October 18, 2023 • 31 mins
Introducing the Nomad Newbie series, where we've compiled some of the top tips from our guests on the hottest topics for aspiring nomads. Our topic this week is how to earn an income to support your nomadic lifestyle.
This episode guides you through all of the options available to full-time travelers - from finding remote work, to becoming an entrepreneur on the road, to workamping. First, we hear from full-time RVer and remote work coach, Camille Attelle, who shares her insights on how to find jobs that align with your lifestyle and your skills. Camille talks about her Remote Work School program, a fantastic resource for those wanting to delve into digital skill acquisition.
Next, we chat with Sharee Collier, a seasoned work camper and founder of LiveCampWork.com. She walks through some of the most popular workamping opportunities for nomads, like the Amazon Camper Force, the sugar beet harvest, and seasonal jobs like managing a Christmas tree lot. Sharee advocates for starting small, seeking out opportunities at national parks, and embracing the built-in nomad community of work camping.
Lastly, we talk to Kim Crossland, founder of Roadpreneur and Cruisin + Campfires, who walks us through the process of how to start your own business to support your freedom on the road. Kim starts with knowing your why, shares advice on how to find creative inspiration for businesses, and encourages listeners to harness the power of online networks and the nomad entrepreneur community.
So, if you're ready to turn your dreams into a reality, tune in to this episode and start your journey to fund your nomadic lifestyle.
Resources:
10 profitable blogging niches (with examples!)
40 remote work job ideas
Follow Camille Attell:
Remote Work School
Follow Sharee Collier:
LiveCampWork.com
Follow Kimberly Crossland:
Roadpreneur
Connect with Kristin Hanes and The Wayward Home!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you find yourself scrolling Instagram or watching
YouTube videos, wondering justwhen it will be your turn to
live the nomadic lifestyle?
Or maybe you're already doingit and want to find a few new
techniques to refine yourjourney?
I'm super excited to tell youabout our Nomad Newbie series,
which kicks off this week.
I hope to provide you useful,actionable information to help
turn your dreams into a reality.
(00:20):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to the Wayward Home Podcast.
All about van life, boat lifeand nomadic living.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
We'll bring you tips, interviews and stories from the
road and on the water.
Now here's your host, kristen.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Haynes.
Hey there, I'm Kristen Hayneswith the Wayward Home dot com,
and I spend half the year in asprinter van and half on a
sailboat in Mexico, and I hopeto inspire you to pursue your
nomadic living dreams.
So this week we're kicking offthe Nomad Newbie series, where
we've compiled some of the toptips from our guests on the
hottest topics for aspiringnomads, like how to make money
on the road, how to downsize andhow to stay connected from
(00:53):
wherever you are.
If you've been wanting to ditchthe conventional lifestyle to
hit the road or get on the waves, but you're feeling overwhelmed
by all the information that'sout there, the Nomad Newbie
series is here to boil it alldown for you.
Our topic this week is a bigone how to earn an income to
support your nomadic lifestyle.
But before we start thisepisode, I just wanted to tell
(01:14):
you about a free resource Icreated if you're interested in
pursuing blogging as a way tomake money.
I compiled a list of 10profitable blogging niches with
tons of examples, so you can seewhich types of sites are making
money.
Maybe this will give you theinspiration to start your own
site.
To download that list, head tothewaywardhomecom forward slash
blogging.
That's thewaywardhomecomforward, slash blogging or find
(01:37):
the link in the show notes.
Now let's get into the episode.
So I'm really excited to havefull-time RVer and remote work
coach, camille Attelle, on withus today.
Camille spent over 20 years asa corporate trainer and has a
master's degree in counseling.
She's worked over 12 remotejobs and now has an awesome
program called Remote WorkSchool, where she helps nomads
(01:58):
and non-nomads figure out a pathto freedom.
Camille and her husband, bryce,have been full-time on the road
since 2016.
They visited 41 states andtraveled over 40,000 miles.
Hey, camille, thanks so muchfor joining us.
I get a lot of emails frompeople wondering like what are
the types of remote work you caneven get?
Do you have any examples ofsome of the things that maybe
your students are doing or whatyou've seen in the market?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yeah, I mean here's the easiest answer.
Almost everything can be doneremotely in some way, shape or
form.
I mean it ranges right.
Everybody has probably heard ofvirtual assistant by now, which
is something like anadministrative assistant that
was in an office.
You can do that remotely, buteven that ranges.
There's virtual assistants fromeverything from calendar
(02:42):
management to email management,all the way to managing online
courses, to social mediamanagement, all of that right.
Let's just take our truckdriver example, or actually our
mechanic example.
How do you make that remote?
Well, maybe you can't do thework remotely, but you could
certainly consult remotely.
You could create a course thatpeople take remotely.
(03:03):
You could coach people througha repair that they would do on
their own remotely.
So sometimes it's a matter ofthinking about a job just
differently, and the nice thingabout that is then you take a
job that someone used to do andearn one income stream from, and
now you can maybe generatemultiple income streams from the
same type of work.
(03:24):
It's just really exciting.
But it does take a little bitof creative thinking.
So when people ask you know,what kinds of jobs can you do
remotely, I put the questionback to them Do you know your
skill set?
Do you understand yourstrengths and do you understand
how to make all of those thingsviable in a remote workplace.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, that's such a great concept because some
people also are fearful aboutskills, and you talked about
going back to school, wherepeople are saying, oh my gosh,
do I need a four year degree todo something remotely, where
you're you know, kind of provingthat no, you don't have to do
that.
There's a lot of things you canlearn online, and what would
your advice be around gainingskills, possibly to find a
remote job?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
So I think there's a it's, it's.
There's always shades of gray.
I'm a big shades of gray person.
I would never say don't go backto school.
But you don't have to do thatto be marketable, because, to
your point, you can pick upskills in so many different ways
that are very affordable.
Trainings out there you can do.
There are different resources,even like on LinkedIn.
(04:24):
You can find lots of skillstrainings there.
You to me, has skills trainings.
Youtube has free skillstraining, google has skills
training.
I mean you can find this stuffalmost free or very low cost.
It's going to save you heaps ofmoney and time if you just need
to brush up on a few skills.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So what's your advice in starting that process of
trying to find a job?
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So I'm so glad you brought that up.
First Figure out what do youreally want, like, what do you
want in your lifestyle?
How do you want to live?
Do you want to be nomadic, likewe are?
Do you want to work from home?
Do you want to work aparticular schedule, like, get
that right.
First figure out what you want.
Then you want to really think,go into some like skills
(05:07):
inventories to really understandwhat you're good at, what your
strengths are.
Then you get a plan together sothat when you do go online and
you start looking, it's not sooverwhelming, because it'll be
very overwhelming if you juststart jumping on and looking for
jobs.
You just won't have a good gameplan in place.
So that's my best guidance isyou really want to know your
(05:29):
game plan?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Great.
And so I'm also wondering doyou ever encounter people who
just say like I really don'twant to work on a computer, it's
not for me.
Are there jobs out there thatmaybe someone who's nomadic can
do?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Sure there are tons and again it boils down to what
you picture for yourself.
That's why I always tell peoplemake that your top priority.
Like what do you want yourlifestyle to be?
And then find the income or thejob to fit into that.
So if you want to just makesome money doing hands-on work
maybe you don't want to beonline or not online all day or
(06:03):
whatever tons of opportunities.
There's work camping, which isvery popular in the nomadic
community.
You know where you can work onan RV park or a farm or a ranch,
whatever.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
That's great, so people don't have to be confined
to a computer.
There are a lot ofopportunities.
I think that's great for peopleto know and kind of know what
to look for out there.
It's some random things.
Well, thank you so much andyeah, it was a pleasure talking
to you.
Today.
We're talking to full-time RVerCherie Collier, who's been work
camping with her husband since2013.
