue does depend on the time of year and I would not want to wholly rely on something which is at the whims of YouTube algorithm’s or in space that is increasingly crowded on YouTube (Van life)
2. Sponsorship’s
as a semi-pro climber I earn some money (and free gear I would otherwise have to pay for) through promoting the brands I work with through my social media channels. This is an area I am looking to develop in the coming year.
I aim to develop long-term relationships with brands delivering not only exposure but also directly attributable sales if possible; with clothing/some climbing gear.
3. Sick Climbing
this is a product and clothing brand that I created in late 2017. I designed a unique finger training product and I sell that directly through my website; the aim this year is to get toward selling an average of one a day. I am a little way off that; however I have barely started pushing the product.
4. Ebooks
I have forged myself as an expert in converting vans into campers and this fits well into the van life & adventure theme of my channel. Ebook sales do not constitute a significant income but it has proven to be a relatively reliable additional revenue stream – mostly driven by the 10 – 20,000 views a day on the YouTube channel.
5. Consulting
I have a base of long-term clients whom I have worked with since the start of my first business ten years ago – mostly these are clients I liked and I did not want to drop them. For them I do the odd bit of design work. It is not something I seek but it perhaps covers 1/3rd of my annual living costs without a lot of actual work and at any-rate covers all my hosting, accounting and other general company costs.
Work Schedule
Actually it varies drastically from month-to-month. Some times I barely do any work for two months so I can focus on big climbing objectives or simply because I feel like I want to mostly do personal projects that matter to me rather than things that are more geared around making money.
Some months I do ‘work’ hard or long hours, like when I did the RnD for the Sick Climbing product in New Mexico I worked 10 hours a day for about a month; it was worth it though and I really enjoyed the process.
It is hard to determine what is ‘work’. Pretty much, if it is too much like ‘work’, I try not to do it. I have my ‘projects’ – things that I really want to do and as they do not tend to have a money-making focus I do not count them as work. At the same time I am generally pretty busy!
The stuff that feels like work is often editing less creative videos, consulting work, life-admin or stuff which is specifically for money – my hope is that by hiring a team I can reduce the amount of work I do.
Challenges
My main challenge is myself. I tend to take on too many projects – in a way it means I work optimally but at the same time it can be a bit much. I could have a much easier life if I just did things that made money and did not bother with all the time-intensive projects that don’t – but it was to do these other things that inspired me to hit the road in the first place.
The second most challenging part of my work is good Internet access for uploading content. I travel through different countries all the time and uploading large video files can be a real pain – especially in remote areas.
Tips & Recommendations
If you want to live the van life you need to be strategic. Think where you are now financially or commitment-wise and work out how you can get to a place that can give you a decent financial runway, perhaps even build some revenue channels before you leave. I mean, the best time to do work for yourself is while someone else is paying you 
It is definitey easier to have cash for a year or two in the bank to take the stress out of having to make money immediately and getting sucked into the low-earning paths-of-least-resistance. Other than that, be patient and work consistently toward your goal – like everything it is a process, if you keep moving along the process you will get to where you want to go.
Also, the worst-case scenario is that you go broke and get a job.
Via The Van
We are two California kids who spent the last few years living in Brooklyn and working in NYC.
During the months between August and December of 2017, we lived, worked, played, laughed, cried (haha… but really), and did everything else that a newlywed couple does inside of our self-built Sprinter van.
It wasn’t always easy, but traveling the country while living the van life means you’re never far from adventure. Since then, we’ve been exploring the outdoors from our home base of San Francisco and saving up for the next build.
Our Remote Job
Willa and I were lucky enough to live and work full-time in our converted Sprinter van due to a pretty amazing New York-based company (if I do say so myself).
I began working for them roughly four and a half years ago. The company is called Parse.ly and primarily provides analytics to media companies around the world.
The majority of the crew works remotely out of their homes or in co-working spaces around the U.S. and internationally so they weren’t bothered by my nomadic lifestyle.
Work Schedule
I spent my time jumping from coffee shop to co-working space to public library all in the hopes of finding the mythical van life unicorn, “high speed internet”.
You can learn more about mobile hotspot on our Forum
Challenges
The best part of working on the road was actually also the hardest: finding a spot that I could work out of for an entire day.
I had to reset my routine by planning much further ahead than I was used to and always had to have a backup plan which would allow me to get online. We designed our van so that I could work from the passenger front swivel seat or at our dining table when I wasn’t in a cafe.
However, it’s worth noting that despite what Instagram shows about van life, it’s not all travel and play, work does have to make it’s way in there from time to time.
Recommendations
For those getting started on the nomadic lifestyle or those looking to start, I recommend checking out the many remote work sites online, particularly gigs in customer support. (Also don’t neglect Craigslist! Bop around cities and see what comes up. You never know.)
It’s a quickly growing trend and many of the jobs in customer support don’t require much previous experience.
Beyond that, once you’ve started, always have a plan and establish a routine. It’s one thing to live in a tiny space with another human, it’s an entirely different game when you also work in that tiny space.
You can find us on:
ViaTheVan.com
Kombi Rutera
We are Maru, Martín, Gaia and Huella (our van). We have lived the van life and traveled the world for 10 years. First backpack and 6 years ago in our Van VW model 1983. We left Argentina in 2012 and arrived in Mexico. In that country our daughter, Gaia, was born. So since 2015 we travel as a family. Our project is called Kombi Rutera.
We were once sitting on that side of the screen dreaming of how to live a nomadic lifestyle. Until one day we thought…
if others can do it, why can’t we?
And here we are, living our best lives ????
How do you make a living?
We started van life with some savings and clothes we had bought from India to sell along the way. And sometimes we prepare food to sell too.
How much do you spend per day?
Each day we spend an average of 20 dollars divided in 4 (the number of people we live with).
*Important fact: You spend much less travelling than living in a city: we don’t pay rent, taxes, phone, or internet bills.
Below you can find the percentage of our van life expenses:
- Food 40%
- Gasoline 25%
- Our vans maintenance 24%
- Accommodation 5%
- Tolls 1%
- Customs taxes 1%
- Others 4%
As you can see our main expense is gasoline and food.
With 1 liter we can make it 8 kilometers. We have already traveled 40.000kms, so we have used up 5.000 liters which equals $5,000.
FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!! Yes, but don´t panic. Take into account that all these was throughout a period of 1000 days of travelling, which makes it only 5 dollars a day.
As for eating, we usually eat in markets where the food is fresh, cheaper and delicious. We also buy a lot of nonperishable products in supermarkets and cook in the van (which has a small built-in kitchen).
Have you got a credit card, debit or bank account?
Yes, we have got debit and credit and a savings bank in pesos and dollars.
We rarely use the credit card, but it is useful to have one because it can save you in certain occasions. For example, when we entered to Mexico we got to know that we needed to pay 200 dollars for warranty to let a foreign car in the country. (You get it back when you leave the country)
We didn’t have that amount with us at that moment but we were able to pay with a credit card.
Have you ever been robbed?
Yes, just once. We learnt a lot from it, especially that nothing was going to stop we could continue with our dream, that we don’t have to be afraid but to be alert and what is more important, there is always someone ready to give you a hand, even without knowing you.
How can YOU make money living on the road?
Throughout our journey we met a lot of travelers who paid for their trips inthe following different ways:
- Selling their pictures, postcards, calendars, stickers, magnets, their books, handcrafts, food, handmade notebooks.
