10 Unique Ways to Earn Money While You RV – RVE 325

Ever wondered how to earn money while you RV? Consider these unique ways to generate income to support your nomadic lifestyle.

Perhaps one of the biggest questions about living the RV life is how you’ll make money. What can you do from the road? What if all the traditional routes aren’t a good fit for you? On this episode, your host Kimberly Crossland talks to Kathy Belge of Solo Women RV about 10 unique ways to earn while you hit the road in your RV. These are unconventional ways to bring in extra income for your travels, and range from side hustles to full-time jobs. 

Episode Title

Episode Subtitle or Guest

Your Host: Kimberly Crossland

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Solo Women RV Website:
⁠https://solowomenRV.com⁠

Deep dive this article for the 10 ideas:
⁠https://solowomenrv.com/ways-i-make-money-for-rv-travel/⁠

Email Kathy: [email protected]

Listen to The RV Entrepreneur Episode #325

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The RV Entrepreneur #325 Full Episode Transcript:

10 Unique Ways to Earn Money While You RV

RV LIFE: Welcome to the RV Entrepreneur Podcast, the weekly show for nomads, work campers, RV ers and entrepreneurs looking to earn a living or build a business while enjoying the RV lifestyle. This week’s host is Kimberly Crosland. Let’s settle in and enjoy the RV entrepreneur podcast brought to you by RV life.

KIMBERLY: Welcome to the RV Life Entrepreneur podcast. I’m your host for this week, Kimberley Crossland, and I am thrilled to be bringing you Cathy Belgi of Solo Women RV. Cathy and I go way back. We’ve actually connected years ago, I think in about 2020, and I have been following her RV journey ever since. She’s actually been RV long before that. She started solo RVN specifically in 2018, and she’s been camping and traveling her entire life. She’s a hiker, a biker, a swimmer. She loves to explore new and familiar places, and of course, she’s an entrepreneur. On today’s episode, you’re going to hear about a variety of different ways that she makes money from the road, all of which you can take and start today to start making some money while you travel. She’s got everything from a little bit of side money to full fledged businesses that can bring in some substantial income for you, so I’m excited for you to listen in. She’s got some really, really great ways to make that side money. And if you want to get a list of those ways, definitely go and check the show notes, because we are linking to her blog post where you can also go and read about them and get the links to all these different apps and tools that she talks about on the show. But before you go and do that, let’s listen in and hear from Cathy herself. On her experience on making money from the road in so many different ways. But first, here’s a short break to hear from our sponsors who make this show possible.

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KIMBERLY: Welcome to the podcast, Kathy! I’m so happy that you are on with me. We’ve been connected for so long. You have such a strong RV brand and I’m just so thrilled to learn more. Why don’t we kick things off by you introducing yourself, telling us a little bit more about your RV life.

KATHY: Awesome. Thanks, Kimberly. It’s so great to see you again. You’ve definitely been an inspiration and a mentor to me, so I appreciate you inviting me on the podcast today. So I am a solo woman RV and I also host a podcast called the Solo Women RV podcast and Blog, and I started traveling in about 2018. I’m not 100% full time, but I do spend probably between like eight and nine months, sometimes more, on the road each year.

KIMBERLY: I love that that’s kind of the messy middle RV that I. I also live a similar lifestyle, not nearly on the road as often as you are, although I wish I was. It sounds amazing. We’re connected on Facebook and I just love watching all of your different pictures and your stories and hearing all the different adventures you have, and especially because you not only go out and seek adventure and see some really cool places, and you live in like the Pacific Northwest, so you have that whole gorgeous area to RV, like there’s just not a bad spot up there, I would imagine. Can you give us one of your favorite spots that you go to up there?

KATHY: You know, there’s like you said, I live in the like best place for our being. Personally, I love the Oregon coast. I know that is a dream destination for a lot of our RVers, and for good reason. I just spent about a week down in the area around Yachats, Oregon, Cape Perpetua. It’s just one of my favorite areas. The coast is so wild down there and it’s just stunning. It just yeah, that’s one of my favorite areas in Oregon.