Cherie also runs the websitelivecampworkcom, where she talks
(06:40):
all about making money whiletraveling in an RV or camper.
Van Cherie has worked as a parkranger, activities director and
general manager while workcamping.
She's also worked at AmazonCamper Force.
Cherie, thanks for joining ustoday.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Hey, thanks so much for having me.
I am super excited to be hereIf you're not familiar with
Camper Force.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
it's an Amazon program that recruits our veers
and van lifers for jobs atfulfillment centers.
We'll pick, pack and shiporders while staying in a nearby
campground, so you could be anew RVer.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Jump in your RV.
Of course you're going to wantto mentally and physically
prepare first.
I do recommend that.
But you're going to get toAmazon and you could literally
build a whole community aroundyourself of RVers, like-minded
RVers, who are there to do thesame thing.
They understand you, they knowwhat you're there for, they know
why you're there, they're goingto recommend new places for you
(07:32):
to go.
I mean, you will develop yourwhole community right there at
that one job.
And I just think that's huge,because when you're RVing you
want that sense of community.
You want to detach from thenormal community that you just
left, but you want to build oneinside the RV community, as
those people understand whatyou're doing, where you're going
and how you're getting.
(07:52):
So that's the first thing.
And then, second, they pay forevery hour.
They do give you a certainstipend, like $500, $600,
something like that, and I thinkit's per person for your RV
site.
So that's good in work camping,to be paid for your RV site and
to be paid hourly.
And then Amazon also hasmandatory and voluntary overtime
(08:14):
and it doesn't sound like apositive thing.
But if your goal is to just goto Amazon, really focus, build
your community, go to work everyday that you're scheduled, work
some overtime and really stackthat cash.
You don't have to work for therest of the year.
You could go take the winteroff.
Maybe you take off the next sixmonths and you travel, and then
(08:37):
maybe you'll go to Yellowstoneand work there for the summer.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Sugar beet harvest is another one of those big
gathering places for RVers.
It's tough work, with longshifts harvesting beets, and
takes place in northern stateslike North Dakota, minnesota and
Montana.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Their motto is it's an unbeatable experience, and
they say that because they giveyou the opportunity to make a
minimum, I think, of like $2,500in two weeks.
So for RVers that's great thatthey can go somewhere for like
two, possibly three weeks, make$2,500 and then continue on
their travels.
Yeah, it's not really enjoyable.
(09:14):
While you're there You'll meetsome really cool people, so
that's a plus.
But then you stack your cashand you go on about your
business.
There are also other seasonaltype jobs out there Christmas
tree lots, pumpkin patches,fireworks stands so those are
all three lot manager jobs.
What you're doing right thereis you are the manager of the
lot and you can recruit and youknow, have people come help you
(09:36):
or hire people to help you, andyou're selling whatever it is
the fireworks, the pumpkins orthe Christmas trees and you're
going to make a portion of theproceeds so that one's really
lucrative as well.
So they set those up in prettymuch all 50 states.
As far as I'm concerned, youcan find a lot manager job in
all 50 states.
You just really have to lookfor them and really put in those
(09:59):
keywords you know Christmastree lot jobs, things like that
and you can find thoseopportunities.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Theme parks are also a great place to get a job as an
RVer Places like DollywoodAdventureland, darien Lake, six
Flags and then the Island atPigeon Forge.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Those are all great theme parks that hire RVers and
they actually have work campingprograms that are set up, but
typically for RVers.
They know you're an RVer, theyknow you need a place to stay,
they're going to have resourcesand some of them are even going
to have on-site camping orprivate campgrounds that their
(10:38):
RV workers stay in.
So those are tried and trueprograms where you can actually
just go on their website andapply for those jobs.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Another interesting work camping job is working for
the companies that createcampground maps.
Your job is to stay at acampground for a couple of weeks
and canvas the community to seeif businesses want to advertise
on the back of those campingmaps.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
This is a good deal for the campground and it's also
a good deal for the localbusinesses.
The campground is going to mostlikely get their map for free,
because it's going to be paidfor by all the local ads that
you just found, and then you geta commission off of the ad
sales.
Plus, you also got yourcampsite for free for two weeks.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
So how do people go about finding work, camping jobs
?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I think you should start with the RVer job exchange
, which is by EscapiesArtscomEscapies RV Club.
That is 100% free forcandidates to not only go on
there and look for jobs butactually create their profile,
build a resume.
It's really cool because it'sthat resume templates so you can
change your resume up dependingon which job you're applying
(11:39):
for and send it over to anemployer.
You can download it.
You can set up your wholeprofile, put all your skills in
there.
You can reach out to jobs andemployers and apply for them
directly through the RVer jobexchange.
So that's my top number onesuggestion.
Number two would probably beworkampingjobscom Again another
(12:01):
free resource, where you'll beable to find really great job
posts and you can apply for them.
Sometimes they'll send you totheir website, sometimes an
online application, sometimesthey just include the HR
manager's email address and youjust need to shoot them an email
, attach your resume and you'reoff and running.
(12:22):
And then I guess my last onewould be workforarvierscom, and
this is another great website.
They also have free jobs thatare listed.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And how much money can people expect to make while
we're camping?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I think you will make anywhere from $0 to maybe
average.
You're going to make about wellto $15 per hour If you are out
there specifically looking forjobs that pay.
A lot of people want to go workcamping and they don't want to
go out that page.
They want to do specific camphosting.
(12:57):
Some people just want to workat a state park and have a camp
hosting experience, which isusually 100% unpaid, and then
you're getting to stay there forfree.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Rih has one more piece of advice.
She'd like you to walk awaywith Start small and go now.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Don't wait for everything to be perfect.
True, get a plan in place.
Pick out your first year ofwork camping jobs, and sometimes
I recommend for people to maybeyour first work camping job
could be a national park that'sclose to you.
I like to recommend DelawareNorth working for Delaware North
(13:35):
at Yellowstone because I thinkthat's just an incredible
opportunity.
Who doesn't work at Yellowstone?
So I like to recommend peoplepick out a national park.
I like to recommend Yellowstone.
Then maybe try either the SugarBeet Harvest or Camper Forest
and see what you think afterthat.
Because right there you've hadyour whole year, that's a whole
year of work camping in thosethree positions right there, and
(13:56):
it just makes it a little biteasier for people to just see it
kind of planned out, plottedout.
You don't have to have thebiggest RV, you don't have to
have the next three yearsplanned out.
Just try it out.
Because, like I told my husbandand he told me back, if this
doesn't work which then it'swhat we were doing before it's
not that big of a deal, like,let's try something and not be
(14:18):
afraid to fail.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Great advisory.
Thanks so much for joining ustoday and telling us everything
you know about work camping.
Do you want to create your ownbusiness and take it on the road
?
Just how do you choose theright business and get it up and
running?
Today we're talking to KimberlyCrossland.
Kimberly is founder of bothRoadpreneur and Cruisin and
Campfires.
She helps RVers and othernomads create a business they
(14:41):
can do on the road.
Kimberly is a part-time RVer aswell, so knows all about the
joys and struggles of working onthe road.
I'd love to talk to you aboutentrepreneurship, because I know
you've been an entrepreneur fora long time and I get so many
readers wondering like how can Imake money on the road?
Is this even possible?
I love the idea of having yourown business on the road, which
is why I chose to do blogging,because it was something where I
(15:03):
could be my own boss, set myown hours, travel when and where
I want, and I know that somepeople teach how to find a
remote job, but you more focuson how to create your own
self-sustaining business, right.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, that's right.
I have nothing against remotework.
I think that that's a reallygood thing for a lot of people.
For me, though, it still leavesme feeling tethered to somebody
or tethered to my computer.
If I cannot get back tosomebody, I feel guilty.
And if I'm working in mybusiness or on my business, and
(15:34):
it's my own entity and I'm ableto set those boundaries a little
bit differently than if I dothe remote work.
