How We Make Money While Traveling Full-Time

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This is hands down the number one question we are asked – how do we make money while traveling full-time?

I’m going to do my best to break down exactly how we afford to travel full-time, and how we meet our financial obligations month to month in the post below, but it’s a little too much for one poor little blog post.

So we made this – a PDF download that breaks down the exact steps we took to create this lifestyle, the jobs we found and how much we get paid, and action steps you can take to follow the same path to freedom!

If you want the short version without the details and workbook, however, continue reading below!

CREATING A LIFESTYLE THAT AFFORDS TRAVEL

This is the first, most important step. If we had the same lifestyle we had two years ago – a three-story home, a new car, etc. – we wouldn’t be able to afford to travel full-time.

We sold the house and almost everything in it, sold the fancy toys that still had payments on them, and paid off our debt with the proceeds. We used what was left of the funds to help build the bus.

We had to downsize anyway to take our 3,000 sqft lifestyle to 250 sqft, and we made a tidy profit selling off all kinds of furniture and clothes, and gadgets.

With very little debt remaining, and no big monthly payments, supporting ourselves became a lot easier.

Now, to be fair, we traded expenses. Oliver has a hundred-gallon diesel tank that’s about $300 a pop to fill, which means when we’re traveling that can add up fast. There are also our propane tanks to refill every month to two, and other random bus expenses that pop up like oil changes and repairs.

It’s still not as much as a mortgage and all the other bills associated with our “big” lifestyle. We took our monthly expenses from $5K to under one.

FINDING JOBS THAT TRAVEL WITH YOU

When we decided to convert a school bus, we owned and operated a gym in Montana. We’d been personal trainers for most of the last decade before, so we had to reach outside of that lifestyle to find a way to support ourselves and make money while traveling full-time.

Well, mostly.

I was lucky enough to keep a client who I already trained remotely as she traveled, and that little chunk of change started our monthly income.

Mike and I are both decent writers, so we researched and applied with some different writing companies before finding and settling with one. Mike does the bulk of this work at the moment, so I’m free to focus on our future prospects (like this blog!), but the income he makes fills in the rest of our monthly stipend at the moment. You can see exactly how much in our free PDF download.

He works roughly 25 – 30 hours a week, mostly while I drive and the kids do their school work, which leaves us plenty of time for exploring in between.

ADDING IN PASSIVE INCOME

This one is huge – we utilize passive income streams to be able to make money without additional time invested. Affiliate marketing is a one-time-in-deal that continues to make money after your initial effort with no more added time in.

This can be done with major retailers like Amazon or Target, or individual smaller brands. We have both!

This is super easy because it’s stuff we already do naturally. I buy a blanket that I adore from Amazon, like this one, and then recommend it to people. It’s something I already do, except now I get paid a kickback when they take my recommendation and buy it!

THE GUIDE TO HOW WE MAKE MONEY WHILE TRAVELING FULL-TIME

As we said above, there’s a lot more to go into regarding what we found, more than a simple blog post allows for.

So we put together an awesome workbook that breaks down exactly where and how and who and how much and all those other details! We guide you through applying it to your own situation, and there are spaces to write your answers so you can start planning your jump into full-time remote work!

If you’re interested, you can download the whole guide for free here!