KIMBERLY: I love that. Well, now I have another place to add to my travel list, so thank you for that. But in addition to you traveling though, you also take your work with you wherever you go, which is what the RV Life Entrepreneur is all about. And so that’s what we’re going to dive into, because what I love about you is you have tried a lot of things. You’re not afraid to experiment. And that to me is such a sign of success like you are. You’re trying all the different things and you’re really leaning into where you feel the best, and you’ve got so many little nuggets of wisdom to share. Um, we will link to the blog post where you talk more about this, and we can really dive in deeper to it. But let’s start by cracking open what things you’ve tried that you absolutely love doing from the road, and what you’re currently doing from the road.

KATHY: Okay, we’ll start there and then we can talk a little bit about the things I tried that maybe aren’t a great fit for me. So what I’m trying to do primarily is just figure out a way to make a living so that I can continue to live this lifestyle, because I just fell in love with it, probably like so many of your listeners. And so. Just starting with the number one. One of the things that I just kind of fell into is camp hosting, and I know a lot of people are interested in camp hosting, curious about what it is. There’s a wide variety of kinds of camp hosting, from volunteering all the way up to, you know, kind of doing what I do, which is working as a paid campground host in one of the most amazingly beautiful places in Mount Hood, Oregon. So I feel extremely blessed that I have this job. I did start out as a volunteer, though. I kind of got thrown into it during the pandemic when travel was really limited and I was trying to figure out a way to get out there and still be safe. And I and I fell into volunteer camp hosting with the Oregon State Parks.

KATHY: And I found out from that that I really love it. I have a background in customer service and I, you know, I’m an extrovert even though I travel solo. So I just love meeting people and helping people and and sharing this, you know, this outdoor experience that I love with others. So camp hosting fits that bill in so many ways. And then this past year was the first year that I did it paid. And the the gig that I got was kind of a unique gig, I think as far as camp hosting goes, because it it actually pays really well. I’m not going to name the company because they’ve asked me not to like, talk about it specifically, but I was actually an employee. So with that came like full health benefits and 401 K and you know, all the things that as a seasonal employee that I got working for this particular company and, and a and a good salary, a lot of camp hosting jobs, you don’t make a great amount of money and some of your income goes actually towards your site. Uh, that was not the case with this employer.

KIMBERLY: Wow, that sounds like such an interesting range. So everything from volunteer up through being a salaried employee and getting full benefits. That’s huge. Have you done the in-between as well where it’s we’re part of that payment goes towards your site, or are you just kind of on both sides of that that spectrum there?

KATHY: Yeah. I’m on, I’m on the two ends. No. Once I found out about the position that I currently have, I knew. I knew that I wanted it not only because of. Well, I didn’t find out actually about the perks and stuff. Just the location that’s in is just one of the best places to be in Oregon. It’s on a beautiful lake up near Mount Hood. And, um, there’s just so many reasons to be there. And then after I got hired, that’s when I found out, like, all the other things.

KIMBERLY: Oh, man. That’s. Well, that does sound like a huge perk, and I think I. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I saw you had a picture of you paddle boarding at night underneath, like a full moon on the lake. That sounded absolutely breathtaking.

KATHY: It was one of the most magical moments of my camp hosting this summer. It was a full moon, and I had gone out on one of the other full moons with some of my fellow camp hosts, but no one was available and I just decided, you know what? I’m just gonna go out there by myself, and I was the only one out there, and it was just stunning. With there was bats flying around and I watched the moon come up. It was one of those, um, super moons, and it was reflecting on the lake, and it was just. Yeah, I mean, the reason we live this lifestyle, I think was the epitomized in that one experience.

KIMBERLY: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, that’s a that’s a very clear perk. And that’s like one of those moments where you just get chills just even thinking about it. I got chills just seeing the picture. And I was like, oh my goodness, what a moment. How incredible that you had that experience. So what else goes into being a camp host though? Is there you know, you talked about customer service. Do you do a lot of cleanup? I’m thinking about a listener who’s thinking, mm, that sounds interesting and I wouldn’t mind volunteering my way in. What does this look like? What does this position look like? Like on a daily level. Okay.