And so if you're decidingbetween remote work or
entrepreneurship, of course mytendency is to want to lean
towards entrepreneurship,because that's just where I feel
more aligned, because I likethat freedom, I like being able
to set those boundaries, definewhat my work days look like,
(15:55):
define what projects I take on,what I say yes to, what I can
say no to, and you're able to dothat a whole lot better with
entrepreneurship.
Like I said, there's nothingwrong with remote work.
Some people are like just tellme what to do and then let me
clock in and out.
There are some downsides inentrepreneurship, where you are
always on, whether you want tobe or not.
Those thoughts will wake you upat 3am.
(16:16):
It just happens to me.
That's kind of some of theexcitement with it, though,
because you can let thatcreativity spark kind of
incorporates its way into yourpersonal life, but in a way that
you can also say and now we'rehere and we're going to turn
that conversation off and we'regoing to table it for later.
You don't feel like you have tocheck in all the time or, you
know, respond to those emails.
(16:37):
If you want to put your phonedown, you can put your phone
down.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, and so there's so many opportunities out there
to create your own business.
How do you help someone hone inon what their passion or talent
is and what type of businessthey should even start?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, it's a really good question, because that is
the number one question.
People like the idea ofentrepreneurship, but I have no
idea where to start, includingwhat type of business to start.
So the first place I alwaysbegin is what is your why?
And that sounds very cliche,but really you have to know why
you want to start that business,because it shapes every
(17:11):
decision going forward,including the answer to that
question.
You just asked about what typeof business to start, and so if
you don't know why you want toget into business, you could
very quickly go down a path thatmakes it feel heavier and
harder than it has to be.
So when I say to find your why,what I often do is I take people
through what's called empathymapping, and empathy mapping is
(17:34):
oftentimes thought of forcustomers.
This is when you get into thedetails of what is somebody
thinking, what is someonefeeling, what are they saying
every day when they wake up, totheir spouse, to their friends,
to their kids, to themselves?
What are they doing about it?
Are they googling something?
Are they searching on YouTubefor something?
Where are they going to gettheir information?
(17:55):
What are those steps thatthey're taking when you can
understand that that's reallyhelpful for your business.
But even before you get intothat, you need to do the same
process for yourself, and that'sreally going to help you define
those next steps for you.
So when you look at your ownself and you analyze, what am I
thinking every single day?
What am I saying about my job?
(18:15):
What am I saying about mylifestyle right now?
What am I doing about it, whatI wish I was doing about it?
And I kind of did this in thebeginning.
So you heard in my story that Isat down on the table and I
thought to myself I was thinkinghow can I turn this into a
business?
If you have something that youreally enjoy, you can start to
also think about how you canturn that into a business.
(18:36):
One of the ways that I reallylike to do this is to just start
by planting that seed in yourmind that I'm going to start a
business, not just say I wouldlike to I wonder what if I could
start a business?
But just really commit to thatidea.
I am going to start a business.
And just like when you say I'mgoing to buy a new car, I'm
going to buy a new truck, I'mgoing to buy, in your case,
(18:57):
maybe a new sailboat.
Or like when I was sitting atthe campsite I'm looking at all
the RVs coming in, I always saidwe are going to buy a new RV.
Well, then you start to noticewhat you like and what you don't
like.
You can start to kind of makeyour way around town and realize
, oh, that's a business idearight there that I wasn't even
looking for.
And just like when you'relooking at other things, like
(19:20):
the RVs or the trucks, the cars,they all just start to pop up
and you start to see yourfavorite type of car or rig or
whatever it is, everywhere.
Well, now you're going to startto see business ideas
everywhere.
So right now we're in themarket for a new SUV and I'm now
seeing different SUVseverywhere and I'm like, oh,
that's the one I just saw.
There it is again.
(19:41):
When you're tuning your brain tofinding those ideas or finding
that next step in your journey,you're now able to see it
everywhere and everywhere andeverywhere.
The other thing you can do ifyou're not starting to see those
ideas everywhere, that can feelreally frustrating too.
Of course, if you're not seeingthose ideas everywhere,
something else you can do ispick a letter of the alphabet so
(20:01):
you can pick the letter R, forexample, and say, okay, I'm just
going to look for ideas thatstart with the letter R and
suddenly you're going to startto see new ideas pop up, because
it's almost like a scatagoriesfor your business and you can
start to see different ideascome up that can help you get
those creative juices flowing,so that you can start to get
(20:22):
those ideas and you never knowwhat's going to pop up.
And it's really fun andfascinating to see different
things that will come up intoyour line of sight.
That will let you answer thatidea question in your mind and
really let you get out ahead.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, the idea thing is, I think, probably what
stumbles people the most.
You said a lot of people askabout that, but in the RVers or
Nomads you interact with whatare some of the most common
things that people come up with,or does it really just run the
gamut?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, the most common things are.
There's actually four differentbusiness models that will
really start to pop up more themost often.
So the first are memberships.
Memberships are great becauseyou can kind of drip out that
content and you can let itevolve and grow as you grow as
an entrepreneur.
So that's the first one.
I, of course, have my ownmembership, and I love it for
(21:12):
that same reason, because itlets me really get into the
trenches with my community andmy students.
A lot of nomads like thatbecause they can get to know
people better and it makes iteasier to show up in ways that
are going to actually make animpact.
The other part of that is youcan do courses and you can teach
what you know.
Teaching what you know is areally great way to get that
(21:33):
knowledge that's in your headthat you already have.
You already possess this, butsell it and package it up and
sell it in a way that's going tohelp somebody else have the
same outcome that you know thatyou want to have.
You can also sell products, andso this is something that a lot
of nomads actually shy awayfrom, and there are ways that
you can turn a product-basedbusiness into one that works
(21:55):
well on the road.
So there are several businesses.
For example, if you love tomake something, I know of a
company that makes she-nits hatsat her campsite, for example,
and she just loves to knit.
She's doing it anyway.
This is something that sheenjoys and she's taken this and
scaled it.
But she lives on the road.
She doesn't have a lot of roomfor inventory or to hold
products and shipping materialsor having to find the post
(22:18):
office.
But when you, like I saidearlier, when you set those
boundaries with your customers,they now know when you're going
to be shipping.
They now know that and you canthen know how much inventory you
need to have on hand.
You can predict that.
You can plan your routes betterbecause then you can go by a
post office and you know I havethis one day a month that I have
to ship something.
(22:38):
Maybe you coordinate with acampsite that you're staying at,
maybe you find that post officeon your route or maybe, if you
know you're not going to beanywhere near a post office, you
let your customers know we'renot shipping this month and
that's okay.
You can let them know thatproducts are being made or
products are being curated.
Another option with e-commercebusiness is you can do drop
shipping where somebody elsefulfills those orders.
(23:00):
You're still the creative mindbehind it, you're still
marketing it, you're stillplanning it, but somebody else
fulfills those orders.
So you no longer have to eventouch the inventory.
You can still get it out thedoor.
So that's a third model that'sreally, really popular.
And then the fourth model isfreelancing.
So if there's something youwould love to do for other
people or for a company, you canthen take that and go freelance
(23:24):
, sell it to other people.
And so now you're on your owntime schedule, you have your own
boundaries, you can get outahead and you can batch, create
things and then you can justinvoice them monthly and that
way the money continues to comein, but you're able to just
really lean into the elementsyou love and not have to worry
about the stuff that you don'tlove, about the remote work and
checking in and all of that.
(23:46):
You're able to really scheduleyour own, your work day and your
work life and your work weeksand months.
However you want to schedule it.
When you're traveling allaround getting that work done,
you're still fulfilling thosepromises, you're still meeting
those deadlines, but you're justdoing it in a different way
than is traditional.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, and so once someone comes up with an idea
and they want to get this intoaction I think some people are
afraid of how do I set up awebsite?
How do I even find clients orpeople to buy my membership,
course or product?
How do you suggest people goabout that initial marketing and
website?
