After reading yesterday’s blog about working on the road, several readers e-mailed to ask me why I did not include freelance writing and blogging as a way for RVers to earn money.
My focus in yesterday’s blog was on jobs available to RVers other than traditional workamping in RV parks. Writing and blogging fall more into self-employment, and if there is enough interest I will post a blog on small businesses that can be run from the road.
But, to answer the questions I was asked about writing and blogging, it is another way to earn a few bucks, but freelance writing is far from steady work. I’ve sold a few magazine articles over the years, but most of my writing income has been generated through self-publishing.
While there are a very few folks who make big bucks blogging, and a few more of us who make a few hundred dollars a month with our blogging activities, most blog publishers are lucky to make enough to cover their internet bill every month, if that. If you can find a good blog topic, and if you can write consistently enough to post on a regular basis, over time you could make money at it. But it doesn’t happen overnight. For more on writing, blogging, and self-publishing, check out my Publishing 4 Profit website.
On the topic of writing consistently enough to come up with regular blog posts, sometimes it’s easy for me to come up with something to write about, but other times, when we’re stationary for a while, I don’t think you really want to read that we got up, had breakfast, visited with family, came home, cruised the internet, blah, blah, blah, day after day. That would fast become about as boring as somebody showing me pictures of their grandkids, or telling me about their cat. A little goes a long way.
I’m curious as to what kind of blog posts you enjoy and want to see in this blog. Do you like those posts on our day to day activities? Posts about places we visit in our travels? Posts on the RV lifestyle in general? How about posts on earning money on the road, or volunteering? Tell me what you want to read about.
But please, don’t ask me for technical stuff, because that’s just not my area of expertise. There are a lot of excellent writers who cover the technical side of the RV world, including Mike Steffan, Mark Polk, Mark Nemeth, and Gary Bunzer, to name just a few. But if you took my advice about anything technical, you’d probably get into trouble really fast!
Of course, Bad Nick always seems to have something to write about. Check out his newest Bad Nick Blog, titled “Undocumented” = Illegal and leave a comment.
Thought For The Day – Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
I enjoy getting up every morning and reading your blog. It’s always well written and interesting to me. Your blog depicts the day-to-day life of a full-time RVer – and sometimes that means there was laundry and cleaning to do, and taking a nap. For those hoping to become full-timers, your blog clearly shows that it isn’t a “vacation”, it’s a change of lifestyle that has routine ho-hum days in it…just like living in a typical house. From reading your blog for years, I knew what to expect when we became full-timers in September 2009.
As to making money with a blog, I believe a blog writer would need to consider his/her blogging as a “job” and work at it daily. I write my blog mainly as a journal for myself. Although I average 100 hits per day, I only make about $10 a month from ad clicks. Getting an opportunity to meet some of my readers has been my biggest reward.
I really enjoy the day to day things that you write about along with the interesting places you and Terry visit. I know that we will never be able to visit all the places you write about so it’s the next best thing – reading about them here. Keep up the good work.
I have been reading your life story as it plays out for several years now and have found it informative and helpful. Sure tell us about your visits to and from friends and family, your trips to interesting places and your ‘boating’ adventures. I beleive those of us who follow you2 while stille in our sticks and bricks find both inspiration and comfort in knowing this is viable as a lifstyle while our friends say things that just sound odd in our minds.
Keep up the good work and cuddling on rainy days.
LRW
ps
we are moving out of the house into our MCI this weekend and will drive out of the drive next Thursday.
Some people are just plain interesting! You and Terry fit in that catergory:) It’s an added bonus that you are skilled in writing. You have a talent that makes even the most mundane sound interesting and entertaining. Thank you!
I have slowed down on my blog entries just because we are not doing anything exciting right now – just the every day grind. I keep thinking I will include some posts on my “thoughts”, but not sure anyone would be interested, so haven’t gone that route yet. You provide a good example of how to do that. Thanks:)
It is fun to connect with my readers, especially those who enjoy my “farming” posts:) What I find to be everyday knowledge turns out to be an “education” for many “city” folks. That is always fun.
