Making a living on the road – how we earn an income (plus ask others to share how they do!)
One of the most common questions we get is “How can you afford to travel full-time?” I wrote about affording travel full-time here – we did a lot of saving and living frugally to build ourselves a strong financial foundation before hitting the road.
But even with all that we did to save, and being debt free when we started, we probably wouldn’t travel full-time if we didn’t have a source of income on the road. I think this is the biggest obstacle for people wanting to travel full-time – how are you going to make money when you aren’t going to an office or a job in the same location everyday?
I thought I’d write about how we make money on the road and go into a bit more detail about how we are making it work.
Nearly seven (7) years ago I created a free website, QueenBeeCoupons.com, to help folks save money through coupons, online sales, easy recipes, store discounts and more.
The website was created out of both necessity and passion after I quit my job as a Communications Manager with the Washington State Department of Transportation to stay home with my newborn son. After Liam was born I no longer had the desire to work in an office anymore and I wanted to stay home with him. But quitting my job meant our family income would drop 60% – so I started couponing to make ends meet. Times were tough everywhere – and friends and family would ask me how I was saving so much money. So I started QueenBeeCoupons.com to help others save like I was.
QueenBeeCoupons.com started with just a few page views a day (mostly friends and family) but fast forward six years later and it was bringing in nearly a million page views a month, helping people all across the country save money! I had no idea when I started it that it would become such a blessing in our lives. I count myself lucky that I get to help others save money (at no cost to them) while also earning money to support my family.
For years I managed the site entirely by myself but I was putting in 60-80 hours a week and it wasn’t healthy or sustainable. So now I currently have seven contractors who help and provide content for QueenBeeCoupons.com and although I still work on the site daily, I’m able to live a more balanced life as a mom, wife and full-time traveler.
So how do I make a living with a website that is FREE? I earn most of my income through ads, sponsored posts and affiliate sales. Our biggest income source is probably affiliate sales – for example, if I find a great deal on Amazon and share it with my readers, I make a percentage of the sale from Amazon (and I don’t mean to brag, but I’m a superstar at finding awesome deals on Amazon). The price of the item doesn’t change for the person purchasing it, but Amazon pays me a small percentage for referring that sale. That’s an affiliate sale and in my opinion – a win-win!
We also make a very nominal amount through this site (TakeThatExit.com) through similar ways, but it’s very little because our audience is much smaller. We have an Amazon shopping widget in the bottom left corner of our home page (scroll down) that you can use anytime you want to go shopping and we will get a percentage of those sales (and we are grateful when you do!)
There are many people who are making a full-time living with blogs such as this. It can be a great income source for full-time travelers because you can work ANYWHERE you have internet and you work anytime that works for you. It does require a lot of effort and hard work to establish a trusted, engaged community but when it grows it’s a beautiful thing – especially if it’s about a topic you’re passionate about!
So that’s a little bit about how we make a living on the road.
If you’d like to save money and follow QueenBeeCoupons.com, here are ways to connect:
- Subscribe to Queen Bee Coupons email
- Follow Queen Bee Coupons on Facebook
And follow our travels here at TakeThatExit.com
- Subscribe to our email and be notified when we have new posts!
- Follow us on Instagram – I’m always sharing real-time photos of our travels here!
- Follow us on Facebook – Also a great place to get post updates and photos
How do other families make a living on the road?
I thought I’d put a call out to other full-time traveling families and ask you – how are you earning money on the road? Do you sell products on Etsy or Ebay? Own a blog? Sell essential oils or Mary Kay or Pampered Chef? If you travel full-time and would like to share how you make a living on the road, please leave a comment below and tell us how you’re making it work!
I would LOVE for us all to support each other, so if you have a business online, please leave a URL or details about how you could be contacted. Please keep in mind that this is a public website – so any personal information you post will be visible to the whole world, so use discretion.
Please read this :: I doubt I’ll have to do this, but I do reserve the right to delete comments that I feel are overly spammy or for businesses that seem illegal, shady or not family-friendly. Please leave only ONE comment for your family and be very clear about what the business is and how you earn an income.
Selling tupperware – Jordanchapman.my.tupperware.com.
Thank you for sharing Jordan! Love Tupperware!
I also support my family via a blog I started 6 years ago. I review products, vehicles and places. Most income is from sponsored posts, I need to work on my affiliate income! http://RealMomReviews.net
Thank you for sharing how you support your family while you travel Skye! I love that you have a blog, too! I’d love to help you with your affiliate sales – I need to work more on sponsored posts! Sounds like we can help each other out. 🙂
We sell skin care and nutritional supplements online! I fell
In love with the product 3 years ago! I just share what I love! It was hard work, but it retired my husband and got us on a fulltime traveling adventure! I live what I do and I love helping others do it too!
