Last Updated on 04/17/2024 by Glynn Willard
How do nomads make money while fulltime RV living?
Beyond any reasonable doubt, this is the most commonly asked question of us!
Let’s address that question from our perspective as well as thirteen other nomadic entrepreneur’s living fulltime in an RV or van.
How Do You Make Money Living As A Nomad?
There are several ways to make money living as a nomad. You can:
- Workcamp
- Work A remote Job.
- Play the market fulltime for dividend/interest and capital gain income.
- Gig work that’s in person or remote.
- Or you can be an entrepreneur.
For this article, we’re going to focus on the fifth option.
Living off the income produced by capitalizing on a your own human capital.
Let’s define this as either self employment or ownership of a small business that operates independently under your or someone else’s management.
What Are Some Examples Of Nomad Entrepreneurial Businesses?
Examples of nomadic businesses include:
We’ve found examples of many of the above types of nomadic businesses through our travels, our own experience and via Rose’s position as a co-host on The RV Entrepreneur.
Let’s explore an example of someone running a business built on the business structures listed above.
- Website Design And SEO Work
- Digital/Social Media Consultant
- Book Author
- Product Development And Promotion
- Content Creation/Copywriting
- Traveling Service Niche
- Coach
- Franchisor
- YouTube Creator
- The quality of the content we provide.
- Value we bring to the consumer.
- The amount of time we spend promoting the channel on other media.
- Blogger & Affiliate Marketer
- Consultant
Website design may be flooded with amateurs, but really good, seasoned developers who understand the changing landscape of SEO do exist.
There are just fewer of them. And many of them are nomadic because they can be.
One such nomad developed and maintains a website that you may have used in your travels.
Boondocker’s Bible.
Meet Steve!
Steve Johnson is a nomadic entrepreneur, long time computer geek, and one of the pioneers of Internet marketing.
He and his wife Sash produce and manage several websites. Their largest is the one mentioned earlier, Boondocker’s Bible.
Together, they also run Choctaw Websites. Chocktaw helps small businesses stand out online in their local niche.
Steve began his nomadic lifestyle in the early 2000’s on a motorcycle, maintaining his website business on the road!
In 2017 he and his wife Sash made the transition to an RV and used it as a way to connect better with their clients.
When you’re mobile and your client is 500 miles away, why not just plant your business close to theirs. Brilliant!
Their nomadic lifestyle flipped the standard American “make as much money as you can” on its head. Their lifestyle has a low overhead.
They did end up buying land in Oklahoma in 2020 as a home base for their RV. But they continue to travel to personally meet their clients (and for fun).
Steve and Sash are able to go from nomadic to stationary at the drop of a dime. That’s an amazing place to be with a nomadic business!
Listen to Steve and Rose: Considering Running A Business From The Road…
Kelsey Henry wears a lot of different hats as an entrepreneur. Wait, isn’t that what every entrepreneur does?
She’s a Pinterest consultant, Etsy seller, Amazon seller, musician, guest blogger and a podcast producer.
She even edits the podcasts for The RV Entrepreneur where Rose is a co-host.
Kelsey is also an author. Her works include Growing Up Roadschooled: Stories, Lyrics, & Lessons Learned from Full-time RVing & Life After Roadschooling.
Ironically, during the initial part of our travels, I found her book in our Kindle Library (one that Rose had read) and thoroughly enjoyed her story.
This is before Rose began working with Kelsey. Life is funny!
She’s also the founder of Cozyorganizing.com
Jim Nelson & Rene Agredano have been full-time RVing since 2007.
During that time, the couple has grown a popular online niche community, while supporting clients, and publishing several books together.
There’s a lot of front loaded work required to build this kind of business. But in the end, it pays off!
Learn more here: tripawds.com and liveworkdream.com.
Listen to Jim & Rene here: Living and Working Together Full-time in a Tin…
Developing and patenting your own product is the dream of many!
And how amazing if you’ve made it to production stage and can turn your nomadic travels into promotional travels!
Mute Sports Equipment
Tim Nightengale, the owner and creator of Mute Sports Equipment did just that.
Tim’s company manufactures high quality custom Jump ropes. His inventory includes heavy jump ropes, adapted split ropes, bar jump ropes for one arm athletes and many other accessories.
Most of his products are made in the U.S.