Speaker 3 (24:20):
creation?
Yeah, that's a good question,also so many good questions.
So the first thing to do isreally to plant that stake in
the ground.
So, like I said, when I startedmy business, the first thing I
did was I started my website andI just started sharing what I
knew.
I shared how I helped people.
I helped them without thembuying for me.
Yet I just went out and Ipromoted my business and I
(24:43):
shared about my story.
I shared about that.
Why that I talked about.
Well, in addition to creating mywebsite which, by the way, is
not as hard as it as it sounds,it doesn't.
It doesn't have to be asdaunting as it feels in the
beginning there's a lot ofreally good software out there
that makes it very simple tojust get something online.
You don't have to have theperfect website when you start.
(25:04):
Don't ever let perfectionismstop you from starting, because
it will stop you from starting.
That's really, really difficult.
So, to get over thatperfectionist hump, just put a
homepage up, just one page up onthe website, and you can do
that with a lot of different, alot of different tech tools that
are out there today.
I could list off a bunch, butwe don't need to do that right
(25:25):
now.
There's a lot of websiteplatforms out there that you can
use, and then, in addition tostarting your own website, I
also suggest that people staketheir claim by claiming their,
their social media handles.
Even if it's on a platformwhere you're not going to be
promoting your business orsharing content, it's still a
really good idea to claim those,because now you have your brand
(25:46):
, now you have an idea of whatit is you're going to sell and
you can claim that space, evenif you're not going to fill it
quite yet.
You don't have to know exactlyhow to fill it yet, but just
claim that space as your own andthen start dripping out content
, start putting out just littlebits here and there about who
you are, and tell your story andsee what resonates with other
(26:08):
people.
I think so often Entrepreneursstop themselves before they get
started because they're like Idon't know what to say, I don't
know how to tell my message, Idon't know how to sell my thing.
What if nobody buys?
And then we get into this hugecycle of imposter syndrome or we
get caught in this trap offeeling like I don't actually
(26:29):
know what I'm doing.
Who am I to do this, but reallyit doesn't.
We make it harder than it needsto be.
And it's not until we take thosefirst steps that we realize
that, oh yeah, this doesn't haveto be as difficult, oh yeah,
this doesn't have to feel asheavy or as hard as I thought it
might in the beginning.
We can just take those firststeps and get out there.
But the very first step Ialways say is to at least create
(26:52):
your website, because then youcan build up that reputation
online with Google and you canget out in front of people and
then just stake your claim onsocial media and just start
talking to people and saying I'mdoing this thing, and so often
new ideas, new opportunities aregoing to come your way.
You might not even have thoughtthat they were going to be
there, but they're going tostart to come your way just by
(27:13):
you saying I'm doing this andraising your hand, committing to
doing it at least for a fewmonths.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, great advice.
And I'm also curious if someonedecides they want to do a
service business, for example,copywriting, like you did, or
marketing or writing, and theydon't quite know if their skills
are honed or if they want tofurther educate themselves, do
you have resources to recommendor do you suggest people go take
a course, or what's your adviceabout that?
We'll be back after a quickbreak.
(27:42):
Figuring out how to make moneyon the road is one of the
hardest parts of the transitionto Nomad Life.
I struggled with this for yearsuntil I finally created a
profitable blog, the WaywardHome, that now makes six figures
per year.
If you're interested aboutblogging but have no idea where
to start, I have a free downloadfor you.
It's called 10 ProfitableBlogging Nits Ideas with
(28:03):
examples to get your juicesflowing.
You'll see money making blogscovering everything from travel
to even knitting.
Go download that right now atwwwTheWaywardHomecom forward
slash blogging.
That's wwwTheWaywardHomecomforward slash blogging.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah.
So I teach a course on how tostart a business, and part of
that course is really designedaround getting people to
collaborate with others, andwhen you're able to collaborate
and lean on others in that kindof a mastermind setting, you
learn so much more about thatskill that you want to go into.
So, for example, as acopywriter, I started to hang
(28:43):
out with a lot of copywriters,but I also just started to hang
out with a lot of businesspeople.
So it wasn't specific to myindustry as much as specific to
the people that I wanted to help, and in doing so I was able to
hear from them what they neededhelp with.
I knew immediately what I couldhelp with, and I was.
I thought, oh my goodness, Ididn't even know that was a need
.
I'm so excited you said that,because I know that I know how
(29:05):
to do that.
But then they also said thingsthat I didn't know how to do.
Like design work is just not myforte, and so I thought, okay,
maybe I can.
I can either go and take acourse on how to be a designer
or I can collaborate with otherdesigners and we can work
together.
I can outsource to them andthey can do the really quality
work in half the time than I cando it and we can work together
(29:27):
as a team and still deliver thesame result to the client.
So in that sense it went a lotfaster because I was able to
split the profits with them andI was able to really make it so
that they they got what theyneeded, but I didn't have to
take it all on my shoulders.
So I would absolutely recommend, first off, going out and
collaborating with other people,but also having that
(29:50):
foundational course and thatcontainer where you can meet
others, get to know them, otherswho are skilled in something,
so you have that referralnetwork available to you while
you're also honing in your ownentrepreneur skill set.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's such a good idea.
And if someone's living in anRV or a van or they're a nomad,
what are some ways that peoplecan connect with other maybe
nomads or RVers online or inperson?
Do you have a suggestion abouthow they could do that?
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yeah, if you go online, there's a lot of
different Facebook groups andRoadpreneur has our own Facebook
group, of course, but there'slots of other Facebook groups
where you can just go and hangout with others.
You can listen into whatthey're saying.
You can join in on theconversation in a really helpful
and authentic way.
I think authentic is anoverused word and yet it's so
(30:38):
relevant and so important.
We need to make sure that wecan show up as ourselves and not
show up always with this intentto sell.
Just show up with the intent toconnect with others.
So when you're joining Facebookgroups, you're on Reddit and
reaching out to other peoplethat way.
If you go on Twitter, there's alot of Twitter threads although
I know Twitter is kind of in andup people right now, but
(30:59):
there's still a lot ofconversation going on over there
.
Same with Instagram.
If you just reach out and DMsand connect with people and just
say, hey, I just want tointroduce myself, I love what
you're doing, and make it verypersonal, don't just do this
copy and paste type of DM, butjust make it really personal and
reach out, that way, you willstart to get to build that
network, find out where yourpeople are hanging out online
(31:21):
and just start getting to knowthem.
It's amazing what happens whenwe just show up and let
ourselves fill our world with alittle bit of noise.
You can always leave theFacebook groups, you can always
unsubscribe from newsletters,but if you don't dive in then
you don't know which ones arethe gold mines where you can
spark some really goodconversations and make some
really good connections.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Great.
It sounds like you have so muchexperience with so many
different types of businessesand RVers that you're just a
great coach for this.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Yeah, it brings me so much joy.
It's really my favorite thing.
I've ever started.
I've done a lot of coaching,I've done a lot of copywriting,
I've done a lot of you know alot, of a lot of things, but
roadpreneurs my favorite,because I'm really able to see
people making a difference intheir lives.
And I have a family friend whoshe had this dream before
(32:11):
retirement that she was going tostart a bookstore up in Canada
and this big dream that she hadshe didn't make it to retirement
.
Cancer won that battle and Ijust I knew, when I saw that
experience or when I saweverything that she went through
and we had that loss in ourfamily, that I wanted that to be
different for a lot of people,not just, you know, not just, of
(32:31):
course, for her if I could turnback time.
But we're living in such an agewhere we can start a business,
we can get out there, we canexplore, and why would we not do
that?
And so I want to help as manypeople as possible do that and
explore and hit the road, seemore things and not wait until
retirement.
Do it now, when you can reallylive your life and have the best
(32:52):
of both worlds, where you havethat purpose of showing up and
making an impact and then alsohaving that time with your
family, having those experiences, seeing new things, meeting new
people and being out on theroad.