Thank you for commenting and I love that you’re traveling full-time. So awesome to love what you do!
We are planning to travel full time in a renovated bus as soon as my hubby finishes school. We are currently searching for our bus to start fixing up how we want. We plan to make money while we travel through hubby’s photography http://www.craigthomasphotography.com/, blogging about our travels and I am a beachbody coach so I can really work from anywhere. I am extremely passionate about living a healthy lifestyle and if I can help other people along the way and pay for us to travel full time win-win!!
Hi Samantha – Thanks for commenting! I’m so excited for you and your plans to travel full-time. Thank you for sharing your hubby’s photography website and for sharing how you plan to make money while you travel! Best of luck to you!
I teach others how to use Young Living Essential Oils safely & effectively, to improve their health & lifestyle. http://www.Facebook.com/BohoHobosEssentialOils is our FB page & I blog to keep track of our adventures…but only for a hobby at http://www.BohoHobos.com
We are a Fulltime RVing family of 5, 2 cats & a dog, for 3 years now! Kids ages 10, almost 5, & 3 months. Our 3 month old was actually born at home in our RV in the Colorado Rockies. You can check that post out on my blog if you’re interested.
Much love from the Boho Hobos!!!
I love you also shared a little bit about your family! Thanks for commenting Zoe!
I started a Virtual Assistant Business with a focus on Social Media. http://www.virtualpowerhouse.com. It has allowed my husband to stop his job and now both him and I also focus on our travel blog http://www.crazyfamilyadventure.com. Through both of these means we are able to live Fulltime on the road in our RV with our 4 kids and 2 dogs! Thanks for the great post Heather! Always neat to hear how other people make it work.
Thank you for this post and all the people who have commented. I love this idea of full time travel and I am searching for a way that my family could make it work. I have a very small blog https://livingjoyeveryday.wordpress.com and an Etsy shop. https://www.etsy.com/in-en/shop/LivingJoyEveryday but these are both so small that they could not support us. I keep searching for ideas. Good luck on your travels and thanks for sharing.
My husband and I will be starting our full time RV living in June. He is a salesman for an established company and only needs an internet connection. I am a project manager who can support my clients remotely!! So thankful for technology!!!
When we sold our traditional business, we looked for ways to keep the money coming in. We do odd jobs, design consulting, cupcake franchise opportunities, but the two that I like best is the two that any of you can DO… We work the National Parks Seasonal work! There is a great website http://www.coolworks.com , they have jobs listed there! Finally, the last is DoTerra oils. The company is Debt Free & rewards you to be Debt Free too! It is something anyone can do to get their family out there on their adventure! Plus those on the road don’t usually go to the dr so often. With 6 of us in our “tiny home” the diffuser and oils keep down bacteria, and sickness ❤️ Plus it always smells good too? It is my way of treating my family, to keep us all well. It works too. It has been years since anyone has had to go on antibotics. I believe that all business is Personal, so I would love to Empower any of you who are looking for a way to Create your dreams for your Family to become a reality. I do calls, webinars, and coaching for any customers or business partners. Whatever you do… GET out there and enjoy the JOURNEY!!
We’re not on the road yet but I’m starting a business to get us there! I’m a Mom Coach. I help busy moms and dads get a routine going that enables them to spend more time with family and save money too! My site is http://www.busybmoms.com I also sell Thirty-One products. http://www.mythirtyone.com/busybmoms
I sell Perfectly Posh, naturally based pampering products, all made in the USA and everything’s under $25. I lead a team of over 1200 ladies, all working from home!
http://www.poshforu.com
Wow! Such diversity. I love it! My husband is a programmer and brings in most of the income, and I supplement (mostly through gear and and sponsored activities) through our blog at http://www.currentlywandering.com. Its a good life!
I love reading all of your posts, from your coupon blog to here 🙂
I am a Scentsy girl. I joined the company 5 years ago with my best friend. I love that the company works for each of us how we need/want it to. She has an amazing team and makes great money at it. I have a small team and make enough to pay for some of our family extras, like going to a hockey game or the zoo.
https://scentsofthenorthwest.scentsy.us/
I used to be a scentsy consultant too! I’m curious how to do you handle all that stock , scent samples etc in such a small space?
We are embarking on our full time Journey in Late July, after my husband retires from the Marine Corps! We are both ambassadors for Plexus Worldwide a plant based health and wellness company. Plexusbyparis.com
We are considering stepping out into this RV world and am curious as to what your operating costs are for living on the road. My wife just retired and I’m starting to seriously look at the prospect. It would just be the two of us and I’m thinking our retirement incomes would handle it but don’t have any baseline to make an informed judgment on the matter. Thanks for any information you could share. Would be using a similar truck ( diesel) and hauling a 28 or 30 foot Airstream.