- Giving photography courses, painting lessons, teaching a language or a sport (yoga, surf)
- Web design
- Making music, magic tricks, giving puppet shows, juggling, etc
In many places, especially in touristic places, there is always the opportunity to find one day, weekly or monthly jobs.
Another possibility is to exchange work for a room and/or food.
Have any questions van life? Ask the community directly on our Forum
Advice
Money shouldn’t be your excuse for not travelling and doing what you love.
The most important thing is to do what you are passionate about. Believe in yourselves and in your abilities. Strive to make your dreams come true.
It is better to regret what you have done, than regret not having done it.
You will discover that, throughout your journey you will learn things that you never expected. Remember there are many people in our community to help you out on your journey!
You can find us on:
KombiRutera.com.ar
ProjectVanlife Forum
Bearfoot Theory
My income comes from a few major revenue streams, including advertising, tourism board collaborations, brand collaborations, blog coaching, photography licensing, YouTube revenue, and group tours.
Getting Started
I started my blog in 2014 after leaving my Washington DC job in search of a more flexible career. I came across some articles online about travel bloggers making money from their blogs, and that really intrigued me.
I didn’t grow up camping and hiking and was on a mission to get more experience in the outdoors. I wanted to use my blog as an avenue to show people that it’s never too late. I started by sharing my favorite destinations, gear, and tips for living a more adventurous life.
Having trouble finding an income? Tell us about your situation on our Forum so we can help you out!
When I quit my Washington DC job, I moved to Las Vegas where I had a low cost of living. I lived off of my savings and got a part-time job at REI to help make ends meet.
That was great because I got a discount on the gear that I used for my first gear reviews, as well as the gear I needed to for my John Muir Trail hike – and coincidentally my John Muir Trail blog posts were the first ones I wrote that started to drive significant traffic to my site.
Daily Routines
Every day as a blogger looks different. I’m fortunate to have three part-time employees who help pull my site together.
Some days I’m working with Linda, our Marketing Director, to work out brand collaborations. Other days, I’m working with Katherine, our dedicated writer, to conceptualize and edit blog posts. And some days, I work with Kim, our Community Manager, to run our Facebook Group and make sure we are responding to all of the reader emails that come in.
Challenges
Working from the road is challenging, and recently I’ve found a really nice balance. I spend half the year living the van life in my Sprinter van – typically from May through November.
Then I spend ski season at my home base in Salt Lake City where I tackle bigger long-term projects that require a little more stability – like my full website redesign that I did in 2017.
The most challenging part of working while living the van life is finding balance. I’m not out here to work like a dog. I’m out here to live in the moment, but when you mix work and play, the lines get seriously blurred.
Advice
My advice for someone who wants to pursue a nomadic lifestyle as a travel blogger is the first year is really tough. If you want to make it sustainable, you have to take it very seriously, just like any other job.
When I first started, I was probably at my computer 80 hours a week. I only made time for hiking, eating, sleeping, and blogging, and that was it.
If I tried to throw full-time travel into the mix that first year, I think it would have taken much longer for things to really take off.
I’m glad I prioritized my blog and new career path over anything else that first year, and because of that, I now have the freedom to be on the road full-time without being constantly stressed about my next paycheck.
You can find me on:
BearFootTheory.com
YouTube
The American Field Trip
We’re the Bowman family: David, Madison, Graham (5) and Margaret (2). Before leaving to live on the road and visit all the U.S. national parks, we’d lived in New York City for almost 5 years.
Though we loved the city, we also wanted to travel and see the States, and we didn’t want to put that dream off for another time. So in April 2017, we packed our bags, rented out our apartment and hit the road.
When we left our New York City home in April 2017 to travel full time around the U.S., we knew we wanted to develop as many streams of income as possible.
We’d been used to making money in a traditional way: full-time, salaried jobs.
Our plan for making money while living the van life was to work freelance, but as any freelancer knows, that kind of work is often feast-or-famine.
Income
Our income still varies widely month to month, but there are a few stable sources of cashflow that keep our bigger bills (health and car insurance) covered, and ensure we have something to fall back on in an emergency.
Real Estate
We own our home in NYC and have been renting it out since we left. The rent covers the mortgage and utilities of the home, with enough left over to cover our health insurance.
Savings
Before leaving home, we saved enough cash to cover the cost of buying and building out our shuttle bus so we wouldn’t go into debt to do it.
Investments
For several years, we’ve been investing whatever money we could into commodities trading, and in an emergency, we can access that money to cover gaps in our income.
Advertising
We’ve shied away from paid partnerships with companies that would monetize our travels, but a few times on our trip, we’ve teamed up with someone who can provide us a comped service in exchange for making content about our experience.
Photography
David sells his photography online and has licensed some of his photos from our trip for use by other companies.
Freelance Work
The bread and butter of our income is David’s freelance work. He worked as a graphic designer in New York, so he has connections from that job as well as from people who were in his program in college.
He’s gotten some jobs from a service called Upwork, but the majority of his clients came from networking with people he already knows. We built a small, separate office space for him in the back of our bus, so he has an isolated place to go and focus on work.
Schedule
While some of our income is passive, David’s freelance work sometimes requires him to put in long hours.
Generally I put our two kids to bed at night and David starts work in the early evening, putting in 4-5 hours before he goes to bed each night.
When he’s up against a deadline, we stop wherever we are and he dedicates a few days or weeks to work to get on top of things. Because he’s a rockstar and handles so much of his work at night, and because our schedule with kids requires us to turn in early anyway, it doesn’t usually conflict with our daytime adventuring.
We feel extremely lucky/blessed/privileged to be able to do this trip. There are so many ways to make full-time road life work, and we love how creative the van life community is in figuring out ways to make money from the road, but we also think it’s really important to recognize that we’re all very fortunate to be able to choose this lifestyle.
We count our blessings a lot and hope this info helps other families think through how they could make their dream come true.
You can find us on:
AmericanFieldTrip.com
Van.There
The decision to embark on an unconventional lifestyle does not come without fear and uncertainty.
During the five months that Mike and Jess were building their first van, they were also preparing to quit their 9-5 jobs and create a more sustainable lifestyle that allowed them to decide when and how they wanted to work.
For Mike and Jess, their nomadic lifestyle is much more affordable than their previous lifestyle, as they purchase and consume significantly less. They also have found a way to make their unique passions profitable enough to live comfortably.
Before Van life
Mike had a degree in architecture, and prior to life on the road, worked as a project manager for an office furniture supply company. In his spare time, he designed and created furniture, as well as sketched local architecture in the Baltimore area.
While working in a lab, researching how diet and genetics impact healthy aging, she noticed a disconnect between information accessible to the scientific community and the general public.
This sparked her transition to a career in science communications, in efforts to bridge that knowledge gap. She was commuting four hours a day between Baltimore and her office in Washington DC, and she knew there was more to life than sitting on a train.
Working Remotely
After Mike submitted his resignation, he started his own small business, Drawn There, and now creates and sells art through his website.
He has a unique style and sense of humor, and his Instagram is filled with beautiful ink and watercolor drawings paired with clever and informative captions.
He likes to sketch on location everyday and spends his evenings creating commissioned pieces for customers. His most popular custom art requests are family homes and pet portraits.
Jess made the jump to freelance science communications consultant at the start of her van life journey, and continues to translate complex scientific topics for public consumption.
She spends about 10 hours a week on client work and several more hours on administrative tasks. She also manages their travel blog and instagram account, @van.there.