Keep up the good work. I’ll read just about anything you publish and enjoy it all.
The mundane day-to-day activities are real and need to be recognized, even enjoyed. Go ahaead and share them with us. I agree that in some blogs there is far too much of the same old blather. It’s difficult to find just the right balance. I won’t write about the five loads of laundry I did yesterday, or the four hours of propane dispensing today, but I might show you pictures of the process of pruning our bushes out front.
We’re new to the full time RV lifestyle and I’ve only been a short time (a few months) follower of your blog. I really enjoy the posts of your day to day activities, regardless if they may be considered mundane, and the educational/informative posts. I find it all fascinating. And yes, I do want to know about the daily life and routine since we haven’t quite yet learned how to adjust to the “routine” in this lifestyle. We’re still learning and it’s nice to read about the day to day of the experienced folks like you and Terry.
Nick, After stumbling onto the paper Gypsy Journal at the Elkhart campground this summer, I followed the dots to your blog. Haven’t missed a day since. Through your blog, I found the Geeks on Tour (Thank you!) and many, many other interesting people, places, campgrounds, and things to do. After a three-month trek in our motorhome, we are back at home with some family obligations related to illness, but your blog keeps us motivated, gives us ideas, and points out things we really need to consider buying and installing to keep our home on wheels as safe as it can be. In this economy, you have to be willing to reconsider your plans for the future, and see where your own personal economies might lie. Keep it up.
Keep doing just what you are doing. We enjoy knowing where you are, who comes to visit (that way we keep up on mutual friends) and what you are doing. We also enjoy the occasional essay on whatever.
I think it is important to show that this live style is just that – day to day living. We are not on vacation. We don’t have to be going to some attraction every day. Some days we need to do laundry, or clean the fridge, or just veg out with a good book. That is what we do. And you report it well.
PS: Thanks for bringing the rain – the people in Q might hate it – but it is sure greening up the desert.
Your blog is always very well written and enjoyable to follow. I wouldn’t necessarily change it. The idea of “adding” to your blog is superb! It would be very interesting if you could occasionally post about writing, blogging, & self-publishing along with additional ideas on earning money on the road. 🙂
Nick I thought you LIKED hearing about my cat! 😉 Maybe I can get Cooper to start a blog. (btw I like everything about yours, and have collected lots of “Thoughts for the day”. )
Hi Nick ~
First, I would like to commend you on your wonderful blogs. I’m sure it’s difficult to find topics to write about on a daily basis, but I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read for the past few months. As someone who is just now transitioning to the full-time lifestyle (hope to be on the road this Spring!), I find posts about the RV lifestyle the most useful. I know we still have a lot to learn and it’s great being able to hear it from those who have several years of experience. It’s also provides great comfort that if so many others are able to do this, then so can we. I particularly enjoy posts like yesterday’s about work opportunities and also appreciate your sharing so many details about your break in and your long road to getting everything fixed. At this point in our journey, I’m not so much interested in details about the various locations – we have a long list of our own – but I have noted places on occassion to add to our list. And it’s nice to know where you are in case we ever find ourselves nearby. So thank you for sharing so much of your life and your experiences. As we accumulate more, we plan to pay it forward, and hope that we’ve already started to through our blogging about our transition. Keep up the good work!
-Connie
It’s your perspective on life that keeps us entertained. It doesn’t matter what event you are describing you help us enjoy it. Please, continue sharing with us whatever path life takes you down.
I enjoy reading your blog each day and checking on the Geeks on Tour blog each day. They don’t write every day which you do and I like that about your blog. Please continue to write about what you and Terry do and even mundane things show me you are living pretty much as Peter and I are living. I do enjoy pictures so I would suggest more pictures of you and Terry doing stuff. I also enjoy information on what you are doing on your RV (ex. the new fire extinguisher system). So I would like you to continue giving us that kind of info with pictures, please. I am a visual learner. It’s hard for me to understand what you are writing about sometimes and a picture really is worth a thousand words to me. When you had the “motor home from hell” and then the bus it was enjoyable for me to see your progress on those RVs. So keep on doing what you are doing with more pictures and RV info. Thanks. Love ya, Connie B.
