Have you spent years watching other people travel around our amazing country, hitting the road for months and years at a time?
Maybe you have wondered if your family could do it? But, hang on…
How the hell do they fund their adventures? How can they afford it? I could never sell my house…is that how they do it?
A few years ago we interviewed over 20 full time travelling families and asked them ‘How much it all cost?’ and also if they sold up? You can read more about that one here… But, what if that isn’t an option!
How else could you fund your adventures?
You have the plan – you want to do an extended trip – but you will need to work while you are travelling.
What are your options?
We have spent years chatting with travelling families, at caravan shows, at events, across our platforms and socials and one of the most common questions is:
How can I make some extra cash while we are on the road?
Here are 3 Top tips put together by our team:
1: Do you have a trade? Are you qualified?
This is one of the most common way travellers fund their adventures. From Electricians to Hairdressers, from Mechanics to Chefs, from Nurses to Accountants! Taking your skill on the road can be a great option.
“I have a little A frame sign that I put outside my van with times I am available to cut hair, do trims, style – even colour. Every caravan park we have stayed in I have had heaps of work” ~ Lisa Hairdresser WA
“I always ask the parkies if it’s ok and put a poster in the toilets and the laundry – the work flows in within hours of our set up” ~ Sara Waxing Specialist NSW
“We put signage and magnets on our car before we left – we mainly stay at free camps and pick up loads of work. Hubby is an auto- electrician”
“I’m a nurse – lots of work – my husband is a “stay at van Dad” lol
Thanks to the internet & wifi – taking your work or profession on the road is so much easier!
This comes with the BEST OFFICE!
“I’m an accountant and approached my boss before we left to see if I could work remotely for 6 months while we did our lap – I went in with a very detailed plan and he said YES!
“I am a photographer – I sell my photos to tourism operators, magazines, social platforms. Combining my love of photography and travel is very rewarding”
“I am business coach and keep intouch with my clients via skype and phone. I book them in around site seeing with my family. If we are remote and I have no service then I don’t work. It really is that simple.” ~ Gary SA
Van Roam’n have been caravanning the country full-time for 3 years now. Gemma is a self proclaimed ‘numbers nerd’ who keeps the budget and looks after the kids (Ida 4 and Ari 3). Reece is a Plumber by trade and picks up work as they go. The shortest stint he has done is 1 week, the longest stint is 4 months. Reece recommends having an ABN, Public Liability Insurance and ensuring you apply for the appropriate Trade Licence for the State you wish to work in (most States give you recognition of your home state licence). Reece finds work by searching on Seek, local facebook groups, word of mouth or simply calling up local plumbing businesses.
There are so many other examples we could share with you, but it will make this article the longest on the net!
2: Part Time or Casual Work:
Does it really matter what you do while you are away? Are you prepared to step outside your comfort zone or try something different? Or maybe just help out in a community that needs extra sets of hands?
“There are lots of labouring jobs for guys and girls – from fruit picking to factory/farm work – jump on the local community groups on Facebook when you arrive to a region and ask, if you don’t ask, you won’t know”
“I’m a legal assistant at home, but found myself cleaning toilets in a caravan park, gardening, factory work and baby sitting – these jobs were only temporary, I met amazing people and it paid for more petrol, food and experiences”
“I hadn’t worked behind a bar for decades, but found I still loved it – it worked in with our travels and the kids”
3: Affiliate Marketing!
Disclaimer: We LOVE Affiliate Marketing and have an amazing program that 100’s of travelling families enjoy!
It really is incredible to see how far ‘revenue sharing’ has come in the last 20 years. The introduction of the internet saw Affiliate marketing BLOW UP! Not to be confused with MLM or Multi Level Marketing, Affiliate Marketing is very simple, easy and can be effectively launched with very little skills & knowledge.
So, what is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning income every time you promote someone elses products or services. If you generate a sale for the company, you get paid. If you don’t generate a sale, you do not get paid.
Yup – it’s that simple – let’s break it down further:
eg: You have one of our Pegless Clotheslines and LOVE IT! You post a photo on your Facebook Page to let other people know how cool it is, your followers want to buy one – you add your affiliate link, they buy one and you get a big chunk of that sale!
Different companies offer varying commission percentages from 2% – 20%+ – you can start Affiliate marketing with little or no experience and you don’t need a big following or even a website!
Affiliate Marketing and Influencer Marketing are similar. In affiliate marketing, you will only get paid if your followers purchase. Influencer marketing is generally flat-fee based or you will get paid on a click or impression basis.