KATHY: So yeah that’s a great question. So one of the I guess hard parts about being a paid camp host is you’re kind of always on, so you’re paid for a certain number of hours per day. But really like people can come up to you at any time and even in the middle of the night, although luckily that’s only happened to me once or twice. But your responsibilities are to create a safe and welcoming environment for your guests so that can that will mean definitely like going through and clearing out the sites whenever people leave. It will involve when people just show up as walk ins selling them sites. It can be telling people about what’s available in the area. At our campground, we check every single guest in when they show up, so we go over all the rules, we sell firewood to them, and then we also have to enforce some of the rules. And the two big ones that people are always breaking are the quiet hours, which usually have to go around like sometimes after 10:00 at night to ask people to be quiet and then the dogs off leash. Those are the big ones that that people always break. And then there were a few times up in the Mount Hood Forest, of course, we had a fire ban for a lot of the season because the forest fire risk is is very big up there. And there were some forest fires nearby. And so the people who tried to start campfires when it’s not allowed, that’s the one that really gets my goat.

KIMBERLY: Yeah. I actually feel like all of them get my goat. I am such a like I love the quiet. I like when dogs are on leashes because I just do. I think that it’s safer for everybody. And yeah, I mean, I live in Arizona and so the fire risk down here, we every year we have massive wildfires. And so I totally understand just how risky that is and how that can be like, why chance it? Why would you chance it. But I understand. So that can be hard. That can have be some difficult conversations. So maybe if you’re looking at going into this position just be prepared for those are people mostly receptive though? I love our RVers, and I feel like most people are just so kind that they’re probably be like, oh, sorry, I didn’t realize it or something like that.

KATHY: Yeah. You know, for the most part, I think I maybe had one poor interaction the whole time, the whole season. I did have a group of younger people partying once, that I did have to go over to their campsite twice to ask them to be quiet, but finally they did quiet down. But for the most part, yes, people are very respectful and they’re happy to be there. And you know, we can ask them to leave if they don’t follow the rules. So and the other cool thing about where I worked was I had a co-host in my particular campground, and then there were like 5 or 6 other campgrounds all around. So there was always backup. And there was also the sheriff on call if we needed that as well. And it was very few times that we needed that kind of backup. None of them in my campground, thankfully.

KIMBERLY: Oh that’s good. And that is nice to have that collaborative team effort. You don’t always get that as an entrepreneur, so it is nice when you’re able to have that well, I love. The campus conversation. I have a lot of other questions, but let’s keep it moving though, to the next item on your list. What is another way that you, Kathy, make money from the road?

KATHY: Okay, did I tell you there’s nine of them? So there was. This might be a long conversation. Number two is as a freelance writer and blogger and podcast host, so kind of a content creator, I guess is the word that we use now. And so I have a blog for solo women, Rv’ers and a podcast, and I also have written two books. My two books are not on a topic having anything to do with the RV lifestyle, kind of about my career before this, but one of the books is still in print and does still earn me some royalties from time to time, you know, twice a year. But the other thing that I, I started once, I started like a lot of people who head out on the road, I started a blog. And it wasn’t until really like a year ago now I came off the road with a broken foot that I decided I was going to really dive into that blog and figure out a way to make money doing it. And I went to a conference, a travel blogging conference, and then ended up joining the program from the people who run that conference and have just been learning all about affiliate marketing and how to grow your blog, and how to do really good keyword research, and to optimize your posts for things that people are searching for, not just the fun things that I wanted to write about that I you know, that I thought people were interested, but really how to research and determine what people actually are looking for and want to read about and search for in Google.

KATHY: So I’ve been spending a lot of time learning that and growing that business. And one of the things about being the camp host was I wasn’t able to sit down and really write the way that I wanted to, or the way that, you know, maybe would have grown my business more at this point because it was the option of, okay, I just got done. Like cleaning up five fire pits. I could sit down and write or I can jump in the lake, you know, which am I going to do? So a lot of times I was choosing jumping in the lake over, sitting down and writing. But now that I’m back off the road and in my sticks and bricks right now, I’m sitting down and doing some real writing and research. But also part of that is producing the podcasts that I do. And again, that podcast is really a labor of love. I haven’t really made very much money doing it, although I feel like it does contribute to the brand and my authority. On the topic of solo women RV.

