One of the biggest questions people have about living the van life or in an RV is:
What are some ways to make money?
The great news is that nowadays it's very possible to generate an income online through many companies utilizing the global workforce. Everyone can stay in communication through tools like Trello and Slack.
Not to mention, you can build your skill set through the various online courses and learning platforms available such as YouTube, Udemy or Lynda.com.
If you already have online or digital skills, there are plenty of ways to make money fro your computer. All you need is a WiFi connection, which isn't too difficult to get while traveling. Without further ado let's dive into the best remote jobs you can do from a campervan or RV.
In addition, there are some more offline "side-hustle" ideas listed for alternative ways to make extra money on the road.
1. Start a profitable blog
Starting a blog is not a get rich quick scheme by any means. It's one of the best long-term business options to get started making money remotely. If you love writing, digital marketing, and being your own boss, then this could be for you. There are many top bloggers than make upwards of $100,000...per month.
If you want to get started with a blog, then I'd recommend signing up with Bluehost. They can get your website up and running on WordPress for cheap.
2. Start a drop shipping business
Drop shipping is an excellent business for travelers as it does not require a lot of money to get started and you hold no inventory.
With drop shipping you find products you'd like to sell from wholesalers who offer discounted prices. You then create an online store (typically through Shopify) to sell those products to customers at a markup around 2 to 4 times the amount you pay. When a customer orders from you, you send their address and order information to the warehouse. They'll process the order for you and ship it to the customer, and you keep the profits.
This business model can be somewhat difficult to understand, although it has great money-making potential. If you're interested in learning more about drop shipping and how to get started, you can check out the Drop Shipping Mastery course.
3. Sell your services on Fiverr
If you're brand new in the world of online work, then you can start by selling your services for cheap on Fiverr. You can offer anything from voice over, translation, logo design, articles or blog posts, and much more. You set your own rates and get clients. It's also a great way to add experience to your portfolio to show to higher-paying clients in the future.
4. Flip items on eBay
We've all got stuff to get rid of. eBay is the perfect place to sell old stuff you no longer use anymore for some extra cash. On top of that, you can also get into the flipping business. If you're driving around in your van or RV you can stop at thrift stores or flea markets and find things to resell at a markup. Garage sailing also works well for this method to find under-priced items you can turn for a profit. If you've got the eye for collectibles and patience, this could be easy money for you.
5. Sell your own products through online stores
Do you love making art, jewelry, crafts, or T-shirts? Whatever it may be, there's plenty of things for everyone to sell online when living on the road. On top of that it's quite easy to get yourself setup with a website and online store nowadays.
I personally recommend the Shopify platform to build your eCommerce store for selling products. They're easy to use and you can get your products up for sale in no-time. Their customer support is excellent if you have any issues along the way.
If you want to learn more about how to get started with selling your own products online, you can check out the Shopify Mastery course.
6. Teach English online and earn up to $22 per hour
If you're passionate about teaching or wanted to travel abroad to teach English, here's your chance to do it from your computer living on the road. VIPKID recruits teachers from the United States and Canada to provide 1 on 1 online English classes to children in China. The company has recruited over 70,000 teachers and are always looking for more. You can make anywhere from $14 to $22 per hour tutoring kids online, which can help to bring in a little extra cash.
7. Start a YouTube channel
YouTube is amazing because it allows creators on their platform to get paid. There really is no other platform out there like it. Now, you do have to meet their standards of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch time hours in order to get your channel monetized with ads.
It's great that you can make money with YouTube, with that said you do need a large number of views to bring in a reasonable income. Even with over 40,000 subscribers some channels only manage to bring in $1,000 per month. It's a nice amount of money, although not something most can depend on by itself for a full-time income.
However, by growing a YouTube channel you're also building an audience. You can market and sell products that help those people achieve their goals. This could be by recommending affiliate products, selling online courses, or anything else. This can help to bring your overall income up to a full-time level. (Each of these other income streams are explained in more detail below!)