If you have a strong social media following or a kick arse website that gets heaps of traffic or produce killer content – then influencer marketing can be very lucrative. Be prepared through, it can take years of unpaid ‘work’ & loads of upskilling to get paid to be an influencer marketer or travel blogger. Check out this popular article about Blogging! Is it for you?
If you would like more information about the Caravanning with Kids/Adventure Awaits Affiliate Program – please get in touch here – we would love to have you on board and we offer all our Affiliate families ongoing support & guidance… **NEW PROGRAM LAUNCHED at www.adventureawaits.com.au with over 3000 popular products to choose from**
MLM – Multi Level Marketing – What’s it like? Is it for you?
There are loads of MLM programs out there – our biggest advice – if this style interests you, find a product or service that you ABSOLUTELY LOVE and are passionate about and go for it!
Sara from sunny Queensland started her journey in MLM when her family were travelling full time in their caravan. She found a product that was unique and perfect for the caravanning lifestyle and jumped right in. She is having a blast. Mojilife Australia has opened many doors & opportunities for her, even taking her to the USA twice!
Contact Sara her via her Facebook Page to find out how the Mojilife Diffusers work and if this MLM program suits you.
We also asked Sharon from Galways Go Round to comment on her positive experiences – her travelling family dove into MLM as an income stream and have since helped many other families dive in too…
“Network Marketing was high on our list of “never, ever, evers!” but when a successful business mentor introduced us to the idea of Network Marketing as a way of adding an extra stream of income to our business and family budget, we took the time to have a serious look at the model. What we realised was that it was a fantastic business model for anyone wanting a side income and was a great fit for the community of caravanning families who want to create an online income, save for a lap around Australia or perhaps even save up for their next upgrade.
Before joining, we compared a number of companies. We also carefully considered the leaders with whom we would choose to partner. It was important to us that the company and team we would join was in alignment with our family values, had the highest quality products which we would be happy to use and incorporate into our lifestyle everyday and also feel comfortable and confident recommending them to others.
Working online as a Coach, Course Creator or Virtual Assistant! How does that work?
We also asked Sharon about her main business as a coach, course creator and website designer.
“ Galways Go Round has evolved a lot over the past few years as we have continued to explore the possibilities of working online from anywhere. In 2019 we officially became a company and have established a number of different streams of income underneath it. The largest revenue has been generated through my coaching, course creating and website design businesses – Sharon Joy Coaching and Studio of Soul.”
Since the start of the pandemic, there has been exponential growth in the online coaching, consulting and course creation industry as well as virtual assistance. Pretty much everyone living in a first world country now knows what Zoom is and this has thrown the doors wide open for people wanting to work online.
Course creation platforms are making it easier to create courses and market them. This means anyone who has a skill and the motivation to teach it can do so with a world wide audience. Platforms such as Udemy allow for this if creators don’t already have a ready-to-buy audience.
Virtual assistance is a great way to earn an income. I started doing this by creating websites for soul-led business women, only to find that I had quite a knack for it and as such Studio of Soul was born. This arm of my business was born out of the learning I did in creating our family travel blog Galways Go Round. It’s just gone on to grow from there as I’ve followed the breadcrumbs and kept my options open. I’m now booked out months in advance and have a very specific niche who I serve with websites but also in my business coaching.
Virtual assistance covers a whole range of things from admin and book keeping to social media management, graphic and web design, online business management, resume writing and even law! Yes, my lawyer even lives a laptop life too!
For anyone with any kind of office background, the world is your oyster. There are so many inexpensive online courses out there to help you learn how to set up and start your own virtual assistant business. If you have a skill and want to teach, coach or mentor then again there are loads of ways to get started and I can assure you it’s worth every bit of effort.
Working as an Ambassador! How does that work?
Securing work as an Ambassador is HUGE and every exciting! Sometimes this can take your ‘holiday adventure’ into a full time job. (think – Trip in a Van!) Is that what you want on your travels? The travel industry have an abundance of opportunities out there – from promoting products to reviewing services. Your content will need to be spot on and your commitment to the brand be unwavering.
If you need any guidance or support – our team are here to help. We can review contracts & offer advice.
STAY TUNED – there are so many more opportunities out there and we will be updating this article very soon… answering your questions about some of the ‘different’ ones – eg: we get messages every week asking about Lifestyle Marketers? Online Entrepreneurs? Build Your Empire University? What do they actually do to make money? We are interviewing families and hope to have some awesome feedback for you soon….
Can you fund your travels??
What type of work are you doing during your BIG LAP?
Do you need assistance??
We would love to hear from you…
