Our Adventure Begins
It may seem that the beginning of our new adventure is starting now that we have purchased our first motorhome. However, in reality our adventure started about three years ago when we first started getting serious about becoming full time RV travelers. Even though it has taken us years to get to this point, our excitement of the opportunities before us only continues to grow.
We have found that the biggest obstacle in making this transition is finding the strength to overcome the fear of change more than the actual process of making this happen. Let's face it it's pretty scary to leave everything you have built together behind, jump into an RV and drive off into the sunset. However once we made that commitment things start to get very exciting and reality starts to set in on the weight of what we were trying to do.
What really makes this interesting is that our ability to drop everything coincides when tragedy struck our family about three years ago. At the age of thirty eight I had an unknown heart condition that led to me having three strokes. It was a very rough time in my life where I had to learn to live with my new reality. However in the midst of tragedy our opportunity for the life of freedom emerged.
I found that I was no longer able to work a traditional job like I had the previous twenty two years of my life. I needed a new way of earning an income and one that I was able to do from home. One of my passions is hydroponic gardening. For about the past fifteen years I have been designing my own hydroponic gardening systems, during a time when things were not as readily available or affordable like they are today.
Using our passion for indoor gardening as motivation, our home business LigerLabUSA.com was born. We design and manufacture a wide variety of products however our specialties are Kratky Hydroponic Gardening and custom accessories for products like AeroGarden, iDOO growing systems and the famous Gardyn systems.
During our years of research we found that the biggest challenge most people face is finding a way to earn money while living on the road. And my health situation forced us into finding that solution. In a lot of ways having my strokes was the worst and best thing for me. I wish other people were able to have the eye opening experience without having to live through a life and death situation.
Prior to my medical issues, I was a workaholic. I was solely focused on the wrong things in life. I was motivated by money and my career. After my strokes I learned that money is important however what's really important is the time you have with your loved ones. A lesson I am very grateful that I learned. Because since then my wife and I have been passionate about traveling and experiencing new things.
My wife works for an airline and one amazing perk of the business is free flight benefits. Me working for myself and her having free flight benefits awarded us the ability for an interesting situation. We had the freedom to travel wherever we wanted to on her days off. And we have taken advantage of that freedom by taking as many as two to three mini vacations a month. Over the past two years, since becoming healthy enough to travel, we have gone and seen some truly amazing things. And we have loved every minute of it.
The truth is that as much as we have loved flying around the country, it has only wet our appetites for how much we want to travel full time. So we have spent the past few years researching options as to how we can logistically make this happen. If you start to make this transition you will find that there are a lot of things to figure out on how to accommodate this lifestyle. It's not as simple as just buying an RV and leaving. However the process is not that complicated as well. It just takes a little planning and a lot of resolve to change your lifestyle.
The first thing that everyone will need to identify is how they will earn a living while traveling. My biggest recommendation would be to find a solution that you love and something that you can do from home. Because if you can find a way to comfortably earn a living from home then you should be able to find solutions to doing it from an RV.
There are a lot of options for earning a living on the road however not every solution works for everyone. In fact in today's day and age, there are a lot of organizations that offer remote working opportunities. It can be as simple as logging into Indeed and finding a job. Or as I stated earlier my passion is Hydroponic Gardening and retail. So it was not a difficult solution to make this transition. Creating your own online store may not be the solution for you and if that is the case then there are plenty of other opportunities.
For example there are a lot of delivery services that you can easily do while traveling. For example you can deliver food though instacart http://inst.cr/t/bkVmSDhHSjRF, doordash or ubereats. You may like to work at a campground, which typically has the added perk of free parking for your camper.
There are also a lot of great seasonal jobs that cater to people that own an RV. For example Amazon, State Parks and even Dollywood have great seasonal positions where you can roam around the country meeting different people and experiencing fun jobs along the way. This is sometimes called Workamping and is a good term to search if you're interested in finding one of these job solutions.
There are also a lot of companies that offer traveling positions. For example there are a lot of positions in the medical field such as traveling nurses that travel across the country helping fill employment gaps. You can even find positions like this at companies such as United Airlines. There are a lot of positions out there like this, you only need to do a little research to find a wonderful opportunity that may work for you and your situation.
Another great option is teaching. Online schools have become a norm in today's technological age. Which means that good teachers are in high demand. Regardless of your current educational background there are opportunities to be had. For example if you do not currently have a degree however you are very good with the material there are possible tutoring positions.
One of my favorite teaching options is teaching English as a Second Language. There are a lot of programs available for anyone wanting to get into this field. You don't need any special training, teaching experience or degrees. At a minimum all you need is a laptop, webcam and a passion for teaching. That's literally it. A lot of companies would like you to have a certificate in ESL or TEFl Certificate, however a lot of these organizations will help you get these done. If not, they are very inexpensive and don't take much time at all to complete.
An ESL or TEFL certificate can cost as little as thirty dollars and can be completed in only a couple of weeks. That being said, there are a lot of programs that can cost a few hundred dollars to complete the course and that may be worth it for you personally as many of them have job placement programs once you have completed the certificate.
These were just a few possible solutions to finding a way to earning income while on the road. There are so many ways to make a living and in truth most people I researched usually don't only have one revenue stream. They usually have several smaller ways to make money and together the money they earn will add up to what they need to thrive in this traveling lifestyle. One of the reasons is that if you have a bad month in one of the revenue streams then you might be able to make up for it in a different revenue stream.
Once you're done with the hard part of figuring out how you will earn money on the road, the next step is coming up with a budget. It's very important to live within your means at any place in your life. However it's a bit more complicated when you're on the road, away from your support team (friends and family) and have something traumatic happen such as your motorhome breaking down. If something like this happens it's not as simple as calling your family and saying can you come pick me up.
Once you figure out how you are going to earn a living and how much money you need to live the lifestyle you would like to live, you have the fun step. Actually purchasing your new home. This is a very fun step and one that will take the most commitment in this transition. Because up until this point no real money has been invested into your new lifestyle change. The motorhome, trailer, schoolie or whatever you choose to make your new home, it needs to be something you're happy with. Transitioning to small space living can get complicated so loving your purchase can make the transition easier.
There are a few things that we have learned over the past few years of research and that is never forget that nothing is permanent. If for some reason you find that you did not make the right choice in a domicile then you can always sell it or trade it for something that would better suit your needs. Also remember to be flexible because your needs may change as you are traveling and find that things are not working quite right. You will need to reevaluate your situation and find new solutions to your problems.
The last thing to keep in mind is the size of vehicle you choose to purchase. One of the most common mistakes I have read about people purchasing an RV is going too big. Once you pair down your necessities you will find that you don't need as much stuff as you once did in a regular home. Because the lifestyle is different from what you were used to.
Which brings us up to the step my wife and I find ourselves in. That step is Downsizing and stocking the Motorhome with necessities. I have watched hundreds of Youtube videos, read hundreds of blogs and surfed the web for hours upon hours. All trying to find the best solutions for minimalist living.
We will have future blog posts describing these steps so that you can hopefully become inspired by our LifeStyle change and one day make the jump for yourselves.
Happy Growing and Happy Travels.
Ron and Carolyn Triplett
The Nomadic Gardener