8. Become a freelance writer
There are an infinite number of opportunities out there for freelance writing with how many businesses are moving online. In addition, bloggers and website owners hire writers to help with content, and you could end up writing about a topic you're very passionate about.
One of the best places to find writing work is the ProBlogger job board. Here you can find a variety job listings for remote writing work. You can also check out places like UpWork to offer your freelance services.
9. Start an Amazon FBA business
An Amazon FBA business takes a bit of time and money to get started, yet with the right product and marketing it can be a great way to make money. You can learn more about how to start an Amazon FBA business with the Amazing Selling Machine.
10. Go remote with your current job
Are you in a position that can be done from home? If so, then you're likely able to do it from the road as well. Ask your company if they'll allow you to switch to remote work. It does take a bit of trust to do this, and not every workplace will approve. For some additional advice I'd recommend watching the following YouTube video from fellow van-lifers who did this in their jobs:
11. Create and sell an online course
If you've got skills or expertise in a particular topic, then creating and selling online courses may be a great way to generate an income. You can create a course about anything. Whether that's piano, gardening, yoga, fitness, meditation, guitar, personal finance, the list goes on and on.
If you have a skill or hobby that someone ever asked you to teach them, chances are there's thousands of other people on the internet interested as well. You can publish a course on Udemy, Teachable, or Thinkific to name a few.
Do keep in mind though how you plan to get your course in front of people. The most common way would be to execute on a content marketing plan. This could be through a WordPress blog, YouTube channel, or Instagram page. Build an audience and master one of those platforms (whichever you feel you'd do best at). Then market your course to those people as a way to get more from you.
12. Write an eBook
Similar to creating online courses, you can write an eBook on any topic such as a hobby or skill you're passionate about. Often if things come naturally to us, it's easy to forget that it may be something someone else struggles with.
Whatever your topic may be, you can write an eBook to publish on Amazon/Kindle to start making some passive income. One major benefit to self-publishing an eBook on Amazon is that you get to take advantage of the millions of customers browsing the website daily. It's an additional way to bring in sales outside of your own audience.
13. Recommend affiliate products
Affiliate marketing is one passive income opportunity that takes a bit of time to get going well and setup. However, once everything is in place you can earn money in the future with minimal upkeep.
To define affiliate marketing, it is when you recommend a product or service to someone and you make a commission if they make purchase. It does not cost the customer any extra to use your links. You can promote these offers though a blog, social media, or a website you own that gets traffic.
Almost any company you can think of has some sort of affiliate or referral program. One of the most popular being the Amazon Associates program, which pays on average 4% to 5% of the sale. Some digital products such as software or courses offer higher commission percentages from 20% to 50%.
To be a successful affiliate marketer, you would need to learn how to grow traffic to content and recommend products to people that solve their problems.
14. Make and sell crafts on Etsy
If you produce handmade goods, then you can make some money on the road selling on Etsy. Many kinds of handcrafted items sell quite well on the platform. For example you could sell anything from custom Disney ears, specialty soaps, or unique jewelry.
The list goes on and on.
15. Offer tutoring services
If you find yourself parked in one city for a while, you may want to offer your service as a tutor. This works well if you're good at math, science, a forgeign language, or writing. You can put an ad out on Craigslist, call schools nearby, or make a post on social media to see if anyone needs a tutor.
This is something you can do both online or offline, which provides nice flexibility. I used to tutor kids in math at the local library and made some decent money doing so!
16. Sell stock photos
If you're good at photography, then there's a few different ways you can make money on the road. One of those methods could be to sell your photos online. There's many different stock photo sites where you can list your photos for sale. Each time someone makes a purchase you get a commission.
Sites like Gettyimages, iStock, Shutterstock, or Adobe Stock are a few companies that come to mind. Although there is a bit of competition in this space, and it's important not to set the expectation of getting a full-time income from only selling stock photos. Most people see it as a nice side-income.
