Making Money On The Road

We are retired. And financially independent. We are currently full-timing in our retirement years. We hope to do so for many years to come. But things might change. A serious illness or an untimely death. A desire to pursue a new dream or adventure. Life is too short not to follow your dreams in retirement.

I have noticed a trend though. And the trend looks like this. Younger couples, sometimes with a family, sometimes without, decide to drop out of the workforce and go travelling full-time in an RV.

They quickly find that the money to sustain the lifestyle has to come from somewhere and, still being younger, the investment assets are often insufficient. In other words, they find that they still need a job.

And so they go out seeking different ways to make money on the road. Some run businesses from their RVs. Some find a job and simply substitute a trailer for a house and commute to work.

And, increasingly, some go online and attempt to make money with a YouTube channel.

I came across this video from the RV Odd Couple. They seem like very nice people. They have faith. They are trying to make their way in life full-timing in an RV with a young child.

I was curious as to what they had learned in the first six months of full-time RV living and what had annoyed them so much. A tiny bit of strong language here and there.

At around 8 minutes and 50 seconds in, they tell us that they were annoyed that other high-profile RV YouTubers were not responding to their emails and not embracing an opportunity to connect with them.

Personally, I do not connect YouTubing with the RV lifestyle. The vast majority of people that I have met in the RV community do not run websites or YouTube channels. Of the few that do have an online presence, most are doing so as a way to stay connected with friends and family and as a hobby.

There are a few that try to monetize their online platform. And of that few, there are a small number that can make a decent living selling content. I follow many of them. They are not living the RV lifestyle as we do. They are working full-time jobs producing content for the RV community while living out of an RV. And some of them eventually leave the RV lifestyle and try something else.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with monetizing a YouTube channel. It is a business model and, if there is demand and a willingness to pay for content, then you get a financial reward.

For $200, you could take this course and likely learn most of what you might need to learn to build and make money from a YouTube channel. From another family living full-time out of an RV. Fair exchange. Money for information.

There was no YouTube back when I was starting out. Perhaps I might have bailed from the workforce sooner and started my own YouTube channel: Cruising’ with the Cleavers. Hmmm, maybe I should send Marc an email…