Before Angela and I set out on our first cross-country truck camping adventure in 2004, and a full three years before launching Truck Camper Magazine, I was searching for ideas on how we could make money on the road. At the time, I was concerned that we would be spending a considerable amount on fuel, food, and campgrounds, without any money coming in. I wanted to off-set those expenses by making at least a little money on the road.
One idea I had was running an eBay store. We could go to flea markets, garage sales, and thrift stores searching for products of value, and then sell them on eBay. To make this work for us, I would focus on what I know; LP records. From twenty years of collecting, I have a good instinct of what records are valuable. By specializing our eBay store on one product type – LP records – we could attract customers and sell to them again and again.
Most of my other business ideas revolved around selling our professional skills; web design services, graphic artist services, desktop publishing services, photography services, and writing services. It can be tough to sell creative services to a business you just met, but that’s the challenge.
In the end, we got lucky. In the months leading up to our trip, a retired real estate developer commissioned me to write a book on 55+ Florida lifestyle communities. I spent the trip writing the book in the early mornings. I finished and published the book just in time for the real estate market to crash. Evidently luck has its limits.
This week’s Question of the Week is, “Have you ever considered ways to make money, other than workamping, while truck camping?”
We are not including workamping for this question as it was already covered in a previous question of the week. Workamping also isn’t for everybody. We are looking for ideas, outside of workamping, for making money on the road.
Please keep your answers legal. Mobile meth labs do not count. And please share ideas that you have already tested, or have seen done by other campers. Someone out there might be able to chase their truck camping dreams with your suggestions.
The results to the survey – here are 7 ways to make money on the road.