17. Build a marketing agency
To build a marketing agency it takes sales, marketing, and interpersonal skills to do well. To define what a marketing agency is, you're effectively contacting and offering your marketing services to local businesses. This could range from social media marketing, to paid ads, or SEO.
You can do this fully remote and contact your clients over the phone. In many cases cold calling and cold emailing will be your primary method of landing clients. It's not a glamorous business model, but it can make a full-time income quite fast if you've got some decent sales skills.
18. Become an online fitness coach
If you're a particularly fit person, you may be able to make money on the road by becoming an online fitness coach. There is a large market for fitness coaches, and if you like helping people this may be for you.
Fitness coaches provide people with health, nutrition, and training advice to help them achieve their fitness goals. If you went through a body transformation yourself, this helps to get clients as it's proof to them you know what you're doing.
Many coaches will offer Skype calls to check in on their client's weekly progress. In addition they'll create different coaching plans which may offer training routines, nutrition plans, and more. All of which can be done remote.
19. Participate in online surveys for quick cash
There are loads of different kinds of surveys out there on the internet which you can do and make a little extra money. Some reputable survey companies to check out are: Inbox Dollars, Harris Poll Online, Vindale Research, American Consumer Opinion, Global Test Market, One Opinion, Quick Thoughts, i-Say, My Survey and VIP Voice.
20. Rent out your van or RV for a few days
I know it may be difficult for many of you to part with your beloved campervan or RV, yet there are several ways to rent your vehicle out for a few days to make some extra money on RV Share or Outdoorsy. Some people have turned this kind of work into their full-time job!
21. Offer help with van conversions
Sara and Alex James travel part-time in a converted Sprinter van and offer van conversions in their shop. They help design and implement layouts for Sprinter van conversions. This is a great way to make money on the road due to the high demand of people interested in van life looking for help with their builds.
22. Look through Craigslist
One time during college I was coming home and my neighbor asked for some help moving furniture out of the house. He paid my roommate and I each $50 to lift out some couches and other heavy furniture for an hour. This is a great example of the kind of odd jobs you could find on a site like Craigslist.
If you're living on the road, you should take a look at that city's Craigslist gig sections to find people hiring for random jobs. It could be from helping someone move, packing boxes, organization, video shoots, and much more.
23. Offer photography or videography for clients
If you've got some skills with a camera, then selling photography or videography packages may be for you. One of my friends makes a good side-income offering his services to local businesses that need video work done. Aside from businesses, wedding photography also can also be a solid way to make money with your camera.
24. Drive for Uber or Lyft
A classic staple in the various ways to make money, is driving for Uber or Lyft. You work as an independent taxi driver. These jobs work best in larger cities where there's a larger market for transportation. Some popular spots could be near and airport or around a college campus where some people don't have cars.
This is something many people do on the side, and can be another way to make money with the vehicle you already own.
25. DJ for local events and birthday parties
Whether it's a wedding, concert, fundraiser, or birthday party, DJ's and entertainers are always in demand. With some equipment, knowing how to price yourself, and some long hours, you can play some great venues around the country. I used to DJ back in high school and made some decent money.
It is quite a lot of work though for one-time events in most cases. To be the most successful you'll want to look into becoming a house DJ for a wedding venue, as this would be more consistent work.
Of course this type of job can be remote, yet it requires being closer to a city and potentially staying in one spot for some time.
26. Learn how to massage
One way to make a good amount of money working for clients is to become a licensed masseuse. You can also work inside a massage location to have more consistent work. If you enjoy working with people and helping them, this could be a great option. This is another type of position where it may be beneficial to stay in one city for some time.
27. Get a workamping job
With the endless amount of campgrounds and parks out there, many hire for workamping jobs. This can range from raking leaves, to managing a gift shop, or answering the office phone. Of the many odd jobs, this can be consistent work in a place nearby nature. In many cases you'll even get a discount for the campground by working there.