PS. We are in Quartszite for the very first time. It is raining and will be for 2 days. Have you ever heard the following? “This is so unusual. It’s never like this.” This seems to happen to us quite a lot!!!!!!!!!
Nick, it is always interesting to hear the day to day adventures you go thru as it helps us learn about RVing. Being a guy, I guess it is most interesting to hear of the RV problems that you incur and sometimes solve. When you had a slide water leak, I realized I wasn’t the only one! (what ever happened with that?) I guess, is what I’m saying is that it is informative as heck to learn what issues others are having with their RV’s without having to get into the technical stuff. Keep up the good work, we enjoy reading everything you write!
I’ll join the ranks of those who enjoy reading the day-to-day stuff. You have a large family out here on the road and everyone talks about you and Terry on a first-name basis like you were in the parking spot next to us. We have met friends of yours on the road (like Brenda and Ron Spiedel) and were immediately friends with them, too. We are learning to “slow down” a bit and to enjoy the small towns we find ourselves in. If nothing else, you remind us this is a “lifestyle” that we now understand but sometimes have trouble communicating to friends and families about what draws us to our desire to be on the road.
Hoping to be at the GJ Western Gathering again, Judy
Just read Bad Nick’s blog and read that the thief has been arrested and has some broken bones. Could you update us on this in a future blog? Great job of breaking some bones, he certainly deserved it. Maybe the thief will think twice about trying to rob some one else.
Nick, Cheri and I have always enjoyed your daily blog just as your write it. It has varied topics about travels, history, personal observations and your goofy sense of humor. We look forward to it and probably would not take any technical advice unless it came from Terry. Ha!
Nick, to be honest, anything you write is of interest to me–yes, even the day-to-day stuff. You have an interesting, often amusing style, and I enjoy it. I especially appreciate the daily blogs. Some of us who are limited by circumstance can’t be off traveling the country, so we enjoy hearing what you do. Thank you.
When it comes to networking, you are the ones who have the contacts! With all these contacts feeding you information constantly, we really appreciate your passing along info on the RVing industry and lifestyle. As Life on Wheels graduates, we are constantly seeking educational opportunities and see the need to stay on top of what’s new and/or changing. And when you write it, it’s always in a factual way with no tap dancing or ambiguity. We know that if you put it in print, you’ve researched it well first! But…we also enjoy the “peek” you give us at your day-to-day activities!!!
Thanks so much for sharing of yourselves!
I guess the question is “Why do we follow your blog, or any one elses blog?” The answer is simple but we can also give a few details. We will be selling our house and hitting the road fulltime this spring. We look for information that help us get ready for the lifestyle. Of great importance is cost. So knowing the cost of campgrounds, repairs, insurance, communication etc. is important to us. There are a few blogs that actually provide that info. Second is lifestyle – what are the thought processes about where travelers are headed and how they live. What are the factors in determining where they end up? Third, what works and doesn’t work on the road (some of this is that techno geek stuf, if we have questions we will e-mail Ms. Terry). While the great stories about the real America are interesting, they are not that high on our list right now. Keep up the good work, we are gathering information so we can live the fulltime lifestyle and attend Gypsy Gatherings in the future.
I think that a great blog is a mixture of all. Just like your full time RV life. Some days are more exciting than others. I think that from those daily activities what should jump out is the differences, challenges and special stories about RV life. Telling about doing 2 loads of laundry is not interesting, but relying on campground washers (some of us do) an dealing with new surprises every time – is interesting. The mixture of routine and excitement, surprise and unpredicted (the story of the breakout to the rig, chasing the publisher half the country) – these are real fun to me.
Last – I always learn new things related to RV life from blogs. Geocaching is a great example. Choosing a GPS is another.
Thanks for an interesting blog and for sharing your stories with us.