To me it's just, it's soimportant and I love the RV
lifestyle, I love the nomadiclifestyle, because you never
know who's going to roll up nextto you at the campground, you
(33:13):
never know who you're going tomeet.
You get to see new wildlife,see new places.
There's just never a shortageof things to do and I want that
for everybody.
I think it's just such a giftand I would just.
If there's one thing I can dowith my life, it's I want to
encourage more people to hit theroad and experience all of that
.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Such amazing tips, kimberly Well, thanks so much
for joining us today.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeof the Nomad Newbie series.
If you want a list of jobs youcan do on the road, I put
together a long list of 40remote work type jobs.
To download that list, head tothe wayward home dot com forward
slash jobs.
I hope you find it useful.
I'll see you next time on thewayward home podcast.
Do you find yourself scrolling Instagram or watching
YouTube videos, wondering justwhen it will be your turn to
live the nomadic lifestyle?
Or maybe you're already doingit and want to find a few new
techniques to refine yourjourney?
I'm super excited to tell youabout our Nomad Newbie series,
which kicks off this week.
I hope to provide you useful,actionable information to help
turn your dreams into a reality.
(00:20):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to the Wayward Home Podcast.
All about van life, boat lifeand nomadic living.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
We'll bring you tips, interviews and stories from the
road and on the water.
Now here's your host, kristen.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Haynes.
Hey there, I'm Kristen Hayneswith the Wayward Home dot com,
and I spend half the year in asprinter van and half on a
sailboat in Mexico, and I hopeto inspire you to pursue your
nomadic living dreams.
So this week we're kicking offthe Nomad Newbie series, where
we've compiled some of the toptips from our guests on the
hottest topics for aspiringnomads, like how to make money
on the road, how to downsize andhow to stay connected from
(00:53):
wherever you are.
If you've been wanting to ditchthe conventional lifestyle to
hit the road or get on the waves, but you're feeling overwhelmed
by all the information that'sout there, the Nomad Newbie
series is here to boil it alldown for you.
Our topic this week is a bigone how to earn an income to
support your nomadic lifestyle.
But before we start thisepisode, I just wanted to tell
(01:14):
you about a free resource Icreated if you're interested in
pursuing blogging as a way tomake money.
I compiled a list of 10profitable blogging niches with
tons of examples, so you can seewhich types of sites are making
money.
Maybe this will give you theinspiration to start your own
site.
To download that list, head tothewaywardhomecom forward slash
blogging.
That's thewaywardhomecomforward, slash blogging or find
(01:37):
the link in the show notes.
Now let's get into the episode.
So I'm really excited to havefull-time RVer and remote work
coach, camille Attelle, on withus today.
Camille spent over 20 years asa corporate trainer and has a
master's degree in counseling.
She's worked over 12 remotejobs and now has an awesome
program called Remote WorkSchool, where she helps nomads
(01:58):
and non-nomads figure out a pathto freedom.
Camille and her husband, bryce,have been full-time on the road
since 2016.
They visited 41 states andtraveled over 40,000 miles.
Hey, camille, thanks so muchfor joining us.
I get a lot of emails frompeople wondering like what are
the types of remote work you caneven get?
Do you have any examples ofsome of the things that maybe
your students are doing or whatyou've seen in the market?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yeah, I mean here's the easiest answer.
Almost everything can be doneremotely in some way, shape or
form.
I mean it ranges right.
Everybody has probably heard ofvirtual assistant by now, which
is something like anadministrative assistant that
was in an office.
You can do that remotely, buteven that ranges.
There's virtual assistants fromeverything from calendar
(02:42):
management to email management,all the way to managing online
courses, to social mediamanagement, all of that right.
Let's just take our truckdriver example, or actually our
mechanic example.
How do you make that remote?
Well, maybe you can't do thework remotely, but you could
certainly consult remotely.
You could create a course thatpeople take remotely.
(03:03):
You could coach people througha repair that they would do on
their own remotely.
So sometimes it's a matter ofthinking about a job just
differently, and the nice thingabout that is then you take a
job that someone used to do andearn one income stream from, and
now you can maybe generatemultiple income streams from the
same type of work.
(03:24):
It's just really exciting.
But it does take a little bitof creative thinking.
So when people ask you know,what kinds of jobs can you do
remotely, I put the questionback to them Do you know your
skill set?
Do you understand yourstrengths and do you understand
how to make all of those thingsviable in a remote workplace.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, that's such a great concept because some
people also are fearful aboutskills, and you talked about
going back to school, wherepeople are saying, oh my gosh,
do I need a four year degree todo something remotely, where
you're you know, kind of provingthat no, you don't have to do
that.
There's a lot of things you canlearn online, and what would
your advice be around gainingskills, possibly to find a
remote job?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
So I think there's a it's, it's.
There's always shades of gray.
I'm a big shades of gray person.
I would never say don't go backto school.
But you don't have to do thatto be marketable, because, to
your point, you can pick upskills in so many different ways
that are very affordable.
Trainings out there you can do.
There are different resources,even like on LinkedIn.
(04:24):
You can find lots of skillstrainings there.
You to me, has skills trainings.
Youtube has free skillstraining, google has skills
training.
I mean you can find this stuffalmost free or very low cost.
It's going to save you heaps ofmoney and time if you just need
to brush up on a few skills.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So what's your advice in starting that process of
trying to find a job?
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So I'm so glad you brought that up.
First Figure out what do youreally want, like, what do you
want in your lifestyle?
How do you want to live?
Do you want to be nomadic, likewe are?
Do you want to work from home?
Do you want to work aparticular schedule, like, get
that right.
First figure out what you want.
Then you want to really think,go into some like skills
(05:07):
inventories to really understandwhat you're good at, what your
strengths are.
Then you get a plan together sothat when you do go online and
you start looking, it's not sooverwhelming, because it'll be
very overwhelming if you juststart jumping on and looking for
jobs.
You just won't have a good gameplan in place.
So that's my best guidance isyou really want to know your
(05:29):
game plan?
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Great.
And so I'm also wondering doyou ever encounter people who
just say like I really don'twant to work on a computer, it's
not for me.
Are there jobs out there thatmaybe someone who's nomadic can
do?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Sure there are tons and again it boils down to what
you picture for yourself.
That's why I always tell peoplemake that your top priority.
Like what do you want yourlifestyle to be?
And then find the income or thejob to fit into that.
So if you want to just makesome money doing hands-on work
maybe you don't want to beonline or not online all day or
(06:03):
whatever tons of opportunities.
There's work camping, which isvery popular in the nomadic
community.
You know where you can work onan RV park or a farm or a ranch,
whatever.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
That's great, so people don't have to be confined
to a computer.
There are a lot ofopportunities.
I think that's great for peopleto know and kind of know what
to look for out there.
It's some random things.
Well, thank you so much andyeah, it was a pleasure talking
to you.
Today.
We're talking to full-time RVerCherie Collier, who's been work
camping with her husband since2013.
Cherie also runs the websitelivecampworkcom, where she talks
(06:40):
all about making money whiletraveling in an RV or camper.
Van Cherie has worked as a parkranger, activities director and
general manager while workcamping.
She's also worked at AmazonCamper Force.
Cherie, thanks for joining ustoday.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Hey, thanks so much for having me.
I am super excited to be hereIf you're not familiar with
Camper Force.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
it's an Amazon program that recruits our veers
and van lifers for jobs atfulfillment centers.
We'll pick, pack and shiporders while staying in a nearby
campground, so you could be anew RVer.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Jump in your RV.
Of course you're going to wantto mentally and physically
prepare first.
I do recommend that.
But you're going to get toAmazon and you could literally
build a whole community aroundyourself of RVers, like-minded
RVers, who are there to do thesame thing.
They understand you, they knowwhat you're there for, they know
why you're there, they're goingto recommend new places for you
(07:32):
to go.