Challenges
On the road, the biggest challenge they face is balancing the desire to be out in the wild with the need to be connected.
In the world of science communications and public relations, timing is everything, so Jess often requires good cell signal, meaning they don’t go off grid for long stretches. Furthermore, living the van life takes more time to accomplish daily tasks, like having fresh water and a safe place to sleep.
Mike must balance these household management tasks with his creative business, plus he’s also the driver!
On their way to hike the Lost Coast trail in Northern California last summer, Mike drove Jess back an hour into cell service so she could respond to a client email!
Commitment
Mike and Jess have lived a nomadic lifestyle since April 2017. After a head-on collision with a herd of elk in Idaho, their last van was totaled on March 2018.
(@van.there)Not ready to quit this lifestyle, they are now building out their second home on wheels, a 2017 Mercedes Sprinter 2500 4×4 144” wheelbase. They plan to be back on the road in May 2018.
Advice
Their advice for others looking to transition to a nomadic lifestyle is to find the intersection of your passions and your skills. This is where you will find yourself the most motivated to succeed under any conditions!
You can find Mike & Jess on:
VanThere.com
Stephi Lee
I’ve traveled all over the U.S in my 2006 Honda Element, which I converted into a mini-camper fully equipped with a bed, solar shower, cooler and everything I need.
Fulfilling my Passion
Art and social media have allowed me to continue living the lifestyle I want to live– traveling wherever I want, whenever I want.
With YouTube and Instagram, my adventures are my work. I create travel vlogs, photography, and art inspired by the places I explore and the people I meet.
Getting Started
I graduated from Massachusetts College of Art & Design last May with a degree in illustration. I left my home and started living the van life full time with around $10,000 in my bank account, which I had saved from art sales.
Working Remotely
I’ve been doing custom drawings and paintings for people since I was 13 years old. After graduating college, I began doing freelance illustration work for magazines and various companies.
Sponsorships
After a few months of traveling, my Instagram (@stephilee) started to gain popularity and I started a YouTube channel, which now has almost 100k subscribers. I vlog my adventures and talk about living on the road, traveling with Cystic Fibrosis, and my outlooks on life.
I’m now able to earn an income through sponsorships and YouTube vlogs, as well as through my online art store and occasional freelance jobs.
Schedule
I spend a couple hours a day working on art, and the rest of the time working on growing my social media. It’s a full time job that never ends, but I love it and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Advice
My advice for anyone looking to pursue a nomadic lifestyle is to follow your passion and your intuition. Save up money before you travel or find a job that you can do on the road.
???????? (@stephilee)There are SO many ways to make money online. It’s all about finding what best suits you. Trust your intuition, it will guide you to the places you need to go to make your dream life come true. I did and I’ve never been more happy to wake up and live my life to the fullest every day.
Navigation Nowhere
Getting Started
A year ago, when I first moved into my school bus, I was pursing short-term contract work in the tech world as a User Researcher.
My plan was to live a mobile lifestyle that would allow me to move freely around the country for work, no longer needing to move all my things and find housing in every new location.
This also kept me from having to enter a lease that may be difficult to negotiate amicable terms. I just didn’t want to ‘restart’ every time I moved. The idea of having a home on wheels was attractive because it would allow me to have my ‘apartment’ wherever I went.
Working Remotely
Interestingly enough, I am not currently doing what I originally planned or expected. Over the past year, my work has shifted from seeking contract jobs to almost completely online work involving the school bus community.
After living in my bus for a few months, I realized that I could provide resources for people seeking to live the “bus life” and build their own home on wheels.
The information I began providing varied from how to live in a school bus to how to tackle a school bus conversion as well as stories about my lifestyle in a bus.
Fulfilling my passion
Originally, I did not start this line of work expecting to create a career but rather a hobby that could help the community at large and connect me with other people on the road.
So I started by creating a website and various social media platforms directed at supporting the school bus DIY community and sharing my story with others. Over time it grew and I began to learn about ways, through others, how to earn money online while still helping the community at large.
After a few months, I began creating online courses, electronic books, speaking at venues, and blogging about how others can live the “bus life”.
I have never counted the hours I have put in each week, but not counting hours was one reason I started doing this type of work anyway.
Writing blogs and sharing information about bus and road life was and is never about ‘one hour equals a certain amount of money’ it’s a passion.
Income
After about ten months, I started to see an income from my online work. I began earning money from mainly two income streams; online sales and various forms of affiliate marketing.
It would be hard to give a definitive number to my monthly income because it is directly related to the amount of work I do and how often I am publishing work. If I had to average my monthly income it would be around 800 dollars a month, at the current moment.
Now, you are probably thinking, “that could not possibly be enough!” You would be correct. Right now, my online work does not fully support my needs alone. My current online work is about 60 percent of my income and the other 40 percent comes from manual labor jobs I pick up as I travel.
My goal is that within the next six months, I will be able to fully fund my lifestyle through online work.
Challenges
What most people in the blogging and online world will tell you, and I learned myself, is that it takes a lot of work and time to develop a network and presence within your niche.
As much as I love doing what I do, living a nomadic lifestyle can make working online difficult.
Two of the biggest challenges I face working on the road are Internet and time management:
- Internet can be quite difficult because most places I would like to spend all of my time at also tend to not have cell service or Internet access. This forces me to leave the woods more often than I would like.
- The other issue can be time management. It is inexplicably difficult to work when also needing to balance finding somewhere to sleep at night and driving. I find that I tend to always be playing between adventuring, driving, and working.
Advice
Two tips I would tell someone who would want to enter a similar line of work is:
- That the Internet is a big place and you need to find your niche and start doing it. The only difference between any online influencer and you is that they already started.
- The other thing about working on the road is that I don’t live this lifestyle to make a million dollars; it is to live a simple life where I can focus on people, experiences and my goals.
I always tell people,
It’s not about the number of miles you drive but rather the people who live every mile along the way
Enjoy each mile; let it teach you something about yourself, people, and nature. If you are only interested in being at the top of the ivory tower, you will be sadly mistaken to realize that being on top wasn’t the point, it was building it with others.
Whatever line of work you choose, remember to do it with others on mind.
You can find me on:
YouTube
navigationnowhere.com
The Wayward Blonde
I’m Candice- a free spirit and dreamer from a small town in the South.
In 2014 I left everything I knew behind and began my love affair with travel and adventure. There is a preconceived notion that a life of travel requires a trust fund, a well-paying location independent job, or some other form of financial security that feels out of reach for the average person.
But I’m here to inspire anyone and everyone to attempt to live an unordinary life or a life of adventure if they dream
Misconception
There is an assumption made that because my social media portrays that I travel heavily, that I’m doing it all the time. But that is not the case! Regardless what people think I actually am not a digital nomad.
My Story
In 2014 I sold just about everything I owned and moved to Australia on a working-holiday visa. I bought a van, traveled for a few months waiting to find the place I felt like I wanted to settle down for some work.
I landed in Byron Bay where I got a job in a surf shop. I stayed for three months there before heading to the West coast where I pretty much just repeated that process.
I would do the same thing in New Zealand about a year and a half later. Australia is what first sparked my love for van life and is what provoked me to buy my van in America. I realized that it was okay that my life didn’t look like everyone elses.
There’s a freedom and happiness that comes with deciding to live your own truth and not compare yourself to others. It’s a less fleeting, more all-encompassing kind of happiness.
Occupation
Since I started van life four years ago, I’ve spent the majority of the time working in a stationary location for anywhere from three to five months before an extended period of work-free travel.