28. Sell plasma
This is one of the more "weird" ways to make money on the road in this list. It's not for the squeamish, yet you can definitely make some extra money selling plasma. Most places you can get anywhere from $25 to $60 per donation. This depends on the clinic, so give them a call ahead of time to see if they're worth it.
Donating plasma is more of a hassle than regular blood donation. First the blood is taken from your body and pumped through a machine to extract the plasma. Then the blood is funneled back into your body. It's a time consuming process, which is why you get paid.
29. Become a campground host
If you're more flexible with your traveling and love working with people and management, then consider becoming a campground host. These are not high paid RV jobs, yet you can keep yourself busy for a few months of the year. Plus, you get a free place to park your camper.
30. Find seasonal retail work
Before college I worked at an Adidas store during the summer. It was two months of work and a pretty easy job. All I had to do was stock shoes, fold clothes, and interact with customers. Finding a seasonal job is a great way to make money on the road. In the winter months, many retail stores hire seasonal workers.
31. Work as a bartender
If you plan to hang out in one place for a while, then bartending may be for you. Many places will hire for their beach bars, especially in states like Florida. Of course there are plenty of other locations you can bar-tend as well. If you like talking to people, then pulling in some extra money as a bartender could be an option.
32. Offer pet sitting or dog walking
Pet sitting and dog walking is an excellent way to make extra money while living on the road. You can start your own dog sitting website or use a service like Rover where you make a profile that shows to local homeowners in a particular area.
33. Work as a customer service representative
Many companies both small and large are now outsourcing their customer service call center jobs to people working from home. You can either work for the company directly (such as Amazon), or work as a contractor. There are some spam sales companies out there, so be careful. You'll also need high-quality WiFi and potentially special equipment to work as a customer service rep.
34. Become a transcriptionist
If you don't mind listening and typing away at your computer, then transcription may be for you. You can listen to the audio and transcribe anywhere you like to make money, even without an internet connection! It's a solid option for those looking for remote work.
35. Learn how to code
This is one option that has a longer road than other, yet a very high payout for those than manage to stick with it. If you're into computers and problem solving, then learning to code may be an excellent position for you. It's a high paying option for remote work, and coders, web developers, and software programmers are in high demand and will continue to be for years to come.
36. Teach courses in person
Aside from teaching online courses, you can also teach courses in person. This could range from yoga, to pole dancing, bird watching, art, or anything else. If you've got a particular skill or hobby other people struggle with that you're good at, chances are you can make some money teaching it.
37. Work at a national park
The national park service throughout the United States hires workers for both temporary and seasonal jobs. These could be for mechanics, museum curators, data analysts to landscape architects. There's a job for anyone, and you get to be at a beautiful national park!
Seasonal jobs tend to be from the summer or winter months depending on the location. This could be one of the best remote jobs out there when living on the road. Imagine waking up to the scenery of a national park, and making money doing it.
38. Perform as a musician
For those who have the chops whether it's singing, playing the guitar, or mixing music, you can perform as a musician on the road. This could be considered a tour, although it doesn't have to be if you take it slow while living on the road. You can stop in city and play in a few bars, then move onto the next. It's living the life of true rock star touring the country!
You may have to start on YouTube, street corners, or open-mic shows to get some performance experience first. That way, venues will want to book you for their shows.
39. Get a seasonal package delivery job
Every year in preparation for the busy holiday season, companies like UPS, FedEx, and other package carriers hire loads of temporary workers to meet shipping deadlines. Many holiday jobs pay from $10 to $20 per hour depending on the position, experience needed, and location.
I worked with UPS one holiday and had a good time doing it during the holiday rush. It's a lot of hard work no doubt, but you get a lot of hours and paid extra if you work overtime during the weekends.
40. Offer mobile bike repair
For those who know a lot about cycling, then offering mobile bike repair could be a good option. This could be mountain bikes, road bikes, or any other kind of bike you can think of. There are a lot of vanlifers and RV dwellers who use bikes as a secondary mode of transportation in cities, or for recreation. Like mobile RV repair, mobile bike repair service can also work well for those living on the road.