I mean, you will develop yourwhole community right there at
that one job.
And I just think that's huge,because when you're RVing you
want that sense of community.
You want to detach from thenormal community that you just
left, but you want to build oneinside the RV community, as
those people understand whatyou're doing, where you're going
and how you're getting.
(07:52):
So that's the first thing.
And then, second, they pay forevery hour.
They do give you a certainstipend, like $500, $600,
something like that, and I thinkit's per person for your RV
site.
So that's good in work camping,to be paid for your RV site and
to be paid hourly.
And then Amazon also hasmandatory and voluntary overtime
(08:14):
and it doesn't sound like apositive thing.
But if your goal is to just goto Amazon, really focus, build
your community, go to work everyday that you're scheduled, work
some overtime and really stackthat cash.
You don't have to work for therest of the year.
You could go take the winteroff.
Maybe you take off the next sixmonths and you travel, and then
(08:37):
maybe you'll go to Yellowstoneand work there for the summer.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Sugar beet harvest is another one of those big
gathering places for RVers.
It's tough work, with longshifts harvesting beets, and
takes place in northern stateslike North Dakota, minnesota and
Montana.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Their motto is it's an unbeatable experience, and
they say that because they giveyou the opportunity to make a
minimum, I think, of like $2,500in two weeks.
So for RVers that's great thatthey can go somewhere for like
two, possibly three weeks, make$2,500 and then continue on
their travels.
Yeah, it's not really enjoyable.
(09:14):
While you're there You'll meetsome really cool people, so
that's a plus.
But then you stack your cashand you go on about your
business.
There are also other seasonaltype jobs out there Christmas
tree lots, pumpkin patches,fireworks stands so those are
all three lot manager jobs.
What you're doing right thereis you are the manager of the
lot and you can recruit and youknow, have people come help you
(09:36):
or hire people to help you, andyou're selling whatever it is
the fireworks, the pumpkins orthe Christmas trees and you're
going to make a portion of theproceeds so that one's really
lucrative as well.
So they set those up in prettymuch all 50 states.
As far as I'm concerned, youcan find a lot manager job in
all 50 states.
You just really have to lookfor them and really put in those
(09:59):
keywords you know Christmastree lot jobs, things like that
and you can find thoseopportunities.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Theme parks are also a great place to get a job as an
RVer Places like DollywoodAdventureland, darien Lake, six
Flags and then the Island atPigeon Forge.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Those are all great theme parks that hire RVers and
they actually have work campingprograms that are set up, but
typically for RVers.
They know you're an RVer, theyknow you need a place to stay,
they're going to have resourcesand some of them are even going
to have on-site camping orprivate campgrounds that their
(10:38):
RV workers stay in.
So those are tried and trueprograms where you can actually
just go on their website andapply for those jobs.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Another interesting work camping job is working for
the companies that createcampground maps.
Your job is to stay at acampground for a couple of weeks
and canvas the community to seeif businesses want to advertise
on the back of those campingmaps.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
This is a good deal for the campground and it's also
a good deal for the localbusinesses.
The campground is going to mostlikely get their map for free,
because it's going to be paidfor by all the local ads that
you just found, and then you geta commission off of the ad
sales.
Plus, you also got yourcampsite for free for two weeks.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
So how do people go about finding work, camping jobs
?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I think you should start with the RVer job exchange
, which is by EscapiesArtscomEscapies RV Club.
That is 100% free forcandidates to not only go on
there and look for jobs butactually create their profile,
build a resume.
It's really cool because it'sthat resume templates so you can
change your resume up dependingon which job you're applying
(11:39):
for and send it over to anemployer.
You can download it.
You can set up your wholeprofile, put all your skills in
there.
You can reach out to jobs andemployers and apply for them
directly through the RVer jobexchange.
So that's my top number onesuggestion.
Number two would probably beworkampingjobscom Again another
(12:01):
free resource, where you'll beable to find really great job
posts and you can apply for them.
Sometimes they'll send you totheir website, sometimes an
online application, sometimesthey just include the HR
manager's email address and youjust need to shoot them an email
, attach your resume and you'reoff and running.
(12:22):
And then I guess my last onewould be workforarvierscom, and
this is another great website.
They also have free jobs thatare listed.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
And how much money can people expect to make while
we're camping?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I think you will make anywhere from $0 to maybe
average.
You're going to make about wellto $15 per hour If you are out
there specifically looking forjobs that pay.
A lot of people want to go workcamping and they don't want to
go out that page.
They want to do specific camphosting.
(12:57):
Some people just want to workat a state park and have a camp
hosting experience, which isusually 100% unpaid, and then
you're getting to stay there forfree.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Rih has one more piece of advice.
She'd like you to walk awaywith Start small and go now.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Don't wait for everything to be perfect.
True, get a plan in place.
Pick out your first year ofwork camping jobs, and sometimes
I recommend for people to maybeyour first work camping job
could be a national park that'sclose to you.
I like to recommend DelawareNorth working for Delaware North
(13:35):
at Yellowstone because I thinkthat's just an incredible
opportunity.
Who doesn't work at Yellowstone?
So I like to recommend peoplepick out a national park.
I like to recommend Yellowstone.
Then maybe try either the SugarBeet Harvest or Camper Forest
and see what you think afterthat.
Because right there you've hadyour whole year, that's a whole
year of work camping in thosethree positions right there, and
(13:56):
it just makes it a little biteasier for people to just see it
kind of planned out, plottedout.
You don't have to have thebiggest RV, you don't have to
have the next three yearsplanned out.
Just try it out.
Because, like I told my husbandand he told me back, if this
doesn't work which then it'swhat we were doing before it's
not that big of a deal, like,let's try something and not be
(14:18):
afraid to fail.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Great advisory.
Thanks so much for joining ustoday and telling us everything
you know about work camping.
Do you want to create your ownbusiness and take it on the road
?
Just how do you choose theright business and get it up and
running?
Today we're talking to KimberlyCrossland.
Kimberly is founder of bothRoadpreneur and Cruisin and
Campfires.
She helps RVers and othernomads create a business they
(14:41):
can do on the road.
Kimberly is a part-time RVer aswell, so knows all about the
joys and struggles of working onthe road.
I'd love to talk to you aboutentrepreneurship, because I know
you've been an entrepreneur fora long time and I get so many
readers wondering like how can Imake money on the road?
Is this even possible?
I love the idea of having yourown business on the road, which
is why I chose to do blogging,because it was something where I
(15:03):
could be my own boss, set myown hours, travel when and where
I want, and I know that somepeople teach how to find a
remote job, but you more focuson how to create your own
self-sustaining business, right.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, that's right.
I have nothing against remotework.
I think that that's a reallygood thing for a lot of people.
For me, though, it still leavesme feeling tethered to somebody
or tethered to my computer.
If I cannot get back tosomebody, I feel guilty.
And if I'm working in mybusiness or on my business, and
(15:34):
it's my own entity and I'm ableto set those boundaries a little
bit differently than if I dothe remote work.
And so if you're decidingbetween remote work or
entrepreneurship, of course mytendency is to want to lean
towards entrepreneurship,because that's just where I feel
more aligned, because I likethat freedom, I like being able
to set those boundaries, definewhat my work days look like,
(15:55):
define what projects I take on,what I say yes to, what I can
say no to, and you're able to dothat a whole lot better with
entrepreneurship.
Like I said, there's nothingwrong with remote work.
Some people are like just tellme what to do and then let me
clock in and out.
There are some downsides inentrepreneurship, where you are
always on, whether you want tobe or not.
Those thoughts will wake you upat 3am.
(16:16):
It just happens to me.
That's kind of some of theexcitement with it, though,
because you can let thatcreativity spark kind of
incorporates its way into yourpersonal life, but in a way that
you can also say and now we'rehere and we're going to turn
that conversation off and we'regoing to table it for later.