Since his business can be mobile, Tim and his wife travel full time in their RV all over the country.
They hold free jump rope clinics and promote their equipment in gyms all around the country.
This gives them direct face time with their clients allowing them to customize their jump ropes right on site!
Learn more here: mutesportsequipment.com
Listen to Tim & Rose here: Selling a Product Based Business From Your RV…
Bison Track
Meet Robert and Tosha Lackey, founders of Bison Track.
At 39 and 42 years of age, Rob and Tosha have been traveling all over North America for the past four years in an effort to grow their motorcycle racing apparel business, Bison!
And it’s working! The ability to take your home to every event where your product is used and promote it with real passion is priceless.
This is a totally different experience than most fulltime RVers have running a business on the road.
I’m a lover of riding all kinds of motorcycles, so I find their business to be extra cool!
You can read more about Bison Track here.
Listen to Robert & Rose here: RVE podcast episode coming soon.
Sierra Eberly is a freelance writer, content creator and copywriter.
She founded and runs Boondock Consulting.
Sierra’s lived full-time in a converted campervan with her dog, Snow, since late 2020.
Like many in her position, she was tired of the corporate grind and being stuck behind a laptop on someone else’s fixed schedule.
She took the leap and started her own copywriting business, Boondock Consulting.
It fit right in with her long time passion for writing!
Sierra will not work with just anyone though. She only supports small businesses encouraging nomadic, off-grid, sustainable lifestyles or tiny living.
Because she shares the same passions, she’s able to write in her customer’s voice, making her copy resonate with their customers.
Learn more at boondockconsulting.com
Listen to Sierra and Rose here: Small Business Copywriting From the Boondocks…
The Boondoctor
John Lehman is The Boondoctor.
He is a full time mobile RV technician who does custom installs of full off-grid power systems on RV’s.
He’s niched himself down to doing most of his work on ATC Toy Haulers.
Ironically, we parked our rig in a Home Depot in AZ to grab some supplies and saw an ATC across the lot with an amazing Solar set up.
Of course, we had to drive over and learn more (admire). We reached out and corresponded some and then a year later, Rose is interviewing him for The RV Entrepreneur.
Learn more at boondoctor.com
Listen to John & Rose here: Unplug Your RV Indefinitely While Working Fro…
Go Roam Tech
Jess Jorgensen has solved connectivity on the road issue for many people enjoying RV fulltime living.
Jess is a full-time RVer and her company helps solve the massive problem about obtaining reliable internet on the road.
She’s taken the approach of solving the end problem by packaging solutions for RVers.
These packages offer “at home” Internet speeds in remote locations and off-grid.
Learn more here: www.goroam.tech
Listen to Jess & Rose here: Starlink Alternative For Reliable Internet On Th…
Holly Priestley is a Mindset Coach. What does this mean?
Holly’s a nomadic mindset and strategy coach for freelancers and entrepreneurs.
She helps them find clarity and direction both in business and in their personal lives.
This helps her clients build the confidence necessary to grow.
Holly lived out of her 1997 Ford E350 van for more than 3 years with her pup. They adventured around the American west together.
She traveled and worked as a freelance writer, a photographer and a coach.
Learn more here: hollycpriestley.com
Listen to Holly here: How a Mindset Coach Can Help You Build a…
Fireside RV Rental
Garr Russell started, scaled and sold several companies over his lifetime!
His experience has honed his skills in building systems, processes, sales, marketing, and leadership!
In 2016 he moved into the RV niche, to lead the industry in starting the nation’s first RV rental management company, Fireside RV Rental.
The number of locations are quickly growing all over the US.
His company connects camper owners with vacationers who want to experience the RV life.
They also offer a franchise opportunity for entrepreneurs to get in on the ground floor. This aspect will not last forever.
Learn more here: firesidervrental.com
Listen to Garr & Rose here: How To Launch An RV Rental Business With Zer…
Reset Your Journey
Yeah, that’s us! www.youtube.com/c/ResetYourJourney
We may not make a lot of money at it, but YouTube brings us a small income each month with the potential (like any business) to grow.
And like any other business, the growth of our YouTube channel is directly related to three things:
We find it very fulfilling to not only help other RVers and boondockers, but also to document our travels for our family to watch for years to come.
This is a legacy that offers real value to our kids.