For the last year or so I have split my time between traveling in my van and working on a beautiful farm in Oregon. I’m very lucky to have found what seems like the perfect balance and I’m so grateful.
I enjoy being able to travel and not worry about work while I’m doing so and this sort of lifestyle is perfect for where I am in my life at this time. I work very hard! But I also play very hard! It’s very rewarding.
Income
Right now I am living comfortably on the farm in Oregon. The great thing about this work is that I can live on this beautiful property in my van, so I do not have rent or bills. I am able to save about $3,000 a month here.
Financial Freedom
The subject of finances in my life is something that changes pretty drastically throughout the course of any given year. There have been times traveling where I’ve managed to save up more money than most of the people I know with professional careers.
In the past, when I was a bit younger, I was okay with the idea of spending my last dime on a flight to Thailand and figuring the rest out later!
As I’m getting older I’m making sure to prioritize financial stability and put into motion long-term financial goals. Sometimes I think not knowing what the future looks like is what keeps my life interesting.
The key for me has been gratitude and deciding that I do not need a whole bunch of meaningless things to be happy. It requires a lot of faith and trust in the universe. And It’s not for everyone!
Challenges
Like I said before, when I’m working, I’m working. That’s not to say that I am not still able to enjoy life, though. I have the flexibility to make my own schedule (within reason) so it’s easy for me to get away for a few days or a week whenever I please.
I love my job, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything else while I’m here! Once work is over I’ll go out and adventure to my hearts content without a concern for work interfering in the experience.
Advice
never not to let fear take over your life.
Many people desire to live a certain kind of life but they get too hung up on the “what ifs.” Fear can cripple us into self-doubt which keeps us from ever taking the leap required to live the lives we want to live. I’m not saying everyone needs to sell everything they own, quit their job, and go to a far away place to feel freedom.
Sometimes a reprioritization and a few sacrifices in the right direction can make all of the difference. Just don’t be scared! You know what your life will look like if you sit back and do nothing.
You can find me on:
Bus Life NZ
We are Andy, Amber, Jake (6) & Daisy (4)
We escaped the rat race by converting a bus into our home on wheels. We chose to live like this after a near death experience in which we were trapped in a seriously damaged high rise after a deadly earthquake in New Zealand.
We realized life is short and we didn’t want to have any regrets with how we lived it! We are currently based in New Zealand where we travel full time, homeschool our kids and make YouTube videos of our adventures.
Income
We have a few different income streams, when added together they create enough of an income to meet our basic needs.
These income streams include:
- YouTube Adsense revenue
- Patreon Contributions
- Essential Oil Sales & Marketing
- Merchandise & Amazon Affiliate Marketing
Getting Started
We decided to create 4 or 5 different income streams rather than just depending on one. On April 2016, as part of that process, I started a YouTube channel of my bus conversion, hoping to make a couple of hundred dollars a month from it one day.
I had never used a video camera or editing software before, but I thought I knew the secret to creating a successful channel so I bought a second hand GoPro for $115 (US) and got started filming and teaching myself how to edit.
The channel grew quickly enough and by the time we moved into the bus in December 2016 we had 10K subscribers and had started to build up our Patreon pledges.
At that point we realized YouTube was way more fun than our original plan of Hospitality and Tourism business consulting work, and we went all in, committing to doing it for a year or until our savings ran out.
We looked at other income streams to compliment this. Which is where the merchandise and affiliate marketing comes in. A few months ago we started selling and marketing essential oils and non-toxic products, which Amber is really passionate about.
Financial Stability
It took us quite a long time to be able to financially support our nomadic lifestyle. The YouTube “adpocalypse” hit us at the start of 2017 and dropped our revenue by 50-60% overnight so that was a massive blow for us right at the start of our journey.
But we persevered through it, which chewed up our savings. We were not consistently covering basic costs until around September 2017, so it took 17 months.
Work Schedule
Andy works around 30-40 hours per week. This includes filming, editing, and engaging with our online community plus other bits and pieces to keep it all going. He works at night but we normally work an hour or two in the day as well if needed.
Amber does around 10 hours a week, mainly on the Essential Oils Business. This includes marketing, building her community and customer base and educating about healthy living and using oils.
She also helps others build businesses from the road with this essential oils model. Again, most of this is done at night so we can just enjoy the days and spend our time adventuring and being with our kids!
Challenges
Our biggest challenge is the fact that we have two young kids who are with us 24/7. We have to juggle our adventures, filming, work, homeschool etc.
Recently we had a period of about 3 weeks where we had to share a computer because Amber’s broke and we couldn’t afford to replace it so we had to battle the manufacturer to get it replaced. It was a super unproductive time.
Our internet speed can slow us down too, but this only happens if we are in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by mountains. We have a good mobile internet service with 200GB of data, which we need given we have to upload videos every few days.
Advice
Our biggest piece of advice is to try and start a number of small income streams long before you even hit the road.
It took us nearly a year and a half to be able to support ourselves so the earlier you start the better. If you are still in a job, then use any spare time you have to work on your income streams.
In our opinion, life is a whole lot more fun when you can work from anywhere and don’t need to keep stopping to make money in a job.
You can find us on:
BusLifeNZ
Vincent Vanlife & Van Clan
by Seb & Rose
Our Story
On April 2017 we decided that we’d had enough of a conventional lifestyle and decided to self convert a Vauxhall Movano van into a log cabin on wheels.
We moved into our new home six months later and have been living van life off the grid ever since. We get a lot of questions about
how do you make money whilst out and about on your travels
so today we’re going to talk about our journey from house-dwellers to travel writers with Van Clan.
Working for Van Clan
Van Clan is an online Camper van and Travel magazine, covering everything from classic camper conversions right through to the latest travel tech that you need for your next off-grid adventure. At just under a year old and with 220k+ subscribers, it’s one of the fastest growing Van life communities on the internet.
We saw an advertisement asking for writers to join the Van Clan team when we first moved into our van. So we sent them a sample article, and got hired. Fast forward a bit and now we’ve moved from writers to being in charge of the social content for their website.
Whilst Brandon (Van Clan’s Founder) is in charge of Social Marketing and Brand Sponsorship/Partnerships.
We’re a small but tight-knit team that compliment each others skills. Keeping the team small means that we can have better and more regular conversations, and we love being part of a business that has a ‘home grown on the road’ feel.
Work Schedule
Writing has always been one of our biggest passions, and working for Van Clan means that we can turn our love of travel, nature and (of course) camper vans into a sustainable source of income.
It’s incredibly flexible in terms of deadlines, and we have the luxury of being able to write when we want, where we want.
When we leave the UK we’ll be ramping up the Van Clan articles to two solid days of work per week, which will be more than enough to pay for the weekly costs of our new nomadic lifestyle.
Income
Some months we might earn £300 collectively, but sometimes we can earn anything up to £600 each depending on how much time we dedicate to creating content.
Rose also sells hand printed T-Shirts of her own original designs, and Seb has written a self conversion E-Book in conjunction with Van Clan.
Passion
Working on the road hasn’t affected our lives in the slightest, in fact living the van life has meant that we now spend much more time outside rather than being stuck inside watching television.
We spend a lot of our evenings down by the river or out in the country writing articles for Van Clan. Living van life means that we can blog about our adventures from the heart of a forest or from the quiet valleys of the Yorkshire dales.
In many ways, writing for Van Clan has opened up even more doors for us, and now we have a legitimate excuse to go and explore the world!