You don't feel like you have tocheck in all the time or, you
know, respond to those emails.
(16:37):
If you want to put your phonedown, you can put your phone
down.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, and so there's so many opportunities out there
to create your own business.
How do you help someone hone inon what their passion or talent
is and what type of businessthey should even start?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, it's a really good question, because that is
the number one question.
People like the idea ofentrepreneurship, but I have no
idea where to start, includingwhat type of business to start.
So the first place I alwaysbegin is what is your why?
And that sounds very cliche,but really you have to know why
you want to start that business,because it shapes every
(17:11):
decision going forward,including the answer to that
question.
You just asked about what typeof business to start, and so if
you don't know why you want toget into business, you could
very quickly go down a path thatmakes it feel heavier and
harder than it has to be.
So when I say to find your why,what I often do is I take people
through what's called empathymapping, and empathy mapping is
(17:34):
oftentimes thought of forcustomers.
This is when you get into thedetails of what is somebody
thinking, what is someonefeeling, what are they saying
every day when they wake up, totheir spouse, to their friends,
to their kids, to themselves?
What are they doing about it?
Are they googling something?
Are they searching on YouTubefor something?
Where are they going to gettheir information?
(17:55):
What are those steps thatthey're taking when you can
understand that that's reallyhelpful for your business.
But even before you get intothat, you need to do the same
process for yourself, and that'sreally going to help you define
those next steps for you.
So when you look at your ownself and you analyze, what am I
thinking every single day?
What am I saying about my job?
(18:15):
What am I saying about mylifestyle right now?
What am I doing about it, whatI wish I was doing about it?
And I kind of did this in thebeginning.
So you heard in my story that Isat down on the table and I
thought to myself I was thinkinghow can I turn this into a
business?
If you have something that youreally enjoy, you can start to
also think about how you canturn that into a business.
(18:36):
One of the ways that I reallylike to do this is to just start
by planting that seed in yourmind that I'm going to start a
business, not just say I wouldlike to I wonder what if I could
start a business?
But just really commit to thatidea.
I am going to start a business.
And just like when you say I'mgoing to buy a new car, I'm
going to buy a new truck, I'mgoing to buy, in your case,
(18:57):
maybe a new sailboat.
Or like when I was sitting atthe campsite I'm looking at all
the RVs coming in, I always saidwe are going to buy a new RV.
Well, then you start to noticewhat you like and what you don't
like.
You can start to kind of makeyour way around town and realize
, oh, that's a business idearight there that I wasn't even
looking for.
And just like when you'relooking at other things, like
(19:20):
the RVs or the trucks, the cars,they all just start to pop up
and you start to see yourfavorite type of car or rig or
whatever it is, everywhere.
Well, now you're going to startto see business ideas
everywhere.
So right now we're in themarket for a new SUV and I'm now
seeing different SUVseverywhere and I'm like, oh,
that's the one I just saw.
There it is again.
(19:41):
When you're tuning your brain tofinding those ideas or finding
that next step in your journey,you're now able to see it
everywhere and everywhere andeverywhere.
The other thing you can do ifyou're not starting to see those
ideas everywhere, that can feelreally frustrating too.
Of course, if you're not seeingthose ideas everywhere,
something else you can do ispick a letter of the alphabet so
(20:01):
you can pick the letter R, forexample, and say, okay, I'm just
going to look for ideas thatstart with the letter R and
suddenly you're going to startto see new ideas pop up, because
it's almost like a scatagoriesfor your business and you can
start to see different ideascome up that can help you get
those creative juices flowing,so that you can start to get
(20:22):
those ideas and you never knowwhat's going to pop up.
And it's really fun andfascinating to see different
things that will come up intoyour line of sight.
That will let you answer thatidea question in your mind and
really let you get out ahead.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, the idea thing is, I think, probably what
stumbles people the most.
You said a lot of people askabout that, but in the RVers or
Nomads you interact with whatare some of the most common
things that people come up with,or does it really just run the
gamut?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, the most common things are.
There's actually four differentbusiness models that will
really start to pop up more themost often.
So the first are memberships.
Memberships are great becauseyou can kind of drip out that
content and you can let itevolve and grow as you grow as
an entrepreneur.
So that's the first one.
I, of course, have my ownmembership, and I love it for
(21:12):
that same reason, because itlets me really get into the
trenches with my community andmy students.
A lot of nomads like thatbecause they can get to know
people better and it makes iteasier to show up in ways that
are going to actually make animpact.
The other part of that is youcan do courses and you can teach
what you know.
Teaching what you know is areally great way to get that
(21:33):
knowledge that's in your headthat you already have.
You already possess this, butsell it and package it up and
sell it in a way that's going tohelp somebody else have the
same outcome that you know thatyou want to have.
You can also sell products, andso this is something that a lot
of nomads actually shy awayfrom, and there are ways that
you can turn a product-basedbusiness into one that works
(21:55):
well on the road.
So there are several businesses.
For example, if you love tomake something, I know of a
company that makes she-nits hatsat her campsite, for example,
and she just loves to knit.
She's doing it anyway.
This is something that sheenjoys and she's taken this and
scaled it.
But she lives on the road.
She doesn't have a lot of roomfor inventory or to hold
products and shipping materialsor having to find the post
(22:18):
office.
But when you, like I saidearlier, when you set those
boundaries with your customers,they now know when you're going
to be shipping.
They now know that and you canthen know how much inventory you
need to have on hand.
You can predict that.
You can plan your routes betterbecause then you can go by a
post office and you know I havethis one day a month that I have
to ship something.
(22:38):
Maybe you coordinate with acampsite that you're staying at,
maybe you find that post officeon your route or maybe, if you
know you're not going to beanywhere near a post office, you
let your customers know we'renot shipping this month and
that's okay.
You can let them know thatproducts are being made or
products are being curated.
Another option with e-commercebusiness is you can do drop
shipping where somebody elsefulfills those orders.
(23:00):
You're still the creative mindbehind it, you're still
marketing it, you're stillplanning it, but somebody else
fulfills those orders.
So you no longer have to eventouch the inventory.
You can still get it out thedoor.
So that's a third model that'sreally, really popular.
And then the fourth model isfreelancing.
So if there's something youwould love to do for other
people or for a company, you canthen take that and go freelance
(23:24):
, sell it to other people.
And so now you're on your owntime schedule, you have your own
boundaries, you can get outahead and you can batch, create
things and then you can justinvoice them monthly and that
way the money continues to comein, but you're able to just
really lean into the elementsyou love and not have to worry
about the stuff that you don'tlove, about the remote work and
checking in and all of that.
(23:46):
You're able to really scheduleyour own, your work day and your
work life and your work weeksand months.
However you want to schedule it.
When you're traveling allaround getting that work done,
you're still fulfilling thosepromises, you're still meeting
those deadlines, but you're justdoing it in a different way
than is traditional.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah, and so once someone comes up with an idea
and they want to get this intoaction I think some people are
afraid of how do I set up awebsite?
How do I even find clients orpeople to buy my membership,
course or product?
How do you suggest people goabout that initial marketing and
website?
Speaker 3 (24:20):
creation?
Yeah, that's a good question,also so many good questions.
So the first thing to do isreally to plant that stake in
the ground.
So, like I said, when I startedmy business, the first thing I
did was I started my website andI just started sharing what I
knew.
I shared how I helped people.
I helped them without thembuying for me.
Yet I just went out and Ipromoted my business and I
(24:43):
shared about my story.
I shared about that.
Why that I talked about.
Well, in addition to creating mywebsite which, by the way, is
not as hard as it as it sounds,it doesn't.
It doesn't have to be asdaunting as it feels in the
beginning there's a lot ofreally good software out there
that makes it very simple tojust get something online.
You don't have to have theperfect website when you start.
(25:04):
Don't ever let perfectionismstop you from starting, because
it will stop you from starting.
That's really, really difficult.
