A Dose Of Reality

Note: This is from a blog I wrote back in 2016, but it is in response to a question I have received many times since then, including just this week.

I get a lot of e-mails from RVers and wannabe RVers. Most of the time they are nice folks with legitimate questions and I try my best to answer them with advice, or if I don’t know the answer I try to point them in the direction of somebody who does. And sometimes I have to give them a dose of reality that they might not appreciate hearing.

I received an e-mail in the last couple of days from a couple who want to fulltime, who said they are a family with four kids and three dogs. Unfortunately they have big dreams and no sense of reality. And no money. They told me they had read the book ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, which is actually a pretty good book on blogging, and were now coming to me for real-world advice on how to make money with a blog about their RV travels.

They said they need to make $3,000 a month with a blog, and added that their biggest expense will be their combined RV and car payments, which total $1450. “We know that some people spend a lot more money, but we are minimalists,” they added.

I’m sorry, but you can’t make that kind of money with an RV blog, nor can you support your family, pay for fuel and insurance, campgrounds, and other expenses on $1550 a month.

I’ve been blogging for a very long time. And while I do know a couple of fulltime RVers who get by on not much over $1,000 a month, they are not making RV payments and they don’t have kids to feed and clothe. When I replied and told this couple that, their answer was that, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and we will leave it in God’s hands.” Yeah, well I’m not sure God can help you out with that one, folks.

And as for their plan to make $3,000 a month with their blog, I’m sorry, but it’s not going to happen. For the last two or three years, this blog has had over 770,000 hits annually, and I don’t make $3,000 a month with it, or anywhere close to that much. There are thousands of RV blogs out there, some of them very good, but I don’t know of any blogger who is supporting themselves with just a blog. I’m afraid these people are in for a big letdown.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Be sure to enter our latest new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is a USB drive with all eight years of John and Kathy Huggins’ one hour weekly Living the RV Dream podcasts and live radio broadcasts about the RV lifestyle. That’s over 400 hours of solid RV information, a $100 value, to keep you busy at home while you are social distancing.  To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – “Engagement” can mean either planning to marry or initiating combat. Coincidence?