KIMBERLY: Yeah, absolutely. I think any time that content can feed each other. So like your blog can feed your podcast, your podcast can feed your blog, it lets everything expand. And I think that’s such a really important lesson. So I’m glad that you shared that, because we talk about having diverse income and you do have a lot of diverse income streams. That’s what we’re talking about here on today’s show. But we don’t always look at the intersection between all those different income streams. So that’s really interesting how yeah, the podcast can feel like a labor of love, but it makes money in other ways. So that’s a really good point. I’m glad that you brought it up. Let’s keep the conversation going, because I know you said you had nine different areas and I want to yeah, I want to put an exclamation point on several of these. So definitely let’s let’s keep it going. And if you guys want to check out Kathy’s blog and podcast, definitely go check out the show notes, because we will have those linked up there so they can go and do a deep dive later on that as well. What is your third way that you make money from the road?

KATHY: The third way that I make money. Like a lot of people, I have a remote job. I do contract work, so when work is needed, I do work for an online travel agency or travel company, I should say doing customer service. So I was brought on at a time when they were really in need of help and got trained up really fast and jumped right in. And it’s primarily answering email questions and I, I’ve done that, like whenever, like basically whenever there’s a high volume for them and they need somebody to come in so I can come in anywhere from like four weeks to three, four months at a time. And that I do that up to 20 hours a week for them. And it’s just like a contract job. So I never really know, like when it’s going to come and when it’s not, but when it does, I always appreciate it and I love it, and it’s a really great company and really fun. And the people that I work with are really lovely and, and it’s really kind of up my alley. It’s a fun company. They like you to when you’re answering your emails, like, just don’t be rote, like put some personality into it. And so my career before I got on the road, before I quit my job to travel full time, was working at Airbnb in their customer service department. So that’s kind of what my background is as a my last career. So jumping. Into these kinds of part time customer service. Online jobs is right up my alley.

KIMBERLY: Yeah, no, it definitely sounds like you’d be a very good fit for that. So they’re lucky to have you. I like that you also pointed out in this that it can be feast or famine, which is just another good reason to have multiple income streams. So we’re talking about all the different income streams you have, and they all can stack on top of each other in such a beautiful way. I love how you’re doing this. That sounds like a really good approach to getting some money in when you need it, but you don’t have to be tied to a company tied to that job where you have to show up and be on 9 to 5, because that’s where the RV lifestyle, it’s not conducive to the RV lifestyle to have to check in and check out on those hours. So that sounds like a perfect way to to contract out your services and get money in return, but also still maintain that flexibility.

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KIMBERLY: Okay, we’re going to keep it going.

KATHY: Keep going. Yes because there’s a lot. So the other thing I do, and this is something that I discovered during the pandemic as well, is I sell books on Amazon. So a lot of people know about selling on Amazon. And I found out about this actually by listening to a lot of different, um, Side Hustle podcasts myself. So what I do, Kimberly, is I will when I’m traveling, I will stop in at like things like bookstores, libraries that have used books for sales, uh, estate sales, things like that. Thrift stores and, um, I purchased used books, usually for like $0.50, a dollar, $2. And then I will get them ready, package them up, label them all that stuff, send them in the Amazon to be sold. So this is called FBA fulfilled by Amazon. And it’s kind of a cool way to earn money when you’re living in an RV, because you don’t have to keep the inventory on hand. It’s something that you buy. And then you send in to Amazon, and Amazon then handles all the shipping and the customer service and all of that. Now, of course, Amazon takes a big chunk for that. They take a very large percentage like 40% for that.

KATHY: But they also are the biggest marketplace, you know, one of the biggest marketplaces in the world. And I think books is one of the few things that you can actually sell used on Amazon. For me, I love it because in some ways it gives me a purpose to my RV travel. When I’m when I’m mapping out a route, I will like, look, okay, where are the thrift stores in this area? And, you know, kind of plan my routes around doing that. And sometimes you’ll walk in and there won’t be hardly anything, and sometimes you’ll walk away with like two boxes of books to, you know, turn around and process and sell. So it’s just a fun thing. And in my like when I was doing the most work at it, I was bringing in close to $2,000 a month doing this. So it’s not like a ton of money, but also it’s just something that I enjoy and it’s kind of fun right now. Um, I haven’t been traveling that much, so I haven’t been seeking out that many books. So my income is a little lower right now.