41. Become a model
If you're got a good presence in front of a camera, or have a following on Instagram, then there could be some modeling work out there for you. You don't even have to worry about if you "look a certain" way since many companies are all about diversity to better represent the demographics of their customer base.
42. Help out friends and family for extra cash
Something simple, yet often overlooked is asking friends and family if they have any work that needs done. The first dollar I ever made as a kid was by raking some leaves for my neighbor next door. It could be for short term odd jobs, or more long term work. Make a post on social media to see if anyone needs help, it could even land you a remote job in some cases!
43. Offer house sitting
If you want to mix up your travels a bit you could stay in a gorgeous home by house sitting. Sometimes you'll get paid for the work, other times you get a cool place to stay for free. Whether it's only for a weekend, or longer term, free accommodations are always nice!
44. Make deliveries with Postmates
Postmates is a team of couriers who deliver anything from a store or restaurant. If you sign up to do deliveries you can pick whatever time you'd like to work. The app allows people in many cities across the United States order from restaurants, grocery stores, and personal items for delivery. It's very similar to Uber Eats if you've ever used that service before.
45. Speak at events
Speaking at events is not necessarily remote income, although it can lead to a good amount of income. These events could range from a variety of HR related events meant to provide a new perspective for a company.
Many times speaking engagements or gigs will come from inbound leads after hearing about you from other people or publicity. You can try some outbound marketing, although it's usually better if companies come to you off of a recommendation. If you want to make an income from speaking, then you'll need a website, speaking page, and a reel with clips of your experience.
46. Land sponsorship deals
You may be thinking sponsorships are only for people that are famous or those with millions of views. Yet, sponsorships have changed. You no longer need a massive following to get a company interested in you. In fact, all you need is a targeted group of people that follow your content.
At the end of the day, content is king and it will attract companies that want to market their products to your audience. For example, this website is focused around outdoors and travel. A brand like Chacos sandals may want to sponsor a post since they want to appeal to people who like being outdoors and in nature.
47. Make extra money as a virtual assistant
Becoming a virtual assistant allows you to offer any service you like, at any price. Many bloggers and online businesses are providing work for virtual assistants. The work could include writing emails, customer service, managing social media accounts, scheduling phone calls, or creating graphics.
48. Use Swagbucks for your internet searches
Swagbucks offers points for many activities you normally do online, such as using a search engine, watching videos, completing surveys, for shopping. If you have some idle time on the road and want to make a few extra bucks, you should try out Swagbucks. It's not going to make you a ton of money, but it's a nice way to generate some extra change.
49. Invest your money
An age old method to make money, is to invest your money. If you've got enough saved up you may be able to live off the interest you generate from your savings.
In order to make $1,500 a month from your investments (if invested in an S&P 500 stock market ETF at a 2% quarterly yield) you would need approximately $900,000 invested.
Now of course most people do not have that kind of money unless you're already retired. Although for some, retirement may be the plan for life on the road. You can also choose to invest in real estate if that's more your forte.
50. Design logos and graphics
If you've got some Photoshop skills, then designing logos and graphics may be for you. This is work that can be done from anywhere as long as you have a WiFi connection and a computer with the right software. You may also need proficiency in Illustrator or InDesign, depending on what your clients need done.
51. Build websites
If you have skills in working with platforms such as WordPress, Shopify, or other systems, then building websites for clients can be an option for you.
This could be for local businesses or people interested in starting a new business that need help with getting their website up and running. In addition, you could offer marketing services on a monthly retainer to these clients. This can help to build your income beyond one time deals.
To Conclude
Living a travel lifestyle is no longer limited to retirees. Thanks to the internet, it's possible to generate an income online. Whether you choose to start your own business, or work a remote job, these are so many ways to make money on the road from your computer. Go out there and get creative!