So, to get over thatperfectionist hump, just put a
homepage up, just one page up onthe website, and you can do
that with a lot of different, alot of different tech tools that
are out there today.
I could list off a bunch, butwe don't need to do that right
(25:25):
now.
There's a lot of websiteplatforms out there that you can
use, and then, in addition tostarting your own website, I
also suggest that people staketheir claim by claiming their,
their social media handles.
Even if it's on a platformwhere you're not going to be
promoting your business orsharing content, it's still a
really good idea to claim those,because now you have your brand
(25:46):
, now you have an idea of whatit is you're going to sell and
you can claim that space, evenif you're not going to fill it
quite yet.
You don't have to know exactlyhow to fill it yet, but just
claim that space as your own andthen start dripping out content
, start putting out just littlebits here and there about who
you are, and tell your story andsee what resonates with other
(26:08):
people.
I think so often Entrepreneursstop themselves before they get
started because they're like Idon't know what to say, I don't
know how to tell my message, Idon't know how to sell my thing.
What if nobody buys?
And then we get into this hugecycle of imposter syndrome or we
get caught in this trap offeeling like I don't actually
(26:29):
know what I'm doing.
Who am I to do this, but reallyit doesn't.
We make it harder than it needsto be.
And it's not until we take thosefirst steps that we realize
that, oh yeah, this doesn't haveto be as difficult, oh yeah,
this doesn't have to feel asheavy or as hard as I thought it
might in the beginning.
We can just take those firststeps and get out there.
But the very first step Ialways say is to at least create
(26:52):
your website, because then youcan build up that reputation
online with Google and you canget out in front of people and
then just stake your claim onsocial media and just start
talking to people and saying I'mdoing this thing, and so often
new ideas, new opportunities aregoing to come your way.
You might not even have thoughtthat they were going to be
there, but they're going tostart to come your way just by
(27:13):
you saying I'm doing this andraising your hand, committing to
doing it at least for a fewmonths.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, great advice.
And I'm also curious if someonedecides they want to do a
service business, for example,copywriting, like you did, or
marketing or writing, and theydon't quite know if their skills
are honed or if they want tofurther educate themselves, do
you have resources to recommendor do you suggest people go take
a course, or what's your adviceabout that?
We'll be back after a quickbreak.
(27:42):
Figuring out how to make moneyon the road is one of the
hardest parts of the transitionto Nomad Life.
I struggled with this for yearsuntil I finally created a
profitable blog, the WaywardHome, that now makes six figures
per year.
If you're interested aboutblogging but have no idea where
to start, I have a free downloadfor you.
It's called 10 ProfitableBlogging Nits Ideas with
(28:03):
examples to get your juicesflowing.
You'll see money making blogscovering everything from travel
to even knitting.
Go download that right now atwwwTheWaywardHomecom forward
slash blogging.
That's wwwTheWaywardHomecomforward slash blogging.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah.
So I teach a course on how tostart a business, and part of
that course is really designedaround getting people to
collaborate with others, andwhen you're able to collaborate
and lean on others in that kindof a mastermind setting, you
learn so much more about thatskill that you want to go into.
So, for example, as acopywriter, I started to hang
(28:43):
out with a lot of copywriters,but I also just started to hang
out with a lot of businesspeople.
So it wasn't specific to myindustry as much as specific to
the people that I wanted to help, and in doing so I was able to
hear from them what they neededhelp with.
I knew immediately what I couldhelp with, and I was.
I thought, oh my goodness, Ididn't even know that was a need
.
I'm so excited you said that,because I know that I know how
(29:05):
to do that.
But then they also said thingsthat I didn't know how to do.
Like design work is just not myforte, and so I thought, okay,
maybe I can.
I can either go and take acourse on how to be a designer
or I can collaborate with otherdesigners and we can work
together.
I can outsource to them andthey can do the really quality
work in half the time than I cando it and we can work together
(29:27):
as a team and still deliver thesame result to the client.
So in that sense it went a lotfaster because I was able to
split the profits with them andI was able to really make it so
that they they got what theyneeded, but I didn't have to
take it all on my shoulders.
So I would absolutely recommend, first off, going out and
collaborating with other people,but also having that
(29:50):
foundational course and thatcontainer where you can meet
others, get to know them, otherswho are skilled in something,
so you have that referralnetwork available to you while
you're also honing in your ownentrepreneur skill set.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
That's such a good idea.
And if someone's living in anRV or a van or they're a nomad,
what are some ways that peoplecan connect with other maybe
nomads or RVers online or inperson?
Do you have a suggestion abouthow they could do that?
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Yeah, if you go online, there's a lot of
different Facebook groups andRoadpreneur has our own Facebook
group, of course, but there'slots of other Facebook groups
where you can just go and hangout with others.
You can listen into whatthey're saying.
You can join in on theconversation in a really helpful
and authentic way.
I think authentic is anoverused word and yet it's so
(30:38):
relevant and so important.
We need to make sure that wecan show up as ourselves and not
show up always with this intentto sell.
Just show up with the intent toconnect with others.
So when you're joining Facebookgroups, you're on Reddit and
reaching out to other peoplethat way.
If you go on Twitter, there's alot of Twitter threads although
I know Twitter is kind of in andup people right now, but
(30:59):
there's still a lot ofconversation going on over there
.
Same with Instagram.
If you just reach out and DMsand connect with people and just
say, hey, I just want tointroduce myself, I love what
you're doing, and make it verypersonal, don't just do this
copy and paste type of DM, butjust make it really personal and
reach out, that way, you willstart to get to build that
network, find out where yourpeople are hanging out online
(31:21):
and just start getting to knowthem.
It's amazing what happens whenwe just show up and let
ourselves fill our world with alittle bit of noise.
You can always leave theFacebook groups, you can always
unsubscribe from newsletters,but if you don't dive in then
you don't know which ones arethe gold mines where you can
spark some really goodconversations and make some
really good connections.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Great.
It sounds like you have so muchexperience with so many
different types of businessesand RVers that you're just a
great coach for this.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Yeah, it brings me so much joy.
It's really my favorite thing.
I've ever started.
I've done a lot of coaching,I've done a lot of copywriting,
I've done a lot of you know alot, of a lot of things, but
roadpreneurs my favorite,because I'm really able to see
people making a difference intheir lives.
And I have a family friend whoshe had this dream before
(32:11):
retirement that she was going tostart a bookstore up in Canada
and this big dream that she hadshe didn't make it to retirement
.
Cancer won that battle and Ijust I knew, when I saw that
experience or when I saweverything that she went through
and we had that loss in ourfamily, that I wanted that to be
different for a lot of people,not just, you know, not just, of
(32:31):
course, for her if I could turnback time.
But we're living in such an agewhere we can start a business,
we can get out there, we canexplore, and why would we not do
that?
And so I want to help as manypeople as possible do that and
explore and hit the road, seemore things and not wait until
retirement.
Do it now, when you can reallylive your life and have the best
(32:52):
of both worlds, where you havethat purpose of showing up and
making an impact and then alsohaving that time with your
family, having those experiences, seeing new things, meeting new
people and being out on theroad.
To me it's just, it's soimportant and I love the RV
lifestyle, I love the nomadiclifestyle, because you never
know who's going to roll up nextto you at the campground, you
(33:13):
never know who you're going tomeet.
You get to see new wildlife,see new places.
There's just never a shortageof things to do and I want that
for everybody.
I think it's just such a giftand I would just.
If there's one thing I can dowith my life, it's I want to
encourage more people to hit theroad and experience all of that
.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Such amazing tips, kimberly Well, thanks so much
for joining us today.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeof the Nomad Newbie series.
If you want a list of jobs youcan do on the road, I put
together a long list of 40remote work type jobs.
To download that list, head tothe wayward home dot com forward
slash jobs.
I hope you find it useful.
I'll see you next time on thewayward home podcast.
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