KIMBERLY: No, I think that’s great. And the thing is, you say it’s not that much money each month, but first off, that can feel like a lot of money to some people, but also it is a lot of money when it’s just something fun that you get to do when you’re already traveling, it’s just like an extra perk to it. So it’s not always about the dollars that come with the work. It’s also about the enjoyment of the process. And so being able to plan your travels around something that you find really fun. I love antiquing, and I love going into these different stores too, because you never know what you’re going to find. And it’s really cool when you stumble upon something that already gets you excitement, and then you can also go in and find something that you know is going to come back and make you some money from that effort. That to me, we don’t have to worry about the dollar amount to know that, that that can be really, really fun. So I love that you’re doing that. Do you have when you go into these stores, do you have like an app or how do you judge when you see a book on the shelf? How do you know that that’s going to be a good seller that’s going to sell? I know there’s always some risk involved, but is there a process that you use?

KATHY: Yeah, there is an app that I have, it’s called Scout IQ and I have like a barcode scanner. So I will go in and the idea is, you know, go through as quickly as you can. I always only look in the nonfiction section. The fiction books don’t really hold. Their value, but non-fiction books do. And usually like, you know, you think of something kind of obscure like really niched down topic like that’s those are some of the books that really hold their value and that you can sell probably for a while. So I just will go in, hit up the nonfiction section with my scanner, with my app, and there’s just, you know, that little noise that goes off in your earphones when it’s a, when it’s an accept, uh, and that’s like, that’s kind of that thing that keeps you going like the Pavlov’s dog thing, you know, just. Oh, okay. And so then. Yeah. And but you know, there’s also a little more research that goes into it, like the app is your starting place. And then once you get that little ding, then you actually have some other tools that will help you research. If this is a good book to actually buy and sell on Amazon.

KIMBERLY: I think that’s so fascinating. And we have interviewed somebody in the past, and I can link to this in the show notes too, who talked about Amazon FBA, but this is the first that I’ve heard about specifically for books. And I think that that’s such a fun one that you can do and you could even take it home, read it really quickly, and then you can sell it too, so you get a little extra perk from it, too. That sounds fun. You do? Yeah. And it kind of brings it back to Amazon’s roots. They started as a bookseller, so now you kind of just help that fuel that continuous book I guess industry for them, which is a fun one.

KATHY: Yeah, yeah. And you’re always at the beholden of Amazon changing their policies and things, you know. But um, but it’s continued to be something that I enjoy to do and, and hope to get my inventory up again so that I can start bringing in that kind of good money again.

KIMBERLY: Oh, yeah. Oh how fun. Okay, so what is the next one on your list?

KATHY: Okay, so then I’m sitting here in my home right now, but I rent my house out when I travel. And so I use a couple of different platforms. One of them is Airbnb. The other one is a platform called Furnish Finders that caters to traveling medical professionals. And so I am able to rent out my house a lot. I know a lot of people are full time and don’t have homes, but if you do, it can be a great way to leverage that for some extra income. I don’t again, I don’t make a ton of money, but it covers my entire mortgage and all my expenses and then gives me a little bit of gas money at the end once I pay all my bills. And I’ve had really good luck with renters, I rent it out furnished so I don’t have to like, you know, clear the whole house out or anything. And I, you know, I get like security deposits and all that stuff to protect myself. But I’ve had incredible luck and it’s just really nice whenever I have a good renter in my house, because I know that my mortgage is being paid and I don’t have to worry about that expense, and my house is also being lived in and taken care of.

KIMBERLY: That’s so awesome. I love that especially traveling nurses and traveling medical professionals is such a big industry. A little fun. Side note I had surgery back in February, I think. I think we both had a broken foot, like right around the same time Kathy and I was coming out of anesthesia. And I’m just for some reason, you get to be like a Chatty Cathy. And so then I was like, I’m a Chatty Cathy and this moment. And so I went and I was like, so tell me about your life. Tell me about your what you’re up to. And they’re like, well, we’re traveling nurses. And I was like, oh my goodness, you must live in an RV. And they were like, no, we actually don’t. We rent it out. And so now I know and they go up into your area, they probably are going to go rent out. And they were awesome. And they were so kind. They were so sweet. And then I started name dropping all the different RV podcasts to listen to. This is what you do when you come out of anesthesia. And yours was one of them. Cathy. So there you go. I gave you a little thank you plug coming out of. In any case, that was a total side note, but it is interesting. There are a lot of people that are on the road. That was ultimately my point. There are a lot of people who are on the road and they’re looking for places. So what a great opportunity to even if it’s just just quote unquote covering those expenses of your mortgage, that’s not a cost out of your pocket. So that’s a big deal. Oh, it’s a really big deal. And then not having to pay for a storage center also.