Our channel, blog, affiliate income coaching and Rose’s podcast host position on The RV Entrepreneur Podcast helps eliminate the erosion of our savings.
We don’t expect to ever make what our personal training and physical therapy facility made us, but we also don’t have a lot of financial overhead anymore.
We’ve thoroughly learned that less really is more!
Hey, you’re already on our page! Thank you 🙂
Craving Video? Visit Our Channel
The Wayward Home
Kristin Hanes was a journalist who flipped gears and became a blogger.
Her desire is to inspire and teach people how to live alternatively in an RV, campervan, tiny home or sailboat.
She began her journey to tiny living in a Toyota Prius. Talk about tiny living!
Kristin has since lived in a Chevy Astro minivan, a sailboat, and now a DIY Sprinter van.
From our perspective, she’s reached that special “self actualized” space bloggers dream of reaching.
Her website, The Wayward Home, reaches 2.5 million visitors per year and generates an astonishing 6 figures from ads and affiliates alone!
She also hosts The Wayward Home Podcast.
Listen to Kristen & Rose here: How to Grow and Scale a Niche Site to Multipl…
Consulting is a generic term than can be applied in so many ways.
Of course, if you’ve spent your life honing a specialized skill set, you can consult after retirement utilizing that skill set.
Nutrition & Business Systems Consultant
This is what I did after selling our personal training & physical therapy facility in 2021.
My formal education is in nutritional physiology, which I applied to our business over the decades.
After selling the business, I still offer expert fitness and nutrition consulting online.
I have a passion for helping people improve their health and after thirty-three years of nutrition consulting, have developed a real empathy and understanding how to offer realistic solutions.
I also consult with individuals looking to start a remote business covering many of the real world business systems and aspects not covered by online guides and tutorials.
We built a successful business from the ground up in 2000, grew it, gave it “legs” to operate on it’s own and sold it in 2021. One acquires a lot of education on entrepreneurship building such a business.
Many of the legal aspects and business systems in stationary businesses crossover to a remote business.
Especially with the changing landscape of licenses, regulation and state sales tax on a remote business.
Every business is different and I take a very empathetic approach to how best to tailor your business systems to work with your lifestyle.
My other websites: gymfailedyou.com & paradigmfitness.com
Entrepreneurial Consultant
Kimberly Crossland is the founder of Roadpreneur and Cruisin’ + Campfires.
Her two companies are designed to keep families together, while running a sole proprietorship from the road.
We can attest that time spent on the road as a family builds amazing bonds and memories!
Both of Kimberly’s businesses aim to inspire meaningful change through a strategic, thoughtful approach to life and business.
And her business endeavor allows her plenty of time to travel part time with her family in their RV.
Kimberly’s also a host on The RV Entrepreneur Podcast. And a really good one!
Learn more about Kimberly at Roadpreneur.com and Cruisin’ + Campfires.
Listen to Kimberly’s interview here: RVE 248: Why Treating Your Business as an Act o…
IT Consultant
In this digital age, this is a common opportunity for those who can navigate the inner workings of Linux, Windows and networking/security applications.
Shannon Neumann is Hedgehog Technology Consulting.
He’s been a location independent remote technology worker since 2013. He began the full-time RV life in 2017.
During his time as a full-time employee, he’s been developing his remote technology consultant business.
This is a wise move in developing a client base before considering severing ties with a current employer for anyone consulting while still employed.
If you have a skill set that could help someone through consulting, you have the potential for a remote business!
Learn more about Shannon and Hedgehog Technology Consulting.
Hedgehog Technology Consulting on Facebook.
Listen to Shannon & Rose here: RVE podcast episode coming soon.
Not Sure What You Need For Your RV?
Wrapping Up Nomadic Income
If you look closely, many of the remote entrepreneurs wear many of the hats listed above.
Sometimes it’s not enough to do just one thing to generate revenue when you’re a nomad.
The idea being multiple fishing poles in the water at once, so that at least one of them is biting.
We’ve also bumped into real estate investors on the road, but I din’t include them in this list because that would be difficult to start when you’re mobile.
The nomadism comes after developing a solid real estate portfolio.
To sum all this up, there will never be a better boss than yourself. And the freedom to pick the hours of the day you’ll work is priceless.
Don’t be fooled in thinking you’ll work less. In fact, you’ll work more.
But you choose those hours and your income is uncapped (and has no bottom).
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