Advice
We have two pieces of advice for anyone wanting to live a nomadic lifestyle who might be worried about the financial complications of living in a van.
Our first piece of advice would be to put money away whilst living in your house to be able to afford to buy and convert a van, so that when you move into your new home you won’t have any debt.
- If you’re planning on going travelling in your van then our advice would be not to get too excited and hit the road straight away. Stay off-grid in one place for a little while and build up your bank balance.
- It might not be the most exciting thing to do, but it’s the most logical. If your engine suddenly breaks whilst you’re in a foreign country and you’ve not got any funds behind you then it’s game over for your trip.
- Keep some emergency money in the bank or inside your mattress in case the going gets rough (you’ll thank us if you get stuck!)
- It sounds cheesy as hell, but it’s true. Work to your strengths and focus on what you enjoy; this doesn’t have to be writing, you can take many careers on the road with you. We sent one sample article to Van Clan with the hope of just getting a mention and now we get paid to write about our day to day lives.
- If you like making radio jingles or are a dab hand with a camera, then make a portfolio and send some examples off to every business that you can find. If you like working with computers then learn how to code on the road. Or start a blog about a topic that you love and build up your social profile.
If people tell you that you aren’t creative then that’s nonsense, you’ve just got to find your niche and work hard to turn it into a career.
If we can become digital nomads with no experience and nothing but a bag full of enthusiasm then you can too. What have you got to lose?
You can find us on:
@VincentVanlife
@VanClans
VincentVanlife.com
VanClan.co
Bound For Nowhere
We’re MAK and Owen of Bound for Nowhere, and we’ve been living and working from the road since April 2016. Owen is a Motion Graphics Designer and I am a Graphic Designer and Illustrator. Together we run our own business and work with a wide variety of clients from all over the USA and beyond. Some we’ve met in person and some we haven’t.
Life on the road
When we made the decision to go on the road full time we knew that we didn’t want to put our careers on hold. Instead we saw van life as an opportunity to surround ourselves by what inspires us and our work. Over the last two years of living and working on the road Owen and I have started using the motto
Happy people make good work
To this day we’re always blown away by how supportive our clients are of what we’re doing. It seems like they enjoy being apart of our journey!
Income
Income greatly depends on the type of projects that we’re working on. It also fluctuates based on how many projects we’re working on at any given time.
Work Schedule
Our work schedule, just like our projects, always looks different. The number of hours we put in depends on the projects we’re working on, how large they are, and how fast of a turn time they have. Typically we work Monday through Friday and take the weekends off.
Our favorite work/life balance is when we can wake up at about 6am, work until lunch, and then have the rest of the day to enjoy wherever we’re at. It isn’t always like that, but that’s what we strive for!
Challenges we faced
The transition out of our studio jobs was by far the most challenging part of preparing for van life. It was a tremendous amount of work for the both of us to build up a strong client base that we felt could support us once we were full time on the road. For Owen that transition took about six months, for me it took a little over a year.
As we brought on new clients we made a point of being clear with them that we had intentions of going on the road. We felt it was important to be transparent with them about our goals and how our life on the road would benefit them as a client and us as designers.
Work environment
Working from the road comes with its own set of challenges. It can be a huge adjustment to move from working in a structured environment to working remotely. I can tell you that some days sitting down to work can be difficult when all you want to do is hit the trails.
Stay focused and work hard when you’re working and play hard when you’re playin’.
You’ll never be alone in this feeling. We always try to remember that in the grand scheme of things, spending time on work is a small price to pay for the freedom we get while living on the road.
Risk
There’s a lot of uncertainty that comes with being a freelance designer. Sometimes there’s more work than we know what to do with, and other times you can’t seem to find work anywhere!
That uncertainty in your work flow can be extremely challenging mentally and financially. We always feel like we need to live conservatively because we never know when work will be scarce. For that reason alone, freelance work is not always for the faint of heart.
Our Recommendation
We frequently get asked what kind of work we recommend for being a nomad. Luckily we live in a day and age where it’s easier than ever to live on the road and hold down well paying jobs. There are a million and one different ways to work while you’re living the van life, but here’s a quick list of possible working opportunities to help give you some ideas.
- Writing/blogging
- Seasonal work
- Farm or animal refuge work
- Handy work
- IT
- Designer/artist/photographer
- Web Development and Coding
- Software Engineering
Advice
Van life is super unpredictable…no matter how prepared you are! It’s always good to have a nice cushion of savings just in case you hit a dry spell in work or have unexpected expenses (i.e. a break down).
Having 3 months of living expenses saved up, maybe even a little more, can give you some piece of mind. That way you can live as stress free as possible and enjoy your life on the road without constantly being stressed about the dollars and cents.
If you are interested in working with us or checking out our work head over to Owen’s website: https://www.wewander.tv/ or my website: http://www.makwashere.com/
You can find us on:
BoundForNowhere.com
Always the Road
But for a lot of people, the most daunting question is
how am I going to financially support this lifestyle?
We know this is probably the most commonly asked question among aspiring van lifers. We get a few emails and messages a week asking how we sustain this traveling lifestyle we’ve made for ourselves and for a good reason…it’s something we wondered when we first started living this way.
So here it is: the answer to the holy grail of van life questions. I’m going to tell you how we personally make money on the road and financially support this lifestyle.
Financial Journey
When we first hit the road, we had no idea how we would make money. People would ask us how we planned on sustaining this lifestyle and all we could say was, “we’ll figure it out.”
You should have seen the skepticism on their faces. But we knew that we are two smart, clever, creative, hardworking people, and in the end, we actually DID figure it out.
Having said that, you must be truly motivated to live this lifestyle because you’ll only get rewarded for the effort you put into it, and it will most likely take some time. In some ways you have to think like an entrepreneur because the end goal is creating a location independent income for yourself…and the main word here is CREATE.
How We Make Money
we do a whole bunch of crap.
Every time we are asked this question I feel as though the person asking is looking for a straightforward answer, hopefully something they can replicate. But for us, the only way to answer this question with a single response would be to say…
Here’s a list of ways that we currently make money to sustain our life on the road:
1. Remote Work
The week before we hit the road, I (Tay) came across a job posting for an online writing tutor. I went through the application process and was ultimately hired.
My job was to accept and review college students’ papers, and I really did like it at first. I love writing and editing, but I was putting in hours and hours of work each day and was paid very little.
Plus, the students were a bunch of jerks that didn’t hesitate to complain to administration when they didn’t like the way I critiqued their writing. So I decided to end that job.
I applied for another remote job while broken down in South Dakota, being told we needed a new transmission. This is also where the “we’ll figure it out” thing came to bite us in the ass, because we sure as hell couldn’t afford it.
Mostly from panic, I hit the job boards and came across a job description that looked as though it was written just for me: a remote, part-time marketing position. Luckily, the company’s founder felt the same, and after a long interview process, I got the job and still hold that position today.
2. Our Conversion eBook and Acoustic Album
Having passive income is pretty much ideal for van life. You put in the time and effort to create something of quality and value to others, put it up for sale on the internet, get the word out about it, and (hopefully) watch the orders come in.
Having said that, it takes a ton of time and work, a large learning curve, and regular upkeep to create a passive revenue stream. You create and design the product, publish it yourself, create a website to sell it, and act as your own marketer and customer support!
It’s even better when your products are downloadable, which completely avoids the hassle and cost of shipping. We currently sell our Conversion eBook and our 7-track Acoustic Album on our website. We don’t make an incredible amount from them, but when you total up sales, they really add up and help with van expenses.