KATHY: Right. Yeah. It’s a game changer. I wouldn’t be able to do this lifestyle without that.

KIMBERLY: Yeah I can imagine.

KATHY: Absolutely. And then it’s great. Also the area where I live in Portland, Oregon, like people want to travel here the same time of year that I want to be on the road. And then when I usually want to come off the road is like now. And people don’t necessarily want to come to Portland when it’s rainy and cold.

KIMBERLY: So it works out so well. All right. What is the next one on your list? I love going down these lists okay.

KATHY: Yeah. So then the other thing that I’ve done in the past is these are kind of now things that I’ve done, tried and maybe aren’t doing so much right now but is sell on eBay. And I started selling on eBay because some of the books that don’t sell on Amazon, I could sell on eBay. Um, that’s one way I started. And then when I was decluttering my house, I was kind of a collector of a lot of things that I had held on to from. My youth, like I was very involved in the peace movement and LGBTQ rights. And so I had all these t shirts and buttons and things from like the 90s and 80s. And it turns out there’s a huge market for those right now on eBay. And so I made God thousands of dollars last year just selling some of those things that I just happen to have that I was a collector of. And I haven’t turned that into like, now I’m hunting for those things when I’m out and about in thrift stores, I will look. But so far I haven’t figured out the formula yet for finding good things to flip on eBay, but that’s definitely something that people can do in an RV. It’s a great, fun thing to do is to find these kind of collectible things that people are looking for and to sell those. My biggest thing that I sold was I had a poster by Keith Haring, who is a famous artist, and it was kind of a rare poster from a peace march that I had participated in, and I ended up selling that for like $600. So that was my biggest thing that I sold.

KIMBERLY: Wow.

KATHY: So anyway, selling on eBay, it can definitely be a good thing if you have stuff around your house or if you’re decluttering and get ready to go on the road, or even if you are traveling and you happen to have a good eye for these kinds of things.

KIMBERLY: Yeah, I can imagine. And especially I can also imagine, just like you do with the Amazon in the books, if you find that niche that you, you know the industry really well and you know it’s going to sell really well, that can be a really good signal to, for example, I’m really into like Christmas village houses and some of them can be sold for thousands of dollars. Those adorable little like houses, they just look like this beautiful little Swiss Alps city or something in your dining room. And they can sell for a lot of money, but people don’t always realize it. And so when they’re putting them in the thrift stores, or they’re putting them up for a yard sale or an estate sale or something like that, you can find some really, really amazing little hidden gems. So that’s a good one to be looking out for. Like I said, if you have that specific niche, especially, do you still do the eBay shopping? You said you’re kind of scaling back on it.

KATHY: Yeah. Right now I’m only mostly just putting up books that some books sell better on eBay versus on Amazon. So like the old books, like the, you know, the antique books and stuff like that. So primarily right now that’s the only thing I have on eBay.

KIMBERLY: Perfect. Yeah. No, that makes sense. And that’s again, it’s very niche. And so it it feels aligned and it feels like you have you kind of have those guardrails up of when you’re going out shopping. So it helps to make the shopping experience still feel fun and focused but also profitable because we like profits. We like to make money here. Yeah, yeah. All right. What’s next on your list?

KATHY: Yeah. So next is I heard about this from some fellow travelers who I follow on Instagram and it’s this app called Winslow. It stands for work. Now locally is what I think it stands for. And it’s just an app. It’s kind of like one of it’s the gig economy, you know, so you can there’s so many ways that you can make money doing little gigs, and this is one of them where you would just open this app up and see what jobs are available in your area. And so one of the things that I ended up doing was accepting a job doing merchandising at a Nordstrom Rack. So I just said yes, I think it paid like 17, $18 an hour and you just show up at this Nordstrom Rack and they’re like, okay, here, like go put these things out on the floor. And you’re like hanging like, you know, shirts and putting shoes out or whatever belts. And it was like an eight hour shift and you got a little lunch break and then that was it. So I did that a few times and I really enjoyed it, and I would be doing it to this day, except for every time I opened the app.

KATHY: Now, there’s not jobs like that. The jobs now are things like driving, or they’re in the middle of the night or a warehouse job and not things that I really want to do. But if this is available and this is something you can open up no matter where you are. So if you’re going to be in Phoenix, you can look and see, okay, what jobs are in Phoenix, of course, primarily these are in the cities. They’re not going to be in some of the rural areas where we like to go. But actually, um, there was a job for a while showing up there on Timberline Lodge, which is a ski lodge up on Mount Hood. So there can be some that are maybe, you know, touristy type things. It was cleaning out, like housekeeping at Timberline Lodge showed up on there. So and there’s other apps I think also that do the same thing. And so I do look on that from time to time, but I haven’t accepted a job in a while just because there hasn’t been anything that has really appealed to me.

KIMBERLY: Yeah, I love that. You can just choose. What you want to do and not have to take everything on. So you’re not stuck in some kind of a role that you don’t want to be in. But this thing sounds fun and it fits with your timeline, then that’s great. You can go make a little extra cash. It’s always nice. Do you have to, like, pay for the app, or do you have to like commit to a certain time?

KATHY: No, you have to commit to the job. Once you commit to it, you know, there’s like penalties if you don’t show up. But I think they take a small fee, like maybe $6 or something. I can’t remember exactly now, but yeah, they definitely are making money from a little bit of money, but it didn’t feel like a lot.

KIMBERLY: Oh that’s good. That is always nice. I mean, it’s fine if they’re going to connect you that that makes sense. But it’s good that it’s not like a hefty fee or you have to pay a monthly subscription and you’re not sure if you’re going to take a job or something like that. That is good.

KATHY: Right now, just whenever you take a job, I think is when you pay perfect.

KIMBERLY: That is a good idea, I like that. What else do you have on your list? And these are these, just to be clear. So these ones are your kind of like lessons learned list. Like you’ve tried them but it’s not your. Yeah. Not your bread and butter.

KATHY: Yeah. So driving for Uber Eats uh, which was Postmates at the time that I did it. Which, which is again one of these gig economy things you get in your car and you drive, you know, you pick up an order at a restaurant and you go deliver it to somebody in their in their house. And I did this for a little while. It was fun. This is something I usually only do at my house because I’m traveling in a class B RV, and this would not be efficient at all for me to do in my van. But when I’m at home, sometimes I pick. I’ll just, you know, you could just do it any time of day, really. And, um, it’s just, you know, something. So if you’re traveling and you have, like, a toad or maybe a smaller vehicle, then this might be something that you can literally do again, no matter where you are. And I think a lot of van lifers and people are actually doing this as their primary source of income. You could make it your primary source of income driving for these meal delivery services. If you’re in again, a metropolitan area, you’re not going to be doing this out in the middle of the woods in Mount Hood. But if you’re in an urban area for a while and in an RV park or whatever, it can be a great thing to just pick it up from time to time. I’m not doing it that much right now. I might start picking up some. Right now I’m at the point, like, do I go out and do overeats or do I sit down and write my blog? You know, it’s always a thing? Or do I go hunt at a thrift store, which is more fun for me? So that’s kind of one of the reasons why I’m not doing it, although it’s nice to know that I it’s something in my back pocket that I can. If you need money, like quick, you can just go do this and and you’ll get money like within a few days.

KIMBERLY: I think that’s great. And you make a really good point where there are so many different ideas. My mantra lately has been, just because I can doesn’t mean I should. When all the flood of ideas come in, it’s so important to use that lens and think, just because I could do this doesn’t mean I always should do this, but it’s also really nice to have these creative ideas that you have in your back pocket. Like you said, for those times when maybe you’re in a pinch and just could use some extra cash, maybe, you know, at the time of recording, the holidays are coming. So that’s always one of those seasons where we can always use a little extra cash in our pocket. But really, it’s any time of the year, maybe, maybe you’re going into a big travel season, maybe you’re right before the summer and you want to stock up on cash to get that extra gas money, and so you’re not having to work as much on the road. So it is really nice to have these ideas. I’ve lost count at this point because we have so many good ideas coming in. Okay, there’s one more I love them. Okay, excellent. Let’s have it.

KATHY: I’ve got one more. And and this is being a secret shopper.

KIMBERLY: Oh, this one excites me so much.