3. Migrant/Seasonal Work
Migrant or seasonal work is one of the most straightforward ways to make money on the road. Trust us, it’s not always easy finding these gigs, but if you put your time and effort into asking local people in the town you’re in, or looking at seasonal jobs online, you’ll likely find leads.
For us, it took us a while to find seasonal work. Our bank accounts were slowly draining and we found ourselves with some mechanical issues that were going to be expensive to fix.
While at a outdoor and van life festival called OutFound Series we met a ton of wonderful, like minded people who were also living on the road. We ended up meeting someone whom we became good friends with, and he asked if we wanted a week of seasonal work.
We jumped on the opportunity and immediately drove 10 hours to where the work was.
4. Social Media
When we first started building out our van, we started an Instagram account and began documenting our process. We had no intention of gaining a following and had no idea how big van life was until we were fully immersed in it.
Instagram certainly was not a part of our “we’ll figure it out” plan, but people were interested in our build. Then they were interested in our adventures on the road when the conversion was finished. We were stoked to say the least!
With more followers came the attention of brands who utilize social influencers. Ever since the very first sponsored post we made, we’ve always made sure that we only endorse products and companies that we personally use and support.
If a brand isn’t in line with our values or isn’t relevant in our life, we don’t work with them. We generally work with 1 out of 10 brands that reach out to us. Every partnership and sponsorship is well thought out on both ends. We make sure there is a clear fit with each of our values and missions.
Advice
Let me say this though, do not think that living the van life will get you thousands of followers and you’ll be able to support yourself with money from sponsored posts.
It is extremely rare to be able to make a living from sponsored posts. For us, sponsored posts are sporadic. If a company reaches out and we see a fit, we partner with them. If that doesn’t happen, we don’t typically seek out partnerships ourselves.
So these are the ways that we financially sustain our life on the road. But that doesn’t mean that it will be that same for you. It’s all about knowing what works best for your lifestyle, being open to new opportunities and working hard.
You can find us on:
AlwaysTheRoad.com
Go-Van
We both are nomads ourselves, living the van life full-time and working remotely on the road. We strive to serve the van life community and its needs however possible, providing stories, videos, van tours, playlists, van gathering events, rentals, classifieds, awesome gear and more.
Our mission is to continue building and strengthening comradeship between vanlifers in any way that we possibly can.
The story behind Go-Van
Julien bought his first van in 2013 to pursue surfing on the east coast. He fell in love with the lifestyle and the wonderful community, and immediately knew he wanted to do something to create a resource for vanlifers across the board.
One of the best parts of Go-Van is that our team is also out living and experiencing van life in their personal lives, so we’re using our understanding of the culture to build something that we believe is valuable to the community.
Becoming digital nomads
After Go-Van was created in 2013, Julien worked diligently to build and grow his business. After three years of hard work, the platform became stable. He continued to work rigorously and eventually was able to hire another team member.
After six months of living on the road, I began working with Go-Van in early 2018 to continue supporting my travels. Our main source of revenue is through branded content and sponsorship’s with companies and brands we are proud to be in partnership with.
Daily routines
Like most self-employed individuals, every day is different for us. Some days are filled with email after email, while others are spent in Joshua Tree National Park filming a sponsored video for the website.
Our latest project of launching the new website required a lot of writing, formatting, and brainstorming. Now that the site is live, we’re focused more on creating original content, building relationships with other vanlifers, and promoting the new resources we’ve created for our community.
Hurdles of remote work
Working remotely, not to mention in a van, differs greatly from working in an office environment with co-workers.
Communication is pertinent to continuous progress within Go-Van. Tracking progress of projects, dividing up tasks, and brainstorming new ideas is all done virtually or over the phone.
Dedication
Another huge aspect of working while living the van life is dedication. It can be very challenging to open your laptop and start tackling a blog post or emails when the sun is shining and you’re sitting at a trailhead preparing to hike after your to-do list is handled.
There is always a fun activity or hobby waiting around to be enjoyed. This proves to be even more true if you’re the only one in the van working. Finding motivation is tough when you have a partner enjoying their free time, or even waiting for your daily work to be finished.
Your to-do list usually is growing instead of diminishing and you can easily lose yourself in your work.
We’ve found both of the above mentioned scenarios true, which is why balance is so important in the field of remote work. Sometimes we push our weekly phone calls off because the surf is good or it’s the perfect hiking weather. It’s important to remember that these are the perks of remote work and they should be utilized.
Why we love being digital nomads
While there are definitely challenges of working remotely, it’s important to highlight why we are so passionate about being digital nomads and emphasize what a positive experience it is.
Feel like dropping what you’re doing and heading outside? That’s okay! You can simply work later in the afternoon. One thing that is particularly awesome about Go-Van is that Julien and I are both nomads, so we don’t constrict ourselves to an 8-5.
We’re also usually in different time zones, which makes flexibility very important. We could be exchanging emails and notes anywhere from 5AM to even midnight. Since we have control over our daily schedules, we’re able to still experience all the wonderfulness that van life provides.
We’re able to wake up in beautiful places, anywhere from Big Sur, California to Portland, Maine. Our days are truly and thoroughly enjoyed because we can choose to play during the day and work at night if we feel like going on an adventure.
We also have a great excuse to attend as many van gatherings as we want! Overall, we cannot imagine any other way of working. We mean it when we say that it is the ideal work experience.
Tips and Recommendations
We are so lucky to live in a time where virtual work is truly attainable. There are also so many different variations of remote work: starting your own business, branding yourself (and your adventures), and freelancing, just to name a few.
Seasonal work is also a viable option, with many programs even covering housing and utilities if you’re willing to be stationary for periods at a time.
There are also various online resources for seeking remote work through other companies, such as
With all that being said, our best advice is to find something you’re passionate about and that you can make money from – bonus if you’re giving back to others in some shape or form!
You can find us on:
Go-Van.com
Vagablonde Laura
Before we quit our jobs we were working pretty “standard” American office jobs. I was an accountant and my husband Joel was working as an engineer. We were not rich by any means but we were making a comfortable living.
Quitting Our Jobs
When we decided to leave our office jobs to travel full time, our jobs were not nomadic by any means. Our work required our presence in the office for 40 hours a week and when we inquired if our jobs could be done remotely online, the answer was always a solid “NO”.
Becoming Influencers
We saw social media, blogging and photography as an opportunity to make side income on the road. Sponsored posts were becoming “a thing” on Instagram and we decided to give it all a shot.
I started my blog Funlifecrisis.com along with my Instagram account @vagablonde_laura. We figured if we worked really hard, we could get some parts of our travel paid for or at least get some free stuff that we need for the road.
It seemed that everyone around this time was trying to become a so called “Influencer” (cringe). We just wanted to find a way to travel more.
We invested our money into photography gear, software, purchased faster laptops. We spent 20-40 hours a week learning about photography, editing, writing, SEO, coding, website design and more.
After a year my blog started gaining some traction with over 100K visitors a year and my Instagram account gained over 100K followers, but the jobs and money were not exactly rolling in.
It wasn’t until I took it in my own hands and started doing outreach to different companies that I started getting more Yes’s and getting photography jobs. But there were a lot of discouraging No’s and negative or no responses along the way.
Slowly I started getting some sponsored posts and making side income during our travels. Some months we got invited to participate in big campaigns that brought in $2000-3000 for creating blog posts, photos and social media posts.