KATHY: Yeah. And so these are really low paying gigs. They don’t pay very much money at all. Some of them, they pay like $10. But the ones that I end up accepting, which pay a little more, like 35 to $50 for each shop, is, um, pretending you’re looking to rent an apartment and you will call up and make an appointment and go look at the apartment. And for me, that’s just fun because I just enjoy, like, going in and seeing these kinds of things, you know, seeing like a the little apartment buildings and imagining like, oh, if I was looking for a place, would I want to actually live here? So, um, it’s called I Secret Shop. There’s probably more apps than that out there, but that’s the one I’m a part of, and it’s just can be a little way, again, to bring in a little extra cash here and there when you need it. It’s not going to make you rich, but it could be a fun thing. If it’s something you enjoy doing, then it’s definitely worth it.

KIMBERLY: I think it’s fun. I think that it’s always fun to check out, like you said, different places, and it’s a new way to see the world, and especially if you’re in a new area and you kind of just want to see what local life is like, there you go. You can go in and see how the locals live in different apartment buildings and things like that. Yeah, I think it sounds fun. Well, thank you so. Much do you want to do? Just like a quick. These are the areas that you. Covered. And we’ll of course we’re going to link to the blog post in the show notes. But give us that high level wrap up of where your priorities are right now and what you’ve tried. So just list list amount top to bottom okay.

KATHY: Great. Yeah. And also I just want to add if anyone has any questions about any any of these, feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to talk about whatever you know how to get involved. If one of these strikes your interest and you want to dive deeper, I can hook you up with the resources and places where I learned all about these things. So okay, so number one is camp hosting. Number two is being a freelance writer slash content creator podcast host. Number three is doing a remote customer service job. Number four is selling used books on Amazon. Number five was renting out my house. Number six was selling on eBay. Number seven was working gigs at Winslow. Number eight was driving for Uber Eats, and number nine was I secret shop.

KIMBERLY: I love it, so many nuggets of wisdom and ideas to take with us and really be able to lean into the RV lifestyle. So Kathy, let us know where can we find you so that people can reach out to you if they do have questions and can get in touch with you for more details, and just also follow along and see your beautiful paddleboarding journeys and all the different things that you have going on, because you’re so much fun to follow.

KATHY: Awesome. Thanks. Yeah. So you can I’m on Instagram at K bilge. Bilge is my last name, but follow along with the I have Solo Women rv.com and the Solo Woman RV. Podcasts are two of the best places to probably follow along and sign up for my email list. Or there’s a contact form on my website. If people want to get in touch and ask me any more questions about any of these side hustles and ways that I make money, I’m happy to share. I love sharing about this stuff.

KIMBERLY: Oh, you’re so generous and I so appreciate that about you. Thank you so much for coming on. This was a really fun conversation, and I always get so many ideas when I talk to you. So thank you, thank you, thank you for being here.

KATHY: Thank you. This has been a dream. I’ve been listening to this podcast since before I headed out carving. So this is really awesome to be a guest. So thank you so much. Oh, we’re.

KIMBERLY: So happy you came. Thank you. I loved talking to Cathy today on the show. She has such a unique perspective on how to make money from the road. And as she said to me behind the scenes, she said, I kind of do a spaghetti approach where I just throw a bunch of ideas on the wall and I see what sticks, and I am so grateful that she does that. I think it’s a it’s a marker of success because it’s someone who’s not afraid to take a leap, try something new, take a few risks, just see if it’s something you want to try, and then you can go out and you can share that experience with other people. You don’t have to always continue to drive for Uber Eats or take these these side gigs with Manolo, as she had said. You can also just check it out, get some side money, see if it’s right for you, and really go and lean into these other areas. So for her, of course, that was freelance writing. It’s content creation. She does a lot of remote customer service. She’s a camp host. That might also not be right for you. And that’s okay too. But it’s really, really great to have all these different ideas and a wealth of information from someone like Cathy, who has walked the walk and who has experienced so many different things along her RV life entrepreneur journey. So thank you, Cathy for joining us. We are so grateful that you were here, and we look forward to continuing to learn more. Of course, we remind you to go and check out those show notes so that you can follow along in Cathy’s journey as well and really soak up all of her wisdom, all of her fun and unique ideas, and all of her exceptional RV content.

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The RV Entrepreneur is presented by RV Life – Tools that Make Camping Simple
https://rvlife.com

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