Because of the instability of reliable income most of our travels are still paid for by our own savings from our 9-5 jobs. Anything we make on the road is a nice bonus but we don’t fully rely on that completely. Or at least not yet.
Challenges
Some of the difficulties of making income from travel photography and blogging (along with the obvious ones like lack of internet, place to ship stuff or office space) is that traveling is no longer a vacation, it’s a job.
When we go to locations now we often spend most of our time setting up camera gear, looking for angles and shooting photos. Having to produce certain types of content often creates stressful situations when the deadlines are short and the settings just don’t work out as planned.
But it is also something that we chose to do. If it all works out and continues bringing in side income that allows us to extend our travels, in my opinion it’s worth the extra effort.
Something that I am constantly reminding myself is to know when to put the camera down, look up from the lens and just take in the view for the pure joy of enjoying it.
Travel blogging and photography is a dream job pursued by many, but it can also be completely unpredictable and fully depend on you to make the effort. There are no bosses who will tell you what time you should get into office, what needs to be done during the day or when the next payday will be.
It’s all up to you. Working remotely really teaches you about persistence, discipline and that quitting is always within a reach but not how you want it all to end. Those that stick with it can make a decent living or at least a side income that allows them to travel more.
Isn’t that the ultimate dream?
You can find us on:
FunLifeCrisis.com
Jax Austin
Getting Started
In the spring and summer of 2015, I was hosting a travel based web series, and for the first time making good money. And, more importantly, doing exactly what I loved.
Up to this point, I had been slaving away behind a seedy Hollywood bar. Making good money, but spending most of what I made on city life. Which included rent, $12 sandwiches, and enjoying my days off.
I was living a humble life in Venice Beach, in the cheapest apartment in the neighborhood at $1200 a month, and I would notice that the van dwellers lived closer to the beach and actually paid nothing.
Like most people, I hated my job, hated my boss, wanted to travel- but didn’t know how I could afford it.
I calculated that I was spending $3k a month on expenses or so, and thought if I had a daily budget of $50, I could travel for a year on savings.
While I was in Chicago on the 50th floor in a meeting, I got more rude text messages from the boss back at the bar. I thought in this moment, I have 2 choices in life. Either I can spend my time and energy for someone else, or I can spend my time and energy on myself and chase my dreams.
So, I picked up my phone, scrolled down, and blocked my boss. That was the last time I heard from him and I never went back to work.
A New Beginning
Having travel hosting experience, and dabbling in YouTube videos, also meant that I had a rolling head start on content creation. I knew how to film and edit, and how to present. So, I struck out to test my theory that I could be a daily travel vlogger for 2 weeks with a friend of mine.
Along the way in Big Sur, I mentioned to a friend about buying a school bus to travel the US. Right after he said he liked the idea, we rounded a corner and what was driving in front of us? A converted school bus!!
Buying My Bus
Two months later, I flew to the east coast to pick up a low mileage short bus, that I named Dan.
My best friend Lukas and I drove it all the way back over the week, and even picked up an older hitchhiker along the way, named Larry. The crazy idea of being a full time travel vlogger on youtube was underway and it was a success! The only problem was finding a way to upload them!
Income
Long story short, before I sold everything and got rid of my apartment, I had lined up a manager for my entertainment work. Because of all the previous paid work that I had booked myself, an attorney, an agent, and a digital marketing guru who got me a big paid sponsorship for my crazy idea.
From vlog #1, I was a paid YouTuber. This is far from normal. It was a combination of dumb luck and passion to succeed. Almost two years later, I am still on the road!
I am technically considered an “influencer/YouTuber” and get paid by brands to use a product, provide pictures, videos, and/or make posts for them.
- I get work as a travel host for mostly digital travel series
- I make money from YouTube video ads
- Affiliate marking links which pay me a small commission when purchases are made through my referral
- And get paid sponsorships from companies
Advice
For those dreaming to road trip and start a channel: you better save tens of thousands of dollars, or cut your total expenses to $25 a day or less!
I have been losing money for two years on this endeavor, and if it wasn’t for Virgin Mobile, I would have had to stop by now. YouTube money isn’t a break even thing with expenses of 1-2k a month until you hit 50K subs or have really popular vids, or are an affiliate marketing genius.
Challenges
WiFi. If you think traveling and making content is all puppies and ice cream, then you are in for a rude awakening! Having a dependable cheap way to connect to the internet is single handedly the biggest obstacle to being a digital nomad of any sort.
My Passion
What I do is very different in my eyes, than what others with just an instagram account do, and I have a different professional hosting background from others making YouTube videos.
I am a person who has always wanted to get paid to create travel entertainment, and went down this road because I saw too many gatekeepers to my success, who in my opinion are blind, bland, and boring. So, I did what any reasonable person would do: I decided to gamble it all on my dreams!
Never again will I give away my personal power to someone else to determine my fate. I have all the power in the palm of my hands- a camera to share my wildest adventures with you!
Life Of Kuhl
When we are not in our van and on the road over the winter, we enjoy Canadian summers in our travel trailer. This allows for opportunity to roam our beautiful backyard and connect with family and friends.
Getting Started
We began our money gathering phase about 4 months prior to hitting the road at the start of 2016. Because we work/save and then travel we were able to support this lifestyle from the start.
Income
When we are back in Canada we have multiple streams of income including contract mechanic, wedding photography and building/tearing down mountaineering camps. We hope to diversify even more within the next couple of years.
We don’t have a monthly amount we make on the road over a 1 year period. Our situation is a bit different than most.
We make a lump sum in a short period of time that we budget over the months we are on the road. We end up living off of approximately $4000 per month for the 5 of us.
Advice
We often hear words like
you guys are so lucky
We get it… This was us a few years ago. What changed? What we valued… What we as a family wanted to make a priority.
Where we decided to put our resources and energy. At the end of 2015 we shifted our lives dramatically to allow for more freedom to explore and do the things that make us happy.
We live very simply and choose to invest in travel and experiences for our family. We do not own a stick and brick home and our cars are older and paid for.
We believe we are all creative beings and that when we set our intentions on something it can come to pass. Brainstorm, problem solve, dream, pray…we truly believe if we want something bad enough we can make it happen.
Maybe a bit of a cliche but so very true. Put a plan in place, get out of debt, write out your dreams, make a dream board, envision yourself living a nomadic life!
Dig into to the World Wide Web..there are tons of ways to make money online. Check out Rat Race Rebellion! The guru of working remotely.
List your own personal assets and skill set. Find your strengths and figure out how to market them. Seriously just go for it!
You can find us on:
Greg Mills
Life on the Road
We first hit the road over six years ago after spending a little over a year saving up and building out our van “Arabella” to handle the stresses of being both our full-time home and primary means of travel / transportation.
Our Seasonal Jobs
Michelle and I work seasonally back in our home state of New York primarily between the months of June and September while spending the rest of our year traveling the US and working remotely whenever we can.
While I have spent the past 13 years working as an Ocean Lifeguard and Professional Rescuer for New York State Parks at Jones Beach – one of the busiest beaches in the United States with over six million visitors each Summer.
Working Remotely
Although the Summer may be when we earn a majority of our annual income, we also work remotely throughout the remainder of the year which also helps us to sustain our lives on the road.
While traveling throughout the Winter, Michelle designs clothes, makes patterns, and works on her own artwork while I focus on building my photography portfolio, selling prints, and doing commercial shoots for a number of outdoor related brands / companies.
But our pup Casey-Dog has by far the best job of the three of us, she just gets come along for the ride, chills out in the van, and makes us smile! Now that’s the type of job I think we all want…
Accomplishing our Goals
Originally, when we first moved into the van the idea we built up in our heads was to be on the road full time and only return to NY for brief visits. Then continue onward with the adventure.
But we quickly realized that this may have been an unrealistic goal for both our wallets, and our hearts. We love New York, our roots run deep there, and we love being with our friends and family …
It took us a year or two to get our individual employment situations totally dialed in, but we eventually found a healthy compromise that worked for us. Working seasonally for a few months at a time, while always living out of the van, allowed us to both continue doing work that we truly love and gave us plenty of time to spend with with our families / friends.
This provided us with the ability to live rent free, save up our hard earned dollars, and gave us a stable source of income that could fully support us and our travels throughout the entire year.
Challenges
During our “high season” over the Summer, we each work between 40 and 60 hours a week at our individual jobs, taking on every opportunity to earn an extra dollar, and hustling as hard as we can to save up for the coming months out on the road.
There is no better feeling than that last day at our 9-5’s knowing that tomorrow it will all be in the rear view mirror as we pull out onto the interstate with nothing but open roads and new adventures ahead of us for the rest of the year.
Advice
If I could offer any sort of advice to others looking to find their own path towards true financial stability for a nomadic lifestyle,
it would be that there is no easy all-in-one recipe for success.
The only way to make it work is to get creative, work hard, and always stay positive. Be passionate with all that you do, say yes to the opportunities that find you, and always live within your means…
It all depends on how bad you want it and how hard you are willing to work to make it happen!
It took us almost two years before we “figured it out” and found a combination of jobs that allowed us to live the way we wanted, so don’t get stuck thinking that you need to have it all figured out immediately. Just get out there, keep working hard, and make it happen!
You can find us on:
Jess Bonde
So here I am, sharing my passions, and hoping to inspire you to get outdoors and do the same.
Financial Lifestyle
My relationship with money has changed considerably over the years, from working on superyachts and being very driven by the income, to now being happy to scrape by on the bare minimum. At this stage in my life as long as I have enough money so I can stay on the road just that little bit longer then I am a happy man (complete disregard of future financial issues and all hahaha).
Usually my trips would be funded by a working period where I would save every penny, then hit the road for as long as I could stretch it out for. The key to this style of travel is sacrifice, sacrificing dinners out, sacrificing alcohol, sacrificing shows or concerts, sacrificing all those new and shiny things. The creative ways I managed save money was always a funny aspect to me, and if I turned it into a bit of a game it never felt like I was missing out. I would tend to work any decent paying job I could find, from construction, landscaping, to farming, it never really mattered what kind of work I did as long as the next trip was looming at the end of the tunnel.
Source of Income
Fortunately, whilst travelling my photography has improved considerably, and I am now able to sustain my lifestyle through paid photography work. I bought my first camera back in 2012, but I have only been taking it more seriously since 2016. However, 2018 will have be the first year I’ve able to live on the road purely from paid photography work. It’s a struggle, but something I find insanely rewarding so I am happy to risk the financial instability of it all.
The way I make money through photography is by creating content for brands to use on their social media platforms, websites or any other kind of marketing. I also have the ability to do paid promotions through my Instagram account. Whilst my monthly income varies considerably and is very dependent upon new work coming in, I can easily survive on $1200 a month even with a busy location schedule.
Freedom
The great thing about living and working on the road is the freedom to mix up your workdays. Usually I try to photograph sunrise and sunset, and do at least four 5hr days a week getting back to emails and securing new work. I do try and post on Instagram every day and spend roughly 2-5 hours both editing images and doing whatever Instagram tasks I have to attend to. However, if a good hike is calling my name or some friends are in town I will bail on the work and go get outside because that is why I live this lifestyle, for the freedom!
View this post on Instagram
For me I am lucky that my work is very adventure driven, the better the adventure the better the photographs, so constantly being outside is something I really love about this lifestyle. Some of the challenges though would definitely be securing work and ensuring I have enough money to stay on the road. Moving around so much also presents its own challenges, from getting things shipped to you, to not being able to build a local audience/community of followers and brands to rely upon. All in all, the pros outweigh the cons tenfold and I wouldn’t want to be living any other kind of lifestyle.
You can find me on:
Wildbonde.com
Vanlife Sagas
“How do you make money on the road?” is undoubtedly in the top three questions we receive when talking about our van stories. Here are some short and sweet answers to help people understand one of the biggest mysteries behind #vanlife.
Our Job
Marie is currently finishing her Ph.D. in education while managing communications for events organized by an agency called Orkestra. We work with clients like museums, spas, governments, tourism boards, cities, shopping centers, surfboard retailers, AND campervan rental companies. We mainly focus on video production, branded content, community management, strategy and event planning.
How Does Marie Make Money?
- She manages 9 online communities;
- She manages communications for 4 events;
- She is a consultant for all these clients;
- She receives grants from University for her Ph.D.;
- She produces content for our clients on the road.
How Does Dom Make Money?
- I own an advertising agency;
- I create content (photography, videography) for 20+ brands;
- I develop creative strategies for 20+ brands;
- I lead marketing operations for 20+ brands.
How Do We Manage All This On The Road?
Good question. And here’s our answer: planning. With today’s technologies and team management tools, there are virtually no excuses for us not to wake up and work from wherever. Half of our clients, and because we chose them accordingly, ask for outdoor content in the first place (like tourism boards, surfboard retailers and campervan companies). Therefore, we have to be on the road at some point anyway; the other half of our clients is manageable from a laptop.
Challenges We Face
- Wifi. It is our professional lifeline. Without it, we can’t work. And unfortunately, America is quite vast: the power of the Intertubes has not covered all of the territories yet. Soon.
- Time. Living on the road requires time, lots of it. The pace is a bit slower than in an average office since we do not have the same tools to get things done. Example: printing documents, recharging a laptop, washing a shirt. These little things need to be planned.
- Schedule. If you are on your own, you’ll be fine. However, when you start teaming up with others and plan projects for real clients, keeping an up-to-date, active and synchronized schedule requires skills and focus.
- Bad surprises. We quickly understood that we could never control 100% of our projects when working from a van. Unexpected events will stop you, and you will have to improvise as you go: blown tire, stolen camera, cold nights, dead batteries, elk attack. Name it. Clients will be waiting, and they won’t care that your Westfalia burst into flames last night.
- Motivation. We all love vanlife and the freedom it provides. However, working from a van is a double-edged sword: it can turn you into a national hero, or into a lousy unprofessional millennial. Waking up every morning, and choosing to work instead of going for a hike is hard. Very hard.
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Advice
The advice we usually give is tailored to your project and intentions (you can write us an email at “hello@vanlifesagas.com“). However, here are the ten commandments of working from a van:
- Thou shalt have a true vision and follow it.
- Thou shalt start thy business before taking thy wheel.
- Thou shalt save money before running up credit card balances.
- Thou shalt stay focused on your skillset.
- Thou shalt plan, plan, plan again.
- Thou shalt improvise when thy storm hits.
- Thou shalt stay healthy.
- Thou shalt listen to thy clients and guide them even when thy van breaks.
- Thou shalt be patient.
- Thou shalt look for the holy High Speed Wifi.
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Frequently asked questions…
You can find us on:
@Vanlife.Sagas, @mariepier.bastien, @domfaucher
ProjectVanlife Forum
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